First Snow Haiku

The Trump/China Truce -- No Skilled Workers Left in Britain -- No More Babies in Greece

BUENOS AIRES — The United States and China called a truce in their trade war on Saturday after President Trump agreed to hold off on new tariffs and President Xi Jinping pledged to increase Chinese purchases of American products. The two also set the stage for more painstaking negotiations to resolve deeply rooted differences over trade.   NYT

If peace and plenty here abide

it's not because we get all snide

with China over trading deals;

some courtesy will grease the wheels

of commerce and keep us supplied

with goods without our wallets fried.

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The U.K.’s planned exit from the European Union in March next year is fueling an exodus of European workers from the U.K.   WSJ

The butcher, baker, candlestick guy,

from Britain now prepare to fly.

They think the ship is going down,

and won't be there to sink and drown.

True Brits all say "Good riddance, mate;

our country likes to be Third Rate."

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The Greek economy no longer looms over Europe as a bailout-dependent, euro-imperiling danger, but the country is only beginning to contend with the next phase of peril: a baby bust that has raised the likelihood of a shrunken, weakened Greece for years to come.   Washington  Post

There aren't any babies in Greece

because money making did cease.

When jobless and broke

the stork is a joke;

so infants just simply decrease.

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Spiritual Peace

Spiritual peace is not to be found in race or color or nationality, but rather through our commitment to God and to the covenants and ordinances of the gospel.  James E. Faust

A Christian peace and unity

is never forced on you and me.

The scales will drop, the heart will bloom,

when for all meekness we make room.

No matter color, creed, or state,

obedience will seal our fate.

And if we fight it, as I've done,

then peace recedes with God's own Son.

But what was broke can mended be

when I return God's loyalty. 

The Yellow Vests Burn France -- Boston Burritos -- Mexico Has a New President

The ‘‘Yellow Vest’’ protests — spurred by a hike in the gasoline tax, and named for the roadside safety vests worn by the demonstrators — have emerged as a spontaneous outcry over declining living standards in France.   NYT

A Yellow Vest in Avignon

burned a gas station (Exxon.)

Then grabbed a grenade

that was too homemade . . .

and now he will not see the dawn.

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Now, on the 300th anniversary of the Old Corner Bookstore, some literary experts are arguing that this Boston corner is hallowed, not jalapeno, ground.   WSJ

Listen my children and you shall hear

why history no profits clear.

In Boston sites that once rang out

with concepts that made good men shout

are now burrito joints instead --

because the tourists must be fed.

Ye Bunker Hill inspires naught

but KFC -- not food for thought!

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MEXICO CITY —  A leftist leader vowing to launch a “profound and radical” transformation of Mexico and improve the lives of the poor was sworn in as president on Saturday, opening an uncertain era in a country with deep economic and security ties with the United States.     Washington Post.

In Mexico the President

is not a long term resident.

They come and go like shooting stars

and do not write prolonged memoirs.

If I was Prez of Mexico

I'd get a second job, y'know.

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Postcards 8

Postcards 7

Hackers, Schmackers; it's old news nowadays -- How to Write a Bestseller -- Federal Employees can be Seen but Not Heard

LONDON — The Marriott International hotel chain said on Friday that the database of its Starwood reservation system had been hacked and the personal details of 500 million guests going as far back as 2014 were compromised.  NYT

Another hacking outrage, and it barely rates a yawn.

These accounts seem stagnant and are badly overdrawn.

The world now, as we know it, extracts data like a tooth;

For good or bad, like Judgement Day, we give up all our truth.

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Book sales boom in December, and in the lean months following the holiday peak, even modest sales can catapult a book onto the best-seller list.  WSJ

Bestsellers are written by hacks

who profit from book selling slacks.

In midwinter they

will publish away --

and readers will buy 'em in stacks.

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In a move that some ethics advocates say could be an opening to limit dissent, the federal government has issued new guidance for the political activity of federal government workers, warning that weighing in on impeachment or talking about “the Resistance” may constitute prohibited activity.

Washington Post

There once was a government clerk

who said that he thought Trump a jerk.

Tossed out on his ear,

he cried "I do fear

I never again will find work!" 

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haiku

Postcards 6

Reporter Nicholas St. Fleur Invents Time Travel Machine

Nicholas St. Fleur, of the New York Times

Those in the know say it was only a matter of time (excuse the pun) before the U of C at Santa Cruz graduate Nicholas St. Fleur perfected time travel.

Emily Kaugummi, the Director of Extraneous Affairs at the Willard Scott Institute for Something like Science, says:  "Mr. St. Fleur combines the intuitive brilliance of Einstein with the mettle of Tesla -- and he also does a mean SpongeBob Squarepants imitation."

St. Fleur first considered the intricate challenge of time travel when he was appointed to the Trilobites desk at the New York Times three years ago. Looking at all those old fossils made him think -- made him think they should get some younger editors around the place. It also made him think how cool it would be to go back in time to see a real dinosaur, an authentic Bubonic Plague victim, or an original Swanson's TV Dinner. As he explained to M.I.T. students last year:  "I took the multi-dimensional theorems of Rutherford and combined them with the quantum mechanics of Niels Bohr to come up with the equation  BVD = PDQ x 2. From there all I had to do was contact Steven Spielberg for the financing, and the machine practically built itself." 

Mr. St. Fleur says he has already used his time travel mechanism to go back and warn Julius Caesar of the dagger attack in the Roman Senate, and help Thomas Edison invent the Nerf Ball before beginning on the electric light.

While he is reticent about future time travel voyages, he has thrown out hints that something should be done about the price of Starbucks' Frappuccino.

His other interests include rehydrating snow globes, brewing his own dishwater, and eradication of the gingersnap. 

He was recently awarded a Best Mixologist certificate from the Elkhart Distillers Association.  

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