The Lumberjack



Students Serving The Cal Poly Humboldt Campus and Community Since 1929

Category: Opinion

  • OPINION: Save the world, eat plants

    OPINION: Save the world, eat plants

    Is a plant-based diet a better option?

    Author and activist Michael Pollan’s seven words for eating are “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.”

    Most nutritionists and health scientists will tell you the same.

    I’m not here to write about the human health benefits of a plant based diet. I’m more interested in the planet’s health benefiting from humans eating a plant based diet. We should all have a plant based diet. It affects every one of us, from the air we breath to the water we drink.

    It’s not about trying to convert anyone to become vegan (as one myself, I don’t like the word). I want to take a look at the implications on our biosphere from 21st century animal husbandry.

    According to Environmental Defense, if Americans skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetarian foods instead, the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off the road.

    By just substituting out chicken tacos on a Tuesday night to bell peppers and squash, everyone can decrease the amount of dangerous green house gases into our atmosphere.

    New York Times best selling author of vegan books Kathy Freston, found some eye opening statistics involving cutting back on meat. If everyone went vegetarian for just one day the U.S would save:

    • 100 billion gallons of water

    • 1.5 billion pounds of crops otherwise fed to livestock

    • 70 million gallons of gas, enough to fuel all the cars of Canada and Mexico combined

    • Three million acres of land and

    • 33 tons of antibiotics.

    Freston also found this cut back would prevent:

    • Greenhouse gas emission equivalent to 1.2 million tons of CO2

    • Three million tons of soil erosion

    • $70 million in resulting of economic damages

    • 4.5 million tons of animal excrement and

    • Almost seven tons of ammonia emissions (a major air pollutant)

    Global livestock is responsible for more than half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

    Our under-reported and inhumane treatment of livestock is warming our planet.

    According to GRAIN and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, the five largest meat and dairy companies are now responsible for more annual greenhouse gas emissions than Exxon, BP and Shell.

    Next time you’re hungry, try reaching out for fruit as a snack instead of beef jerky. Or when pouring cereal into a bowl, start mixing in milk alternatives such as almond or rice milk. You’ll almost be able to see the air become cleaner by these substitutions.

    Our planet is basically one gigantic farm broken up by cities, forests and oceans.

    If our global industrial complex of meat and dairy products are higher in emissions numbers than the world’s largest oil companies, then there needs to be a complete change in the way we allow global livestock to be raised and distributed.

    Greenhouse gas emissions are contributing reasons for:

    • global temperature rises,
    • warming oceans,
    • mass coral extinction,
    • shrinking ice sheets,
    • glacial retreat,
    • decreased snow cover,
    • sea level rises,
    • declining arctic sea ice,
    • extreme global weather events and
    • rise in ocean acidity.

    If you’re afraid of these ten tragedies befalling on our home, the scientists on global climate change at NASA made this list as evidence for rapid climate change.

    The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says “Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.”

    Again, I am not trying to convince you to stop eating meat all together or that you’re no longer allowed to eat eggs for breakfast (my wife’s staple breakfast go-to). But to address climate change, people should be taking up at least a semi-plant based diet.

    We are destroying this planet by the lifestyles we have chosen to live. The capitalist model of profit over people cannot sustain us for much longer if we destroy the very thing that is sustaining us.

    It’s easy to make an impact if we all work together with small changes. Something as miniature as changing only one meal a week could greatly affect our biodiversity and create a more harmonious bio-ecology.

    TW.EATPLANTS_1
    Research shows that adopting a semi-plant-based diet reduces carbon emissions and helps reduce global warming.| Photo by Tony Wallin
  • Letter to the Editor: Local votes matter

    Letter to the Editor: Local votes matter

    A response to ‘The importance of voting locally’

    Dear Editor:

    The U.S. founders warned that they had designed a good participatory democracy if “We the People” could keep it; they understood how governments dominated by a cabal of oligarchs, monarchs, military, industry (or slave-holding) and elites relies entirely upon the complicity and cooperation within every hamlet.

    For example, having a corrupt developer in the White House is representative of the corrupt development industry dominating most U.S. regions, including ours, where housing prices are kept artificially inflated by locally elected and appointed officials failures to ensure balanced housing inventories that are supposed to adequately serve all economic classes of residents, while slumlords’ multiple vacancies are subsidized through generous tax write-offs.

    Every rigged housing crash and bailout is worse than the last, leaving tens of millions of families facing bankruptcy and broken homes that enrich predatory speculators, bankers, brokers, realtors, insurers and their attorneys with massive windfalls of fees and penalties from the cycle of foreclosure and resale. The poverty and despair from systemic housing fraud is reflected in Humboldt County’s own (widely self-censored) “Trends Report” documenting shocking rates of every major illness, addiction, abuse, infant mortality, homelessness and suicide.

    The lucrative manufacture of scarcity, debt and chaos is no longer limited to U.S. predatory prowess abroad. It is occurring nationwide in housing, healthcare, education, energy, justice and public welfare, accurately described today as the “New American Feudalism.” According to research by a Harvard PhD at evictionlab.org, nearly half of all housing in Humboldt County, and most U.S. regions are now rentals. However, rent prices continue to rise because the law of “supply and demand” is undermined by manipulated scarcity in affordable housing.

    Eureka’s fledgling progressive city council majority courageously ended millions of public dollars subsidizing the Chamber of Commerce; they passed a Human Rights Resolution and apology to native people amid a resurgence of racism, misogyny, and corruption. By re-electing Eureka’s incumbent city council candidates, including Leslie Castellano for Ward 1 and Susan Seaman (to replace Eureka’s current mayor facing a year-long investigation by the Department of Justice), Eureka can maintain a new progressive direction.

    Sincerely,

    George Clark

    HSU Graduate, 1982

    (When PUBLIC university meant “debt free”)

    Eureka

  • OPINION: Safe Injection Sites are a necessity

    OPINION: Safe Injection Sites are a necessity

    California Governor Jerry Brown denies AB 186, this must be reversed

    Governor Jerry Brown has just rejected the recently proposed bill, AB 186, that would approve entities in the city and county of San Francisco to operate overdose prevention programs for adults, including safe injection sites.

    This is a dire mistake and needs to be immediately reversed.

    Why should you care that a safe place for people to shoot up drugs was denied? Drug overdoses are the leading cause of unintentional deaths worldwide, according to ResearchGate.

    The Centers of Disease Control estimated 72,000 people died last year from overdosing. Safe injection sites can reduce not only deaths, but the stigmas that are attached to drug addicts.

    Both the American Medical Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine define addiction under the standard disease model that is used for any other disease. They say—like diabetes, cancer or heart disease—addiction is caused by a combination of environmental, biological and behavioral factors.

    Why then do we continue to shame, guilt and dehumanize people who are suffering from addiction? We don’t throw people in prison for injecting insulin to stabilize their diabetes. So why then do we criminalize addicts instead of treating them medically?

    America is still in a war with drugs, which ironically supplies the very opiates our government leaders say are destroying our country.

    A study by the Canadian Family Physician found that safe injection sites lower mortality rate, decreases ambulance calls for treating overdoses, and decreases infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C.

    The study said there are currently 120 safe injection sites in 12 countries around the world and concluded that all of them have positive impacts for the addicts using their services and the community around them.

    “Studies from other countries have shown that supervised injection facilities reduce the number of overdose deaths, reduce transmission rates of infectious disease, and increase the number of individuals initiating treatment for substance use disorders without increasing drug trafficking or crime in the areas where the facilities are located,” the American Medical Association said.

    Governor Brown said he denied the bill because he wasn’t convinced the bill would lead to drug users getting treatment they need to get clean.

    His assumption doesn’t make sense and isn’t supported by any evidence. The bill itself says it will “provide access or referrals to substance use disorder treatment services, medical services, mental health services, and social services.” Every safe injection site provides either treatment options or referrals to treatment facilities.

    Safe injection sites get misconstrued as being something that condones illegal activities and promotes criminal activities, but this isn’t the case.

    Dr. Scott Wiener of Harvard Health Publishing said in his Harvard Health Blog he was against safe injection sites, until he visited a local needle exchange facility and experienced it for himself. He thought it was going to be dirty and unsterile but found it to look like a warm and welcoming living room.

    “They are there to help people right when they are open to treatment for substance use disorder. The staff will help connect them to treatment resources, whether it is group therapy or medical treatment like buprenorphine (Suboxone) or methadone,” Dr. Wiener said after his visit.

    Safe injection sites are about harm reduction. Not condoning crime. They educate participants on contracting infectious diseases, provide overdose prevention services as well as a clean and hygienic place that is safe and monitored by licensed medical staff that offer help and treatment.

    As a clean and sober heroin addict, I know that addicts will continue to use needles regardless of having access to a safe injection site. By not offering safe spaces with available resources to get treatment, the government itself is condoning addict behavior when it should be doing all it can to help its citizens get help.

    Governor Brown will now be remembered by addiction specialists and drug advocates as the person in power who didn’t do all he could to help those suffering from addiction.

    The research shows safe injection sites work in all 12 countries they operate in. America needs to be the thirteenth.

     

  • OPINION: The “N” word

    OPINION: The “N” word

    No clear line for who can use the N-word and who can’t

    The N-word is probably the most loaded word in the English language today. Generally, it is understood that the use of the N-word is reserved for people of African-American descent. But there are views on the exceptions, or lack thereof, of the word’s usage.

    Can Latinx people use it? What about people who are mixed race? And if not, just how black do you need to be for the word to be deemed acceptable to say?

    As someone who is mixed black & white, it is something that has always been on my mind. I personally don’t use the word, but not because I don’t believe I have the right to. I just didn’t grow up with it being used around me. To me, this is one of the biggest factors, other than race, for whether you should be using the word or not.

    Larry Wilmore, former host of “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore,” now has a podcast called “Black on the Air.”

    “White people, just don’t say n—-, just don’t say it, just don’t say it and everything will be okay, trust me — you shouldn’t even want to say it,” Wilmore said.

    I think most of us can agree on that. But when you’re mixed race, like myself, the rules can get blurry. I grew up in a relatively well-off community where the N-word was never used. It was never part of my surroundings growing up, and using it now feels forced and unnecessary.

    Latinx people have had to endure racism in America just like African-Americans have, but they haven’t experienced the specific form of racism that is anti-blackness. This is where I start to take issue.

    The N-word comes from the Latin word “niger”— which means “black.” And you probably won’t hear someone who is African-American using derogatory terms that are originally intended for a different race.

    I do think that it is great that some black communities have flipped the meaning of the N-word from a negative to a positive, but if they didn’t use it at all, then there would be far less white kids, who love rap, running around and saying the N-word because they don’t know any better.

    I also don’t think that other ethnic minorities should get a pass from saying it because they also experience racism. It’s a similar but different struggle.

    When it comes down to it, the word is racist.

  • OPINION: Hold the Praise for the Robber Barons

    OPINION: Hold the Praise for the Robber Barons

    It took the murder of a journalist, but we should have acted sooner

    The death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi has caused an uproar amongst those who run our society.
    Khashoggi was allegedly murdered by Saudi agents at the command of their Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Khashoggi, who was reported “missing,” was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Turkey on Oct. 2. It has since been discovered he was murdered within minutes of entering.

    Turkish officials, however, stated they had evidence of the supposed hit, thus prompting calls for boycotts and punitive action from the United States—where Khashoggi was a legal resident.

    Various owners of industry have cancelled their trips to a conference colloquially titled “Davos in the Desert,” where investment in Saudi Arabian companies is discussed as well as their role in the future global marketplace. But once again, our “Vulgarian-in-chief” has expressed his reluctance towards any sanctions against a country that buys an alarming number of weapons—which are in turn being used to commit war crimes, mass murder of civilians, and contributing to what the U.N. is calling “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” So, while we should applaud the neo-Robber Barons for pulling out of a conference that would further their economic hegemony, we should condemn them for not pulling out sooner when innocent lives have been bombed for nearly three years.

    According to the U.N., 22 million Yemenis are in need of some form of humanitarian assistance and protection. 8.4 million are unsure of where their next meal is coming from, 16 million do not have clean water, and less than 50 percent of the health facilities there are in operation. The fact that it took the murdering of one journalist to finally have a major call from the mainstream press to pushback on Saudi Arabia is appalling.

    Earlier this year the Crown Prince, known as MBS, visited the U.S. and met with a number of influential icons. In an interview with 60 Minutes he was heralded as an “emancipator of women,”—because he allowed women to drive, but only under the guidance of a man—but they failed to properly push him on the atrocities in Yemen. MBS even met the with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who said it was “a pleasure to have a private dinner” with the dictator. MBS also met with the tech giants Bill Gates, Tim Cook of Apple, and Elon Musk. He met with Bob Iger of Disney, Richard Branson and the reincarnation of Andrew Carnegie (this is not a compliment), Jeff Bezos.

    All of these Robber Barons met with a man who is almost single-handedly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians and for the crisis that is affecting tens of millions of innocent lives, and all they could do was to heap praise on him.

    The coverage of the Yemeni catastrophe by the mainstream media has been lacking at best. However, CNN did recently publish a story where they were able to link the weapons used to kill 50 children and injure 77 to American business Lockheed Martin—with most atrocities taking place in the world right now, America’s hands are not clean. It is inexcusable that what it took to have a major call to sanction Saudi Arabia was the death of one journalist, when they have been systematically killing and oppressing the citizens of the “Arab world’s poorest country” for years.

    In his defense MBS said “I’m a rich person and not a poor person. I’m not Gandhi or Mandela.”

    Yeah, we know.

  • Letters to the Editor: No On M

    Letters to the Editor: No On M

    This veteran will vote No on Measure M, here’s why

    I’m a combat veteran of the Vietnam war that witnessed atrocities committed against Vietnamese civilians by some U.S. troops.

    The Philippine-American war that was initiated by President McKinley with his annexation of the Philippines was a ‘model’ for the later war in Vietnam. This included the massacre of civilians, burning of crops, killing of farm animals, herding of civilians into ‘detention camps,’ designation of certain areas where anyone could be killed (later in Vietnam called “free fire zones”) and the systematic use of torture.

    The Philippine-American war and insurrection lasted from 1898 to 1913 and the estimates of Filipinos killed range from 500,000 to 1.4 million. In Nov. 1901, the Manila correspondent for the Philadelphia Ledger reported: “Our men have been relentless, have killed to exterminate men, women, children, prisoners, and captives, active insurgents and suspected people from lads of ten up, the idea prevailing that the Filipino as such was little better than a dog.”

    It was in this war that the racist label ‘gook’ was first used against the Filipinos which made it easier for some U.S. troops to commit atrocities against them, later ‘gook’ was used in the Korean and Vietnam wars to the same effect. While McKinley was assassinated in 1901, the war and insurrection he started by the annexation of the Philippines lasted long after his death.

    The writer Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) was a fierce critic of ‘U.S. Imperialism’ and McKinley’s annexations of Hawaii, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Samoa and the Philippines. In 1906, he described the massacre of an indigenous Filipino group called the ‘Moros’ by U.S. occupation forces.

    I paraphrase:

    600 Moros men, women and children had sought shelter at the bottom of a volcano and when the U.S. military found out that they were there, they brought troops and artillery up to the rim of the volcano and shot downward, slaughtering everyone, including babies in their mother’s arms.

    This reminds me of another massacre called Mylai in Vietnam where around 500 Vietnamese civilians, including babies clinging to their mothers, were summarily executed.

    This is what I think of when I walk by the statue of McKinley, and this is why I want it removed from the Arcata plaza.

    Sincerely,

    Robert J. Hepburn

  • Pollution sours Freshwater field trip

    Pollution sours Freshwater field trip

    Editor’s Note: This an editorial contribution from Deija Zavala. The author currently works for the Lumberjack as an Online Editor.

    I went in search of ferns and ivy, I found instead disgusting evidence of human existence.

    Ecotopia.Fav.10.13.18.DSC_0093
    Assorted garbage trailing down the hill just off Greenwood Heights Dr. on Saturday Oct. 13 in the Freshwater area, east of Eureka. | Photo by Deija Zavala

    On Saturday I explored a local watershed in the Freshwater area. The field trip was for an Environmental Science Management class where the goal was to visit a local watershed and observe.

    I’d seen the beautiful landscape of Freshwater once before and hoped the trip would give me an excuse to get lost for a few hours with nothing but my camera and the wildlife.

    Ecotopia.Fav.10.13.18.DSC_0094
    Pieces of cupboards, particle board, aluminum cans, and other miscellaneous debris pile up less than 15 feet from a sign threatening prosecution over illegal dumping on Oct. 13 in Freshwater. | Photo by Deija Zavala

    At first, it was lovely. I did a short hike and found myself taken by how separated I was from my Eureka apartment and all the rumbling of engines and people on a sunny weekend morning.

    Eventually, I came to a roadside area that had so much debris it looked like a dump. Carcasses, bones and trash of all kinds lay on the side of the road. There were boxes, tiles, kitchen cabinet pieces, bottle caps, cigarette butts and Taco Bell wrappers. It was awful to witness such disregard for the wildlife.

    Ecotopia.Fav.10.13.18.DSC_0087
    A cattle bone found next to chunks of kitchen tile and fallen redwood needles on Oct. 13 in Freshwater. | Photo by Deija Zavala

    The Environmental Protection Agency website states that this kind of pollution is called nonpoint source pollution. After a big rain or when snowfall melts, nonpoint source pollution can ultimately find its way into drinking water sources such as rivers or lakes and even into ground water.

    If you come across an illegal dump, especially if its near a watercourse, you can report it to the Humboldt County Division of Environmental Health at 707-441-5410.

    Ecotopia.Fav.10.13.18.DSC_0091
    Abandoned kitchen tiles sit haphazardly amongst trash just off Greenwood Heights Dr. on Oct. 13 in Freshwater. | Photo by Deija Zavala
  • Letters to the Editor: Vote No on Measure M and Remove McKinley

    Letters to the Editor: Vote No on Measure M and Remove McKinley

    One reader shares his opinion on Arcata’s statue of William McKinley

    The fight to remove the McKinley Statue from the Arcata Plaza has been a long fought battle. The McKinley Statue represents William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, who gave birth to U.S. imperialism through genocide and colonized over 7,000 islands in both the Pacific and Caribbean by instigating the Spanish-American War and the Philippine-American War. Domestically, McKinley had a similar impact among the Native American community through breaking up several tribes, abandoning the African American community during times of race riots, and driving the U.S. into a depression.

    The current movement to remove the McKinley Statue was launched by Seventh Generation Fund for Indigenous Peoples because the Arcata Plaza is the same site where indigenous peoples were sold into slavery. Grassroots activism, led by the Historic Justice Alliance, successfully pressured Arcata City Council to vote to remove the McKinley statue on Feb. 21, and began the removal process. Following the vote, a small group of reactionaries organized a petition to keep the McKinley Statue, which was approved for the Nov. 6 ballot as Measure M.

    So what does Measure M do? If Measure M goes to a “Yes” vote it would do several things. First, it would overturn the Arcata City Council decision and keep the statue. Second, it would prevent any future modification of the statue. Third, it prevents Arcata City Council from having any future say on the McKinley Statue despite being the original body that erected the statue. Lastly, if the statue comes down before Nov. 6 then the Arcata City Council is legally obligated to put it back up.

    For students, this means that the next step in removing the McKinley Statue is going to the local polls where we have the power to influence the policies that affect future students. Currently, the Vote No on Measure M campaign is endorsed by more than 40 community organizations, including the Wiyot Tribal Council. Students are encouraged to vote “No” on Measure M on Nov. 6 by registering to vote by Oct. 22 in Arcata at https://registertovote.ca.gov.

    Nathaniel McGuigan

    Regional Mecha Co-Chair Northern California Minister of Communication

    Humboldt PSL Email: nam449@humboldt.edu

     

  • EDITORIAL: Steps toward reparations

    EDITORIAL: Steps toward reparations

    One week of restitution is simply not enough

    Last week was Indigenous Peoples Week at Humboldt State University. Next month will be Native American History Month. But Indigenous people exist all the time and live their lives everyday. It’s not enough to be recognized for a limited time of the year.

    Instead, all states should stop recognizing Columbus day, historically offensive symbols should be moved or removed and everyone should remember to include the injustices of indigenous peoples in conversations of the past.

    Christopher Columbus wasn’t a hero, he’s a lot worse than the majority of people imagine. He was a slave trader and sought out gold. Columbus and his crew took over modern Bahamas and Cuba, raped the women and children and killed the men in grotesque ways. The Pope decided their land was empty because only Christians could own land. This is only a brief blip in the brutal history colonializers had committed against the Indigenous people.

    Andrew Jackson pushed for the Indian Removal Act, displacing the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chicksaw, Creek and Seminole people from the Georgia/Florida land and forcing the entire tribe to walk to Oklahoma in the peak of a cold, snowy winter and killing almost 4,000 people.

    Fast forward to this millenia, the Internet has videos from the No DAPL protests in 2016 featuring militia shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at American Indian protesters.

    There’s a lot of history that Americans aren’t willing to learn about or teach their children in K-12 schools.

    No amount of guilt will help heal the generational trauma millions of American Indians live with in their DNA. There are some things people can do to help recognize Indigenous people in their life.

    An effective local effort is to vote no on measure M. If passed, Measure M will prohibit modification or destruction of the McKinley statue at the heart of the Arcata Plaza. The man who paid for the statue, George Zehndner, owned a young American Indian girl named Lucy. Lucy was among many young children who were sold as slaves in the Northern California area, after their parents were killed by citizens or their slave owners.

    Another action people can take is to know when it’s appropriate to bring up American Indians into intersectional conversations. Be inclusive when talking about minorities and injustices.

    People believe Indigenous people want reparations or justice for getting their land stolen, having their people massacred and having their culture appropriated. However, reparations for Indigenous people begins with remembering a history that has been erased.

  • OPINION: Kavanaugh confirmation should encourage midterm voting

    OPINION: Kavanaugh confirmation should encourage midterm voting

    The confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh not only appoints him to the Supreme Court of the United States but also confirms the power of the patriarchy to continue to dictate the everyday lives of Americans.

    This confirmation casts aside the calls of many women—survivors of sexual assault—and furthers a society who treats the opinions of these women as second rate. Kavanaugh’s confirmation solidifies not only a continued reign of the patriarchy, but the reign of an elite ruling class.

    Nearly 20 percent of the justices on the Supreme Court attended Georgetown Preparatory School. This elite institution boasts a tuition of over $37,000 a year and has been in operation since 1789.

    Of the 114 justices to ever serve on the Supreme Court, over 35 percent graduated from an Ivy League law school. This conglomeration of power coming from the elite academic institutions does not allow for a proper representation of American citizenship.

    Having those that come from elite institutions in power making decisions for the rest of America is part of the reason why we have such problems with unequal wealth distribution in this country. They serve on the boards of major corporations, make decisions in the highest echelons of government, and operate the banks that have preyed on the common-man. All the while protecting one another from any sort of accountability.

    The decisions from these alumni from elite institutions have given us concepts such as “too big to fail”—the idea that the US government should bail out failing financial institutions without holding to account those in charge (only one banker was jailed during the 2008 financial crash).

    Take the infamous ruling of the Supreme Court case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Citizens that further solidified corporate personhood and established that money is a form of free speech, therefore allowing a seemingly unregulated amount of money to flow into elections. These elite alumni have also furthered the debt crisis that is burdening the Millennial generation, cut funding for infrastructure projects, attacked the welfare state, and have continually put profits over people with their rulings, legislation, and actions.

    Coming this Nov. Americans will have a chance to decide where they want their future to go. Is it one that will help turn the tides of an old, white, male, dominated Congress?

    Will Americans do what they do in most midterm election years, and stay at home; too bothered to care about a slow decline of the republic. Will they turn up to push back against a system designed as James Madison put it “to protect the minority opulent from the majority?”

    Will they be distracted by work, debt, school and other barriers to democracy that have been systematically placed in the way to dissuade voters. Americans must understand that the only way to prevent a slide back into feudalism is to make small sacrifices such as voting. Register to vote by Oct. 22, and show up on Nov. 6.

     

  • EDITORIAL: Seriously, go vote

    EDITORIAL: Seriously, go vote

    Register to vote, re-register to vote or simply vote. If you have to register or are registered to a different county, register here and register now. The deadline to vote in the midterm elections is Oct. 22.

    Vote in the midterm elections on Nov. 6, on your local ballot measures and on your national representation. Too often voters forget there are branches to the government that aren’t presidential.

    Out of the eight measures on the ballot in Humboldt county, we urge you to pay special attention to Measure M and Measure K. When the time comes, Humboldt county voters should vote against Measure M.

    Measure M is a petition initiative to protect the President William McKinley statue from any “modification and/or destruction of the President William McKinley Statue and its base and/or the relocation from its historic place in the center of the Arcata Plaza.”

    The city of Arcata already voted to remove the statue on March 21, based on the fact that Arcata is on Wiyot land and the statue serves as an ugly reminder of a Confederate past.

    But the statue is considered a historic feature of the Arcata plaza and could cost up to $65,000 to relocate. If passed Measure M would not allow the statue to be removed.

    Removing Mckinley would make Arcata the first city to remove a presidential monument.

    Arguments filed in favor of and against the measure are filed on the City of Arcata website for consideration.

    Another measure Humboldt voters must consider is Measure K.

    Measure K is a petition initiative to make Humboldt county a sanctuary county.

    A yes vote on Measure K favors preventing “local law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal immigration officials,” making Humboldt County a sanctuary county.

    A no vote on Measure K would essentially allow local law enforcement agencies to cooperate at will with federal immigration officials.

    We urge Humboldt voters to vote yes on Measure K to ensure Humboldt is a safe community for everyone.

    Grassroots group Centro del Pueblo has been promoting the initiative since 2016 and successfully passed sanctuary status for Arcata according to their Measure K website.

    The full measure addresses restrictions and permissions of what law enforcement and county employees can do in regards to cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. It also prohibits the use of county funds to aid immigration enforcement. It also addresses county protocol for “welfare of children of deported parents.”

    The measure also states that the measure would not prevent county employees or police officers from outright disobeying the law or responding appropriately in an emergency.

    The Eureka Times-Standard has reported the measure would cost the county $300,000.

    Alternatively, KHSU reported this is a skewed idea of what the measure will cost the county, according to lawyer and advocate Erick Kirk.

    We urge voters to read the measure for consideration.

    Finally, vote because this is when it matters nationally. Republicans currently hold majority votes in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. According to Ballotpedia, all 435 lower House of Representative seats and 35 Senate seats are up for grabs.

    After the current Senate confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh into the Supreme Court, we strongly believe a shift in political majority can not come soon enough.

    This election has the potential to shift the power of the majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate from Republican to Democrat.

    According to the Guardian, “the Democratic party is defending 26 seats (including two independents, who usually vote with them) while the Republicans only have to defend nine.”

    It takes 51 seats to control the majority in the Senate and 218 to control majority vote in the House of Representatives.

    Voters across the nation have the opportunity to greatly influence the shift of power in Congress. The President is only one branch of our government. The Senate and House of Representatives make up the law making branch of our government.

    And for those who do not agree with us, go vote about it.

    For more information on what’s on the Nov. 6 ballot visit the Midterm Congressional, State, and Local Elections page on the http://usa.gov website.

     

  • HSU students say Kava-no-thanks

    HSU students say Kava-no-thanks

    People on campus respond to the Brett Kavanugh hearings

  • OPINION: No second chances

    OPINION: No second chances

    Potential Supreme Court nominee should not be considered with history of sexual assault or allegations of sexual misconduct

    Palo Alto University Professor Christine Blasey Ford has recently come forward and said the Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when she was 15 and he was a 17-year old high school student.

    Ford said she originally came out with this revelation in 2012 in a couples therapy session. Documents, as well as a polygraph test, support the credibility of her and multiple witness’ statements.

    Because it was over three decades ago, we may never get the truth from Kavanaugh. This does not mean Ford’s claims should be dismissed.

    Kavanaugh’s behavior and denial of the incident speaks to a larger societal issue women have to deal with when coming forward and dealing with sexual abuse.

    Kavanaugh, Donald Trump or any other human being in a place of elite power should not have the ability to dictate the future of a country if they have sexual assault allegations or charges against them.

    It’s the fact that most of these men are in a position of power to dictate our country’s direction. They have the power to dictate what women can and can’t do with their bodies by creating laws. That is a dangerous proposition. The thought that men who have oppressed women in the past, or still do, can make laws and hold power.

    Opposing viewpoints would say that people and their past transgressions should be forgiven and people should be given a second chance. While I do believe being proven guilty in the court of law is the correct way to punish most people on this, our justice system has failed so many women, that a conviction, any help and assurance can’t be seen with much more than a half ass attempt of justice.

    No second chance should be given for sexual misconduct. Sexual harassment is to take a piece of someone’s well being and disregard it, and disrespecting them as a person. To take advantage of someone sexually shows a lack of compassion, understanding and empathy.

    Former Judge Alex Kozinski was forced to announce retirement. Senator Al Franken, representative Pat Meehan, Rep. Trent Franks, Rep. John Conyers and Rep. Blake Farenthold had to resign because of past allegations of sexual harassment. This tells me that men in Washington believe they are above the law and entitled to a women’s body.

    Men like these who run our country are indicative of a society that doesn’t value women for their intellect but for what they look like and what they provide a man.

    Time and time again the leaders of our country are at the forefront of oppression.

  • EDITORIAL: Go beyond denying Kavanaugh

    EDITORIAL: Go beyond denying Kavanaugh

    Clean up the Supreme Court

    The Lumberjack editorial board recognizes this situation can be difficult and would like to remind readers that the North Coast Rape Crisis team has a 24-hour hotline and is willing to listen at any time, no matter how long ago an incident happened. You can reach the NCRC hotline at 707-445-2881.

    Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept. 27 based on Blasey Ford’s accusation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh from their high school days. Blasey Ford is one of three women who have come forward with allegations against Kavanaugh.

    The details of the accusations and hearing possess eerie parallels to the 1991 hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas during his vetting process.

    Even though Thomas made it through in spite of sexual harassment allegations against him, the Senate should not allow Kavanaugh to join him on the Supreme Court of the United States. In fact, while we are on the subject, it’s time the Senate cleans up the SCOTUS and get rid of Thomas as well.

    Twenty-seven years ago, Law professor Anita Hill came forward with sexual harassment allegations against Thomas while they worked at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Thomas was Hill’s supervisor and Hill ended up working under him for quite some time in spite of his behavior.

    Some differences between the incidents include age differences at the time of each incident respectively and the type of harassment differs between physical, verbal and repetitive.

    Both men served as judges on the U.S. appeals courts in Washington and were surrounded by beginning whispers of sexual harassment against them when they were nominated, unknown to the public at first.

    Both women were hesitant to come forward publicly and took time to do so and by another eerie coincidence are professors.

    The loudest similarity between the two and probably any sexual harassment allegation is this idea that a woman has come forward with the intent to smear or ruin the life of the person they are accusing.

    There is no better time than when a predator is about to step into a position of power to address their nature and history of harassment. There is also never a bad time, nor is it ever too late, to call them out for being predators and to serve justice where it’s deserved.

    The #MeToo movement has begun to dismantle and expose predators in prominent positions and change the conversation and narrative surrounding sexual misconduct.

    Senator Lindsey Graham, a republican senator representing North Carolina has not only released statements in support of Kavanaugh but has made it aggressively clear that some of the narrative surrounding sexual misconduct has a ways to go.

    “What you want to do is destroy this guy’s life, hold this seat open, and hope you win in 2020,” Graham said in response to questioning of Kavanaugh from Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. He has also insisted President Donald Trump renominate Kavanaugh if the vote fails.

    Per article three section one of the constitution, Supreme Court justices and judges and lower courts “shall hold their offices during good behaviour.”

    This vague and open ended statement leads to the terms of the Supreme and lower court justices and judges serving for life. Instead of interpreting this section to mean during moral or ethical behavior, it has instead dictated a timeline.

    If Kavanaugh is in fact chosen to fill the SCOTUS seat available by the Senate, our last hope will be for that same Senate to impeach him. The only instance in which a SCOTUS justice can be removed against his or her will.

    Even so, the impeachment of a SCOTUS justice happened over party bias and the last time it happened was in 1804. Justice Samuel Chase was acquitted by the Senate even still and continued as a justice until his death anyway.

    Realistically, Republicans hold the majority vote in the Senate and have probably already made up their mind. It will not be surprising if Kavanaugh is still accepted as the next SCOTUS justice, especially when the man who nominated him has his fair share sexual harassment allegations stacked against him and sits in the oval office.

    Democrats have demanded the vote be delayed until the FBI can investigate and Majority Leader Mitchell McConnell has stated that the voting will happen this week as planned.

    This is our plea to the Senate to surprise us. To hear the voices of these survivors and strongly consider the character of the man they are about to vote into a position of power. It is never too late to decide history should not repeat itself.

  • NY Times right to grant anonymity

    NY Times right to grant anonymity

    Readership should consider placing trust in  journalism standards for anonymous sources

    Lack of transparency, bad reporting and a number of circumstances contribute to the public’s diminishing trust of the media.

    In spite of this, the New York Times ran a submitted piece from an anonymous senior government official vowing to “thwart” parts of President Donald Trump’s “agenda and worst inclinations.”

    By doing so the NY Times has asked its readership to put their trust in them and their vetting process for anonymous sources, and we think you should too.

    Granting Anonymity

    Granting a valuable source anonymity is not unheard of. Consider the most famous example of the Watergate scandal in the early 1970’s.

    Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein relied on information from a source they called ‘Deep Throat’ after a break-in of the Watergate complex offices of the Democratic National Committee in Washington and the unfolding of events afterwards.

    Woodward and Bernstein protected ‘Deep Throat’ for 33 years until a Vanity Fair article revealed him to be Mike Felt, a former associate director for the FBI. The result of using an anonymous source with vital information eventually led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon after exposing his administration’s inappropriate abuse of power.

    The Washington Post relied on the integrity of these reporters and the source as well as put their brand and reputation on the line based on the right of the public to know. News organizations must heavily weigh and debate the importance of the public’s right to know against the the individual harm to the source in revealing their identity.

    Alternatively, journalists have a responsibility to also consider the agenda of the source and their motives for requesting anonymity.

    Codes of Ethics

    This ethical dilemma is one journalists encounter consistently: the public’s right to know the truth versus a responsibility to minimize harm. Because of this, stated ethical practices and codes exist to guide the decision making process on reporting responsibly.

    The Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics lays out four main standards for ethical journalism: Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently and Be Accountable and Transparent.

    Though minimizing harm can be applied in multiple ways to using an anonymous source, the SPJ outlines their anonymous source standards under the responsibility to seek truth and report it.

    The SPJ states: “Journalists should: Consider sources’ motives before promising anonymity. Reserve anonymity for sources who may face danger, retribution or other harm, and have information that cannot be obtained elsewhere.”

    Other publication style guides and organization standards for dealing with anonymous very closely mirror these values such as AP Style’s guidelines which stress that the material is in a position to have this factual information that is vital to the news report. For comparison, the SPJ website provides a list of journalism ethics codes from around the world.

    The NY Times Opinion Piece

    The opinion piece is a unique article under which anonymity has been granted. Different media organizations follow set codes or write their own and the New York Times does not necessarily have to adhere to the ones mention, but does have its own standards of ethics. Under the AP Style publishing the opinion would not be advised simply because it is not hard news.

    The New York Times prefaces the piece by stating publishing an anonymous op/ed is a “rare step.” They also opened up a form allowing readers to submit questions, comments and concerns about the piece where an editor answered some responses for clarification and transparency.

    The piece was published Sept. 5 and by Sept. 6 the NY Times published a story covering how Trump’s “almost entire cabinet and leadership team…pleaded not guilty” to plans to act against him.

    The article explicitly depicts the story unfolding as a result of publishing the letter as well as the exclusivity of knowledge of the author.

    “The author, whose identity is known to The Times editorial page department but was not shared with the reporters who cover the White House…” the article said. “Describes him or herself as one of many senior officials in the Trump administration who are “working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations.”’

    The article comes at a time when the risk of using an anonymous source is often too big to take and it is worth noting the bold decision of the NY Times to move forward in doing so. Understanding the process they and other journalists go through should imply the weight and seriousness of what this high ranking government official had to say, even if it was presented under anonymity.

    Consider the process journalists are supposed to take when dealing with a dilemma of this nature. We believe this gives the author some credibility if the NY Times has risked their brand and reputation to give this source a platform against their own administration.

  • EDITORIAL: Modern Day Battle of the Sexes

    EDITORIAL: Modern Day Battle of the Sexes

    Sexism runs rampant in the professional tennis world and what happened to legendary player Serena Williams on Sept. 8 is proof.

    A showdown between Williams and Naomi Osaka in the U.S Open culminated with tears running down both women’s cheeks for very different reasons.

    In the heat of the match, with both competitors fighting fiercely for a Grand Slam Finals victory, Williams was given code violations by umpire Carlos Ramos.

    First, Ramos handed Williams a violation warning for coaching after he believed Williams’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, gave her signals from the bleachers.

    The next violation came when a clearly frustrated Williams smashed her racket on the court and she was handed a point penalty. The line of sexism was crossed when Ramos docked Williams an entire game for calling him a “thief.”

    “You stole a point from me and you’re a thief,” Williams told Ramos.

    The International Tennis Federation released a statement in support of Ramos’ decision to penalize Williams:

    “Carlos Ramos is one of the most experienced and respected umpires in tennis. Mr. Ramos’ decisions were in accordance with the relevant rules and were re-affirmed by the US Open’s decision to fine Serena Williams for the three offenses.”

    After the match, Williams told reporters that Ramos’ calls were clearly rooted in sexism.

    “I’m here fighting for women’s rights and women’s equality,” Williams said. “And for me to say ‘thief’ and for him to take a game, made me feel like it was a sexist remark. He’s never taken a game from a man, because he said thief. For me, it blew my mind.”

    We should be talking about Osaka and her dream of beating Serena Williams in a Final coming true. Yet, we have to address the elephant in the room once again.

    Williams was fined $17,000 by the U.S Open for the violation but her male counterparts have come to her defense.

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I will admit I have said worse and not gotten penalized. And I’ve also been given a “soft warning” by the ump where they tell you knock it off or I will have to give you a violation. He should have at least given her that courtesy. Sad to mar a well played final that way. <a href=”https://t.co/xhBzFZX8Wq”>https://t.co/xhBzFZX8Wq</a></p>&mdash; James Blake (@JRBlake) <a href=”https://twitter.com/JRBlake/status/1038619979938189313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>September 9, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js&#8221; charset=”utf-8″></script>

    <blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>I’ve regrettably said worse and I’ve never gotten a game penalty</p>&mdash; andyroddick (@andyroddick) <a href=”https://twitter.com/andyroddick/status/1038642213427789826?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>September 9, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js&#8221; charset=”utf-8″></script>

    Just in the last few months, there have been other instances where female tennis players were treated differently than the males.

    French tennis player Alize Cornet was handed a violation for briefly taking her shirt off on the court. She had been in the locker room to change during a 10-minute break and when she returned to the court she realized her shirt was on wrong and fixed it.

    Tennis pro John Isner changed his shirt 11 times during his match against Juan Martin del Potro. Novak Djokovich, one of the game’s elite players, sat shirtless for several minutes while waiting for his opponent to return from a break. Neither player was penalized.

    Earlier this year, in her first match since giving birth to her first baby, Williams wore a full body all-black catsuit at the French Open that helped her blood circulation after having a rough birth.

    French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli made an announcement banning Williams’ catsuit and introduced a new dress code that banned players from wearing form fitting clothes.

    Williams responded in perfect fashion by wearing a $500 Louis Vuitton tulle skirt (tutu) for her first match at the U.S Open.

    Tennis has a long way to go in achieving equality for women at every level. The most polarizing and dominant player in tennis shouldn’t have to be in this fight but she is. Now that the GOAT has spoken up for women’s rights in a game ruled over by men, maybe the road will be easier for the next generation of women in sports. We can only hope.

  • OPINION: Nationalism disguised as morality

    OPINION: Nationalism disguised as morality

    Double V for Victory, “Victory at home and Victory away,” is a statement with a connotation that is still prevalent today. The rhythm of this sentence represents the almost theatre like performance of how some veterans and politicians in the United States claim civil activism against the idea of the American flag is “Un-American.”

    We see people like Donald Trump whining about the un-patriotic protesters of the flag like Colin Kaepernick and others in the NFL and yet when I see his rhetoric on such, it reminds me of his own denial of patriotic action.

    What would the deceased Senator Daniel Inouye say if he saw politicians saying protesting the flag was “Un-American” and anti-Veteran? He wasn’t even considered American as he was both fighting for his country and the lives of himself and those around him. But still, Japanese-Americans like himself were illegally detained under the guise of a presidential order that seemed to change what was American and wasn’t overnight.

    Nationalism and nation building might have been controlled by the military and the US government, but in the 20th and 21st century our country has been embraced by the warm and comforting feeling of civil and legislative action that attacks these pillars of U.S nationalism. We as an American people might be brandished by the toxic scorns of racism, xenophobia, misogyny and white-ethno nationalism but that does not mean that’s what defines us.

    The constitution is a living document, so why does nationalism seem to be the equivalent of beating a dead, racist horse. I call out these things because as we look at the American political landscape, we may see a prevalent theme of ignorance formed around what can be protested and what cannot. So far, many conservative leaning politicians, citizens and business persons find protesting the flag more repugnant protesting a woman’s right to choose the fate of their own bodies.

    The U.S flag is not some stationary object that represents America in a positive light. It stands for all of America and when we generalize someone’s protest against the flag, we start to ignore the reasons why they are protesting.

    I respect Colin Kaepernick. I take that back. I want to strive to be like Kaepernick because he represents the ultimate purveyor of freedom of speech. He puts the rights of his own culture and background before his own financial and societal stability.

    This is something I see represented in athletes of antiquity, like Muhammad Ali, who’s famous words on the Vietnam war still echo in the American consciousness today.

    “I got nothing against no Viet Cong,” Ali said. “No Vietnamese ever called me a n****r.”

    This quote shows us why it’s important to understand that the protest against the policy and actions of some Americans and governmental entities does not mean the wholesale denial and disrespect to a nation, but rather against specific problems one takes with a nations actions.

    This generalization is an action taken by government infrastructure to ensure that national rhetoric on a subject that breaches the ideas of what some consider U.S nationalism, becomes associated with something ‘unpatriotic.’

    This is where the fallacy and mythos of nationalism becomes involved because as we stride closer and closer to a world where people live in diverse communities of all religions, ethnicities and cultures, we will begin to understand Nationalism as the barrier it is rather than the culture and history it supposedly represents.

    So as Colin Kaepernick becomes the pariah of all supposedly patriotic citizens, he also becomes the hero of all those who are deemed not.

  • OPINION: Left-handed, left out

    OPINION: Left-handed, left out

    On the first day of class here at Humboldt State University, two individuals walked into my class.

    “There are no left-handed desks,” said one of the students.

    From the moment they step foot into the classroom they already faced a challenge other than months of constant stress and anxiety.

    As I looked around, I noticed that out of the twenty or so students in the class there were only two students that where left handed. We live in a predominant world were right handedness is the norm. For right handed students, sitting down and writing is as easy as counting to three, yet for left handed students, writing in a right-handed desk is just the beginning to the struggles of being left handed.

    In a world that deems to be predominant right handed, left handedness can be considered almost taboo. For some right-handed people, their left hand is as useful as trying to cut a brick with a butter knife, the thought of it is just inconceivable. Whereas left-handed people are forced to adapt and work in a right-handed world. Senior Michelle Galindo, a dominant left-handed psychology major explained when she started to notice challenges being left handed to me.

    “Since I was small, around that time of being in kindergarten. I can remember being challenged as a left-handed person whenever I would use the scissors. Whenever I would try to cut with my left hand, it would not be as easy as it would be if a right-handed kid where to do it.” Galindo said.

    Terilynn Diggs, a senior and kinesiology major, also dominant with her left-handed said her memories started around kindergarten also.

    “It started just before kindergarten. My father is left handed, and whenever I would use a pencil or a marker with my right hand, he would switch it over to my left.” Diggs said.

    Labor and delivery and surgical technician at Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center San Pedro in Los Angeles, Tracy Strivers, is also ambidextrous. A w

    Ambidexterity is the ability to be able to use the right and left hands with ease. She said that she too learned at the age of preschool that she was different than all the other kids.

    “My best friend and I at the time would always eat together during lunch. We started to notice that we did not eat like all the other kids, and from the point on we thought we were different,” Strivers said .

    Knowing what a left-handed person goes through, is not conceivable unless trying to go a whole day with out using your right hand. From middle school to high school Galindo had to constantly deal with the smudging of lead from writing. Diggs still to this day has challenges in the kitchen when trying to prepare a meal or use a can opener.

    Strivers, being a surgical technologist must constantly battle the fact that she can use both of her hands, but it can lead to confusion in her work space.

    “Being in the operating room is very stressful when you have a mother screaming and giving birth to a baby. It can become easily confusing when I’m using both my hands to retract the uterus, then go back to using one hand when handling instruments,” Strivers said.

    Why continue to face the constant challenges of being a left-handed individual? Why not be just like everyone else and use your right hand? To these individuals using their left hand is “cool,” and “special,” and in a way makes them different than many of the people around them.

    “I wish sometimes I was right handed. I feel right handed people have better hand writing,” said Diggs.

    According to Galindo she had a friend who started to write as a lefty but was converted to write with his right by his mother. Galindo’s friend was bashed by his mother for having to use his left hand and as a scare tactic was told that left handed people are touched by the devil.

    I can not speak on the behalf of Galindo’s friend being touched by the devil, yet there remains to be an extended list of influential left-handed people ranging from: Barrack Obama, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Michelangelo, Larry Bird, Helen Keller, Queen Victoria of England, and Julius Caesar. All of which are left-handed people who have or went on to have lustrous life impacting lives.

    For right handed people, the challenges that left-handed people must face might not ever fully be understood by someone that is right handed. Maybe a day will come when the world becomes predominant left, and right-handed people will finally know the struggle.

  • OPINION: What the helmet is going on?

    OPINION: What the helmet is going on?

    NFL implements disliked new helmet rule

    Football is a violent sport. This aspect of the game is sometimes attracts people to it and it’s all about to change thanks to the NFL’s new helmet rule being implemented.

    The new rule states “it is a foul if a player lowers his head to initiate and make contact with his helmet against an opponent.”

    The problem with this new rule is that it’s anatomically and physically impossible to lower your shoulder without lowering your head and making incidental contact.

    The penalty is primarily called on defensive players and their heads are spinning. Four-time All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman took to Twitter and called the rule “idiotic.”

    He’s right.

    Sherman, who also called for the rule to be “dismissed immediately,” isn’t the only one pissed off about it. Halfway through the preseason, we’ve seen over 50 flags in 32 games for “helmet-rule” penalties, and several calls have left people shaking their heads in disbelief.

    Indianapolis Colts’ veteran safety Shamarko Thomas, who got ejected from the preseason opener for an illegal helmet hit, was fined $26,739, the minimum for a first offense, and then cut by the Colts two days later. That’s a hefty price to pay just for tackling a guy.

    Supporters of the rule will say there used to be no helmets and it was changed. There used to be no facemasks and it was changed. Next they will be saying there used to be defense played and it was changed.

    Rules like these have noble reasons for being made. Player safety is the NFL’s top priority nowadays due to impending lawsuits from former players and ownership is reacting to the segment of the public that believes the game is not safe enough and too barbaric.

    The NFL is forcing players to think instead of react the way they’ve played football all their lives. When the regular season begins with much more to play for, we could see the NFL creating a more dangerous environment in the name of safety.

    The league needs to trash this rule immediately. Go back to letting football players play football. It’s insane that the NFL thinks it can make football safer. The foundation of the game is blocking and tackling. Collisions are the essence of the game. A routine tackle cannot be a penalty.

    I am not advocating that players should get hurt. Rather, I am advocating that the NFL does their due diligence and thinks before they act. Don’t let your billion dollar company’s fate be decided by lame rules made up by lame people who don’t know anything about football, just to cover your own butts.

     

     

     

  • EDITORIAL: Replace or mediate

    EDITORIAL: Replace or mediate

    Administration must take KSHU advisory board and community demands seriously

    Listeners, staff and volunteers of community of the non-commercial public radio station KHSU have spoken.

    They demand a replacement for the Humboldt State University appointed general manager Peter Fretwell and a change in character of his supervisor, University Advancement Vice President, Craig Wruck.

    HSU should adhere to their concerns and demands immediately, or at least take active measures to find some middle ground.

    After the sudden firing of KHSU’s program operations manager Katie Whiteside, KHSU has been vocal about what feels to them like a “hostile takeover.” A little over a month after Fretwell fired Whiteside, the KHSU advisory board submitted a letter to administration in which they present a vote of no confidence against Fretwell, respectfully asking him to step down.

    Soon after, Wruck attended the July advisory board meeting to face feedback and questions from the community. Fretwell, however, was not present per Wruck’s request.

    After over two hours of back and forth over several issues between the community, the station and Wruck, he confirmed that Fretwell’s position is not in danger.

    “At this point Peter is meeting my expectations and his job is not in jeopardy,” Wruck said.

    This is a blatant disregard of community voice and of the people the radio station is meant to serve. HSU has done nothing

    According to the KHSU website, “HSU provides approximately 20 percent of KHSU’s cash revenue… HSU also provides facilities and other significant administrative in-kind support for station operations.”

    This means that HSU serves as a sort of a glorified landlord that deals with some management of operations and staffing. The history and relationship of KHSU and the university is more closely tied than just landlord and tenant, however the station was created primarily to serve the community.

    Now it receives the majority of its funding from the community instead of depending solely on HSU to run smoothly.

    “Contributions from listeners, businesses and local organizations account for the remaining 64 percent of the station’s annual operating budget,” their website said.

    This station is the blood, sweat and tears of minimal staff, mostly volunteers, dedicated listeners and strong and unyielding community. A lot of those who currently work for or worked for KHSU are Humboldt State alum. They want transparency from the university and a sign that their voices are being heard and most of all they want action.

    Tensions between KHSU and the university have only grown worse since Whiteside’s firing. At the July 27 KHSU advisory board meeting, community members called out the university for its lack of transparency and lack of response to their concerns.

    Between the firing of Whiteside and the last advisory board meeting, allegations of abusive behavior and a hostile work environment have surfaced from staff at KHSU against both Fretwell and Wruck.

    Though letters have been sent to Humboldt State University President Lisa Rossbacher, not much as been done in the way of addressing the fighting between Wruck, Fretwell and KHSU.

    Feedback against the way business is being handled at KHSU has grown even more tense with the added allegations of aggressive behavior in addition to a requested audit of the station, a suggested change to the mission statement and values and a transition toward new technology.

    It is not immediately clear if Wruck and Fretwell will pause, take a step back and begin to listen and respond with empathy. Both men remain in their positions and are still responsible for running a station that is losing or has already lost faith in them.

    Before relations between the university and KHSU staff, volunteers, sponsors and listeners worsen, HSU needs to make some changes or take active measures to mediate issues between their chosen leadership and the community.

  • Letter to the Editor

    Letter to the Editor

    I recently read the article “40-day anti-abortion protest begins in Eureka” by Abigail LeForge. I found the article to be biased and lacking in investigative journalism. Though it is generally lacking in perspective, my main contention is with two points at the end of the article.

    The first is the section about the press release for the event wherein LeForge wrote, “the press release…boasts the success of these campaigns, claiming they have saved 14,000 children.”

    There is no further elaboration on how this number was achieved. What is their measure for saving a life? Are these 14,000 abortions post-eight weeks, 12, 14? There is a huge difference in what a woman goes to go through depending on whether or not it’s post-eight weeks.

    Also, it states that “children” are saved, which is a term predominantly understood to be based on age; post-birth, pre-pubescent. Using the term “children” in reference to the beginnings of a fetus is an emotionally provocative inaccurate and inaccurate.

    My second problem with the article is the use of the term “abortion facility.” It was a quote from an interviewee and LaForge missed an opportunity by not clarifying for readers that our Eureka Planned Parenthood isn’t an “abortion facility.” It supplies woman, myself included for the last 17 years of my life, with mammograms, Pap smears, STD and STI testing, birth control, cancer exams for both men and women etc…you get the picture.

    Lastly, to end this article on a note about the closure of abortion facilities is frightening. Who is recording the closure of abortion fascilities? Is this county wide, state wide or nation wide? Were all these closures based on the successful campaigns of anti-abortion protesters? A new bill being passed? The merging of fascilities into one? Again, more questions are raised then answered.

    At the end of t day, the misinformation by exclusion of a balance of views within this article hinders the progress for women’s right to their bodily autonomy.

    If you made it here, thank you for taking the time to read through. This article seriously has me considering picking up journalism again. I guess that’s a good thing.

    Have a wonderful day and thank you

    Annie Bond

    Student

  • Kimchi trend is hard to swallow

    Kimchi trend is hard to swallow

    Many Koreans who grew up in the U.S. probably understand why the recent kimchi trend is a little irritating. Korean Americans know full well the shame they had to endure by their non-Korean friends who expressed disgust of the pungent smell and taste of kimchi. That sense of shame is then heightened by alienation, making them feel as if Korean culture isn’t normal.

    “I see a lot of white guys making Korean food ,and I’ll be honest, it pisses the shit out of me,” David Chang, renowned Korean American chef, said. “It’s everywhere now. Kimchi this, kimchi that. You weren’t like, ostracized in elementary school because everyone thought when they visited your house that it smelled like garbage. They didn’t have to endure emotional hardship. And now it’s cool.”

    Kimchi is a staple Korean food made from various vegetables, most commonly with napa cabbage and radishes. It contains an assortment of spices, including seafood sauce, red pepper paste, garlic and ginger. It has a sour taste, a crunchy texture and a fishy smell that is packed with probiotics, vitamins and minerals.

    “Kimchi is a traditional Korean food manufactured by fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria,” the Journal of Medicinal Food wrote. “Accordingly, kimchi can be considered a vegetable probiotic food that contributes health benefits in a similar manner as yogurt as a dairy probiotic food.”

    Nowadays, you can find kimchi in supermarket chains, taco trucks and on hot dogs. What used to ostracize Korean Americans has now become trendy, which is annoying in some ways, but exciting that the western world is finally appreciating Korean food.

    Popularization is a foolish way to appreciate ethnic foods. Waiting for celebrity chefs and publications to tell us what cuisine is worthy of attention is a small-minded way of enjoying foods outside of your comfort zone.

    “Declaring an entire ‘ethnic’ cuisine a trend is inherently dismissive,” Khushbu Shah, Thrillist’s senior food features editor, said. “Filipino food, for example, is the main source of sustenance for more than 100 million people around the world today and has been eaten for centuries, even in the United States. So the very nature of tagging something as a trend also gives it a shelf life that is set to expire after its moment of popularity. But that’s not how cuisines work.”

    Kimchi’s trendiness will likely wane, but it will certainly not lose its cultural significance. The first step in exploring foods past your customary tastes is to have an open mind. If you don’t like it, that’s fine, but don’t hold it against us.

     

  • “Avengers: Infinity War” spoilers

    “Avengers: Infinity War” spoilers

    Each Marvel movie has its own tone. Whether it is the quirky, fantastic realm of Taika Waititi’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” the darker, more realistic world of the Russo brother’s “Captain America: Winter Soldier” or the reality-warping ethereal world of Scott Derrickson’s “Doctor Strange.” Bringing all of these different worlds and tones together into one world with one tone is not a simple task.

    The simple way around that monolithic problem is to avoid it entirely.

    “Avengers: Infinity War” is supposed to be Marvel’s final boss. Every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie up to this point has been leading up to this event. It was never really supposed to be a movie; instead it is more of a superhero convention. The agreed upon prediction for “Avengers: Infinity War” was that the superhero convention would start with a bit of interpersonal conflict between all the different characters. They meet up for the first time, a big bad boy appears and all the main characters have to re-re-re-learn the lesson of teamwork. The reward would be the friends they made along the way.

    It is wonderful that the predictions were mostly wrong.

    The name of this movie should have just been “Thanos.” The real plot line is a strange character study shrouded in the guise of an Avengers movie. Thanos lurks in the corner of the MCU films. Whether he’s mentioned in passing by the main characters or shown in the flesh during an end-credits scene, he has always been in the background doing absolutely nothing. Now he takes center stage, and the superhero convention that is “Avengers: Infinity War” is just unnecessary weight. All the characters we know and love tend to drag the movie down, especially the ones that stay on earth for the entire movie. The concerns of Captain America or The Vision do not matter in the face of Thanos.

    It is such a shame the movie had to be an Avengers film.

    The best parts of this movie are beautifully surreal. There is thought put into landscapes and so much detail put into the expressions on the CGI purple face of Thanos. The most memorable moments are slow and touching or strangely twisted.

    The best fights in the movie are not punch-ups. The weapon that Thanos uses can control reality, so it is perplexing that the audience is asked to take swarms of heroes and faceless villains with all of their explosives and magical fists seriously. The movie makes it clear that Thanos is on a whole other level. He can manipulate the universe as he chooses. The movie would have been improved if most of the scenes on earth were completely cut out and replaced with further explorations of Thanos’ character and reality-bending powers. The threat Thanos posed to earth was on a different scale; so much so that all the explosions and action-packed fight scenes felt hollow.

    Before this goes on, here are the recommendations: If you haven’t enjoyed the MCU so far, this “film” is not for you. If you like the MCU so far, you will probably be glad you went to the theater. There are some shake-ups, some touching moments, some wit and a whole lot of sadness.

    This next part has many spoilers. Do not read on if you have not seen the movie.

    Thanos wins. He snaps his fingers and half of all life in the universe disappears. It cements the movie as something different. Nothing the main characters do to physically stop Thanos really mattered. The ending is heartbreaking and it should stay that way. Peter Parker panicking while dissolving in Tony Stark’s arms genuinely digs into the soul if you already care about these characters.

    But of course, Peter Parker cannot stay dead because there is another Spider-Man movie in the works. The weapon used to kill over half the main characters has the ability to rewrite time, so it does not take a genius to see what is going on.

    The biggest fault of this movie, and every other Marvel movie, is not a single part of the movie. Instead, It is the fact that it cannot just end.