Sunday’s election in two former East German states saw the Neo Nazi AfD capture the second most votes. The rapid rise of the AfD should be a wake up call to  progressive people. The rise of the racist, anti-immigrant Populist AfD is a clear message that this noxious political philosophy is not going to disappear. In 1920’s Weimar Germany, the National Socialists were scoffed at and marginalized.  The price paid was the ascendancy of Adolf Hitler and the 12 year regime of terror and World War.

Deutsche Welle 9.1.2019

On the 80th anniversary of the first battle of World War II, the right-wing populist AfD party scored its strongest-ever results in two states. Germany is now wrestling with itself, says DW’s Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl.

In the early morning hours of September 1, 1939, Germany began World War II with an attack on Poland. Unspeakable atrocities followed, including millions of dead and wounded, innumerable rapes, displaced persons and a world that is still recovering from the destructive rage of the Nazis.

Exactly 80 years later, a German political party that campaigns for votes primarily on a platform of nationalistic ideas and racist exclusion is celebrating double-digit successes in two former East German states. These are the best results in the party’s short history: Within just a few years, it has managed to rise from a small fringe party to the second-strongest political force in the state parliaments. Polls had predicted it could become the top party in Saxony; that did not come to pass, but there is no room for rejoicing in its close second-place finish.

Read more: Why the state elections in eastern Germany matter

Economically successful times

So what does it say about Germany that this sort of party can flourish in economically very successful — and relatively politically stable — times? And what is to be feared when times change and Germany finds itself in the maelstrom of a global recession? What measures are in place to prevent the mistakes of the past? How sure can we be that a party with primarily racist members can never again take over the German government?

The two established parties, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Social Democrats (SPD), have now had their worst showings in those states since reunification. This trend essentially means it will become more and more complicated to find government alliances even in the hitherto stable Germany. And the principle of these two vast Volksparteien — the longstanding “people’s parties” that have long scooped up votes from the vast middle ground between the right and left extremes — no longer works.

All this shows how much Germany is struggling with what kind of country it really wants to be. Which course does it want to chart on refugee policy, not to mention the major economic and social issues of our time? How much nation-state should there be, and how much Europe?

Arrogance is out of place

It’s a fact of life that you need the benefit of hindsight in order to truly recognize and evaluate what has happened in a historical moment, and what influence these events might have on the future. In this respect, one can only speculate on what will be read in the history books about September 1, 2019.

No question: These election results will inspire the AfD nationwide. The party is a force to be reckoned with that will not disappear so quickly. This requires the other parties to find a way to deal with it. To face the AfD’s success with proud, haughty arrogance would be a fatal mistake. These results have brutally demonstrated to political leaders that something is going awry in the country, and they must look and listen more closely to what drives voters into the arms of populists.

However, it is also part of Germany’s historical responsibility to have principles that are non-negotiable. This includes the freedom of religion as well as the right to asylum for people in need. These principles must never be sacrificed, no matter how difficult forming a government may be.

Sexism at play again.  Dean Preston’s campaign manager gave the correct signal when she called out the Establishment Democratic Party.  These people are generally a group of political hangers on who will do whatever it can to smack down any Progressive insurgency threatening their hegemony in local politics.

Would the outrage have been as voluble if a guy had called out these appartchiks in such bawdy fashion?!!

Dean Preston, a stellar Progressive tenants advocate, who will not be anybody’s Establishment go along get along should he belected this November to the Board of Supervisors.

Excerpted from San Francisco Examiner – Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez 9.1.2019

One, solitary finger has some San Francisco Democrats flipping out.

Jen Snyder, the take-no-prisoners campaign manager for Democratic Socialist supervisor candidate Dean Preston, flipped “the bird” to the San Francisco Democratic Party Wednesday night after her candidate lost their endorsement.

The perceived backroom deals, the perceived betrayal by one-time allies, and the Wednesday night endorsement of the progressive-aligned Party’s perceived political opponent — District 5 Supervisor Vallie Brown, an ally of moderate Democrats — all gave Snyder cause to give the Party a piece of her mind.

When I asked her if extending her middle finger to the Dems, a board made up of politicians, apparatchiks and other functionaries, was more of a “fuck off” or a “fuck you,” she answered decisively.

“It was definitely a ‘fuck you,’” she said.

“I’m a strong, fiery, opinionated social activist woman. No one’s asked me to be classy before,” she said.

Snyder grew up briefly on 24th Street in the Mission before moving to El Sobrante, and was a field consultant helping to pass the landmark 2018 tax measure to raise money for homelessness, “Our City, Our Home.” She told me she’s weathered far more harrowing moments than this.

Still, she finds it funny that those policing her behavior tend to be other women.

“I guess I just think it’s interesting that folks like women in politics so much these days, but not when they’re uppity and flippin’ the bird,” she said.

But her decision to give our local Dems the bird — while certainly something many have undoubtedly contemplated, perhaps with a grin — sent local political circles into a tizzy, which has subsequently spilled out onto social media.

That’s an obvious example of policing the behavior of women, Snyder and her allies have said.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news-columnists/dean-prestons-campaign-manager-draws-fire-for-flipping-sf-democratic-party-the-bird/

This legislation is a big deal for  California renters.  Renters statewide will have rights in the face of  unchecked rent increases.  Landlords who seek to impose outrageous rent increases will have limits placed on their profiteering.

San Francisco Chronicle 8.31.2019

SACRAMENTO — Californians would be protected against massive rent increases and unfair evictions under an agreement announced Friday evening by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Tenants who have lived in an apartment for at least a year could not be evicted without a just cause, including failing to pay rent, breaching a rental agreement, creating a nuisance or engaging in criminal activity. If they were to be evicted through no fault of their own, such as when a property is taken off the market, they would be entitled to relocation assistance equivalent to one month of rent.

Tenant advocates and landlords have been at odds all year over anti-rent-gouging legislation that supporters said was necessary to keep people in their homes as living costs soar across California and that groups representing apartment owners and developers argued would discourage new construction. But the groups agreed to a deal that could clear a path for AB1482, a bill from Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, that has struggled to find favor in the Legislature amid intense industry opposition.

Under the compromise, landlords would not raise rent by more than 5% plus the regional cost of living increase, or a maximum of 10%, per year, according to the governor’s office.

The deal would expire in 2030 and exclude apartment buildings built in the previous 15 years, duplexes where the owner lives in one of the units and single-family homes, unless they are owned by corporations.

“The high cost of housing and rising rents are preventing California families from getting ahead,” Newsom said in a joint statement with Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Chiu. “These steep housing costs drive inequality and threaten to erode California’s economic growth.”

The details of the agreement are similar to early versions of Chiu’s AB1482, which was dramatically scaled back to win approval in the Assembly in June.

The most recent iteration would have capped rent increases at 7% plus inflation and would have sunset after three years. But Newsom told reporters several weeks ago that he wanted something stronger, ratcheting up negotiations again.

The California Apartment Association, which represents owners and developers of rental properties, had warned legislators for months that the measure was too restrictive and would scare development away from the state. But in a statement Friday, Debra Carlton, senior vice president of public affairs, said the association thought it was important to be a part of the solution.

“We applaud the governor for temporarily finding a solution for tenants,” she said. “Now we must get serious about moving forward on production, which is the only way we address our housing crisis.”

The changes will be amended into AB1482 next week and the bill must win the approval of both the Senate and the Assembly before the Legislature adjourns on Sept. 13.

San Francisco Examiner 8.30.2019

A state appeals court has overturned a criminal conviction for weapons possession for Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, who was previously acquitted of the murder of Kate Steinle in San Francisco in 2015.

Pictured above is the late Public Defender Jeff Adachi who, along with Chief Trial Attorney Matt Gonzalez,  led the defense team for the accused.

The ruling by three judges in the First Appellate District found that the trial court failed to instruct the jury on a legal defense for Zarate, that he possessed the gun too briefly to be convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon.

Zarate was tried for murder in the July 1, 2015, shooting of Steinle, who was walking with her father and a family friend on Pier 14 off The Embarcadero. Zarate’s defense attorneys argued that he had picked up an object wrapped in rags, which he realized was a gun only when it discharged, hitting Steinle in the back.

Zarate was acquitted of the murder.

After that, prosecutors filed the weapons possession charges and Zarate was found guilty and sentenced to three years in prison.

The case became a national flashpoint in debates over immigration, as Zarate is an undocumented Mexican citizen who had been deported five times and had seven felony convictions.

The case was frequently cited by President Donald Trump as he sought more restrictive immigration policies.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/conviction-in-steinle-shooting-case-overturned-on-appeal/

The Arts Edition

The Government does all it can to keep its activities a secret and will crack down on those who push too hard to exert their rights and demand transparency.

Los Angeles Times 8.27.2019

Kenneth Turan

UPDATE:  Here is the latest on the broad daylight assassination in Berlin last week.  The Russian denials are a predictable response from the Putin regime.

Deutsche Welle 8.28.2019

The victim of an assasination-style shooting in Berlin was not targeted by the Russian government, the Kremlin said. The Georgian man had fought against Russian forces during the Second Chechen War.

The Kremlin on Wednesday issued a denial of any involvement in the slaying of Georgian man who had fought against Russian forces in Chechnya. Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, 40, was shot dead in a park in Berlin on August 23.

“This case has nothing to do with the Russian state or official agencies,” said President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Peskov added: “I categorically deny any link between this killing and Russian officials.” He also said that questions regarding the 49-year-old Russian suspect picked up by German police would be better directed at the foreign ministry.

Khangoshvili was reportedly killed “execution-style” in the Kleiner Tiergarten park. The assailant approached the man from behind as he was walking to a mosque before shooting him twice and fleeing on a bicycle.

Police subsequently found a Glock handgun, wig, and bicycle in the nearby Spree river.

Victim survived previous assasination attempts

The victim has been described as a veteran of the Second Chechen War from 1999 to 2009, serving first as a field commander and then joining part of a Georgian counter-terrorist task unit. In 2012, he was part of a group of Georgian special forces who carried out an operation against militants who were holding hostages in the remote Lopota gorge, not far from the border of Russia’s Dagestan republic.

Authorities believe the murder could be a revenge killing connected to Khangoshvili’s military activity.

One of his sons told German media that his father had survived four previous attempts on his life, most recently in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in 2015, prompting him to flee and seek asylum in Europe, where he has been living under assumed identities.

https://www.dw.com/en/moscow-denies-involvement-in-execution-of-georgian-in-germany/a-50202419

“Not some medieval system?”  Get serious. “This is San Franciso,” where the proverbial and actual knives are out 24/7.  It’s all hard ball political football in this town. The dispossessed and unrepresented are cast aside.

The young man, previously placed on psychological monitoring, will  spend his pretrial period in Jail.  Nothing changed except the fact the Judiciary caved in to public opinion.

August 29, 2019

A San Francisco Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered a homeless man accused of attacking a woman outside her South Beach apartment complex earlier this month to remain in custody, but agreed to dismiss charges related to a second February incident.

In response to a Public Defender’s argument that Austin Vincent, 25, wouldn’t be able to receive mental health treatment in jail, Judge Austin Moody said, “You can do a lot of programming in jail. This is not some medieval system. This is San Francisco.”

The Aug. 11 attack outside of The Watermark building at 501 Beale St., which was caught on surveillance video, received widespread media coverage after Judge Christine Van Aken agreed to release Austin Vincentfrom custody on the condition that he enrolls in treatment and finds temporary housing.

However, after inadvertently seeing the video of the violent attack, Van Aken then ordered Vincent to wear an ankle monitor. Then, when a victim from a February attack identified Vincent as her assailant last week, he received new charges and Van Aken ordered him into custody in connection with those charges.

Earlier this week, however, Vincent’s attorney Deputy Public Defender Saleem Belbahri (pictured below) filed a motion to have the new assault and making criminal threats charges dismissed. In court on Thursday, Belbahri said Vincent couldn’t be the assailant in the February attack because at the time, he was at a facility in Huntington Beach in Southern California receiving substance abuse treatment.

In that case, a victim said a man had attacked her and her friends and threatened to kill her with a knife near Fourth and Brannan streets.

Because Van Aken was in trial, Judge Ross Moody heard the motion and agreed to dismiss those charges.

With the new charges gone, Belbahri sought to have Vincent released with the ankle monitor, arguing that because of his mental health issues, he wouldn’t be able to receive treatment in jail.

“This is a man who was at a point of crisis that night,” he said, referring to the Aug. 11 attack, in which he allegedly pushed, dragged and threatened to kill victim Paneez Kosarian.

Vincent has been charged with attempted robbery, false imprisonment and battery for the attack.

Assistant District Attorney Melody Bahai, who sought to keep Vincent in custody, called the attack “unprovoked and completely random.” Bahai then read a letter from Kosarian, in which she said although she wanted to be in court Thursday, she was still recovering from the attack and couldn’t “look her attacker in the eye.”

Kosarian, an immigrant from Iran, said because of the attack, she was afraid to leave her apartment and has nightmares.

“Now, I am scared and feel like I don’t have a voice. This city has abandoned me,” the letter read. “My life will never be the same.”

Moody cited a previous menacing charge involving a weapon from New York and remanded him into custody without bail.

Outside of court, Belbahri said, “I’m obviously disappointed by the court’s decision today. Jail is not the environment for people to receive the proper treatment that they need.”

Because The Watermark building is located next to the future site of the city’s SAFE Navigation Center, set to provide beds for as many 200 homeless residents, opponents of the center are using the case to renew their plea to stop it from opening.

Safe Embarcadero For All, a group made up of residents and business owners in the city’s South Beach neighborhood, last month filed a lawsuit against the city in Sacramento County Superior Court seeking to halt the opening. The group also is seeking a temporary restraining order and stay to keep the development from progressing while the suit is being litigated.

Outside of court, Wallace Lee, a Safe Embarcadero For All board member, said, “We’re happy that Mr. Vincent is in jail, being detained pending trial. We think that everyone in San Francisco who has seen the video knows Mr. Vincent poses a danger to the public and we’re glad that this judge has seen that.” Lee said, “But we’re still upset and disappointed that it took so long for this decision to come and it really highlights problems with the criminal justice system in San Francisco and the city’s inability to keep us safe.”

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/judge-orders-homeless-man-charged-with-embarcadero-attack-to-remain-in-custody/

This is an international story that has yet to receive the attention it deserves.

Deutsche Welle 8.27.2019

A Chechen from Georgia was shot dead in Berlin — allegedly by a man from Russia. If it was an act of revenge, two wars may have played a role.

Was it a straightforward case of murder, or was the killing of a Chechen asylum-seeker in Berlin politically motivated?

The federal prosecutor’s office has yet to get involved in the investigation, but on Monday, a spokesperson told news agency DPA that they were “monitoring for developments.” The highest criminal prosecution authority said it would intervene if there were indications that a “foreign power” was involved in the crime.

The media has also speculated about the possible involvement of the Russian secret service.

Hitmen and revenge?

The attack last Friday in Berlin had echoes of a film plot about former Chechen fighters, hitmen and revenge. Shortly before noon, a man walking through a park in Berlin’s Moabit district was killed when a cyclist fired two targeted shots.

The 40-year-old victim was an asylum-seeker of Chechen descent from Georgia. In some Russian and Georgian circles, he is known by the name of Selimkhan K. (pictured above); he is also known by a second identity, Tornike K.

The suspect was quickly apprehended owing to witness accounts. So far, little is known about him. He is being held in custody and has made no comment on the allegations.

Berlin police officers secure evidence at the park in Moabit

According to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, he is 49 years old and a Russian passport holder. On Monday, the Russian Embassy in Berlin said it was “in contact” with the German authorities.

Not far from the crime scene, police retrieved a bicycle presumed to have been used by the fleeing attacker, along with a wig and the alleged murder weapon, a 9 mm Glock 26 pistol, from the Spree River.

Who was Selimkhan K.?

A profile of the victim, which can be put together from various sources, provides indications of possible motives for the incident.

Selimkhan K. has lived in Germany since 2016. He comes from the Georgian Pankisi valley — which is on the border with Chechnya, a republic of Russia, in the North Caucasus.

This remote mountain region was the scene of the Second Chechen War, which began in 1999 and lasted for about a decade. Chechen separatist fighters and Islamist militants hid there from Russian troops.

Selimkhan K. is said to have fought against Russia as a separatist.

This undated photo shows warlords in the Second Chechen War: Shamil Bassaev (m.) and Abu Al Valid (2nd from right)

In a 2017 letter that has been made available to DW, Ekkehard Maaß, head of the German-Caucasian Society in Berlin, wrote to the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF): “During the Second Chechen War, he fought first under Shamil Bassaev, then under the Arab leader Abu Valid.”

The infamous Chechen warlords Bassaev and Valid, the latter born in Saudi Arabia, were killed by Russian units.

In the letter to BAMF, Maaß also mentions the Russian-Georgian war, when Selimkhan K. is said to have set up a group of “200 volunteers to defend Georgia in South Ossetia” in August 2008. But the group was not deployed.

On top of this, many media outlets are reporting that Selimkhan K. worked together with the Georgian Interior Ministry. It is said that he acted as a “mediator” during a hostage situation in 2012.

Not a one-off case?

Maaß describes Selimkhan K. as his “friend,” who had been “neither an Islamist threat nor a terrorist.” Some media reports said the German authorities had initially classified him as a dangerous Islamist but later retracted this classification.

In a letter to the BAMF, Maaß had requested protection for Selimkhan K. because he was receiving “threatening” SMS and WhatsApp messages in Germany. He also said he had been a victim of attacks in the past, most recently in Tbilisi in 2015.

Revenge for an incident during the Second Chechen War? Chechen fighters in 1996 (File photo)

If Selimkhan K. is confirmed to have been executed, this would set a precedent for Germany — but it would also mark a continuation of Chechens being targeted across the globe. 

In 2009, Chechen refugee Umar Israilov — also a former fighter in the Chechen war — was shot dead on a street in Vienna. Three Chechens living in Austria were convicted of the crime.

Several prominent Chechen militants have been killed in Turkey and the Gulf region. Ekkehard Maaß told DW he considers the murder of Selimkhan K. to be part of a pattern of similar cases.

https://www.dw.com/en/mystery-surrounds-slaying-of-chechen-asylum-seeker-in-berlin/a-50177849

Election Day is only 10 weeks away and the hardball politics of San Francisco are now taking center stage. Progressive candidate Chesa Boudin has a good chance to win. His opponents will trash and defame him until the votes are counted.

DA Candidates shown above. Leif Dautch, Nancy Tung, Chesa Boudin and Suzy Loftus

48 Hills 8.26.2019

I always argue that big campaign money functions less as a bribe (although in some cases, there’s some of that) but as an indication of which candidate certain individuals and interests think will be most likely to help them. In the last mayor’s race, we quickly learned that the tech and real-estate moguls thought London Breed would be best for them. In the current D5 race, it’s pretty clear that the real-estate money is hoping Vallie Brown will defeat Dean Preston.

Six months after his untimely death on February 22nd, San Francisco officialdom continues to be on the Hotseat. A just released report, put together by medical professionals hired by late Public Defender Jeff Adachi’s family, determined the 59 year old died of natural causes.

In its finding the San Francisco Medical Examiner maintained that Adachi’s death was the result of recreational drug use. Coming on top of the scandalous release of a Police Report shortly after Adachi died, the debunking of the official medical report is further evidence that even in death Jeff Adachi’s foes would not let him rest in peace.

Adachi’s associates in the Public Defender’s office, where he presided for 18 years, are justifiably outraged at the report released by the Medical Examiner.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 8.22.2019

Jeff Adachi’s family hopes new reports that conclude his death was natural — rather than drug induced, as the city medical examiner found in March — will help with “restoring his reputation,” according to the family’s lawyer.

The new reports, outlined Wednesday by the public defender’s office, concluded that Adachi died from a heart attack due to heart disease and that his death was “natural.” While the reports acknowledge that alcohol and cocaine were found in his system, a press release from the office argues it would be difficult to conclude those substances caused his death because the small amounts were “a generally unreliable sample.”

In Wednesday’s release, the Public Defender’s Office also suggested a potential conflict of interest involving the medical examiner’s director of operations, Christopher Wirowek. Shortly before Adachi died, he accused Wirowek of lying about the office’s accreditation and called for his termination after he failed to correct what he called “false statements.”

Wirowek did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The medical examiner’s office declined to comment further Thursday, and referred to its earlier statement: “The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner routinely conducts autopsies to investigate deaths. Forensic pathologists sign off on the cause and manner of death, and their reports speak for themselves.”

The family’s attorney hired three medical experts — including San Francisco’s former chief toxicologist who filed a lawsuit against the city over an employment dispute in 2017 — to review a March report by the medical examiner’s office, which determined that a mixture of cocaine and alcohol caused the public defender’s already-damaged heart to fail.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Adachi-family-hopes-new-report-will-help-with-14372224.php