https://m.poemhunter.com/poem-amp/the-delicate-plummeting-bodies/

A great cry went up from the stockyards and
slaughterhouses, and Death, tired of complaint
and constant abuse, withdrew to his underground garage.
He was still young and his work was a torment.
All over, their power cut, people stalled like street cars.
Their gravity taken away, they began to float.
Without buoyancy, they began to sink. Each person
became a single darkened room. The small hand
pressed firmly against the small of their backs
was suddenly gone and people swirled to a halt
like petals fallen from a flower. Why hurry?
Why get out of bed? People got off subways,
on subways, off subways all at the same stop.
Everywhere clocks languished in antique shops
as their hands composed themselves in sleep.
Without time and decay, people grew less beautiful.
They stopped eating and began to study their feet.
They stopped sleeping and spent weeks following stray dogs.
The first to react were remnants of the church.
They falsified miracles: displayed priests posing
as corpses until finally they sneezed or grew lonely.
Then governments called special elections to choose those
to join the ranks of the volunteer dead: unhappy people
forced to sit in straight chairs for weeks at a time.
Interest soon dwindled. Then the army seized power
and soldiers ran through the street dabbling the living
with red paint. You're dead, they said. Maybe
tomorrow, people answered, today we're just breathing:
look at the sky, look at the color of the grass.
For without Death each color had grown brighter,
At last a committee of businessmen met together,
because with Death gone money had no value.
They went to where Death was waiting in a white room,
and he sat on the floor and looked like a small boy
with pale blond hair and eyes the color of clear water.
In his lap was a red ball heavy with the absence of life.
The businessmen flattered him. We will make you king,
they said. I am king already, Death answered. We will
print your likeness on all the money of the world.
It is there already, Death answered. We adore you
and will not live without you, the businessmen said.
Death said, I will consider your offer.

How Death was restored to his people:

At first the smallest creatures began to die-
bacteria and certain insects. No one noticed. Then fish
began to float to the surface; lizards and tree toads
toppled from sun-warmed rocks. Still no one saw them.
Then birds began tumbling out of the air,
and as sunlight flickered on the blue feathers
of the jay, brown of the hawk, white of the dove,
then people lifted their heads and pointed to the sky
and from the thirsty streets cries of welcome rose up
like a net to catch the delicate and plummeting bodies.

by Stephen Dobyns

Cross Post Hat Tip to dweller.

❤ lmsp

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2020/09/12/opal-creek-icon-george-atiyeh-missing-after-beachie-creek-fire/5781712002/

https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/2016/09/24/opal-creek-hike-logging-three-pools-little-north-santiam-river/90384728/

https://www.opalcreek.org/

I hope he found refuge in the river if he didn’t leave.

❤ lmsp

Thanks, mac56.

❤ lmsp

❤lmsp

Source: Associated Press

1,000s flee fire at migrant camp on virus lockdown in Greece

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of migrants fled a camp under COVID-19 lockdown after multiple fires gutted much of the site on the Greek island of Lesbos, authorities said early Wednesday.

Some 12,500 people were living at the Moria camp and the surrounding area, where additional restrictions have been imposed over the past week after a Somali resident tested positive for the coronavirus.

“The fire spread inside and outside of the camp and has destroyed it ... There are more than 12,000 migrants being guarded by police on a highway,” Stratos Kytelis, mayor of the island’s main town, Mylinene, told private Skai radio.

“It is a very difficult situation because some of those who are outside will include people who are positive (for the coronavirus).”

More at the link.


Read more: https://apnews.com/afe11920263987d7190bef4def4197d5

---

❤ lmsp

North Carolina Court Wipes Out Voting Restrictions Designed to “Secure White Supremacy”
Tens of thousands of people are suddenly eligible to vote in November.
By MARK JOSEPH STERN
SEPT 08, 20205:35 PM

On Friday, a North Carolina court dramatically expanded the number of voters eligible to participate in the 2020 election. The state may not disenfranchise citizens who owe fines, fees, and other debts from a felony conviction, the Wake County Superior Court ruled on Friday. And while the court limited its order to those affected by wealth-based voter suppression, its reasoning portends a broader ruling in the near future that could restore voting rights to 70,000 more North Carolinians on probation or parole.

Many felon disenfranchisement rules, including North Carolina’s, are rooted in overt white supremacy. After Reconstruction, racist Democrats in the state sought to revoke Black citizens’ suffrage. They accomplished this task, in part, through vague criminal laws that stripped convicted felons of their civil rights—then enforced these laws disproportionately against Black people. North Carolina’s current statute is rooted in an 1877 law spearheaded by a representative who later presided over the lynching of three Black men. At the time, Democrats argued that felon disenfranchisement was necessary to stop “the honest vote of a white man” from being “off-set by the vote of some negro.” Its purpose, alongside other Jim Crow measures like the literacy test, was to “secure white supremacy.”

The law continues to work as intended, as documented in an expert report by University of North Carolina professor Frank R. Baumgartner. Today, Black North Carolinians represent 22 percent of adults and 42 percent of the disenfranchised. Black residents are denied the right to vote at three times the rate of white residents in 44 counties. The state’s disenfranchisement regime targets two groups of people: those on probation or parole, and those who’ve completed their full sentence but still owe court debt. Notably, judges may extend an individual’s probation or send them back to prison because they haven’t paid off these fines and fees.

Snip...

Put simply, the writing is on the wall: Bell and Gregory think North Carolina’s felon disenfranchisement scheme is unconstitutional, but they’ll reach that conclusion after a full trial, not at this preliminary stage, two months out from an election.

Link: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/09/north-carolina-felon-disenfranchisement.html

❤lmsp

https://www.kpq.com/early-voting-starts-today-heres-what-to-expect/

Snip...

Sept. 4: Mail-in voting kicks off in North Carolina

In North Carolina, election officials are starting to mail ballots to any eligible voter who requested an absentee ballot in advance on Friday, officially kicking off the fall voting season.

Both legal and political pressure led to state lawmakers enacting changes to vote-by-mail in the state in June, which included allowing voters to request absentee ballots by email or fax, creating a new ballot tracking system that will allow voters to track their ballot, requiring election officials to notifying voters if there is a problem with their ballot and giving them an opportunity to correct it.

The result is a crush of absentee ballots requests this year — a 21-fold increase from the same time in 2016 — according to election officials.

So far, 591,379 North Carolina voters have requested ballots by mail, compared with just under 28,000 four years ago, according to data compiled by Michael McDonald, a professor of political science at the University of Florida, with the U.S. Elections Project. Registered Democrats account for 53% of those making the requests, while 31% are unaffiliated voters and roughly 16% are registered Republicans.

Snip...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/north-carolina-1st-state-begin-voting-president-sees/story?id=72514498

North Carolina, 1st state to begin voting for president, sees record number of requests for absentee ballots
The state will begin its mail-in voting process on Sept. 4.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GOTV!
❤ lmsp

Governor Cooper announced that, after a summer of hard work to slow the spread of COVID-19, NC will take a modest step forward into Phase 2.5 starting this Friday, September 4 at 5 p.m.

“Safer at Home Phase 2.5 continues our state’s dimmer switch approach to easing some restrictions,” said Governor Cooper. “We can do this safely only if we keep doing what we know works — wearing masks and social distancing. In fact, a new phase is exactly when we need to take this virus even more seriously.”

Anyone who has symptoms or has been exposed to COVID-19 should get tested. There are supports available to help people who may face challenges in being able to miss work or safely stay home.

For more, visit: https://governor.nc.gov/news/north-carolina-move-phase-25

https://www.facebook.com/ncdhhs/photos/a.1564644626880075/3612053418805842/?type=3

📣 ICYMI: NC will take a modest step forward into Phase 2.5 starting this Friday, 9/4/2020 at 5 p.m.

North Carolinians must stay vigilant on mask wearing and social distancing. Learn more about what 2.5 means for NC and don't forget to WEAR, WAIT, WASH. https://t.co/KQMCehrOSp https://t.co/vNysA6PqdV


https://twitter.com/ncdhhs/status/1301285997532020738

● North Carolina has seen our COVID-19 case numbers stabilize, and we want to keep it up. To continue slowing the spread of this virus, Gov. Cooper has extended the 11 PM curfew on alcoholic drinks until October 2, 2020.

Learn more about the Order here: https://governor.nc.gov/news/governor-roy-cooper-extends-11-pm-alcohol-curfew-through-september

https://www.facebook.com/1753552381631348/posts/2742311009422142/

Good luck everyone.
❤lmsp

A BIG congratulations to our NCDHHS Secretary, Dr. Mandy Cohen, for earning the 2020 Leadership in Public Health Practice Award from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health!

The award recognizes a graduate who has been an outstanding example of effective public health leadership, and honors selfless service, significant contributions to the uptake of public health principles and demonstrated significant organizational leadership.

Read more about why Secretary Cohen was chosen for the 2020 Alumni Award in the recent Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health article: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/2020-alumni-awards-announced/.

We are so proud of you, Secretary Cohen!

https://www.facebook.com/899724903372054/posts/3611832212161296/

❤lmsp

NCDHHS

NC.GOV COVID-19 Testing

https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/about-covid-19/testing/find-my-testing-place/pop-testing-sites

Resources, information and assistance from across state

Community Testing Events

Community testing events can last from one to several days. The table below lists events across the state. Many of these events provide tests at no cost.
Anyone interested in getting tested should contact the test site before they go to confirm testing criteria, availability, hours and registration.

Your personal information is private and strictly confidential. Some locations may ask for identification, but it is not required at all testing places.

Some locations offer testing at NO COST.

For more information, contact your local testing place before arriving.

(Su información personal es privada y estrictamente confidencial. Algunos lugares que hacen la prueba pueden solicitar identificación, pero no es obligatoria en todos los sitios. Algunos lugares ofrecen la prueba SIN COSTO. Comuníquese con el punto de prueba de su localidad antes de presentarse.)

How to see if there is a community testing event near you:

● Sort the table by County, City, Date, No-Cost Testing, or any column by clicking on the arrows in the top row.

● Use the Search box right above the table.

You can enter your ZIP Code, city or other information to search the list.

The content below (at the link) can be translated by clicking on the Google Translate dropdown menu at the top right of the page for those using Chrome, Firefox and Safari browsers.

Organizations planning a single or multi-day community testing event should submit this information using this form instead.

Click the link for the drop down county by county menu for test events.

https://covid19.ncdhhs.gov/about-covid-19/testing/find-my-testing-place/pop-testing-sites

❤lmsp