It’s simply amazing.

Chesa Boudin is now San Francisco District Attorney. A true people’s campaign was culminated with his swearing in at historic Herbst Theater in San Francisco’s Civic Center.

The stage on which District Attorney Boudin took the oath of office was the same place where the United Nations was founded in 1945.

A positively rapturous crowd, many of whom are still in a state of disbelief, looked on as Mayor London Breed administered the oath of office.

The frosting on the cake was the congratulatory video from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

San Francisco Chronicle 1.8.2020

Standing on stage in front of a raucous crowd in San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, Chesa Boudin was sworn in Wednesday by Mayor London Breed as San Francisco’s new district attorney.

Boudin, 39, stood before the packed house of impassioned supporters, city dignitaries, law enforcement officials, judges and attorneys, promising to confront racial disparities in the criminal justice system and mass incarceration. And as the city’s top prosecutor, he said he will focus resources on the city’s most violent criminals while also pledging to hold police more accountable in cases of brutality.

Mayor Breed, Valerie Block and DA Boudin

“Join me,” Boudin said to the crowd of hundreds. “Join this movement. Join us in rejecting the notions that to be free we must cage others, that to seek justice we must abandon forgiveness, that to empower our protectors requires tolerating excessive force, that to be safe we should put the mentally ill and addicted in cages, and that jails and prisons should be the primary response to all of our social problems.”

Before his rousing speech, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor made a surprise appearance via a recorded message on the theater’s big screen to congratulate Boudin on becoming district attorney.

“Your personal strength and commitment to reforming and improving the criminal justice system is a testament to the person you are and the role model you will continue to be for so many,” she said. “Chesa, you have undertaken a remarkable challenge today. I hope you reflect as a great beacon to many.”

Boudin’s unlikely path to the high-profile position began when his politically radical parents were incarcerated when he was an infant. They acted as getaway drivers in an armored car robbery in upstate New York that left two police officers and a security guard dead.

Boudin said visiting his parents behind bars while growing up helped shape his understanding of the country’s criminal justice system.

His mother was released from prison after more than two decades behind bars. She was in the audience at Wednesday’s swearing in. Boudin addressed her and his father, who remains in prison in upstate New York.

“The crime you both participated in when I was an infant cost innocent men with families their lives,” he said. “It did not matter to the DA or the judge that neither of you was armed nor that you did not personally hurt anyone. Those details matter to me. What matters even more is that since that terrible day you and my father have focused your lives on love. Thank you for teaching me about forgiveness and redemption.”

Boudin was elected in November in a narrow race in which he ran the furthest politically-left campaign of four candidates. His election was celebrated by his supporters and activists as a momentous juncture in how the city’s legal system will operate.

Boudin’s win, though, has prompted concern from groups like the city’s police union and statewide law enforcement groups, which fear the new district attorney may be unfairly harsh on police and soft on criminals.

But while progressive prosecutors were once unusual around the country, San Francisco has a legacy of electing reform-minded district attorneys, including the last three, Gascón, Kamala Harris and Terence Hallinan, who was elected in 1995. Other cities, like Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis, have followed San Francisco’s lead and recently elected progressive district attorneys.

And under San Francisco’s progressive prosecutors, violent crime has followed national trends and steadily decreased over the last two decades, reaching a 56-year low for homicides last year.

“We know there is a balance between justice and fairness and I appreciate that Chesa Boudin appreciates that balance,” Mayor London Breed said before administering the oath. “He knows that we need so desperately to reform our criminal justice system. But we don’t have to do so at the expense of keeping our community safe.”

Boudin ran on a slate of progressive reforms to transform the system, but he will also be confronted by major challenges including the worsening epidemic of drug abuse and dealing in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin, a mental health crisis on the streets, and the worst property crime rate in the country.

“Our work will yield the most comprehensive restorative justice program in the country,” Boudin said. “Restorative justice saves lives. I know this because it saved mine. Victim services, especially for limited-English speakers and marginalized communities, is a critical and under-resourced part of the criminal justice system.”

As he takes over operations from interim District Attorney Suzy Loftus, who was appointed by Breed after Gascón quit his post in October, Boudin has launched efforts to implement his sweeping vision.

This week he announced the creation of subcommittees of advisers who will help to implement his policies.

Members include deputy police chiefs, public defenders, retired judges and activists. Jamal Trulove, who was wrongfully convicted of murder in San Francisco, and Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project and former member of the O.J. Simpson “Dream Team,” are among the members of the subcommittee to develop the office’s second look and conviction integrity unit.

Boudin will also have to solidify his executive team, which oversees the prosecution and public policy divisions of the office.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Sharon Wu, who ran the prosecution team under Kamala Harris and Gascón, tendered her resignation last week. She will be taking a job at the city Department of Police Accountability.

In an interview before his swearing in, Boudin said he was disappointed that Wu is leaving the office but understands her decision. He has not decided whom he will hire.

“It’s not a decision that I want to rush into,” he said. “Those are big shoes to fill. She did a lot of work. I want to make sure the person I put there is someone I can work well with, and also someone who has the skills and temperament and capacity to take on all that we need to take on.”

Boudin said Gascón’s Chief of Staff, Christine Soto DeBerry, will remain the head of public policy.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/San-Francisco-leaders-and-a-Supreme-Court-14960985.php#photo-18854589

Following a year long grass roots people’s campaign major change will arrive in San Francisco law enforcement at 5pm on Wednesday afternoon in Herbst Auditorium. 

The venue is already booked beyond capacity.

 Chesa Boudin will be sworn in by Mayor London Breed and will become San Francisco District Attorney. The torch will be passed to a new generation of law enforcement.

It is worldwide news. 

One policy which DA Boudin will pursue aggressively is the sex assault prosecution policy instituted by his predecessor.

San Francisco Chronicle – Heather Knight – 1.7.2020

Life at San Francisco’s Hall of Justice is about to change — again — with the baton-passing at 5 p.m. Wednesday from interim District Attorney Suzy Loftus to no-interim-needed Chesa Boudin.

Boudin famously edged out presumed front-runner Loftus in the Nov. 5 election after former District Attorney George Gascón quit to seek the same office in Los Angeles.

But as for what comes next for Loftus professionally, she’s not sure. She won’t be returning to her previous job as an attorney in the sheriff’s office and will take time off to consider her next steps. She said she wants to “evaluate different ways to make the greatest impact going forward.”

She still claims to not regret taking the job of interim district attorney two weeks before the Nov. 5 election. Breed tapped her for the role after Gascón left office earlier than expected, and political insiders mostly agree it wound up hurting Loftus in the election.

The musical chairs will end when Boudin is sworn in by Mayor London Breed at Herbst Theater, an event that Loftus will not attend because, she said, she’ll be out of town. The two have disagreed on plenty, but in good news for victims of sexual assault, they have agreed on a new way of prosecuting these brutal crimes.

On Monday, Loftus initiated a new policy that Boudin has pledged to continue. It requires a prosecutor in the sex crimes unit be on call 24/7 to assist police officers in sexual assault investigations.

That could include reviewing search warrants, guiding police in interviewing victims and suspects, or helping find video footage from, say, bars, Lyft cars or private buildings’ security cameras.

That in and of itself would be a big change from Gascón’s tenure when numerous women complained their sex assault and rape cases went nowhere. Gascón has said his office filed charges in nearly 40% of sexual assault cases — about twice the national average — but admitted it was “a far cry from where we need to be.”

Under the new policy, at least eight prosecutors and managing attorneys on the sexual assault team will rotate so someone is always available to respond to police seeking aid in an investigation.

Loftus said a particular area of focus will be drug-facilitated sexual assaults, which, like homicide, might have a victim who can’t tell police or prosecutors what happened. Those crimes can include an assailant drugging someone to rape them or assaulting someone who is too drunk or high to give consent.

That’s where sending uniformed police officers to the scene as quickly as possible, seeking camera footage and even testing the victim’s sweat and vomit for drugs can be crucial, Loftus said.

“You consider everything and cast a broad net to piece back together what happened,” she said.

She said she’s talked numerous times to Police Chief Bill Scott about the changes and that he was immediately on board.

“Sexual assault is one of the very worst things that any one of us sees in law enforcement,” Loftus continued. “This idea we couldn’t do things better, couldn’t do more for people, didn’t sit well with him, either.”

Boudin confirmed he has spoken with Loftus and Scott about the changes.

“I approved the new policies,” he wrote in a text message. “I look forward to implementing them as a first step towards improving our victim-centered response to sex crimes.”

Loftus said she’s proud of her 2½ months in office and cited the changes in sexual assault prosecutions as one achievement. She said she’s also pleased her focus on property crime helped lead to last month’s bust of a fencing operation, netting $2.5 million in stolen laptops, smartphones, cameras, luxury handbags and other pricey goods.

She said she’s also worked to boost the notoriously low morale in the district attorney’s office.

“For as many days as I was here, I have been honored to serve,” Loftus said. “I wish the district attorney-elect the best of luck.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/heatherknight/article/In-last-act-interim-D-A-Loftus-pushes-new-sex-14954393.php

YEARS LONG OBSTRUCTION OF BICYCLE FRIENDLY STREETS IS A TOTAL DISGRACE.

SAN FRANCISCO IS INNUNDATED WITH CARS.

A LAUDABLE GOAL IS TO MAKE THIS TOWN HEALTHER FOR ITS NON DRIVING CITIZENS.

IF SAN FRANCISCO IS SO INCOMPATIBLE WITH A  FOSSIL FUELS RULE MANTRA I SUGGEST MOVING TO SOMEWHERE THAT EMBRACES YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF CARS CARS CARS.

HOPEFULLY THE CITY AGENCIES AND THE JUDICIAL BODIES SEE THIS LATEST JIHAD FOR WHAT IT IS…..JUST MORE VEXATIOUS TIME WASTING AND WHEEL SPINNING.

San Francisco Examiner – Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez 1.7.2020

A duo that is notorious in transit and bicycling circles for efforts to block local bike lane projects is back in action.

Attorney Mary Miles and car advocate Rob Anderson, who successfully tied up city bike lane plans for years with litigation, have filed an environmental challenge to the Page Street Bikeway Pilot that could potentially delay the project.

The 12-month pilot project would create a bikeway on Page Street with a physical barrier for safety between Laguna and Octavia Streets, and also create some forced turns for drivers seeking to use Page Street as a shortcut to a nearby U.S. Highway 101 onramp. That additional traffic on Page Street has threatened children attending John Muir Elementary School with potential traffic collisions.

The project was approved in November by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors, but drew some objections from Haight Street merchants who feared that some drivers would shift from Page Street to Haight Street, gumming up traffic there.

SFMTA staff have written in reports that the point of making the project a pilot is to measure those impacts, with planned reviews to see who is impacted, and how.

However Miles and Anderson argued in the appeal, which was filed in late December, that the pilot’s purpose and duration are not to collect data but to implement a bicycle project “on behalf of” the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, which the challengers call “a private lobbying corporation.”

The appeal asserts that the SFMTA failed to environmentally review the project’s “significant impacts” on transportation, transit, parking, air quality, energy use, and public safety, which includes access for city emergency vehicles.

The bike coalition responded with consternation to the appeal, which will go before the Board of Supervisors for a review and vote on Jan. 28.

“The Page Street Bikeway Improvements pilot enjoyed broad support among community members, elected officials and groups like the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association,” said Brian Wiedenmeier, director of the coalition, in a statement. “We’re confident that the approval process for this project will stand on its own merit when heard during appeal. We just can’t delay safety on our streets any further.”

The appeal may serve as an early test for newly sworn-in Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the neighborhood encompassing the soon-to-come Page Street bikeway.

“I have been a long-time advocate for bike safety improvements along Page Street,” Preston said in a statement. “As to the vote on the appeal, I look forward to the hearing and learning more.”

At the hearing, Miles and Anderson, or parties representing them, will argue that the bikeway requires environmental review. But this isn’t the pair’s first rodeo.

Miles and Anderson sued to block San Francisco’s 2005 bike plan, which laid out a vision for 34 miles of bike lanes on city streets. That legal challenge continued until at least 2013, the San Francisco Examiner previously reported, when construction on the bike lanes finally allowed some projects to move forward.

City Hall records show four previous Board of Supervisors hearings on challenges to pedestrian or bike safety projects by the pair’s group, The Coalition for Adequate Review, in 2005, 2007, 2009, and 2017.

Anderson became so infamous for his role in blocking the 2005 bike plan that a parody Twitter account was created under the name “Bob Gunderson,” whose profile claims he is “Fighting for wider streets, faster speeds & more parking everywhere. Battling the radical all-powerful bike lobby.”

The account tweets out exaggerated, car-favoring opinions, like this one in response to a new law in Oregon allowing cyclists to roll slowly through stop signs, “Waaahhhh, waahhhhh! Why can’t WE do this with 2-ton 200+ horsepower metal boxes if ~snowflake bicyclist~ get it, waaah, waaaaah!!!”

His blog posts frequently skewer San Francisco’s stances on street safety, including Vision Zero, which aims to reduce traffic deaths to zero by 2024, which he called in a December blog post “dumb and dishonest.”

Should the appeal be denied, and if “no further legal action is taken,” SFMTA spokesperson Erica Kato said “there will be no impact to our schedule” in implementing the bike project.

Miles did not return a request for comment by press time.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/theyre-back-frequent-bike-lane-foes-challenge-page-street-project/

The US Supreme Court reaffirmed that property owners do not possess unlimited rights to exclude the public when that access serves a greater good.  At issue is the right of the public to enjoy public beaches and shoreline vistas.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 1.6.2020

Surfers, lawyers and legislators hugged and high-fived Monday at an impromptu party on a sandy cove in San Mateo County after the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to take the case of a tech billionaire who wanted to block public access to the beach.

The decision means lawyers for Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, will not get the opportunity to argue before the high court that he has a right to stop people from crossing his property to reach a picturesque beach.

Advocates for public access touted the decision, which keeps an access road open to Martins Beach, about six miles south of Half Moon Bay, as a victory for beachgoers across the country.

“Money cannot buy justice, and arrogance cannot stop the public’s right to use our beautiful ocean,” said Joe Cotchett, the lead attorney for the Surfrider Foundation, which filed suit against Khosla. “Remember, this case is all about the public. That’s who it’s for. … It’s about the right of anyone — child, adult — to go down to fish, go down to swim, but, more important, to have access to our wonderful ocean.”

The crescent-shaped cove, featuring a distinctive pyramid-shaped rock, has been the subject of an ugly, almost decade-long clash between Khosla and surfers and other beachgoers that began when Khosla blocked the only road leading to Martins Beach. The Supreme Court’s rejection of the case now prevents the battle from becoming a test case for public coastal access around the country.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Supreme-Court-refuses-to-take-up-Martins-Beach-13271592.php

What a Shock.

The Minnesota Vikings upend the New Orleans Saints at the Superdome. It’s so nice to see pouty Saints coach Sean Peyton look on in dismay as his team takes another early Playoff exit.

Looking ahead the San Francisco 49ers are spared having to play Seattle. For Now. It could happen. But not next Saturday at Levi’s Stadium.

Washington Post 1.5.2020

The Golden State Warriors coach is one of the most articulate and well spoken people in the world of Sports. The San Francisco area is truly blessed to have such a smart guy as one of its sports leaders.  Steve Kerr’s politial observations are the result of personal experience and personal tragedy.  His father, a respected Educator, was murdered in Beirut when Steve was a student athlete at the University of Arizona.

San Francisco Chronicle 1.4.2020

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr voiced concern Saturday evening that the United States is on the verge of an “unwinnable” and “unnecessary” war with Iran.

“I’m worried that we’re going to end up in another war,” said Kerr, who has posted articles to Twitter condemning Friday’s drone strike ordered by President Trump that killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani.

“I try to use my Twitter platform to remind people to do their homework before we all just blindly wave the flag and get ourselves into another mess like we did in Iraq. I remember when we entered the Iraq War, I think I was in my last year playing. … I remember the patriotic fever that kind of swept up the nation.

“Since that time, we’ve done a great job in our league and other leagues of supporting our veterans — bringing them to games and giving them ovations, which I wholeheartedly support. But what I think would be even more supportive is to not get involved and send soldiers overseas to unwinnable or unnecessary wars in the first place. That’s how we can best support our men and women who are representing us.”

Kerr’s comments came before the Warriors’ game Saturday against the Detroit Pistons at Chase Center.

Thousands march in SF to denounce US attack, potential war…

No topics touch Kerr more personally than gun violence and U.S. relations with the Middle East. In 1984, Steve’s father, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated by two gunmen outside his office in Beirut.

In recent years, Steve Kerr has voiced his displeasure with President Trump’s handling of the Middle East multiple times. Shortly after the president enacted a travel ban in January 2017 for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, Kerr told reporters, “We’re really going against the principles of what our country’s about.”

Now, Kerr fears that the U.S. is repeating past mistakes and fueling a conflict that could cost many Americans their lives.

“We have a history in this country, all you have do is read about Vietnam and Iraq,” Kerr said. “People are misled by our government. It happened in Vietnam. We know that. The facts are not facts, and we have to be very careful right now with what we’re being told.

“If we’re led into another war, the implications for so many families, so many people are so drastic that we all need to understand what’s happening and support our troops by making sure we press our government to do the right thing. I’m saying everything I am to support our young men and women around the world who are putting their bodies on the line.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/warriors/article/Steve-Kerr-voices-concern-that-U-S-is-on-verge-14950141.php

This is the collateral damage in human terms of Trump’s ad hoc assassination of a top leader in Iran. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and five other military leaders in a drone attack Thursday near the Baghdad airport

Trump has no Vision, no Plan, no Clue.

Trump only does what floats through his mind in the moment. 63 million voters put this inept, dangerous Clown into the most powerful Position on the Planet Earth.

It is a shocking, disgusting commentary on the American body Politic and its Judgment.

San Francisco Chronicle 1.3.2020

The U.S. killing of Iran’s top general in a drone strike has many in the Bay Area’s Iranian-American community on edge about retaliatory attacks that could spiral into war, endangering family and friends in the Middle East or even in America.

“It’s kind of a scary time for all of us Persians or Iranian-Americans,” said Dornaz Memarzia, a member of the Bay Area Iranian community and a former activist. “This is not a good time for us.”

Tensions in Iran had already been steadily escalating since 2018, when President Trump pulled the United States out of an international deal to limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities and reimposed economic sanctions against the country’s oil, financial, shipping and shipbuilding industries. But the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and five other military leaders in a drone attack Thursday near the Baghdad airport pushed things to a new stress level.

Iranian leaders have vowed retribution for the killings, and Memarzia and others with family in Iran fear that could lead to a cycle of retaliation between the U.S. and Iran that might turn into war.

“Some are for regime change; they want the regime gone and they consider this a good thing,” she said. “On the other hand, this was such a reckless move by the Trump administration without getting any approval from Congress or advice from foreign policy advisers.”

Memarzia, whose grandparents live in Iran, said she is worried about them and that their lives have already been made difficult by the sanctions. Increased U.S. involvement in Iran would only further destabilize an already precarious situation, she said.

“The act that happened last night, many Iranians are approving that,” she said Friday. “They are fed up with the regime, all the economic sanctions, all the mismanagement and corruption.

“But they don’t consider the consequences. Look what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan after U.S. intervention.”

Abbas Milani,of the Iranian studies program at Stanford University, said the attack on Soleimani may further destabilize an already volatile situation. Despite Trump’s claims that he’s not trying to overthrow the ruling regime, that seems to be his intention, he said.

Abbas Milani – Head of Stanford University Iranian Studies (2005 file photo)

“I don’t think too many people expected the U.S. would take this action,” he said. “This was the most serious escalation of this low-key war that’s been going on for almost 40 years between the U.S. and Iran. This is the most glaring, blatant act of war against Iran, taking out second-most powerful man in the country.”

Trump has said he ordered Soleimani’s killing to prevent an attack on American troops. Milani said the administration could have taken other steps short of the drone strike to protect its troops and bases.

Among Bay Area residents, he said, the most common reaction is “fear for what this could mean for their family and friends in Iran, and what it could mean for the U.S.”

Activists in the U.S. are planning protests across the country to decry the drone strike. The Answer Coalition and Code Pink have scheduled a demonstration outside the Powell Street BART station in San Francisco for noon on Saturday, and others are planned over the weekend in dozens of additional American cities.

San Francisco police said Friday that they were stepping up security measures while monitoring the situation in Iran.

“We have deployed additional resources to key locations throughout the city,” the department said in a statement. “At this time, we do not have any credible threats.”

In Los Angeles, home to the nation’s largest Iranian-American community, the Los Angeles Police Department delivered a similar message Thursday night.

“This Department is committed to ensuring the safety of our vibrant and diverse community, and we ask every Angeleno to say something if you see something,” the LAPD tweeted.

New York City officials also said they were on alert.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-Iranian-Americans-fear-retaliation-war-14948501.php#photo-2368212

The world economy is already being impacted by the American assassination of Iran’s military leader Qassem Soleimani. The Iranians will not stand idly by and let this targeted killing go unanswered.

Wall Street Journal 1.2.2020

Escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran could threaten world’s crude supplies.  

U.S. crude futures recently advanced 2.8% to $62.86 a barrel.

The price of oil surged late Thursday after the killing of an Iranian military leader in a U.S.-authorized strike, an escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran that could threaten the world’s crude supplies.

Oil analysts have long warned that conflict between the U.S. and Iran poses a threat to global crude supply and could be underappreciated by investors who for months have focused on the U.S.-China trade war and threats to oil demand.

Oil rose sharply on the news in futures-market trading, with Brent crude rallying about 4%, before paring some of its gains after the Pentagon said President Trump authorized the strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign wing. Brent recently traded up nearly 3% at $68.20 a barrel.

If that move held Friday, it would put prices near their highest level since mid-September, when they soared following attacks in Saudi Arabia that took out a large chunk of the kingdom’s production capacity.

After the September Saudi attacks, prices later retreated following signals that the disruptions weren’t as severe as expected, illustrating the volatility that can roil energy markets after unexpected geopolitical events in the Middle East. Those attacks were blamed on Iran. The U.S. didn’t strike back at Iran after that attack, but it sent troops to strengthen Saudi defenses.

Still, a sustained rise in fuel prices as a result of fresh tensions in the region could mark a threat to the world economy by increasing gasoline costs for consumers and companies. U.S. crude futures advanced 2.8% to $62.86 a barrel Thursday evening.

“With trade-war fears receding, the heightened tensions in the Middle East may be poised to make a more meaningful impact on the oil market in 2020,” RBC Capital Markets analysts said in a recent note to clients.

Stock futures fell following the latest clash in the U.S.-Iran rivalry, with S&P 500 futures dropping 0.5% after the broad equity gauge closed at a fresh record Thursday.

Write to Amrith Ramkumar at amrith.ramkumar@wsj.com

https://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-prices-surge-after-u-s-strike-kills-iranian-military-leader-11578022971?mod=hp_lead_pos3

This targeted attack by the American military is sure to increase tension in the Neighborhood.  With an erratic incumbent in power in America this could all spiral out of control.  Quickly.

The Guardian 1.2.2020

White House says ‘decisive defensive action’ taken by president to kill Quds force leader in Baghdad airport attack.

The White House said Donald Trump ordered an air strike that killed powerful Iranian general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad in the early hours of Friday, in a dramatic escalation of an already bloody struggle between Washington and Tehran for influence across the region.

Many consider Suleimani to have been the second most powerful person in Iran, behind the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, and arguably ahead of President Hassan Rouhani. Through a mix of security operations and diplomatic coercion, has been more responsible than anyone else for projecting Iran’s influence in the region.

Suleimani, who ran Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria, was targeted while being driven from Baghdad airport by local allies from the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU). The deputy head of the PMU, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, a close Suleimani associate, was also killed in the attack.

“General Suleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” a Pentagon statement said. “This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world.”

Minutes before the statement Trump tweeted a US flag without comment. Later, the White House put out a statement saying the strike was a “decisive defensive action” carried out “at the direction of the president”.

Demonstration at American Embassy Compound preceded targeted assassination of Suleimani.

Suleimani was commander of the Quds Force, the elite, external wing of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the Trump administration designated as a terror organisation in April last year. The Pentagon statement claiming responsible for the strike accused the Quds Force of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of US service members and the wounding of thousands more.

The escalation had followed a tit-for-tat series of strikes by both sides, which have been protagonists in Iraq since late 2006. Suleimani had been central to almost all that Iran did and was considered by senior officials under Barack Obama as being close to untouchable.

The strike came at a time when Iraq was already on the brink of an all-out proxy war, and hours after a two-day siege of the US embassy in Baghdad by a mob of PMF militants and their supporters. The Pentagon accused Suleimani of having masterminded the mob attack.

That siege followed US air strikes on camps run by a PMF-affiliated militia particularly closely aligned with Tehran, which in turn was a reprisal for that militia’s killing of a US contractor in an attack on an Iraqi army base on Friday.

The US has deployed 750 airborne troops to Kuwait as a rapid reaction force available for use in Iraq, and officials has said up to 3,000 could be sent in the coming days. The defence secretary, Mark Esper, said on Thursday that more militia attacks were expected and the US reserved the right to take preemptive action to stop them.

“There are some indications out there that they may be planning additional attacks,” Esper said. “If we get word of attacks, we will take pre-emptive action as well to protect American forces, protect American lives. The game has changed.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/03/baghdad-airport-iraq-attack-deaths-iran-us-tensions

Here is a little humor to start off the New Year. Susie Bright’s takedown of Lindsey Graham is a Classic.

THE CATEGORIES

By Talia Lavin, Jim Newell, Jeet Heer, Erin Gloria Ryan and Susie Bright

Most Valiant Trump Defender

The award goes to: Sen. Lindsey Graham!
(with 4 out of 6 votes)

Not only is he suing a fictional cow, he is decidedly not cowed in his bullish attempts to defend an embattled president. He constantly looks both confused and enraged, and proved interesting enough to force Ryan Lizza to drive through cow country.

Tough competition between him and Graham, as both enthusiastically and energetically leap before cameras to defend Our President. But Graham — SHAME ON HIM — occasionally breaks from character and will chastise the president for, say, announcing a swift removal of troops from Syria because the Turkish president was nice to him on the telephone. A stain on your legacy, Mr. Graham! Jordan, meanwhile, served valiantly on both the Intel and Judiciary Committees, sitting in nearly every deposition and running the show behind the scenes during public hearings. It is he, Jim Jordan, who deserves the annual Presidential Belly Rub for Good Service.

Nearly the entire GOP has debased itself for Trump, but Graham remains the champ chump because of his history and self-regard. We all remember Lindsey as one of the Wise Men, best buddies with John McCain, the voice of conscience and foreign policy gravitas. He went out of his way to be the defining senatorial voice of Never Trump in 2016. This makes his transformation into a lap dog all the more stunning.

Lindsey Graham will go down in history as a bowl of cold boogers. When I’m working out and I feel like quitting, I remind myself that if I keep taking care of my body and brain, I can long outlive Lindsey Graham and use my extra golden years energy to remind future generations how much he sucked. In the meantime, I hope John McCain’s ghost, when he’s ready, haunts the hell out of him.

The sloppiest wet dream all year has been speculating what kind of kompromat Trump has on South Carolina’s most legendary closet case. It must be spectacular. Could anyone be THIS craven without cause? Which closet, you ask? Honey, there’s so many to choose from. What’s unique about Graham is that while Trump only humiliates him for his fealty, Linds just keeps popping back up, like a Gothic Plot Twist. He is going to keep on the Sunny Side! He is going to brag about buying a cute rug in Afghanistan for $5! He is not changing his mind about impeachment and he’s going to spread it on a cracker! No one has ever been more dead inside.