Ledes & Limericks. Thursday Februrary 22 2018

The capitalist system has created wealth

so abundant that billionaires have taken to

saving newspapers not with wealth-enhancing

turnaround visions in mind, but as a public service.

From Forbes.

When billionaires adopt the press

And so relieve their fiscal stress

Their motives are as pure as snow

(from Russian steppe or Wall Street floe.)

President Donald Trump on Thursday morning

called for arming select, highly trained, “weapons talented”

teachers to thwart mass school shootings,

arguing it would deter would-be “sicko” shooters.

 From the Wall Street Journal

Instructors who carry a gun

Will make sure that homework is done.

And students who plod

Are shown teacher’s rod,

So back to their books they will run!

The single most important thing you

can do for your family may be the

simplest of all: develop a strong family

narrative.  From the NYTimes

The stories that I tell my kids about their ancestry

Are breathtaking and apt to suffer from hyperbole.

And though my narratives would not hold up in court of law

They give my kids a sense of place and plenty of chutzpah!

Ledes & Limericks. Wednesday February 21 2018

Toy appraisers predict Beanie Babies will

never make a comeback, since the 1990s

children—millennials—aren’t collecting like

generations before them.  From the Wall Street Journal.

If you are a part of that sect

That Beanies did fully collect,

I’m sorry to say

You’ve wasted your pay --

Your pension is probably wrecked!

It’s content reporters must write,

Not truth or to fight the good fight.

Publishers harry

Their writers to marry

A pandering style nice and bright.

KOREAN FOOD AT THE OLYMPICS IS ‘NASTY’

 from the NYTimes

I do not eat octopus raw.

And eomuk sticks in my craw.

Olympics be hanged,

I won’t be harangued

Into black seaweed coleslaw!

beauty is weightless

beauty is weightless

the color of balanced snow

above steaming streets

cold and soft the night

shadows form in mist

light sighs away into blue

cold and soft the night

Ledes & Limericks. Tuesday February 20 2018

Police spokesman Emilian Kayima told journalists that Kamagu
was arrested for what he termed as "using his mouth
recklessly and defaming everyone".  From New Vision.

When using the mouth, have a care

It’s not for some fool reckless dare,

Like making a breach

With too much free speech --

Which makes people think and then share.

It is hardly premature to ask, in this light, how the Trump
administration might manage the fallout from the economic
downturn that everybody knows will happen. Unfortunately,
the United States could hardly be less prepared.  From the NYTimes.

When hard times return with a bang

And hoboes can prowl like a gang,

It’s thankful I’ll be

For austerity

To stop the unceasing harangue.

Japanese millionaire dubbed the

‘baby factory’ dad just won custody

of 13 surrogate children  from the Washington Post

A baby or two is okay,

But too many get in the way.

This millionaire chap

Who’s taking the rap

For dozens is strictly horseplay

une note de ma fille missionnaire

Bonjour à tous! Je n'ai plus le temps d'écrire cette semaine, mais je veux juste que tu saches que je t'aime et que des miracles se produisent tous les jours. J'ai appris cette semaine qu'attendre les bénédictions à venir est vraiment difficile, mais cela en vaut la peine. J'ai lu un discours de Henry B. Eyring qui était tellement génial, il s'appelle La loi des retours croissants et c'est une question d'attente et de temps. Il dit de chercher l'humour chaque jour, de chercher les bénédictions qui viennent maintenant, de garder un œil sur le but lointain et d'attendre la bénédiction tardive. Je pense que nous abandonnons beaucoup trop tôt beaucoup de fois, et nous devons juste nous rappeler d'être patients et d'attendre le Seigneur. Il nous laisse attendre pour construire notre foi, et alors Il peut nous donner la chose que nous attendions. Je sais que c'est vrai. Je vous aime tous, bonne semaine! Amour, Soeur Torkildson

spread like sweet butter

spread like sweet butter

the winter dawn rolls beyond

the dim white wrinkles

sécurité scolaire

Décrochez les panneaux indiquant la zone libre d'armes à feu et affichez «Protégé par RP P M, Police à la retraite et Militaire» (ou trouvez un autre nom). Il pourrait s'agir d'un organisme bénévole de la communauté formé et approuvé. Ils travailleraient avec les écoles pour assurer la sécurité quand et où nécessaire. Les conseils scolaires pourraient parrainer des classes de portage dissimulées pour former les enseignants qui veulent porter et ceux qui sont formés et qualifiés demeureraient confidentiels. Le tournage de nos écoles deviendrait rapidement une mauvaise idée. La Constitution des États-Unis, dans le deuxième amendement, stipule que «le droit du peuple de garder et de porter des armes ne doit pas être violé». Nous avons le droit de porter les armes et la responsabilité de protéger nos écoles et nos familles. Le 10 novembre 2017, un homme armé a tué 26 personnes dans une église baptiste à Sutherland Springs, au Texas. Stephen Willeford, un voisin vivant près de l'église, a tiré deux fois sur le tireur avec un AR-15. Puis, il a raccroché avec un passant et a poursuivi le coupable jusqu'à ce qu'il saccage son SUV et se suicidait. Voir mySanAntonio.com.

The Windsor Hum

They say that up in Canada a subtle humming noise

Is causing mass hysteria and loss of equipoise.

Governments and colleges have looked about in vain

To find the cause of this selective auditory bane.

For some can hear it constantly, while others are untouched --

Those who fall beneath its spell have heads quite tightly clutched.

Victims of this baffling sound cannot sleep through the night;

Their heads do pound like pistons and their nerves are dynamite.

The eggheads say that infrasound may be the culprit here.

But what the hell that word might mean they cannot make quite clear.

Blast furnaces on Isle de Zug are blamed for all the din;

But operators there refuse their thick lips to unpin.

The ghostly racket also runs in towns like Kokomo,

Where people have been known to flee to far off Borneo.

Me, I think the spectral hum comes from the faint kazoo

Of Mother Nature, who in Trump has met her Waterloo.

alone in the white

alone in the white

stiff brown cylinder waiting

on a passing wind