December, 2019

12/1/19
(417)
The trillions we’ve poured into war
Could have paid for our health care and more
Fully fund education,
Feed and shelter the nation.
The machine is corrupt at its core.

12/2/19
(416)
A climate summit starts now in Madrid
May it undo the damage that we did
Before a woeful global lack of will
Results in massive planetary kill.

Impeachment hearings carry on. That’s great
But Donald says he won’t participate
He’d rather spend time preaching to his minions
And from the sideline, tweet out his opinions.

Then, Lisa Page’s talking points anew –
What she and Strzok did and did not do,
And Trump’s relentless mocking of the two,
Including their orgasmic noises. Ewww.

So many topics but so little time
To sit here and create my daily rhyme.

12/3/19
(415)
Trump’s new tariffs are drawing the flies.
They’re just shafting our long-time allies.
His odd strategy
Spells trade tragedy,
Turning once good-buys into goodbyes.

12/4/19
(414)
The definition of impeachable
A clear delineation of offenses
A leadership that’s baldly lost its senses
And Trump declares himself unreachable.

This is our now, as audience and actors,
With scripts of lies and spin across a spectrum
A close-up shot of Democracy’s rectum
The loss of decency no longer factors.

What we see here is not all that there is.
This tightly scripted staged reality.
The numbness of lurid banality.
Don’t underestimate the business of the biz.

Beyond this tragic sideshow one thing’s certain –
There’s more that’s going on behind the curtain.

12/5/19
(413)
Yesterday, ranking Rep. Collins said
These are Democrat lies we’ve been fed.
Lawyer Karlan objected –
No vendetta detected,
But based on the facts that she read.

12/6/19
(412)
With the squabbling between each faction
No Democrat seems to have traction.
You’d think that the fears
Of four sucky more years
Would inspire some positive action.

12/7/19
(411)
More than 500 Law Profs agree
Donald Trump behaved impeachably.
But each one’s just a tool
From some liberal school.
Their bias is quite clear to me.

12/8/19
(410)
Joe Biden says it’s plain to see
Where he stands environmentally.
If you want to ban fracking
And send lobbyists packing
Then vote for one other than he.

12/9/19
(409)
The latest Trump outburst of note?
His wooing the “Killer Jew” vote.
“You may not like me,
And it’s mutual, see?
But I’m the Democrat tax antidote”.

12/10/19
(408)
Some Republicans are so obtuse.
For their tantrums there is no excuse.
All the pointing at Biden
And witnesses hidin’
Will not cover up Trump’s abuse.

12/11/19
(407)
Through 18 years and three administrations
The Afghan War Machine rolled right along
While each report revealed nothing wrong
Through countless and destructive conflagrations.

Conflicting strategies, unclear objectives
Corruption masked by data points distorted
The harder facts that never got reported
On countless and unwinnable directives.

No intel here for telling friend from foe
No real metrics found for keeping score
No sense of what we’re really fighting for
No end in sight for paying for this show.

The space between the truth and what we’re told
Makes wonder of what other lies we’re sold.

12/12/19
(406)
Trump Junior went hunting big game.
An endangered Argali, its name. A permit he lacked.
Got it after the fact.
A trophy kill. Totally lame.

12/13/18
(405)
For Obama, the man never budges.
He just stalled with obstruction and fudges.
For Trump, Mitch got moving,
The senate approving
A quarter of all active judges.

12/14/19
(404)
The outgoing Gov of Kentucky
Helped some 400 felons get lucky.
Some rapists and killers –
Community pillars
Whose donations to him were just ducky!

12/15/19
(403)
Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham,
In the Senate will choose to O.K. him.
They’ve said the will play it
As Trump’s lawyers say it
And they both lack the guts to betray him.

12/16/19
(402)
The impeachment soap opera continues.
To the Senate, we’ll see change in venues.
May Mulvaney, his crew,
And John Bolton too
Have their testimony on the menus.

12/17/19
(401)
A New Jersey Dem named VanDrew
Thinks impeach is the wrong thing to do.
To save his own ass
He’ll give Trump a pass,
And become a Republican too…

(So six staffers told him “Go screw!”)

12/18/19
(400)
The Countdown dwindles to four-hundred days
Until we see the next inauguration,
But still there is this nauseous sensation –
What if he’s re-elected and he stays.

Impeach him now. Democracy can’t wait.
While slowly die the things that really matter,
The rich get richer and fat cats get fatter.
Don’t just drain swamps. It’s time to clean the slate.

This Trump’s a symptom of a larger ill,
All those who profit from our house divided
Then buy the outcome already decided
And plot to bend the masses to their will.

Our public servants pledge, then fail the tests.
And still we vote against our own best interests.

12/19/19
(399)
The lines were drawn
The vote was reached.
The president
Has been impeached.

Burma-Shame

12/20/19
(398)
“Remember who you are and whom you serve”.
The words of Christianity Today.
Jim Bakker tho, has other things to say.
Those anti-Trump believers have their nerve.

How dare to lecture on morality.
How dare to buck the faith so now in fashion,
To contemplate the depths of Christ’s compassion,
And question our anointed one’s legality.

Such passion Trump’s dominion arouses
With thoughts and actions for which none atones
For some are just so busy throwing stones
They can’t see their reflections in glass houses.

It’s said to be not of the world, but in it.
And could it be your soul to lose to win it.

12/21/19
(398)
A Republican staffer is gloating
Suppressing the rolls of those voting
Is a great secret mission
To scare opposition
And win the election. Worth noting.

12/22/19
(397)
This country’s a hard thing to run.
All work and no play is no fun.
In Trump’s tenure here,
One statistic is clear:
In golfing dates, he’s Number One!

12/23/19
(396)
In the White House there’s folks acting snotty.
In the House and the Senate? Too haughty.
Is that Santa we see
Flying over DC
Because everyone there is too naughty.

12/24/19
(397)
That Iowa woman’s not nice.
Assault with a vehicle – twice!
She should be behind bars,
Hitting brown kids with cars,
But she’ll prob’ly get hired by ICE.

12/25/19
(394)
This Christmas Day, some pointers from the right
To win debates that crop up at the table.
Some talking points, assuming you’re not able
Alone to wreck your loved ones’ appetite.

No quid pro quo, but “yes” to Russian hoax.
Add salt and raise the flame to fan the schism
By dissing Democrats and Socialism.
Call out the human scum amongst your folks.

Don’t fret about this conversation’s fitness.
This holiday it’s all about the winning
And keeping Orange Mussolini grinning
By escalating Donald’s war on Christmas.

The Prince Of Peace’s birth? No time for that.
Here’s Jesus sporting his red MAGA hat.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE
REGARDLESS OF WHO YOU VOTED FOR. NO, REALLY.

12/26/19
(393)
And so for once the news reports can wait.
To set aside the scrolling, scrolling madness,
The never ending feed of doubt and sadness
A break from contemplating global fate.

Today, no president is needed here
Collapsed amidst the food and gift debris
No words of politics with family
To truly hold the things that we hold dear.

McConnell and his senate are on hold.
The congress spat resumes another day
For now, a time for sloth and gentle play
Some coffee then a stroll out in the cold.

The dramas of our world will all continue.
This rhyme’s to celebrate the peace within you.

12/27/19
(392)
Not much from the Trump camp we hear.
But the image I have conjures fear:
On the White House john lid,
Spewing tweets from his id,
Gearing up for the battles next year.

12/28/19
(391)
In the late waning days of December,
As the year flickers down to an ember,
Our Trump’s in Palm Beach,
Sitting just out of reach,
At a club where he’s the only member.

12/29/19
(390)
For a long time, his name was in doubt.
A secret that one should not flout.
It’s not about knowin’
Who was whistle-blowin’,
But what he was blowin’ about.

12/30/19
(389)
Through a callous and wide-ranging stunt-y,
We’re now seeing purges aplenty.
It’s not about polls –
It’s about voter rolls,
And who can vote in 2020.

12/31/19
(388)
Together we have seen and been through plenty
A decade that began with hope and change
And then would slow and sadly turn to strange
Ten years that feel as if they’ve aged us twenty.

You’ve seen it all. No need here to remind.
The sad events, the scared and grieving faces,
The lives disrupted by relentless races
Of progress that may leave us all behind.

And yet within, perhaps the will to start
Afresh and listen to those inner voices
That softly whisper to us kinder choices,
For know that with each asshole beats a heart.

Another day brings forth another chance
I hope your year will give you cause to dance.