Epstein's assets

The Kompromat in Jeffrey Epstein's files
sports tentacles encircling half the world.
The kind of scum who'd violate a child
don't want it known they'd paid for school-aged girls.
Had Peter Thiel remained above the noise
Nobody would remark it's very strange.
But, 'though his prediliction is for boys,
in his own special way, he too's deranged.
Backrooms, where deals get cut, and bribes change hands
inimical to what our Founders wrought,
have made the purse the measure of the man;
there, nothing's valued that has not been bought.
Where politics with money intersects
like rape, it's male control, not joy of sex.

protection racket

Manipulating markets on a lark,
Trump tells himself he'd mastered minting cash.
Investors who've been left out, in the dark
now hold portfolios that might be trash.
Safe haven that the world had come to trust
to hold more value when the Markets fell,
with gross uncertainty, is going bust;
Trump's shot the US Treasuries to Hell.
Relief's available to those who'll kneel,
and promise to obey his every whim.
He'll carve out holes for microchips, and steel...
as long as a percentage flows to him.
That "swamp" that Trump had promised he would "drain"
has spread to inundate his febrile brain.

Foreign agent

Seducing Trump's been Putin's greatest trick;
he plays that dotard like a gilded flute.
'Though Arnold Palmer awed him with his dick,
it's Vladimir who's balls-deep up his chute.
The Seven Deadly Sins personified,
amalgamated in one orange lump.
Soi dissant "Christians" meekly deified
this antichrist, and kneel before their Trump.
Roy Cohn had thought this shaygetz would be fun
to pummel like a rentboi in his bed.
But Vladimir's the man who got it done
a really different sort of anti-Red.
The Kremlin's puppet does what he's been told;
Ukraine is just the first of what's been sold.

whose asset?

What Kompromat on Trump does Putin hold,
that keeps his creature fawning at his side?
Zelenskyy would be left out in the cold
and would soon need not ammo, but a ride.
Or would, if Europe didn't take a stand
behind one country fighting for us all.
While bullies mock and jeer the better man
as if it's only poker, or futbol.
Gross beauty pageant impresario
presumes consent when bulling in on teens
who might not feel empowered to say 'no'
to one who gets to vote on who's crowned "queen".
Beyond the nasty stench of pay-to-play
Trump's dealings wouldn't stand the light of day.

Our Revolution

O'Brien brought it to the RNC,
like Daniel singing in the lions' den.
Indifferent to Trump's antipathy,
he won't treat corporations like real men.
The message Bernie labored to get heard
may travel further in another voice;
more crucial than the spokesman, are the words,
and how real voters understand their choice.
Two parties, each beholden to big banks
pay court to union leaders on the sly
to serve up voters in their files and ranks
as if democracy were theirs to buy.
While other speakers worship Trump's fat ass,
this Teamster champions the working class.

tool

Mike Johnson sold his soul long years ago;
Three Russian oligarchs saw fit he's paid
to vote however winds in Moscow blow,
and never send Zekenskyy urgent aid.
Republicans once served a noble cause:
an end to bondage! All men must be free!
More recently, they're not big fans of laws
that benefit somebody who's not"me".
While Putin's projects dominate the Hill,
our nation's business isn't getting done.
Agenda written by a Kremlin shill
set back what progress Biden has begun.
When politicians look abroad for bucks,
it's hard to feign surprise that we're so fucked.

hypocrites and traitors

The treason Putin purchased in Ukraine
impaired defense, but failed to throw the war.
Abroad, his rubles bought him greater gain;
and TrumptyDumpty proved his eager whore.
A world ablaze, the Speaker doesn't care;
Trump'd laid his stubby hands on Johnson's head.
While unctuous traces linger in his hair
he won't betray the manger where he's fed.
Where piety and lucre so collude,
compassion for the living's shoved aside.
A million who'd have lived, had they had food
don't prick his conscience as they've starved, and died.
The Kremlin Caucus help their master kill
and piously profess to serve God's will.

low-class

Eight Justices demurred to criticize
a criminal among them on the bench.
Emoluments discretely on the side
taint all the nine with one pervasive stench.
The Thomases craved life-long to belong
and Reagan's party opened wide a door.
Dismissing questions of what's "right" or"wrong"
proferring wealth, it sought an eager whore.
Our Framers did their best to insulate
our highest court from politics, and Class.
But never dreamt an ethos of Class-hate
would saddle us with such a venal ass.
"[O]n good behaviour" rather than "for life"
requires we ask: "Who's bought the judge's wife?"

Supreme Arrogance

Chief justice Roberts chooses to be blind
as SCOTUS blunders off the moral cliff.
So confidant the voters wouldn't mind
that Thomas swims in unreported gifts.
Pacific jaunts that eldest justice took,
where Krakatoa's new volcanoes grow
are nowhere on his tax-accountant's books;
emoluments from "dear friend" TrammelCrow.
Jane Roberts also profits on the side
when litigants desire her husband's ear.
No penalty's incurred for laws defied
when perpetrators know they have no peer.
"[O]n good behaviour" rather than "for life"
requires we ask: "who's bought the judge's wife?"

It was never about the nation's interests

Israelis on the Left failed to unite
against the perils Netanyahu brings.
A coalition so far on the Right
"prime minister" increasingly means "king".
No constitution circumscribes the role;
they've failed at writing one since '48.
If once Mishpat Elyon would cede control,
one man could compromise a people's fate.
Corruption charges never went away;
a blameless man would hasten to get cleared.
But Bibi's strategy was all delay,
and cultivating voters' baseless fears.
Two thousand years, we prayed we'd get self-rule.
And now we've blown it on this grifting tool.

Tsar manqué

The Russian empire Putin meant to leave
as monument to his excessive pride,
died on the road, two days' march short of Kyiv;
The generals who swore they'd do it, lied.
Ukrainians remember Swedes, and Poles,
and Mongols staking out what wasn't theirs.
A people's right at home to wield control,
is not a thing for someone else's heirs.
The puppet Manafort worked to install
wrote off Sevastopol for paltry beans.
A bag of rubles bought a willing thrall;
it's all "diplomacy by other means".
Destroying what he claims by right to own,
for Russians' sake he must be overthrown.

priceless

Letitia James brought first the civil suit;

Discovery's where so much work gets done.
When once NewYork gets paid what's in dispute,
the feds can prosecute the 1001.
The bankers Hillary'd relo'ed to woo
trust their collateral would still be there
if they must liquidate when loans come due.
They want to hold real assets, not hot air.
Assessors jeopardize their very job
to value high to lenders, low for tax.
When they're coerced, or bought to serve the mob
they share exposure for their faithless acts.
Failed president, who'd lost his own homestate
now sweats as those he'd cheated weigh his fate.

Fishes rot from the head

The Secret Service trusted with Trump's leash
Would never trust the moron with control.
The steering wheel's kept firmly out of reach;
they'll trot him out in time to speak his role.
'Til then, his backseat door stays firmly locked;
he'd just break something, left at large, alone.
The crazies mustn't penetrate his box,
And--if they could--they'd smash his god-damned phone.
Each agent's vetted; tough case to suborn!
But Trump knows any mortal has a price;
some burn for hookers, some crave bootleg porn.
There's opportunity exploiting Vice.
As midterms loom, there's not a lot of time
to stem Trump's tidal wave of gangland crime.

useful idiot

LePen deems Putin's land-grabs no concern
to Frenchmen facing crises of their own.
Another generation's yet to learn;
all Europeans share one common home.
The Baltics know their fate's wed to Ukraine.
Forever on their guard, ex-soviet
republics know appeasement's stark insane;
the Munich lesson's not one they'll forget.
Soft-pedalling anti-Muslim rhetoric
she plays the grown-up option to Zemmour.
As much as bankers' toadies make us sick,
she's plunging ever deeper in this sewer.
The Kremlin's meddling in our governance
looks eerily familiar now in France.

Couple of Joes

Joe Manchin stopped Joe Biden's program cold
reflecting how his biggest donors feel.
Two Joes stood up, but one of them looks bold;
the other's way too quick to cut a deal.
For Biden, compromise is statecraft's soul;
no bedrock undergirds him that won't bend.
But Manchin's adamant; he stands for Coal.
His vote's not one on which we can depend.
To flip the Senate would have taken more;
a 50/50 split breaks for the rich.
While Biden haggles with this small-town whore,
our fair republic's heading for the ditch.
As midterms loom, McConnell's feeling good;
he's bought a Manchin in prime neighborhood.

owned

Corruption was Liz Warren's trademark theme
But Biden staked this season in the sun.
The darling of the never-Trump machine
is unperturbed that nothing's getting done.
Save Warren--bankers underwrite them all
and Carried Interest loophole serves their cause.
Two parties--nominal--both in their thrall
are never gonna fix these stupid laws.
No Independent voice can seize that mic;
the oligarchs know who's not in their debt.
We're "free to choose" among the few they like
but votes are null and void, outside that set.
"A time for boldness" sounds good on the stump
but not enough has changed since we ditched Trump.

impediment

Joe Manchin holds his party by the throat;
without him, Democrats can't claim control.
Regardless how them out-of-staters vote
his personal portfolio's all Coal.
More Green alternatives are all around
and many are already in the field.
Like coal, Joes best when six feet underground
'Til then, he'll dance, but never sign a deal.
This Dickens-era fuel we subsidize
sequesters Carbon since the Earth was young.
Joe Biden--in the name of "compromise"
shows no intent to do what must be done.
The midterms loom, the balance could swing back
still, Biden shows no stomach for attack.

Joe/Joe

Joe Biden cedes the filibuster fight
To Manchin without firing a first shot.
In West Virginia, "Democrats" lean Right,
forgetting unions won them all they've got.
The 40-hour work-week, Medicare,
and NewDeal policies on countless things,
drove back the squalor, shedding new light where
mine owners owned their lives, and ruled like kings.
Unspoken goes the threat that Joe might switch;
McConnell'd gloat to claim him as his own!
From modest roots to corporations' bitch,
Joe's never thought a thought to call his own.
The Chair of Energy's in debt to Coal
and quite enjoys this feeling of control.

Dirty Joe

Joe Manchin raised his daughter to look strong
and profit from connections when she can.
Contemptuous that nepotism's wrong;
In all their kin, you'll find no honest man.
As senate chair, he's proud to wield control

of what we'll tax, and what we'll subsidize

Predictably, his answer's always "coal!"

And anyone who'd catch him cheating, lies!

The scrutiny he'd studied to avert

when he loomed big in West Virginia's pool

flares bright, now all the planet's on alert;

he'll face the spotlight, if he means to rule.
The millions Heather Bresch took home in pay
highlight more questions that won't go away.

vicious circle

James Fallows warned, our wars will never end
as long as senators exempt their sons.
Mis-named department, once used to defend,

now fears its budget shrinks with conflicts won.

Tax-dollars circulate through lobbyists

to buy the senators who authorize

consigning more lives to the war-god's fist.

Lord Ares gets his cut each time one dies.

As K-Street glitters with retired Brass

we make sure Congress buys the latest arms.
Their motives are peculiar to their class;

society at large absorbs the harm.

Ike heard the death-throes of our government

in those colluding to sell armaments.