SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 1.29.2026
The blogger is no econonist but he knows the value of the American dollar. Having traveled in Europe and exchanging dollars for Euros.
Wall Street Journal 1.29.2026
It is disconcerting to read the Wall Street Journal and learn one Euro is approaching $1.20.
A fact of financial life Trump thinks is fine. I am sure the American traveler will disagree.
SAN FRANCISCO – PACIFIC HEIGHTS
Lee Heidhues 1.27.2026
It’s been quite an invigorating experience watching the saga of the “Majestic” young mountain lion who held San Francisco in its thrall for over 24 hours.
Fortunately the authorities handled the situation with professional aplomb and the 77 pound King of the Jungle has been transported to his natural habitat.
The blogger chronicled the entire event and is glad to see that well over 1000 people have viewed the unfolding story from its beginning to happy conclusion.
24 hours and 1088 views later on blogger’s ‘X’ feed A happy ending.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/mountain-lion-nurse-21318618.php
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
Lee Heidhues 1.27. 2026 UPDATED
The ICEcapades reign of State sanctioned Terror is Trump’s vindictive retribution. Governor Tim Walz, running mate of Kamala Harris in 2024, continues to bash the convicted Felon Trump.
It is happening here.
Caitlin Dickerson, a journalist, explores the unrestrained power and perils of Trump’s immigration enforcement on “The Ezra Klein Show.”
It can and is happening here. Listen to this Ezra Klein podcast and learn how your tax dollars are being spent in furtherance of Fascism and an Orwellian America.
Demonstrators Flood Minneapolis Streets as Hundreds of Businesses Close to Protest ICE
Top photo: ICE storm troopers beat back citizen protesters in Minneapolis in the aftermath of the murder of Renee Good by an out of control ICE agent in January 2026
SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 1.25.2026 UPDATED
People in supposedly tolerant and enlightened San Francisco may be loath to admit it. The harsh reality is that former Mayor London Breed is still out of work because of systemic racism all pervasive in America.
If the former Mayor was a white guy or gal he/she would have been swept up by a political action committee or consulting firm the day after leaving office. Not only was London Breed Mayor for over six years, she was twice elected Supervisor and was President of the Board of Supervisors.
London Breed is a black woman raised in the Western Addition housing projects just blocks from City Hall who worked her way up through hard work and political smarts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Breed
Breed definitely didn’t enjoy the privileged upbringing of the white man who defeated her in November 2024, having spent millions of his own money to capture City Hall. The billionaire scion of the Levi Strauss & Co. family fortune, Daniel Lurie.
As Mayor Breed was definitely a fighter for the issues she believes in, mainly funding the police department and pushing for housing development. Breed brawled consistently with San Francisco White progressives whom she looked down at with thinly veiled disdain.
Perhaps Mayor Breed’s most crowning achievement was her advocacy for car free spaces. This advocacy resulted in the voter approved car free JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park, Sunset Dunes Park along the Pacific Coast shoreline and numerous car free streets throughout the city. That will will be her environmental legacy. One for which Breed has not received enough credit.
Philosophical and political positions which one would think would be a calling card amongst the billionaire class for future employment.
Not, yet. Heather Knight, former columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle, and now New York Times reporter took a look at London Breed one year removed from office.
Excerpted from The New York Times 1.16.2026
London Breed has said little in the year since she left office. She has thoughts on the praise that the current mayor, Daniel Lurie, has received.
Ms. Breed said that she wanted Mr. Lurie to be successful. It’s just that it has been hard for her to see him get so much credit, she said, and she wondered if race was a factor.
London Breed needs a job, and she wants you to know that.
A year ago, she left her post as the 45th mayor of San Francisco — and its $383,000 salary — after losing her re-election bid to Daniel Lurie, the heir to the Levi Strauss fortune.
Past mayors have used the office as a springboard. San Francisco’s 38th mayor, Dianne Feinstein, became a longtime U.S. senator who once chaired the Senate Rules Committee. The 42nd mayor, Gavin Newsom, is finishing his second term as California governor and has his sights on running for president.
Ms. Breed, 51, is still unemployed. She didn’t serve long enough to qualify for a municipal pension and health care benefits, and is living off her savings.
“I need to get myself out there,” she said in an interview with The New York Times.
Mr. Lurie, a political neophyte, has reaped the benefits of strong poll numbers and praise for the city’s turnaround.
It is common for former elected officials to resent their successors, especially if a prosperous stretch follows. And in the glow of San Francisco’s recovery, Ms. Breed has been largely forgotten as she has retreated to the political wilderness.
Top photo: Mayor Breed with a group of San Francisco Police Department officers
SAN FRANCISCO – SUTRO HEIGHTS PARK
Lee Heidhues 1.18.2026
San Francisco has a miserable tree canopy and the Feds are making a bad environment worse with its war on old growth trees.
The blogger is shocked and appalled at the National Park Service (NPS) continues its demolition derby to destroy the natural habitat in historic Sutro Heights Park. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutro_Heights_Park
Just two years ago in January 2024 the Feds did another search out and destroy mission. As a good friend commented at the time, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” Obviously someone didn’t get the message.
Top photo: a row of decimated trees leave a view of the Pacific Coast shoreline. A pyrrhic environmental victory for sure.
Photos: Lee Heidhues
SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 1.17.2026
Fascism on the rise in America. Department of Homeland Security. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security
State sanctioned terrorists.
Now that convicted Felon turned President has been unleashed, again, for a year he has turned loose his version of State sanctioned domestic terrorists on the immigrant population and citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.
Who are these well paid mercenary thugs? Deutsche Welle takes a deep look.
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle – 1.17.2026
Donald Trump’s second presidential term has seen a rapid rise in the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. But who are these people, and where is the US government finding them?
Once a relatively obscure branch of law enforcement, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have fast become the sharp point of Donald Trump’s mass deportation initiative.
Since Trump took office a year ago, the number of ICE agents has jumped from 10,000 to 22,000, thanks largely to a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recruitment drive to sign up what they call “qualified patriotic Americans from across the country.”
The Trump administration said it deported 605,000 people between January 20 and December 10, 2025, and 1.9 million immigrants had “voluntarily self-deported.”
Such a significant upscaling of a branch of law enforcement is unusual — and unprecedented in the history of ICE, which was formed in 2002. The effort raises questions about screening and the suitability of candidates, of which DHS said there were 220,000 in the last year.
ICE training has been cut from 16 to eight weeks in the drive. The requirement to learn some Spanish, the language of most of the country’s unauthorized immigrants, has also been axed. ICE did not respond to a series of questions from DW on its recruitment.
Concerns about the training of agents and the perceived politicization of ICE have grown in the wake of the death of Renee Nicole Good, which has sparked countrywide protests across and lead to the resignation of a dozen federal prosecutors in the state of Minnesota on Wednesday.
The advertising bill for what the DHS has described as a “wartime recruitment” drive in 2026 is $100 million (€86 million), according to a 30 page document seen by The Washington Post newspaper. The pace looks set to at least continue, given that Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” handed ICE a $170 billion budget over the next four years for border and interior enforcement.
https://www.dw.com/en/how-are-ice-agents-recruited-and-who-are-they/a-75506003
SAN FRANCISCO – CITY HALL
Lee Heidhues 1.16.2021
The blogger was at City Hall on Wednesday in a futile effort to gain some respect from the Board of Appeals. It was not meant to be. He was lined up against the Planning Department, the Department of Building Inspection and a stern faced group of political appointees.
Nearby there was a marvelous party going on in the City Hall Rotunda. The San Francisco Ballet opening night Gala. The sounds of happy attendees and music resonated throughout the historic building.
Enjoying the scene of San Francisco cultural aristocracy partying like there is no joyful tomorrow in the dystopian World of ‘The Donroe Doctrine’ my black and white photo montage captured the action.
It was a positive counterpoint to a just concluded difficult time in front of the City’s uncaring and unbending bureaucratic establishment.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 1.15.2021
As political tensions and cultural anxieties ripple through the arts world nationwide, with the Bay Area’s own institutions facing uncertainty, the San Francisco Ballet kicked off its 93rd season with the usual glitz and pageantry — even as unease at times colored the night.
But not everyone embraced the program’s tone.
Santa Cruz-based composer Riley Nicholson, who has worked with Bay Area dance companies for years, attended the gala wearing a suit jacket in quiet protest featuring a design by San Francisco artist Elliott C Nathan. The back of the jacket was emblazoned with the words “Melt ICE,” in acknowledgement of the recent shootings at the hands of U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement officers.Â
The opening gala on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at San Francisco City Hall drew a mixed crowd whose conversations ranged from the just-announced sale of the California College of the Arts to the Ballet’s decision to proceed with its scheduled performance at the newly rebranded Trump Kennedy Center.
George Balanchine’s “Stars and Stripes” is a comic, campy and enduringly brilliant ballet set to the military marches of John Philip Sousa. The last time it appeared on the War Memorial Opera House stage, back in 2009, America had just inaugurated its first Black president. The curatorial message from San Francisco Ballet’s then-artistic director Helgi Tómasson needed no verbal elaboration: Let’s celebrate, his choice said.
Today we inhabit different times. As the San Francisco Ballet launched its 93rd season on Wednesday, Jan. 14, current Artistic Director Tamara Rojo explained that she brought back “Stars and Stripes”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_and_Stripes_(ballet) to mark the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding.
Considering that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers currently terrorize our city streets, while the threat of military action to seize Greenland distresses our NATO allies, Rojo’s curatorial message came across as less than crystalline. And yet, scanning the varying faces and skin tones of the prancing dancer “regiments” dressed in hot-pink tutus and faux army uniforms, one thing was clear: It is immigration that makes America — and our city’s Ballet — truly great.Â
SAN FRANCISCO – BILL’S PLACE ON CLEMENT STREET
Lee Heidhues 1.8.2026
Having a craving for a hamburger and fries I walked through my neighborhood in the outer Richmond and found the one of a kind place. Bill’s Place on Clement Street near 25th Avenue.
There are few family owned hamburger restaurants in San Francisco. The blogger is fortunate that such an institution has existed in my neighborhood for decades.
I stepped inside and was greeted by the restaurant co- owner, Wally Jarrar. Checking out the robust menu I was seated at a large table and ordered a cheeseburger and fries.
I engaged in conversation with the personable co-owner. He told me that he has owned Bill’s Place with his brother for 10 years. It’s obvious Wally is proud of his restaurant. A 67 year institution on the outer Richmond District of San Francisco.
SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 1.10.2026 UPDATED
https://x.com/i/status/2009051095142945244
Once again Felon Trump’s cold brutality is shown for all the World to see.
The cold blooded murder of a 37 year old mother as she sat in her car by @realDonaldTrump @DHSgov @Sec_Noem renegade ICE thugs prove once again that
@POTUS and his myrmidons are simply stated.
Murderous Thugs terrorizing, now murdering, citizens exercising their First Amendment rights to protest.
There can be no Justice as long as these thugs and criminals either wearing civilian suits or wearing uniforms are tossed from office and prosecuted for their crimes.
Excerpted from NBC News Now, Minneapolis 1.7.2026
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/minnesota-ice-shooting-live-updates-rcna252852
Outraged over the fatal ICE shooting in her city, Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley is demanding that ICE leave Minneapolis.
“There’s no reason why we lost Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, who was simply caring and protecting her neighbor. There’s no reason why she should have been shot and killed by a federal ICE agent,” Wonsley told NBC News Now.
Top photo: ICE Agent murders 37 year old Renee Good in cold blood in Minneapolis – 1.7.2026
SAN FRANCISCO – SUNSET DUNES PARK
Lee Heidhues 1.5.2026
Once again the proponents of Sunset Dunes Park, the urban oasis adjacent to the Pacific Coast shoreline of San Francisco, have prevailed.
The advocates of Sunset Dunes Park have now prevailed twice at the ballot box and twice in the courtroom. You would think the entitled car fanatics would acknowledge reality and stop this mindless holy war to preserve their false sense of entitlement over the streets in San Francisco.
Wishful thinking no doubt. These losers are already vowing to appeal their latest loss in Court. And are hoping four San Francisco Supervisors will vote to put Sunset Dunes Park before the voters, again, in June 2026.
Less than a year and a half ago the voters approved Sunset Dunes Park with a 55 percent majority. Think the result will change in 2026. It won’t. So, my word to these losers is GET OVER IT.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 1.5. 2026
Sunset Dunes Park will remain open after a San Francisco judge on Monday rejected a legal challenge to the 2024 ballot measure that shut down the Great Highway to create the park, according to court records.
The lawsuit, filed by pro-highway advocate Matthew Boschetto, sought to undo the voter-approved Proposition K that established Sunset Dunes in 2024 — the city’s newest and most controversial coastal park, which permanently closed the Upper Great Highway to vehicle traffic.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ross said Prop K complies with state law and rejected the suit on Monday after casting doubt on the case last week and asking attorneys to deliberate at a hearing.
Jen Kwart, spokesperson for city attorney David Chiu, said her office “appreciated the thorough discussion of these issues today.”
“We are glad the Court affirmed the will of the voters in passing Proposition K and closing the Upper Great Highway to private vehicles,” Kwart said. “We are pleased the court found the City complied with CEQA.”
Ross’s decision is a loss for Boschetto and other pro-highway advocates who have long fought to keep the Upper Great Highway open.
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