1066

All history's contingent; day by day
each choice makes universes twin, and fork.
Olde England might have gone another way
had Hardrada not left his mail at York.
For Edward's heir, both battles came too late;
the fyrd that watched the straits perceived no harm
October found few souls to share his fate;
the conscripts served their time, went home to farm.
The French domesticated their own Norse
they drank more wine than beer, these quondam Danes.
But Norway kept the war-blood hot, of course
full-armed they'd devastate the Northern Thanes.
Whole empires hang upon a change of wind
and whether popes opine one king had sinned.

sideshow

The pundits scold: Liz Warren should ignore
Trump's taunts about heredity and blood.
Evoking Howard Dean's untempered roar
as if she wants to wrestle in Trump's mud.
This DNA result's way over-blown;
Trump owes another million he won't pay.
Exactly what she'd claimed has now been shown.
Now, let real issues sweep this tiff away.
Progressives had a party in the past;
each Roosevelt knew citizens control.
This issue-driven candidate--at last!
Gives us, and not big donors starring role.
The future of America's at stake
while we're distracted by these headlines fake.

Ethics Probe

It's clear to Tymkovich: Kavanaugh lied.
But is the SCOTUS not beyond his writ?
Impartial judges mustn't take a side
still, this whole nomination smells of shit.
Whole years of paper trail are under seal;
Brett's role in torture policy's obscure.
But roommates testify; they know the deal.
That ersatz choirboy's anything but pure.
This Senate winks at lies; it doesn't care.
Leave "indiscretions" buried in Brett's youth!
But now, this nominee's Judge Tim's affair
and solemn oaths oblige him to seek Truth.
The only one who's ditching Brett's his wife;
judge Tim could shackle us to him for life.

Game on!

Her DNA bears out Liz Warren's claim:
her forebears got here many moons ago.
Millenia before Columbus came;
she's not the one we call "Pinocchio".
Trump's folk fled Europe's wars, and poverty.
His mother braved the seas when but a lass
intent on seeking opportunity
to serve a family of higher class.
The race of 2020 pits these twain
in earnest combat for a nation's soul.
She speaks for us, while he fails to explain
why plutocrats should exercise control.
KnowNothing Nativists are on the spot;
to stick with Trump's to vote for what he's not.

Pagliacchi

Trump's coke-fueled rants disturb the few who care;
his rhetoric and diction ain't the best.
Invective can't mask there's no substance there;
beneath that orange hair, he's Kanye West.
Twin Barnums, selling hokum to the mob
as if they'd conjure substance at their word.
Too busy talking to perform their job,
they think themselves above the madding herd.
To craft a paragraph is out of reach
when working memory can't hold one thought.
The measured cadence of Obama's speech
is still not anything that can be bought.
So hard to satirize this goofy town!
Straight news gets laughs just covering this clown.

doddering fool

Chuck Schumer won't confirm Brett Kavanaugh,

but seems withal unbothered by the lies.

It's not for him to execute the law;

veracity's not his to verify.

He'll talk for days (when donors write the bill)

but hardly seems engaged in this dispute.

So much the creature of Capitol Hill

without the filibuster, he's half mute.

The stolen research Democrats amassed

got Pryor's nomination through, unchecked

but as we learned more details of Brett's past,

his case seemed one the Senate should reject.

The Checks and Balances our Founders wrought

presumed the opposition won't be bought.

Fourth Estate

binSalman murders with impunity
since Jared knelt, and kissed his gaudy ring.
This most selective goy fraternity,
grants special access to the Saudi king.
Khashoggi got dismembered; parts were shipped
to sun-bleached deserts, where the birds of prey
make sport of what should lie in some dark crypt.
Piecemeal, the prince's critics melt away.
This White House can't pretend to give a fig
if journalists abruptly disappear
Trump's sympathies lie wholly with the pig;
FreePress is nothing autocrats hold dear.
Niemoeller warned, they'll take us, one by one
if we don't drag their crime out to the sun.