"Lives in the Balance"

Lives in the Balance, by Jackson Browne

On the radio talk shows and TV
You hear one thing again and again
How the USA stands for freedom
And we come to the the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends-
These governments killing their own?
Or the people who finally can't take any more
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
And there is blood on the wire.

Eight years since the two Bybee memos approving U.S. torture. No accountability. Meanwhile, Congress passes billions for more war. A dark time for America, made worse by the "feel-good" paltry reforms of the Obama administration, issued in part to make people forget their government harbors torturers, wages aggressive war, tortures still, weakens even more protections against basic privacy, and practices assassination abroad.

"... there is blood on the wire."

H/T Barb