Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl

Dear Joe, you’ve got a choice to make
It’s not easy; there’s no magic.
Be a hero for your wisdom
Or become a figure tragic.

You say you need to keep the job
To finish what you started.
But the job has been ongoing
Since from England we were parted.

We’re a project that’s in progress;
We’ve final victory never caught.
And for every generation
There are battles to be fought.

To make progress with the project
Can’t depend on just one man.
The torch has got to be passed on;
Must go from hand to hand.

George Washington, when he withdrew,
Said t’was time to pass the torch.
He said, like Cinncinnatus,
He’d retire to his porch.

Now its time for you to step aside,
Pass on the team baton.
You must let some other leader
This long battle carry on.

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”

...

Our rule of law, which we’ve long prized
Disintegrates before our eyes.
Justices who act corruptly
Stop due process quite abruptly.

These justices have cooked up ways
To force indefinite delays,
Thus ensuring Crooked Don
Toward re-election scurries on.

Don’s crimes of course are loud and clear,
Crimes that one can watch and hear.
“The documents I stole are mine!
“Hang Mike Pence? That sounds just fine!”

Our Court Supreme just hums a tune —
“Can it be our Don’s immune?
“Let’s ponder this for several months,
“Then down the field the ball we’ll punt!”

And down in Florida, Don’s Aileen
Is playing games we’ve never seen.
“Special Counsel, what is that?
“Which legal bean is in which hat?”

And so with Don our courts collude
In manner barely cloaked — and crude.
Out in the open for all to see,
They’re toying with democracy.

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”

...

They seemed to have a lot of fun —
Just a game, when said and done.
Pecker’s out there with his mitt
To catch the next big juicy hit!

Some little sin by his friend Don
Will keep his income moving on.
Another woman, another song,
Claims the Don has done her wrong.

He fields the story, pays the bill,
And now the story he will kill.
He’ll be paid back by his friend Don.
Another day, another con.

And why not sling a bunch of lies,
Scandals to hurt the other guys.
Ted Cruz’s father’s a Cuban spy.
His wife with others likes to lie.

Trump and Pecker sure can make
And distribute news that’s Fake!
They smile and rest upon their laurels,
Rotten guys with rotten morals!

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”

...

The Chief Thief lacks the dimes and even nickels
That he needs to extricate himself from pickles
Of the legal sort that have him somewhat harried.
A richer immigrant he should have married!

While he said that he had billions he could beckon,
On needing to produce them didn’t reckon.
And now it seems no one will give him bond,
Afraid that in the end they will be conned!

For years the Don has cheated one and all,
Yet managed to avoid a fatal fall.
Gone bankrupt yes, failed lots, but blest
With systems slow, not speed-obsessed.

Now, once again, for Don, the system works.
Slow rolling all the charges, Kafka’s clerks
Postpone the days of reckoning until
The chances to convict him become nil.

So Donald rolls along his crooked way.
Perhaps some court will finally make him pay.
But, if as jailbird, Chief Thief doesn’t sing,
We may have to deal with Donald as our King!

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”

...

Vladimir Putin believes he’s exalted —
His rebuild of Empire cannot be halted.
He started out slowly — Abkhazia, Ossetia,
Small, unknown places, like little Transnistria.

He bit off Crimea and eastern Ukraine;
Then his ambition became very plain.
Though he started out slowly, one slice at a time,
Now NATO is building a “Maginot line!”

His bombing in Ukraine is terror of course.
Killing innocents is the approach he endorses.
He squashes opponents — at home and abroad,
Apparatchiks in Moscow just smile and applaud.

He’s a relic of Empire — an Empire fallen.
He’s a KGB thug and a wannabe Stalin.
He arrests those who anti-war sentiments say;
Assassinates those who may get in his way.

This devious, poisonous, treacherous Nero
Murdered an icon, a genuine hero.
He poisoned Navalny, next he’ll go for his wife.
That’s Vladimir Putin, Dictator for Life.

Carolyn McGiffert Ekedahl is the former deputy inspector general for inspections at the Central Intelligence Agency and co-author of “The Wars of Eduard Shevardnadze.”

...