If this story is true, a lucky California woman just took herself to the cleaners and has become the unluckiest woman in the Golden State.

Several weeks ago I posted about the sale of a $1,800,000 lottery ticket in my own San Francisco neighborhood. (4.21.2021 –Someone is happy in San Francisco $1.8MM lottery ticket. Where’s the winner?)

Now we have a pricier and sadder lottery tale. A woman bought a California lottery ticket six months ago, left the ticket in her pants and ran it through the wash).

Talk about Down the Drain.

The Guardian 5.14.2021

The winner of a $26m California lottery prize may have literally washed the chance of a fortune down the drain.The winning SuperLotto Plus ticket for the 14 November drawing was sold at an Arco AM/PM convenience store in the Los Angeles suburb of Norwalk. Thursday was the last day to redeem it.

Nobody did.

Four prizes of $20m or more haven’t been claimed since 1997, including a $63m prize from 2015, a lottery spokesman, Jorge De La Cruz, told the Los Angeles Times.

Store employee Esperanza Hernandez told the Whittier Daily News that a woman came in on Wednesday and told workers that she had put the ticket in her pants and it was destroyed in the laundry.

The store’s manager told KTLA-TV that surveillance video showed the woman who bought the ticket, and she is known to store workers.

A copy of the surveillance video was turned over to California lottery officials, the manager said.

The claim will be investigated, a lottery spokeswoman, Cathy Johnston, said.

Lottery officials say someone who believes he or she is a winner must complete a claim form. But if someone loses a ticket, they must provide evidence that they owned it, such as a photograph of the front and back of the ticket, the officials said.

The winning numbers were: 23, 36, 12, 31, 13, with the mega number of 10. The $26m prize can be taken in annual installments or as a $19.7m cash option.

If the prize isn’t claimed, the $19.7m will go to California public schools.

The store that sold the ticket will receive a $130,000 bonus.

It’s uncommon for large jackpots to go unclaimed, officials said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/may/14/california-lottery-ticket-winner-laundry

Message to Thomas Campbell, Director and CEO – Fine Arts Museums SF

San Francisco Chronicle 5.12.2021

“Thomas Campbell, director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, said JFK Drive should be reopened to cars ‘as soon as possible’ while the city studies the issue, saying its closure has limited visitors’ and staff’s access to the de Young Museum and hampered its logistical operations.

‘Advocates for closure of JFK have taken advantage of COVID and the temporary Safe Streets closure of JFK to push their agenda for permanent closure in part by creating a false sense of crisis that is based on distorted statistics and unsubstantiated emotional rhetoric,’ Campbell said.”

Attn:  Thomas Campbell – Director and CEO FAMSF

Mr. Campbell,

My wife has been a long time member of the FAMSF. She teaches English to international students.  She introduces a private student to the DeYoung collections when she brings them on public transit to the DeYoung as her guest.  Her student often returns to do a more thorough visit to the DeYoung paying the steep admission price of a non San Francisco resident.

I carefully read your comments re Car Free JFK Drive and am all the more shocked after reading the attached article published in Hyperallergic, particularly the following,

As New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Director, “Campbell faced accusations of poor money management. Toward the end of his tenure, the Met faced a steep $40 million deficit that caused retirement buyouts, hiring freezes, and a postponement of the heralded $600 million expansion of its modern and contemporary wing. News of the deficit came on the heels of the Met’s high attendance numbers and its decision to sign an expensive eight-year lease on the Breuer building. (Now, years later, the Frick Collection is said to be taking over the last three years of the lease in 2020, and the Met has begun charging a mandatory ticket fee to non-New Yorker visitors in order to manage its deficit threat.)”

https://hyperallergic.com/468793/thomas-campbell-new-director-of-san-francisco-museums/

Are you serious?  How can you, having a dubious history of museum management, speak seriously about a car free JFK Drive and the DeYoung having its logistical operations “hampered?”

It is not a problem.  You know it, too. Your entire statement is misleading. The loading docks just off JFK have been used continuously during the Pandemic. I cycle by them frequently and see large trucks and vehicles parked in the loading docks and on JFK Drive.  “Visitors and staff’s access” has not been “hampered.”

I agree that the people about whom you speak admittedly have to walk a short distance. It truly isn’t that great a hindrance.

Most importantly you fail to mention the 800 car garage which sits directly underneath the Concourse.  It was before your time in San Francisco that this garage was built at the behest of Dede Wilsey; expressly to accommodate the concerns of those who feel they need easy access to the Museum.

As a newcomer to San Francisco you need to support San Francisco’s Transit First program and an environmentally friendly JFK Drive.  Do not use your specious, untrue and ridiculous comments unbefitting a person who is  leading the Fine Arts Muesums into the 21st century.

Thoughtfully,

Liz and Lee Heidhues

Native San Franciscans

Photos on JFK Drive – Liz and Lee Heidhues

The sordid tale of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell appears to have a long reach. Now that Melinda and Bill Gates are in divorce court the relationship Mr. Gates had with Jeffrey Epstein is coming under scrutiny.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail in 2019.  Suicide was given as the official cause. Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested  in July 2020 and is awaiting trial. She has been denied bail and is in a Manhattan jail.

Some hypothesize that Melinda Gates started down the divorce track over her dismay about her husband’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

More tabloid fodder which will undoubtedly continue to make its way into the august pages of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times.

Vanity Fair 5.10.2021

In the fall of 2019, just a couple months after Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell, the New York Times ran a report on the relationship between the wealthy sexual predator and Bill Gates, which was more extensive than the Microsoft founder had previously acknowledged.

That September, Gates confirmed having met with Epstein, but said he “didn’t have any business relationship or friendship with him.” The Times report in October, though, detailed a number of meetings over the course of several years, including several at Epstein’s New York mansion, all of them after the financier was already a convicted sex offender.

“Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein,” a spokesperson for the philanthropist, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, told the Times in 2019, “and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so.”

Around the time of that report, Melinda Gates reportedly began talking to divorce lawyers, setting off a roughly two-year separation process that culminated last week with the power couple’s announced split—and, according to the Wall Street Journal, the timing was not accidental. Per the Journal, Melinda Gates was “uncomfortable” with Epstein after she and her husband met with him in 2013 and expressed concerns about him. But Bill Gates and members of the Gates Foundation continued their dealings with Epstein anyway, a matter that “still haunts” her, according to the Daily Beast, which first reported the 2013 meeting.

The extent to which the relationship between Bill Gates and Epstein weighed on the marriage is not clear. But according to the Journal, it factored into the couple’s split after 27 years of marriage, which was negotiated over the course of 2020. The Microsoft founder and billionaire philanthropist did not comment to the Journal on Sunday, but a spokesperson said he stands by his initial statement about Epstein. Melinda Gates did not comment to the Journal. 

Publicly, the couple has said little about the reasons for their separation, writing in a statement May 3 that “we no longer believe we can grow together as a couple in this next phase of our lives.” The couple said they will continue to work together at their charitable foundation. Reporting in 2019 about the association between Gates and Epstein drew significant scrutiny for Gates at the time. The role it appears to have played in Bill and Melinda Gates’ divorce is sure to renew that scrutiny—and intensify it.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/the-jeffrey-epstein-question-hanging-over-bill-and-melinda-gates-divorce#intcid=recommendations_vf-trending-legacy_dbcb3efd-62be-4110-8454-a4b94059dedf_popular4-1

Lee Heidhues – 5.11.2021

I am no fan of Liz Cheney.  

She is a hard core Republican conservative who has consistently spread the Fox News talking points for decades.  Her staunch conservative record has been discussed in frank fashion in recent days by such publications as The New York Times and The Nation.

It makes it all the more surprising that Liz Cheney, amongst her spineless and gutless fellow Republicans is taking down Donald Trump in the most frank and stark fashion. For her act of standing up to the Republican mob she is going to lose her leadership role in Congress, soon to be voted out.  

It’s obvious listening to her statement on the floor of Congress that Liz Cheney thinks it a small price to pay. For this act of defiance and politcal courage she deserves a shout out.

Video of statement on floor of Congress attached.  Watch and listen.

https://www.c-span.org/video/?511538-1/rep-liz-cheney-our-freedom-survives-protect-it

It’s been three weeks since the Green Party selected its first candidate for Chancellor in the September 26 national election, 40 year old Annalena Baerbock.

In this  period Ms. Baerbock has become a prime media target for misogyny, vitriol, and fake news. These attacks are directed at a woman whose election would propel the Green Party to the pinacle of power in Europe.  An idea unthinkable when the Greens came onto the German political scene in the 1980’s as a militant environmentalist party co-founded by the late Petra Kelly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra_Kelly

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.10.2021

It’s been barely three weeks since Annalena Baerbock was nominated as the Green party’s chancellor candidate. But it took only a matter of hours after her nomination on April 19 for disinformation and hate about her to begin spreading like wildfire online.

Green party election campaign leader Michael Kellner says the hate and fake reports have taken on a “completely new dimension.”

Experts warn that the wave of targeted hate and disinformation that has spread about Baerbock is only the tip of the iceberg ahead of September’s general election.

Who’s behind the disinformation and hate?

At the moment two main groups have their eye on Baerbock, says Hillje. One is a far-right network made up of populists and extremists. The second is pro-Russian, he says, pointing to Baerbock’s criticism of Moscow, and the Green party’s wish to end the construction of Nord Stream 2, the controversial gas pipeline between Russia and Germany. 

“It wasn’t the increase in fake content and hate that surprised us. It was the sheer speed and extent,” says Josephine Ballon, head of legal at HateAid, Germany’s only advice center that only supports people affected by digital violence. “What’s unfolding is gender-specific hate,” she told DW. ”This kind of hate seeks to discredit and silence the target.”

Misogynistic hate online is nothing new. A study by German magazine Der Spiegel in February found that 69% of female members of parliament in Germany had experienced “misogynistic hatred as members of the Bundestag.”

While 64% said they’ve received messages — mostly online, but also by post — some 36% have experienced physical “attacks on themselves, their offices or their home.”

“Hate against women online is significantly stronger and has a different quality from hate and disinformation about heterosexual white men,” says Ballon.

“The fake content spread about women is often more sexualized. And the spectrum is broad, starting from comments about someone’s appearance, their gender, their sexuality, to threats of sexual abuse.”

Entrenched misogyny

Since her nomination, Baerbock has been the target of sexualized hate and baseless claims. There have been slurs about her appearance, there were bogus claims like Baerbock calling for an abolition of pets to combat climate change. And there was a fake nude photo of Baerbock, that was really the picture of a young Russian porn star with a vague resemblance to the German politician.

All this was circulated in a bid to discredit Baerbock, who’s currently polling as the most popular candidate to replace Merkel.

“What we’re seeing right now was unfortunately not unexpected,” says political and communications adviser Johannes Hillje. “Next to conspiracy tales, Islamophobia, and anti-migration sentiment … misogyny is a key part of the ideology of the groups who create and spread this kind of content.”

For the new far-right scene, Baerbock is the new Merkel,” Hillje says. Baerbock has quickly risen in popularity ratings and is politically further to the left than Merkel. “As a female, successful, liberal politician, Baerbock meets a lot of the criteria of their classic image of ‘the enemy.’

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-annalena-baerbock-becomes-prime-target-of-sexist-hate-speech/a-57484498

It’s a grim Mothers Day for over 100 forgotten people in lockdown at the San Francisco County Jail on Bryant Street.

As Public Defender Mano Raju cogently explains in the following op ed these people who have been jailed for months have not been convicted of any crime. Nonetheless they languish in jail under deplorable conditions awaiting their day in Court.

Excerpted from San Francisco Examiner 5.5.2021 – Mano Raju is SF Public Defender 

Here in San Francisco, over 100 people are still languishing in jail awaiting trial past the last day in which they must be legally brought to trial — the majority have been waiting over a month, and some for many months past their deadlines. The unlawful pretrial incarceration of hundreds of people, who are presumed innocent, is not just a matter of moral, ethical, and human rights — San Francisco Courts are flagrantly violating the law.

I just finished reading a letter from one of our clients who has been locked up in our jails for months past the legal deadline for his trial to be conducted. He describes the current conditions like being “housed at a super max level 5 federal prison” and during the limited time they get out of their cells daily “for one hour, 8 people are forced to share 4 phones and 3 showers… shave, get hair cut, find a book” and make any personal or legal calls.

Lee Heidhues 5.8.2021

My Response to Reader Comments to the article which follows:

The smug sense of cynicism and snark evident in several of the responses to SF Chronicle reporting is reprehensible. It’s a series of cheap shots taken by folks who should be aware that San Francisco voters have elected “Progressive” District Attorneys since 1993; Terence Hallinan, Kamala Harris, George Gascon and Chesa Boudin. Each of these DA’s sees their job as being more than handmaidens for the Police Officers Association (POA), law and order politicians and the lock ’em up brigades in the media. These “Progressive” DA’s continue to be elected because they represent the criminal justice viewpoint of San Francisco voters.

San Francisco Chronicle 5.7.2021

There have been 12 reported hate crimes in San Francisco against Asian Americans through March of this year, according to a report by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino. That’s already more than the nine anti-Asian hate crimes reported in the city during all of 2020.

The man accused of attacking a 36-year-old Asian father while he pushed a baby stroller last month will be charged with a hate crime, San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin announced in a Twitter post on Saturday.

Boudin said on the social media platform that he “received new evidence” that the April 30 attack outside a Mission Bay grocery store was “racially motivated.” Police arrested Sidney Hammond, 26, in connection with the crime.

Hate crimes are difficult to charge and prove in the courts.

Boudin’s announcement came one day after his office said that the suspect in Tuesday’s stabbing of two Asian women at 4th and Market streets would be charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse.

The suspect in that case, Patrick Thompson, 54, could be imprisoned for life if convicted. Boudin’s office, in a media release, said Thompson was a former mental health patient at Napa State Hospital. In an unusual move, the district attorney represented the prosecution at Thompson’s May 7 arraignment.

Boudin, who was elected on a reformer platform, is fending off two online recall campaigns from conservative interests that seek to paint him as soft on crime. A spokesperson for the D.A. wasn’t immediately available.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/S-F-beating-of-Asian-father-was-a-hate-crime-16162411.php

I was fortunate to watch Willie Mays frequently in the prime of his career. My friends and I all took it for granted that the “Say Hey Kid” was one of the best.

It’s no surprise Willie is still a presence at the age of 90 and revered by all.

San Francisco Chronicle – John Shea 5.7.2021

Things happened quickly. As they always did when Willie Mays owned the baseball diamond.

The legendary ballplayer appeared in the front seat of a 1956 turquoise and white Oldsmobile convertible, which pulled out of the opening in the left-field corner and made a lap around the Oracle Park field, Mays doffing his cap to elated fans wishing him a happy 90th birthday.

Then the Olds retreated through the opening, and the birthday kid retreated to his suite overlooking left field.

In his suite, Mays was jubilant. Back at his second home, where a statue of his likeness greets passers-by, he was in his element and among friends, not just the 9,219 fans in attendance but those fortunate enough to hang with him in his suite.

Mays spoke of how appreciative he was of all the love and phone calls he received the past couple of days. Danny Glover spoke of how he loved watching Mays play as far back as Seals Stadium, inspiring his pregame narration.

“He’s the summer wind,” said Glover, Friday evening’s narrator, his voice bellowing throughout the stadium just before Mays made his first on-field appearance at 24 Willie Mays Plaza since 2019.

“His very essence is movement,” continued Glover, the actor, director and San Francisco native whose words were accompanied by classic highlights shown on the center-field scoreboard. “Running out from under his cap. Stealing bases. Chasing fly balls. The basket catch. His windmill of a swing. The most famous catch in baseball history.

After Glover’s tribute, PA announcer Renel Brooks-Moon introduced the man of the hour and the man of all time, “The Hall of Famer … No. 24 … Mr. … Willie Mays.”

The roar of the crowd, still limited because of the coronavirus, greeted Mays, whose smile lit up Third and Mission, a sight welcomed by all who waited a long time to return to the ballpark, waited a long time to see their hero, making his first visit to Oracle since late in the 2019 season.

Throughout the game, the scoreboard showed many videos of shout-outs to Willie including from Bonds, Vin Scully, George W. Bush, Steph Curry, Steve Young, Magic Johnson, Gavin Newsom, Wayne Gretzky, Snoop Dogg, Ronnie Lott, Ken Griffey Jr., Steve Kerr, London Breed and Tom Brady (who actually received some boos).

After the third inning, Brooks-Moon led a chorus of the Happy Birthday song, and Mays and Bonds, his godson, cut the cake. It was shown on the scoreboard, and fans cheered and cherished the moment and the presence of greatness.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/Even-at-90-Willie-Mays-owned-the-diamond-in-16161617.php#photo-20964018

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Mays

 

I was drawn to this story because of the wanton violence exported from America and inflicted on the citizen of another country.  When I learned the suspects attended the high school where I spent four years I was shocked.  

I never thought Tam High whose clock tower can be seen from Highway 101, well respected for its academic standards and beautiful campus, would send people like Finnegan Lee Elder and Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth into the adult world who could commit such a horrific crime.

San Francisco Chronicle 5.6.2021

A pair of high school friends from the wealthy Marin County enclave Mill Valley were found guilty Wednesday of stabbing an Italian police officer to death after a botched drug deal during a 2019 vacation in Rome.

A jury found Finnegan Lee Elder, 21. and his friend Gabriel Christian Natale Hjorth, 20, who met while students at Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, guilty of homicide for repeatedly stabbing an Italian carabinieri officer, following a scuffle, and killing him on July 26, 2019, days after he returned from his honeymoon.

The Bay Area men, then 18, said they acted in self defense after being attacked by two men who did not identify themselves as police. The Associated Press reported the verdict from Rome. They were also found guity of attempted extortion, resisting a public official and carrying an attack style knife without just cause.

Murder carries a life sentence in Italy, which does not have a death penalty.

As the defendants were escorted out of the courtroom, Elder’sfather, Ethan Elder, called out, “Finnegan, I love you,” the Associated Press reported. The slain officer’s widow, who held a photo of her dead husband throughout the 14-month trial, sobbed and hugged his brother.

Police and prosecutors in Rome said the Marin men purchased what turned out to be fake drugs from an Italian man in Rome. When the two teenagers returned to the location, they allegedly stole the backpack of the man who had pointed them to the purported dealer and demanded 100 Euros and a gram of real cocaine in exchange for the backpack, according to polce.

The men arranged to meet the dealer near their hotel, but the Italian man instead called police. Two plainclothes paramilitary police officers, including Cerciello Rega, responded to the scene. Police say Elder stabbed Cerciello Rega 11 times and Natale Hjorth punched and kicked his partner, Andrea Varriale, before running back to their hotel room.