All aboard … for Reparations!
March 3, 2020
  

At a huge campaign rally in Richmond, California, on Feb. 17, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Mary Jane O’Meara Sanders, his wife, wave to the crowd. He’s way ahead in the polls. – Photo: Jahahara Alkebulan-Ma’at  AH REMEMBER THAT



by Baba Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at


6260 AAAK/March 2020 JC-PG

Commemorating the Contributions of Women and HERstory Month

Africans Deserve Reparations! Cause, Black Lives Truly Matter!


Greetings of IMANI (FAITH) Esteemed G-o-ds and Elder, Sister and Brother Leaders,


May our Divine Mother-Father Creator of and in All – and beloved Ancients and Ancestors from yesteryears and yesterdays – find you and (y)our extended Family thriving in healing Spirit. WE know you were further enlightened during the many timely events and activities highlighted throughout our Alkebulan-African OurStory and Futures Month.


On a very personal level, i am honoring the long life and contributions of my first Pastor (Emeritus), Rev. WALLACE S. HARTSFIELD, SR., who for many decades led the Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church helping build affordable housing, community businesses, grocery stores, a credit union, senior center as well as a child care center and other enterprises in Kansas City, Missouri. Amen. Asé


WE pay our deepest respect and gratitude for our beloved Queen Mother, supreme educator and Bay Area business owner, the great Dr. RAYE RICHARDSON. She, along with her husband Dr. JULIAN “RICH” RICHARDSON – and their gifted two Suns and two Daughters, Grands and Greats – founded what is now the oldest African-owned bookstore in the U.S., MARCUS (GARVEY) Books. Dr. Raye also chaired the famed Black Studies Department at San Francisco State University for many years. Amen. Asé.


Also making her sacred transformation to the Spiritual realm was another inspiration to so many young and talented women (and male) actors, the brilliant and beautiful Queen Mother NISA BEY; the founder and lead singer of Azania’s (South Africa’s) Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Baba JOSEPH SHABALALA; and, the amazing 101 year-old KATHERINE JOHNSON, the far-sighted mathematician who played a key role along with other Black women in engineering the NASA program.


WE are grateful for the life, work and many contributions of these new and All our incredible Ancestors. Long Live Their Spirits! Asé. Asé. Asé-O!

Destination REPARATIONS!

Carol Fife of ACCE, the fiery face of the victorious Moms 4 Housing fightback campaign, speaks for the campaign for Bernie Sanders for President. – Photo: Jahahara Alkebulan-Ma’at

WE hope that each of you has registered to vote, educated yourself on the issues, adopted a group or personal agenda and had the opportunity to challenge the candidates for the upcoming Primary Election, on March Third. My leading mantra has always been, it is not which man, woman or political Party that WE support that matters most. For me, what is most significant is our People’s Agenda and do the candidates or political parties support us. Or, in short, it ain’t the man or the woman. It’s our Plan that is key! Asé.


WE are calling on all Africans, as well as our true friends and allies, in San Francisco to immediately call up Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as Rep. Zoe Lofgren. Tell them to endorse “The Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act,” H.R. 40, right now!

Our thanks to Rep. Anna Eshoo – who represents portions of the northern California peninsula counties of San Mateo and Santa Clara – for signing on to H.R. 40, “The Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act,” in February. This is a critical moment in this important legislation, first introduced by Congressman and Ancestor JOHN CONYERS, JR. (and most recently by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Houston). With appreciation to many of you and your networks, WE now have more endorsers in the U.S. House of Representatives than ever before. But, WE need an additional 28 to reach the 150 to force full hearings beginning this June(teenth). So, WE are calling on all Africans, as well as our true friends and allies, in San Francisco to immediately call up Speaker Nancy Pelosi (at both (415) 556-4862 and (202) 225-4965); as well as Rep. Zoe Lofgren (at (408) 271-8700 and (202) 225-3072), one of the designated Trump Impeachment Managers, representing parts of the South Bay including San Jose. Tell them to endorse H.R. 40 right now!


In addition, WE continue to encourage every registered voter in California to immediately call up Senator Diane Feinstein who – as the ranking Democratic Party member on the Senate Judiciary Committee with a net worth of close to $80 million – has not yet apologized for disrespecting African people. She has said in regards to our desperate needs and righteous demands for Reparatory Justice, that we “need to get over it” (Meaning 500 plus years of European “white” terrorism, torturous enslavement, robbery, lynchings and murder, mass imprisonment, gang rape and continuing crimes against our humanity, JAA-M). Feinstein was quoted as stating “some things are just better left alone … and I think that (Reparations, JAA-M) is one of those things.”


What say you, African Family and true allies? Will you call Sen. Feinstein’s office to voice your opinion at (415) 393-0707 in San Francisco, or (202) 224-3841 in Washington? Will you tell her to immediately apologize for those statements? And endorse S.1083, “The Commission to STUDY AND DEVELOP REPARATIONS PROPOSALS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS Act”? Also, i ask again, very respectfully. If two white dudes in Vermont, by the name of Ben and Jerry, can endorse and advocate for our Reparations H.R. 40/S. 1083 legislation and hearings, shouldn’t that be the least that WE can do as organizations and individuals? And, shouldn’t WE demand the same of every elected official and candidate as they flood our area over the coming March to November 2020 election period?

A young Sis-Star sporting a HARRIET TUBMAN shirt visits the N’COBRA and Bay View table hosted by Baba Jahahara, noting their matching shirts, at Oakland’s Black Joy Parade on Feb. 23. – Photo: Jahahara Alkebulan-Ma’at

Also, in February, Assembly member Shirley Weber of San Diego – and chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus – has introduced AB 3121. The bill calls for, in the spirit of the national H.R. 40/S.1083, a commission to study and develop proposals for Reparations. While WE haven’t seen the legislation in full yet, WE support all forward energy that propels us towards our Destination of Reparations.


Gratitude to those who visited our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) and San Francisco Bay View newspaper table at events like the Black Joy Parade in Oakland. WE are working diligently to make the west side one of the best sides in expanding our righteous inter-generational movements for self-determination, justice and healing of Africans. Go to www.ncobraonline.org or reach us locally at support@africansdeservereparations.com

Hundreds of strong, smart Oakland women march in the third annual Black Joy Parade on Feb. 17. – Photo: Jahahara Alkebulan-Ma’at

WE again thank those generous souls who became a member of N’COBRA, made a contribution to the Bay View, purchased one of our books, a beautiful REPARATIONS poster by Baba Emory Douglas and/or a Red, Black and Green liberation flag. Every purchase helps us raise funds in support of our unjustly-imprisoned and exiled political leaders, as well as our Jericho Amnesty Movement.


With our collective actions and contributions, WE will soon reach our Goal and Destination of REPARATIONS RIGHT NOW! Asé.

6260 AAAK/ April 2020 JC-PG

WE CONDEMN CAPITALISM!

Respectfully, i have a few questions for our readers. So, grab some paper and a pen. Sorry, i forgot. As our youthful organizers constantly remind me, i’m the only one who still uses those “stone-age” forms of communication. Please pick-up your i-pads, computers and fancy cellies. Are you ready? Here WE go. 

Question #1. What has proven more devastating than the asteroid(s) that, allegedly, wiped out the dinosaurs? OK?

Question #2. Can you name something more destructive than the ever intensifying corporate-induced hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, wildfires and earthquakes that happen each year around our planet? Got it? All right, here’s your final,

Question, #3. Tell me the one thing more deadly than this current COVID-19 coronavirus that is sickening and killing off millions of people worldwide, thus far?

If you answered CAPITALISM for all three questions, you are absolutely correct. You see, widespread illnesses, regional epidemics, even global pandemics have occurred in the past and will probably happen in the future. Likewise, natural disasters are inevitable. 

gimc is a system that has its origins in the European genocidal wars of enslavement and robbery of our African and Indigenous nations, which has continued for nearly five plus centuries.

However, it is the global imperialist monopoly capitalist (gimc) system – based on the super-exploitation of humanity’s working class majority as well as the squeezing of nature’s resources for the most profit$, which benefit the tiniest and wealthiest classes – that exacerbates and makes every problem worse. And, magnifies each disaster. 

Headquartered on Wall Street and in London, Brussels, Moscow, Tokyo etc., gimc gives rise to and accelerates these murderous catastrophes. Why, you ask? Simply put, because its main motives are not the needs and well-being of the people. 

Quality healthcare, nutritional food, safe and affordable housing, clean water, education, public transportation and anything that benefits and uplifts the majority of people is not a priority. On the contrary, the goal of gimc is achieving HIGHER RATES OF PROFIT! AND STOCK OPTIONS FOR THE RICH BENEFICIARIES! AT ALL COSTS (pun-intended). And to destroy whatever and whoever gets in its way. To the detriment of WE masses.

gimc is a system that has its origins in the European genocidal wars of enslavement and robbery of our African and Indigenous nations, which has continued for nearly five plus centuries. gimc’s quest for super-profits has led us to a planet constantly at war: Over fossil fuels, like oil, in Iraq, Amazonas and Afghanistan. 

Certainly, over valuable natural resources, as in Congo. Wars over cheap labor, as in Asia. Over control over lucrative markets to sell commodities. 

And foremost, unjust sanctions and wars carried out by the bloated gimc military forces to put down righteous movements for independence, self-determination, true democracy, land reform, workers’ power and strides toward a more humane socialistic order … from Africa to Cuba to Ayiti (Haiti) to Zimbabwe to Iran to Venezuela to Palestine. 

It is this gimc system that over hundreds of years has shown the people the world over – especially the formerly colonized in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, the Caribbean and so-called central and south Americas – that they are expendable. 

So, please OVERstand. This worldwide pandemic, looming economic depression and expected fascistic repression in response to the assured resistance of the people most affected and denied relief … are not simply about the policies and/or complete ignorance of one administration, like that of gimc’s current Agent #45, or one political party. 

This is a systematic failure of gimc. And there, unfortunately, will be many more. Unless, WE collectively develop our agendas and take the power! Asé.

Neena Joiner, owner of the FEELMORE sex shop in downtown Oakland (at 1703 Telegraph), now has opened a second store in downtown Berkeley at 2270 Shattuck Ave. They are open for basic essential items, like condoms and gloves. www.feelmore.com. Cause, after all, life will go on. Asé. – Photo: Baba Jahahara

In the meantime, please stay safe, help each other and continue to get organized wherever you are … ByAnyMeans Necessary! WE hope, if it is in Divine Order, that WE can continue this analysis and dialogue next month, on May First: International Workers’ Day and later around our African Liberation Day. Asé.

Destination REPARATIONS!

As WE expressed in our last few columns, our H.R. 40, “The Commission to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans Act,” is at a critical moment. First introduced by Congressman and new Ancestor JOHN CONYERS JR., the bill was introduced most recently by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee of Houston in January 2019. 

With appreciation to our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA), and many of you and your networks, WE now have more endorsers in the U.S. House of Representatives than ever before. But WE need an additional 25 to reach our goal of 150 to force full hearings beginning this June(teenth). So, WE are calling on all Africans, as well as our true friends and allies, in San Francisco and the south bay to immediately call up Speaker Nancy Pelosi (at 415-556-4862 and 202-225-4965); as well as Rep. Zoe Lofgren (at 408-271-8700 and 202-225-3072), one of the designated Trump Impeachment Managers, representing parts of the south bay including San Jose. Tell them to endorse H.R. 40 right now!

In addition, WE continue to encourage every registered voter in California to immediately call up Sen. Diane Feinstein who – as the ranking Democratic Party member on the Senate Judiciary Committee with a net worth of close to $80 million – has not yet apologized for disrespecting African people and not endorsed the S.1083 Reparations legislation in the U.S. Senate. Please call Sen. Feinstein’s offices at 415-393-0707 in San Francisco, or 202-224-3841 in Washington? 

Also, i ask again, very respectfully: If two white dudes in Vermont, by the name of Ben and Jerry, can endorse and advocate for our Reparations H.R. 40/S. 1083 legislation and hearings, shouldn’t that be the least that WE can do as organizations and individuals? And, shouldn’t WE demand the same of every elected official and candidate as they flood our mailboxes and airwaves over the coming months towards the November 2020 election?

As always, WE invite your membership and leadership in helping expand our National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA). Go to www.ncobraonline.org or reach us locally at support@africansdeservereparations.com. With our collective actions and contributions, WE will soon reach our Goal and Destination of REPARATIONS RIGHT NOW! Asé.

Please Support Our Bay View

Please Support Our Bay View


WE urge you to make a desperately-needed contribution to our San Francisco Bay View newspaper, place an ad, or take out a subscription for yourself or an incarcerated family member. As expressed many times before, WE are struggling mightily to keep this voice of liberation in print and distributed FOR FREE throughout the Bay Area and around the united capitalist prison terrorist states of america (including to numerous penitentiaries where our Bay View is not currently banned due to our radical political stances and giving a voice to the voiceless).

Please, please make a tax-deductible donation ASAP by calling us at 415-671-0789. Or, go to our website at www.sfbayview.com. You can also send contributions of any amount the old-fashioned way by mailing a check or money order to 4917 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94124. Asante Sana (Many Thanks)! Asé.

#BlackLivesMatter #AfricansDeserveReparations #BringOurEldersHomeNow #AbolishPrisons #LoveandDefendMotherEarth

Jahahara Amen-RA Alkebulan-Ma’at is a Baba (Father), a “FREE-tired” community-labor-environmental and justice organizer, writer, musician and author of several books, including “Many Paths to Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)”; a Life Member and former National Co-Chair of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA) and recently-assigned Acting Western Regional Representative. Take a listen to a few songs from his musical catalog, including his newest release “BAMN: ByAnyMeansNecessary!” (featuring the great Archbishop Franzo King of the Saint John Coltrane Church, on saxophone) at https://soundcloud.com/search?q=jahahara Invite Jahahara to present at your group, school, church or event c/o support@africansdeservereparations.com or FONAMI, P.O. Box 10963, Oakland, CA 94610.

#QANON

“It’s just garbage,” Gov. Mike DeWine denies FEMA camps

Updated Sep 10, 2020

Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday addressed fringe rumors on internet that the state intends to create ‘FEMA camps,’ saying that is not the case and he has no intention of separating families. (Ohio Channel)

By Laura Hancock, cleveland.com


Note: This story has been updated to reflect Jack Windsor’s story mentioning FEMA camps. While not the first on the Internet, his story was the first, and thus far only, mention of FEMA camps among reporters who attend the governor’s coronavirus briefings.

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday denied Internet rumors that the state intends to create “FEMA camps,” and that he has no intention of separating families.

“There’s just absolutely no truth in this," he said during his Tuesday coronavirus briefing. "There’s no substance behind it. It’s just garbage.”

DeWine acknowledged that it’s rare for him to address internet rumors during his coronavirus briefings. Normally he packs in information about the virus, the state’s response, interviews with experts, his non-coronavirus policy goals such as gun bills and folksy stories behind the different college mascot ties he wears each day. But he said rumors about one of his latest public health orders got out of control, and he needed to address it.

An Aug. 31 public health order, titled “Director’s Second Amended Order for Non-Congregant Sheltering to be utilized throughout Ohio,” was the source of the rumor, said DeWine, a Republican.

DeWine said the order, although new, has history dating back to the beginning of the outbreak in Ohio. It is necessary to obtain federal funding for shelters for people who cannot be a home for risk of infecting others, he said.

He said the Federal Emergency Management Agency money has reimbursed the costs of putting up in hotels a handful of hospital workers when they couldn’t go home and put vulnerable family members at risk.

“Ohio FEMA Camps – Still More Questions Than Answers,” was the headline of a story written by Jack Windsor for the right-leaning Ohio Star.

Windsor was the first, and thus far, only reporter who attends the governor’s briefings to describe the sheltering as FEMA camps, saying in an interview with Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer that he made the conclusion after reading the order several times and questioning the governor at Thursday’s briefing about the matter. He also asked questions of DeWine’s spokesman, and a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health in an attempt to better understand the order. At the time, he didn’t get the clarity he sought, he said.

Rep. Nino Vitale

about 3 weeks ago

If you have been following me, you know that almost 4 months ago ,I reported that if you have one bathroom in your home and you, or worse your child tests positive for COVID, they will remove your child from your home. I got this information from a Ventura County California health director who let is slip back in early May and I happened to catch it and post both the video and transcript on May 12. I have included that post and the short 3-minute video for your review below.

From there, people online began to make their own conclusions.

“There were two or three stories I saw floating around online that weren’t mine," Windsor said.

Specifically, state Rep. Nino Vitale, a Republican from Urbana, who has been a vocal critic of DeWine’s public health orders and wants to impeach him, wrote on his Facebook page that “concentration camps” are coming to the state.

Vitale wrote they will be for people who have just one home bathroom or when a child tests positive for COVID-19, “they will remove your child from your home,” he said.

Ohio Senate President Larry Obhof responded to Vitale’s claim of “concentration camps" in Ohio.

“To suggest otherwise is fear mongering at its worst,” Obhof said in a statement. “This is one of the most patently offensive claims I have ever seen, and any public official who spreads this rumor is unfit for the office that he holds."

DeWine was adamant that families are not going to be separated because of the virus in Ohio.

“Let me just say this is absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “It is not true. There is no intention to separate children.”

DeWine said on March 13, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency because of the pandemic. On March 20, Ohio and FEMA entered into an agreement in which Ohio could apply for emergency protective measures, including “non-congregate sheltering.”

“In other words, the federal government would help us pay for that, if that was needed,” DeWine said.

On March 31, President Donald Trump approved a major disaster declaration for Ohio, which the state asked for a day before.

Also on March 31, the Ohio Department of Health issued an order to comply with federal request requirements, including for non-congregate sheltering. That order was renewed April 29 and again on Aug. 31, DeWine said.

“So, the bottom line: Neither President Trump’s FEMA nor the Ohio Department of Health are going to set up FEMA camps for anyone to quarantine against their will,” he said. “What we are doing is making available a safe place for people to stay when they have loved ones they’re trying to protect and they have no other place to go.”

Art-based Super PAC posts anti-Trump billboards and street posters around Cleveland in run-up to first presidential debate

Updated Sep 24, 2020


A picture of the anti-Donald Trump billboard on the corner of Carnegie Avenue and East 40th Street sponsored by Artists United for Change. The Super PAC is posting billboards and street posters from noted street artists around the city in the run-up to the first presidential debate on Sept. 29. (Artists United for Change/photo provided)

By Seth A. Richardson, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A political group is weaponizing their art in Cleveland as the first presidential debate approaches, posting billboards and street art posters around Northeast Ohio critical of Republican President Donald Trump.

Part of the Super PAC Artists United for Change’s RememberWhatTheyDid and #VoteThemOut campaign, the billboards feature artwork from several notable street artists adorned with quotes from Trump highlighting his response to the coronavirus pandemic, immigration detention and police brutality.

The Cleveland campaign was the brainchild of local political strategist Jeff Rusnak, who sits on the group’s board, and Scott Goodstein, co-founder of the group and a Cleveland native, who said the idea was to use the art as a get-out-the-vote strategy for Black, Hispanic and young voters outside the typical strategy of digital advertising.

“We’re going with billboards and posters in neighborhood communities and streets,” Goodstein said in an interview. “You’re going to see these popping up all over Coventry and Tremont and other neighborhoods to make sure people get out the vote.”

Part of the plan for the program, which includes nine billboards around the city, is to play off Cleveland’s role in electing Trump president. In 2016, the city hosted the Republican National Convention, where Trump formally accepted the nomination en route to a surprise victory.

“We are reminding voters of the harm Donald Trump has caused the Buckeye state through his words and actions,” Rusnak said. “Think about what Donald Trump said. Think about what he did and ask yourself is this your America?”

The billboards and posters feature some high-profile artist names, most notably Shepard Fairey, a street artist famed for his guerrilla “OBEY” campaign featuring wrestler Andre the Giant and his “Hope” poster, a stylized portrait of then-Sen. Barack Obama from the 2008 election.

Another artist, Justin Hampton, has created concert posters for musicians such as Metallica, Nine Inch Nails, Radiohead, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam and the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago.

Other artists include Nate Lewis, an ICU nurse whose contribution included an illustration featuring Trump’s comment that the coronavirus would “just disappear,” and Claudio Martinez, whose billboard includes an artist depiction of a migrant child being separated from her mother at the border.

Billboard locations include along Interstate 71 from Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to Downtown, West 25th Street in Ohio City and along Carnegie Avenue on the way to the Sheila and Eric Samson Pavilion, the site of the debate.

The first presidential debate between Trump and Democratic former Vice President Joe Biden will start 9 p.m. Tuesday. Fox News anchor Chris Wallace will moderate the 90-minute forum co-hosted by the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.

Letters to the Editor
Message of anti-Trump billboard in Cleveland could be misconstrued

 Posted Sep 26, 2020

By Other Voices

The anti-Trump billboard at Carnegie Avenue and East 40th Street is a well-intentioned attempt to hurt President Donald Trump, but I think a lot of people will miss the point (“Anti-Trump posters, billboards pop up,” Sept. 25). The message could give Trump’s law-and-order campaign slogan an unintended boost. The smaller phrase, “Vote Them Out!,” should have been enlarged and placed at the top of the billboard to better zero in on the intended message.

Frank Sobolewski,
North Royalton

TikTok argues user content has “no economic value at all”

WAIT, WHAT?

Chris Burns - Sep 29, 2020


A legal document released this week showed TikTok argue in court that “a wide swath” of the content on their platform has “no economic value at all.” This was part of a request for injunction VS Donald Trump and the US government’s order to stop TikTok operations in the United States. The executive order signed by Trump called upon IEEPA – which they pointed out cannot regulate or prohibit (directly or indirectly) any personal communication “which does not involve a transfer of anything of value.”

In the legal document released this week, TikTok’s lawyers note that the Secretary’s prohibitions* will ‘have the effect of preventing Americans from sharing personal communications on TikTok.” The argument is that IEEPA has the authority to stop many things, including communications services UNLESS they can be considered personal communication AND they do not transfer any element of value.

SEE TOO: Trump TikTok ban: will my app stop working?

Per the document, the government “counters by arguing that some communications on TikTok do have economic value.” TikTok notes the following: “Fair enough. But ‘A wide swath of TikTok videos, public comments…, and private messages between friends about TikTok videos’ are ‘personal communications with no economic value at all.'”

This might come as some surprise to TikTok users, especially those TikTok users that utilize the platform for economic gain. But it is important, at this key moment in history, that the court sitting in judgement of this case make absolutely clear an as-modern-as-possible defining of the term “anything of value.”

What do you think? Do you believe TikTok communications transfer “anything of value” between users? Do you believe that TikTok content has “no economic value at all?”

*The Secretary’s prohibitions are part of this process in which D.Trump signed an executive order which summoned the Secretary of Commerce to create a list of prohibitions that’d effectively stop TikTok from operating. See TikTok is not banned in America yet, but November is near for more information on what comes next.

The document noted can be found with code Case 1:20-cv-02658-CJN (Civil Action No. 1:20-cv-02658 (CJN)) Document 30 Filed 09/27/20. This document was filed with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Moonwalking Humans Get Blasted With 200 Times the Radiation Experienced on Earth

The new findings will inform how much shielding future astronauts will need to safely explore the moon

On Earth, most people are familiar with ultraviolet radiation’s harmful effects on our skin, but in space, astronauts are also subjected to galactic cosmic rays, accelerated solar particles, neutrons and gamma rays. 

(Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

By Alex Fox
SMITHSONIANMAG.COM
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 

The 12 human beings who have walked on the moon were all bombarded by radiation roughly 200 times what we experience here on Earth, reports Adam Mann for Science. That’s two to three times what astronauts experience aboard the International Space Station, explains Marcia Dunn for the Associated Press (AP), suggesting that any long term human presence on the moon will require shelters with thick walls capable of blocking the radiation.


Despite the fact that the measurements, which come courtesy of China’s Chang’e-4 lunar lander, are quite high compared to what we experience on Earth, the data is quite useful for protecting future moonwalkers. According to Science, the levels of radiation at the lunar surface wouldn’t be expected to increase the risk of NASA astronauts developing cancer by more than 3 percent—a risk threshold the agency is legally required to keep its astronauts’ activities safely below.


“This is an immense achievement in the sense that now we have a data set which we can use to benchmark our radiation” and to assess the risk posed to humans on the moon, Thomas Berger, a physicist with the German Space Agency’s medicine institute, tells the AP.

Some forms of radiation, which is electromagnetic energy emitted in forms like heat, visible light, X-rays and radio waves, can mess with the cells inside the human body by breaking up the atoms and molecules they’re made of. On Earth, most people are familiar with ultraviolet radiation’s harmful effects on our skin, but in space, astronauts are also subjected to galactic cosmic rays, accelerated solar particles, neutrons and gamma rays, according to the research published this week in the journal Science Advances. This material can damage our DNA and lead to increased incidences of cancer or contribute to other health problems such as cataracts and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system or other organ systems.

Humanity measured the radiation astronauts on the Apollo missions experienced on their journeys to the moon, but those measurements were cumulative for each astronaut’s entire journey, per Science. To figure out the daily dose of radiation exclusively on the surface of the moon, the robotic Chang’e-4 lander used a stack of ten silicon solid-state detectors.

The renewed interest in collecting such measurements is partly because NASA has plans to send more people to the moon. The Artemis moon mission, scheduled for 2024, will feature the first woman ever to walk on the moon as well as a week-long expedition to the lunar surface and a minimum of two moonwalks, reports Katie Hunt for CNN.


Berger tells the AP that these new findings suggest the shelters needed to protect Artemis’ astronauts during such a long stay on the moon should have walls made of moon dirt that are some two and a half feet thick. Science notes that the shelter would also need an even more heavily shielded inner sanctum to protect astronauts in the event of a solar storm. Adequate shielding for this inner chamber would be roughly 30 feet of water, and would also need to be reachable within 30 minutes—the current limit of satellites’ abilities to provide astronauts with advanced warning of such hazards.

The findings aren't exactly suprising: they are in line with calculations made using existing measurements. But they’re a crucial step towards putting people on the surface of the moon for extended periods of time. According to Science, the results confirm that with proper shielding astronauts could spend as long as six months on the moon.

Alex Fox is a freelance science journalist based in Washington, D.C. He has written for Science, Nature, Science News, the San Jose Mercury News, and Mongabay. You can find him at Alexfoxscience.com.Read more from this author | Follow @Alex_M_Fox
TAGSAstronauts Astronomers Astronomy Astrophysics Cancer Medicine Moon Outer Space Space Travel Sun

The AC/DC current wars make a comeback

The Tesla vs Edison battle of electric current 

14 September 2017
Alan Finkel

The decisive battle took place in 1893 at the Chicago World’s Fair. On one side, the celebrated inventor Thomas Edison. On the other, his former employee Nikola Tesla.

And what were they fighting over – love, religion, territory? None of the above. They were fighting over alternating current (AC) versus direct current (DC).

A quick explainer: current in metal wires is the flow of electrons, pushed along by a voltage. If the voltage is sourced from a battery, the electrons flow in one direction only. We call this direct current, or DC.

However, batteries are not a primary source of energy. For that, we often use coal or natural gas. Their chemical energy is released in a furnace as heat to create steam that turns the shaft of a generator. In the simplest case, the shaft spins a magnet inside a coil and through the principle of electromagnetic induction produces an electric current. The polarity switches from positive to negative and back many times per second as the generator shaft rotates, thus the current alternates in direction. We call this alternating current, or AC. Even though the direction of the current alternates, its effects do not cancel out. The current does useful things in both directions, such as heating the wires in a toaster.

Starting in the late 1880s, Edison developed a cost-effective means of generating DC electricity, and a suite of related devices, including motors and meters to measure DC energy consumed. However, there was a problem. There was no way back then to convert the DC voltage to higher or lower values. To be safe for use in homes and factories, the DC generators were designed to produce electricity at low voltages. The downside was that this meant the losses during transmission from the generator to the consumer were high. Edison judged that to be an acceptable compromise, but it limited the distance between the generator and consumers to less than a kilometre or two.

In the other camp, Tesla had a secret weapon known as the transformer. It is a simple arrangement of iron cores and copper windings that allows voltage to be converted up or down. The limitation is that transformers only work with AC electricity.

With transformers, Tesla could boost the generator output to thousands of volts for low-loss transmission over long distances then cut the voltage down again to safe values for final delivery to the consumer.

There was a lot at stake, including patent royalties and the right to electrify the cities of the United States. The raging battle was called the War of the Currents.

Feeling the tide of battle swinging against him, Edison changed tactics and launched a misinformation campaign to argue that AC current was dangerous. To prove his point he arranged the public electrocution of stray dogs, cats and horses.

These skirmishes continued during the lead up to the Chicago event, till victory was declared for the Tesla AC camp. They were awarded the contract to electrify the Fair. From there it was all AC, with the definitive stake in the ground being the 1896 electrification of street lights in the city of Buffalo with AC power supplied from hydroelectric generators at Niagara Falls.

AC distribution of electricity has reigned supreme for more than 100 years. But a quiet insurrection is taking place in our midst. Our computers, machines, LEDs and electric cars all run on DC. And at the extremes of high power – distributing electricity thousands of kilometres from one region to the other – engineers have discovered that the losses from a million-volt transmission line are lower if it carries DC current rather than AC current.

Once again, the transformer is the secret weapon, but this time operating on DC. These new transformers take the form of electronic circuits that convert DC currents up and down the spectrum from a few volts to a million or more. Lighter and smaller than traditional ones, DC transformers make it easier to integrate wind and solar electricity into the grid, and they reduce the likelihood of failures cascading from one electricity generation region to another.

In the coming decades, we may see the DC insurrection take hold. Not through warfare this time – I predict no public electrocutions of stray cats. Instead, it will be a subtle, gradual process. But by the turn of the next century Edison may well have the final victory.

Alan Finkel is an electrical engineer, neuroscientist and Chief Scientist of Australia.

This column by Alan Finkel is an excerpt from the next print edition of Cosmos magazine – available in all good newsagents and museums in October.

The story of Tesla and Edison’s battle will also be told in a movie, The Current War, starring Katherine Waterston and Benedict Cumberbatch, that will be in cinemas in time for the holiday season.

The Current War - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Current_War

The Current War is a 2017 American historical drama film inspired by the 19th-century competition between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse over which electric power delivery system would be used in the United States. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written by Michael Mitnick, the film stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Edison, Michael Shannon as Westinghouse, Nicholas Hoult as Nikola Tesla, and Tom Holland as Samuel Insull…

• Directed by: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon
• Produced by: Timur Bekmambetov, Basil Iwanyk, Harvey …

• Music by: Volker Bertelmann, Dustin O'Halloran
• Written by: Michael Mitnick

• Plot · Production · Release · Reception

'The Current War' Official Trailer (2017) Benedict ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxtJ_kwDs6Y

2:31

2017-09-07 · Watch the trailer for biographical drama "The Current War," starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Shannon, Nicholas Hoult, Katherine Waterston, Tom Holland, Tuppence Middleton, Matthew Macfadyen ...

• Author: Moviefone

• Views: 35K

Reptiles threatened by online trade
Scientists call for greater international regulation.


Pythons are traded in high volumes. Credit: Olivier Born / Getty Images

Nearly 4000 species of reptile – a third of those known – are being traded online with very little international regulation, contributing to the “ever-widening biodiversity crisis”, according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications.

A whopping 90% of traded reptile species and half the total number of individuals are captured from the wild, the study found. Most come from hotspots in Asia, particularly Vietnam, to satisfy consumer demand in Europe and North America.

Many satisfy a lust for owning rare items, which the researchers note is particularly concerning. As long ago as 2008, the British Federation for Herpetologists estimated that reptiles were more popular as pets than dogs.

Traded species tend to be endangered or critically endangered or have restricted ranges, such as the Chinese and Vietnamese Cyrtodactylus and Goniurosaurus cave geckos, which are limited to a single hill.

Some entire wild populations, such as Goniurosaurus luii, are thought to have been collected for the pet trade, and the study found that some species are exploited shortly after being described.

“The impact is so widespread that even the most diverse parts of the planet have half their species in trade,” says senior author Alice Hughes from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

It is seriously impacting chance of survival in 70% of species, she adds, given that most are taken from the wild.

Despite this, only Madagascar and New Zealand protect more than half of their species. In other regions like Africa, most countries had vast numbers of species with no IUCN assessment of their conservation status.

The researchers were alerted to immense knowledge gaps in wildlife trade at the 2019 CITES meeting in Geneva. Hughes says she was “shocked” to find that vulnerable groups like Asian songbirds and tropical fish were deemed “too expensive to add”.

“The majority of discussions for animals in CITES was on high value species with sustained demand,” she says, “largely excluding species traded at lower levels or with lower value”.

Listed reptiles include alligators (Alligator), caiman lizards (Caiman), pythons (Python), crocodiles (Crocodylus) and monitor lizards (Varanus), which are traded in high volumes, chiefly for fashionable leather. Others are sold for food, decoration and medicines.
Credit: Alice Hughes

While crocodiles are mostly bred in captivity, 50% of snakes and tortoises and 70% of lizards come from the wild. However, only 9% of reptile species are monitored, which is concerning given that CITES is the key source of data involving international trade of endangered species.

To glean a true picture of the situation, Hughes and colleagues accessed 25,000 webpages of commercial trade based on nearly 65,000 keywords in five languages covering scientific and common names of more than 11,000 species, which they cross-checked with the CITES trade portal and the LEMIS dataset of wildlife imports to the US.

Their analysis explored how trade had changed since 2000, identifying an overall slight increase in number of species traded annually and new species appearing each year. The authors suggest it likely underestimates the extent of the problem, as it doesn’t cover all species, websites or social media, another avenue for wildlife trade.

The shocker is that it’s legal to trade wildlife species if they aren’t listed by CITES or protected by national laws. Hughes says this puts neglected species at risk of extinction and calls for a new approach to turn this around.

“The status quo needs to be reversed, so instead of legislating what we can’t trade, or control trade for a subset of species, international trade of wildlife should only be permissible when enough data exists to show that it will not impact species survival.”

Similar approaches have been taken to prevent exotic bird imports in the US and Europe, Hughes notes, calling for that to be expanded to protect wildlife globally.

COSMOS
Natalie Parletta is a freelance science writer based in Adelaide and an adjunct senior research fellow with the University of South Australia.

Study: Having Pets Linked to Better Mental Health, Reduced Loneliness During COVID-19 Lockdown

 

THEY ARE COMPANIONS; 

THEY ARE LA FAMLIA, LA FAMILIARAIRE 

2020-09-29 13:30:00

Jill Murphy, Assistant Editor www.pharmacytimes.com

A new survey showed that sharing a home with a pet appeared to act as a buffer against psychological stress during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown.

The survey, which was taken between March 23 and June 1, 2020, found that having a pet was linked to maintaining better mental health and reduced loneliness, with 90% of the 6000 participants from the UK saying they had at least 1 pet. In addition, 96% of the participants said their pet helped to keep them fit and active.

However, 68% of pet owners reported having been worried about their animals during the lockdown, for reasons such as restrictions on access to veterinary care and exercise or not knowing who would take care of the pets if the owner became sick, according to the researchers.

“Findings from this study also demonstrated potential links between people's mental health and the emotional bonds they form with their pets: measures of the strength of the human-animal bond were higher among people who reported lower scores for mental health-related outcomes at baseline,” said study author Elena Ratschen, MD, from the Department of Health Sciences University of York, in a press release.

Ratschen added that the researchers also discovered the strength of the emotional bond with pets did not statistically differ by animal species.

Study co-author Daniel Mills, from the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, noted that this analysis is particularly important during COVID-19 because it indicates how having a companion animal in your home can provide a buffer against some of the psychological stress associated with the lockdown.

“However, it is important that everyone appreciates their pet’s needs, too, as our other work shows failing to meet these can have a detrimental effect for both people and their pets,” Mills said in a press release.

REFERENCE
Having pets linked to maintaining better mental health and reducing loneliness during lockdown, research shows. University of York. 

https://www.york.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/2020/research/pets-survey-lockdown-loneliness/#:~:text=The%20study%20%2D%20from%20the%20University,had%20at%20least%20one%20pet. 

Published September 25, 2020. Accessed September 28, 2020.

 THE BUSH DOCTRINE 

 BARBARA BUSH

GOES FURTHER THAN ANY MALE POLITICIAN, EVER

1. The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty by Susan Page. At the end of the fifth interview, however, Bush finally granted Page full access to the personal diaries she had kept since 1948, which no one other than George H.W. Bush biographer Jon Meacham had seen previously
2. Susan Page’s Barbara Bush bio revisits a remarkable life ...https://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/article/Susan-Page-s-Barbara...2019-04-02 · “The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty,” Susan Page’s new biography of Bush, arrives with no shortage of political and …

3. The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American ...

   https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39938832-the-matriarch

   Susan Page has done a good job with the biography of Barbara Bush. The book is well written and researched. Page had access to Bush’s private diaries and papers. She also had multiple interviews with BB as well as her family, friends and colleagues.

   • 4.1/5
   • 
     

   • Reviews: 431

4. 
   

5. Journalist Susan Page Talks Barbara Bush, Subject of Her ...

   https://therivardreport.com/journalist-susan-page-talks-barbara-bush...

   The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty by Susan Page. At the end of the fifth interview, however, Bush finally granted Page full access to the personal diaries she had...

6. New biography explores the ‘underestimated’ Barbara Bush ...

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pOvpFtUm-o

   

   7:18

   2019-04-12 · Published on Apr 12, 2019 It has been nearly a year since the death of Barbara Bush. Now, Susan Page’s new biography of the former first lady, “The Matriarch,” reveals the heartache and happiness...

   • Author: PBS NewsHour

   • Views: 4.3K
7. I

 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Republicans disrespect the legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with craven politicking over her empty seat

Updated 10:27 AM; 29/9/2020

CLEVELAND.COM 

By Other Voices

What could be more disgustingly disrespectful than Republican buzzards circling the sadly empty U.S. Supreme Court seat just minutes after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg became known?

Instead of decency and respect, they have chosen craven political bullying, tarnishing our democracy. Hypocrites exalt in self only; the Constitution withers.

Andrea Lyn,

South Euclid

Cleveland, OH