Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

War Crime Cafe
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
25 Mar 2026
🖨️ Print Article
White House and weapons contractors

“War is a racket. It always has been. 
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, 
surely the most vicious.”

— Major General Smedley Darlington Butler

“War is a racket. It always has been. 
It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, 
surely the most vicious.”
— Major General Smedley Darlington Butler

BOOM — blows up — SNAP
Medicare; Medicaid; Meals On Wheels; WIC
Section 8; and even the VA. It vaporizes multi-
billions of dollars each day as TV warriors cosplay

Let ‘em eat WAR til they pass out on the floor! Barbecued
Boots On The Ground. Let ‘em eat Lockheed Martin Lasagna,
Boeing Burgers, Raytheon Roast Beef w/Northrop Grumman
Goulash. Let ‘em top it off with General Dynamics Desserts

Let US schools echo US multiplex theaters of WAR. Let
School Shootings Du Jour become teachable moments. Let
holstered Glocks ride up hips of teachers lecturing with long guns.
Let body armor and ballistic blankets become back to school fashion

Let rogues ‘run’ our country like a trillion dollar-budgeted WAR-
profiteer merchant of death cafe. Let killer cuisine flow from
capitalist kitchens and militarist menus 24/7. WAR of choice served
with entrĂŠes. Dozens of dead bodies daily. Extrajudicial killings on request.  

Let fighters, bombers, carriers serve bloody backpacks with little girls 
shredded bodies on beds of rubble. Let shrapnel soups, sadistic desserts from 
moans and wails of grieving mothers grace oak tables. Let servers serve up
whole families on platters of profit. Let waiters liberate Kuwait while you … wait

Reservations are required. Wait times are generations (though they will say 
two-four years) They don’t serve the disabled, the sick, the unhoused, the
unemployed, low-wealth, low-income, or fixed income folks. Oh, a surly
server just said, they’ve just “run out of rights and are fresh out of freedoms!”

Let them tell it, “all options are on the table.” Except Operations overthrowing
cancer and coming under universal single-payer healthcare for all. Except the
patriotic construction of 100,000 units of affordable housing annually. Except
universal pre-K education and free education and student debt cancellation …

Š 2026. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet, BAR's Poet-in-Residence, and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.

War
imperialism
state violence
weapons contractors
repression
war profiteering
militarism

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
9/11 and the Great American Decline
09 September 2026
The Bush administration had long planned a global war for U.S.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
They Wear The Masks
19 August 2026
“We wear the mask that grins and lies, it hides our cheeks and shades our eyes …” 
x
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
What’s with a Pomade Man’s testosterone obsession?
04 August 2026
“War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.” —Thomas Mann
Gary Wilson
House Votes to Lock Israel Into U.S. War Machine for Wider War
29 July 2026
The House voted to permanently merge the U.S. and Israeli militaries. Israel has some control over the U.S.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Lindsey Graham Was the Face of the Duopoly
15 July 2026
The late Senator Lindsey Graham played the role of chief congressional warmonger very well.
Nick Estes
The Indian Wars Continue: 150 Years After Victory at Greasy Grass
01 July 2026
What the Indian wars teach us about today's forever wars.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
War House hosted cage-fighting for 250th what’s next?
24 June 2026
Navy Blue Angels fly over. Air Force Thunderbirds fly over.Offal Office to South Lawn, War House warlords walk onBlood. 
Matt Sledge
Prairieland Defendant Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Moving a Box of Antifascist Zines
23 June 2026
Anti-ICE activists received lengthy prison terms — including a 100-year sentence — in the first major trial of the NSPM-7 era.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Obama Center is a Monument to the More Effective Evil
10 June 2026
Barack Obama bailed out the banks, deported millions, and devastated nations and millions of people through wars of aggression.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Short word problems: do the math
03 June 2026
Work these word problems. Work them as if your lives depend onYOUR correct answers.YOUR solutions … Because they do:

More Stories


  • The Fight to Protect an African Cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland
    Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Fight to Protect an African Cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland
    16 Dec 2022
    Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo is a longtime contributor to Black Agenda Report and the author of No Fear: A Whistelebower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA. She is also the founder of…
  • Cuba and Black Liberation
    Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Cuba and Black Liberation
    16 Dec 2022
    Lee Robinson is President of the African Awareness Association. He joins us to discuss that organization’s work, Cuba's role in liberation movement, and a tour to Cuba which will take place in…
  • The Supreme Court Will Rule on Moore v. Harper
    Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Supreme Court Will Rule on Moore v. Harper
    16 Dec 2022
    The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Moore v. Harper, a case brought by North Carolina legislators who argue for the discredited “independent state legislature” theory. Eliza Sweren-Becker…
  • Brittney Griner and the U.S. State
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Brittney Griner and the U.S. State
    14 Dec 2022
    Brittney Griner's ordeal in Russia is over. But she has been secreted away for "reintegration" and the U.S. continues its own brand of international hostage taking.
  • ESSAY: Negroes Speak of War, Langston Hughes, 1933
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Negroes Speak of War, Langston Hughes, 1933
    14 Dec 2022
    What benefits do Black folk get by endorsing or participating in the white man’s war? Revisiting an anti-war statement by Langston Hughes.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us