The president of shame has his own flag
the president of lies quotes the voice
of God
at last counted
the president of loyalty recommends
blindness to the blind

-W.S. Merwin

This is the equivalent of the guys in the fifties who thought nutrition pills would save all the time humans spent inefficiently eating delicious food.

In our competitive society, where it seems that only the strong and winners deserve to live, sport also teaches us how to lose. It forces us, in learning the art of losing, to confront our fragility, our limitations and our imperfections. It is through the experience of these limits that we open our hearts to hope. Athletes who never make mistakes, who never lose, do not exist.

spoken like a diehard White Sox fan

That army parade was straight outta Spinal Tap.

No alt text sorry

No alt text sorry

I can't believe that the Translation Review published this article praising the use of chatgpt for translating Classical Chinese poetry?!?!?!

PRESIDENTS The president of shame has his own flag the president of lies quotes the voice of God at last counted the president of loyalty recommends blindness to the blind oh oh applause like the heels of the hanged he walks on eyes until they break then he rides there is no president of grief it is a kingdom ancient absolute with no colors its ruler is never seen prayers look for him also empty flags like skins silence the messenger runs through the vast lands with a black mouth open silence the climber falls from the cliffs with a black mouth like a call there is only one subject but he is repeated tirelessly

The president of shame has his own flag
the president of lies quotes the voice
of God
at last counted
the president of loyalty recommends
blindness to the blind

-W.S. Merwin, “Presidents” (1970)
#everynightapoem

WS Merwin wrote “Presidents” in 1970.

In 1971, he declined a Pulitzer, citing the Vietnam War —“too conscious of being an American to accept public congratulation with good grace, or to welcome it except as an occasion for expressing openly a shame which many Americans feel."

these are our brothers and we should be building a better world together

When you say "American King," this should be the context...

M.L. King
Coretta King
Carole King
B.B. King
Billie Jean King
King C. Gillette
Albert King

One of the greatest, most disturbing quotes I've seen in a long time

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

From a dear comrade who was kind enough to let me share their video.

Veterans stage a sit-in on the US Capitol steps and say, “Military off our streets!” Hell yeah!

"I continued toward the Minotaur to keep
the thread taut. And suddenly, now,
immense flowers are coloring all
my stalked body. Making wine of me.
As bells get music of metal in the rain.
The prey I am willingly prospers.
The exile that comes on comes too late."

—Jack GIlbert, from "Angelus"

“Tesla’s driverless ‘robotaxis’ could launch in Austin as soon as June 22. But a demo in Austin today showed a $TSLA, manually driven to test its Full Self-Driving system, failed to stop for a child-sized dummy at a school bus—and hit it.”

@cbsaustin @velez_tx

Coyote pups at Graceland Cemetery!

I find humanities debates re how to be Radical very quaint. Imo the reason us sitting around and arguing about metaphysics isn't actually leading to substantial increases in power or wellbeing for the working class has nothing to do with the particular way we sit around and argue about metaphysics.

Chicago on the list. Whatever this means.

Protesters march past the Chicago Theater

I love this city.

Protesters march in the streets

Protesters march in the streets

We’re in the streets in downtown Chicago.

電腦 as a pictograph of a computer

even as a theorist I feel like I half agree with this

Q: "Could we really see active duty Marines on the streets of Los Angeles?"

Johnson: "I don't think that's heavy handed."

Q: "You don't think sending Marines into the streets of an American city is heavy handed?"

Johnson: "We have to be prepared to do what is necessary."

Between fascism and climate change, the latter is definitely a greater threat to humanity. Fascists are liars, and they will always lose (but it might take a while). The problem with the fascist regime in the US is that it's actively undermining climate action, thereby exacerbating climate damage.

Los Angeles school worker shares frustration over parents having to leave their children’s graduation ceremony because ICE raided an elementary school’s graduation today

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

🕊️🩵🌍▪️🪰🦤🍊▪️🚫👑🌮

I'm obligated to post this every time it shows up in my Facebook memories.

They’re ramping up the violence and it’s only a matter of time before they kill a bystander.

The image shows the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt on display on the National Mall in Washington D.C. in October 1996. This particular display, from October 11-13, 1996, was the last time the entire quilt was shown in its entirety, covering the vast expanse of the National Mall from the Washington Monument towards the U.S. Capitol. It featured over 40,000 panels and drew approximately 1.2 million visitors.

AIDS Memorial Quilt on display October 11-13 1996 on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Let us never forget.

Photograph of dozens of tanks on a train, next to I-295 in Washington, DC.

In preparation for next week’s parade/demonstration, tanks are being moved into Washington, DC today. Unprecedented.
(Photo from a colleague in DC)