Comets open up the pass, but turnovers prove costly in loss at Comanche – Daily Ardmoreite

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Chris Bodkins| For The Ardmoreite

COMANCHE The Dickson High School football looked to be in good shapeby starting strong Friday night, but fiveturnovers in the second half proved to be too much in a 30-20 setback to Comanche.

Our guys played better than last week, so there is progress, said Comets head coach Steve Day. We had two opportunities in the red zone to score in the first half and we failed to do so.The turnovers in the second half were our downfall.

Dicksons issues started early in the second half as an interception resulted in Comanche kicking a field goal for its first lead of the game, 23-20. However, it could have been a touchdown if not for Comets senior Kameron Helm making a big stop.

Unfortunately, the turnover bug struck again as the Indians picked off another pass with 10:08 remaining and turned it into a touchdown two plays later for a 30-20 advantage.

Jzavionn Bennett gave Dickson hope with a long kickoff return, but the drive stalled with a fumble at the 8:58 mark of the 4th quarter. The Comets could never recover and suffered their second loss of the season.

Dickson did show positive signs to start the game though, stopping the Indians on three consecutive downs to force a punt. The Comets wasted little time with the ball as Tommy Milsap scored the first touchdown of the game.

Dickson juniorquarterback Johnny Smith kept it rolling byconnectingon a 68-yard pass to senior Jack McDonald. One play later, Smith found McDonald again for a 13-yard touchdown.The ensuing extra point was no good, but that didn't stop the Comet faithful from rocking the stands.

Dickson had another opportunity to increase its lead with 16 seconds left in the first half, but the Comets ran out of time at the 2-yard line and went into the locker room leading 20-12.

Up next is Dicksons home opener at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11 against Ringling.

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Comets open up the pass, but turnovers prove costly in loss at Comanche - Daily Ardmoreite

Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin was never afraid to go to space. But a police stop made him sweat – KSBW The Central Coast

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A police stop could have cost former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin his career in space before he ever got started.Melvin, who was never afraid launching into space on two Space Shuttle Atlantis missions to help build the International Space Station, never knew what was going to happen when the cops pulled him over."I've been on this rocket with millions of pounds of thrust and not once was I afraid of going to space," said Melvin, who is Black. "It's when I've been stopped by police officers that I didn't even know ... I was starting to sweat and just holding the steering wheel really hard.""Every father in the Black community has a conversation with their son to tell them that if you get stopped by an officer, you know, you assume the position, which is 10-2 (hands on the wheel), look straight ahead," he added. "You tell the officer, you know, you're real respectful, you say you're reaching for your obvious things."Melvin spoke Monday during a panel celebrating Black lives in the space industry during the 2020 Virtual Humans to Mars Summit hosted by Explore Mars, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the human exploration of Mars.Panelists who shared their personal experiences and discussed the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of George Floyd, and subsequent protests included former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA Deputy Manager of Commercial Lunar Payload Services Camille Alleyne and Danielle Wood, director of the Space Enabled Research Group in MIT's Media Lab.Melvin can still remember one traffic stop when he was a student at Heritage High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he graduated in 1982."I was in a car with my girlfriend and a police officer rolled up on us," Melvin said. "He took her out of the car and told her that I was raping her because he wanted me to go to jail."And you know, when Black men get into the prison system, that they really never get out and have a second chance. I was going to college on scholarship and want to be a chemistry major."Melvin urged people to make sure they're not part of the problem by contributing to racism, asking people to assess both what they're doing to hurt and how they can help fight racism.The path to spaceLuckily that stop didn't derail his career. Melvin ended up logging more than 565 hours in space, but space was not his first choice.During the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, Melvin said he was the "antenna engineer," holding the antennas for his parents while they watched it."And the next day all the kids in the neighborhood said, 'Do you want to be an astronaut?' No, I don't see someone who looks like me," Melvin recalled.Five blocks down the street from where Melvin grew up, Arthur Ashe learned how to play tennis. Ashe, the only Black man to win singles titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, turned pro in 1969. Ashe was also the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team."My dad talked about his perseverance his athleticism, his intelligence," Melvin said. "'I want you to be like him.' It wasn't until I got to NASA, when a friend said, 'You'd be a great astronaut.'"Related video from 2018: NASA Astronaut says he saw 'organic looking,' 'alien like' creature on Space Shuttle AtlantisMelvin didn't fill out an application until his friend, Charlie Camarda, got into the astronaut program. "If that guy can get in, I can get in, and that's when I applied."Melvin was drafted in 1986 to play in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys but pulled his hamstrings and didn't end up playing any regular season games.In 1989, he began working at NASA Langley Research Center in the Fiber Optic Sensors group of the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch, according to NASA. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1998.In addition to serving as an astronaut, Melvin has also headed NASA's education program, co-chaired the White House's Federal Coordination in STEM Education Task Force and chaired the International Space Education Board.Contrasting momentsMelvin learned about the death of George Floyd while in Florida for the launch of NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon."I see this Black man getting his life snuffed out, saying he can't breathe," Melvin said. "And when I heard him calling for his mother, that's when I started crying because I thought about my mother. I thought about if that was me, being the life snuffed out of me."Floyd's death as now-former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes was in sharp contrast with the achievement of launching American astronauts from U.S. soil on U.S. rockets for the first time since 2011."If we can (send people to the International Space Station), we can do anything. We can fix these problems."And it leads back to the necessity of diversity, Melvin said.Melvin said his "aha" moment in space came unexpectedly. He anticipated it would happen as he helped install the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory on the International Space Station in 2008.But it wasn't until NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson invited Melvin over to the Russian segment of the station to share a meal. The crew included astronauts with Russian, French, German, African American and Asian American backgrounds and was hosted by Whitson -- the first female commander of the space station, Melvin said."We were breaking bread at 17,500 miles per hour, going around the planet every 90 minutes. And that was when my head exploded, and I had this epiphany about our planet and looking back at it, getting this thing called the orbital perspective."It's something astronauts gain as they gaze down at our planet as a whole."I think we as a civilization need to take that thing that we get in space as astronauts," he said. "And we know that if we don't work together as a team, and we were one of the most diverse teams in space, then we (would) perish."Working together is the only way Melvin thinks humanity can survive on this planet, get back to the moon and get to Mars."The way we do it is with the right perspective. And we bring this perspective home from space, to go back to space as a civilization of diverse people," he said. "It's perspective together, that we work together, we live together, and we change the universe together."

A police stop could have cost former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin his career in space before he ever got started.

Melvin, who was never afraid launching into space on two Space Shuttle Atlantis missions to help build the International Space Station, never knew what was going to happen when the cops pulled him over.

"I've been on this rocket with millions of pounds of thrust and not once was I afraid of going to space," said Melvin, who is Black. "It's when I've been stopped by police officers that I didn't even know ... I was starting to sweat and just holding the steering wheel really hard."

"Every father in the Black community has a conversation with their son to tell them that if you get stopped by an officer, you know, you assume the position, which is 10-2 (hands on the wheel), look straight ahead," he added. "You tell the officer, you know, you're real respectful, you say you're reaching for your obvious things."

Melvin spoke Monday during a panel celebrating Black lives in the space industry during the 2020 Virtual Humans to Mars Summit hosted by Explore Mars, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the human exploration of Mars.

Panelists who shared their personal experiences and discussed the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of George Floyd, and subsequent protests included former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, NASA Deputy Manager of Commercial Lunar Payload Services Camille Alleyne and Danielle Wood, director of the Space Enabled Research Group in MIT's Media Lab.

Melvin can still remember one traffic stop when he was a student at Heritage High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he graduated in 1982.

"I was in a car with my girlfriend and a police officer rolled up on us," Melvin said. "He took her out of the car and told her that I was raping her because he wanted me to go to jail.

"And you know, when Black men get into the prison system, that they really never get out and have a second chance. I was going to college on scholarship and want to be a chemistry major."

Melvin urged people to make sure they're not part of the problem by contributing to racism, asking people to assess both what they're doing to hurt and how they can help fight racism.

Luckily that stop didn't derail his career. Melvin ended up logging more than 565 hours in space, but space was not his first choice.

During the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, Melvin said he was the "antenna engineer," holding the antennas for his parents while they watched it.

"And the next day all the kids in the neighborhood said, 'Do you want to be an astronaut?' No, I don't see someone who looks like me," Melvin recalled.

Five blocks down the street from where Melvin grew up, Arthur Ashe learned how to play tennis. Ashe, the only Black man to win singles titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, turned pro in 1969. Ashe was also the first Black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team.

"My dad talked about his perseverance his athleticism, his intelligence," Melvin said. "'I want you to be like him.' It wasn't until I got to NASA, when a friend said, 'You'd be a great astronaut.'"

Related video from 2018: NASA Astronaut says he saw 'organic looking,' 'alien like' creature on Space Shuttle Atlantis

Melvin didn't fill out an application until his friend, Charlie Camarda, got into the astronaut program. "If that guy can get in, I can get in, and that's when I applied."

Melvin was drafted in 1986 to play in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys but pulled his hamstrings and didn't end up playing any regular season games.

In 1989, he began working at NASA Langley Research Center in the Fiber Optic Sensors group of the Nondestructive Evaluation Sciences Branch, according to NASA. He was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1998.

In addition to serving as an astronaut, Melvin has also headed NASA's education program, co-chaired the White House's Federal Coordination in STEM Education Task Force and chaired the International Space Education Board.

Melvin learned about the death of George Floyd while in Florida for the launch of NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon.

"I see this Black man getting his life snuffed out, saying he can't breathe," Melvin said. "And when I heard him calling for his mother, that's when I started crying because I thought about my mother. I thought about if that was me, being the life snuffed out of me."

Floyd's death as now-former police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes was in sharp contrast with the achievement of launching American astronauts from U.S. soil on U.S. rockets for the first time since 2011.

"If we can (send people to the International Space Station), we can do anything. We can fix these problems."

And it leads back to the necessity of diversity, Melvin said.

Melvin said his "aha" moment in space came unexpectedly. He anticipated it would happen as he helped install the European Space Agency's Columbus Laboratory on the International Space Station in 2008.

But it wasn't until NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson invited Melvin over to the Russian segment of the station to share a meal. The crew included astronauts with Russian, French, German, African American and Asian American backgrounds and was hosted by Whitson -- the first female commander of the space station, Melvin said.

"We were breaking bread at 17,500 miles per hour, going around the planet every 90 minutes. And that was when my head exploded, and I had this epiphany about our planet and looking back at it, getting this thing called the orbital perspective."

It's something astronauts gain as they gaze down at our planet as a whole.

"I think we as a civilization need to take that thing that we get in space as astronauts," he said. "And we know that if we don't work together as a team, and we were one of the most diverse teams in space, then we (would) perish."

Working together is the only way Melvin thinks humanity can survive on this planet, get back to the moon and get to Mars.

"The way we do it is with the right perspective. And we bring this perspective home from space, to go back to space as a civilization of diverse people," he said. "It's perspective together, that we work together, we live together, and we change the universe together."

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Former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin was never afraid to go to space. But a police stop made him sweat - KSBW The Central Coast

NASAs Roman Space Telescope Primary Mirror Completed Field of View 100 Times Greater Than Hubble – SciTechDaily

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A member of the L3Harris team removes a cloth from the Roman Space Telescopes primary mirror. Credit: L3Harris Technologies

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescopes primary mirror, which will collect and focus light from cosmic objects near and far, has been completed. Using this mirror, Roman will capture stunning space vistas with a field of view 100 times greater than Hubble images.

Achieving this milestone is very exciting, said Scott Smith, Roman telescope manager at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Success relies on a team with each person doing their part, and its especially true in our current challenging environment. Everyone plays a role in collecting that first image and answering inspiring questions.

Roman will peer through dust and across vast stretches of space and time to study the universe using infrared light, which human eyes cant see. The amount of detail these observations will reveal is directly related to the size of the telescopes mirror, since a larger surface gathers more light and measures finer features.

Romans primary mirror is 7.9 feet (2.4 meters) across. While its the same size as the Hubble Space Telescopes main mirror, it is less than one-fourth the weight. Romans mirror weighs only 410 pounds (186 kilograms) thanks to major improvements in technology.

The Roman Space Telescopes primary mirror reflects an American flag. Its surface is figured to a level hundreds of times finer than a typical household mirror. Credit: L3Harris Technologies

The primary mirror, in concert with other optics, will send light to Romans two science instruments the Wide Field Instrument and Coronagraph Instrument. The first is essentially a giant 300-megapixel camera that provides the same sharp resolution as Hubble across nearly 100 times the field of view. Using this instrument, scientists will be able to map the structure and distribution of invisible dark matter, study planetary systems around other stars, and explore how the universe evolved to its present state.

The coronagraph demonstrates technology that blocks out the glare of stars and allows astronomers to directly image planets in orbit around them. If the coronagraph technology performs as anticipated, it will see planets that are almost a billion times fainter than their host star and enable detailed studies of giant planets around other suns.

Roman will observe from a vantage point about 930,000 miles (1.5 million km) away from Earth in the direction opposite the Sun. Romans barrel-like shape will help block out unwanted light from the Sun, Earth, and Moon, and the spacecrafts distant location will help keep the instruments cool, ensuring that it will be able to detect faint infrared signals.

Crane operators lower the support equipment to move the Roman Space Telescopes primary mirror. Using this mirror, Roman will provide a new view into the universe, helping scientists solve cosmic mysteries related to dark matter, dark energy, and planets around other stars. Credit: L3Harris Technologies

Because it will experience a range of temperatures between manufacture and testing on Earth and operations in space, the primary mirror is made of a specialty ultralow-expansion glass. Most materials expand and contract when temperatures change, but if the primary mirror changed shape it would distort the images from the telescope. Romans mirror and its support structure are designed to reduce flexing, which will preserve the quality of its observations.

Development of the mirror is much further along than it would typically be at this stage since the mission leverages a mirror that was transferred to NASA from the National Reconnaissance Office. The team modified the mirrors shape and surface to meet Romans science objectives.

The newly resurfaced mirror sports a layer of silver less than 400 nanometers thick about 200 times thinner than a human hair. The silver coating was specifically chosen for Roman because of how well it reflects near-infrared light. By contrast, Hubbles mirror is coated with layers of aluminum and magnesium fluoride to optimize visible and ultraviolet light reflectivity. Likewise, the James Webb Space Telescopes mirrors have a gold coating to suit its longer wavelength infrared observations.

Romans mirror is so finely polished that the average bump on its surface is only 1.2 nanometers tall more than twice as smooth as the mission requires. If the mirror were scaled to be Earths size, these bumps would be just a quarter of an inch high.

The mirror was precisely finished to the Roman Space Telescopes optical prescription, said Bonnie Patterson, program manager at L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York. Since its so much smoother than required, it will provide even greater scientific benefit than originally planned.

Next, the mirror will be mounted for additional testing at L3Harris. It has already been extensively tested at both cold and ambient temperatures. The new tests will be done with the mirror attached to its support structure.

Romans primary mirror is complete, yet our work isnt over, said Smith. Were excited to see this mission through to launch and beyond, and eager to witness the wonders it will reveal.

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is managed at Goddard, with participation by NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California, the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, and a science team comprising scientists from research institutions across the United States.

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Nasa to study impact of ‘space weather’ on Earth – The Guardian

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Nasa is to fund concept studies on five mission proposals that aim to study the dynamic nature of the sun and the changing space environment this causes around Earth.

Such information will help understand how the space weather affects satellites in orbit, which provide navigation and communications; technology on Earth, such as power stations; and the health of astronauts on interplanetary voyages.

The five proposals are: Storm, which would study the way energy flows into and through near-Earth space; HelioSwarm, which would study the flow of particles from the sun on a variety of different scales; Muse, which would monitor events in the suns atmosphere with unprecedented precision; Arcs, which would study the detailed way that aurorae on Earth are sparked by space weather; and Solaris, which would return images of the suns unseen polar regions.

The five proposals have been chosen because of the valuable science each mission would return, and because they are feasible to build and launch with current technology.

The studies are each worth $1.25m (1m) and will run concurrently, lasting for nine months. At the end of this time, Nasa will evaluate the studies and then choose two proposals to proceed for launch.

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Nasa to study impact of 'space weather' on Earth - The Guardian

NASA researchers use machine learning to better predict if a hurricane will rapidly intensify – Houston Chronicle

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Hurricane Laura's winds intensified from 75 mph to 140 mph in just 24 hours, taking the storm from a Category 1 to a Category 4.

Such rapid intensification, which drove Laura to make landfall in Louisiana with 150 mph winds last week, is difficult to forecast. But a team of researchers led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is hoping machine learning can help.

Future storms: Climate change might make Hurricane Lauras 150 mph winds less rare

Rapid intensification occurs when a hurricane's wind speeds increase by 35 mph (or more) within 24 hours. This is difficult to accurately predict because it's dependant on both the environment outside and inside a hurricane. And on the inside, it's difficult to measure a storm's characteristics -- such as how hard it's raining or how quickly the air is moving vertically -- and to determine which ones result in rapid intensification, according to a NASA news release.

To create a new forecast model, described in a paper published last week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the team of researchers sifted through years of satellite data and determined that rainfall rate in the dense wall of thunderstorms surrounding the storm's eye is a good indicator of intensification. The harder it's raining inside a hurricane, the more likely the storm is to intensify.

The researchers also noticed the ice water content of clouds within a hurricane and the temperature of air flowing away from the eye at the top of a hurricane factor into intensity changes.

Ultimately, the team added rainfall rate, ice water content and temperature of the air flowing away from the eye (called the outflow temperature) to predictors that National Hurricane Center uses in its operational model. Then the team came up with its own predictions using machine learning.

The researchers tested their model on storms from 2009 to 2014, and then they compared its performance with the National Hurricane Center's operational forecast model for the same storms.

Expect more activity:An already busy hurricane season is about to kick into high gear

For hurricanes with winds that increased by at least 35 mph within 24 hours, the researchers' model had a 60 percent higher probability of detecting the rapid intensification compared to the National Hurricane Center's current operational forecast model. For hurricanes with winds that increased by at least 40 mph, the new model outperformed the operational one at detecting these events by 200 percent, according to the news release.

Hui Su, an atmospheric scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the lead author on the team's paper. Su and her colleagues, including researchers from the National Hurricane Center, are testing their model this hurricane season and, in the future, plan to sift through satellite data for additional hurricane characteristics that could improve their machine learning model.

"It's an important forecast to get right because of the potential for harm to people and property," Su said in the release.

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NASA researchers use machine learning to better predict if a hurricane will rapidly intensify - Houston Chronicle

The American Way – The Standard

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By David Todd McCarty | Friday, September 4, 2020

That hot dog youre holding this weekend comes courtesy of organized Labors response to racism, greed, xenophobia, cruelty and oppression that ushered in the eight-hour workday and the concept of the weekend. The thing that gives that Labor Day hot dog its bite, is not the spicy mustard, but the blood, sweat and tears that were shed by millions of workers in their fight for basic dignity. Those poor souls who endured horrific conditions and paltry pay, in order to build the infrastructure of this nation. The immigrants who contributed mightily to the profound wealth of a small minority of this countrys elite that would become our new aristocracy. The new boss, same as the old boss.

It is because of their hardscrabble fight that you have the standard eight-hour work day, any chance at all of working in relatively safe conditions, and the once unthinkably frivolous privilege of the weekend off. Labor Day itself was a holiday born out of an attempt to repair ties with rioting American workers. After years of debilitating strikes, brutal crackdowns and violent uprisings, business leaders finally realized that if they didnt mollify the working class, they would never get anything done. Not to mention the very real fear that they would one day be strung up from a nearby light post, their homes and factories burned to the ground, over the deplorable working conditions they were using in order to exact their untold riches.

The Labor Movement of the late 19th century, was a ragtag collection of socialists, communists and anarchists from Europe who believed the capitalist system should be dismantled because it exploited workers. On May 4, 1886 in Haymarket Square in Chicago, 2000 workers filled the square, protesting appalling working conditions and as police arrived to break up the scene, someone threw a bomb at them, causing the police to open fire. Seven police officers an at least one civilian died. The event, which came to be known as the Haymarket Riot, set off a national wave of xenophobia, as foreign-born radicals were rounded up by police, including eight men accused of being anarchists, who were tried with no evidence linking them to the crime, and sentenced to hang. Four were hung, one died of suicide the night before, one was given fifteen years in prison and two others had their sentences later commuted.

On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. On June 26, the American Railroad Union, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the Pullman strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers.

In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American workers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories. On June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed it into law.

The idea of a workingmans holiday, celebrated on the first Monday in September, had already caught on in cities across America, and other states passed legislation recognizing it. Initially, it wasnt anything close to a paid holiday, or even anything official. It was simply a day where no one went to work. They werent given the day off, they took it.

Meanwhile, here in Cape May County, Republican-Controlled Trump Country, we cant be bothered to celebrate Labor Day, or recognize the efforts of the Labor movement in any meaningful way. Instead, the elected leaders of Middle Township, decided to commemorate this hallowed Federal holiday, not by celebrating the labor movement, but by engaging in a state-sponsored religious prayer meeting, partisan political speeches on the value of free speech, thoughts on freedom of the press by Al Campbell, retired Managing Editor of the local conservative media outlet The Herald, and for no earthy reason having anything to do with the labor movement or freedom of speech, a police honor-guard.

Republican Mayor Tim Donohue, who is a vocal Trump supporter, and a big booster of the many Republicans running for office, claimed that the event was not political in nature so equal time for dissenting opinion was not a factor. They didnt feel any need to invite any Democrats, though they did include two Black women, one is a Republican teacher who was invited to speak on the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment giving white women the right to vote, and the other a representative from the local chapter of the NAACP who read a poem she wrote titled, She and spoke about the reality of the Black experience in America.

This is not a political event and the speakers have been ask to speak to the topic of free speech, not the 2020 election, claimed Donohue. The invited speakers are Middle Township residents and their duly elected representatives at the local, county, state and federal level. This is our standard practice for major public events in Middle Township. It just so happens that, at this time, all those elected officials are Republicans. The people voted and the current office holders the people elected have been invited to participate.

The speeches were as predictable as they were forgettable. They contained ridiculous attacks on the Governor for allegedly violating their civil rights in the name of public safety. Reflections on freedom that focused on their right to discriminate, subjugate, exercise hate speech and arm themselves. They celebrated both the police and the military, but not the worker or the oppressed. They decried the leadership of the State, but took no responsibility for the failed leadership of the country. They criticized the civil unrest in our nations cities but failed to recognize the cause. They proclaimed, without a spec of ironically, that this was not the American way, even as they recalled the nations violent revolution. This is a curious aspect of our nations identity that we frame our revolution as a pure act of selfless righteousness, and not a bloody fight for power.

Its worth noting that America was founded by an elite group of wealthy, land owners who convinced the working class to violently overthrow the existing government in the name of liberty, all the while importing African slaves to work the land they were stealing from the natives. They didnt question taxing the people, they simply wanted to change who was doing the taxing.

American history is littered with examples of violence and cruelty, war and unrest, almost always in order to benefit the rich and powerful, and always at the expense of the weak and the poor.

The Labor Movement was an attempt to balance those scales of justice, at least when it came to fair wages for a hard days work. A more level playing field for those who wished to have a bite of the American Dream theyd been promised. A more egalitarian outlook on the future of America.

But it is the very Ayn Rand Republicans who have convinced not only themselves, but the poor, undereducated whites of America, that those in power have no responsibility to anyone other than themselves. The Grand Old Party has set themselves up as the new oppressors of America; the pigs of George Orwells farm wearing pants and drinking brandy. Wealthy businessmen who seek to avoid taxes, eliminate government services, curtail interference in how they make their money, and protection for their interests. They are the new ruling class. One that has managed to convince the populace, much like they did in the late 18th century, that the empty promises of liberty and freedom, are what they will be given, if only they hand over their gold and silver.

Political parties in America are designed to acquire and hold power in the hands of the few. Labor Unions were established as an attempt to provide a counterweight to that extreme power, and more equitably distribute it among the masses so that more might benefit. This isnt socialism or communism, its just a fair market.

We claim to value freedom, equality and democracy in America, but too many of our leaders believe that power should be held by them alone. No one in power truly values democracy, or wishes to be questioned. They have no desire to be considered your equal. They expect to be praised and thanked and handsomely rewarded, not criticized.

If Labor Day teaches us anything, it is that we will never receive our due by waiting and hoping for someone to give it to us, we must take it.

Because like it or not, that is the American way.

Follow David Todd McCarty on Twitter @davidtmccarty and The Standard @capemaystandard

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The American Way - The Standard

Dave Rubin’s Galaxy Brain – Splice Today

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Last month, Dave Rubin, host of The Rubin Report, predicted Donald Trump would get 30 percent of the black vote in November, even though he only received eight percent of that vote in 2016. That was just the latest reminder that Rubin's the only non-intellectual member of the Intellectual Dark Web, which is putting it kindly. The podcast host claims hes a "facts over feelings" guy, but you'd be hard pressed to find political analysis as dopey as that in even the dimmest corners of the Internet.

Although I had some fondness for Rubin when he left Cenk Ugyur's unwatchable The Young Turks and began pushing back against progressive orthodoxies, his approach to airing his newfound political views soon wore on me. The guy tried too hard to promote himself as one of the few enlightened liberals who can have a civil conversation with anyone, regardless of their politics. Rubin's fawning over now-canceled Milo Yiannopoulos on The Rubin Report rubbed me the wrong way, but the final straw was his interviewwith Stefan Molyneux, who went on at length, and unchallenged, about the intellectual inferiority of black people due to genetics. Here's a quote from the interview that Rubin let stand: "If a white kid is raised by a black family, hell end up with a 100 IQ, but if a black kid is raised by an upper middle class white or Jewish family hell end up with an 85 IQ. In other words, its all genetics."

Since then, Rubin has regularly made ludicrous comments. While choosing the worst is challenging, a top contender was when he said that he and Molyneux were part of the "new center." Challenged on saying this about someone often associated with the alt-right, Rubin denied having said it, even though he was caught on videosaying it. If Rubin's going to be one of those people who choose to gaslight instead of admitting to making a mistake, he's going to have to learn how to lie convincingly. Perhaps he should study master gaslighter Trump, the man he admires but doesn't have the courage to endorse by name. As close as he's come is to tell Democrats to vote for Republicans in November.

Joe Rogan has caught on to Rubin's act. On one of his recent podcasts, he talked about how it's possible to be friends with people he disagrees with as long as their beliefs are sincere. "But if someone's a grifter," he said, "you've got to cast them out." The grifter he was referring to was Dave Rubin. Rogan didn't didn't mention Rubin by name, but it's obvious who he was talking about. A forlorn-looking Rubin statedpublicly that he called Rogan "a bajillion times" requesting an appearance on his show to promote his new book, but Rogan wouldn't even return his calls.

Rogan has hosted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, so you have credibility issues when he ghosts you. Rubin embarrassed himself during his last appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience with a glib libertarian harangue about how the government can't do one single thing right. He chose the USPS as an example of government inefficiency, blathering on about how the price of sending a letter would drop if the USPS no longer existed because "competition would start kicking in" from "UPS and Amazon and Fedex and drones and blah blah blah." So the low-cost provider is eliminated, but that somehow increases competition, and prices go down? He was as coherent as a beauty contest contestant trying to explain how she'd achieve world peace.

Rubin wasn't done humiliating himself. To illustrate his point, he told Rogan he had a good story for him. He talked about recently purchasing some newborn chicks for his backyard via USPS, which delivered them overnight from Cleveland to L.A. That's the whole story. That's rightto illustrate the inefficiency of the USPS, Rubin explained what a good job they did. Rogan, sounding bored and annoyed with his guest's ramblings, then turned the screw, pointing out that the USPS is the only enterprise that will ship baby chickens, something it's been doing since the 1800s. Rubin stammered that he was sure that UPS and FedEx would deliver chicks in the absence of the USPS, even though they'll deliver almost anything now but have chosen not to ship this item.

Rubin has made a lot of money by appealing to conservatives who like to hear a so-called liberal dump on his own tribe. But being for gay marriage and the legalization of marijuana doesn't make him a liberal. Rubin calls himself a classical liberal, but he's really a libertarian. He often sounds like the college freshman who returns home for Christmas after having read Ayn Rand for the first time. In other words, his enthusiasm exceeds his knowledge. He doesn't know that though. "My brain is still in recovery mode," he said not long ago, "taking in so many high-level ideas."

Judging by some of the unintelligible things Rubin says, that recovery is going to take a long time. Discussing his decision to remain in L.A. after contemplating leaving, he saidthis on The Rubin Report: "If someone like me can't live in Californialike it's become so extremethen the American experiment is over. Okay, we're in civil war." Sometimes the guy gets a little dramatic.

Rogan said Rubin needs to admit he's wrong and apologize. It's unlikely that hed upset his gravy train by doing that, but one things certainDave Rubin is not someone to be taken seriously when he talks about ideas.

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Dave Rubin's Galaxy Brain - Splice Today

Sleep Experts Call For The Abolition of Daylight Saving Time in The US – ScienceAlert

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In many parts of the world, people collectively reset their clocks twice a year. Depending on the season, clocks are either wound an hour forwards, or an hour backwards - a practice designed to maximise the overlap between our waking hours and the available daylight.

Now, members of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Public Safety Team and Board of Directors have published an advisory calling for the practice of daylight saving to be abolished.

"Daylight saving time is less aligned with human circadian biology - which, due to the impacts of the delayed natural light/dark cycle on human activity, could result in circadian misalignment, which has been associated in some studies with increased cardiovascular disease risk, metabolic syndrome and other health risks," they write in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

"It is, therefore, the position of AASM that these seasonal time changes should be abolished in favour of a fixed, national, year-round standard time."

Their paper is focused on the US, citing health statistics connected with the changing of the clocks in spring - from standard time to daylight saving time. This is when the clocks are wound back an hour, so that everyone loses an hour, usually from their sleep schedule.

Ostensibly, the major economic reason for daylight saving time (DST) is to reduce energy usage, an effect that has been found to result in savings from0.5 to 1 percenttoa potential energy useincrease in some areas as dependence on home heating and cooling rises.

It's also thought that daylight saving time allows additional daylight leisure time in the warmer months; however, if it does, people don't seem to be making use of it.

These inconclusively demonstrated benefits, according to AASM, are not worth the human lives lost to daylight saving. Conversely, there may be significant health benefits, both physical and mental, to a regular time schedule.

"Existing data support the elimination of seasonal time changes in favour of a fixed, year-round time," the members wrote.

"DST can cause misalignment between the biological clock and environmental clock, resulting in significant health and public safety-related consequences, especially in the days immediately following the annual change to DST.

"A change to permanent standard time is best aligned with human circadian biology and has the potential to produce beneficial effects for public health and safety."

The human circadian rhythm is the 24-hour biological cycle that, among other things, regulates our sleep-wake cycle - although this cycle can be artificially altered, as shift workers well know. As we also know from studies on shift workers, such alterations can lead to dangerous and health-degrading sleep disorders.

AASM believes that a similar effect is at play when our sleep time is abruptly shifted back an hour. And there's certainly plenty of evidence that the DST switch can have effects a lot worse than being more sleepy than usual for a few days while you adjust.

Some effects are relatively mild. Immediately after the shift to daylight saving time, people are less productive, and slack off at work more. Students have been found to perform more poorly on tests.

It gets worse from here. Judges are more likely to issue harsher penalties in their courtrooms - so you'd best hope your court date doesn't fall immediately after the spring DST shift. Medical professionals make more mistakes, too.

Several studies have found that fatal accidents of all kinds temporarily increase immediately following the spring shift to daylight saving time. Non-fatal workplace accidents also increase; and those accidents are more likely to be serious.

You're more likely to have a heart attack following the spring shift; in fact, total mortality of a population has been found to rise. And, tragically, male suicide rates increase in the weeks following the shift to daylight saving time.

The effects after the autumn shift back to standard time are not nearly so pronounced. However, it does still compromise sleep and the rest-activity cycles.

Daylight saving time isn't even that popular. Only around 70 countries still observe it, and that number is dropping. The European Union voted to abolish it last year (although they're yet to set a date for when that will come into effect).

And, according to a survey of 2,000 people conducted by AASM in July, 63 percent of respondents wanted to abolish daylight saving time, compared to just 11 percent who wanted to keep it.

"There is ample evidence of the negative, short-term consequences of the annual change to daylight saving time in the spring," said medical doctor Kannan Ramar, director of AASM.

"Because the adoption of permanent standard time would be beneficial for public health and safety, the AASM will be advocating at the federal level for this legislative change."

The advisory has been published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

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Sleep Experts Call For The Abolition of Daylight Saving Time in The US - ScienceAlert

Abolition Of All India Handloom Board Will Escalate The Woes Of Women Handloom Workers – Feminism in India

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Indias handloom sector has been in a state of crisis for many years but in the past few months, the industry has been facing an unprecedented sea of economic and social challenges. The global economic slowdown that countries are currently reeling under has severely impacted the livelihood of millions of artisans across India. Globally, the retail industry is experiencing a sharp decline in business as consumers are either refusing to spend or are unable to spend. This change in consumer behaviour in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic is partially a result of rising unemployment and steps taken by employers to cut down on wages.

Several retail companies are actively considering either liquifying their businesses or declaring bankruptcy. The financial state in which retail businesses globally find themselves in today has direct consequences for Indian artisans who supply them their products. An alarming number of artisans and weavers are reporting that they are unable to sustain themselves and their production process due to lack of income.

According to some commentators, the present situation has egregiously worsened with the governments decision to abolish both the All India Handlooms Board (AIHB) and All India Handicraft Board. The AIHB was established to facilitate the Central Government in formulating policies and schemes that would promote the development of the handloom sector. It was also supposed to aid the government in creating new employment opportunities within the sector and devise welfare schemes for artisans.

The financial state in which retail businesses globally find themselves in today has direct consequences for Indian artisans who supply them their products. An alarming number of artisans and weavers are reporting that they are unable to sustain themselves and their production process due to lack of income. According to some commentators, the present situation has egregiously worsened with the governments decision to abolish both the All India Handlooms Board (AIHB) and All India Handicraft Board.

The Board earlier comprised of several key stakeholders including weavers and artisans, who considered the platform a forum where workers could raise their problems. On July 27th, however, the Indian government abolished the Board in order to promote what government officials call a leaner government. This decision has been widely criticised for not including artisans in the decision-making process and for destroying the last platform where handloom sector workers could assert their rights and seek accountability.

According to government sources, the decision was taken to help achieve minimum government and maximum governance. The move was criticised by individuals like Laila Taybji, founder of Dastakar, for dismantling the last forum where workers could raise their concerns. Others embraced the decision by observing that the AIHB was a toothless tiger that achieved little on the ground in terms of ensuring workers welfare.

Interestingly, the move to abolish AIHB was taken days after the Prime Ministers Independence day speech in which he encouraged citizens to become vocal for local by buying products made in India. This, according to the Prime Minister, would help India become atmanirbhar or self-reliant. In order to adequately anticipate the possible consequence of such a drastic step on poor handloom workers, we must look briefly at the existing economic conditions in which handloom workers currently find themselves in.

Before AIHB was abolished, demonetisation devastated the sector,rendering much of the existing cash in the hands of workers useless. Lack of cash meant workers could not buy raw materials which slowed down the production process, eventually forcing owners to shut down their mills. A few months later, as the industry was on the verge of a gradual recovery, the government introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST). As per law, GST is applicable in case of all enterprises that have an annual turnover of Rs 20,00,000 lakh. According to a report published by Newslaundry, wholesalers, in order to reduce their expenditure, have started deducting 5% of mandatory GST payment from workers wages. To make matters worse, taxes on brocade, silk and dye have further increased the production cost.

The pan India lockdown, which was announced in the month of March, further exacerbated the woes of handloom workers. Millions of craftspeople in India are sitting on stocks of clothing that they cannot sell. Some of these workers anticipate that even with the best of their efforts, it would take two years for this stock to be sold. Despite the governments emphasis on encouraging local handloom production, the budget allocation for the year 2020 stipulated a mere Rs 485 crore the entire sector.

Activist Laila Tyabji, in an interview with Leaders for Social Change, observed that the paradox plaguing the Indian Textile sector is how despite the sectors huge contribution to the countrys GDP, government investment in the field has progressively declined since the first five-year plan. The textile sector also remains the second-largest source of employment for Indians after agriculture. According to official records, 4.3 million people are part of the handloom sector. This too is a conservative estimate as most government documents only record handloom owners in their list of workers, overlooking several children and women who support them with allied services. Several women who perform the actual act of weaving also are often left out of this list as they do not own handlooms.

The pan India lockdown, which was announced in the month of March, further exacerbated the woes of handloom workers. Millions of craftspeople in India are sitting on stocks of clothing that they cannot sell. Some of these workers anticipate that even with the best of their efforts, it would take two years for this stock to be sold. Despite the governments emphasis on encouraging local handloom production, the budget allocation for the year 2020 stipulated a mere Rs 485 crore the entire sector.

The handloom industry has historically been a household-based enterprise which has persistently faced the threat of unfair competition from modern industries. This long-standing challenge has exerted considerable stress on the handloom sector for decades.Having said that, women within the sector have been severely impacted by the handloom sectors gradual ruination. According to the Third Handloom Census (2009-10), out of the total number of workers within the sector, 57.6% workers are women. In the North East of India women comprise 99% of all handloom workers in the region. Even after womens immense contribution to the field, their work and participation continue to not be adequately acknowledged.

For a long time, it was assumed that women only engage in allied activities surrounding the main weaving process. This argument was used to justify womens exclusion from the list of workers in the census. Policy expert Narsimha Reddy argues that women perform close to 25 pre-weaving activities before the weaving process can start. By not recognising women as formal workers, the government deprives them of competitive remuneration for their work and access to employment-related social security benefits. However, over the years, many men have left the industry due to lack of income which has allowed women to take over the production process as primary weavers. Several cooperative societies have since then helped women generate regular income and facilitated the process of skill development.

Also read: How Difficult Is Menstrual Hygiene Management For Women Workers In Indian

But the supply chain commandeering the production process leads to a situation wherein even if the consumer is paying adequate money for the products, very little money percolates down to women workers. Reddy further points out that a woman spinner earns Rs 10 per boggle which means if she spins 5 boggles a day, she earns Rs 50 in wage, which is much less than the minimum wage. As a result, many families have started to move away from cotton weaving and have started producing silk cloth. But over the years silk, too, has lost its capacity to generate income as fake textile has started to flood the market. The government till-date has been ineffective in regulating the market suchin a way that prices of textile products remain competitiveand ensure dignity for Indian textile workers.

It is women working in the handloom sector who have managed to keep families afloat in times of economic crisis through performing multiple odd jobs. But often such inferences are falsely attributed to womens inherent entrepreneurial nature rather than opening a dialogue about womens status in society. Women in India, who function within the patriarchal institutions of marriage and family, are unable to escape performing unpaid labor within the family and poorly paid labor outside.

Having said that, studies conducted in the field of womens work indicate that the ability to earn a regular wage enhances womens social status, including that within the family. Some studies also argue that working women are less likely to tolerate domestic abuse and violence. Through such data one can easily estimate the importance of work in womens lives. Therefore, it is a matter of grave concern what would be the result of the ongoing crisis on women workers within the handloom sector.

It is women working in the handloom sector who have managed to keep families afloat in times of economic crisis through performing multiple odd jobs. But often such inferences are falsely attributed to womens inherent entrepreneurial nature rather than opening a dialogue about womens status in society. Women in India, who function within the patriarchal institutions of marriage and family, are unable to escape performing unpaid labor within the family and poorly paid labor outside.

We are living in an age where fast fashion brands are able to sell T-shirts worth $5. The price tag, however, masks the many social and environmental costs of production that goes into bringing that T-shirt from the factory to the consumer. Since clothes produced in the traditional handloom sector are labour intensive, they are unable to sell their products at the same competitive prices as multinational companies. Such unfair trade practices are wreaking havoc on the handloom sector, wherein sustainable practices are used to generate cloth.

The decision to abolish AIHB will result in the systematic dismantling of the only bridge between handloom workers and the government. From the data available, one can say with some certainty that the government was adequately spending / investing / etc neither on AIHB nor on the handloom sector, at large. It is therefore concerning why a seventy-five-year-old Board was hastily abolished in the absence of any new reforms or welfare schemes for handloom workers.

Also read: The Impact Of Covid-19 On Assams Women Weavers

There are some commentators who argue that the board was closed down as a cost-cutting measure while others are of the opinion that it is a strategy to give private players a greater role in the handloom sector. Whatever may have been the case, it is clear that Indian textile workers have lost the last platform of asserting their rights as informal sector workers and the symbolic presence of a democratic institution built to aid workers welfare.More specifically a decision of this magnitude will impact women weavers more dramatically than their male counterparts.

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Abolition Of All India Handloom Board Will Escalate The Woes Of Women Handloom Workers - Feminism in India

Students call to abolish TUPD The Tulane Hullabaloo – Tulane Hullabaloo

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Josh Jessiman | Photography Editor

Domenic Mesa, Contributing WriterSeptember 3, 2020

Tulane and Loyola University students organized at 6400 Freret St., where McAlister Drive meets Percival Stern Hall to march in protest of the Tulane University Police Department on Aug. 31. The march followed a number of allegations against TUPD and was part of a larger conversation against police violence worldwide.

TUPD officers are just NOPD in a slightly different uniform, a caption under the first post on the AbolishTUPD Instagram account said. They are required to work for NOPD before they work for TUPD. They still have full arresting power and Tulane loves to make students feel like TUPD is a chill version of NOPD but theyre not. TUPD is absolutely capable of this violence.

The protest organizers called for a student walkout at 1 p.m., with the march to follow at 1:45 p.m. The group, AbolishTUPD, calls for the immediate abolition of the TUPD. Per the AbolishTUPD Twitter page, Abolishing TUPD is an important project both for the liberation and healing of our campus and also our community. Furthermore, AbolishTUPD advocates for the obsoletion of all prisons and police departments around the country. Beginning on Freret Street, the protestors made their first turn down Broadway Street, eventually making a left on St. Charles Avenue, heading to Audubon Park.

The protest yielded upwards of 150 attendees. Protestors had a wide array of personal reasons for marching, but many of them were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.

According to the protest organizer, this was a very good turnout.

When asked if she could tell TUPD one thing, one protestor responded, For them stop putting Black people, Black students, Black workers, Black anybody in positions where ultimately it will result in their death or harm. Im tired of them exploiting us.

The safety and security of our campus community is always a top priority and our police department plays a vital role in those efforts, Mike Strecker, executive director of public relations at Tulane said. The department focuses on community policing, where our officers strive to work hand-in-hand with the campus community. At the same time, we acknowledge the pain and suffering felt by Black people and other people of color regarding police brutality and the long history in our country of intolerable abuses. We need to come together as a community and work collaboratively toward finding solutions to make Tulane a more diverse, equitable and just community.

When the protestors arrived at Audubon Park, they turned onto the grass, to listen to speakers from the community. They were quickly met with a security guard, however, ordering the crowd to vacate the park.

The protestors refused to disperse until all their speakers were given the opportunity to speak.The protest ended soon after the police arrived. The organizers urged the attendees to practice safety, and leave the park in groups.

The AbolishTUPD instagram page can be found here.

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Students call to abolish TUPD The Tulane Hullabaloo - Tulane Hullabaloo

Bristol History Podcast: Centuries of slavery and the city, and how enslaved people helped abolish the trade – The Bristol Cable

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This week I spoke with Mark Steeds and Roger Ball to discuss their new book, From Wulfstan to Colston: Severing the Sinews of Slavery in Bristol. Covering over a thousand years of history, the book charts Bristols long involvement in trading enslaved human beings. We discussed the two titular characters: St. Wulfstan, who was responsible for ending the slave trade between Bristol and Dublin in the 11th century; and Edward Colston, one of Bristols most prominent organisers of the African slave trade from the late 17th century. Mark and Roger also explained their problems with traditional narrative around abolition. To counter this they emphasise the importance of slave rebellions in the colonies, highlight the long-overlooked work of women in the abolition movement and draw attention to popular anti-slavery movements.

Bristol History Podcast is dedicated to exploring various aspects of Bristols history, hosted by Tom Brothwell. Produced in partnership with the Bristol Cable since April 2018.

Support the journalism Bristol needs.

Thanks to the 2,000+ members who support the Cable, our in-depth journalism is free for everyone. Together, we empower readers with independent and investigative local reporting. Join us and be a part of Bristols reader-owned media cooperative.

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This article is at:News People's History Bristol History Podcast: Centuries of slavery and the city, and how enslaved people helped abolish the trade

Accommodation Opinion Banner Home Page Discrimination And Inequalities Moving On: Bristol's Gypsy, Roma And Traveller Communities

A Cable member recently cancelled their membership because we write about inequalities faced by Gypsies, Roma and Travellers instead of where the latest unauthorised encampment is. Heres why we do that.

Reports

The horrific hit-and-run against a 21-year old NHS worker in Horfield shook the city. The Cable spoke to one Horfield local and protesters campaigning against racism.

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As Green councillor Cleo Lake petitions Bristols mayor, Marvin Rees, to lobby the UK government about reparations, we explore what that means, and talk to the Bristol activists involved.

Podcast Bristol History Podcast People's History

This week I met with Professor Madge Dresser to discuss the Bristol Bus Boycott of 1963. The boycott against the Bristol Omnibus Company over its racist employment policy was the first black-led protest against racial discrimination in post-war Britain. We explored race relations in Bristol around the time of the boycott, and why its legacy continues to resonate so strongly today.

Banner Home Page Podcast Listen: Bristol Unpacked With Neil Maggs

Delroy Hibbert is a Black Lives Matter backer. But he also attended the All Lives Matter demonstration in Bristol the week after Colston fell.

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Bristol History Podcast: Centuries of slavery and the city, and how enslaved people helped abolish the trade - The Bristol Cable

Eskimo ice cream treat causes a stir in Denmark – The Globe and Mail

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A picture taken on June 15, 2020 shows a box of Eskimo icecreams at Hansens Floedeis dairy in Jaegerspris, Denmark.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/AFP/Getty Images

The Eskimo ice-cream treat has cooled down Danes on hot summer days and comforted them even in winter since the 1920s. The crunchy chocolate-coated bar with a vanilla filling and its blackcurrant-flavoured cousin, the Kaempe Eskimo (Giant Eskimo) are an integral part of Danish confectionery culture, bestsellers in the tiny Nordic kingdom that ranks seventh in the world for ice cream consumption per capita.

But when Danes flock to the ice-cream stand this time next year, things will look a little different. As a worldwide debate on racial injustice leads brands to rethink racist names and imagery, Danish company Hansens Is has decided to change the name of its Eskimo treat to OPayo (the type of cocoa used in the coating). Still, the moniker lives on: The biggest players in the Danish ice-cream market, Frisko (owned by Unilever) and Premier Is, are sticking with it.

Initially we decided against changing the name because its always been called Eskimo, Hansens Is said in a statement when it made the announcement in June. But after doing some research, it became clear to us that the word reminds the Inuit people of a past of degradation and unjust treatment. We never thought about that before.

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Many people applauded the move. Eskimo has a pejorative meaning for many Greenlanders so I think its only fair to show this level of respect to us, said Aaja Chemnitz Larsen, who represents the Greenlandic party Inuit Ataqatigiit in the Danish Parliament. The word is widely interpreted to mean eater of raw meat, she explained.

Nuno Berthelsen, an activist and co-founder of the indigenous Greenlandic association Nalik, agreed that the term is racist and should no longer be used.

The word was imposed by colonialists and, in fact, the Inuit Circumpolar Council and Greenland officially abolished the use of Eskimo and replaced it with Inuit in 1980, he said, adding he was thrilled to see Hansens Is show progressiveness, respect and solidarity.

Joori Lundblad, a 56-year-old resident of Sisimiut in mid-western Greenland, was surprised that a snack could cause such a stir.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/AFP/Getty Images

Greenland is home to 55,000 inhabitants, most of who are Inuit. It became a Danish colony in the 18th century and later a Danish province. In 1979, home rule was established, and in 2009 Greenland increased its autonomy through a referendum. According to Mr. Berthelsen, Greenlanders have historically been exposed to systematic racism and violent colonial practices aimed at eradicating the Inuit culture. The abolition of the word Eskimo was the result of decades of efforts by Inuit activists across the Arctic, he says.

But when it comes to ice cream, not all Greenlanders see what the fuss is about.

Joori Lundblad, a 56-year-old resident of Sisimiut in mid-western Greenland, was surprised that a snack could cause such a stir. My friends and I laugh about this exaggerated debate and we actually felt like eating a Giant Eskimo when we first read about it.

She said its important that people know the word Eskimo is not offensive to everyone. Im proud to be Greenlandic and Im proud to be an Eskimo. Nobody needs to change that.

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Discussions have raged on Facebook. In a comment to Ms. Chemnitz Larsen, one person wrote: Aaja, when we were young, we loved dancing to the music of the Eskimos, referring to a popular local rock band of the 1960s. We were proud to be world famous. The word does not bother the older generation just ask your parents.

But the debate about the word extends beyond ice cream. The National Museum of Denmark recently removed the word Eskimo from its longstanding Arctic Exhibition, and the University of Copenhagen renamed its Eskimology Studies (believed to be the worlds only degree of its kind) to Greenland and Arctic studies.

The original Eskimo Pie, sold in the United States, will be getting a new name, according to Dreyers Grand Ice Cream.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/AFP/Getty Images

Despite Hansens Is move, the moniker will live on in the frozen-food aisle. The biggest players in the Danish ice-cream market, Frisko (owned by Unilever) and Premier Is, are sticking with it for their versions.

The Kaempe Eskimo has always been a popular product in Denmark and it is not our impression that the name is perceived as offensive among Danish consumers, said Sandhya Forselius, communications manager at Unilever Nordic.

As co-founder of the organization Unstereotype Alliance, in partnership with the United Nations, Unilever has tackled the use of stereotypes in advertising, she said. As part of our work, we have committed to re-evaluating the imagery we use across the 400 Unilever brands.

Premier Is has taken the same stand with its bestseller. So far, 90 per cent of the messages we have received from consumers support our approach, but we intend to talk to interest groups and retailers so we get a full picture of the situation, said Claus Dahlmann Larsen, chief commercial officer.

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Nalik, Mr. Berthelsens association, has launched a campaign encouraging consumers to complain directly to the companies in hopes that they will succumb to public pressure.

Should they change their minds, Premier Is and Frisko would join an array of global companies rebranding products that feature racist words and imagery. Pepsi will retire the Aunt Jemima name, for example, and Mars will change the brand identity of Uncle Bens Rice.

Most notably, Premier Is and Frisko would be in line with another decision to drop an Eskimo brand.

The original Eskimo Pie, sold in the United States, will be getting a new name, according to Dreyers Grand Ice Cream. We are committed to being a part of the solution on racial equality, head of marketing Elizabell Marquez told CNN, and recognize the term is derogatory.

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Eskimo ice cream treat causes a stir in Denmark - The Globe and Mail

Does carbon pricing work? This is what a new study found – World Economic Forum

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Putting a price on carbon should reduce emissions, because it makes dirty production processes more expensive than clean ones, right?

Thats the economic theory. Stated baldly, its obvious, but there is perhaps a tiny chance that what happens in practice might be something else.

In a newly-published paper, we set out the results of the largest-ever study of what happens to emissions from fuel combustion when they attract a charge.

We analysed data for 142 countries over more than two decades, 43 of which had a carbon price of some form by the end of the study period.

The results show that countries with carbon prices on average have annual carbon dioxide emissions growth rates that are about two percentage points lower than countries without a carbon price, after taking many other factors into account.

By way of context, the average annual emissions growth rate for the 142 countries was about 2% per year.

This size of effect adds up to very large differences over time. It is often enough to make the difference between a country having a rising or a declining emissions trajectory.

Emissions tend to fall in countries with carbon prices

A quick look at the data gives a first clue.

The figure below shows countries that had a carbon price in 2007 as a black triangle, and countries that did not as a green circle.

On average, carbon dioxide emissions fell by 2% per year over 20072017 in countries with a carbon price in 2007 and increased by 3% per year in the others.

Emissions are from fuel combustion and include road-sector emissions.

Image: Best, Burke, Jotzo 2020

The difference between an increase of 3% per year and a decrease of 2% per year is five percentage points. Our study finds that about two percentage points of that are due to the carbon price, with the remainder due to other factors.

The challenge was pinning down the extent to which the change was due to the implementation of a carbon price and the extent to which it was due to a raft of other things happening at the same time, including improving technologies, population and economic growth, economic shocks, measures to support renewables and differences in fuel tax rates.

We controlled for a long list of other factors, including the use of other policy instruments.

The higher the price, the larger the emissions reductions.

Image: The Conversation

It would be reasonable to expect a higher carbon price to have bigger effects, and this is indeed what we found.

On average an extra euro per tonne of carbon dioxide price is associated with a lowering in the annual emissions growth rate in the sectors it covers of about 0.3 percentage points.

The message to governments is that carbon pricing almost certainly works, and typically to great effect.

While a well-designed approach to reducing emissions would include other complementary policies such as regulations in some sectors and support for low-carbon research and development, carbon pricing should ideally be the centrepiece of the effort.

Unfortunately, the politics of carbon pricing have been highly poisoned in Australia, despite it being popular in a number of countries with conservative governments including Britain and Germany. Even Australias Labor opposition seems to have given up.

Nevertheless, it should be remembered that Australias two-year experiment with carbon pricing delivered emissions reductions as the economy grew. It was working as designed.

Groups such as the Business Council of Australia that welcomed the abolition of the carbon price back in 2014 are now calling for an effective climate policy with a price signal at its heart.

The results of our study are highly relevant to many governments, especially those in industrialising and developing countries, that are weighing up their options.

The worlds top economics organisations including the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development continue to call for expanded use of carbon pricing.

If countries are keen on a low-carbon development model, the evidence suggests that putting an appropriate price on carbon is a very effective way of achieving it.

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Does carbon pricing work? This is what a new study found - World Economic Forum

Abolition of question hour: Why we should relinquish disinformation and know the truth – Asianet News Newsable

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Bengaluru: Question hour is an integral part of Parliament/state legislatures. But there have been instances when question hour was done away with. When and Why?

Its not the first time. It was done in 1962, 1975, 1976, 1991, 2004 and 2009 for various reasons.It is said that 1975 and 1976 instances were during emergency. Emergency was only for opposition and media. Everything was normal including transport, schools, colleges, entertainment. Everything was functioning normally, except leaders of opposition parties who were put behind bars and the media, which was censored and gagged. Now the present one is the real health emergency in the midst of unprecedented pandemic. Almost all the opposition leaders accepted that the country is in extraordinary situation because of this health emergency.

The presiding officers of both the Houses have received a letter from the ministry of parliamentary affairs informing that the government consulted different political parties and that there was a broad consensus, barring one political party, on doing away with the question hour. Based on that consensus among the opposition parties, the government requested the presiding officers to do away the question hour and Private Members Business for this session.Is the Question Hour not going to be there during the upcoming Session?

No. There will be questions to be answered by the government There will be 160 unstarred questions to elicit information. Besides, there will be special mentions, up to 10 in number, to bring matters of importance to the notice of the government.What else is Parliament going to do?

Parliament is going to discuss various important issues of concern to the people and the country including the pandemic COVID 19, state of economy and other developments that will be brought before the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) and agreed upon. The provision of Short Duration Discussion (SDD) and Calling Attention Notice (CAN) are very much there to discuss important issues.People say, is the session only to stamp the bills and ordinances?

This is a wrong description. A bill or a legislation is the proposal on a particular issue brought before the house by the government in the larger interest of the country and the people. And it is the duty of the government to bring legislative proposals to replace the ordinances issued whenever the house is not in session. In fact, you must appreciate the government for bringing a number of bills. There will be a discussion and decision of the house on each of such legislations. One can support or oppose, but every issue will be settled by majority in true spirit of parliamentary democracy.Why time is curtailed?

As explained earlier, we are meeting in extraordinary times and circumstances prevailing in the country. Meeting of Parliament is as per the constitutional provision and for doing public work and to deal with public issues. Government wants the members stay in Delhi for a shorter period and once they perform their responsibilities, they can go back to their constituencies and be with the people.When many of the state legislatures are functioning for one or two or three days, why Parliament is meeting for 18 days?

It shows the commitment of the government of the day to perform its constitutional mandate by having discussions on all the important issues and taking up such business as is necessary in the larger interest of the country.

Doing away with question hour is, some say, murder of democracy. Is it really so?

The answer is NO. There were no question hour, zero hour submissions, calling attentions, short duration discussions and other parliamentary mechanisms in some states where the assemblies met. Do you mean to say that they all have murdered democracy? Some leaders from states like Kerala are more vocal. They should explain to the people why there was no question hour as also other discussions in their state assembly. The Congress, the Communist parties and the TMC are vocal but they should remember and tell the people what they have done in their local. The Communists and their friends are ruling in Kerala and ably supported by the Congress party. Punjab is ruled by the Congress party. In Rajasthan where the Congress is ruling, the assembly met just for 4 days. There was no question hour and no zero hour and 13 bills were passed without much discussion. In Maharashtra, where a 2-day session is proposed, there is going to be no question hour and no zero hour. In Uttar Pradesh, a bigger state, there was no question hour and no zero hour and also in many other states like Andhra Pradesh.People say there was a broad consensus or agreement between the government and the opposition in these States. Here also the government reached out to the opposition including the Leaders of Opposition in both the houses and major political parties. As stated earlier, except one, all other parties broadly agreed. Consensus does not mean that if one party or one person opposes you cannot act; consensus means larger agreement of minds.You could have accommodated the question hour.

Let us understand the reality. Each house meets for 4 hours a day. If one hour goes for questions and another hour for zero hour submissions, will the remaining time of two hours be sufficient to take up discussions and deliberations on bills, ordinances and other important issues that are going to come up before the house?We are in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic. We should not only follow social distancing and wear masks but should also give time to get the premises sanitized after each sitting of the houses. Each house is meeting for 4 hours a day and, as explained earlier, there is going to be 160 unstarred questions per day. As stated earlier, extraordinary measures are required for extraordinary times. The government has already said that they will answer every question asked in the house. You do not allow question hour in states where you are in power but you try to raise hue and cry here because you are in the opposition. This is patently unfair.Is the Question Hour so sacrosanct?

Yes, but one should remember even in normal times, question hour was disturbed on several occasions. As per statistics available, in the last eight sessions of Rajya Sabha, out of the 162 hours of time allotted for question, only 59 hours of time could be utilized. 103 hours of time (63.32%) was lost due to disruptions and forced adjournments etc.

Everyone should remember what their government earlier at the Centre and what their governments in the states are doing or have done. In democracy, criticism is always welcome, but it should be fair. That is why we say let us speak truth. It is expected that the media will bring facts before the people about how the governments in the past and the present are acting so that viewers/readers get a proper understanding. People are saying why the opposition is backtracking now after having agreed? It is only for them to answer.

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Abolition of question hour: Why we should relinquish disinformation and know the truth - Asianet News Newsable

Police State & the War on Youth in Time of COVID & Uprisings – LA Progressive

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Power Not Paranoia Zoom Webinar Series Part 25September 8th at 6PMFacebook Event PageWatch Webinars 1 24HERE Surveillance 101 Teach-In 1 4HERENot A Moment In Time: Zine Issue1 2 State of Community Health: Bulletin1 3

The National Security Police State always uses crisis like this to expand oppression, to expand surveillance, accumulate new weapons, push boundaries and justify its violence. Join us at Stop LAPD Spying Coalition over Zoom for our Power Not Paranoia Webinar Series Part 25 and Working Meeting on Tuesday September 8th at 6 PM.

The National Security Police State always uses crisis like this to expand oppression

We will be joined by our Comrades from Homies Unidos to talk about the impact of surveillance, gang policing, and immigration on Central American immigrant youth. We will also be discussing the Cops Off Campus fight with the campaign organizers as well as discussing the fight against various programs targeting youth as violent extremists with the Students and Communities against Policing and Surveillance Coalition. Please join us on Tuesday at 6 PM PDT and Join the Fight!

Meeting ID: 889 6574 2795

Zoom Details for Tuesday September 8th:Topic: Stop LAPD Spying CoalitionTime: Sept 8, 2020 06:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)Join Zoom Meeting

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Over the last year, the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition has successfully continued its efforts to build a broad-based coalition of groups and individuals that share a vision of dismantling and abolishing government-sanctioned spying and intelligence gathering in all its multiple forms.From our inception, we maintain abolition of policing as our ultimate goal.

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As we witness the unfettered expansion of the police state and Intelligence-Led Policing, the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition continues to renew its commitment to dismantle and abolish this dangerous structure that is flawed by design.

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Police State & the War on Youth in Time of COVID & Uprisings - LA Progressive

57 years after the March on Washington, Black people are still protesting – Florida Courier

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On Aug. 28, thousands marched on Washington, D.C., in protest of systemic racism. At an event dubbed the Get Your Knee Off Our Necks march, ministers, activists and relatives of those killed stood at the lectern, delivering fiery and sometimes teary speeches, imploring America to divorce itself from systems that have for 244 years oppressed its Black population.

If the episode sounds familiar, thats because it already happened. Fifty-seven years ago, thousands marched in demand of jobs and freedom and the abolition of White supremacy.

Logic says the advocacy of that moment and the legislation it spurred should have led to a permanent, radical change. And through the work of Black leaders like voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale, America moved in the right direction.

But it did not go far enough.

This speaks to the illogical, stubborn nature of White supremacy and the challenges faced by those trying to eliminate it.

There are signs the tide is turning, to some extent

Last year, the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill to restore aspects of the Voting Rights Act that were gutted by the Supreme Court in 2013. And this year, the House passed legislation that bans local law enforcement from using noknock warrants and chokeholds.

But these much-needed reforms are unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. And even if, by a miracle, they become law, they will reform only a certain aspect of racism in American society.

The march on Friday was announced earlier this summer by the Rev. Al Sharpton during the funeral of George Floyd, whose killing caused Black Lives Matter to reemerge in the news cycle and people to take a closer look at racism in American society.

Although the media and the publics attention shifted, it snapped back last month when, to no surprise, law enforcement in yet another city injured a Black man. This time it was a policeman in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who shot 29-year-old Jacob Blake seven times in the back, in front of his three children.

During the march, Black lawmakers were bountiful. One was Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D Mass.), who spoke of the sacrifice and self-determination of our Black ancestors that shaped history and brought us to this moment.

We are the manifestation of the movement. We are a symbol of social, political and cultural progress, she said.

We are certainly the manifestation of a movement. The advocacy of civil rights leaders led to an expansion of the Black middle class. But we are still being killed by the police, and disparities in nearly every aspect of life remain.

It seems as if we are far beyond organized marches and need something more revolutionary. The world does not seem poised for radical change.

On Aug. 27, near the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, I spoke with the Rev. Nathaniel Martin, the 72-year old vice president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Action Network, a civil rights organization Sharpton founded in 1991.

Martin said that during the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, he and his friends thought they were going to end racism.

But racism is far more deeply rooted in the fabric, culture and institutions of the United States than we realized, he said.

The night after we talked, I lay awake thinking about something else he said. We spoke of the inability of white Americans to see how their privilege harms people of color and discussed whether anything could be done to get rid of it.

If youre enjoying all the privileges, aint nothing wrong, Martin said. I dont see white people giving up that privilege. Do you?

Honestly, no. And that makes me sad.

On one hand, I can confidently say that White people are becoming more sympathetic. Photographers capture them in overwhelming numbers at sporadic protests in cities like Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon, and Washington.

But I am unsure if they are aware that equality for all will feel like oppression for some white people.

What it means for White people to systemically give up privilege is, in part, to redistribute wealth and close the wide gap between White and Black households. To eliminate redlining and integrate neighborhoods, to provide high-quality affordable education and affordable housing for all.

Though there is an appetite for reform from one side of the political spectrum, I fear it will not be meaningful enough. And we may very well find ourselves in 57 years marching on Washington for the radical notion that we deserve freedom and equality.

Erin B. Logan is a reporter for the Los Angeles Times.

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57 years after the March on Washington, Black people are still protesting - Florida Courier

Identity cards are no threat to civil liberties – The Guardian

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Gracie Mae Bradley of Liberty writes that People often ask why objections to proposed ID systems in the UK have historically been so strident when such schemes are widespread in mainland Europe (The UKs online ID plans: expensive, intrusive, unnecessary, 6 September). Alas, she does not answer this question. Countries with stronger civil liberties traditions and constitutional protections of privacy have no problems with ID cards. The UK state has most of us registered on databases via national insurance, NHS numbers or driving licences. We willingly surrender our privacy to private foreign firms when we use mobile phones or the internet.

We will never persuade the British people of the benefits of open borders if we cannot tell them who is in the country. Labours 2005 general election manifesto included a promise to introduce ID cards, but after their victory, thanks to Home Office delays, they were not introduced until February 2010. About 15,000 were issued. Had they been on offer in 2007 there would have been millions. Most people would have seen them as useful for passport-free travel, proof of age and prevention of voter fraud.

It is an antediluvian myth that they are a threat to civil liberties. On the continent, open borders and free movement are supported because citizens know their democratic governments issue ID cards, so they know who lives in a country. The Tory-Lib Dem abolition of the nascent ID card system in the summer of 2010 was an important first step towards Brexit.Denis MacShaneFormer Europe minister, 2002-05

Empowering digital identity at a national level will strengthen opportunities not just for individuals, but for the economy as a whole. Through access to trustworthy data, education about what the programme entails and clarity around standards for organisations using this data, the government will be able to better provide citizens with safe, secure access to digital services. The biggest challenge facing the government will be one of money. Whether setting up infrastructure or implementing a framework for validation, verification and authentication, Downing Street has its work cut out to ensure that everything runs smoothly critical to building trust, particularly in light of track-and-trace data privacy concerns.

We need to stop viewing digital identities and the data attached as good and bad. Instead, the question should centre around how can this be set up to benefit the country as a whole while creating minimal disruption.Gus TomlinsonLondon

The trials and tribulations of the Windrush generation in attempting to obtain indefinite leave to remain status illustrates, yet again, the need for a national identity card. Its time we fell in line with the continent by having such a system. Needless to say, sorting out the status of EU residents, come our definitive departure from the EU, will prove to be an almighty administrative nightmare.Yugo KovachWinterborne Houghton, Dorset

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Identity cards are no threat to civil liberties - The Guardian

Parliamentary scrutiny of the government’s approach to development aid has never been more vital – PoliticsHome.com

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Parliamentarians all have a role in demonstrating that UK aid projects offer value for money to the UK taxpayer and to challenge weaknesses in UK development policy and safeguarding, writes Sarah Champion MP. | PA Images

4 min read08 September

The future of the International Development Committee is uncertain, but it has never been needed more. We propose the Committee remit shifts to cover all official development assistance spend across Government

On 16th June, the Prime Minister unexpectedly announced the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development (DFID).

Within hours, I receive a joint letter from Foreign Secretary and Development Secretary informing me that the International Development select committee (IDC) was also being wound up. It is of course within the Prime Ministers gift how he organises his Government, but the formation, or abolition, of select committees is the gift of the House. As such, we are still in business.

With the creation of the newly merged Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, many have wondered what this means for parliamentary scrutiny of official development assistance (ODA).

Does the remit of the IDC get swallowed up in the Foreign Affairs Committee, mirroring the departmental make-up? If media reports are to be believed, could we see ODA reduced to such an extent that any scrutiny becomes fruitless?

Frankly, Ive never been so sure of the need for the IDC, regardless of my position chairing it.

Why is the scrutiny of development assistance so important?

It is our role as Parliamentarians to make sure Government policy is being targeted properly and efficiently. After all, the annual aid budget is substantial at 0.7% of GNI, which this year looks likely to be 13 billion.

Parliamentarians all have a role in demonstrating that UK aid projects offer value for money to the UK taxpayer and to challenge weaknesses in UK development policy and safeguarding. A cross-party select committee is the most effective way of doing that.

Is it realistic that issues IDC has championed will be picked up by a Committee that already has its hands full with the diplomatic issues of the day?

Having a dedicated committee to take on this role remains imperative. Take the past work of the Committee as examples.

A previous inquiry identified the need for a global education strategy that was duly implemented by Government and lifts some of the worlds poorest out of poverty. The successive inquiries on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Aid Sector continues to raise awareness of the horrendous experiences many vulnerable people are subjected to at the hands of those there to help them. Over the summer, IDC successfully highlighted again construction failings with DFID funded schools in Pakistan, which are still to be remedied, leaving children being taught in tents.

It seems the Government is advocating that the Foreign Affairs Committee will create a few additional seats to accommodate development. But is it realistic that issues IDC has championed will be picked up by a Committee that already has its hands full with the diplomatic issues of the day?

Will parliamentary scrutiny for humanitarian issues be side-lined as the new world order sees the threats of Russia and China becoming increasingly dominant? Lets also be realistic, much of the work for select committees is actually done by remarkable staff teams and if the Government has its way, none of those will continue with a sole focus on international development.

The Government will have us believe that the new FCDO will champion diplomacy and development together. But they are two monster remits in their own right, and it will be incredibly challenging to ensure justice is being done to both.

ODA spend also reaches across many departments, so is it realistic that the Foreign Affairs Committee will have the appetite to scrutinise the aid expenditure of BEIS, DEFRA, Home Office, Health and others?

The IDC is proposing that we shift our remit to cover all ODA spend across Government. There has been such a committee since 1969. The Government should not be afraid of the Committee, we can help steer the ship through what is the most significant Government policy change in aid since Tony Blair established DFID in 1997.

If the Governments assertion is to be believed, then we are all on the same side. We can all work together to ensure the life chances of some of the worlds poorest are improved, that weak economies can become self-sufficient, and that the growing threat of disease and famine faced by millions is mitigated.

Parliamentary scrutiny strengthens Government, even if it sometimes seems unpalatable at the time.

Sarah Champion is the Labour MP forRotherham and chair of the International Development Committee.

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Parliamentary scrutiny of the government's approach to development aid has never been more vital - PoliticsHome.com

Abolish IFCPH movement gains steam on campus The Tulane Hullabaloo – Tulane Hullabaloo

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This summer, several Instagram accounts centered around the abolition and removal of Greek life organizations, specifically Interfraternity Council and National Panhellenic Conference organizations on different campuses, started taking off. This summer, a similar Instagram account and GroupMe message popped up calling for the disbandment of Tulanes own Greek life system. Annie Buck, a Tulane student and part of the organizing team behind Abolish IFCPH Tulane, stated that the movement on Tulanes campus took inspiration from and collaborated with students conducting similar work at similar institutions such as University of Richmond, Vanderbilt University and Washington University in St. Louis.

The student makeup of this movement consists of individuals from a variety of involvements on campus, drawing Undergraduate Student Government, Tulane Black Student Union, and Community Engagement Advocate program participants, among others. Additionally, several of the student activists involved have also done work with the Student Action Group and the movement to Abolish TUPD as IFCPH organizations are not isolated from these larger systems of oppression that are affecting so many people, Buck says.

The immediate campaigns that Abolish IFCPH Tulane have been pushing have been centered on pushing individuals to disaffiliate from their respective IFCPH organizations as well as pushing individual organizations to disband. Noting that there are already Greek organizations that are officially disbanded but continue operating underground, the students involved are also hoping to hold Tulane accountable for their presence on campus. In the long term, however, the end goal of the movement is to sway the administration into eradicating IFCPH in its entirety.

In response to claims that Greek life offers an avenue to involvement in philanthropic aspirations, Buck said that Even though these organizations are involved in philanthropy, its philanthropy that mostly supports white people, and is not necessarily invested in the city. Based on my [prior] experience in Greek Life, there really isnt an investment as a collective to understand the racial and class dynamics that define New Orleans and have defined New Orleans for so long. She offers an alternative perspective, as upon disaffiliating with IFCPH herself she began donating her dues. Philanthropy is not restricted to these organizations and can be done in a better and more sustainable way outside of these organizations, she said, especially when we look at mutual aid organizations that are popping up around the city.

As with many of the other campuses involved in this movement, Tulane is a predominantly white institution, and the racial element within the Tulane Greek community is at the center of this movement. My understanding of IFCPH organizations is that they were created out of exclusion as white social clubs to preserve wealth and hegemony within white, elite groups of people, Buck said. We still see that thats how these organizations are functioning today.

This mindset is reflected in the groups official Instagram account, where a post titled How do fraternities and sororities support White supremacy has been posted and shared by several students. Citing ableism, transphobia, homophobia and classism as other concerns, Buck says the students involved believe these kinds of organizations have no place on campus. Given Tulanes complex racial history, this is another call on the administration to take a stance against the harmful culture on campus, and Buck believes that the work to dismantle Greek life falls upon white students who ultimately created and benefit from the system.

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Abolish IFCPH movement gains steam on campus The Tulane Hullabaloo - Tulane Hullabaloo

First of four Abolition Fridays held by BLM WR – KitchenerToday.com

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Ongoing protests will be held at the Waterloo Regional Police detachment in Kitchener

The first of four "Abolition Friday" protests organized by Black Lives Matter Waterloo Region (BLM WR) was held at Waterloo Regional Police Central Division in Kitchener.

It continues BLM WR's calls to defund the police and move those funds towards community-focused health and safety initiatives instead.

A small group of members and supporters gathered in the evening, out in front of the police station. They were left undisturbed by the Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS). The activists spoke about the issues facing the Black community and played music until sundown.

Fanis Juma is a BLM WR organizer using the protests as a opportunity to highlight the issues affecting the local Black community and what can be done about it.

"Around health, around education, around mental health, around housing, around food security, and we do have some Black-led initiatives that address these pieces and they are predominantly and chronically underfunded," she said.

She also noted the growing concern in their community for their youth. According to Juma, this past summer they've learned that the rate of suicide among their youth was on the rise. Something they hope to bring to the public attentions over the coming weeks.

Earlier in July, just the day before the K-W Solidarity March for Black Lives Matter was held, organizers had issued calls to defund the police, with the bare minimum being $29.3 million.

"I think what get oversimplified is that often it's become a question of 'are the police good?' or 'are the police bad?' and 'is this an attack on individuals?' or anything like that. And that is not what the conversation is really about, Juma said.

The example she used was mass institutionalization that psychiatric hospitals used to do, where people with developmental and intellectual disabilities were sent for care, along with others suffering from mental illnesses. The people who worked and ran the hospitals werent necessarily bad people.

But the system itself was violent, and producing violence and suffering among a vulnerable group, she said. So, the people who abolish---what they used to call insane asylums---were actually people who practiced within those institutions and said, 'this is not good enough.'"

With Regional Police, they are too often the default solution that society turns to for dealing with incidents that stem from social issues, like housing and mental health. Many of these issues also intersecting with the Black community as well, leading to an increase in confrontations with police.

"Using police to address harm in our communities or to respond to social crisis or health crisis, is something we absolutely are seeking to abolish, and we know that that is pretty much what the police do, so that is why we are abolitionist in that sense, Juma said.

This is something that even Police Chief Bryan Larkin agrees with, although he disagrees cutting back the police budget in order to fund social initiatives.

Then there are the issues within WRPS and other police services across the country, with many concerns coming from officers themselves speaking out. Meanwhile, the African, Caribbean and Black Network of Waterloo Region (ACB Network) have called out the service for their over-surveillance of Black residents and communities.

BLM WR plan on holding three more of these sit-ins this month, at which point they will reconvene to see whether or not to continue the sit-ins. The group is run by volunteers, many who are parents and/or have jobs. Racialized communities are at a greater risk during the pandemic, due to many being employed in sectors that put them in contact with the public much more often.

For Juma, the physical and mental health of her members and the community was important. Especially now with students about to head back to school, which adds another level of stress for them. Their activism work will be slow at times, but Juma sees it as a marathon, not a sprint.

In the coming weeks, the group plans on putting out some more concrete ways of helping out, through their Facebook page. There is even a recruitment page available on blmwr.ca for additional ways to help out the movement. Donations are always welcomed, with the hope that they raise enough funds to hire a person full-time.

For now, Juma is telling people to continue the conversation; speak with their local representatives; and spread the message.

We decide what practices and institution we want, so we're trying to kind of enable a generation that says, 'hey, if this is not working, what existed before this? or what could exist after this? and can we be active participants?

People can also join their protests every Friday for the rest of September at the WRPS Kitchener detachment located at 134 Frederick Street. They remind you to practice physical distancing and wear a mask.

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First of four Abolition Fridays held by BLM WR - KitchenerToday.com