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My technology nightmare
Leaves me euphoric this morning.
Addicted, like drug trials,
I knew the risks going in,
Got hooked in The Cloud &
Now it always seems easier,
With diminished psychic chafing
Whenever I go with the flow, as the
Hipsters are saying again.
Yes, the hipsters:
Finally, some kids I can relate to.
At least on some level, their music e.g.
The first thing I did this morning,
Waiting for my laptop to boot,
Was put a CD on the stereo:
Matrix Reloaded: The Album.
I set the shuffle function,
Looping back between
Linkin Park’s Session &
Team Sleep’s Passportal.
You can tell a lot about
What kind of day it will be
By the soundtrack you choose,
Your infinite play list,
Don’t ever say these kids have no culture,
Or nothing to share with us old farts.
Old Farts: an apt, Baby Boomer term in 2015.
Kids’ music, some of it quite good,
Quite 60s-worthy if you catch my drift,
As we used to say while grazing in the grass with
Hugh Masekela & his Naai Mongoe-Swazi red,
Surfrikan homeboys & band mates, & that
ANC Kwa-Guqa Township posse,
Shadowing him since Sharpeville.
That’s right, Babaloo,
Go with the flow.
Don’t fight it. You’ve been spared the unintended
Consequences of government shenanigans &
Free market meltdowns.
Consider this a CEASE & DESIST NOTICE:
Cease swimming upstream Mr. Phelps.
Desist fighting tide & current, Michael.
A mariner’s distinction, yet serviceable &
Purposed for this narrative.
“And away we go,” croons a Gleason levitation;
Aloft we go into the wild blue yonder.
The Cloud: an exalted playground.
You are atop the slide,
Kindergarten lord of all you survey,
Sultan, Chinese Emperor & Venetian Doge,
A 90-caliber Duke of Earl,
You are euphoric, Mike.

The descent into the humanoid condition
(See Paddy Chayefsky’s Howard Beale),
Is slick and precipitous.
It begins when you first finger ****
A pocket calculator or touchtone phone,
Or use a Xerox machine.
From there it’s a quick slide down
The technology ****-shoot: video games,
Spreadsheets & word processors,
Emails, texts & tweets,
Laser projection keyboards,
Wi-Fi amplifiers,
GPS navigators, &
Apps for No-Strings *** . . .
By “****-shoot” I editorialize, of course,
In a state of future shock,
Resenting planned obsolescence,
Contemptuous of shrewd **** kids,
Wharton School sharpies,
Scoping out price curves & flowcharts,
Colluding at industry trade shows,
Powwows & confabs,
Releasing newer, more versatile
Models & spinoffs, according to a
Scheme planned three years in advance.

I salt the inevitable wounds of technology,
Taking my fight to the streets, realizing too late
My sole means of alerting the flash mob
Is by so-called smart phone,
*******!
Even the revolution has gone digital.
Poor Gil Scott Heron, dead last year at 62,
Poor Scott Heron, channeled into the
Harlem Renaissance by that loyal Chicago Defender,
Subscriber & reader, to wit: his Grandma,
A “Rainbow Conspiracy” co-conspirator,
Cooking ham hocks & collard greens for that
Mythical coalition of Young Lords,
Black Panthers & SDS.
Heron’s prognostication was wrong:
“The Revolution Will (In Fact) Be Televised!”
We’ve witnessed quite a bit of it,
Lately, prime time lately,
Live by satellite from once exotic places,
Places like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria & Ferguson, MO.
I say “once exotic” because it’s hard to be
Visually intoxicated by images of screaming brown men
Sporting New York Yankee ball caps,
“Vote for Pedro” T-shirts and
$200.00 Air Jordan footwear.
Admittedly, the production values of
Revolutionary journalism have improved,
Action reported Hollywood-style,
Narrative arcs, scripted episodes,
Drive-by Potemkin villages & battle scenes,
30 or 60 or 90 day shooting schedules.
Spontaneous proletarian uprisings as Reality TV,
Riveting dramas,
High Nielsen ratings & $500K
Per minute corporate sponsors.
Let’s view the new fall line-up:
(1) “Mustafa Behaving Badly!”
(2) “Tunisian Tear Gas Talent!”
(3) “Gaddafi Gets Sodomized!”
Bob B Dec 2018
This is the tale of a girl
Only seven years old
Who came here from Guatemala.
Let her story be told.

Jakelin Caal Maquin
Came here with her dad
With hopes of seeking asylum,
Before everything went bad.

People seeking refuge
Are dangerously exposed
To inhumane conditions
When ports of entry are closed.

Through the desert they wandered
With others of the same mind
Seeking a place of safety
And leaving danger behind.

At least that's what they hoped for.
They hadn't had a clue
That cruelty existed
Here in America, too.

When they turned themselves in,
It's said that father and daughter
For several wearisome days
Hadn't had food or water.

The child started having
Seizures, the records show--
A nightmare for the father
Who suffered this tale of woe.

Possible dehydration,--
Doctors later expressed--
Shock and exhaustion led
To cardiac arrest.

A hospital in El Paso
Was where she took her last breath.
A new life was their goal;
What they encountered was death.

The head of the DHS--
Nielsen--places the blame
All on Jakelin's father.
The woman has no shame.

The callous disrespect
Of international law
Regarding asylum seekers
Reveals her major flaw.

Must we blame the victims?
We must ask ourselves why
There aren't better solutions
So more children won't die.

Sorry, Jakelin.
We must apologize
For our officials who thrive
On heartlessness and lies.

-by Bob B (12-15-18)
Julian Jul 2022
he Evergreen Deal (A Solution to Climate Change)
Parlor Talk: The Evergreen Deal
so how do we REALISTICALLY  tackle the behemoths of careworn luxuries inoculated by degrees of wavy insouciant myopia that is too heavily invested in insuperable aristocratic prerogative rather than far-sighted eleemosynary altruism carved indelibly into the priorities of a growing desperation among world powers to heal our society with pragmatism rather than quixotic charades of intensive mobilization beyond the snatches of rigorous logic that they often neglect poorly conserved energy? We do it by taking steps to limit our consumption of materials that contribute to pollution, incentivize recycling for all appliances and in many cases plan biodegradable packaging rather than the dross of the antiquated strategies of disposal but this is obviously a phased rather than immediate solution. Absolutely central to this bipartisan proposal is that we should facilitate the adoption of more aggressive enlistment of the smart prerogative of adopting electric vehicles and relying more heavily on Hybrid Cars and what better way to do this than be ensuring that the limited range of pure galvanized altruism can be met with an infrastructure that ensures that a vast majority of gas stations punctuated in urban necessity, rural rarity and suburban commonplace greatly sanctions the prerogative of an environmental conscience to swim in the luxury of fully-enabled cross-continent travel with a considerable marginal decrease of fossil fuel footprints. We should not also stoop to the economics of purebred Fossil Fuel cartels that have a vested interest in forestalling advanced leaps in Hydrogen Fuel and the enlarged traction of electric power that discounts the environmental hinderbaggle rather than enthuses the already fickle demand which thrives in undeveloped nations that America, Canada and Europe can find quicker ways to expedite the adoption of revolutionary technologies forestalled by venality.  We should also lean on renewable energy with moderate economic sanctions that deregulate the arena of clean energy with tax incentives and shift the burden away from fossil fuel consumption by using complex econometric contingency analysis and deft marketing strategies that provide advantage to communities that rely on clean energy with free market emphasis. We should also hold fair and equitable talks about the proportional distribution of pollution and provide recourse and almsgiving for countries because of economic laxities rely on fossil fuels too heavily that need international assistance. We should also limit our showers to 5-7 minutes a day to conserve water and avoid baths whenever possible. It should be no surprise to anyone that people like Elon Musk (an Andrew Yang Democrat) are indebted to the powerful barnstorm of the ‘Kanye West’ visionaries that recognize the integral need for a bipartisan stroke of compromise that streamlines a heavily subsidized industrial rampage that proselytizes the advances in electric vehicles to find more universal pragmatic application. The wiredrawn quixotic prerogatives of the benumbed aboriginal Green New Deal which became a walking Nielsen test to field the discernment of the people that jump without conscientious refrains or the rigmarole of a growing environmental congress is telling in its original reception among the United States Senate. “In the 116th United States Congress, it is a pair of resolutions, House Resolution 109[8] and S. Res. 59, sponsored by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA). On March 25, 2019, Markey's resolution failed to advance in the U.S. Senate in a margin of 0–57, with most Senate Democrats voting "present" in protest of an early vote called by Republicans It is clear that the environmental scourge that is the watershed of such decisive age in an epoch of demassified balkanization deserves a worthy emulation of the bipartisan ideals that harmonize the exigent efforts of reform without plastering the pretense of excessively gouged ******* that is a faltering malice of rudimentary extremism rejected by the vast majority of the discerning.
Greta Thunberg is admirable but the quixotic “Green New Deal” is too drastic for our economy to bear and it will create duress and potentially tank the economy because it is drastically overweight and an encumbrance on relatively free properly micromanaged and macromanaged economies that fuel speculative booms and provide bonanzas for inventive ingenuity in the arena of conservation science. We need geotechnic optimization on a global scale that asks of the people but does not mandate them to use providence and husbandry without asseverating ridiculous ploys to curb necessities like air travel and agricultural waste from cows like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggests. We should create infrastructure projects but ensure that they mobilize proliferative on a moderate scale (that doesn’t ruin the private sector or indebt our nation too much with a debt burden growth) rather than boondoggles of stagnation that provide decent wages but only marginal gains in our strategic leverage to mobilize our resources with celerity tact and central command. We should consider multilateral agreements with the world that address these issues with dedicated science at the forefront of the vanguard propagating renewable energy and, in some cases providing means for nuclear power in areas that are not seismically vulnerable and well-contained. Nevertheless my heavy suspicion is that Donald Trump (in a widely jeered move misunderstood by many but obvious to the delegated diplomats more privy to the tertiary aims and secondary burdens lopsided against United States commitment despite the fact that the majority of the rambunctious ramshackle pollution is propitiated in a benumbed negligence among countries that should find more reasons to be obligated to a fairer agreement that doesn’t shortchange the United States) I firmly believe Trump withdrew because he realized a global problem was being levied with intolerable onerous burdens of an extremely lopsided bureaucratic mismanagement of a problem that needs to be shifted to many countries with a greater fairness in shared moral duty to carve a prosperous environmentally-centered priority.
The future starts here with us right now recognizing that we need to be smart but not hasty in development of deliberatively expedient by gradually phased geotechnically sound architecture and greenhouse farming in urban regions that can create urban forests for both verdure and pulchritude. Nevertheless because of corporate demands there should be zero impetuous mandates placed on any major corporations, but minor subsidies should be provided to encourage global outcomes. We will be greatly enhanced if to the Amazon and Africa (which needs some leveraged aid) to provide the leverage necessary to combat the aleatory vagaries of conflagration by creating fleets of airplanes armed with powerful agents of extinguishing chemicals that don’t endanger the topsoil even though most are proven innocuous.
The best way to secure a clinched future is to prevent unwieldy economic factures that obvolute the problem by departing too drastically from a free market model that emphasizes designing non-ergonomic structural models for architecture and infrastructure and to ensure that the process of recycling is a net decrease in emissions by streamlining the recycling process over the course of the next four to eight years. Heavy polluters and chemical factories need stricter oversight especially in their reckless pollution of the worlds oceans and rivers and the sanitation system needs a decades-long gradate overhaul so that waste matter doesn’t contaminate the biosphere to the ultimate tragedy of degradation and rancid squalor. Ultimately CFCs are a big menace and certain chemicals contribute more heavily to ozone depletion which fuels the iterative cycles of deglaciation. Another necessity is that we mandate all major geographically distributed gas stations provide electric recharging stations so that electric cross-country car travel is more feasible incentivizing electric cars to reduce emissions. We should also create infrastructure projects in California to create high-speed rail by 2030 so that there is less car-bound cabotage on the west coast which is heavily overpopulated and profligate in their ostentation of rugged individualistic twinges that celebrate bulk and garnish the varnish of luxury but falter in their commitment to a beatific world. This will create needed jobs for the growing population of California and benefit everyone by reducing the air travel burden for local flights. We also must be wary of solvents and aerosols which damage the integrity of atmospheric conditions that could aggravate the greenhouse effect disproportionately for even small-time polluters and this problem is easier to tackle than the global imperative for expedited solutions to mobilize the economy in an efficient way without being too quixotic. Remember, however, some countries in Asia like India need more incentives to stop using fossil fuels because 14 out of the top 15 most polluted cities in the world are in India and their population boom could spell a disaster unless we provide diplomatic synergistic agreements to stem the tide or reckless over-pollution in urban mega cities in developing nations. Once we realize that the United States is not the only problematic nation in the climate change frenzy, we will realize that we need a global quorum to advise synergistic solutions without resorting to excessive taxation. Ultimately one of the best ways to address this problem is to provide incentives for India which is already a nuclear nation to start building nuclear power plants in a phased solution that can be abetted by reducing tariffs and macroeconomic incentives for a quick solution rather than a protracted endangerment of the climate. China is already working diligently to solve this problem, but more attention is needed in some megapolises in China to work for climate solutions with the rest of the world. Some suggest a Carbon Tax, but I am somewhat opposed to the idea unless it is managed carefully and not greedily by tumescent governments looking for a quick bonanza. Ultimately the easiest way to fix the climate crisis is to be very careful about chemical disposal and ensure that aerosols are widely contained with proper ventilation systems that are occluded from affecting atmospheric conditions. This can be done in a stepwise and methodical manner that does not put a burden on the chemical industry but rewards them for slightly stricter standards gradually evolving into sustainable solutions. We don’t need to mandate every gas station to have electric charging but at intermittent geographical intervals there is a necessity to have electric charging stations because they become redundant in urban areas while incentivizing electric and hybrid cars. The United States is not the main contributor to climate change and we can’t eliminate all emissions especially when they are vital to economic security, but these other measures will ensure a better future. Obviously the fossil fuel juggernaut is opposed to many of these reforms but because we exist in a world of sad conveniences that exasperate the mercurial conditions of a world endangered by the potential 22nd century mass migration of those from Bangladesh and the American South we must view some statistics with skepticism while becoming fully invested to prevent a Wall-E world because pollution is not merely a predicate of environmental debauchery but a needed imperative of biodegradable solutions and streamlined recycling that doesn’t incur such heavy energy costs in the rigmaroles of its process. Obviously partisan Republicans worry about Coal Power but such a marginal plucky insistence upon West Virginia in the need to pander shouldn’t outweigh a more global mission to educate the global populations that need to become more conscientious with an expansive conscience that many developing world mistakes require subsidized (potentially to safer degrees that aren’t an excessive drainage) solutions so that bipartisan sheen of a syncretic reform achieves a mobilized objective to restrain the scourge of pollution and inculcate (to the extent that exasperated sophistries designed to instill imperative lies of looming immediacy) the world to become more respectful of their Carbon Footprints. The easiest solutions to heal lie in chemical waste because over time these elements do not degrade and they infiltrate the Ozone Layer and are easier to phase out. The Evergreen Deal tackles many exigent problems and is not riddled by insufficient extremism but moderate bipartisan appeal. In addition we should mobilize fire brigades in every Western European country yet inured to sweltering heat that they might be better outfitted. We should abandon plastic bags and make the world geotechnic in biodegradable solutions
Laokos Apr 2020
"This is a collect call from: 'Darlene Ryder', at the Nielsen County Sheriff's Department, press '2' to accept charges and be connected."

beep

"hello? Bill?...you there?"
"**** Darlene, how many times we gotta ******' do this?!", he threw his voice at her through the phone like a fastball wrapped in firecrackers.
"I dint do nuthin' wrong! they jus got sumpn' against me s'all!"
"uh huh, the **** d'you do, huh?
"the ***** had it comin', I was jus tryin' to have a few 'n relax then she come 'n talk 'bout how I was lookn' atter funny but I watn't- I was jus mindin' my own talkin' to Charlie. So all's I need from you is to get yer lazy, belly-picken', beer-guzzlin' hole fer a face down here and unpinch this ******' mess!" and hung up the receiver on her end of prison.
      The guards shoot each other a look then raise their eyebrows.  They'll be recounting this over beers tonight beneath the monstrous glow of 47 90" TVs in between attempts at the waitress young enough to be their daughter.  They'll shovel in the wings of a total of 18 birds drowned in hot sauce and butter before the sports bar stops feeding them.  Then they'll all drive home drunk with hot breath and testosterone like molasses, ending their nightly routine with their ***** in their hands and their pants around their ankles drooling at tiny glowing screens.  
      Long live the American gods of New Olympus.
Johnny Noiπ Dec 2018
At the house of Viennese, Gilgamesh's actors
and team members were transformed into Batist
heroes. Sea to sea and in the future for Russia,
green and green. Kay Nielsen's Essay allows
you to swim in the North Sea and give the
animals to Berlin. When he was about to leave,
he was born into a future baby. The best of the
best soundtrack players is the best and best
playlist. Chinese Stars Museum of the Museum;
Museum of Saudi Arabia 1 Saudi Arabia
helps to improve their alcohol consumption
needs Health Care Neurons System.
Women's clothing; Six women. He was a small
member of parliament in the organization.
D Badar Today, Bugan, the author of the group,
the author. Indeed, the Signs of our Lord
are indeed an adornment by the stars.
Although Bishop Christopher came from
the Heavenly House in the courtyard of God's
house, in Heaven, Dry and Rough through
at home. Hutch At least 10 percent of the
acoustic and six hundred years of a song
or GH to Guru ★ ◆ ◆ ◆  
was an African composition,
but a perfect compass. Fifth
Mark is thought to be Africa's
longest Karl Marx,   the fifth
lifestyle leader.  It is not unusual
for women to make women,
as much as women in Swat.
Water color What is the color
of the water? This man is a
persecutor. After spending all
the wildlife dreams, they are
willing to sell the finest
Arabs, bestsellers, and Arabs.
For example, you sell grocery
and have bullets for sale.
Big Virge Aug 2019
Is POWER ... A Thing ...
That MOTIVATES You ... ???

cos' These Days ...
Some People ...
USE It To ... ABUSE ... !!!

WHY Use It For THAT ... ?!?

These People Are FOOLS ... !!!
Who ... CLEARLY Have ...
NOTHING ELSE ... Better To Do ... !?!

Women With ... " POWER " ...
IGNITE ... Like A Fuse ... !!!

cos' Men Who They Work With ...
Just QUAKE In ... " Their Shoes " ... !!!

" These Men " ...
Are Just ... " weak " ... !!!
and Suitably ... " meek " ...
and Some of These ... " men " ...

DON'T LIKE When I Speak ...

"Don't talk about women,
in chauvinist ways !"

They Leave Me ...
In ... STITCHES ... !!!!!

cos' THESE Are ...
Male ******* ...... !!!?!!!

These Are The Things ...
That Have ... SHIFTED POWER ...

POWERFUL Men ...
Are Now Made To ............................................. "cower" .......

By YES ...
POWER Women ... !!!

Who Are ... UNFORGIVING ... !!!

Women Like ... THESE ...
Are Ones Who ....................... DON'T LISTEN .....

They're QUICK TO ... " Jump IN " ...
To ... PROVE Their POSITION ... !!!!!!!

But Like ... ANY Cow ...
They Simply NEED ... " Milking " ... !!!!!

UNTIL They're ... DRIED OUT ...
From North To ... " Down SOUTH " ... !!!

Fellas ... YOU KNOW ...
What I'm Talking About ... !!!!!

That's The ... BEST WAY ...
To Make Them ... SHUT THEIR MOUTH ... !!!!!

But POWER STILL .... " Shifts " ....
If They've Got ... The CLOUT ... !!!!!

If You're ON ... " The HIT LIST " ...
You'd BETTER ... Move OUT ... !!!!!!

Before They ... " Make Moves " ...
To ... Get You KNOCKED OUT ... !!!

They Hit ... "below belts" ...
Or Do ... Something Else ...
That Gets Them To ... Places ...
Where Collars ................................... AREN'T Felt .......................

This Is Some Prose ...
To PROVE To ... You Blokes ...

Some Women Are DEADLY ... !!!!
and POWEFRUL ... Foes ... !!!!

DON'T Give Them ... AN INCH ...
Cos' ... When They DO PINCH ...

LISTEN Up Fellas ...
You're Likely To ... WINCE ... !!!!!!!!

As If You'd Got ... TACKLED ..
By Someone Called ... INCE ...
Or Maybe .... Roy Keane ... !!!!!!!

They Were ... POWER Players ...
Who Weren't ... ALWAYS Clean ... !!!

and Wore The RED SHIRT ...

of The ... " Red Devil Team " ...

POWER Can ... " SHAKE Ya' " ...
Just Ask ..... " Malcolm Glazer " ..... !!!

Cos' ... RED DEVIL Fans ...
DON'T Believe He's ... Their SAVIOUR ... !!!

But CHECK OUT ... "His STASH" ...
of ... DOLLAR Type PAPER ... !!!

They CLAIM ....
He's ... "In DEBT" ...
But ... Hold on A Sec' ...
He ... Bought Up That Club ...
WITHOUT ... Bouncing Cheques ... !?!

These People With ... POWER ...
Are SURE To .... " COLLECT " .... !!!

While Those WITHOUT .................................................. Money ...........
KEEP Making .... Those BETS ...
In EVERY ... " Bookmaker " ...

So Where's .......................................
........................... Malcolm Glazer .................... ? ! ? ! ?

See ....

POWER Is ... Something ...
That's NOT FOR ... " The Poor " ... !!!

They Use These Bank BREAKERS ...
From Bookies To ... ****** ...
To KEEP YOU From Moving ...
Through ... POWERFUL Doors ... !!!

Doors of ... CONGRESS ...

Or .....

Doors To ... THE LORDS ...

THOSE Who ... "HOLD POWER" ...
Like Sweetbread Holds FLOUR ... !!!

They Make ...
By The ... Hour ...
To BUILD ... " Office TOWERS " ...

And Then Have THE CHEEK ...
To GIVE ... IDIOTS POWER .... !?!?!

From Women To ... Men ...
They've ALWAYS ... " Set Trends " ...
That KEEP ON Repeating ...

AGAIN and AGAIN ......

From ...
TREACHEROUS Wars ...
To ... Todays' ...
High Street ****** ...

Words That I'm Saying ...
Have Been Said ... BEFORE ... !!!

So ...
When Will We ... CHANGE ... ?!!!?
and YES ... " Re-Arrange " ...
and CHANGE How We PLAY ...

Life's ...
SINISTER ... " Game " ...

YES ...
Life IS ... " A Game " ...

...... That ......

Just ISN'T ... "tame" ... !!!!!

I'M SICK of ... " These People " ...
Who KEEP ... CLAIMING Fame ... !!!!!

What Have You DONE ... ?
To PROVE You're ... " The ONE " ... ?!?

These People AREN'T .... " NEO " ....
But Shoot ... NAKED GUNS ... !!!!!

I'm NOT ... Leslie Nielsen ...
Those Words Are ... THE TRUTH ... !!!

But ....
As I ........................... Leave you ...........................

Take These IN ...
and CHEW ...............

What Kind of ... " People " ... ?!?

Make THESE .......

..... " Power Moves " .....
The visions I had at the time,
of what Power did to people, inspired this piece.
James Floss Jul 2017
Channel 3 had Commander Bob;
Eyewitness news on channel 7.
Channel 4 could be watched—
Sometimes.

UHF was a twilight zone,
“Imagine if you will…”
Twiddle those rabbit ears
Tune in if you can…

Local news with a weather man
Gesticulating, cut to
“Shoe sale at Tom McCanns” or
“Save on snap peas at the A&P.”

Then cable:
240 stations with nothing on
Re-runs; if you can find ’em, tape ‘em.
Stack ‘em up and maybe watch ‘em.

Cut the cord.
Nascent net hits the nation
You tube surf to some URL,
A network station replacement…

Netflix, not Nielsen’s
Binging, not “tune in next week…“
Amazon, Hulu, Utube, or Vudo,
Storytelling bettered.

Back in the days of Commander Bob,
"Mutual of Ohmaha’s Wild Kingdom,”
Followed by “Wonderful World of Disney”
In Peacock Technicolor

Cancelled shows meant
Unfinished stories
Tangled plot-lines
Unresolved ennui.

Now, you pitch to Netflix *****, get a “yes.”
And tell a story In 6 to 10 episodes.
You won’t be canceled after number 3;
Vox populi decides Season Two.

Story arcs matter;
Just ask David Lynch.
25 years later, you magnificent *******,
Agent Cooper crushes his chrysalis.
Bob B Jun 2018
How much more of this can we take?
How can people stand idly by
While major atrocities are being
Committed and STILL turn a blind eye?

Parents are still being separated
From their children at our border.
The Trump administration is
Ruthlessly carrying out the order.

We hear the children cry for their mami,
Cry for their papi, and what do we do?
We put them in cages and tents, heedless
Of all of the pain they are going through.

Secretary Nielsen has tried
To justify the hard-line position,
Blaming the victims and giving excuses
As to the importance of the mission.

White nationalist Stephen
Miller must be jumping for joy
As he achieves his goal: provoking
Anybody he can annoy.

AG Sessions cites the Bible
To find support for his devilish deeds.
At the same time, authorities
Are confiscating rosary beads.

John Kelly is all for it.
He thinks being cruel is fine
When you badly need a deterrent
To keep people from crossing the line.

Spineless Republican members of Congress
Worry about offending Trump's base.
Dragging their feet on the issue, they
Don't care if they're a disgrace.

Meanwhile, the suffering
Continues. Children--traumatized--
Are innocent victims. This is what happens
When human rights are compromised.

-by Bob B (6-19-18)
Autumn May 2018
Endless tears flood my room
Only visible for my eyes to see.
No one willing to swim
Afraid that the waters may be to deep.

Will I finally drown soon?
All of my pain and suffering free.
Or will I stay afloat
Forced to tread in this dead sea.

Endless tears begin to drain
No longer visible for my eyes to see.
I have been rescued,
By a lifeguard with angel wings.

~ Autumn Nielsen
Paul Glottaman Apr 2024
Decades of industry speak
has polluted the vernacular
our cultural literacy has reached
dazzling hieghts but our ideas
have become threadbare with use
and the element that made art
is missing, lost in algorithms
you can download on your phone
and pimped out by YouTube
video essays and the sponsor segments
that fuel a burgeoning industry
of future exclusions and despair.
We're all thought transmissions
floating in the atmosphere
lords and ladies and battles
and songs and millennia of
triumph and tragedy and strife
replaced with canned laughter
because the sound of our tears
didn't hit the editor's ear just right.
Ten once in a lifetime catastrophic
events in every decade I've walked
this earth have numbed me to
the sense of awe that those men
had as they watched the cloud
rise over barren American desert.
I have seen Death on the periphery
of my whole lifetime and find
that I am so well acquainted with
it that the fear has been replaced
with a muted sense of resignation.
Yes, of course this is how it is.
This is how it's always been.
If we just keep "yes anding" to
the absurdity of every new day
we might claw our way clear to
the surface and breath rarified air.
Or we'll end up as Sisyphus
pushing the Gordian knot of
centuries of tangled unsolved
problems for all of time.
Or we'll be lost in scattered airwaves
when we fail to hold viewer interest
and the channel gets changed
to a more colorful and exciting
kind of suffering.
We're not historically good
with the Nielsen numbers
because we always shoot
the Blue revision.
Mike Hauser Apr 24
I see the streets of desperation
Looking on in apathy
I need no further explanation
As I sit at home and watch from my T.V.

I could use a good commercial break
On all the wars and deadly disease
This has to be some sort of mistake
A wrong channel I keep watching

I see in black and white the infighting
Not enough love to go around
I often wonder who does the writing
On these bogus shows I'm watching now

In this lost world of Nielsen ratings
Across this land of the latest crazy
Channel after channel of monsters created
All haunting me from my T.V.

I see the poor children as they go hungry
Channel surfing, gleefully
With stomach growling I'm wondering
What's in my overstuffed fridge for me to eat

I tune into the gaggle of world leaders
Hear the promises they never keep
I see them all as bottom feeders
Still when it comes to my vote they can count on me

With remote in hand, I strike up the band
Oblivious to what surrounds me
I try to make plans but end up yawning instead
Watching life quickly go down in leaps and bounds
all from my T.V.
Sweden today

What happened to Sweden throwing off her neutrality like it was an old overcoat and to make matters worse joining old NATO, that is a moribund military organization.
I remember Ingrid Bergman, a great actress when I see her, I wonder, why Ricky had
a nightclub in Casablanca
There were many famous Swedes, such as Alfred Nobel, and Ingmar Bergman, and not forget Birgitte Nielsen married to an actor named Rocky Stalone, a screen hero
I remember Malmo where I bought coffee cups
With flowers on, now this town is full of angry belligerent Islamists wanting to enforce Shari law and run around with big knives
Of course, there is the forever teenager Greta Thunberg who wears a permanent scowl when marching in protest against the EU or if not something else; one wishes, she would fall in love, have *** with a young man, and go back to school

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