Joan Baez is mad as hell and she isn't going to stay quiet about it
Folk music legend Joan Baez has never been shy about her politics. In the 1960's, she was a leader in the anti-Vietnam war movement and an outspoken advocate for civil rights.
Unsurprisingly, she's appalled by the policies and policies of the current administration — particularly surrounding immigration. And she wants to do something about it.
'I've spent my life being a thorn in the side of many governments,' she said in an interview. 'I'm very comfortable doing that.'
Earlier this year she caught the comedic host of 'Everybody's Live With John Mulaney' off guard when she issued an impromptu warning on live television about 'our democracy going up in flames.'
Now, she's written three original poems for the Chronicle's Open Forum section — her attempt to channel her rage and sadness into beauty.
'I've written poetry before,' she said. 'But right now, the world being what it is, I've been compelled to write in a slightly different way. The detention centers … It's all kind of too horrible for anybody to realize.'
You can read Baez's work — and watch videos of her reading her poems — here.
Meanwhile, Harry will be back next week. If you want to weigh in on Baez's poetry or anything else that may be on your mind, shoot him a letter to the editor here, or try him by email: hmok@sfchronicle.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
34 minutes ago
- New York Post
Microsoft workers rename HQ ‘Martyred Palestinian Children's Plaza' during anti-Israel protest
Dozens of anti-Israel Microsoft employees, many wearing face masks and keffiyes, swarmed the company's headquarters in Washington state to protest the Big Tech giant's ties to Israel's military. The protesters set up tents in a 'liberated zone' on the Redmond campus, renaming it the 'Martyred Palestinian Children's Plaza' — and toted signs that urged co-workers to 'Join the worker intifada: no labor for genocide.' Other placards said 'stop starving Gaza.' A group calling itself 'No Azure For Apartheid' organized Tuesday's sit-in after The Guardian reported that an Israeli military intelligence agency was using Microsoft's Azure software to amass recordings of phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. 4 Microsoft said the workers were asked to leave and did so. Bloomberg via Getty Images 'Once again, the enablers of genocide and apartheid choose to criminalize those that oppose the bombing of Palestinians, rather than the war criminals ethnically cleansing and starving our people in Palestine,' the group — an offshoot of No Tech For Apartheid — wrote on X. The group also published a lengthy manifesto calling for a 'worker intifada' and stating that 'it would not be cogs in the Israeli genocidal machine.' 'The group was asked to leave, and they left,' a Microsoft spokesperson told The Post on Wednesday. About 50 current and former Microsoft workers took part in the sit-in, company officials said. Microsoft had said it was not aware 'of the surveillance of civilians or collection of their cellphone conversations using Microsoft's services' and would conduct a formal review of the allegations. 4 The workers were protesting Microsoft's work with the Israeli military. Bloomberg via Getty Images The protest was the latest sign of ongoing unrest at Microsoft over its contracts with Israel. 4 Microsoft employees called for a 'worker intifada.' Bloomberg via Getty Images In May, the company reportedly began barring employees from using certain words in company emails, including 'Palestine,' 'Gaza' and 'genocide.' It also fired a software engineer who interrupted a speech by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to protest the help given to the Israel's military. 4 A group called 'No Azure For Apartheid' led the protest. Elsewhere, Google fired more than two dozen employees last year for disruptive anti-Israel protests at its offices. As The Post exclusively reported, Big Tech employees were among the biggest individual donors to New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani's campaign. the Demcratic socialist has faced heat during the campaign cycle over his refusal to back away from the phrase 'globalize the intifada.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
White House Rages at Rocker Who Dissed Trump's ‘Vulgar' Oval Office
The Trump administration has clapped back at Grammy-winning musician Jack White's critical commentary on the president's new-look Oval Office. White, former front man for The White Stripes, unleashed on Instagram on Monday, claiming that Donald Trump's torrent of gold and gilded additions to the office were an 'embarrassment to American history,' describing it as 'a vulgar, gold leafed and gaudy, professional wrestler's dressing room.' 'Look at his disgusting taste, would you even buy a used car from this conman, let alone give him the nuclear codes?,' White said, posting a photo of the Oval Office. 'A gold plated Trump bible would look perfect up on that mantle with a pair of Trump shoes on either side wouldn't it?' Responding to White's verdict on Trump's tacky decor, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast: 'Jack White is a washed up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career.' Cheung added, 'It's apparent he's been masquerading as a real artist, because he fails to appreciate, and quite frankly disrespects, the splendor and significance of the Oval Office inside of 'The People's House.'' White's post has had almost 120,000 likes and is the latest of many anti-Trump comments the 50-year-old has made on social media, which has seen him label the president everything from a 'obvious fascist and wannabe dictator' to a 'Nazi clown.' When one comment on his Oval Office post said 'it was an insult' to compare 'this gold poop' to locker rooms, White noted, 'I agree that pro wrestlers don't deserve the comparison.' White has won 12 Grammy awards, his first being for the White Stripes classic 'Seven Nation Army', a song which Trump used without permission in a campaign video last year, prompting the musician to threaten to sue him. 'Don't even think about using my music you fascists,' White wrote in a fiery Instagram post responding to the video. Despite Cheung claiming White's career has 'stalled', his most recent album, last year's No Name, was nominated at the 2025 Grammy awards for Best Rock Album. His next major gig is the CBGB Festival in Brooklyn next month, playing alongside Iggy Pop and the Sex Pistols. Trump has been bringing a touch of his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort to the White House this year. Paintings have gold frames, gold cherubs have been shipped in from his resort, with gilded mirrors on the wall and gold appliqués on the fireplace, which is topped with urns. 'I picked it all myself,' Trump said last month. 'I'm very proud of it.' Barbara Res, once a VP at the Trump Organization, witnessed the real estate tycoon's penchant for filling Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago and the Plaza Hotel with gold, polished bronze and brass. 'He used the word 'class' a lot, and it was a high-class thing for him,' Res told USA Today of his taste in decorations and fittings. 'It conveyed an illusion of taste and wealth, and that's why he wanted to gild everything.' Trump has also replaced the lawn in the Rose Garden with paving, claiming women had complained their high heels were sinking into the grass. He is planning on hosting a UFC match on the grounds of the White House next year.
Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Gizmodo
RFK Jr. Attacks Pediatricians for Daring to Recommend Covid-19 Vaccines for Kids
RFK Jr. is officially waging a war against pediatricians. This week, he went after the American Academy of Pediatrics for rebuffing the federal government and continuing to endorse covid-19 vaccines for children. In an X post Tuesday afternoon, the health secretary and longtime anti-vaxxer accused the AAP of bowing to corporate pressure in making the recommendations. He also claimed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent decision to oppose pediatric covid-19 shots represented a return to 'gold-standard science.' The AAP, by contrast, has maintained that covid-19 remains a serious health threat to children, particularly younger kids. In May, RFK Jr. announced that the CDC would remove its recommendations for healthy children and pregnant women to receive the covid-19 vaccine, including annual booster shots. Though Kennedy was flanked by NIH director Jay Bhattacharya and FDA chief Marty Makary, the announcement featured no actual CDC staff. Several days later, the CDC officially updated its language to state that these groups may get these vaccines in consultation with their doctors (the previous guidance said they should). RFK Jr.'s Baseless Purge of CDC Vaccine Panel Alarms Public Health Experts Some countries have started to ease off their covid-19 vaccine recommendations for children. And the CDC's vaccine advisory panel (outside experts who guide vaccine policy in the U.S.) was set to discuss their recommendations for the fall vaccination schedule in June, which would have included the covid-19 shots. Kennedy rushed ahead of the panel, however, and he provided no evidence at the time to justify the change. The next month, he unilaterally removed all members of the advisory panel and replaced them with members more supportive of his anti-vaccination views. On Tuesday morning, the AAP issued its own vaccine guidance, which, for the first time in 30 years, differs significantly from the CDC's stance. The AAP strongly recommends that all children ages 6 through 23 months old receive at least one covid-19 shot, citing their generally higher risk of having a severe infection. Older children are also recommended to get vaccinated if they fall into certain groups, including children at higher risk of severe covid-19 (such as those with weaker immune systems), children who have never been vaccinated at all, and children living with other people at high risk of severe covid-19. The AAP also took another swipe at HHS for its recent decision to recommend against vaccines containing thimerosal, a preservative that anti-vaxxers have long alleged causes autism despite many studies finding otherwise. It continued to endorse the small minority of vaccines made with the ingredient and recommended against delaying this year's flu shots to remove these products from the market. 'We extensively reviewed the most recently available data about covid-19 risks in kids, as well as safety and effectiveness of available COVID-19 vaccines. It's clear they are very safe for all populations,' said Sean O'Leary, chair of the AAP's Committee on Infectious Diseases, in a statement from the AAP. 'Among the reasons we decided to move to a risk-based recommendation for healthy older children is the fact that the hospitalization rate for young children and children with underlying medical conditions remains high, in line with rates for many of the other vaccine-preventable diseases for which we vaccinate.' Kennedy, however, alleged in his X post that the AAP's decision was possibly a part of a 'pay-to-play scheme to promote commercial ambitions of AAP's Big Pharma benefactors.' And he called for the AAP to disclose any potential conflicts of interest. For starters, the AAP does disclose its funders, some of which do include vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer. These funders don't change the reality that while covid-19 is generally less dangerous to children than older adults, it isn't harmless. Covid-19 has sickened children, sometimes severely, and in rare cases, has even been fatal. Meanwhile, reams of scientific data have consistently shown that covid-19 vaccines greatly reduce the risk of severe illness. RFK Jr. Made a Million Dollars From His Anti-Vax Work He Previously Claimed Was 'Unpaid' Kennedy is also hardly one to talk about financial conflicts of interest, given that he has greatly profited from crusading against vaccine makers. And in fact, many of RFK's ideological allies and anti-vaccination proponents promote their own, often unregulated, health products and alternative treatments. In the battle between the AAP and the revamped HHS under RFK. Jr, I'd much rather back the side that doesn't demonize vaccines every chance it gets.
