backwards

In Kabul, Taliban rehung their flag
Assuring females they've nothing to fear
as long as the're accoutred in a bag
and follow men twelve paces to the rear.
For their part, women fly to emigrate
or send their daughters overseas to school.
convinced this government will violate
such promises once it can make the rules.
Two trillion dollars! Not a lot to show
Afghanistan's much like the day we came.
One generation's had the chance to grow
but none--who have resources--will remain.
Another empire packs away its tents
and leaves the place without a government.

Pinochist

Chad Wolf deploys a mercenary force
who won't ID themselves, but let drop hints
...armed to the teeth...emotionally coarse...
the latest Enterprise of Erik Prince.
The Pentagon enriched him in Iraq,
an ill-got fortune grafted on his own.
This year, he'd brought his buccaneer boys back
to break some citizens' skulls here at home.

Wolf's jackboot thugs are taking Oregon

they spurn insignia or names in sight

Like Deng Xiao Peng deployed in Tiananmen

without regard for basic civil rights.
If Trump wants citizens to just comply
he'd have sent agents of our FBI.

state terror

Trump's Homeland forces would usurp the State
as if our Tenth Amendment were not law.
Executives don't get to legislate,
but no one shows this boss his logic's flaw.
Most gun enthusiasts don't see the harm
in letting Trump's Gestapo practice ops,
but fundamentally, our right to arms
means nothing if we let these thugs play "cops".

A dirty war, reprise of Pinochet
we underwrote what seems a life ago

is revving up in Oregon today.

As citizens, we're losing all control.

Real journalists won't fall to trace the hints;
the Portland contract's held by Erik Prince.

Blessed is the Match

This latest outrage won't go unremarked
although Chauvin behaved like it's routine.
In giving up his soul, Floyd cast the spark
that may burn down the whole corrupt machine.
The prosecutor might have let this slide
like Klobuchar had many deaths before.
Each piled the kindling up both deep, and wide
when this bonfire goes off, it's gonna roar.
If history tells aught, it tells us this:
that tyranny must be faced down on sight.
But those whose consciences have been remiss,
need someone else to set the world alight.
So desperate to show he's in control,
Trump feeds the conflagration vitriol.

BunkerBoy

The insurrection that might justify
Deploying US troops on our own land,
is just a figment of Trump's craven mind;
It's not the People who are out of hand.
Roy Cohn had sternly charged him in his youth,
before Sean Hannity'd staked out Trump's ear:
"You'll find no profit in the gospel truth;
To fleece the gullible, cultivate fear!"
Each soldier's duty is to disregard
an order that he understands ain't right.
Each proud militiaman in their State Guard
must weigh the casus belli ere he'll fight.
Our nation's poised again for Civil War.

What's less than clear is what it would be for.

...but neither are you free to refrain from beginning

Each January, rabbis organize
To celebrate the life of MLK.
A ringing voice raised up to prophesize
sent to a nation that had lost its way.
To get arrested, year by weary year,
engaging battles Grandma thought she'd won,
makes tangible what's not enough to hear;
Pursuit of Justice never wholly done.
King knew, most people were inclined to shirk
the task of legislating what they feel.
Good people have to get engaged, and work
for our republic's promise to be real.
The Torch of Freedom's insubstantial beam
glows in the heart of us who dream the Dream.

the next revolution

Now, Carrie Lam implies she's just the glove
concealing Moscow's fist that moves her mouth.
Authority's imposed by those above,
while on the street, the markets have gone South.
In '97, Hong Kong money fled
to Canada, where passports could be bought
by those who were unwilling to go Red,
regardless what Mao's Little Red Book taught.
The Communists now look to Chairman Xi
who long ago discarded Marx' books.
As long a some enjoy prosperity
mainlanders like the State to stay unshook.
The hopes that Tiananmen Square's legions heard
won't be forgotten, 'though they get deferred.

the next war

Narendra Modi pandered to the mob
revoking Article 370.
Imputing Nehru'd done a shoddy job
midwifing India to unity.
A demographic tidal wave of funds
would disenfranchise Muslims where they dwell.
A revolution without using guns
could make of paradise a living Hell.
A constitution ought to guarantee
the rights of everyone, however few
against the whims of the majority;
what's wrong, the government must never do.
This rivalry's too useful to abate;
this war won't be confined to real estate.

El Paso

Ted Cruz is up in arms; Trump crossed a line
imputing Texans ain't all of his class.
El Paso's victims ought not be maligned
but such a stubby-fingered orange ass.
The Brandenburg Test leaves a lot of space
within the code, it's legal to incite
deplorables to wage a war on race...
as long as they don't fire that shot tonight.
O'Rourke's campaign looked moribund, or dead
until these shootings fluffed his stock, a bit.
He sure looks upright next to lying Ted
the Cuban version of robotic Mitt.
A party with no room for an adult
is now a xenophobic, fascist cult.

Presidential Records

Trump muses now, that someone should record
his every utterance, so we can know
a huuge idea! We all should get aboard!
No court can rest on journalists' say-so.
Dog-whistle rhetoric for good-old-boys
like they alone will weigh in on his fate
expecting Christians will hear only noise;
he's deaf to resonance to Watergate.
This shithole president, whose potty talk
has allies thinking they'll go it alone
might get away with it when in New York
but failed to learn new mores when in Rome.
A Nazi proud of his "good German blood"
has mired our Ship of State in stinking mud.

How are the mighty fallen

If Dershowitz were right, Trump can't obstruct
his justice is administered top-down
but then, our whole republic would be fucked;
our "rights" would be mere boons, owed to this clown.
That Alan's colleagues shun him's no surprise;
their part is not to sing the FarRight's song.
Let Bannon justify Bob Mercer's lies;
their role is to explain why both are wrong.
Three pillars undergird our government
to legislate, adjudicate, and do.
It's not our way to let one president
impose his will above the other two.
The gravitas that comes with HarvardLaw
can't float an argument with such a flaw.

the First

Not even Limbaugh can salute this mess
our media unite, from best to worst
when Trump assaults the Freedom of the Press
for Rights enumerated in the First.
The court ruled Peter Zenger must go free;
it can't be "libel" to point out frank flaws.
If we're to practice real democracy,
to punish Truth makes mockery of laws.
To date, this latest tantrum takes the cake.
Trump's stubby hands would strangle empty air.
But it's his budget numbers that are fake;
and CNN just made the figures square.
Elections are a sham, if we must choose
without free access to unfiltered news.

Russo III

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick employed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment; laws that ban it must be void.
Allegiance is a farce, if it's coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

new lows

Trump's guards launched tear-gas at the Phoenix crowd
for chanting he should get on with his job.
He loves it when his callgirls fake it loud
but wasn't gonna take it from this mob.
The Charlottesville debacle was still raw
where he'd offended all but the far-Right.
None could forget what everybody saw
when Nazis  rallied by torch tiki-light.
James Clapper minced no words; this clown's a bust
it's plain what his mendacity forebodes
he's squandered for all time the nation's trust
and shouldn't have the nuclear launch-codes.
Buchanan's  no more first among the cursed
Americans are certain; Trump's the worst.

circus

Trump's guards sloshed tear-gas on the Phoenix crowd
who thought he ought to focus on his job.
He loves it when his sycophants get loud
but wasn't gonna take it from this mob.
The Charlottesville debacle was still raw
where he'd offended all but the far-Right.
None could forget what everybody saw
when Nazis marched and rallied by torch-light.
James Clapper minced no words; this clown's a bust
his bullshit's still as cheap by wagon-loads
he's squandered for all time the nation's trust
and shouldn't have the nuclear launch-codes.
Buchanan's safe; his name's no more accursed
the planet's satisfied that Trump's the worst.

fascists' tool

Fox posted video on how to kill

non-violent protesters with your car

but took it down, in light of Charlottesville

conceding that, this time, it went too far.

Our FCC demurs to stigmatize

the Murdoch network for what's plain to see.

The group cultivates hate and lives on lies;

such forms of Speech enjoy no guarantee.

Jeff Sessions' not inclined to prosecute

a Klansman telegraphing an attack.

It's plain he's never given half a hoot

as long as the intended victim's Black.

No Walter Cronkite speaks to all our folk

the "fair and balanced" logo's a sick joke.

Hate Group

Fox posted video on how to kill
pedestrians with nothing but your car
but took it down, in light of Charlottesville
conceding that, this time, it went too far.
Our DoJ has yet to designate
the Murdoch network for what's plain to see.
The group exists for cultivating hate;
such forms of Speech enjoy no guarantee.
Jeff Sessions' not inclined to prosecute
a Klansman telegraphing an attack.
It's plain he really doesn't give a hoot
as long as the intended victim's Black.
Still, this time, Trump's offended half the world.
The Nazis he defends ran down a girl.

epistemic closure

the Swedish fiction broadcast by FoxNews
confirmed Trump's expectation of the place
unchallenged, 'cause it lined up with his views
about how civic virtue tracks with race
the echo chamber in between Trump's ears
will resonate if struck by the right note
strange orange champion of the  White men's fears
at least that class that register, and vote
American democracy's decline
won't be reversed if not by a free press
but Breitbart's blaring out the Party line
an eager partner in the fascist mess
while Bannon slanders Muslims, Gays, and Jews
Trump face-plants in his own mire of fake-news

useful idiots II

the BlackBloc violence at UCB

will justify reprisals down the line

restricting content for speech to be free

and martial law like back in '69

these might be Trump's agents provocateurs

a false-flag operation to sow doubt

or revolutionaries over-sure

they know what civic virtue's all about

the useful idiots of our new age

whom Lenin praised a hundred years ago

self-righteous in their window-smashing rage

drag all our civil rights arguments low

like so much blood spilt on the killing floor

the first punch thrown provokes a hundred more

useful idiots

the BlackBloc violence at UCB
will justify reprisals down the line
restricting content for speech to be free
and martial law like back in '69
these might be Trump's agents provocateurs
a false-flag operation to sow doubt
or revolutionaries over-sure
they know what civic virtue's all about
in violent encounters, it's the State
that holds the cards and owns the playing field
once conflict comes to arms, it's way too late
the outcome, once in flux is now congealed
like so much blood spilt on the killing floor
the first punch thrown provokes a hundred more