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


  • Abusing Migrants While on Horseback Fits With the Border Patrol's Long History of Brutality
    Sarah Turberville, Chris Rickerd
    Abusing Migrants While on Horseback Fits With the Border Patrol's Long History of Brutality
    26 Sep 2021
    Such cruelty warrants a congressional investigation—not only into the specific actions in Del Rio but, more importantly, into systemic problems within Border Patrol that allow such abusive cond
  • Claudia Passport
    Lola Olufemi
    Claudia Jones: A Life in Search of the Communist Horizon
    26 Sep 2021
    This is the foreword to the new edition of Marika Sherwood’s Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile (Lawrence Wishart, 2021).
  • CLACS meeting in Mexico
    Arnold August
    CLACS: A Significant Step Toward the Inevitable Replacement of the OAS
    26 Sep 2021
    The recent Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CLACS) meeting was a continuation of the effort to end U.S. domination through its Organization of American States apparatus.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Covid Funds Spent on Police and Prisons
    22 Sep 2021
    Systemic racism and weak movement politics allow states and cities to spend relief funds on police and jails. 
  • Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Racism Denies Common Prosperity in the United States
    22 Sep 2021
    China's commitment to enhancing social cohesion is an example of what a society should strive to do. But racism endemic to the U.S. prevents it from taking the same steps.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us