New poem: STATE OF AMERICA RAMBLE

 He's going to Alaska to waste the world's time. He's going to Alaska to polar bear a hug to Putin Trump Wilsonagain, say, "Papa Bear.” Putin will say, "Hello useful idiot. And bring the American business back to Russia, No, I'm not stopping the war and in I still want my partitioning in part of all that stuff. is happening. The district of Columbia is now the. Well, no other way to say it, but the police district of Columbia. with Pam Bondi, coming down hard, hard, hard. at the DOJ who snapped and threw a sandwich at somebody who shouldn't even be patrolling the streets of D.C. And this.. at 858 p.m. Pacific time, August 14th, this is the state of America. And. God keeping helping us get from one day to the next.

New Poem: ZELENSKYY VS. THE USSA

 did Mark Burnett direct the televised violence 

 did Trump/Vance watch Poppy Bush holler at Dan Rather

 did Putin clap his hands and say Go Useful Idiots

 will the United States survive this chokehold on democracy 

 can we live with being told to be proud of being wrong

New Poem: WHITE RABBIT IN MOSCOW

 white rabbit in Moscow 

 handing out flyers on the street

 pretends nothing is wrong for two minutes 

 then worries over Ukranian relatives

 regrets Putin jumping off a steep cliff 

 taking millions of Russians and Ukrainians with him

>

 white rabbit in Moscow 

 checks pocket for enough rubles

 to avoid sleeping in the subway

The Mueller Report is complete and ready for the Attorney General

Excerpt from POLITICO’s Breaking News story:

Regardless of what the public ultimately gets [to read], Mueller’s probe has already left a footprint on American politics that will not soon fade. 

Trump and his team have had to repeatedly confront serious questions about the president’s relationship with former associates and aides who Mueller charged with federal crimes. And after Mueller accused Moscow of orchestrating an expansive disinformation campaign during the election to help the reality TV star — confirming the findings of American intelligence agencies — the White House has had to answer constant queries about the president’s personal indebtedness to Russia.

Together, those revelations have created political and legal challenges for the Trump White House that will last beyond Mueller’s eventual report, no matter what it says. 

And Mueller’s report is hardly the last word on the matter. Federal prosecutors in New York are examining Trump’s inauguration and campaign spending. States have launched probes into Trump’s real estate projects and personal finances. And House Democrats have demanded documents from a plethora of people in Trump’s personal, political and business orbit.

When 60 MINUTES' Lesley Stahl met Pussy Riot.

Judging from the 60 MINUTES coverage of Russian punk protest band Pussy Riot,  the women are merely brave-but-blasphemous, profanity-spewing vandals getting a heavier-than-deserved punishment for their behavior.

Here's a commenter from the JEZEBEL website:
The reporter was such a condescending asshole. Here you have these WOMEN (not girls) risking their lives and freedom to make a political statement and she treats them like angsty teens.

Lesley Stahl's aghast, where-are-my-smelling-salts utterance of the word "pussy" spoke contemptuous volumes.

Even Lara Logan or Anderson Cooper or Scott Pelley (plus producers/writers/researchers) would have tuned in a more insightful segment.

Wondering why Russia wants to rebuild the Iron Curtain--re the Pussy Riot controversy.

http://gu.com/p/39j92

At this time, I'm taking a break from saying anything less-than-complimentary about Madonna's current tour (and below-average current album MDNA) to offer praise for Ms. Ciccone daring to offend the Powers That Are in Russia regarding what looks like a 21st-Century equivalent of England giving a make-an-example-of-them jail sentence to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for marijuana use.

In 2012, the Russian female punk band Pussy Riot risks being sentenced to three years in a labor camp for an act of civil disobedience in a church.

It's rather sad and frightening to watch a leader like Putin to indulge in the kind of totalitarianism that will break three butterflies on a wheel.

UPDATE 8/17/12:
This summary is taken from the GUARDIAN--
Three members of Punk feminist protest band Pussy Riot have been found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred in a Moscow court after their performance in February inside a Russian Orthodox cathedral .
• Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 23, Maria Alekhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29 were sentenced to two years in prison - the minimum sentence for such an offence open to the courts.
• In sentencing the judge argued that bands' feminist beliefs were part of encouraging religious hatred.
• There were protests outside the courts and world chess Grand Master, turned politician Gary Kasparov was arrested along with opposition politician, Sergei Udaltsov.
• Amnesty and Human Rights watch have both condemned the verdict whilst the Russian Orthodox church has called on the government to show "mercy".
• After the sentencing, Pussy Riot released a new single, Putin Lights up the Fires.