ODDS AND ENDS

 

Will George Santos
Be thrown out of Congress?
Depends on how many Republicans
Support the fabulist
 
Just saw an ad on TV
For a funeral home
Switched the channel
After giving a moan
 
Putin is really into
Poisoning those he dislikes
Much easier than
Sabotaging their bikes
 
Elon Musk is striving to be
A complete jerk
Nobody achieves completeness, Elon
Not even someone
With your obnoxious smirk
You might have to settle
For a lesser perk
 
Does Nikki Haley have a shot
At burying the Orange Hoax?
Please help her, Lord
This ain’t no joke
 
Tommy the Dork Tuberville
Appears to be backing down
Although he claims he’s still against
Those wearing a “woke” gown

THE LESSER EVIL

 

Compared to the Orange Huckster
What is the lesser evil?
How about anybody or thing
Republican, Democrat, even a boll weevil?
 
Remember the weevil?
They destroy cotton crops
Leading to economic upheaval
But the Huckster is threatening
Societal and political destruction
That is almost primeval

LIZ CHENEY CASTIGATES HER PARTY

 

Liz Cheney has a new book
“Oath and Honor”
In which she castigates GOP
“Enablers and Collaborators”
Of the Orange Huckster’s effort
To join the ranks of traitors
 
Yes, traitors
The Huckster instigated
And continues to instigate
The overthrow of the government
That’s traitorous conduct
Not a First Amendment movement

WHAT THE HUCKSTER HAS WROUGHT

 

If you’re a public figure
And you criticize the Orange Huckster
You and your family will likely receive
Vitriol, obscenities, threats very sinister
 
Is this what democracy
Has descended into?
An undisciplined rabble
Whose values and conduct are askew?

JUST LIKE OLD TIMES

 

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer
Is in the Middle East
Covering the Israel-Hamas conflict
More than thirty years ago
With much less grey
And a younger and energetic glow
He was in the same corner of the globe
Dodging Iraqi scuds
Covering the First Gulf War show
Just like old times, eh Wolf?

HOSTAGE RELEASE

 

How did hostage release
In the Israel-Hamas disaster
Morph into a public spectacle
And a journalistic adventure?
 
Credit social media
And talking heads galore
What in the past
Would have been secretive
Today is a component of
A propaganda war

IS SPEAKER JOHNSON ON THE JOB?

Is new House Speaker Johnson
Preparing for the next budget deadline?
Or is he immersed
In Yuletide dine and wine?
 
And have the House MAGAs
Had chaos enough?
Or do they still want to show
They’re really tough stuff?

THANKSGIVING WISH

 

Thanksgiving
For what are we thankful?
That the Orange Huckster
Is no longer President
For what do we hope and pray?
That he does not again
Become the White House resident

SIXTY YEARS

 

Sixty years ago John F. Kennedy
Was assassinated in Dallas
One can contend it marked the end
Of the almost two-decade
Post-World War II period
Characterized by relative cultural stability
And the commencement of cultural volatility
That has lasted for six decades and culminated
In the Orange Huckster’s cultural hostility
And ill-disguised bigotry

TARGET OF OPPORTUNITY

 

Looks like the Orange Huckster
Is winning the gag order wars
Apparently no judge is willing
To emphatically say
This line is the no-no
Beyond which you do not go
 
The Huckster thrives
In such uncertainty
Legal fuzziness for him
Is a target of opportunity

MISS MANNERS

 

Judges are grappling with
The gag orders on the Orange Huckster
Should he be Miss Manners
Or allowed to threaten and slander?
 
Legitimate First Amendment issues
That the Founding Fathers did not foresee
How could they have imagined
A Presidential candidacy
from a belligerent orange monkey?

WANNABE DICTATOR

 

The Orange Huckster
Gave a speech in Iowa
In which he praised three dictators
Xi of China
Orban of Hungry and
Putin of Russia
 
It’s becoming obvious
That in addition to being
A world-class prevaricator
The Huckster is also
A wannabe dictator

MORAL CLARITY DIFFICULTIES

 

The Israel-Palestinian situation
Does not easily lend itself
To a moral winner position
 
You could be pro-Israel
But come to a conclusion
That Netanyahu’s heavy-handedness
In Gaza and the West Bank
Is not a proper solution
Or you could be pro-Palestinian
And supportive of a two-state formulation
But opposed to Hamas’
Brutality and terrorization
 
And these types of nuanced criticisms
Do not make one guilty
Of racial, ethnic, or religious
Bigotry and discrimination

MELANIA, WHEREFORE ART THOU?

 

Thanksgiving coming up
Time for turkey at Mar-a-Lago
No pardons for the Huckster’s birds
Unless Melania says “no”
 
Speaking of Melania
Don’t see much of her these days
Maybe that’s the cause
Of the Huckster’s recent raves

FOOT IN MOUTH

 

Joe opens mouth
Inserts foot
Xi is a “dictator”
Good job, Joe
At being an instigator
Not so great, Joe
At being a conciliator
 
Keep up the gaffes, Joe
And the Orange Huckster just might evict you
From Sixteen Hundred
Pennsylvania Avenue

CONGRESSIONAL PUGILISTIC UPDATE

 

Who hit who
In Congress today?
Did the Oklahoma tough hombre Senator
And the Teamster’s honcho
Ever get to play?
 
If you see Kevin McCarthy
Walking aggressively in your direction
Best be ready
For an elbow to the mid-section
 
Kevin, why not save
Your assault proclivities
For Matt Gaetz
Who certainly deserves at least
A whack at his extremities?

KUDOS TO MIKE

 

Kudos to new House Speaker Johnson
With massive Democrat support
He got his convoluted budget plan
Past the wacko MAGA dam
 
Now it’s to the Senate
Where hopefully it won’t be rejected
And then to the White House
Where Joe’s agreement is expected
 
So no government shutdown
This coming weekend
Onward to January and February
When the game will likely be played again

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR CLARENCE AND SAM

 

The Supreme Court has issued
A Code of Conduct for Justices
To impose controls on outliers
Like Clarence and Samuel
Who seem to have problems
With ethically related matters
 
Meanwhile Netanyahu
Continues to harm Israel’s cause
With excessive brutality
And little evidence of humanity

DOOMED PLAN

 

New House Speaker Johnson
Has put forward a two-phase plan
That has the proverbial
Snowball’s chance in hell
Of reaching the Promise Land
 
The MAGA far-right whack-jobs
Many other Republicans
And practically all Democrats
Think the plan is a non-starter
So the ball remains in your court, Mike
Five days until disaster
 
You might need Dems
To avoid failure
Too many members of your party
Would enjoy a government closure

NOVEMBER 18, 1967

 

On November 18, 1967
Alpha Company ascended Hill 882
Most survived, but a few did not
The memory of them
Still burns hot

ONLY A WEEK

 

In only a week
MAGA Mike Johnson, the new House Speaker
Will have shown whether
He’s just another Republican bottom feeder
Or has the makings of a competent leader
 
The test is federal government funding
Can agreement be reached
On this necessary matter
Or will MAGA intransigence
Lead to disaster?

HUCKSTER’S KIDS TESTIFY

 

Eric, Don Jr., Ivanka
Do you recognize these documents?
“Looks like a lotta numbers to us
Numbers shouldn’t cause a fuss”
 
These are financial statements
About the status of the Trump enterprise
They show shenanigans
That cause legal questions to rise
 
“Oh, not our Dad
He’s been a wonderful father
We weren’t involved in money
Financial statements are such a bother”
 
Meanwhile,
Hey, Colbert
You calling it quits?
Kimmel and Fallon are doing new shows
You seem mired in repeats

PRESIDENT YOUNGKIN?

 

Looks like there won’t be
A President Glenn Youngkin
His political future took a gut-punch
From his fifteen-week limit on abortion
 
So maybe back to the Carlyle Group
Make a bunch more money
And think about what might have been
If you’d struck political honey
And your red vest wasn’t so funny
 
Meanwhile, the new House Speaker
Says “trust us” about government financing
Less than two weeks, Mike
You sure you aren’t just wishing and hoping
And your right flank wackos aren’t controlling?

ELECTIONS 2023

 

Election night, what is the result?
 
In Ohio
A Constitutional right to abortion
 
In Kentucky
Democrat Governor Andy Beshear’s reelection
 
In Virginia
Results still unofficial, but Republican efforts
To take both Houses of the General Assembly
Apparently suffered rejection

LISTEN UP, MAGAS

 

He’s an extraordinary individual
Was the essence of his testimony
Therefore, whatever he says
Has unquestionable believability
 
Listen up, MAGAS
Do you hate your government so much
And have so little respect for your country
That you would return the Orange Huckster
To the Presidency
Where he could possibly
Destroy the rule of law completely?

OLD DOMINION ELECTION

 

Big election in Virginia
All 140 seats in the General Assembly
At stake are abortion rights
And Gov Youngkin’s future politically
 
A successful private-equity investor
A tall good-looking guy
An anti-woke leader
But is he willing to stick a finger
In the Orange Huckster’s eye?

MAGA POLITICIANS AND PUTIN

 

What’s with this love affair developing
Between MAGA politicians and Putin?
Is it that MAGAs are attracted
To questionable people best forgotten
Such as the Orange Huckster
Whose morals and ethics
Are really quite rotten?

EMASCULATED BY PROCESS

 

What is the problem
With the United States Senate?
It won’t tinker with one
Of its internal arcane procedural regulations
To remove Tommy Tuberville’s block
On military promotions?
 
It’s doubtful the Founding Fathers
Envisioned a single individual
In either House of Congress
Being able to prevent
The conducting of routine business

REPUBLICAN HOUSE CHARGES AHEAD

 

The House has passed
Aid to Israel funding
Backed by cuts
Preventing the IRS from functioning
And with no money for
Ukraine’s fight against Putin invading
 
So the Johnson House
Has thrown down the marker
Any bets on
A government closure?

HUCKSTER’S RHETORIC SPIRALS DOWNWARD

 

The Orange Huckster
And his MAGA team
Are sinking their rhetorical ship
To depths rarely seen
 
Political rhetoric has not often
Been high on the uplifting
But the Huckster’s increasing viciousness
Is reminiscent of dictators venting
To a level of criminal motivating