Strongmen and Their Death Squads

Strongmen and their death squads….

In many countries, both exist.

The squads inflict terror while

The strongmen rule with an iron fist.

The people have to watch what they say,

Watch what they do, and live in fear.

Often they will end up in a morgue;

Sometimes they'll merely disappear.

Indirectly, Donald Trump

Appears to have his death squads, too--

Far-right extremists who

Are a rather deplorable crew.

All that Trump must do is find

Someone out there to criticize--

Opponents, prosecutors, judges,

Their families--with vicious lies,

And suddenly, they will have

Giant targets on their backs.

They live in constant fear for their lives

Merely because of Trump's attacks.

Many Republicans also fear

Opposing Trump and therefore feel

Coerced into supporting him.

The chances of being a target are real.

Trump uses innuendo

Or code to get his point across. 

Is he aware at all how much

He sounds just like a mafia boss?

Whether or not he likes it, his thugs

Are there to terrorize us. Alas!

Imagine the nightmare if for Trump

A win in November should come to pass!

-by Bob B (3-30-24)

Lies

It's sad when people lie about you

And say that you said what you hadn’t said.

One would think that they should have

Better things to do instead.

 

What is it that makes them so?

Do they really believe their lies?

Or is the truth beyond their reach--

A thing they don't even recognize?

 

Do they feel so desolate?

Are they so insecure within?

Are their lives so out of sorts--

An imbalance of yang and yin?

 

It doesn't make me angry. Not really,

When they are so mendacious…disjointed.

If I feel hurt at all,

It's mainly because I'm disappointed--

 

Disappointed that they don't see

How their actions reflect on them

And NOT on the people whom they choose

To lie about, malign, or condemn.

 

And so I wonder if they'll ever

See the error of their ways

And maybe be able to turn their unkind

Comments from calumny to praise.

-by Bob B (3-26-24)

The Bell Tolls

Trump with all his indictments and cases

Continues playing his usual games.

Political motivations are

What guide the indictments! That's what he claims.

 

He's trying to get the sympathy

From voters across the country who feel

That poor, innocent Donald Trump

Has gotten a horrible, horrible deal.

 

Victimhood's his major tactic.

He says it's all a witch hunt, and then

He and his lawyers keep trying to

Delay the process again and again.

 

Stalling is a strategy

That he has worked out to perfection.

He wants to postpone his trials until

After the presidential election.

 

If you're innocent, Donald Trump,

Then prove your innocence in court.

But that's not easy when honesty

And integrity are not your forte.

 

With all the evidence against him,

It’s hard to imagine him going free.

Don't ask "for whom the bell tolls,"

Donald Trump; "it tolls for thee."

-by Bob B (3-25-24)

A Protest Vote?

A protest vote?° What the hell?

It really makes no sense.

Young voters can protest, but

It's at their own expense.

 

A protest vote? Trump over Biden

To shake up the status quo?

That's like shooting oneself in the foot:

Not voting for Joe.

 

A protest vote? What exactly

Are they trying to prove?

That putting Trump in the White House again

Is an appropriate move?

 

A protest vote? They'd rather have

A con man and a fake--

A man who caters to Putin when

So much is at stake?

 

A protest vote? As though Trump has

THEIR interests at heart?

To vote in an egomaniac

Wouldn't be very smart.

 

A protest vote? They'll find out

If off to the right they swerve,

That come November they will get

The turmoil that they deserve.

-by Bob B (3-23-24)

°Based on reports of protest votes in the primaries

The Angel of Augsburg

Have you heard of the Angel of Augsburg?

Agnes Bernauer was her name.

Her fairy tale start had a tragic ending.

What happened to her was a horrible shame.

 

She lived in the early 1400s

And worked as a servant in Augsburg, where she

Met Duke Albrecht von Würtemberg

Who promised to make her his wife-to-be.

 

Agnes was said to have been a beauty,

With fine noble features and long golden hair.

Even her enemies praised her appearance.

Those who beheld her would all stop and stare.

 

Duke Ernest, who was the young duke's father,

Unfortunately, could not get behind

The thought that Albrecht would marry Agnes.

He had another young lady in mind.

 

Father and son both quarreled, and Albrecht

Took a major step in his life.

Defying his father's unfair demands,

He made the lovely Agnes his wife.

 

They moved to Straubing and lived in a castle.

Albrecht surrounded her with a court.

However, their happily-ever-after

Life--you can guess--would soon be cut short.

 

Duchess Agnes had known all along

That Ernest's wrath was something to fear.

He was a tiger observing its prey,

Awaiting the time to pounce to draw near.

 

When Albrecht was away on business,

Ernest made happen plan part one:

He had Agnes imprisoned for being

A witch who had enchanted his son.

 

How ruthless people can be at times!

But what was there for Agnes to do?

Nothing but wait to be tried and sentenced

As Ernest carried out plan part two.

 

The verdict: guilty. The sentence: drowning.

Such a cruel and heartless rebuke!

Agnes was going to be drowned in the river

In Straubing. The papers were signed by the duke.

 

Thrown from a bridge and into a river,

Agnes was able to drift ashore.

The hangman then held her head underwater

Until the poor woman could breathe no more.

 

History has demonstrated--

And if we ignored it, we'd be remiss--

How power, religion, corruption, and money

Play a strong part in cases like this.

 

The body of Agnes, the Angel of Augsburg,

Lies there in Straubing, where she'd lived and died.

Only a person whose heart has been hardened

Could hear how she suffered and still stay dry-eyed.

-by Bob B (3-12-24)

That's What Dictators Do

Watch Donald Trump. Watch what he does.

Beware of what might ensue

If he's in the Oval Office again

And does what dictators do.

 

Viktor Orbán° came to his home--

A strong man through and through

Who has rejected democracy,

For that's what dictators do.

 

Orbán and Putin are mentors to Trump.

He loves their world view.

He doesn't care how they step on rights,

For that's what dictators do.

 

He swears that he'll go after opponents

If he is elected anew.

Trump wants loyalists only because

That's what dictators do.

 

His anti-migrant rhetoric

Has a frightening hue

As he dehumanizes others.

That's what dictators do.

 

Repeat a lie often enough

And people will think it's true.

Trump is a master at bending the truth.

That's what dictators do.

 

Figuratively, his nose has grown

At least a foot or two

From all the lies he's told so far.

That's what dictators do.

 

Republicans who don't obey him

Or line up in his queue

Are censured, for Trump has called them out.

That's what dictators do.

 

The former president now has

Indictments up the wazoo.

Our system of justice he says is unfair.

That's what dictators do.

 

Criticizing others is fine.

To Trump that's not taboo.

But criticize him and he'll get even.

That's what dictators do.

 

He starts with others, and then just watch:

He'll COME after me and you.

It's incumbent on all of us

To STOP what dictators do.

-by Bob B (3-11-24)

°The prime minister (and current autocrat) of Hungary

Fundie Baby Voice

After President Biden gave

His annual state of the union address,

Alabama's Senator Britt

Had some people to try to impress.

 

There she sat in the kitchen where

She gave her corny rebuttal speech,

Or maybe we should say that THAT's

The place from which she chose to preach.

 

She wanted Christian nationalists

To have a reason to rejoice,

And so she used what people call

Her sappy, "fundie° baby voice."

 

People who watched were flabbergasted.

There were Republicans as well

Who listened in disbelief and asked

One another "What the hell?"

 

Blaming all the nation's struggles

On President Biden, she showed her fixation

With following Trump's playbook regarding

Inflaming fears about immigration.

 

We later discover that some of her comments

Were really nothing but nasty lies.

Perhaps that's par for the course when there's

Someone or something to demonize.

 

Not to bear false witness is

One of the Ten Commandments. Aha!

Doesn't that mean that Senator Britt

Basically broke a religious law?

 

Oh, well! Hypocrisy

Is fine, I guess, for those who believe

That THEIR path is the ONLY path

And there are millions of folks to deceive.

-by Bob B (3-10-24)

°from "fundamentalist"

The Regal Cat

Cleo is quite the regal cat.

Whenever strangers meet her

They must pay close attention to

The manner in which they greet her.

 

A "Hi, kitty, kitty!" just won't do;

That she won't allow.

She prefers, "Your majesty!"

Followed by a bow.

 

"Such a princess!" people say

On seeing her noble mien.

"I beg your pardon," Cleo thinks.

"Princess? No, it's QUEEN!"

 

"Where's my scepter? Where's my crown?"

She asks as she marches away

To sit on her throne--a padded chair--

And keep her subjects at bay.

 

If forced to move from her comfy spot

She makes her displeasure known

With angry looks and a meow expressed

In a very undignified tone.

 

"There's no justice in this base world

If subjects can treat you so,"

Cleo thinks as she leaves the room

With her pride taking a blow.

 

She finds a safe, secluded room

That isn't filled with noise

And waits for her evening banquet when she

Can surely regain her poise.

 

Her subjects know that her taste is refined;

Her needs must be addressed.

Food that's fit for a queen must do--

In other words, the best.

 

If the quality suffers, Cleo

Will turn up her nose, refusing

To eat another bite and thinks,

"I DON’T find this amusing!"

 

When people address her as Cleo, she wonders,

"Why don't people see

That Cleopatra is really what

MY name ought to be?

 

"But, alas, I must remember

That humans are all substandard.

They think they control the world,

And WE'RE the ones who are slandered."

 

At nighttime Cleo will seek a place

Where she will be undisturbed.

Everyone knows to leave her alone,

Or she will be quite perturbed.

 

She dreams of sitting alone on a chaise

Pulled by a team of mice

And then of eating her favorite meal:

Anchovies on ice.

-by Bob B (3-6-24)