Showing posts with label Police State. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Police State. Show all posts

Monday, September 21, 2026

Banned

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE PRESS

 

Banned

 

If he had read the first amendment

(some doubt he reads at all)

The work of our descendants

The free press cannot fall

 

But he doesn’t like their inquisition

The push him into a rage

They challenge all of his positions

Draw attention to his age

 

So he takes away their access

He throws them out the door

Like they’re all a bunch of pests

He won’t see them anymore

 

Yet he’ll see them on the daily news

He’ll see them at their best

He’ll see them when the people choose

The freedom of the press

 

They will yell it from the mountaintop

The president has no clothes

They’ll tell it when his rallies flop

And when resistance grows

 

He banned them from the White House

But he can’t take their right to speak

He’s as feeble as a field mouse

He’s a man well past his peak

 

And everybody knows it well

The people want him gone

We’d like to send him straight to jail

His kingdom for a pawn

 

Monday, September 14, 2026

Dirty Rotten Killers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Dirty Rotten Killers

 

You dirty rotten killers

You’re at it again

You all think you’re in a thriller

You all think you’re gonna win

 

You’re working for the devil

Though you might think he’s your friend

You might think he’s on the level

But your time’s about to end

 

The people rise against you

As your vile tactics grow

You will not be renewed

That much you should know

 

You will have to pay the piper

For all the damage you have done

All you dirty rotten snipers

We will have you on the run

 

Your pardons will not matter

Your crimes are documented

All of you will scatter

You are evil and demented

 

So get it while you can

Your judgement day will come

We’ll wipe away your brand

You dirty rotten bums

 

(re: ICE tactics in Virginia)

 

Saturday, September 05, 2026

Cruel and Unusual

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

 

Cruel and Unusual

 

Deported to the C.A.R.*

For helping our nation in war*

Condemning them for who they are

To settle the president’s score

 

Cruel and unusual punishment

Is banned by our constitution

Is this what our president meant

As an immigrant solution?

 

A curse upon his family

A curse upon his head

This action is a travesty

The world is seeing red

 

Has the president no shame?

Does he know what he’s about?

He’s disgraced his family name

Our foundation is in doubt

 

His crimes are growing daily

His common decency is lost

He has no inkling of civility

And all must pay the cost

 

If we had a Court of Law

Instead of sycophants and slugs

We’d reverse these horrid flaws

Like a pesticide kills bugs

 

* Afghan refugee deported

  to the Central African Republic

 

Sunday, August 23, 2026

Tears for Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Tears for Hong Kong

 

As much as ten years in jail

For the crime of peaceful protest

Hong Kong’s democracy has failed

Yet their spirits must be blessed

 

We remember Tiananmen Square

As if it happened yesterday

A display of courage rare

That spirit lives on to this day

 

The people rallied to their cause

They voiced their disapproval

Repeal all oppressive laws

Some called for their removal

 

The Party came to their decision

Without principled assistance

To prevent a deep division

They will punish all resistance

 

Yet the resistance will endure

Despite all oppressive measures

Of that much we can be sure

For their freedom is their treasure

 

A hundred years and more

We’ll remember Tiananmen Square

What they were fighting for

Is something we all share

 

 

Wednesday, April 29, 2026

The Police State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Police State

 

Conspiracy theories notwithstanding

They are creating a police state

They’re not just asking, they’re demanding

They want it now, they cannot wait

 

They’re building centers of mass detention

They’re not just for deportees

This is not a new invention

They are planting despot seeds

 

They don’t like it when we use the name

Authoritarian police state

They won’t like when we place the blame

On the ones who say it’s great

 

But we see what they are doing

It is deliberate and it’s planned

They are funding and ensuring

A new government by one man

 

You may not like to hear it

But it’s coming just the same

All good souls should fear it

To our most eternal shame

 

 

Sunday, February 15, 2026

Impunity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Impunity

 

“Nothing’s more dangerous than

power with impunity.” 

 

Isabel Allende, Portrait in Sepia

 

 

Nothing speaks of insanity

Nothing could be more extreme

Than a president with impunity

Decreed by the Court Supreme

 

One wonders what they were thinking

On that misbegotten day

When the ship of state was sinking

And they helped it on its way

 

They gifted him immunity

The people did not have a say

They assured enduring disunity

For as long as he would stay

 

So now he’ll stay forever

He will never leave the house

He’s pulling each and every lever

To get his forces armed and roused

 

ICE is his gestapo

Brown Shirts and the Guard

We don’t know where it goes

But we’re sure it goes down hard

 

Our democracy is at stake

She is trembling with desperate fear

Her defenders better stay awake

Or the end times will be here

 

 

Monday, February 09, 2026

The Resistance Grows

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

The Resistance Grows

 

We don’t know how it began

We don’t know how it will end

But we know and understand

What lies around the bend

 

We’ve all seen this act before

Like a nightmare in repeat

It’s a scene of blood and gore

They’re all pounding out the beat

 

We’ll be heading out tomorrow

To see what we can do

We’ll take what we could borrow

To see our mission through

 

The men in masks will follow

Wherever we may roam

Their hearts and souls are hollow

They’ll hunt us to our homes

 

They’ll take away our families

They’ll threaten all our friends

They’ll call us all the enemies

From which they must defend

 

But the people won’t believe them

They’ve seen enough to know

Too often they’ve deceived them

Their sense of outrage grows

 

 

Saturday, February 07, 2026

The Washington Post

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE PRESS

 

The Post

 

The Post is dead

(long live the Post)

The Washington Post is dead

Jeff Bezos’ Post to Trump is wed

The revered Post is dead

 

And Bezos is the killer

A real-life reporter’s thriller

He shot the famed newspaper dead

He favors propaganda instead

Bezos is the killer

 

Does anybody care?

The press is running scared

Replaced by sycophants and bums

The retail journalistic scum

Does anybody care?

 

The gestapo is in place

They cover up their faces

They threaten violence everywhere

Defy them if you dare

The gestapo is in place

 

So who will tell the truth

About the voting booth?

They’re setting up the lie again

Who will lose and who will win?

And who will tell the truth?

 

Our democracy is in danger

We’re run by wealthy strangers

When you lose free press

You will lose the rest

Our democracy is in danger

 

 

Sunday, February 01, 2026

Where Were You?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Where Were You?

 

We were taught that everyone is free

We were taught that all belong

We were taught that everyone has needs

To neglect them would be wrong

 

Where were you when the icemen came?

Were you hiding in your shed?

Did they have a list that had your name?

Did they tell you where it led?

 

This country is a melting pot

That’s what our teachers said

It can’t be something we forgot

It was planted in our heads

 

So where were you when the men in green

Came knocking at your door?

What terror did their knocking bring?

Did it shake you to your core?

 

Remember when we sang our songs

This land of liberty

To discriminate was plainly wrong

We pledged equality

 

So where were you when the whistles blew?

Did you run or did you hide?

And where were you when you finally knew

That the ones we trusted lied?

 

 

Sunday, January 25, 2026

The Killing

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PROTEST

 

The Killing

 

They’re killing us on the streets

Just for being who we are

They’re killing us in our cars

A sense of heartbreak and defeat

 

We remember Rodney King

We remember George Floyd

Through our tears we feel the sting

When the soldiers are deployed

On the streets of our cities

In the center of our nation

Have you no heart and no pity?

Have you no sense of indignation?

 

We remember Kent and Jackson State

That’s when we knew they were willing

To shoot us down at the gates

To answer protests with killing

That’s when we had to contemplate

The cost in blood and the chilling

That’s when we knew the rabid hate

In their thugs they were instilling

 

Now we’re back to where we were

Law and order is their cry

Before the dead have been interred

They are spreading deadly lies

 

(In memory of Renee Good & Alex Pretti) 

 

Monday, January 19, 2026

Land of the Free

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Land of the Free

 

What land is this I wonder

The purple mountains majesty

The land of grain and thunder

The land of grace and sympathy

The land that pulls you under

 

This is the land of liberty

The land where all are free

The land that wants no misery

The land that lets you be

The land that places family

Among the sacred trees

 

A darkness spread across the land

The shadow of a beast

Some rose up to make a stand

Some cried out for peace

Many hid and many ran

So many more deceased

 

What happened in this land of light

This land of liberty?

The place of law and human rights

The land that sings of thee

A shadow brought an endless night

A curse on all you see

We finally gave up the fight

We are no longer free

 

 

Saturday, January 17, 2026

Pariah State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN

 

Pariah State

 

When you kill your own people en masse

You have lost all control

Your reign cannot outlast

The selling of your soul

 

You are so in love with power

That you would kill without shame

In your hearts you’re all cowards

Spilling blood in God’s name

 

That blood is on your hands

It will remain there forever

No one knows or understands

How your compassion was severed

 

It is time to do what’s right

Let the people have their way

They are sworn to this fight

And in this fight they will stay

 

You have become a rogue nation

To all the world a pariah state

In this mindless provocation

You have earned a cruel fate

 

 

Monday, January 12, 2026

The Iceman Cometh

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

The Iceman Cometh *

 

She wasn’t an activist

(so what if she was)

She was a mother who dropped her child

off at school

She wasn’t obstructing the Icemen

(so what if she was)

She was trying to get away

when she found herself in a situation

Surrounded by angry men

Heavily armed, armored and vested

Some yelling at her to get out

Some yelling at her to move on

Was she frightened?  Maybe

When the Iceman cometh you should

be frightened

 

She tried to move on and they shot her

Not one of them came to her aid

Not one of them voiced disapproval

They blocked a doctor on the scene

They covered the truth

They lied

They called her a dirty red

She deserved to die they said

 

When the Icemen come to your town

Beware

Beware if you stand in their way

Beware if you tell them you’re not angry

Beware if you don’t move fast enough

Beware if you’re startled and afraid

They have proclaimed the right

to shoot you dead

 

When the Iceman cometh hide away

When the Iceman cometh bolt your door

When the Iceman cometh do not stray

When the Iceman cometh: war

 

* A play by Eugene O'Neill