First it was Oregon earlier this year with Statewide Rent Control. Now New York.  I thought California a True Blue State. If it is genuinely True Blue it would follow the lead of its neighbor to the North and sister state on the East Coast.

New York Times 6.11.2019

Newly empowered Democratic leaders in Albany announced a landmark agreement on Tuesday to strengthen New York’s rent laws and tenant protections, seeking to address concern about housing costs that is helping drive the debate over inequality across the nation.

The changes would abolish rules that let building owners deregulate apartments, close a series of loopholes that permit them to raise rents and allow some tenant protections to expand statewide.

The deal was a significant blow to the real estate industry, which contended that the measures would lead to the deterioration of the condition of New York City’s housing. The industry had long been one of the most powerful lobbies in Albany, but it suffered a loss of influence after its Republican allies surrendered control of the State Senate in the November elections.

“These reforms give New Yorkers the strongest tenant protections in history,” the Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and the Assembly speaker, Carl E. Heastie, said in a joint statement. “For too long, power has been tilted in favor of landlords and these measures finally restore equity and extend protections to tenants across the state.”

The current rent regulations expire on Saturday. The new and strengthened rules would mark a turning point for the 2.4 million people who live in nearly one million rent-regulated apartments in New York City after a decades-long erosion of protections and the loss of tens of thousands of regulated apartments.

 

This team came to play.

Excerpted from Wall Street Journal and The Guardian 6.11.2019

The defending World Cup champions were out for blood and intent on running up the biggest score possible. In that sense, the 13-0 final scoreline – a World Cup record – was perhaps not a surprise. Alex Morgan set a mark of her own, her five goals tied the tournament for the most by one player in a single game.

It was clear what kind of match this would be a few seconds before the whistle blew. The US put seven attacking players on the halfway line while just three defenders hung back with the goalkeeper. Once the game started, those seven US players sprinted past the Thailand midfield toward the goal. The game largely continued like that, with proceedings taking place almost exclusively in the Thailand half.

U.S. players and coach Jill Ellis said they didn’t consider pulling back because they thought to do so would disrespect their opponent. They also noted that goal differential serves as a tiebreaker in deciding where teams place in the group stage.

“A lot of this is about building momentum and so as a coach I don’t find it my job to rein my players in,” Ellis said. “This is what they’ve dreamt about. I respect Thailand, I spoke to some of them afterward and they should keep their heads up. This is part of the growth of the game.”

Up next, the Americans head to Paris where they will take on Chile, who lost to Sweden earlier in the day, on Sunday. The Americans then play Sweden in their final first round match.

Of the 24 teams in the tournament, 16 will qualify for the knockout stage. The two teams finishing first and second in each group and the four best teams among those ranked third will advance.

On Tuesday, fans started the wave started early, when the U.S. had a two-goal lead early in the first half. The crowd of 18,591 at Auguste Delaune Stadium heavily favored the U.S.

 

UPDATE:  6.11.2019 Warriors Management being questioned for downplaying severity of Kevin Durant’s May 8 “calf injury.”

Watch Warriors GM Bob Myers post game presser. I have rarely seen such raw emotion live on television.

Game Six will be the final game at Oracle Arena in Oakland on Thursday night. Next season the Warriors will move across the Bay to the new Chase Arena.  The final game at Oracle should be emotional and a classic.

Excerpted from New York Times 6.10.2019

TORONTO — A script-defying N.B.A. finals continued Monday night when the Golden State Warriors welcomed Kevin Durant back from a monthlong injury absence, watched in horror as Durant reinjured himself after a storybook start — and then still managed to keep these N.B.A. finals going.

Durant lasted only 12 minutes in his comeback before reinjuring his lower right leg, but the Warriors managed to pull themselves together after his emotional departure and dig out a 106-105 victory over the Toronto Raptors in Game 5. That narrowed Toronto’s series lead to three games to two and prevented the Raptors from securing the first championship in the franchise’s 24-year history.

Fighting back tears, Bob Myers, the general manager of the Warriors, said after the game that Durant had sustained an injury to his Achilles’ tendon rather than reinjuring his calf. The extent of the damage will not be known until his M.R.I. on Tuesday, but if the tendon is ruptured Durant could miss much of the 2019-20 season.

“I know Kevin takes a lot of hits sometimes, but he just wants to play basketball, and right now he can’t,” Myers said.

Asked after the game to describe his range of emotions, Warriors Coach Steve Kerr said he couldn’t and alluded to Durant’s injury.

“I just told the team I didn’t know what to say,” Kerr said. “It’s a bizarre feeling we all have right now. It’s an incredible win and a horrible loss at the same time.”

Kawhi Leonard scored 10 of his 26 points in a stunning fourth-quarter flurry that erased the last of Golden State’s 14-point lead and appeared to swipe the momentum from the Warriors. But late 3-pointers from Stephen Curry (31 points in the game) and Klay Thompson (26 points) and a huge defensive stop on Toronto’s final possession — when Draymond Green blocked Kyle Lowry’s corner 3-point attempt — enabled Golden State to escape with an improbable victory.

Yet there was grave concern about Durant’s status. He left the arena on crutches and with his right foot in a walking boot in the third quarter, and will undergo a magnetic resonance imaging exam on Tuesday — less than three weeks before he is expected to hit the marketplace as one of the most coveted free agents in league history.

Senator Warren is the  Candidate who will dismantle Trump and reverse the damage he will have done by the time President Warren takes the oath of office on January 20, 2021.

Excerpted from The Guardian 6.9.2019

The senator’s ‘I have a plan’ mantra has become a rallying cry as she edges her way to the top – but is it enough to get past the roadblocks of Biden and Sanders?

Plan by plan, Elizabeth Warren is making inroads and gaining on her rivals in the 2020 Democratic race to take on Donald Trump.

But despite the burst of momentum, Warren’s path to the nomination has two major roadblocks: Sanders and Biden. Her success will depend on whether she can deliver a one-two punch: replacing Sanders as the progressive standard bearer while building a coalition broad enough to rival Biden.

Warren has pointedly distinguished herself as a capitalist as opposed to a socialist or a democratic socialist, but she has not backed away from a populist platform that embraces sweeping economic reforms.

In her address to the California Democratic party last weekend, Warren rejected appeals for moderation.

“Some say if we all calm down, the Republicans will come to their senses,” she said. “But our country is in a time of crisis. The time for small ideas is over.”

The former Harvard law professor’s policy heavy approach made an impression among activists at the She the People forum in Texas last month and was well-received at the California state party convention earlier this month.

This week a Morning Consult poll saw Warren break into the double digits at 10%, putting her in third place behind Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

A recent Economist/YouGov poll found Warren was making gains among liberal voters, with Democrats considering the Massachusetts senator for the Democratic presidential nomination in nearly equal measure with Sanders.

Her intense campaigning on a vast swathe of specific issues has achieved viral moments on the internet – even including one woman whom Warren advised on her love life – as well as playing well during recent television events.

At a televised town hall in Indiana this week, Warren listened intently as a woman who voted for Trump in 2016 described her disillusionment – not only with a president who failed to bring back manufacturing jobs as he said he promised but with an entire political system stymied by dysfunction.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/09/elizabeth-warren-2020-race-momentum-biden-sanders

Another outrageous assault on a working journalist.  This time it’s happening in Russia. 

Excerpted from Committee to Protect Journalists. 6.7.2019

New York, June 7, 2019 — Russian authorities should immediately drop all charges against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov, release him, and investigate allegations that he was beaten in police custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

“Russian authorities should immediately drop their charges against Ivan Golunov, release him, and investigate allegations of mistreatment of the journalist in police custody,” said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Gulnoza Said. “Russia has a long history of politically motivated charges against independent reporters. Investigative journalism is treated as a crime where it ought to be viewed as a public service.”

Yesterday, in Moscow, two men approached Golunov, an investigative reporter for the independent news website Meduza, grabbed him, handcuffed him, and dragged him to a nearby vehicle, according to a statement by his employer. After Golunov demanded to speak to a lawyer, the men identified themselves as police officers, according to the statement.

Photos- Protestors supporting Ivan Golunov in above photos rally at Moscow Police Headquarters

The officers detained Golunov at a Ministry of Interior building, where they charged him with possessing and attempting to sell illegal drugs after allegedly finding amphetamines in his backpack, according to a statement by the Moscow division of the ministry, which oversees the city’s police force.

Following his arrest, officers punched and slapped Golunov in the head and chest, pushed him to the ground, and dragged him on the floor, according to the Meduza statement. For the first 14 hours of his detention, Golunov was not allowed to contact a lawyer or his family, according to the Meduza statement and mediareports.

Ivan Kolpakov, editor-in-chief at Meduza, told CPJ the drug charges were “absurd,” and said, “I have no doubts that the charges are fabricated and are related to Golunov’s journalism.”

Golunov is detained at the Ministry of Interior Main Division for the Western Administrative Area, Kolpakov told CPJ. He said Golunov will appear before a judge tomorrow, who will rule whether the journalist will remain in detention or if he will be released while the drug investigation is pending.

https://cpj.org/2019/06/russian-investigative-journalist-ivan-golunov-deta.php

 

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

June 8, 2019

The Warriors may be on the brink of elimination in the NBA playoffs.  The diehard fans still carry on and party on as they look forward to Game 5 on Monday evening in Toronto.

Liz Heidhues celebrates her team by feasting on a treat during annual National Donut Day June 7. Check out the color of the donut.  Blue and gold, of course. 

Longtime fan Liz is attired in San Francisco fashionista  style sporting a Warriors team jacket.

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series 6.7.2019

My daughter and I spent this beautiful June morning  visiting the “Early Rubens” Exhibit at the Legion of Honor located on a cliff with a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean and the Marin Headlands.

I took the photo below of the Marin Headlands while soaking in the view from the Legion of Honor.  My other photos are a representative sampling of  Peter Paul Ruben’s early work.  I was enthralled while studying Ruben’s realistic and gritty  Head of Medusa shown above.

“Early Rubens” is impressive and well curated.  Each piece of art is exquisitely described along with historical overviews for many of the paintings. This exhibit is educational and artistically impressive.

Massacre of the Innocents (circa 1610)

The Raising of the Cross (ca. 1638)

The Boar Hunt (circa 1615-1617)

A link to a review of the Exhibit written by art critic Charles Desmarais in the San Francisco Chronicle  4.10.2019 follows.

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/gothic-tales-in-baroque-style-early-rubens-at-the-legion-of-honor

 

 

This is a place America needs to be politically

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.7.2019

The opposition Greens have hit a record high in a new opinion poll, pulling ahead of Angela Merkel’s conservatives. The center-left SPD have dropped even further, slipping behind the far-right Alternative for Germany.

A Deutschlandtrend poll by Infratest dimap has put the environmentalist Greens up 6 percentage points at a record 26%, one point ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and sister party Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), reflecting a similar sampling last week.

In last month’s European Parliament elections, the Greens came second among German voters with 20.5%, behind Merkel’s bloc, with a mandate focused on issues such as climate change and a renewables-based economy.

In another boon for the Greens, the party’s dual leadership of Robert Habeck and Annalena Baerbock polled at 36% and 26% respectively, placing them fourth and sixth as preferred national politicians in Thursday’s findings published by Germany’s ARD public broadcaster.

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-greens-hit-poll-high-ahead-of-merkels-bloc-survey/a-49094285

 

 

The Golden State Warriors created an international incident, bringing a little global excitement to the NBA playoffs between America’s team and Toronto’s Raptors. By the way, the Raptors won the Game.

Excerpted from the Wall Street Journal 6.6.2019

The NBA announced that Mark Stevens would be banned from attending all games and league activities for one year and is subject to a $500,000 fine

Until now, some light trash-talking by Drake provided the only off-the-court drama in this year’s NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Toronto Raptors. That all changed Wednesday night with an incident between Toronto guard Kyle Lowry and an aggressive fan—who turned out to be a minority owner of the Warriors.

 

 

The “Progressive” Congresswoman shows some Class in standing up for the unjust treatment of Paul Manafort and Chelsea Manning, shining a spotlight on the torture of Solitary Confinement.