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Germs
Forms, qualities, lives, humanity, language, thoughts,
The ones known, and the ones unknown—the ones on the stars,
The stars themselves, some shaped, others unshaped,
Wonders as of those countries—the soil, trees, cities, inhabitants, whatever they may
be,
Splendid suns, the moons and rings, the countless combinations and effects;
Such-like, and as good as such-like, visible here or anywhere, stand provided for in a
handful
of space, which I extend my arm and half enclose with my hand;
That contains the start of each and all—the virtue, the germs of all.
If the Biden Administration Is Serious About Protecting Voting Rights, Here’s What It Should Do Immediately
February 23, 2021
On Jan. 6, 2021, millions watched, horrified, as agitators hellbent on overturning the election results and disenfranchising Black and Brown voters staged an insurrection on the Capitol, fueled by demonstrably false allegations of voter fraud. While there are clear problems with our democracy and voting systems that must be fixed, these issues don’t arise from voter fraud. They are instead the legacy problems of our republic: systematic efforts to erect voting barriers and discriminate against voters of color for political gain. The Biden administration has a real opportunity to restore faith in our democracy and move us closer to an electoral system representative of all Americans.
... full articleAs the Time Draws Nigh
1
As the time draws nigh, glooming, a cloud,
A dread beyond, of I know not what, darkens me.
I shall go forth,
I shall traverse The States awhile—but I cannot tell whither or how long;
Perhaps soon, some day or night while I am singing, my voice will suddenly cease.
2
O book, O chants! must all then amount to but this?
Must we barely arrive at this beginning of us?… And yet it is enough, O soul!
O soul! we have positively appear’d—that is enough.
Quicksand Years
Quicksand years that whirl me I know not whither,
Your schemes, politics, fail—lines give way—substances mock and elude me;
Only the theme I sing, the great and strong-possess’d Soul, eludes not;
One’s-self must never give way—that is the final substance—that out of all
is
sure;
Out of politics, triumphs, battles, life—what at last finally remains?
When shows break up, what but One’s-Self is sure?
It Was Garland’s Hearing—but Women of Color Were on Trial
February 23, 2021
Merrick Garland is going to be confirmed as the next attorney general. He’s a white man who hasn’t sent mean tweets to Republican lawmakers, which should make him palatable enough for Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema. He’s even likely to pick up some Republican votes: He’s an eminently qualified lawyer with an affable and inoffensive nature. The dude even got choked up during his hearing when speaking about how the country welcomed his grandparents from Europe, protecting them from anti-Semitism, and explained that being the attorney general would be the “highest, best use” of his skills to “pay the country back.” After finishing a pointed line of questioning, Republican senator and faux-folksy Rhodes Scholar John Kennedy let slip, “I think you’ll make a fine attorney general” before he cut his mic.
... full articleTo One Shortly to Die
1
FROM all the rest I single out you, having a message for you:
You are to die—Let others tell you what they please, I cannot prevaricate,
I am exact and merciless, but I love you—There is no escape for you.
Softly I lay my right hand upon you—you just feel it,
I do not argue—I bend my head close, and half envelope it,
I sit quietly by—I remain faithful,
I am more than nurse, more than parent or neighbor,
I absolve you from all except yourself, spiritual, bodily—that is eternal—you
yourself will surely escape,
The corpse you will leave will be but excrementitious.
2
The sun bursts through in unlooked-for directions!
Strong thoughts fill you, and confidence—you smile!
You forget you are sick, as I forget you are sick,
You do not see the medicines—you do not mind the weeping friends—I am with you,
I exclude others from you—there is nothing to be commiserated,
I do not commiserate—I congratulate you.
Trump Salary Donation Was 0.1 Percent of Reported $1.6 Billion He Made in Office
February 23, 2021
According to a review of Donald Trump’s financial disclosures by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Trump reported at least $1,613,583,013 in revenue from outside sources during his presidency.
Trump famously touted donating his $400,000 a year presidential salary back to the government while he was in office, but CREW says that that was less than 0.1 percent of the revenue and income that he disclosed for the period of his presidency. “Far from being a sacrifice, the donation was merely a fig leaf to cover up four years of brazen corruption,” wrote CREW’s Jordan Libowitz and Caitlin Moniz.
... full articleReconciliation
Word over all, beautiful as the sky!
Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost;
That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly softly wash again, and ever
again,
this
soil’d world:
… For my enemy is dead—a man divine as myself is dead;
I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near;
I bend down, and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.