'…a major destabilizing influence'
As the US was making its exit from Afghanistan, on August 26th, thirteen US servicemen and -women were killed in a terrorist bomb at the Kabul airport; 20 more were wounded. The President saluted the coffins at Dover Air Force Base. Given the nature of a war like Afghanistan, this bombing put pressure on US …
Continue reading “The Disastrous Final Drone Strike Says It All”
Jesenia Calderon knew foul practices polluted Philadelphia’s justice system years before Philly’s District Attorneys Office released an unusual report in June 2021 that decried injustices arising from official misconduct by prosecutors and police. The insights into injustice held by Calderon, a nurse and military veteran, come from decades of seeing her father victimized by prosecutors, …
Continue reading “An All Too Typical But Typically Bizarre Injustice”
“The strike on the vehicle on 29 August . . . killed 10 members of one family, including six children, relatives told the BBC.” The drone is a Reaper, The missile it fires is a Hellfire. There you have it. The person who programmed the drone is a nobody, A minion of the Great Satan …
These Black heroes of 9/11 valiantly battled terrorism. But the sacrifices of these Black heroes will receive no recognition during the commemorations around America for the 20th Anniversary of what is considered the most tragic terrorist attack ever conducted on American soil. These heroes, William Parker and his colleagues, confronted terrorists on 9/11 in defense …
Continue reading “Forgotten Black Heroes of 9/11 — More Evidence of Discriminatory Denial”
Take off your glasses Don’t smile That’s what they told me When I had my passport photo taken So I look like a drug smuggler That’s what they want I look tired and pissed And a little dangerous If I was security at an airport And I saw that face I would take me aside …
Continue reading “Passport photo followed by brief reflection”
Where is George W. Bush — the post-presidential, sensitive painter of humanity — when Joe Biden needs him? As chairman of the board of the US Constitution Center in Philadelphia, on Veterans’ Day 2018 Joe Biden arranged for Bush and his wife Laura to receive the coveted Liberty Medal for their work with veterans. Biden, …
I’m working with a young man Doing dreamwork. During our check-in I was fretting About the ravages of climate change world-wide And he looked at me and said, My friends and I refer to it as “climate catastrophe”. My neighbor told me That he was on a walk with His “kids” recently When he overheard …
Continue reading “So, I guess we’re f–ked?! Yes. . .and No. (a narrative poem)”
My boots are on the porch. They are not on the ground. I keep them on the porch When I am not in them. And I’m not in them. They are not working now, They are dreaming up an army Of boots on the ground Making gardens. Just hand me A moonbeam so I …
The flowers are in the bowl Because they caught on the mower I felt bad for them And placed them in the bowl In a little water This world is going to hell He said I know listen read this Don’t go to hell I said Too late he said After I read what he …
When will they ever learn, oh when will they ever learn? – Pete Seeger The scene of hundreds of desperate Afghanis running and trying absurdly to latch onto the skin of a massive C17 taxiing down a runway about to take off from Kabul Airport was the iconic image that stuck for me — like …