Category: Uncategorized

 

The votes were there, just barely so, two hundred seventeen
Trump’s resurrected zombie actually made it through the House
For this I really credit Trump and Ryan whose smoke screen
Of over statements on the bill allayed some members’ doubts

The impetus behind this bill: tax cuts for well-to-do
They sourced those cuts from Medicaid, gouged twenty five percent
This transfer now was needed to prepare tax-cuts anew
As part of Trump’s reform plan, credibility there spent

The Congressmen all voted blind, most hadn’t read the bill
The CBO had scored it not; no member knew the costs
But they all knew that coverage loss by millions sure would kill
Those who depend on ACA, who’d die with coverage loss

Republicans who voted yea, I pity you this choice
You elevated politics above your folk’s well being
Your celebrated pyrrhic win in which you all rejoiced
An albatross your neck will wear that folks will all be seeing

5/5/17

 

Republicans now claim they have sufficient votes
Enough to pass the latest version of Trump’s zombie care
I do expect grass-root response of massive size, take note
It would surprise me not if all those votes will not be there

In other news James Comey in a session on the Hill
Relayed that Russia’s meddling is going on full force
That Russia is democracy’s true greatest threat, he feels
Meanwhile the Trump denies it’s true; that is his stance of course

Mahmoud Abbas and Donald Trump had also met today
Where Trump pronounced the peace process was easier than thought
Meanwhile Abbas, back home, relayed: no details did Trump say
Although I think Trump’s treading… his intentions I applaud

In Syria, Russia proposed zones of de-escalation
Kim complained on China, i.e. China’s warnings heard
Climate-change starvation deaths in African poor nations
On situations ’round the World we get so little word

5/3/17

 

Just sixty legislative days from when a reg is signed
It’s all the time the Trump team had the regs to nullify
The regs Obama, by his EOs, signed and left behind
Trump used the CRA to cause Obama’s regs to die

The CRA’s a perfect tool; Trump wields it like a sword
A majority of one’s enough to kill a regulation
The ouster can’t be challenged nor the reg e’re be restored
Trump nullified Obama’s regs with no discrimination

Among the regs erased by Trump were rules to do with coal,
Environment, abortion, education, labor laws,
Industrial pollution, women’s health and gun control,
Mining, and the internet: all rules for safety’s cause

These are the true accomplishments of Trump’s first hundred days

5/2/17 Continue reading “The Congressional Review Act (CRA)”

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Rodrigo Dueterte
And also Vladimir Putin and, too, Recep Erdogan
Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un: all are in common in two ways
They’re dictatorial rulers and Don Trump’s among their fans

It matters not they’re murderers maintaining, thus, their rule
Suppressing free expression and manipulating laws
Our President looks up to them; they’re macho; they’re not fools
In politics and business he and they have common cause

Except for North Korea where war tension’s riding high
Today Trump said he’d meet with Kim, an honor it would be
I’d normally be critical, approval this implies
But in this case I think it’s smart as far as I can see

Kim, like Trump, eats flattery; it satisfies his need
To be perceived important, to be taken seriously
It also lowers tensions and it opens up a likely lead
For real negotiations. I’ll be watching curiously

5/1/17

 

My thumbnail sketch of yesterday was negative I’d say
Be that as may, I’ll concentrate on positive today
Not just grass roots re energized, but things where Trump has changed
Away from Trump back on the stump where oft he seemed deranged

The former Trump was super smart; he knew more than all experts
But now he’ll seek and take advice; decisions take more effort
He’s changed positions o’er these days on weighty policies
On Russian sanctions, Cuba, and our Israel Embassy

Iran Agreement, NAFTA, and one-China policy
The E-I Bank, and China playing games with currency
He’s wavering about the Paris Climate Change Accord
I think he’ll let it stand or face a risk he can’t afford

The office of the President has changed unalterably
Taboos once violated don’t return to normalcy
What once were measured words have gained in spontaneity
And nepotism’s riding high involving Family

‘Though Trump maintains the secrecy of all his business deals
Substantive info on his calls abroad he won’t reveal
He’s very open on his thoughts. He tweets them every day
He knows to dominate the news each day by what he says

I quoted David Brooks, before, on Trump’s abilities
They’ve grown from catastrophic to inadequate you see
There’s clearly been some progress, we do hope there’s more to come
And that is my nail sketching on my thumb’s opposing thumb

4/30/17

 

Over the past hundred days Trump’s been revealing who’s Trump
Not the circus barker, nor classic con man, Trump on the stump

Not the Art-Of-The-Deal man of businesses past, ‘though not really past
But Trump, the now President, where life’s not so easy, where issues are vast

Health care’s complex; trade is complex; Congress, a veritable can of worms
He thought he could do this President thing his way, on his familiar terms

Brooks of the New York Times: “Trump’s competency has gone from catastrophic
To merely inadequate.” That’s progress, I guess, albeit somewhat anemic

We’ve learned that Trump: will reverse from his prior position, harbors no deep convictions;
Has little patience for details; hardly reads what he is signing; rides roughshod over restrictions

Trump gets his info from Vanity Fair, and whoever spoke to him last
He measures successes by his rating stats and steals the news cycle with tweets that he casts

He’s still anti climate-change, pro plant pollution, he’s for arctic drilling, but not women’s health
His budget cuts Arts, and it also strips bare both State and the EPA much of their wealth

The Washington swamp under Trump has grown deeper, and ethics been wavered away
This, then, is my brief sketch President Trump as viewed after one hundred days

4/29/17

 

The President bemoans his hundred days
By bragging on the many things his done
‘Though lack of legislation he has won
Is not among his current boasting ways

But there are things that Trump has done to date
He’s opened land in Monuments for oil
Allowed coal miners to pollute the soil
And cancelled climate regs I must relate

We’re at the brink of War because of him
The injudicious rhetoric he’s said
Could slay Koreans by the thousands dead
One hundred days of damage by Trump’s whim

In these first hundred days the ones who’ve won
Are grass-roots activists. That’s you, that’s me
We’ve marched, we’ve demonstrated; we’re the key
That stopped Trump’s bills from being voted on

We visited our Reps in their home towns
Demanded “do you job!” At their town halls
And flooded all their phones with all our calls
It made a difference. All Trump’s bills went down

So I salute us, each and every one
We are the winners on this Hundredth Day
But don’t stop here, there’s so much more at play
In fact our work has really just begun

4/28/17

 

Sipping MacAllan I ponder the news
I watch and I listen to alternate views
Today was so crowded I hardly could choose
That which aught to be put into verse

Much, today, centered ’round General Mike Flynn
Chaffetz and Cummings got nothing turned in
On Flynn from the White House, their probe to begin
The White House stonewalling, of course

Mike, it is known, took in Russian sourced fees
But obtained no approval as requires DOD
A criminal offense; jail he’s likely to see
Bad things may soon be getting much worse

The Trump health-care plan in its new zombie state
Couldn’t garner the votes; to back burners its fate
It may be resurrected at some future date
And show up in the back of a hurst

Later this evening from Reuters we heard
Trump had announced with belligerent words
Something quite dangerous I find absurd
A major conflict is likely to burst

With North Korea a conflict is likely
It’s likely, it’s likely he said, absolutely
Kim could respond starting war really nasty
Trump’s name then would forever be cursed

It appears that my scotch glass is empty and dry
And the sand man has sprinkled some sand in my eyes
So I’ll bid you good morrow, good night, by and by
Trump, tomorrow, his words, might reverse

4/27/17

 

All week we’ve been hearing ’bout Trump’s tax reform
His crowning achievement the first hundred days
Rumor caused markets to rise above norm
Mnuchin this afternoon read what it said

The plan’s not a plan; just a few paragraphs
It is not tax reform, just horrendous tax cuts
It would increase our deficit trillions. We laugh,
Since it won’t get enough of our senators’ votes

It cut corporate rates to just fifteen percent
It abolished the alternate minimum tax
Introduced by Ron Reagan so as to prevent
The wealthy from paying no tax, that’s a fact

It also stopped taxing at death, one’s estate
Which matters at ten-plus-one millions in cash
It’s there to stop fortunes from growing too great
O’re generations, their money to stash

It’s clear that Trump’s plan, which was less than two pages
Is Republican Reaganesque trickle-down nonsense
The plan does but little to raise worker’s wages
GDP growth comes mainly from fair recompense

I find it revealing, when Trump’s plan was shown
The market, just prior, was at all-time highs
The market reversed itself, dropping back down
Signaling knowledge that this plan won’t fly

4/26/17

 

Chaffetz and Cummings were on stage today
A rare occurrence given our politics
But more to the point is what they had to say
That Flynn might face charges that likely will stick

Flynn’s Russian excursion; Turkey’s there too
His payments from known Kremlin sources
Require disclosure and formal review
No proof there that Flynn really followed this course

Early the House Oversight Committee
Asked of the White House Flynn’s documentation
But Trump refused; Spicer tried being witty
Explaining provision is out of the question

My feeling’s: due-diligence cursorily was done
On those individuals meant for Trump’s team
In Flynn’s case, no paperwork was e’re begun
His status was special, or so it now seems

Just why was he fired as Trump’s NSA
The reasons Trump gave surely do not hold up
Flynn is a mystery unto this day
But when we find out, all Hell will erupt

4/25/17