Bridges Under Flickering Lights

Bridges Under Flickering Lights

Verse 1 — Gaza and the Board of Peace

They raised a banner over broken shores, A brand-new board with pledges for the wars. Billions promised for food and shattered stone, A peace institute now bearing one man’s name alone. They talk of boots to calm the shaken streets, Indonesia readies, the drumline meets, But Paris, Berlin, Rome, and London say no, They fear the chairman’s reach, and Moscow’s shadow. And while they count the hope like coins in a cup, The lenders whisper, it won’t be enough.

Sources:

• Trump Says Board of Peace Members Pledge $5 Billion for Gaza Reconstruction
• Board of Peace to unveil $5 billion in Gaza reconstruction at inaugural meeting, Trump says
• Trump Announces $5 Billion in Gaza Commitments From Board of Peace Member States

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Chorus

Hold on, hold on, through the static and the storm, These headlines break us open, but they can keep us warm. Between the promise and the price, between the fear and the fight, We keep building little bridges under flickering lights.

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Verse 2 — The DHS Shutdown

A lock on the door and the phones still ring, Most hands still working without anything. A city remembers two names on a street, Demands for cameras, badges, and no more roving feet. The standoff hardens as winter sets its jaw, Funding split by a loophole in the law. Operations grind on like a ghost-run train, While Congress wanders back some later day again.

Sources:

• Government Shutdown 2026: No clear path to ending DHS funding standoff
• A partial government shutdown has hit the Department of Homeland Security
• 5 things to know about the shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security
• DHS shutdown begins as funding expires without a deal in Congress

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Chorus

Hold on, hold on, through the static and the storm, These headlines break us open, but they can keep us warm. Between the promise and the price, between the fear and the fight, We keep building little bridges under flickering lights.

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Verse 3 — US–Iran Talks in Geneva

From Muscat’s whispers to a colder lake, Geneva waits to see what deal we make. Tehran says open, if the chains can lift, Sanctions on the table for a careful shift. The watchdog listened in a guarded room, While warships practiced where the straits narrow to gloom. Witkoff, Kushner step into the glare, But missiles stay sealed in a separate prayer.

Sources:

• Iran meets UN nuclear watchdog in Geneva ahead of a second round of US talks
• Iran open to compromises to reach nuclear deal with U.S., minister tells BBC
• Iran says missile programme non-negotiable as Tehran, Washington eye talks

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Chorus

Hold on, hold on, through the static and the storm, These headlines break us open, but they can keep us warm. Between the promise and the price, between the fear and the fight, We keep building little bridges under flickering lights.

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Verse 4 — The Washington Post Layoffs

On a newsroom floor, the clocks ran slow, One of the darkest days you’ll ever know. Sports and books fell quiet like emptied halls, Foreign desks stripped down to ghosted walls. Cairo, Delhi, Sydney lights turned low, A river of bylines with nowhere to go. The boss blamed search, and machines that write, While the owner swore to hold the light. The cuts ran deeper than living memory, A wound in the paper’s long history.

Sources:

• Washington Post lays off one-third of its newsroom
• Jeff Bezos remains committed to Washington Post amid brutal layoffs, top editor Matt Murray says
• Inside one of the 'darkest days in the history' of The Washington Post
• Sweeping layoffs at The Washington Post will do 'enormous damage,' former editor says

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Verse 5 — The Memory Chip Squeeze

In server farms where night runs bright, AI swallows the harvest bite by bite. Prices climb like sparks from a wire, Every gadget paying for the fire. Apple counts margins, Tesla dreams steel, A factory of memory to make it real. But plants grow slow in a silicon year, So shortages echo from there to here. The clouds keep spending for minds that learn, While the rest of us wait our turn.

Sources:

• AI Boom Driving a Global Memory Chip Shortage, Sending Prices Soaring
• Rampant AI demand for memory is fueling a growing chip crisis
• Memory chip shortage to last through 2027, semiconductor boss says
• How and When the Memory Chip Shortage Will End

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Verse 6 — Rubio in Munich

In Munich’s hall he raised his hand, Said Europe and America are one same land. Softer than the thunder we heard before, A standing wave rose from the floor. He warned of tides in climate and in flight, Praised our bonds, then left out a fight. Brussels called the music reassuring and clear, But the page lacked lines some wanted to hear.

Sources:

• Rubio tries to ease tensions with Europe with message of unity
• Marco Rubio wants to build a 'new Western century'. Will Europe join?
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference

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Final Chorus and Ending

Hold on, hold on, through the static and the storm, These headlines break us open, but they can keep us warm. Between the promise and the price, between the fear and the fight, We keep building little bridges under flickering lights. So ring the bells in the data halls, Raise a pressroom from crumbling walls, Trade a sanction for a safer dawn, Patch a border where the seams are drawn. If the world is a wire and the news runs bright, We’ll sing across it, spark the night— Hold on, hold on, make the future ignite, On bridges we’re building under flickering lights.