Mendocino County Today: Wednesday 5/15/24

Hot Interior | Navarro River | Julie Radio | Boil Water | Reckless Driver | Noyo Seating | STD Cases | Paula Earthworks | P-fraid | PalestineMobile | Ed Notes | SNWMF 2024 | Live Theater | Boonthrill | Bottom-Liner Retired | Former Niner | Yesterday's Catch | Landline Win | Book Event | Remembering Neeli | November Election | Got Nothin' | Fair Play | Clark & Hattie | Marathon Swim | Pelican Sunset | Many Stoners | The Sixties | Here Together | Oregon or Bust | Taking Punches | Head Story | UCLA Solidarity | Chopping Block | Hottest Summer | Nuclear Tourists | Artificial Stupidity | Chicken Ladder | Beautiful Place | Cradle to Grave

A SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER PATTERN will persist through the week with hot and dry afternoons in the interior and low clouds and fog along the coast. (NWS)

STEPHEN DUNLAP (Fort Bragg): 47F with clear skies (at 5am) this Humpday morning on the coast. Patchy fog & clearing skies sums up our weather until further notice. The fog is nearby so we'll see what the sunrise brings.

JULIE BEARDSLEY

I will be on KZYX & Z Wednesday (5/15) at 9:00 to talk about my new show “It’s a New Day” and to ask for donations to support our wonderful and important listener supported public radio show.

Please feel free to call in (707) 895-2324 and pledge!

RISCH’S RUSH

On Monday, May 13, 2024 at approximately 9:53 pm, Ukiah Police Department (UPD) Officers were advised by the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) of a report of a suspicious vehicle. The driver was reported to be honking the horn, revving the engine, and acting erratic in the Vichy Springs area. The license plate provided to MCSO Dispatch came back as a reported stolen vehicle out of the Santa Rosa Police Department (SRPD). MCSO Dispatch advised that the vehicle was a white, 2007 Honda Accord.

A UPD Officer was traveling eastbound in the 700 block of East Perkins Street and observed a white Honda Accord matching the description that was traveling westbound. The officer turned around and attempted to catch up to the Honda.

The driver, later identified as Daniel Risch, began to accelerate to a high rate of speed. Risch then failed to stop at multiple intersections and continued westbound on East Perkins Street, reaching speeds of over 80 miles per hour where the posted speed limit was 30 miles per hour.

Risch continued westbound on East Perkins Street through the downtown area of Ukiah as a vehicle pursuit was initiated by the UPD Officer (Emergency lights and sirens activated) due to the multiple vehicle code violations. Risch showed a wanton disregard for the public and maintained an extremely high rate of speed through the downtown area and into the westside area of Ukiah. Risch continued to fail to stop at intersections and was estimated to be traveling at approximately 90-100 miles per hour through the residential neighborhood. The UPD Officer in pursuit determined that it was unsafe to follow Risch at his speed, as the speed was dangerous and unsafe to the public. The UPD Officer slowed her speed and maintained a large distance behind Risch. Risch continued to drive at an unsafe speed and was able to increase the distance between his vehicle and the officer’s vehicle. Risch approached the intersection of West Perkins Street and Highland Avenue and crashed through a concrete retaining wall, into the side of a residence, and struck a parked vehicle in the driveway. Risch caused moderate damage to the residence that he collided with. The owners of the residence were not injured.

Risch was the only occupant in the fleeing vehicle and was determined to be on Post Release Community Supervision (PRCS) Probation out of Sonoma County. Risch sustained major injuries from the crash and had to be removed from the vehicle by UPD Officers and emergency personnel. Risch was transported to a medical facility, and he was eventually admitted to the medical facility for further treatment of his major injuries.

Risch PRCS Probation was for a previous auto theft. Risch’s case is actively being investigated by the UPD Patrol Division, UPD Detective Bureau and the charges listed above will be submitted to the Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution of Risch.

The Ukiah Police Department would like to thank the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and the Ukiah Valley Fire Authority for their assistance with this investigation.

MENDOCINO COUNTY REPORTS INCREASE IN SYPHILIS AND HIV CASES

by Martin Espinoza

Mendocino County public health officials are warning residents that syphilis and HIV transmission is on the rise.

Health officials said that 24 syphilis cases have been recorded in the past 5 months, a rate that could exceed that of 2023 if the rate of infections persists.

In 2023, 53 syphilis cases were documented, which was an increase from the 40 cases in 2022, according to Mendocino county data.

Meanwhile, the county on Tuesday reported that the number of HIV infections in the first five months of this year has increased 100%. Officials would not provide the exact number of HIV infections due to privacy concerns.

Last week, Mendocino County Public Health issued a brief news release warning residents that “HIV and syphilis are HERE in Mendocino County.”

The announcement stated: “If you had sexual contact or shared injection drugs with a partner whose history is unknown, you may have been exposed to HIV and SYPHILIS.”

Dr. Charles Evans, deputy public health officer, was not available for comment about the rise in syphilis and HIV infections.

Nationally, syphilis cases are on the rise. According to the latest data available from the CDC, the total number of cases in the United States increased by nearly 80% to more than 207,000 between 2018 and 2022.

(Santa Rosa Press Democrat)

LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK at the County’s recent announcement that they are going to sit on the proceeds of the emergency services Measure they went to a lot of trouble to put on the ballot two years ago which barely passed at 52% to 48%. The County has been sitting on this money from the quarter-cent Measure P sales tax for almost two years now. Recently a little bit of the millions collected so far was almost accidentally released (although we have not seen a copy of any checks). But that was immediately followed by an announcement that the rest of the money will be held on the off chance that an anti-tax ballot measure which might be on the November 2024 ballot might pass and which might be retroactive which might call for such Measures as Measure P to be re-voted on with a two-thirds majority which the County might have to finance just to re-propose the measure and it might not pass.

In other words, the County, trembling in its pathetic little boots, is pre-emptively caving in to such theoretical craziness before a bunch of speculative events even take place! To withhold the Measure P money like this means that if the ballot measure passes the State Supreme Court without removal of the questionable retroactive provision, and if it makes it to the ballot, and if it passes by a two-thirds majority and if it retroactively applies to Measure P, the County will immediately fold its tent and write a check back to the state for millions of dollars they’re accumulating without word one about challenging it and without paying the money out to local fire departments which desperately need it in the face of rapidly increasing operational costs? Mendocino County won’t balk and tell the state to stick it? The won’t say, Sorry, we already distributed it so if you want it, go to court and try to argue that local fire services should be deprived of the money?

Answer: Apparently yes. Thus this ridiculous pre-emptive roll-over — which also allows the County to accumulate interest for years and years as this all plays out — is probably a product of the fevered minds in the totally unaccountable and grossly overpaid County Counsel’s office which could not care less if local volunteer fire departments have enough money to operating under increasingly difficult conditions.

And so far we have yet to hear a single word of complaint from the nearly two dozen unjustly deprived fire departments in Mendocino County.

Mendocino County: where there’s always a bad reason to do the wrong thing.

(Mark Scaramella)

ED NOTES

THIS AND THAT. The functioning of the Mendo supervisors? The present board, as has been copiously documented, has been a disaster, primarily, it seems from here, because none of them stood up to the disastrous reign of CEO Mommie Dearest, architect of serial disasters placed like time bombs in the rocky path of Mendo functioning. Wrongful terminations alone, occurring when the CEO flipped out on administrators, have cost, and will cost our broke ass county several million dollars, as will the suit brought by Chamise Cubbison for her breathtakingly arbitrary removal from office orchestrated by our petulant District Attorney, in theory our lead law enforcement officer who has routinely chiseled on his expense account, which the intrepid Ms. Cubbison called him on, hence her removal by the DA and his five little helpers on the board of supervisors.

MS. CUBBISON was the county's elected auditor, but DA Eyster wanted her out for challenging his expenditures, which is her job, and the five supervisors, no questions asked, fired her. One would have thought at least one of them would have said, “Hey, wait a minute. Where's the evidence she did anything wrong?” Eyster basically said, “Don't worry your fraught little heads. I've got the evidence and when the ink is dry on it you can see it.”

BUT, BUT, BUT… isn't there a presumption of innocence in Mendocino County? Not in Cubbison's case, which hasn't even gotten to a preliminary hearing before one or another of our clubbly little judges yet because Eyster, on his own dubious authority, after first insisting that he should not be recused, farmed out his non-case to a Santa Rosa attorney that local taxpayers are funding at $400 an hour to manufacture a case against Cubbison. At $400 an hour it just might take the Santa Rosa mouthpiece several more months to conjure a complaint — after she takes her sweet time looking at the materials Cubbison’s attorney subpoenad from the County. This costly farce will play out over months, maybe years because the county's judge club can be depended on to let the DA drive the schedule bus.

ANY HOPE the recent elections for supervisor are likely to improve the board's functioning? Maybe. Bernie Norvell in the 4th District can't help but be an improvement over Silent Dan Gjerde, a huge disappointment as a supervisor because he's a smart guy who understands how government works but seemed to give up a couple of years ago, perhaps despairing at a context of a psychologically impaired CEO and incompetent colleagues.

THE KID from Potter Valley, Miss Madeline Cline, was elected by the county's Farm Bureau, these days merely a front for the wine industry, a chemically dependent business even more dependent on exploited Mexican labor. She has zero experience doing anything even remotely pertinent to local government but, who knows? Victoria became Queen of England when she was 16…

UKIAH'S ELECTORATE seems stuck in high school, hence 2nd District supervisor Mulheren, an ongoing obstacle to competent civic functioning.

WILLIAMS, HASCHAK AND NORVELL will have to carry the supervisor's load, but off the evidence, Williams has been almost totally irresponsible with Haschak running a close second, both of them sharing responsibility for the disastrous tenure of CEO Angelo and the Eyster-Cubbison fiasco. And much will depend on the unpromising functioning of CEO Antle's office, and… 2024 is shaping up as The Year of Catastrophe, from president all the way down to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors.

CHUCK ARTIGUES:

On Saturday, May 4th I went and saw the new play at The Mendocino Theatre Company, “Born With Teeth”, and I am still thinking about it. Now it can be argued that I am not an objective observer because my sweetie, Betty Abramson, is one of the Artistic Directors there and maybe that does influence me. But I am writing this because I love theater, and this is truly something special.

The story is about London in the 1500s where Christopher Marlowe is the preeminent playwright, and he meets the up and coming William Shakespeare. While it is true they both were in London at the same time, and many scholars believe they collaborated on at least two of the ‘history’ plays attributed to Shakespeare their interaction is all in the imagination and creativity of the playwright Liz Duffy Adams.

A local actor was originally cast as Marlowe but had a family emergency and had to bail at the last minute, so Producing Director Elizabeth Craven, who is also the director, reached out to an old student of hers, Randall Jaynes, to take over. Brady Voss, an excellent actor from Santa Cruz plays Will Shakespeare. The two of them on stage is amazing!

The reason I’m writing this is because this is some of the best theater I have ever experienced. I get it, live theater is quirky and not for everybody. For may years people have been saying it’s a dying art form, is the theater really dead? But this is really a ‘not to be missed’ production. The dynamic acting, the set, staging, sound is all first rate. The show is a tidy 90 minutes and you are out by 9pm. The quality of this play is right up there with anything you would see at Ashland, Berkeley Rep or ACT. In fact if you go to this show and aren’t wowed, call me (707-813-8195) and I will personally refund your ticket price.

Last show June 2, tickets and info at mendocinotheatre.org 707-937-4477

BILL KIMBERLIN: Back at the ranch. Since I was five years old I got such a thrill coming to Boonville and now I still do.

I have written before that I think life is about going away and coming home again. Scott Fitzgerald put it this way: "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”

JUST A DETACHED VESSEL

Warmest spiritual greetings, Awoke early at the Building Bridges Homeless Resource Center in Ukiah. Informed the staff last night that I am choosing to detach without complication from voluntarily bottom-lining the trash & recycling responsibility. Following two years here of doing this unpaid, it is time to stop doing this. The organization and the in house population is more than capable of emptying waste baskets, taking the outside barrels to the containment area, sorting the recyclables from the trash, and tidying up before the waste management company comes by early mornings for the M/TH trash collection and the W recycling collection. Meanwhile, am awaiting word from whomever makes the executive decisions around here as to whether my application for an extension has been approved. Also awaiting a (tentative) appointment at the Windsor dental clinic on May 20th to see if the now broken tooth can be saved and re-crowned, since Partnership of California has approved payment of the root canal. It would have been nice if the dental office had informed me of this, since there’s been no word from them since March. Certainly you will agree that it is crucial to know what is going on. Lastly, in this hopelessly ridiculous situation, I am accepting housing in order to set up a spiritual/social action base in Mendocino County. If nobody cares, then I am willing to go elsewhere. As I have stated many times, I am enlightened. Experience has revealed that I am not this body nor this mind. I am that which works through this body and mind. Is there anything more that I can do here in Mendocino County to make something intelligent happen?

LEGGETT ROBBERY AND ATTEMPTED MURDER ACCOMPLICE IS A FORMER SAN FRANCISCO 49ER

by Matt LaFever

Gregory Mark Cox, the accomplice in last week's alleged bungled robbery of a Leggett residence turned into attempted murder, once played for both the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers.

We have learned that after an unsubstantiated rape charge ended his NFL career Cox has a documented trail of alleged criminal exploits over the last two decades the most recent of which happened in Mendocino County.

Authorities allege Cox stood with a woman by the name of Amanda Chapman last Friday, May 10, 2024, while she pulled a gun on a Leggett homeowner that they intended to rob. When the homeowner grabbed the weapon to try and take it from her, she pulled the trigger and shot him in the hand. The duo were later arrested in Willits after authorities tracked them to a downtown residence the following morning.

Cox was born on January 6, 1965, in Niagara Falls, New York. He moved to Columbus, Ohio, and attended Walnut Ridge High School. He told a reporter that he “messed around in high school” leaving him unable to attend a four-year college. Instead, Cox took a bus cross-country to Salinas, California where he enrolled in Hartnell Junior College. Two years later he was at San Jose State playing ball and earning a reputation as a “hard hitter” and the panther tattoo on his right calf.

In 1988, Cox had graduated from San Jose State and was looked over as a draft pick but joined the NFL as a free agent managing to scrounge an entry-level contract with the 1988 San Francisco 49ers as their safety. An interview with Cox from August 1988 that appeared in The Peninsula Times Tribune paints a picture of a rookie trying to make a name for himself in the big leagues.

The 1988-89 season Cox might have been the crowning era of his football career when the 49ers won Super Bowl XXIII defeating the Bengals 20-16 earning the rookie free agent his one and only Super Bowl ring.

The following season Cox returned to the state of his birth to play for the New York Giants but only stayed one year. Cox and Giants Coach Bill Parcell had tension specifically about Cox’s habit of being barefoot. Stats show he was rostered for 16 games that season and completed the one documented sack of his professional career.

The Sacramento Bee’s Jim Jenkins wrote an article entitled "49ers' Cox is versatile in a quiet, odd way” in December 1990 interviewing Cox, coaches, and teammates about the return of the free agent safety from his year with the Giants.

49ers special teams coach Lynn Styles described Cox coach as a “ He's a Dr. Jekyl Mr. Hyde Type” saying “Greg may not verbalize much, but on the football field he’s all action.”

Matt Millen, a 49er linebacker, told Jenkins, “What you see is what you get with him. We all project images. Greg’s got this little pigtail in his hair and he walks around barefooted, but so what, as long as he performs on the field.”

He would spend the entirety of the 1990 season with the 49ers and find his contract waived in November 1991 just hours before the Monterey County District Attorney charged him with rape and false imprisonment charges. The 49ers told the press at the time dropping Cox was “a football decision period.”

Monterey County prosecutors alleged Cox repeatedly raped a 22-year-old cocktail waitress in a Carmel Valley apartment in September 1991. After a night of bar hopping, the victim alleged Cox offered her a ride home but took her to an apartment. She alleged Cox struck her when she complained and proceeded to rape her in a bedroom when they arrived. It was also claimed Cox raped her the following morning.

A Monterey County jury would acquit Cox of all charges associated with the woman’s claims. Cox took the stand during his trial where a Monterey County District Attorney “acknowledged there had been some inconsistencies in the trial testimony and said the acquaintance aspect of the case made prosecuting it more difficult.”

The District Attorney went on to say, “This kind of case is always hard to prove, where you have acquaintance rape instead of a victim dragged into the bushes by a stranger.”

In March 2008, Cox was arrested with an accomplice by the Vallejo Police after they fled from a home they were robbing. A man alerted law enforcement a robbery was in progress reporting one suspect had tried to push him down. The man told authorities he then struck one of the suspects in the head as they fled the home. The suspects were tracked to a residence where police arrested then-43-year-old Greg Cox along with 41-year-old Martin Woodruff.

In June 2016, a federal grand jury indicted then-51-year-old Cox with being a felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a short-barrel shotgun, and unlawful possession of a short-barrel rifle. Court documents stated, "Cox, a convicted felon, was found in possession of a Norinco Model 99 12-gauge shotgun, a Savage Arms Stevens Model 940E 12-gauge shotgun with a shortened 13-inch barrel, and a Surplus Ammo and Arms Model LOW15 .223-caliber M4 assault rifle, with a shortened 10-inch barrel and a flash suppressor."

A search for Gregory Mark Cox in the Mendocino County Superior Court Portal turns up only one prior documented criminal offense in Mendocino County, a speeding ticket in March of this year.

The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Booking Logs indicate he has been booked for two charges: felony conspiracy and felony attempted second-degree robbery. His bail was set at $75,000 and just yesterday afternoon it looks like he was bonded out and released from custody at 4:41 p.m. A criminal complaint should be filed by the District Attorney in the coming days.

mendofever.com/2024/05/15/leggett-robbery-and-attempted-murder-accomplice-is-a-former-san-francisco-49er

CATCH OF THE DAY, Tuesday, May 14, 2024

JOANNA BENNETT, Covelo. Attempted murder.

GEORGE BENSON, Covelo. Failure to register.

CARRIE CORDOVA-DALSON, Covelo. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

NATHAN CROSS, Point Arena. Under influence.

TIMOTHY ELLIOTT, Covelo. Failure to appear, probation revocation.

CHRISTOPHER HEANEY, Ukiah. Probation revocation.

JAIME HERNANDEZ, Ukiah. Controlled substance for sale, under influence.

RONALD HIGGINS, Ukiah. Disorderly conduct-alcohol.

JOSEPH ORNELAS, Ukiah. Under influence in possession of firearm, controlled substance while armed with loaded firearm, felon with concealed weapon, loaded handgun-not registered owner, paraphernalia.

CLIFFORD PEEK, San Francisco/Ukiah. Probation revocation.

NICHOLAS REA, Sacramento/Ukiah. Failure to appear, offenses while on bail.

SHANE RODRIGUEZ, Kelseyville/Ukiah. Controlled substance.

SAMUEL SIERRA, Ukiah. Paraphernalia, county parole violation.

JUAN VARGAS, Ukiah. County parole violation.

JUDGE REJECTS AT&T’S BID TO ABANDON RURAL LANDLINE DUTY

by Sarah Reith

AT&T will likely have to continue as the carrier of last resort in California, relieving some anxiety about the future of landlines in rural parts of the state. A carrier of last resort, or COLR, is a telecommunications provider that is required to offer basic services, usually a landline, to anyone in its service area who requests it. The service must be safe, reliable, and affordable, according to the CPUC, or California Public Utilities Commission. Last year, AT&T, the largest COLR in the state, filed an application with the Commission to be relieved of that obligation.…

mendofever.com/2024/05/15/judge-rejects-atts-bid-to-abandon-rural-landline-duty

ROBERT MAILER ANDERSON HONORS CASTRO THEATRE WITH NEW GRAPHIC NOVEL

by Aidin Vaziri

San Francisco author and filmmaker Robert Mailer Anderson is preparing to debut his new graphic novel, “My Fairy Godfather,” at an upcoming event hosted at City Lights Bookstore. But attendees shouldn’t expect a conventional reading session.

“In the spirit of bohemian North Beach — and because readings generally suck — we will be singing a few songs from a possible soundtrack to a film version of the book that will never be made,” Anderson told the Chronicle of the book launch on Thursday, May 16.

The novel pays homage to San Francisco’s iconic Castro Theatre, a century-old institution currently closed for extensive renovations. Anderson, whose formative years were intertwined with the movie palace, drew inspiration from its ambiance and history, having absorbed countless films that shaped his worldview.

The fictional narrative revolves around a teenager who, following the loss of her parents, relocates to a small town to live with her gay godfather. He’s a cinephile who manages the Starlite theater with his partner, and their sanctuary of creativity faces backlash when they assume guardianship of the teenager.

Anderson set the story in Liberal, Kan., to contrast the Castro Theatre’s singularity with a more typical American backdrop.

“When I learned that Liberal was Dorothy’s hometown from ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ I felt it was the ideal setting,” Anderson said.

A San Francisco native, Anderson burst onto the literary scene with his 2001 novel “Boonville,” which he penned while residing above Caffe Trieste in North Beach. Since then, he has become a prominent figure in the city’s arts scene, supporting various organizations and contributing to projects like the $64 million SFJazz Center.

His diverse portfolio includes co-writing credits for films such as the 2008 horror flick “Pig Hunt” and the 2019 drama “Windows on the World,” the latter of which was adapted into a graphic novel.

“I love writing. I love words. I love sentence structure. The language between film and novel writing is pretty similar when you combine them into graphic novels,” Anderson said.

Illustrated by John Sack, who also worked on the “Windows on the World” adaptation, “My Fairy Godfather” promises a similar visual journey.

To celebrate its launch at City Lights Bookstore, Anderson has assembled a lineup of musical talents, including Chuck Prophet, Jay Walsh and Eugene Rodriguez, to provide a live soundtrack experience. It is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

“We’re going to pass the guitar around and sing some songs that would be a part of a soundtrack if I was actually in charge of making a film,” Anderson said. “We’re going to create a vibe.”

(sfchronicle.com)

MITCH CLOGG:

In case of serendipity break glass…

We brace for Trump’s resumption of the presidency, a thing as desperate as climate change. We see Biden’s under-performance as a candidate and Trump’s continued support. The very worst may in fact be coming.

A distant and disinterested observer might have a different view. He might see Biden’s re-election as the likelier event, however uninspiring. We are far less prepared for this.

There will be jubilation, always a good thing, but when the singing, dancing and shouting are done, there is a long list of things to be tended to.

Biden must be chastened and brought to account. His indulgence of Netanyahu and the ugly old men who prop him up is disgraceful and dishonors me as a citizen. Oil and coal companies need to be brought to heel, defense spending likewise. Long-delayed changes in global management must be advanced hard and fast, to make up for a century’s lost time. If the November election brings clear Democratic dominance in congress and formerly Republican statehouses—these are entirely possible—draft initiatives must be ready for enactment. The purging of the Supreme Court and the many contaminated courts beneath it will take more time. While progressives cavort, reactionaries buckle down, decade after decade after decade.

FAIR PLAY FOR BOYS

Editor:

Try turning the tables.

For the record, I am a white male boomer. In today’s world that’s strike one, two and three, but I’m going to press on. I was taken aback and offended that you chose to print M.A. McCrea’s letter in which the author says all the troubles of the world are the fault of “cruel and insane” men and their “testosterone.” And not any specific group of men, we’re all thrown under the bus.

Let’s assume I submitted a letter stating I thought women were irrational and erratic due to their estrogen and menstrual cycles. One of two things would happen. First and most likely, it wouldn’t get published. Second, if it did, given my demographics, I would be utterly crucified. A perfect example of society’s acceptance of specific groups of race, ethnicity or gender commenting on those outside their group with impunity. But it doesn’t work in reverse for those outside those groups. It’s like a one-way street that can change direction at any given moment depending on who’s driving on it.

The author said they might be showing ignorance. Other than suggesting professional help, I’ll leave that to readers.

Gregg Grubin

Santa Rosa

CLARK GABLE was great friends with actress Hattie McDaniel, and he even slipped her a real alcoholic drink during the scene celebrating the birth of Scarlett and Rhett's daughter.

He tried to boycott the premiere of Gone with the Wind in Atlanta, Georgia because the African American McDaniel was not permitted to attend. He reportedly only went after she pleaded with him to go. He remained friends with McDaniel, and he always attended her Hollywood parties, especially when she was raising funds during World War II.

‘SUPERHUMAN FEAT’: WOMAN, 55, MAKES HISTORY WITH SWIM FROM GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE TO FARALLON ISLANDS

by Sam Whiting

The marathon swim from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands is considered one of the hardest in the world, combining strong currents, fierce wind and frigid water frequented by great white sharks.

But UCSF nurse Amy Appelhans Gubser conquered it this weekend — when she got off work, took a quick nap and then swam into history.

It was early Saturday, 3:25 a.m., when Gubser jumped from a boat on the east side of the Golden Gate Bridge, and went into her freestyle stroke headed west under the span and into the open water.

When she came back out, 17 hours later, Gubser was at the Farallon Islands, 29.7 miles away. She had become the first swimmer to complete the treacherous Gulf of the Farallones swim in the outbound direction, and just the sixth swimmer to do it in either direction, according to the Marathon Swimmers Federation.

The westbound swim is harder because it involves fighting a punishing tide and wind most of the way.

“It was the toughest thing that I have ever set out to do,” said Gubser, 55, on Tuesday during her lunch break at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital where she works as a nurse coordinator in the fetal cardiac unit. She is a mother of two, with two grandkids and a third on the way.

A Pacifica resident, Gubser swims at the South End Rowing Club on San Francisco Bay.

“I look out at those islands every day from Pacifica,” she said, of her motivation. “I joke with my husband all the time that I could swim there. It just draws me because it is so captivating and eerie.”

The Farallones swim was done after years of training in cold water, including marathons in both Monterey Bay and the North Channel from Ireland to Scotland. But those were shorter and warmer swims.

During the Farallones Gulf swim, she hit the continental shelf current and the water temperature dropped to 43 degrees. She’d never before been in water colder than 47 degrees.

She does not wear a wetsuit — open water marathon swimmers are allowed only their swimsuit, cap, goggles and earplugs.

“I was pretty steady for the most part, but at the end we hit a strong current and the water got colder,” said Gubser. “My progress was slowed because I was chilled to the bone. I did not expect 43 degrees. That was nuts.”

Though Gubser started in the dark and finished at dusk, she was not out there alone the whole time. She had a support boat piloted by Chad Dahlberg of Pacific Rival Fisheries, and a support team of SERC swimmers that included John Chapman, Abby Fairman, Kirk McKinney, Ken Mignosa, Sarah Roberts and John Sims. Roberts, McKinney and Mignosa each swam part of the way with her.

Roberts was the first, jumping in at the 15-mile mark, where water temperatures were in the 40s.

“No amount of training prepares you for the shock of how desperately cold it is,’’ said Roberts, an accountant. ‘These swims are so long that after seven or eight hours it can start to take a toll on you mentally. You can get into a negative head space, so it helps when you see someone you know and trust in the water beside you.’

But rules limit support-swimming to one hour, with at least an hour in between. Otherwise she was on her own.

Gubser said she was in pain for every one of the 17 hours, but when she needed motivation she thought of her stepbrother, Dan Fine, 67, who is fighting stage four pancreatic cancer. That kept her going.

Only once did she complain to her crew that she was cold — which scared them because she never does that.

But she said she was not about to give up. “I wanted my kids to be proud of me, and I wanted my grandkids to be proud of me,” said Gubser.

Also, she said, she was determined not to have to go through the ordeal again.

Gubser grew up swimming in the warmer ocean waters of Manhattan and Hermosa Beach, where she worked as an ocean lifeguard. One tower away was her future husband, Greg.

Also a pool swimmer, she swam the backstroke at the University of Michigan, which she attended on a scholarship. She has stuck with pool swimming as a member of the Burlingame Aquatic Club Masters, two to three mornings a week.

To train for the Farallones, she swam two or three days a week, for two hours in the dark and against an incoming tide in the bay. She trained before work, which normally starts at 7:45 a.m.

When she completed her odyssey, she posted to Facebook. “I had a little swim this Saturday!”

Others took it as more than a “little” swim.

“I believe the swim between the Farallon Islands and the mainland is the toughest marathon swim in the world,” said Evan Morrison of Sydney, co-founder of the Marathon Swimmers Federation. “Amy’s endurance in cold water is unparalleled. There are no more than two or three people who could even have a chance at doing what she did. Her ability is world class.”

“It is absolutely amazing what she did,” said SERC member Marc Glomb, who was part of Gubser’s land support team. “It’s a superhuman feat by a superhuman.”

On Tuesday morning, Gubser was back in the bay, swimming out of SERC with her usual Tuesday morning group. She stayed within the bounds of Aquatic Park, which felt easy to her. Every swimmer on her crew has an open water goal for the summer.

“I want to support other swimmers this summer to help them achieve their goals,” she said. “I just hope I can inspire others to challenge themselves.”

(SF Chronicle)

HOW MANY AMERICANS ARE STONERS? THE NUMBER MAY SURPRISE YOU.

by Rachelle Gordon

Smoking weed is more mainstream than ever. Pretty much everyone in America agrees the plant should be legal, and roughly half of adults have tried it at least once in their lifetimes. But how many people admit to consuming cannabis on the regular—and could they technically be stoners?

According to a recent survey, 40 percent of Americans use marijuana products at least once a week. Approximately 15 percent said they consume daily. The data comes from a poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults.

The numbers are a stark increase from a recent Gallup survey, where only 17 percent of adults said they “smoke marijuana.” However, that number may not have been indicative of the whole if edibles and other consumption methods weren’t considered.

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Poll Reveals Mixed Feelings About Stigma

Another interesting tidbit? Stigmas around cannabis are out, but internal conflicts remain. According to the poll, 64 percent of people feel “marijuana no longer carries the stigma it used to have.” That includes nearly three-quarters of Democrats and over 60 percent of Republicans.

However, just because broader societal shifts are happening doesn’t mean folks are ready to talk about their personal consumption just yet. Around 64 percent of survey respondents are “selective about sharing” their cannabis regimens, and over half would resist disclosing on the first few dates with someone new.

And while cannabis consumption seems more prevalent than ever before, most agree that there’s still a lot to learn about the plant. Over 70 percent of Americans believe “people still don’t understand marijuana well enough.” This may be reinforced by the fact that cannabis has remained a Schedule I drug, defined as having “no known medicinal value and a high potential for abuse. But that may all change soon since the government is finally admitting there is evidence the plant has therapeutic benefits.

The poll was conducted prior to the announcement that the DEA intends to move cannabis to Schedule III. It’s unclear whether the news would have affected answers, but 64 percent of respondents said 2024 would be a good year for the cannabis industry, believing that the plant would be legal soon. Time will only tell if these predictions will hold true, but the poll numbers definitely show promise for the stoners hiding in the shadows—at this point, most people see no reason to hide.

WHEN WE WERE HERE TOGETHER

when we were here together in a place we did not know, nor one
another.
A bit of grass held between the teeth for a moment, bright hair on the
wind.
What we were we did not know, nor even the grass or the flame of
hair turning to ash on the wind.
But they lied about that. From the beginning they lied. To the child,
telling him that there was somewhere anger against him, and a
hatred against him, and the only reason for his being in the
world.
But never did they tell him that the only evil and danger was in
themselves; that they alone were the prisoners and the betrayers;
that they - they alone - were responsible for what was being done
in the world.
And they told the child to starve and to kill the child that was within
him; for only by doing this could he become a useful and adjusted
member of the community which they had prepared for him.
And this time, alas, they did not lie.
And with the death of the child was born a thing that had neither
the character of a man nor the character of a child, but was a
horrible and monstrous parody of the two; and it is in this world
now that the flesh of man’s spirit lies twisted and despoiled under
the indifferent stars.
When we were here together in a place we did not know, nor one
another.
O green the bit of warm grass between our teeth. O beautiful the hair
of our mortal goddess on the indifferent wind.

— Kenneth Patchen

THE NIGHT TEX COBB SAVED MY LIFE

The first time I ever brought up the subject of retirement, Randall Cobb had just stopped Earnie Shavers in the eighth round of a fight that ruined appetites all over Detroit. He'd broken Shavers's jaw with a short left uppercut, but before that happened he and Earnie had stood in the middle of the ring 7 1/2 rounds throwing punches. There could have been six or seven that missed, but I didn't see them.

We were sitting in the dressing room; Randall was sucking down Coca-Colas. His face looked exactly the way a face is supposed to look after Earnie Shavers has been beating on it half the night, and the sound of the inevitable throwing up afterward still hung in the air.

The dressing rooms in Detroit have the best acoustics in the world.

He looked over at me with that one eye he could still look out of and said, "You feeling better now?" And, while I'm admitting here that it wasn't Randall who threw up, I would also like to point out that it wasn't Randall who had to watch the fight.

His body was rope-burned and turning black and blue, and the end of his nose was red like he was four days into a bad cold. I said, "I wish you wouldn't fight Earnie Shavers anymore."

"I absolutely promise," he said.

But I meant more than Earnie Shavers, and later that night, back at the hotel, he tried to relieve me of my obligations. He said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but if you can't watch it, then don't."

I took that the wrong way, of course. I'd only known Randall a year then, but it could have just as soon been my own brother in there, as far as not watching went. He said he understood that. "I know it isn't easy watching somebody you love fight Earnie Shavers," he said.

I said, "It'd be a damn sight easier if somebody would keep his hands up."

And that's as much talking we did then about retiring. Randall had made $75,000 or $80,000 for that fight, and he was on the way up. He'd taken Shavers on short notice after Gerry Cooney had backed out of the fight—if Cooney hadn't backed out, by the way, he never would have ended up in the ring with Larry Holmes earlier this year for $10 million. A lot of people saw Randall that night, and liked what they saw.

And a lot of people didn't.

In the bars, they told me Randall couldn't fight at all. Guys still bragging about five amateur fights 20 years ago went out of their way to tell me all the things Randall couldn't do. They said any decent South Philly street fighter would kill him, they said he better get a job driving a truck while he still could.

I never said much back. When they talked about him getting hurt, I thought about it. The difference was, they didn't care.

The first fight he lost was against Ken Norton, a split decision in San Antonio, Texas. He walked into the hardest single punch I've ever seen that night, a straight right hand that Norton threw from the bottom of his heart.

I can close my eyes and still see Randall's face in the half-second after it landed. For that little time, he was lost. He was coming forward when it hit him, and for half a second he stopped.

Then he went back to work, and in the dressing room afterward I heard Norton tell him, "You beat the bleep out of me, man." Norton had fought his best fight since the night he lost his title to Larry Holmes. He'd been braver and stronger than he'd been in four years.

It had been that way with Shavers, too, and later it would be that way against Bernardo Mercardo. I have seen Mercardo quit in his corner when he was winning, but against Randall he stayed there 10 rounds, taking one of the worst body beatings I've ever seen.

We talked about that after every one of them. After Mercardo I said, "You know, you're giving them something out there. You spend the whole round proving they can't hurt you, you throw 150 punches to their 25, and then at the end of the round, just when they're sure you're not human, you pat them on the ass and give them something to come out with in the next round. You're taking away their fear."

"It's a bad habit, all right," he said. And in his next fight, at the bell ending the fourth round against Jeff Shelburg earlier this year—a round in which he landed at least 100 punches—I heard him say this: "Hang in there, Jeff. After this is over we're going to go out and get drunk."

Between Mercardo and Shelburg, of course, there was supposed to be a fight with WBA heavyweight champion Mike Weaver. That fell through in December, when a kid with a tire iron broke his arm. He was standing over my body at the time, fighting off a lot of kids with tire irons and baseball bats.

I was already unconscious—hit five or six times square in the head—and it doesn't take much imagination to figure out what would have happened if he'd left me. And it doesn't matter how good you are in a fight, if you see 25 or 30 people coming at you with bats and crowbars and reinforced iron, you've got to think about leaving.

When I woke up he was shouting, "If he's dead, every one of you is dead, too." And it must have scared them off—it scared me—because the next thing I knew he was picking me up.

He said, "Pete?"

I said, "Any time you're ready to leave . . .” They'd broken one of my hips and the leg attached to it wouldn't move. I said, "Randall, this leg won't move."

He said, "We don't have time for that leg not to move." And somehow he got me in the truck and drove me to the hospital. He never said anything about his arm.

On the way, we talked things over. There was blood and swelling everywhere. It was a lot like a dressing room. I said, "You know, we could have planned this better."

He said that Gen. George Pickett had planned it better at Gettysburg.

There is one other thing he said that night that stays in my mind. It was when the place was filling up with baseball bats and tire irons, and all of a sudden you could see how many of them there were, and what they meant to do, and how bad the night was going to turn out.

He leaned over to me and said, "I hope that's the softball team."

He lost his first chance with Weaver over that, and his second chance when Weaver hurt his back, and his third chance when he got cut in training a few days before the fight.

And I was sure he would beat Weaver, but the fight scared me. I was in Knoxville the night Weaver took the title from John Tate, and 10 minutes after Weaver had knocked him out, they brought Tate out of the ring, hidden in the middle of 10 or 15 of his people.

Tate's eyes were open, he seemed to be talking, but then I looked down and saw the toes of his shoes dragging along the floor. John Tate was never the same after that fight, and I wasn't interested in seeing Randall prove he could take the same shots and beat Weaver anyway. And that's what he would have done.

And that's what he'll do against Holmes. He'll take the jabs and the right hands, and then he'll throw jabs and right hands back, mostly to the body. Two and three punches to one. And in the eighth or ninth round, I think Larry Holmes will lose his title.

And Randall probably will be cut, and I'll be throwing up in the dressing room, and the guys still bragging about five amateur fights from 20 years ago will turn away from the television set at the bar and tell each other he still can't fight.

I guess it doesn't need to be pointed out here that the damage a punch does comes partly when it lands and partly later, when it accumulates with the other punches. The accumulation goes on as long as you keep getting hit, and sometimes it catches up with you and sometimes it doesn't.

I don't want to be there if it ever catches up with Randall Cobb. I remember that fractured moment when he was lost after Norton hit him with the right hand, and the only thing that saves me from that moment is remembering that half a second later he was all right.

I don't want to be there to see him lost again, but I will be if it happens. As long as he wants to fight, I'll be there. Not because he didn't leave me one night last December, not because he needs me there—he doesn't.

I'll be there because it can't be as bad watching him fight as it would be, being too afraid to watch.

— Pete Dexter

THE BATTLE OF UCLA: INSIDE THE CLASS STRUGGLE

by Ed Rampell

On May Day I went to embattled UCLA to cover the ongoing student revolt there. At the barricades I met with a young woman who called herself “Mona,” the press spokesperson for UCLA’s Palestine Solidarity Encampment. Mona gave me a copy of the student occupiers’ demands:

“Divest: Withdraw all UC-wide and UCLA Foundation funds from companies and institutions that are complicit in the Israeli occupation, apartheid, and Genocide of the Palestinian people.” The demands went on to call for UCLA to: “Disclose… full-transparency to all UC-wide and UCLA Foundation assets including investments, donations, and grants.” “Abolish Policing: End the targeted repression of pro-Palestinian advocacy… and sever all ties with LAPD” and “Boycott” ties to Israeli universities. The antiwar students also demanded that UCLA “call[s] for “ceasefire and end to the occupation and Genocide in Palestine.”

Mona and I have stayed in contact and I interviewed her via phone May 11 about the ongoing campus resistance.

How do you want to be identified?

Mona: Just my first name, Mona, would be preferred. Media Liaison for the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment.

Tell us what you’re comfortable saying about your personal background?

I’m an undergraduate student here at UCLA. I’m a political science major. I’m originally from California. Religiously I am Muslim…

I don’t use my full name for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I’d like to maintain my privacy as an individual… My safety and prevention from retaliation is a part of that.

What is the latest situation as of May 11 regarding UCLA and the student protesters?

So, right now, we’re going to continue to push to get our demands met. One way we’re doing that is we created an email template for students and other concerned members of the community to email to [UCLA Chancellor] Gene Block to continue to reiterate our demands. Because, at the end of the day, in whatever way we can, we’re going to continue to work to get those demands met. [The email template is here and can be emailed to: chancellor@conet.ucla.edu.]

…The student senate is preparing to go into a [censure and/or no confidence] vote regarding Gene Block – however, the vote got pushed back. [By May 8, UCLA’s Undergraduate Students Association Council, the governing body of the Undergraduate Students Association, demanded Block’s resignation.

President Biden has said that the student protests rocking US college campuses hasn’t changed his policy vis-à-vis Israel’s war in Gaza. But around May 8, Pres. Biden paused the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, stating he didn’t want these munitions used by the IDF on Rafah. Do you feel that Biden’s suspension of shipment of some weaponry to Israel is a result of the pressure student and other protests have brought to bear on the White House?

At the end of the day, when it comes to protests, particularly student-led ones, there’s been a long tradition of these protests having an impact on these things. While our demands are addressed specifically at the university, our goal is to stand in solidarity with Palestine.

But do you feel Biden is actually hearing the protests that have rocked scores of college campuses and that he’s feeling the heat of the student uprising?

We’re definitely doing our best to really pressure the university administration and the ones who are connected to UCLA.

What threats are UCLA student protesters facing from the administration and security forces?

Yeah, for sure. Just last week we did see how the university responded to the Encampment and the movement and we saw that when the police breeched the Encampment and how an ex-IOF soldier was present that day and collaborating with the police forces there and in the way that the police forces held back and didn’t separate agitators from the Encampment on Tuesday, April 30, which went into the [early] hours of May 1. So, we kind of see that the University has been using these police forces in ways to try to prevent the movement from continuing. And these tactics are very similar, if not completely the same, as the tactics of the IOF.

Please clarify what you mean by “IOF” [instead of IDF – the Israel Defense Forces]?

The Israel Occupation Forces.

Are protesters also being threatened with expulsion, suspension, eviction from dorms?

As of right now, these threats haven’t been carried out against students, as far as we’re aware. However, disciplinary measures were threatened previously, before April 30.

Given that UCLA students have so much to lose by engaging in campus protest and – unless they’re on scholarships – pay so much to attend UCLA, what motivates them to take action that places them in harm’s way?

The primary motivation for this movement, especially as students, is because we feel the genocide that’s happening in Gaza right now. And we want to stand in solidarity with Palestine. Within the past 24 hours we’ve started to hear reports of detainment camps that have such horrific conditions. Not only that, but we’re continuing to hear about mass graves being discovered in Gaza behind hospitals…

All of these accounts and testimony that what’s happening in Gaza, in Palestine right now is on top of the over 35,000 people who have been murdered in Gaza. And almost 76 years of occupation. So, for us, it’s really about standing in solidarity with Palestine and continuing to do what we can as students to really push to make the world a better place and to prevent this from continuing.

What percentage of the Encampment’s participants would you guesstimate were of Palestinian origin, Arab, Muslim?

I think that’s a really great question. When it comes to the Encampment and its demographics, honestly there was a very diverse set of backgrounds present. Whether they were Muslim; whether they were Jewish; whether they were Arab; whether they were specifically Palestinian – the range was so wide and diverse and that did continually shift throughout the week as more people were able to show up. So, we didn’t keep track of specific demographics, but considering the diversity of the students who were present, there were lots of students from all types of backgrounds.

To play devil’s advocate: If I’m a UCLA student but I don’t have any Palestinian, Arab and Muslim background, why should I care about what’s happening in Gaza, to the point where I’m going to put my well-being on the line?

For sure. When it comes to that question, we’ve seen lots of students over the past couple of weeks – those who haven’t had a lot of ties, faced that question themselves. A lot of them have seen the atrocities that are happening, the violence being carried out against the people in Gaza right now, and as a human, seeing other people going through that, seeing these violent attacks, seeing them being killed, really is that sense of compassion, and that sense of empathy, that for a lot of students who I’ve gotten to know over the past couple of weeks who have become more conscious of what’s happening and more willing to stand up to, to stand up in solidarity with Palestine. A lot of it is what’s been happening.

Describe the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment itself?

For sure. When it comes to the Encampment the primary reason why we were gathered there was to be in solidarity with Palestine. A lot of times the Encampment would work to engage with the people inside of it. Whether that was through teach-ins hosted by faculty who came in to talk about the connection of the struggle all across the world, and how standing in solidarity is so important. Watching films that are related to this; or creating artwork to express solidarity and the sentiment of the Encampment. Engaging in conversations and dialogue to continue to further our own education on how we can stand up in solidarity with Palestine.

Throughout the Encampment, while it was up, there were Muslim services, as well as Jewish services for the students within the Encampment who did practice those faiths and wanted to continue to engage with their communities. There was that sense of solidarity and full commitment and willing to continue to work together within these types of events that were all centered around solidarity as a whole.

…[Physically] the Encampment was primarily set up of tents, blankets, as well as a couple of canopies to cover over tents that had been set up for medical care, as well as for food, which was primarily based on community donations. When it comes to the [wooden] barrier of the encampment, that was set up to protect students from the outside agitators who started to show up almost immediately after the Encampment was set up, and continually harassed students within it. The university administration set up metal barricades to fence off the section from others… they were not set up by the Encampment.

You just used the term “outside agitators.” Do you mean they weren’t UCLA students?

Yes. Primarily a lot of the individuals who were harassing students at the Encampment were not part of the UCLA community and had shown up specifically to harass and threaten violence against the students within the Encampment.

On April 30 when counter-demonstrators attacked the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment, who were the counter-protesters? And what happened?

That goes again to some being outside Zionist agitators who were present, there specifically with the intent of harming people inside of the Encampment… That night, these agitators rushed the Encampment barriers at a little before 11:00 [p.m., April 30] and started to tear away pieces of the Encampment. Also use them to attack the students, as well as throw fireworks into and above the Encampment, three of which exploded both within and right on top of students. As well as spraying them with bear spray, pepper spray and Mace, and throwing other things like metal projectiles.

This continued on until approximately 2:00 a.m. Which is how long it took for any police force to show up, as campus-hired security stood by and watched and did not help the engaged or separate these agitators from the Encampment. Even when cops did show up a little before 2:00 a.m., it took them almost an hour to actually move in and try to separate the agitators from the Encampment. In the police response – and in the attack itself – we can kind of see the consistency of the ideology and the tactics being used to try to suppress the Encampment. Because we can kind of see how police forces are tied to the IOF, both in their tactics and in the way that they collaborated.

On May Day there was a dispersal order to the Encampment to leave by 6:00 p.m. Do you believe that the massive outpouring of solidarity and formation of hundreds of students with locked arms on the steps leading up to the Encampment delayed police from raiding it around 6:00 p.m.?

When it comes to the student and community support that the Encampment saw on May 1, it was definitely motivating and supportive for the Encampment to see that presence and for that presence to help kind of hold the line and prevent police forces from starting to reach the Encampment. The police tactics that we did see that night were very reminiscent, if not exactly the same, as IOF techniques that they used to harm individuals.

We can kind of see that because we know that least one ex-IOF special operations soldier who was present that night, Aaron Cohen [According to Wikipedia: “ In the mid-1990s, he became a member of the undercover Duvdevan Unit… of the IDF Commando Brigade, performing counter-terror operations targeting suspects among the Palestinian Arab population in the West Bank.”], who posted on social media about his time at UCLA on Wednesday night and his support of the police forces who were there.

So having that student engagement and support there was very motivational for the Encampment to continue to hold the Encampment present and to continue to push for divestment and the other demands of the movement.

Is Aaron Coehn an enrolled UCLA student or faculty?

No.

What happened when the security forces raided the Encampment?

When it came to the early morning hours when they did move in [on May 2], police were using flashbang grenades… which obscures vision and went off so loudly that student hearing was damaged, as well… [There were] other tactics to kind of dismantle the barricades and the human chain that was trying to protect the Encampment. That included shooting students with rubber bullets, at least five of which hit students in the head and we know of at least 15-plus people needing emergency services as a result of the police’s actions that night. So, the Encampment saw police beating protesters with metal batons and being violent towards students and the people of the Encampment.

Over 200 people were arrested.

What has happened on campus since the Palestine Solidarity Encampment was dispersed?

The movement is going to continue in whatever shape that it is. Since May 2 there have been efforts to mobilize the student body in ways to pressure the administration, as well as faculty and other members of the UCLA community… [such as the aforementioned] email template to send to Gene Block’s office.

[Early May 6, 40-ish protesters were arrested by LAPD and LASD in a UCLA parking garage. After LAPD confronted other demonstrators staging a sit-in at Moore Hall, a march was held through the campus to Dodd Hall and beyond. L.A. Times reported: “While campus was supposed to resume normal operations Monday, a Bruin Alert issued just before 9 a.m. Monday said ‘classes and work in Moore Hall will be remote today due to ongoing disruptions.’” According to press reports, in-person classes returned to the UCLA campus by May 13. (The Encampment’s full statement.)]

…When it comes to graduation, many other colleges were supposed to have their ceremonies close to now. But UCLA is on the quarter system for its undergraduates, so their graduation isn’t until June. There’s not a lot that we can touch on in regards to how UCLA is responding to graduation yet.

Democracy Now reported [during the week of May 6] more than 2,500 students in the U.S. have been arrested for opposing the war in Gaza. What outreach is there to and coordination by the UCLA protesters with USC and other college student protesters across the country?

When it comes to the connections between student movements across universities, we are going from a very strong tradition of student organizing. Whether that’s from UCLA or across college campuses across the United States, so we know that we’re not the first Encampment to have popped up and even this movement isn’t the first time that we’ve seen students organize and push for universities and administrations to divest. This is a student-wide movement, so lots of times students do have friends who are from out of state, or have friends at other universities; in that case, communications are open. The work that we’re doing here as a whole is a student-led movement that isn’t limited in any organizational way.

For us it goes back to the fact that all of the universities in Gaza have been destroyed. And we know that college students there have lost that space to be able to voice their thoughts and to use that space to organize. So, it’s very important for us, no matter which campus… is that solidarity with Palestine in however way we can.

Has there been contact with non-student, pro-Palestinian, peace groups here and abroad?

…When it comes to community support, whether from organizations or individuals, we did see a lot of that in ways they supported the Encampment with food. And outside community organizations continue to stand in solidarity with Palestine.

In The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon wrote about Spontaneity: Its Strength and Weakness. During the ’60s groups such as SDS and the MOBE organized antiwar resistance. Are there moves to create a national organization to coordinate ongoing antiwar causes and opposition?

Yeah. When it comes to the national level of organizing, we know there are already organizations set up and we know those efforts will continue. How that plays out on the national level remains to be seen.

What do you think of the way MSM has framed the narrative and the antiwar protesters?

When it comes to the media focus on protesters, our primary focus has always been Palestine and solidarity with Palestine. It’s never just about us as individuals or about college campus movements, our focus has been on Palestine. Our specific focus now is on Rafah and the attacks on Rafah in Gaza.

There has been commentary and reports alleging that the student protesters are pro-Hamas?

At the end of the day, our focus is Palestine, the people of Palestine. Our focus is ending the violence that is ongoing. Our focus is ending the UCLA administration’s complicity and profit in the genocide in Gaza.

There has been commentary and reports alleging that the student protesters are anti-Semitic?

…As mentioned earlier, the Encampment itself has had religious services for both Muslim students and Jewish students. Our focus has been about solidarity – never about exclusion.

What is the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment’s position re: the hostages being held by Hamas?

At the end of the day, the Encampment and the movement as a whole is more focused on the origin of violence and preventing that from continuing and preventing the genocide that we see playing out from continuing.

By “origin” are you referring to decades of occupation and the siege of Gaza?

Yes. We are referring to the violence that’s being enacted

Speaking of “violence,” what is the UCLA Palestine Solidarity Encampment’s position re: the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack? The killing and abducting of civilians, children, women?

So, again, our focus is on Palestine and on preventing this genocide from continuing.

(Ed Rampell was named after legendary CBS broadcaster Edward R. Murrow because of his TV exposes of Senator Joe McCarthy. Rampell majored in Cinema at Manhattan’s Hunter College and is an L.A.-based film historian/critic who co-organized the 2017 70th anniversary Blacklist remembrance at the Writers Guild theater in Beverly Hills and was a moderator at 2019’s “Blacklist Exiles in Mexico” filmfest and conference at the San Francisco Art Institute. Rampell co-presented “The Hollywood Ten at 75” film series at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and is the author of Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States and co-author of The Hawaii Movie and Television Book. CounterPunch.org)

SUMMER 2023 WAS THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE’S HOTTEST IN 2,000 YEARS, STUDY FINDS

Scientists used tree rings to compare last year’s extreme heat with temperatures over the past two millenniums.

by Deiger Erdenesanaa

The summer of 2023 was exceptionally hot. Scientists have already established that it was the warmest Northern Hemisphere summer since around 1850, when people started systematically measuring and recording temperatures.

Now, researchers say it was the hottest in 2,000 years, according to a new study published in the journal Nature that compares 2023 with a longer temperature record across most of the Northern Hemisphere. The study goes back before the advent of thermometers and weather stations, to the year A.D. 1, using evidence from tree rings.

“That gives us the full picture of natural climate variability,” said Jan Esper, a climatologist at Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany and lead author of the paper.

Extra greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels are responsible for most of the recent increases in Earth’s temperature, but other factors — including El Niño, an undersea volcanic eruption and a reduction in sulfur dioxide aerosol pollution from container ships — may have contributed to the extremity of the heat last year.

The average temperature from June through August 2023 was 2.20 degrees Celsius warmer than the average summer temperature between the years 1 and 1890, according to the researchers’ tree ring data.

And last summer was 2.07 degrees Celsius warmer than the average summer temperature between 1850 and 1900, the years typically considered the base line for the period before human-caused climate change.

The new study suggests that Earth’s natural temperature was cooler than this base line, which is frequently used by scientists and policymakers when discussing climate goals, such as limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial era.

“This period is really not well covered with instruments,” Dr. Esper said, adding that “the tree rings can do really, really well. So we can use this as a substitute and even as a corrective.”

Trees grow wider each year in a distinct pattern of light-colored rings in spring and early summer, and darker rings in late summer and fall. Each pair of rings represents one year, and differences between the rings offer scientists clues about changing environmental conditions. For example, trees tend to grow more and form wider rings during warm, wet years.

This study compared temperatures in 2023 to a previously published reconstruction of temperatures over the past 2,000 years. More than a dozen research groups collaborated to create this reconstruction, using data from about 10,000 trees across nine regions of the Northern Hemisphere between 30 and 90 degrees latitude, or everywhere above the tropics. Some data came from drilling very thin cores from living trees, but most came from dead trees and historical wood samples.

Covering longer stretches of time results in more volcanic eruptions being included in the data. Big eruptions, at least on land, can cool the Earth by spraying sulfur dioxide aerosols into the atmosphere. Over the past 2,000 years, about 20 or 30 such eruptions have taken place and brought down average temperatures, Dr. Esper said.

(The recent Hunga Tonga eruption, by contrast, happened under the ocean and sprayed enormous amounts of water vapor into the atmosphere. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas.)

Not everyone agrees that tree rings offer a more accurate picture of past temperatures than historical records do.

“It’s still an active area of research,” said Robert Rohde, the lead scientist at Berkeley Earth. Dr. Rohde wasn’t directly involved in the new study, but his organization’s data was used. “This is not the first paper to come out suggesting that there’s a warm bias in the early instrumental period, by any means. But I don’t think it’s really resolved.”

To some extent, slight differences between the stories thermometers and tree rings tell us about Earth’s past don’t matter for the present, said Zeke Hausfather, another Berkeley Earth scientist.

“It’s an academic question more than a practical question,” he said. “Reassessing temperatures in the distant past really doesn’t tell us that much about the effects of climate change today.”

Last year, those effects included a heat dome that settled over much of Mexico and the southern United States for weeks on end. Japan had its hottest summer on record. Canada suffered its worst-ever wildfire season, and parts of Europe also battled a series of destructive wildfires. 2024 is expected to be another hot year.

3 DOLLARS! ONLY THREE DOLLARS!

In the 1950s, Las Vegas opened a new tourism business when the Nevada Test Site, located just 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, became the site of atomic bomb tests.

I just wonder what became of the tourists who visited the nuclear explosion at that time?

— Andrea Camp

WILL A.I. EVER LIVE UP TO ITS HYPE?

by Julia Angwin

It’s a little hard to believe that just over a year ago, a group of leading researchers asked for a six-month pause in the development of larger systems of artificial intelligence, fearing that the systems would become too powerful. “Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?” they asked.

There was no pause. But now, a year later, the question isn’t really whether A.I. is too smart and will take over the world. It’s whether A.I. is too stupid and unreliable to be useful. Consider this week’s announcement from OpenAI’s chief executive, Sam Altman, who promised he would unveil “new stuff” that “feels like magic to me.” But it was just a rather routine update that makes ChatGPT cheaper and faster.

It feels like another sign that A.I. is not even close to living up to its hype. In my eyes, it’s looking less like an all-powerful being and more like a bad intern whose work is so unreliable that it’s often easier to do the task yourself. That realization has real implications for the way we, our employers and our government should deal with Silicon Valley’s latest dazzling new, new thing. Acknowledging A.I.’s flaws could help us invest our resources more efficiently and also allow us to turn our attention toward more realistic solutions.

Others voice similar concerns. “I find my feelings about A.I. are actually pretty similar to my feelings about blockchains: They do a poor job of much of what people try to do with them, they can’t do the things their creators claim they one day might, and many of the things they are well suited to do may not be altogether that beneficial,” wrote Molly White, a cryptocurrency researcher and critic, in her newsletter last month.

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The reality is that A.I. models can often prepare a decent first draft. But I find that when I use A.I., I have to spend almost as much time correcting and revising its output as it would have taken me to do the work myself.

And consider for a moment the possibility that perhaps A.I. isn’t going to get that much better anytime soon. After all, the A.I. companies are running out of new data on which to train their models, and they are running out of energy to fuel their power-hungry A.I. machines. Meanwhile, authors and news organizations (including The New York Times) are contesting the legality of having their data ingested into the A.I. models without their consent, which could end up forcing quality data to be withdrawn from the models.

Given these constraints, it seems just as likely to me that generative A.I. could end up like the Roomba, the mediocre vacuum robot that does a passable job when you are home alone but not if you are expecting guests.

Companies that can get by with Roomba-quality work will, of course, still try to replace workers. But in workplaces where quality matters — and where workforces such as screenwriters and nurses are unionized — A.I. may not make significant inroads.

And if the A.I. models are relegated to producing mediocre work, they may have to compete on price rather than quality, which is never good for profit margins. In that scenario, skeptics such as Jeremy Grantham, an investor known for correctly predicting market crashes, could be right that the A.I. investment bubble is very likely to deflate soon.

The biggest question raised by a future populated by unexceptional A.I., however, is existential. Should we as a society be investing tens of billions of dollars, our precious electricity that could be used toward moving away from fossil fuels, and a generation of the brightest math and science minds on incremental improvements in mediocre email writing?

We can’t abandon work on improving A.I. The technology, however middling, is here to stay, and people are going to use it. But we should reckon with the possibility that we are investing in an ideal future that may not materialize.

nytimes.com/2024/05/15/opinion/artificial-intelligence-ai-openai-chatgpt-overrated-hype.html

ON-LINE COMMENT OF THE DAY

I’m sitting in my living room, looking out to the woods in my backyard through my wall-length sliders. We get lots of birds flying around with typical woodland creatures about.

I now can understand why a lot of old men sit in rockers on their front porches and just look out at the world. It is very peaceful.

Birds are everywhere. A lot of the time they congregate on the railing of my deck. Plain sparrows, red-breasted robins, beautiful red cardinals, huge, cawing crows, different kinds of woodpeckers, the occasional hummingbird and magnificent, soaring hawks. This year big honeybees are flitting to and fro. Woodchucks, turtles, deer cross through my back yard. And it’s not that far from downtown Boston.

It’s so spiritual watching this parade of life. Since I retired and now have more time on my hands, I’ve really appreciated the world around me. I’ve always known I live in a beautiful place, but I usually had too much to do to enjoy it.