Commentary, Satire & Poetry
Because no one will pay to build His WALL-- Not Mexico, not Congress, not even the Wall Street Journal or Faux News, not anyone-- The PRESIDENT will send soldiers with guns To make sure Mexico does not invade. Nat. Guard will guard the desert (without shade) As long as Trump proclaims that they will stand On…
By John Frederick Kaufman The newest foreign policy news today is that Russia has retaliated for the expelling of Russian diplomats (some of whom are said to be spies) by both European nations and the United States. Russian diplomats were banished from our shores by President Trump (in a rather quiet, un-Trumpian manner) in response to the…
By John Frederick Kaufman In honor of World Poetry Day Couplets for those who don't betray The verse of stars, the vow of stones And meet the sinking sun alone-- As if a cell can bar a soul ... As if a whale can hide the whole. (Photo: Of Pieter Lastman, "Jonah and the…
By John Frederick Kaufman PEN International is profiling four poets on World Poetry Day now being held either in prisons or under house arrest for dissenting against injustice through art and/or journalism: Aron Atabek of Kzakhstan, Liu Xia of China, Amanuel Asrat of Eitrea, Dareen Tatour detained by Israel. To see what you can do…
Continue reading ➞ To Honor Poetry on World Poetry Day, Help Imprisoned Poets Across the Globe
If Trump banishes Mueller will Republicans banish him? Offhand I'd say the odds are much skinnier than slim. It's going to take some form of electoral disobedience To evict a president who demands we pledge allegiance To him, to him, to him, to him, to him, to him--to Him! ("Fake news" if he should lose,…
By John Frederick Kaufman The notion that the internet would prove an unmitigated boon for the spread of democracy and human rights neglected the Achilles' heel of digital communication: online speed, reach and access can be centrally controlled, either by a few big corporations who make (and profit from) the means to transmit the stuff…
Continue reading ➞ PEN America Issues Detailed, Disturbing Report on China’s Internet Censorship
By John Frederick Kaufman Tillerson, late of State, was fired by a tweet From the president, our "moron" (cheek!) As he was called, reportedly, by Till- erson, undiplomatically, but still . . .
(Much to say today in a small way, which reminds me of the poems I am not writing, a sacrifice I make in the interests of public service. Time to come to the aid of the country, etc.) President Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson today via Twitter; if the Russians ever hack into…
Within the White House the forecast is "Stormy." But the president swears that NOTHING porny Ever happened with that woman hushed With money that had NOTHING to do with slush. Lawyers pay off porn stars all the time Right before elections . . . with their own dime Without the knowledge of the one was…
So North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has invited President Trump to meet with him to discuss, reports state, possibly doing away with the North's nuclear weapons. This meeting will supposedly take place somewhere within two months. Much can happen in two months for much seems to happen every day, every hour in the Trump White…
Trump's Spin Cycle "There is no Chaos, only great Energy!" Said the guy trapped in the washing machine.
We can thank South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his negotiators for achieving what the Trump administration has not: an agreement by North Korea to discuss ending its nuclear weapons program. It was the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un , who actually made the first gesture toward peaceable discussion when he offered to send a…
Continue reading ➞ South Korea (Not U.S.) Makes Progress on Peace with Help from the North
"Tough Love" Trump will issue tariffs in "a very loving way." (He thinks that we will love him even when we lose our pay.)
By Rumple Oxbridge, liberal lyricist I'll say this much for Twitter: It's Tr------p's Achilles' Heel. Eventually he'll tweet something so far beyond the pale, almost every Republican will admit the news is real. They will stand before a mic to boldly, angrily reveal--- "Hillary hacked the president with a scandalous e-mail!" For evidence they will…
[JFK: An augury is an omen and this is a political poem because . . . today is Blake's birthday and the poem details connections, relationships ecological and human we too often, especially in the halls of power, fail to acknowledge. The first four lines are famous but we often neglect the rest of this…
[JFK: Here's a poetic perspective on politics some may call cynical, some may say stoic. Jeffers referred to his philosophical distance from people as "inhumanism." This should not, however, be confused with inhumane-ism. Jeffers built a house of stone in Carmel, CA overlooking the Pacific in the days before Carmel was a haven for wealth…
By Rumple Oxbridge, liberal lyricist Trump has a plan to fix Afghanistan: more war will do what war has not before. It is a plan not hard to understand his "war cabinet" advises--War fails? Try more. Eventually this war will have to end but stopping war before we win is like un-masculine and feminist.…
Continue reading ➞ Rumple Oxbridge: “The More War Sonnet for Afghanistan”
By John Frederick Kaufman It is the opinion of The Pacific that the annual joint military exercises involving the United States and South Korea, which commenced again today, are not in the best interests of peace in that part of Asia. While the war games are said to be defensive in nature, they act as…
Continue reading ➞ U.S./South Korea Joint Military Exercises Needlessly Increase Chances of War
"How to Make Fun of Nazis" from the NY Times "Why Even Nazis Deserve Free Speech" from Politico "The Alt-Right is Drunk on Bad Readings of Nietzsche. The Nazis were, too" from Vox
By T.S. Swanky, an imaginary, confused conservative Civil liberties? Let's just call them "liberal liberties" from now on. I was barely recovered from the shockingly disturbing news that President Trump and Steve Bannon were parting ways, when I read that the ACLU, which had bravely stood up for the rights of racists to express themselves…
Continue reading ➞ T.S. Swanky: “A Gun is Free Speech” [Satire]
