Well, glory be…

Trump’s Iran Strategy: A Cease-Fire Wrapped in a Strategic Muddle

…ain’t that grand?

…why the man is a regular Vincini

…so…more grand ol’ party than grand ol’ opry I think most would agree

…say what you like about country folks but when it comes to fuedin’ they aren’t generally the sort to knowingly fall victim to a classic blunder

…sure – it’s not entirely what you want in terms of the behaviour of law enforcement officers – & dirty harry would have been a pretty god-awful excuse for a cop in real life, too

…but as those quaint folks that like to bang on about quis custodiet ipsos custodes might observe assuming it’s the police doing the policing is arguably a quaint notion in this brave new world where fake (or at least faux) news is serious business but deepfakes can only be funny

…they say that those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them

We Really Must Stop Starting Wars

…so, at the risk of irritating the author who wasn’t entirely sold on it being a good idea the first time, I’m going to put this here again because I’ve been thinking some about that last line these last few days…& actually some of the rest of it as it happens?

take your time
have second thoughts
& thirds

they may flit or soar like birds
flock or swarm or run in herds
or spoil the way that spilt milk curds

they’re cheaper than the thinnest dime
wisdom or folly, reason or rhyme
in thought will not be found the crime

make of all those thoughts a train
forge link by link opinion’s chain

so that even under strain
these may yet a course maintain

this is why there should be oughts
holding fast among those thoughts
judgement though there be no courts

for frontiers breed the staunchest forts

before at last they’re cast as words
or dug in deep & left to steep
behind a wall that’s no less tall

our own thoughts are ours alone
but words once spoken then are sown

& thus their fruit is ours to own
ours the marrow of that bone

consider it
or them

their merits pit
against their flaws

test them for their shape & fit
find out just what sort of hit
might split
or bend or break their laws

& frankly then appraise the cause

a harder task if in poor light
though strain you may with all your might
though you may fight with fervour bright
to catch the sight of wrong or right

dialogue should not berate
a tendency, if left too late
that seals up its starting gate
leaving swift yet baseless hate

that hardens to a settled state
but rises fresh to every bait
which is why I would debate
the pace of our consider-rate

if you set that rate too low
consideration’s hard to show
if you don’t at least attempt to know
what’s against or with the flow
of current, tide or undertow

or would you trust
your judgement just
when its foundations lie in dust –
a train of thought long left to rust?

considerate –
though writ as ‘rate –
we rhyme with ‘ut
an almost utterance
that’s not by chance

a row that’s hoed
by a simple stance
an honour bestowed
that could be paid with a glance

you’ll find there’s really nothing to the trick
no hoop to jump or box to tick
if there’s a body politic
what fool sets out to make it sick?

politic or polity
there’s us & them
& you & me
the few & the many

in the kingdom of we
it never hurts to be polite
for the only glorious war
is the one we don’t fight.