So Long, Roseanne!

So "Roseanne" is off the air;

ABC has cancelled the show.

Hats off to the company

For its decision. Way to go!

After recent NFL

Corporate cowardice, people wonder

Whether the TV station would

Fail to act and therefore blunder.

Sadly, many people now

Are out of a job because of Roseanne.

(Although the show was popular,

I must admit, I wasn't a fan.)

People tweet many things,

Often vulgar or asinine,

But this time the comedienne

Has unashamedly crossed the line.

Writing that an African-American

Woman was a cross between

Muslims and apes, Barr has shown

That her attacks are far beyond mean.

Once aware of the repercussions,

Roseanne Barr came out with the claim

That Ambien had made her do it--

Yes, Ambien was to blame.

The manufacturer of Ambien

Has responded with a shrug:

Racism is not a known

Side effect of the drug.

-by Bob B (5-30-18)

How to Muddy the Waters

While you're being investigated,

If "witch hunt" is often repeated,

Your eager-to-please fan base will say,

"Oh, poor guy. He's being mistreated!"

Maintain the false allegation

That during your election campaign

The FBI "spied" on you.

America's loss will be your gain.

Spread distrust of our institutions.

Just repeat lie after lie,

And fans will scarf it down as though

It's honey falling from the sky.

Although a foreign country assisted

Your campaign, cause confusion

By fervently repeating the words

"No collusion. No collusion."

Conspire with any members of Congress

Willing to sell their souls to the devil.

Your shared obstruction of justice will give you

Success in which you later can revel.

Discredit the media and call them fake

When you dislike what they're relaying

So people in your echo chamber

Won't believe what reporters are saying.

Say that the truth is relative;

Raise doubt in what's true and real.

Do whatever it takes to cover up

Everything that you want to conceal.

It's so easy to muddy the waters.

Getting ratings: that is the key.

Generate conspiracy theories.

Create your own reality.

-by Bob B (5-29-18)

Heartless

If we are a compassionate land

That genuinely cares about others,

We shouldn't separate families

And rip kids out of the arms of their mothers

And then place them in foster care,

Or in what John Kelly would call

"Whatever," thus allowing the Trump

Administration to play hardball.

Refugees seeking asylum:

Look at how we cruelly mistreat them.

They follow the rules and knock on our door,

And then look at how we greet them?

Ah, so being cruel is supposed

To be a deterrent. That will explain

Why certain leaders feel that they

Can justify being inhumane.

The children--one was just a year old--

Are often taken to different states!

In both the mother and in the children,

Imagine the trauma that this creates.

And then Trump further muddies the waters--

Playing the usual Trumpian game--

And writes an obnoxious tweet saying

That Democrats are the ones to blame!

My country 'tis of thee, it's not our liberty

Or our humanity of which we sing.

Don't spout that righteous stuff, for we have had enough.

If it's all just a bluff, to what can we cling?

-by Bob B (5-26-18)

His Royal Highness

Democratic policies and

Procedures: what the heck are those?

Merely obstacles at which

The president thumbs his nose.

His loyal lackeys and sycophants

Kowtow to his every whim.

It's not about what's best for the people;

Unfortunately, it's all about him.

One must wonder: when the man

Vociferously attacks the feds,

Is he the Queen of Hearts in his dreams,

Madly yelling, "Off with their heads!"?

For a country built on democratic

Values it's a scary thing

When an elected official forgets

That he's the president--NOT the king.

-by Bob B (5-21-18)

Bloodbath in Gaza

While American and Israeli officials

Clink their champagne glasses and schmooze

At an embassy in Jerusalem,

One thing is barely making the news:

Over one hundred twelve° Palestinians

Have been killed at the Gaza Strip

Since March 30 by Israeli soldiers

Demonstrating their marksmanship.

Over 13,000° have been

Injured, having wounds that consist

Of large, gaping holes in the victims--

Bullet holes the size of a fist.

The bullets shot from high-velocity

Weapons on hitting their target explode

Expanding and mushrooming inside the body.

Israeli cruelty à la mode?

People from all walks of life gathered

To demonstrate and express their frustration

For living conditions in their Gaza prison--

An abominable situation.

Conditions, in fact, are among

The worst that the world has seen.

May 14 was the bloodiest day

Since the strife in twenty fourteen.

Israelis call it "self-defense";

It's really shoot-to-injure or kill.

Are snipers keeping track of how many

Palestinian coffins they'll fill?

One uncle never imagined

That he would need a body bag.

He carried home his 8-month old niece

Wrapped in a Palestinian flag.

The people want a place that's home.

But while negotiations stall--

And marginalized by circumstances--

They live inside or outside a wall.

-by Bob B (5-19-18)

°Based on a report by journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous

Inexcusable Behavior

Nominee Gina Haspel

To head the CIA? No way!

How can senators ignore

The ugly truths on her resumé.

Having run a black site in Thailand

Where prisoners were tortured, she

Then erased the evidence

In hopes to clear the agency.

And now our leaders want to promote her?

Damn! Please excuse the profanity,

But one would think it more apropos

To try her for crimes against humanity?

"Enhanced interrogation techniques"--

What a sickening euphemism

Used to justify the use

Of torture to fight terrorism.

According to Trump, waterboarding

Is an acceptable practice; what's more,

He would push it further and do

What conscientious people deplore.

Apparently, justifications

For cruelty are easy to spin

When democratic values are being

Attacked from both without and within.

-by Bob B (5-14-18)

Torture Again

Torture. Yes, once again

The topic of torture is in the news,

And whether honor, humanity,

And decency will win or lose.

Trump's nominee to head

The CIA was put on the spot

And couldn't answer the question whether

Torture is immoral or not.

That was enough for Senator

McCain to say his vote would be "Nay."

A White House aide said, No big deal;

"He is dying anyway."

No comment came from the White House.

Was nobody shocked or annoyed?

Or does this show how the Oval Office

Operates in a moral void?

George Washington said that the treatment

Of POWs should be humane.

Of course, that was before Donald Trump--

When presidents tended to be more sane.

-by Bob B (5-11-18)

Storm(y) in May

Months have passed, and now we're in

The very merry month of May,

And much to Trump's consternation,

Stormy* hasn't gone away.

Trump's attorney Michael Cohen

Has also gotten himself in a bind.

Now he's under investigation.

Just imagine what they'll find!

Stormy's lawyer, Avenatti,

After digging was able to unearth

Some pertinent and interesting

Information, for what it's worth:

Millions of dollars have flowed in and out

Of Michael Cohen's LLC.

It seems that access to Donald Trump

Doesn't happen without a fee.

Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg

Deposited a substantial sum,

Along with a few corporations.

A lot of people ask, How come?

Suspicious explanations abound,

Though we are tiring of the charades.

Is Cohen really an all-around expert

At everything--a jack of all trades?

Members of Congress say follow the money.

One says that without a doubt

Shake any tree in the forest of Trump,

And what do you know? a Russian falls out.

More dots are being connected,

Which to Trump must be a bummer.

We've had a Stormy winter and spring;

Will we have a Stormy summer?

-by Bob B (5-10-18)

*Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford)

You Call That a Choice?

Wise adults know the value

Of leaving foolish thoughts unexpressed.

Somehow that message has been lost

On rap singer Kanye West.

When mentioning the many years

Of suffering when the enslaved had to toil

And live in fear of whippings and lynchings

And rape here on American soil,

West has now made slavery

A topic to which he's given voice:

That it lasted for so many years

Means that it must have been a choice!

West claims that he's a freethinker.

Critics, of course, will disagree.

Anyone who knows the past

Would substitute "non" for "free."

If that's his desire for recognition,

He's found an odd way to gratify it.

What a way to promote an album!

Who the hell would want to buy it?

The singer, desperate for attention,

Is just like somebody else we know.

Money, fame, and power can turn you

Into a real so-and-so.

-by Bob B (5-7-18)

The Dollars Keep Flowing In

Trump said there would be no

Conflicts of interest. No siree!

That conflicts of interest have continued

Nonstop is plain to see.

Millions of dollars keep flowing in.

The company's bank accounts keep growing.

His snow job is SO convincing that many

Don't even see how hard it's "snowing."

Since January 2017

The RNC has spent more

Than 700,000 dollars

At properties owned by Trump; therefore,

It doesn't matter how much he says

That he has cut major ties

With businesses. He really hasn't;

It's all just a pack of lies.

Since he took office, political groups

And agencies have in fact

Spent 15.1 million dollars

At TRUMP properties! Caught in the act!

No matter what you want to call it--

No matter how you want to construe it--

You can make money from politics;

There are numerous ways to do it.

It shows what can happen when

The spirit is weak but the flesh is willing.

The office of the presidency

Can help a businessman make a killing.

-by Bob B (5-5-18)