All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

US reports more than 70,000 new coronavirus infections for second day in a row

Florida reported 10,292 new cases and 90 more deaths Saturday, according to data from the state health department. Twelve percent of Floridians tested came back positive for the virus Friday, down from a recent high of 18%.

Texas reported 10,256 new cases, according to its health department. More than 17% of Texans tested came back positive for the virus as of Thursday.

 

Source: US reports more than 70,000 new coronavirus infections for second day in a row

So Long John Lewis

In Saner Thought

Yesterday we lost yet another giant of the civil rights movement……Rep. John Lewis has died of cancer at 80……

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has ordered flags at the US Capitol to be flown at half-staff in honor of Rep. John Lewis, who died Friday at the age of 80 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Tributes and statements are now pouring in for the civil rights legend and longtime congressman, including from former President Obama; the family of Martin Luther King Jr., who was close friends with Lewis; and many others. Read on for some standouts:

  • The Lewis family: They confirmed his death in a statement, saying they were caught in “inconsolable grief and enduring sadness” over his passing, per CBS News: “He was honored and respected as the conscience of the US Congress and an icon of American history, but we knew him as a loving father and…

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Palestinian journalist: Car arson won’t stop me from criticizing Palestinian Authority – The Jerusalem Post

“Most of my writings aim to improve the performance of the government. I also write a lot about women’s rights. Indeed, there’s corruption and our institutions are rotten to the core. We saw many cases of administrative corruption even during the battle to curb the spread of the coronavirus. I’m not against the PA; I’m only against rampant corruption.”

Asked if she would now be more careful in her writings, Harhash replied: “I won’t allow anyone to intimidate me. If they sense I’m afraid, that means they won. The status of the Palestinian media is sad. We’ve reached the point where people and journalists are afraid to express their opinions.

“Sometimes I think to myself that we’ve become worse than some of the Arab regimes. The only thing that bothers me is that my daughters are still in a state of panic because of the attack on my car. But I’m determined to pursue my work because that’s my duty as a journalist who cares about good government and freedom of expression.”

Source: Palestinian journalist: Car arson won’t stop me from criticizing Palestinian Authority – The Jerusalem Post

Bird On The Wire – Poem by Leonard Cohen

Bird On The Wire by Leonard Cohen
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a worm on a hook,
like a knight from some old fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee.
If I, if I have been unkind,
I hope that you can just let it go by.
If I, if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you.
Like a baby, stillborn,
like a beast with his horn
I have torn everyone who reached out for me.
But I swear by this song
and by all that I have done wrong
I will make it all up to thee.
I saw a beggar leaning on his wooden crutch,
he said to me, “You must not ask for so much.”
And a pretty woman leaning in her darkened door,
she cried to me, “Hey, why not ask for more?”
Oh like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.

Source: Bird On The Wire – Poem by Leonard Cohen

Democracy – Poem by Langston Hughes

Democracy by Langston Hughes
Democracy will not come
Today, this year
Nor ever
Through compromise and fear.

I have as much right
As the other fellow has
To stand
On my two feet
And own the land.

I tire so of hearing people say,
Let things take their course.
Tomorrow is another day.
I do not need my freedom when I’m dead.
I cannot live on tomorrow’s bread.

Freedom
Is a strong seed
Planted
In a great need.

I live here, too.
I want freedom
Just as you.

Source: Democracy – Poem by Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again – Poem by Langston Hughes

Let America Be America Again by Langston Hughes
Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed–
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek–
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean–
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today–O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home–
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay–
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again–
The land that never has been yet–
And yet must be–the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine–the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME–
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose–
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath–
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain–
All, all the stretch of these great green states–
And make America again!

Source: Let America Be America Again – Poem by Langston Hughes

Still I Rise – Poem by Maya Angelou

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Source: Still I Rise – Poem by Maya Angelou