our fascists try to build along our southern border.
To keep brown people out? Or keep us in?
Is America becoming a giant camp
concentrating those exercising free speech,
free movement and all dissent beneath the thumb
of authoritarian diatribe and power, making us numb
and willing to cooperate with endless hate?
I honor those who once fought to save the world
and keep it free from hate and bigotry,
and create a fair economy which served us all.
I see the last ditch in my mind with no need to recall.
It lives on every street, in every neighborhood,
in every school board meeting, and City Hall;
in governor’s mansions and courts of law.
It is still alive these many years
and brings anger along with tears
burning the back of my throat
as I mourn those who breached the fascist wall
and those whose bodies I imagine afloat
off Omaha and Utah Beaches, and now, in our cities.
And I remember, as if it is today. It is. Such a pity.
Community members clash with ICE, other federal officers, Minneapolis police, and other state officers as officials raid Las Cuatro Milpas in Minneapolis, Minnesota Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (Photo by Nicole Neri/Minnesota Reformer)
Pirates have always been roaming the seas, boardrooms, and where trades are made by greedy decrees.
Those serving the common good have long understood the need to orchestrate the moves they make, regulate how they take the booty, and disclose where they hide.
Privateers are not so prevalent since they rely on government to protect their hide and share the booty in return for protection regardless of true affection.
Elon and his brethren pirates have turned from corporate pirates into privateers, seated on the podium with Republican profiteers.
No more chance to orchestrate the theft from National Treasury, nor regulate the loss of national security by Justice Department employees.
Inspectors General are no more. They and other watchdogs have been shown the door. And who is left to explore truth and reality without independent media?
How can any democracy survive when privateers are allowed to thrive outside all constitutional constraints? And The Supreme Court refuses any restraint on criminality by those in charge?
Privateers are a greater threat than pirates be. The pirates moved off-shore long before privateers were invited to stand beside those who planned to stand with autocrats, despots and traitors to democracies.
We are in the midst of a third Barbary War within our own boundaries and institutions; not off Tripoli’s shores. what ammunition is available in federal courts when even SCOTUS undermines the Constitution?
annarino writes 