
Operation Epic Cruelty
Amid the twisted rebar and the rubble
the pages of a schoolbook flutter.
Taking part in Open Link over at Open Link Night #404 | dVerse

Operation Epic Cruelty
Amid the twisted rebar and the rubble
the pages of a schoolbook flutter.
Taking part in Open Link over at Open Link Night #404 | dVerse

The Toddler King has Second Thoughts
5 am
the Toddler King checks Truth Social
his stomach gurgles
shouldn’t have had
that second burger
in the parking lot of a big box store
two plastic bags
pirouette on the morning breeze
in the back seat of a Ford
a store day shift worker wakes up
and checks her watch
she’s been sleeping in her car
to avoid that 2 hour round trip
gas is too expensive
in the Middle East
war drags on
eyes for eyes
teeth for teeth
but no one is tallying
the eyes and teeth
and no one is turning
the other cheek
that is soooo New Testament
a week ago, a Tomahawk missile
hit an Iranian school
and killed 170 people, mostly children
the US Military weren’t sure
if it was their Tomahawk,
considering the missiles
cost around $2 million dollars
you think they would know
where they were sending them
no one is claiming responsibility
and the news media has moved on
meanwhile the Toddler King
is sitting on the can
could be a lengthy process
that protein carbohydrate diet
has its drawbacks
he’s feeling nostalgia for times past, simpler times
last month for example
Greenland eh,
now that would have been less complicated
he’s thinking also of Tomahawks
and the Tomahawk chop
and how Native Americans don’t like the term
but no one objects to the name being used
for a missile and he thinks
man, that’s deep,
I should call a press conference
if I could only get off
this damn toilet.

Anderson, Chris and Don and their assembled pundits are discussing the assassination of General Soleimani, the Iranian general. They all agree that he was a “bad actor”, a “bad guy”. They don’t say “bad hombre”,but it’s knocking at the door. This appears to be sufficient to warrant execution, it’s the timing and ongoing strategy they are concerned about.
Why I ask myself are they talking like characters in a 1950’s western?
Why are they talking like school kids?
Bad guys, good guys – “goodies and baddies”.
Back in the Classroom:
Teacher, by the end of the major combat phase of the Iraq war, 7,419 Iraqi civilians had been killed, primarily by U.S. air-and-ground forces, is George Bush Junior a bad guy, a bad actor, a bad hombre?
No, child, every American president is good.
Teacher, were those innocent civilians “collateral damage” or “victims of terror”?
That is a complex and morally confusing question, child. Here in America we do not like confusion.
Teacher, why do the American media continue to refer to the Canadians killed in the Ukraine Airlines crash as Iranians.
It’s less confusing that way, see above.
Teacher, is President Trump a bad guy, a bad actor, a bad hombre?
No, child, President Trump is a liar, a racist, possibly a crook and possibly a sexual predator but he is not a bad guy, a bad actor, a bad hombre.
Teacher, why are Anderson, Chris and Don so angry with him? Why the sanctimonious, po-faced editorials?
Because he is un-statesmanlike and because they have become lazy and are content to trot out the same tired outrage every day of the week. Their ambition is limited, they are happy just to be “not Hannity”.
But teacher, they seem like nice guys.
Your point is?

Oil Tanker Tanka
you know what they say
fossil fuels for fossil fools,
that’s why we’re out here
cruising the Strait of Hormuz
with our hydrocarbon load.
(Wait, what’s that helicopter doing?)
taking part in open link weekend over at earthweal, check it out