Hundreds of folks held a rally at the Public Defenders’s office and then marched with a robust SFPD escort through downtown San Francisco to City Hall on Wednesday evening to memorialize Public Defender Jeff Adachi. His untimely death at the age of 59 is a blow to those pursuing Justice in the criminal court system.
Liz Heidhues with Acting (and hopefully soon to be permanent) Public Defender Matt Gonzalez.
The international business of weapons sale and transfer is pervasive and goes unnoticed and unpunished in the United States. The German government, at least, shines a light on this evil business and tries to hold manufacturers accountable. See my recent Post (2.21.2019) on the weapons company Heckler & Koch.
German gunmaker Sig Sauer has been accused of illegally exporting 36,000 pistols to Colombia in violation of export regulations. Prosecutors have demanded the weapons manufacturer pays a €12-million ($14.8 million) fine.
Prosecutors said Sig Sauer manufactured at least 38,000 pistols in the company’s facility in the town of Eckernforde between 2009 and 2011. It then shipped the weapons to its US company in New Hampshire, which then completed the transaction with Colombia.Â
 The trial of German arms producer Sig Sauer began at the Kiel District Court in northern Germany on Tuesday. Three former executives are accused of being involved with the delivery of guns worth €270 million ($306 million) to Colombia without the necessary authorizations.
The accused face up to five years in prison if convicted and the prosecution is also demanding the company pay a €12-million fine.
The pistols ended up in the hands of Colombian police, a spokesman for the Kiel prosecutor said, after the men were charged in April.Â
I initially posted this shortly after the untimely death of Jeff Adachi on 2.22.2019. I was shocked and appalled that the early SFPD report of Adachi’s death scene was in the public view. Full of innuendo and salacious rumors.
Hence, it is no surprise that nearly three months later in an effort to lay the blame elsewhere the SFPD engaged in an action which can be found in a Totalitarian Police State. Equally appalling is the action of the local judiciary in signing off  two search warrants which resulted in the disgraceful treatment meted out to a newsman.
The reaction of local officials who, for the most part, have been all too acquiescent in support of this reprehensible police action is disgraceful.
“Progessive” San Francisco??? NO WAY.
FEBRUARY 24, 2019
Tim Redmond knows full well the Machiavellian and byzantine world of San Francisco politics. What he wrote about the media coverage of Adachi’s death and who will replace him is essential reading.Â
Jeff Adachi was one of the few elected public defenders in the country. He won the job in 2001, when then-Mayor Willie Brown –in a blatantly political move — appointed the daughter of then-state Senator John Burton to the after longtime PD Jeff Brown left to take a job on the state Public Utilities Commission.
Everyone in town knew that Kimiko Burton was utterly unqualified for the job. But Brown did what Brown would do, and Burton soon pushed Adachi, who had worked in the office since the 1980s, out, fearing a potential rival. He then ran against her and won.
Now Mayor London Breed is in a similar situation: She will name Adachi’s replacement, who will then have to run in November. The obvious choice for the job, if the mayor were to look only at qualifications, would be Adachi’s chief attorney, Matt Gonzalez.
But Gonzalez did not support Breed for mayor. If she makes a purely political appointment, and names someone who forces out potential rivals the way Burton did, it will devastate one of the best and most important public agencies in the city and threaten thousands of poor people, particularly people of color, who desperately need top-notch legal defense.
I’m just going to come right out and say it: Some of the TV news coverage of Jeff Adachi’s death has been utterly repugnant.
Channel 4 and Channel 7 seem to be trying to outdo each other with “scoops” based on reports that I am almost certain were leaked by the cops, many of whom hated Adachi.
Police reports aren’t public. When the police shoot and kill young people of color, their families can’t get those reports.
But when Adachi died in an apartment in North Beach, not only the reports but photos taken by the officers wound up on the TV news. Where do you supposed those came from? Why do you suppose they wound up with the sensation-driven TV stations?
The photos have been widely publicized with no context at all. There are photos of “an unmade bed” – a salacious innuendo with no relevance. There are pictures of liquor bottles – although there is no evidence or even suggestion that Adachi drank anything but two glasses of wine.
There is zero — zero — evidence of foul play. Everyone agrees with that.
The Medical Examiner’s Office called off the cops, saying there was no evidence of a crime – and there still isn’t. Instead, the cops showed up anyway (why is nobody investigating why that happened?) Are some officers at the SFPD trying to damage the reputation of one of the city’s heroes – before he’s been dead more than a day? Looks like it.
And the TV news is going along with this farce.
To its immense credit, the Chron has been much more circumspect, waiting – as a responsible news outlet should – for the actual facts to come in. Same with Channel 5, which is just reporting that the Medical Examiner is looking into the cause of death.
This seven minute unnerving documentary was nominated for an Academy Award. It did not win. Too much for the Academy to acknowledge. It actually happened here.
The phrase “irreplaceable” is the only way to describe the loss of Jeff and what will be missed with his sudden departure from the scene.
Personally, I am devastated.Â
I first saw Jeff Adachi speak in 1999 at the Golden Gate University Law School. I was totally swept away by his intelligence, knowledge and unwavering advocacy for his clients.
During the past 20 years I followed Jeff’s career, his zealous defense of his clients and his unabashed willingness to call out law enforcement for its inappropriate and, some time, illegal behavior.
One can only hope that whoever steps into Jeff’s position as Public Defender will bring a similar commitment to serving Justice and calling out law enforcement.
Any reader who is taken aback by the anecdotes discussed in the article has watched Mary Poppins too many times. The Republicans must be jumping for joy. Senator Klobuchar is a candidate who could defeat Trump. The Times is doing the dirty work for this misogynist abuser. Who needs Roger Stone when the Times is carrying the ball for Trump? This is a vile hit piece. Nothing more. Guys are just as bad in their behavior. When is The Times going to unload its faux fury on a man?
Voters have short attention spans. Senator Klobuchar was one Senator who very effectively got under the skin of now Justice Kavanaugh. The Senator may not be Ms. Congeniality. She gets the job done.
The Germans have a robust profile as international arms merchants. Sales and profits from munitions keep drug cartels in business. Read my earlier post about the courageous journalist Anabel Hernandez.
Deutsche Welle 2.21.2019
Two former staff members at the weapons manufacturer were given suspended sentences for violating Germany’s War Weapons Control Act for their involvement in the delivery of machine guns to Mexico.
The 10-month trial of former employees of Germany’s biggest gun-maker, Heckler & Koch, ended in disappointment for arms trade opponents as former CEOs were acquitted for their part in the illegal sale of G36 assault rifles to Mexico between 2006 and 2009, while Marianne B. and Ingo S., employees with largely administrative duties, were found guilty.
A few boos rang out in the courtroom as Judge Frank Maurer read the verdict, especially as Peter B., a former CEO, was found not guilty. The executive, who was also H&K’s main contact with government export authorities, was the most powerful of the defendants, none of whom showed a visible reaction as the verdict was read.
The judge’s narrow legal focus drew outrage from the gallery. After he dismissed what he called the “populist” argument that the “executioners” were being condemned while the big decision-makers were being let go, Grässlin called out, “That’s exactly how it is!” Afterwards, Grässlin called the verdict an example of “two-class justice,” and said the trial had revealed how ineffective Germany’s arms export controls are.
The company Heckler & Koch itself was fined €3.7 million ($4.2 million), the approximate value of the guns at the time of their sale. That came as a welcome surprise to veteran anti-arms trade activist JĂĽrgen Grässlin, who had initially pressed the charges and had expected a fine based only on the profits from the illegal sale. He added that the fine could exacerbate H&K’s financial troubles.
Some are getting priced out of their homes. The crisis is so dire, the school district is losing almost 20% of its teachers every year.
“It’s time for the (school) district to listen now. They forced us to this moment to strike,” said Oakland Education Association President Keith Brown.
But here’s the problem: Teachers are demanding higher raises from a school district that’s already broke. The Oakland Unified School District is in such bad shape, it’s planning to lay off 112 staff.
The district says it barely has enough money to take care of its low-income students — 75% qualify for free or reduced lunch. So giving teachers higher raises might be out of the question.
No one knows how long this strike will last, or what victory for either side will look like. But it will come at a steep cost to a community already suffering.
Clarence Thomas who has spent nearly 30 years trashing civil liberties has now set his sights on the Free Press. This is the same sexual abuser who trashed Anita Hill and lied his way on to the Supreme Court with an assist from then Senate Judiciary Chairman Joe Biden.
Excerpted from New York Times – Adam Liptak 2.20.2019
WASHINGTON — Justice Clarence Thomas on Tuesday called for the Supreme Court to reconsider New York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark 1964 ruling interpreting the First Amendment to make it hard for public officials to prevail in libel suits.
He said the decision had no basis in the Constitution as it was understood by the people who drafted and ratified it.
“New York Times and the court’s decisions extending it were policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional law,” Justice Thomas wrote.
Justice Thomas, writing only for himself, made his statement in a concurring opinion agreeing that the court had correctly turned down an appeal from Kathrine McKee, who has accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault. She sued Mr. Cosby for libel after his lawyer said she had been dishonest.
Justice Thomas’s statement came in the wake of complaints from President Trump that libel laws make it too hard for public officials to win libel suits.
“I’m going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money,” Mr. Trump said on the campaign trail. “We’re going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they’re totally protected.”
Thanks to the Sullivan decision, it is indeed hard for public figures to win libel suits. They have to prove that something false was said about them, that it harmed their reputation and that the writer acted with “actual malice.” That last term is misleading, as it has nothing to do with the ordinary meaning of malice in the sense of spite or ill will.
To prove actual malice under the Sullivan decision, a libel plaintiff must show that the writer knew the disputed statement was false or had acted with “reckless disregard.” That second phrase is also a term of art. The Supreme Court has said that it requires proof that the writer entertained serious doubts about the truth of the statement.
Justice Thomas questioned those standards.
“There appears to be little historical evidence suggesting that the New York Times actual-malice rule flows from the original understanding of the First or Fourteenth Amendment,” he wrote.
A daring journalist who has spent her career reporting on drug cartels and corruption in Mexico, Anabel Hernández is the fifth person — and first woman — to receive the Deutsche Welle Freedom of Speech Award.
“Anabel Hernández investigates thoroughly and always very close to the story. She follows cases of corruption, collecting legal evidence for years. Her fight against hush-ups and impunity is an impressive example of courageous journalism,” DW Director General Peter Limbourg said in Mexico City on Tuesday, February 19.
Born in Mexico, Anabel Hernández began her career in journalism in 1993, working for the newspaper Reforma while still a student in university. In the decades that followed, Hernandez has made a name for herself as one of Mexico’s leading investigative journalists, publishing stories of government corruption, sexual exploitation and drug trafficking.
That groundbreaking reporting, which includes two books investigating the interconnections between Mexican government officials at all levels and the leading drug cartels in the country, has come with a price. Hernández currently lives in exile, having fled Mexico after credible death threats directed at her and her children.
“During this dramatic period in Mexico’s history, silence is killing men, women and children, ordinary members of civil society, it is killing human rights defenders, it is killing government officials, and it is killing journalists,” she said when accepting the Golden Pen of Freedom Award in 2012.
“But breaking the silence can also be deadly,” she added.
Hernández has intimate knowledge of the dangers that citizens in Mexico face as a result of the country’s criminality. Her father, who initially discouraged her ambitions of becoming a journalist, was murdered in Mexico City in 2000. His killing remains unsolved as her family refused to pay the officials who were tasked with the investigation. Hernández said that his murder is what drives her work.
After five years of research, Hernández published the book Los Señores del Narco in 2010 (released in English in 2013 under the title, Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords And Their Godfathers). The book thoroughly explores those behind the drug cartels. It shows how utterly interwoven the “narco system” is into the fabric of everyday life in Mexico and the complicity of politicians, the military and businessmen in the drug trade.
“Between them all, they have turned Mexico into a graveyard,” she wrote.
The detailed accounting of corruption was a best-seller upon its release in Mexico. It also earned Hernandez numerous death threats. She was later assigned bodyguards for around-the-clock protection.
“After I published Los Señores del Narco in Spanish — now Narcoland in English — I received death threats. Last June, someone left decapitated animals in front of my house,” Hernández told The Nation magazine in October 2013. “It’s sad to say, but I didn’t receive the threats from the drug cartels. I received the threats from the federal government, from the most powerful chief of police in Mexico.”
Lee's Perspective 