Dirty Politics

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Dirty Politics

 

Can we outlaw political lies?

Can we banish frivolous lawsuits?

Can we uncover phony alibis?

Can we recover pilfered loot?

If we don’t do something soon

We’ll lose hold of our reality

AI will conjure up a tune

Exploiting human fallacies

 

Our politics are out of hand

We don’t know what to believe

We could use a better plan

To deliver the facts we need

 

The truth is but a footnote

The facts are lost in the maze

Lies inform us how to vote

Their algorithms daze

 

It’s a race to the deepest pit

Honest politics be damned

The politics of dirt and grit

Slinging mud across the land

 

If you don’t like what you see

Use your ballot to fight back

Vote against the dirty deeds

Put our democracy on track

 

 

Ilhan Omar (The Persecution)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Ilhan Omar (The Persecution)

 

It begins with a member of congress

Representative Ilhan Omar

As the ACLU will surely attest

The gestapo has gone too far

 

If they can target her then no one is safe

Their poison goes to the heart

It proceeds directly from the head of state

Vengeance as a work of art

 

It’s clear these people have no shame

Common decency escapes them

They want and need someone to blame

We hope the people forsake them

 

It’s true they came for the Muslims first

Who else is on their enemies list?

The immigrants have felt their curse

And they’ve taken aim at journalists

 

If you dare oppose their insolence

They will haul you into court

They’ll harass you til your money’s spent

They’ll push you to your last resort

 

What they have done is a disgrace

To the office and the nation

There is no chance of saving face

There can be no salvation

 

No Kings Today

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

No Kings Today

 

No kings today

No kings tomorrow

We remember the date *

It still lives in sorrow

 

You began your reign

Proclaiming blood and gore

You sounded insane

Any you promised no war

 

You were lying then

Just like you’re lying now

It will come to an end

On the day of the Tao

 

We don’t want your war

We don’t want your inflation

We are keeping score

How you’re screwing the nation

 

You don’t want a congress

As a check on your power

Even friends will confess

You’re alone in your tower

 

You don’t want to be king

You want to be even greater

You want angels to sing

But that will come later

 

We will take down your throne

And your statues of gold

You’ll be all on your own

When we take what you stole

 

* January 20, 2017

 

Blood on their Hands

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Blood on their Hands

 

Trump expressed his disdain

Elon Musk delivered the blow

Severing Starlink from Ukraine

Without letting Zelensky know

 

Missiles landed without warning

Smashing buildings, taking lives

Kiev awakened in the morning

Not knowing how, who or why

 

Musk controls the technology

To turn the tide of war

As he pushes his dark psychology

Give the wealthy ever more

 

What they’re saying by their actions

Is that they like the Russian side

Splitting NATO into factions

Letting people know they lied

 

So now it’s Europe and Ukraine

Against the allied autocrats

The world has gone insane

And NATO smells a rat

 

While they play their morbid games

All of us should understand

To their everlasting shame

The have blood on their hands

 

J'Accuse

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

J’Accuse

 

Are you now or have you been

A good friend to a communist?

Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping?

A fascist or a supremacist?

 

If you have be prepared

To step down and be exiled

Tell the truth if you dare

Volunteer to be defiled

 

You dare to tarnish others

When you yourself have betrayed

All your sisters and your brothers

Our proud nation is dismayed

 

You have taken sides in war

For the invader against Ukraine

For the man our friends deplore

You have gone against the grain

 

We will fight you with our votes

We will protest and resist

All our confidence implodes

You’re the friends of communists

 

We suggest self-deportation

But united with your good friends

You have disgraced your nation

It’s time we brought it to an end

 

Nobel

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Nobel

 

He wants the Nobel Prize

For blowing up the Middle East

For promulgating baldfaced lies

And coddling the Russian beast

 

Is the world a better place?

More peaceful or more prosperous?

His reign is a disgrace

His foreign policy is monstrous

 

Still he wants the Nobel Prize

To seal his place in history

The world will long despise

This mystifying mystery

 

How a man of low morality

Low intellect and grace

A man of infinite banality

Rose up to this high place

 

His greatest virtue is greed

He lacks all curiosity

A man who does not read

Whose taste is a monstrosity

 

And yet he has the power

To cause a dozen wars

The bravest men will cower

If he threatens to do much more

 

 

The Fight for Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Fight

 

The fight does not end November 3^rd

In fact it only begins

If you haven’t heard, spread the word

The losing side may win

 

When a man’s in love with power

He will not let it go

He will barricade his tower

And watch it all unfold

 

He will declare election fraud

Just like he has before

He’ll proclaim the word of God

And call his troops to war

 

What happens next we do not know

Will they take it to the streets?

Will we absorb another blow?

Will we yield to defeat?

 

Our republic is in jeopardy

If we do not put them down

They would make us out the enemy

And plant us in the ground

 

On Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

On Democracy

 

Without freedom of speech

You do not have a democracy

You may have an autocracy

Without the sea there is no beach

 

Without freedom of the press

The people are not informed

Your country should be warned

You are democratic less

 

Without the right to protest

You don’t have a republic

Your public forums are sick

It’s a pillar of the west

 

Without protection of due process

Your democracy has failed

Your opponents can be jailed

You do not pass the test

 

Without free and fair elections

You are only a pretender

A civil rights offender

Destined for correction

 

Without independent courts

Your freedom is not real

You are subject to the steal

Your efforts come up short

 

A democracy takes time

It must be zealously protected

Attacks must be rejected

It’s a stubborn state of mind

 

 

Leaving Iraq

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAQ

 

Leaving Iraq

 

At long last we are leaving Iraq

Joe Biden gave the order

No one knows when we’ll be back

Iran is on the border

 

We were there to fight the Islamic State

Or so the handbook says

Now we will have to delegate

The blue coats leave the rez

 

Iraq was a disastrous war

An act of reckless ambition

Someday we’ll be back for more

To lose another war of attrition

 

It’s a story old as Roman days

The conquerors and crusades

It’s as if there is no other way

Our memory seems to fade

 

We’ll do it all again someday

We will start a fool’s endeavor

Some president will want to play

Despite our cries of Never!

 

It comes with too much power

To place in one man’s hands

Ambition claims the hour

The want of another’s land

 

Pay for Play

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORRUPTION

 

Pay for Play

 

He takes gold for considerations

An end to foreign tariffs

Exemptions for preferential nations

You have got to pay the sheriff

 

Gold encrusted diamond rings

A suitcase filled with cash

Gilded treasures for the king

An invitation to the bash

 

If you’d like to make a deal

You’ve got to pay for his attention

To make a strong appeal

There are things we cannot mention

 

For a modest seven figures

He’ll open up the White House doors

If you’d like to use his signature

It may cost a little more

 

It’s pay to play for two more years

Get it while you can

The end of days is drawing near

It’s time to make your brand

 

Corrupt? It’s just a word

That’s how it’s always done

No matter what you’ve heard

It’s been a helluva run

 

The Marker

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORRUPTION

 

The Marker

 

When a mob boss gives you something

Like a yacht on the Baltic Sea

A ruby necklace or a diamond ring

You can bet it isn’t free

 

He’s gonna call your marker

He’s going to call it soon

Just like a circus barker

He’s gonna play your tune

 

Elon gave a half a bill

To put you in the White House

But when he came to do his will

All his dreams were doused

 

He’s gonna call your marker

He’s going to call it soon

Just like a circus barker

He’s gonna play your tune

 

Putin gave you treasures

That no one really knows

Were there illicit pleasures

That the Epstein files would show?

 

He’s gonna call your marker

He’s going to call it soon

Just like a circus barker

He’s gonna play your tune

 

When the crypto kings came calling

When they gave you just a taste

The competition started falling

You changed your mind in haste

 

They’re gonna call your marker

They’re going to call it soon

Just like a circus barker

They’re gonna play your tune

 

Bravo Mark Carney!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Bravo Mark Carney

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney

Stood tall and strong in the Hague

He declared his case for liberty

On the biggest European stage

 

The United States under Donald Trump

Has betrayed our closest allies

He faced a choice to take the lumps

Or to be stronger, smarter, wise

 

His word were proudly spoken

Of common principles and foundations

He spoke of his true devotion

To his people and his nation

 

Our president may forsake it

But he has pushed them to this act

Now he’ll have to grin and take it

Or accelerate his attack

 

Canada will stand up strong

They have given us fair warning

They’ve put up with him far too long

Now we awaken to a new morning

 

It’s the only way to deal with him

The biggest bully on the block

Rise up and his light will dim

He is running out the clock

 

Banned

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE PRESS

 

Banned

 

If he had read the first amendment

(some doubt he reads at all)

The work of our descendants

The free press cannot fall

 

But he doesn’t like their inquisition

The push him into a rage

They challenge all of his positions

Draw attention to his age

 

So he takes away their access

He throws them out the door

Like they’re all a bunch of pests

He won’t see them anymore

 

Yet he’ll see them on the daily news

He’ll see them at their best

He’ll see them when the people choose

The freedom of the press

 

They will yell it from the mountaintop

The president has no clothes

They’ll tell it when his rallies flop

And when resistance grows

 

He banned them from the White House

But he can’t take their right to speak

He’s as feeble as a field mouse

He’s a man well past his peak

 

And everybody knows it well

The people want him gone

We’d like to send him straight to jail

His kingdom for a pawn