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The present US attorney general

wants to bring back firing squads and

electrocution

while only 10% of US states in 2020 and

only 20 of 195 countries in 2019

have conducted prisoner murder

executions.

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Michigan hasn't had an execution since 1837, Wisconsin none since 1853, Maine none since 1887.

On Dec 10, 2020 Brandon Bernard after 21 years in jail was

murdered because of the actions of the 'prolife' AG, the 'prolife' resident of the White House, and the 5 'prolife' Republican Catholics and 1 'prolife' Republican Episcopalian on the Supreme Court.

Not since 1889 until this month has a lame duck administration murdered a federal prisoner. The prisoner was a black man sentenced by an allwhite federal jury.

The Huffington Post reported that 5 of 9 surviving jurors who

sentenced Bernard to death asked for clemency as did his prosecutor, several congresspersons, 23 current and former prosecutors, the editorial board of the Washington Post, and lawyers Alan Dershowitz and Ken Starr.

 Premeditation has evolved to have the connotation of violence while meditation is a spiritual exercise promoting peace and nonviolence. Judges

on the Supreme Court have become serially killing exectioners premeditating

their murder of prisoners, with a pen as the weapon.

"The state cannot give life but demands the right to take it."  Frederick C Davis and

   Harry O Hoyt'

None of us should be judged by the worst moments in our lives.   Helen Prejean.

Charles Darwin called judicial execution an act of premeditated murder and termed those humans who clamor for capital punishment hyenas.

Agatha Christie: "The judge murders within the law". Some report the family may now have 'closure'. There is no closure in

vengeful continuation of the cycle of violence.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/department-of-justice-issues-lame-duck-regulations-to-broaden-the-range-of-available-federal-execution-methods

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/william-barr-e2-80-99s-bloodthirsty-lame-duck-execution-spree-is-unprecedented/ar-BB1bjZyp

......................

families gather in a place of condemnation,

weary, excited, downtrodden, in a 'fair and equal' nation,

look foward to a day, when they see the face of a loved one,

behind a plexiglass window framed in steel, with the aura of being 'under a gun',

little ones elated, of the day they see daddy's face,

it matters not to them, they must be in this place,

just a look, a glimpse, of so much time lost,

and mothers, sisters and brothers, all pay the cost,

arrive at the gate, the car is searched,

and in the distance, the attack dogs, hungrily perched,

the car is dismantled, and questions of interrogation,

what are these pennies for? (i didn't know i needed a reason).

reaching the entryway, a small piece of material is given,

we ask, 'what is this for'? (no answer--excuse me for livin'),

one woman steps up to be searched for the visit,

"rub that piece of material across you breasts, ma'am", (what? this seems illicit!),

she complies, without complaint, because the kids want to see dad,

and now, she too, has been made to feel she is bad,

the other officers gawk, they seem to be enjoying this,

some even appear they'd love to give her a kiss,

little ones stare, they don't know of mama's shame,

mama says to them "oh honey, the nice man's just playing a game",

he takes the material, and places in a machine,

the drug test comes up negative, his face gets mean,

he tells her, "no, wait, miss!!! you can't go!" (it's like a threat),

"you must now rub it between your legs, we're not done with you yet!",

the woman looks at me, her face is beet red,

we all feel helpless, in shock, we can't believe what he said,

she takes the piece of material, and rubs it between her thighs,

he says "no not like that! higher!" (and this poor lady begins to cry),

he doesn't apologize, or have any sensitivity that what he's doing is rape,

his fears have swallowed him completely, 

our mouths are agape,

we all go through this process, feeling so violated, and psychologically torn,

then we force the smiles on our faces, we can't complain or mourn,

and this is just one ingenious scheme, an obstacle, one tactic,

that divides families who have someone in prison--(yes, you're right, it's sick),

had i not seen it with my own eyes, how these innocent people were made to sob,

why on earth do they have these obstacles and these people in these jobs?

so the one time these people get to see their loved one in a year,

they go through the entire visit, feeling bad, ashamed, and in fear.

9:36 AM 7/12/2013 ©

...................

...............

this heinous monstrosity of segregation,

that drains the blood, sweat, and tears 

from generations of poor, illiterate, and downtrodden,

rapist of family values, and murderer 

of productivity and hard working hands, 

the dream of 5 year old boys whose aspirations 

of being like daddy wind him up on a dime bag street corner,

grappling frazzled bits and pieces, 

the remnants of a worn out dream, 

passed down through a shackled and indoctrinated 

system of beliefs twisted by the hands of greedy governments,

and corporate schemes that trade lives for money.

this heinous monstrosity of segregation,

convincing mothers they are better off alienated 

from their children,

and that a father's life for his son or daughter

is worth nothing more than three meals and a cot,

a place to rot, and a sacred book of scripture only given

to wash the sins of those hands that profit

from the years of ones held captive and sometimes murdered

for crimes unworthy of the time,

hours and years robbed from innocent loved ones

who pay the burden of the brainless zombies

taking pride in their jobs that torture the downtrodden.of societies

in every nation.

this the system we take pride in, 

that we divide in, 

husband from wife, father from son,

left with no remaining choice in the end,

but to sever all ties completely from everyone,

draining any scintilla of scraps 

from the family 'till of loving plenty',

no leftovers from the dinnertime table of togetherness

savored for a child in need of 

what it means to awaken to the sound of unity,

a now lost and forgotten concept taught only 

in lieu of a desire for mass destruction and for-profit policing 

of innocent citizens,

where are the people who say they care about the children?

5:36 AM 7/11/2013 ©

with inspiration from 'riddles'

http://www.postpoems.org/authors/belial_lair/poem/945997#comment-402731

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Sense. 

Sensitivity. 

The highly sensitive person. 

It is not genetically 

marked, but Carl Jung 

says that HSPs 

have a definite 

biological 

difference in their 

nervous systems.

"Oh, don't be so SENSITIVE!!!"

They were once shy,

until they learned

there was no

other recourse,

and the world broke 

them...

...and then,

on the eighth

day, God created 

monsters.

1:25 PM 7/5/2013 ©

I traveled miles out of town to see your face today,

Drove past the city limits through the desert far away,

Surrounded by barbed wire and a K-9 crew or two,

I wondered would I meet Mr. Houdini here?…or you?

You stood behind a piece of glass that stifled every word,

It didn’t matter though, the plea for help could still be heard.

The room was filled with people shouting loudly through the glass,

I even heard a woman tell her friend to "Kiss my a-s!".

Two hours passed too quickly and it hurt to say goodbye,

And as I left I winked as if to say, "See, I won’t cry".

I’ll stand beside you always with each letter that I write,

I know we’ll figure out how we’ll get through each lonely night.

The part that really gets me is the way we build in space,

But where are all the brains to help reform our HUMAN RACE?

We teach the kids by actions we display to shoot and kill,

Then lock them up, ignore them, and complain about the bill.

It’s "rehabilitation" at it’s best here at the zoo,

And a label of psychosis makes a tort hard to pursue.

The workers only give a damn about their lazy hides,

At best they blame the inmate’s past, not really look inside.

"Who cares about some kid who got pissed off and shot the block!!

We’ll just give him some lithium and blame it on hard rock!!

Just watch your back and get the check, that’s all that we can do,

For people locked away in super-max like SMU."

Abuse of all this power will be sure to make life worse,

Unless we conquer fears of ones who feed into this curse.

The men who claim it’s their right to judge that a single life,

Could possibly be worth no more than all this time in strife,

They need to learn a lesson ‘bout how wrong a "right" can be

When men abuse their right to power close their eyes, refuse to see.

I’ll see you here again and pray each night and every day,

Don’t worry ‘bout my love ‘cause it won’t ever go away,

But if by chance we drift apart I’ll hold this memory dear,

It’s taught me that with lack of love all humans know….

…….is fear.

Copyright © 2002 Liz Peterson-Braveheart