The causes he espouses and fought for as San Francisco District Attorney. Before his political lynching, funded with 9M MAGA disinformation money on June 7, 2022.
Recall advocates, funded with nearly 9M in MAGA and deep pocket VC money ousted Chesa Boudin
Since his ouster Chesa has decamped to the UC Berkeley School of Law where he founded the Criminal Law & Justice Center. Recruiting law students to join the battle for Progressive justice in an increasingly law and order America.
To support this laudable endeavor Chesa has turned to someone whose positions on criminal justice are antithetical to the progressive justice movement.
Venture capitalist “crypto billionaire” Chris Larsen just donated 1M to the San Francisco Police Department. It will be divvied up between the City’s 10 police stations to use as they see fit.
Chris Larsen’s latest 1M contribution to the San Francisco Police Dept. – SF Chronicle 6.12.2024
Chris Larsen donated to the recently voter approved Prop E in March 2024 which gives SFPD cops more power while truncating the oversight authority of the Police Commission.
Chris Larsen is also a contributor to the election campaign of the current San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins. Who worked for Chesa Boudin as an assistant DA. She Quit and worked on the political coup d’etat which drove him from office. Jenkins was rewarded for her treachery by Mayor London Breed, leader of the Recall. She appointed Jenkins DA.
But, wait a minute.
Chris Larsen 1M contribution to SFPD in May 2022 – at thesame time he was giving money opposing Chesa’s Recall. A Recall supported by the SF Police Officers Association
This is the same Chris Larsen who donated at least 100K in opposition to Chesa’s Recall in June 2022.
This is the same Chris Larsen who is contributing to Chesa’s Criminal Law and Justice Center.
I realize politics makes for strange bedfellows. Nonetheless, I find it perplexing that Chesa Boudin, the fighter for progressive justice, is taking money from a man who espouses and funds causes and candidates antithetical to what Chesa is all about.
Top photo: Chesa Boudin on the night of the Recall – June 7, 2022 – San Francisco Chronicle
The European Parliament election is a bad omen for Americans who fear a return of convicted felon Donald Trump to the White House next January.
Trump leads the attempted Coup d’etat to overthrow the election – January 6, 2021 Washington, DC
When people are fearful they turn increasingly Conservative.
People are inherently Conservative by nature. When a feeling of economic deprivation, and two ongoing wars are leading the news Voters find the safest harbor to vent their fears.
Throw their support toReactionary politicians who offer easy solutions without substance.
In today’s European Parliament elections the Right wing parties have reaped a harvest of votes and seats in the European legislative body.
In Germany the Green Party, a member of the current governing coalition took a beating at the polls. Projected to finish with 11.9 percent, an 8.6 percentage point drop in support compared to the 2019 European election, making the party the biggest loser of the election.
In France Emanuel Macron, devastated by the far right vote, dissolved the French legislative Assembly and called for a new election later this month.
New York Times 6.9.2024
Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.9.2024
The center-right EPP is on track to win the most seats in the European Parliament, projections show. Meanwhile, far-right parties in France, Germany and Austria have made big gains.
German Greens leader disappointed at EU election result
Green party losses in EU elections raise concerns – The Guardian 6.9.2024
The co-leader of Germany’s environmentally friendly Green Party, Ricarda Lang, has reacted with disappointment at her party’s loss of votes in the European elections.
“This is not the standard we set ourselves when we went into this election, and we will work through this together,” Lang told public broadcaster ARD.
According to exit polls, the Greens are on track to receive around 12% of the vote.
In 2019, they achieved their best result ever in a European election with 20.5%.
Alternative for Germany beats Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, who had their worst result in a national election in the party’s history.
The conservative alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union finished first in Sunday’s European election in Germany, winning 30.2 percent of the vote according to a projection for German public television.
While the conservative victory was expected, the real race in Germany was for runner-up.
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party was projected to finish second with 16 percent, a gain of 5 percentage points compared to the 2019 EU election.
If the result holds, it will be seen as a big success for a party that has been beset by scandals in recent months.
The party’s top two candidates for EU election were implicated in a series of sensational allegations of misconduct involving suspected espionage and potential Russian influence. Most recently, the party’s lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, was forced to stop campaigning after he defended members of Hitler’s Waffen-SS as not “automatically” criminals.
One of the party’s national leaders, Tino Chrupalla, called it a “historic result.” Across Europe, far-right, nationalist and populist parties are projected to make sizeable gains.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) is projected to finish third with 13.9 percent, its worst result in a national election since the party was founded well over a century ago.
The Greens, who rule in a federal coalition with the SPD and the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), are projected to finish with11.9 percent, an 8.6 percentage point drop in support compared to the 2019 European election, making the party the biggest loser of the election.
Pass through the doors of the De Young Museum during its annual flower show, “Bouquets to Art”, https://www.famsf.org/exhibitions/bouquets-to-art-2024 You enter an enchanting garden of fantastic creations, fashioned from freshly cut flowers, tantalizing to the eye, and pleasing to the olfactory senses.
Liz with the “Hat Lady” owner of Hats on Post
At a time when we are causing much harm to our natural environment through our actions, the exhibit brings our attention to the fragility of our planet. The floral arrangements stress sustainability. The use of cacti, succulents, and native plants heightens our awareness of the need to conserve and preserve.
White flower arrangement cascades like Niagara Falls
The pleasures of the garden beckon from every floor, gallery, nook and cranny. Chrysanthemums hover like small spaceships. Statuesque birds of paradise stab the air. Waxy red anthuriums show off erotically long stamens. And coquettish roses and orchids drape the displays taking hold of your imagination and making you think wild thoughts.
Cacti, garden roses and rosary beads reflect historic Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmel
Your mood will be lightened by all the riotous colors.
Riotous Colors of a Tropical Sunset
Flowers are very seductive. They seduce us through attraction, not coercion. Their intense colors, delightful fragrances, and associations with happiness or joy trigger good vibrations.
The serene blue hues of ‘We all need water’
At the “Bouquets to Art” exhibit, you will find a special place to muse. Conversation starters which may have you turning to other museum goers asking them, “What’s THAT?” It is how I met the Hat Lady who once owned the chic boutique “Hats on Post” on trendy Post Street in downtown San Francisco.
Brilliant colors of tulips and golden spray painted leaves
“Bouquets to Art” is a show about the creativity of the florist and the gifts of nature. You may linger longer here than planned because it is so beautiful.
Marry me. Green leaves wedding dress by Floristry students at City College of San Francisco
Cacti Orchards and feathery seduction. The beautiful symbiosis of plantsDon’t ruffle your chic petalsA throne suitable for a Green QueenDeep Purple in the art houseAn old-fashioned coffee urn of pearls and petalsA hip parade of Flower Children, including heron and bird nestA fertile imagination. Using a vibrantly colored flower to send a messageErect stamens for erotic art The felicity of flowers. Our friend Rosalie surrounds herself with blooms
Celebrating 40 years of “Bouquets to Art” June 4-9, 2024
Convicted felon Donald Trump will be greeted by the three story Trump Chicken, now adorned in appropriate prison garb, when he dines at the mansion of billionaire David Sacks (2845 Broadway) in the uber wealthy San Francisco Pacific Heights neighborhood on June 6, 2024.
The large crowd which protested VP Kamala Harris during her visit to San Francisco on Wednesday need to turn their attention on Trump. The political soulmate of war criminal Bibi Netanyahu. Anyone who thinks for a second that Trump is a friend of the Palestinian people is engaging in complete self delusion.
Soul brothers: convicted felon and war criminal
TRUMP CHICKEN NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE
Excerpted from SFist 6.5.2024
Yes, the three-story-tall inflatable Trump chicken has been dusted off and will be re-inflated Thursday in San Francisco, wearing a black-and-white prison uniform, in an act of protest of Trump appearing in SF to collect some money from some Silicon Valley billionaires who have lost the thread of reality.
Tech mogul David Sacks has reportedly paid $34.5 million for 2845 Broadway Street in San Francisco in 2012, making it the most expensive home ever sold in San Francisco. Sources close to the deal, which is currently in escrow, say that Sacks and his wife Jacqueline are the proud new owners of the partially-completed home on ‘Billionaire’s Row.’ – December, 2012 SocketSite. ACCORDING TO ZILLOW THE PROPERTY IS CURRENTLY VALUED AT $43,650,000
Felon Trump gets his ring kissed by billionaire bagman David Sacks
Local writer Danelle Morton didn’t think she’d ever have to haul out her 33-foot-tall Trump-as-chicken balloon again when she laid it to rest in a mock funeral in 2021. But haul it out she will today, and the sublimely hideous balloon will take a sail on the Bay to protest the fundraising event tonight at the home of amoral billionaire David Sacks.
The People confronting VP Kamala Harris in The Mission district need to next turn their attention on convicted felon Donald Trump. The criminal soulmate of Israeli war criminal Bibi Netanyahu – SF Chronicle photo 6.5.2024
The lookalike balloon was a $450 purchase Morton made off the internet in 2017, originally manufactured in China around the time of Trump’s inauguration and Lunar New Year celebrations that year (it was the Year of the Rooster, and a Chinese balloon maker seized on the similarities with an existing rooster balloon they had). She later added a black-and-white-striped prison shirt — for a 2018 cruise across the Bay to Alcatraz, six years before Trump was actually convicted of 34 felonies.
TRUMP CHICKEN- INMATE 00045 – ON THE ALCATRAZTRANSPORT
Now, a group of millionaires and billionaires who either don’t remember or don’t care that Trump tried to destroy the country for his own ego three short years ago are gathering in Pacific Heights to pay $50,000 per person to greet the man, and help fund his attempt to return to the White House. Why? Because they are rich and trying to protect their riches, and anything else they say about it is gaslighting.
The fundraiser is being co-hosted by Sacks and his wife, Jacqueline Sacks, and Sacks’s co-host on the “All-In” podcast, Chamath Palihapitiya.
THE MAYOR’S HANDPICKED DISTRICT ATTORNEY HAS MADE PUBLIC SAFETY A BATTLEGROUND FOR POLITICAL GAIN – RYAN KOJASTEH
Former San Francisco Assistant District Attorney Ryan Kojasteh, summarily fired by Mayor London Breed’s handpicked DA Brooke Jenkins, kicked off his quest to oust the woman who fired him. He opened his campaign headquarters in the City’s Richmond District Sunday afternoon.
In his brief remarks Kojasteh, currently an Assistant District Attorney in Alameda County, called himself an “Insider” who works as a Prosecutor. He knows how Prosecutors work and think. He is one of them. He knows Brooke Jenkins well, having worked in the office when both of them were under the employ of Chesa Boudin.
The difference between the two is stark. Brooke Jenkins turned her back on Chesa and earned over 150K as a main political functionary in the political coup d’etat of June 7, 2022.
Former San Francisco Supervisor Sandy Fewer talks to the crowd as DA candidate Kojasteh looks on
Ryan Kojatesh paid a price for staying true to his principles about what an ethical prosecutor and public servant should be. It cost him his job in San Francisco.
RYAN KHOJASTEH (fired by Brooke Jenkins) ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY
Surrounded by supporters and close knit family members candidate Kojasteh touted his experience as an Assistant DA in Chesa Boudin’s administration. Following Chesa’s recall two years ago, Kojasteh was summarily fired by Brooke Jenkins. The firing occurred as Kojasteh was en route to a wedding. Jenkins called and fired him with no explanation.
Ryan and San Francisco Berniecrats co-chair Zoe Kelman
Jenkins cleaned house and Kojasteh was on the Boudin staff swept away in the post Recall purge.
In his own words Kojasteh has spent his career, “prosecuting violent crimes, supporting victims and getting justice-involved youth back on track as a prosecutor … to combat anti-AAPI hate crimes as a longtime San Francisco Immigrant Rights Commissioner.”
Participating in the campaign kickoff were commissioners from the Board of Education and Community College Board; former State Senator and Supervisor Mark Leno; along with former Richmond District (D1) Supervisors Sandy Fewer and Jake McGoldrick.Also there to support Ryan’s candidacy was David Heller, longtime President of the Greater Geary Boulevard Merchants and Property Owners Association.
Liz and Lee enjoy the camaraderie with Ryan
TOP PHOTO: Ryan Kojasteh submitting papers for his District Attorney candidacy at City Hall
On a sunny day in late May I took a walk from Macy’s down Powell Street past the cable car turn around. Continuing up car free Market Street to Civic Center and San Francisco City Hall.
A photographic view of the walk follows.
Women’s fashions at Macy’s
Iconic cable cars lined up on Powell Street
A man and his dog on Market Street
San Francisco Sister Cities at the cable car turn around on Market Street
Construction crew at work Three guys enjoying the sun at Hallidie Plaza on Market StreetCycling up Market StreetWaiting to cross at 6th Street and Market
Street life on Market Street
Pedestrian friendly car free Market Street
An artistic trash can
Public transit and cyclists co-exist on Market Street
The people on car free Market StreetA walk in the shade.
Classic Odd Fellows Temple at Seventh and Market streets
Neighborhood residents on Market Street.
WORLD PEACE CANNOT BE THE WORK OF ONE MAN, OR ONE PARTY, OR ONE NATION. PEACE WHICH RESTS ON THE COOPERATIVE EFFORT OF THE WHOLE WORLD – President Franklin Delano Roosevelt – 1945
Hanging out in the sun at UN Plaza
50 United Nations Plaza
Heart of the City – Farmer’s MarketShoppers at the always busy popular Farmer’s MarketThe view at The Farmer’s Market.
San Francisco City Hall
Market near Seventh StreetThe bird gives the photographer the Eye.
My head is spinning as I read the story in today’s Wall Street Journal, ‘How a Mysterious Tip Led to Trump’s Conviction’ after reading the editorial excoriating his conviction by a New York Jury.
The Wall Street Journal began running this story of Trump’s “Hush Money” payoff to porn actress Stormy Daniels even before the 2016 election.
How the WSJ can condemn Trump’s conviction when its reporters are responsible for this case going to trial is mind numbing.
The WSJ should be taking a victory lap and the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism,
Trump sits as defendant in New York criminal court as Michael Cohen testifies – May 2024
FRONTLINE: Trump’s Showdown 10.19.2021 – segment on Michael Cohen
Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 5.31.2024
In October 2018, during an interview with the Journal, Donald Trump was holding forth on everything from the Federal Reserve to the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia. When he got a question about Michael Cohen, he clammed up.
“I’ve discussed that (The “Hush Money”) so much,” he snapped. “Nobody cares about that.” He sidestepped a question about whether he had ever discussed hush-money payments with Cohen during the campaign.
Weeks later, the Journal reported that Trump had not only discussed the payments with Cohen, but had directly intervened on multiple occasions to suppress stories about his alleged sexual encounters with women. Both the White House and his outside lawyers had declined to comment or to substantively weigh in on the Journal’s reporting.
The reporters braced themselves for the Trump playbook: decrying a story as “fake news” on Twitter, then following up with intense—and often personal—attacks on the journalists who wrote it.
But the tweet never came. Instead, Trump spent the afternoon attacking the former mayor of Tallahassee, badgering the president of France over military spending and threatening to withhold federal funds from forest management in California.
His aides, privately, were less bullish. One described the story at the time as an “absolute killer.”
That December, a federal judge sentenced Cohen to three years in prison. Prosecutors in court filings provided new details alleging that Trump—identified as “Individual-1”—had directed and coordinated both hush payments, indicating they had evidence corroborating Cohen’s implication of the president.
Trump, a day after the sentencing, said in a tweet: “I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law.”
By July of that year, it seemed like Trump might be off the hook. The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office said it had completed its investigation into Cohen’s campaign-finance violations without indicting others in Trump’s orbit. A longstanding opinion by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel said sitting presidents couldn’t be prosecuted. Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Trump, said that day: “We are pleased that the investigation surrounding these ridiculous campaign finance allegations is now closed. We have maintained from the outset that the President never engaged in any campaign finance violation.”
The headlines after Trump “Hush Money” Indictment – April 2023
But the matter was far from closed. The following month, Cohen received some visitors in Otisville—prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, according to “People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account,” a book by Mark Pomerantz, who worked in the office on a special assignment.
It’s disconcerting to read the post conviction reports and realize that too many Americans are buying in to Trump’s incendiary and dangerous rhetoric. Rupert Murdoch’s MAGA tabloid rag The New York Post says it all with the screaming headline INJUSTICE.
Susan Glasser says it all in The New Yorker. “The Revisionist History of the Trump Trial has already begun.”
The people I consider intelligent are ecstatic.
Donald Trump has been found Guilty of committing 34 felonies.
In his attempt to hide damaging information which could have cost him the 2016 election.
Voters in most countries would recognize Trump’s long overdue comeuppance as justified.
Sufficient reason to preclude this lying now convicted felon from being considered for any elected office.
Not in America, I fear.
Excerpted from The New York Times – Frank Bruni – 5.30.2024
The first former American president to be put on trial is now the first former American president to be convicted of a felony. Those milestones should be tombstones. A normal mortal doesn’t rise from that political grave.
But Donald Trump? I could see him skipping out of the cemetery, all the way back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I could see “guilty” being a mere bump in the road. I could even see it being an accelerant, as his indictment arguably was.
That’s because he has spent much of his lifetime and all of his political career preparing for a chapter like the current one — carefully constructing and ceaselessly repeating a narrative in which there are forces out to get him, they’ll use whatever trickery they must and their accusations are never, ever to be trusted.
Convicted felon Trump during Michael Cohen’s testimony
I long ago lost count of the times that “witch hunt” tumbled from his lips or his keyboard. Same for “rigged.” He wasn’t just venting. He was girding, an amoral storyteller insisting on a story and a moral different from the ones that those nefarious establishment types were pushing. Trump came to understand that commanding people’s attention could get him only so far, while commanding their realities might enable him to get away with anything.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg meets the press after the Guilty verdict against Trump
The trial and its conclusion slot neatly into the Trump-against-the-world worldview that he has promoted so assertively, so continuously and, as his sustained perch atop the Republican Party demonstrates, so successfully. Indeed, the whole point of promoting it was inoculation against potentially ruinous circumstances like Thursday’s verdict.
In the eyes of many voters, his prosecution proves his persecution. It’s as much affirmation as condemnation. And it’s all the more reason for him — and for them — to press on.
Trump behind bars
The day after – San Francisco Chronicle Page One – 5.31.2024
RUPERT MURDOCH’S NEW YORK POST GOES FULL MAGA – 5.31.2024
The assault on Academia in the Bay Area continues.
The right to speak out against the ongoing Israeli criminality against the children, women and men of Gaza which has seen the deaths of over 35K since October 7 is being pushed under the proverbial rug. In a paroxysm of censorship and unwavering support by academia leadership for the State of Israel.
Last week the President of Sonoma State University was forced out.
Now a distinguished professor at San Jose State University has been unceremoniously sacked for supporting the Palestinian people.
This assault on free speech is blatant Red Baiting which is akin to people being labeled Communist and having their careers and lives destroyed in the 1950’s.
Unpacking History with Professor Sang Hea Kil
Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 5.26.2024
San Jose State University has temporarily suspended a justice studies professor who served as a liaison between administrators and pro-Palestinian demonstrators, the Chronicle has learned.
A statement by the CSU Student Divestment Coalition, a group of students advocating for schools to end financial support for companies doing business with Israel for its attacks on Gaza during its war with Hamas militants, slammed the university’s decision to suspend Sang Hea Kil, which it attributed to her support for pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Sang Hea Kil, a renowned professor at the university, received notice of her suspension Friday, according to a document reviewed by the Chronicle. The suspension letter says Kil is being suspended for violating Article 17 of the collective bargaining agreement between California State University and California Faculty Association.
The university didn’t specifically state what Kil did to warrant suspension, but alluded to certain actions in the suspension letter.
The letter states that Kil violated university policies due to “unprofessional and exploitative” conduct toward students, directing them to violate university policies and “engaging in harassing and offensive conduct and comments directed towards colleagues individually and as a group.”
Kil also posted the letter on her personal social media page, saying “SJSU has suspended me for my Palestine work. The fight for academic freedom continues.” She could not be reached for further comment.
Asked about Kil’s suspension Saturday, a spokesperson said the university does not comment on personnel matters.
Wednesday night Liz and I went to Davies Symphony Hall to see the film Gladiator accompanied by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and chorus. We had marvelous Box seats. It was our first trip to the building since 2018. We were scheduled to attend the Symphony on April 12, 2018. We never made it. That was the day Liz was subjected to the first of two brutal false citizen’s arrests. Liz was handcuffed and transported to Jail. Only to be released after I posted 20K cash bail.
The crowd at sold out Davies Hall cheered and applauded Gladiator throughout the performance of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Choir.Particularly when Russell Crowe (Maximus) turned to confront a visibly shocked Joaquin Phoenix (Commodus) in the Roman Colosseumand uttered the classic line, “I will have my vengeance in this Life or the Next.”
“I will have my vengeance in this Life or the Next.”
This false citizen’s arrest devastated Liz and changed both our lives forever. This false arrest was dismissed by San Francisco Superior Court two weeks later “In the Interest of Justice (PC section 1385)”.The devastation continued when Liz was, again, the subject of a second false citizen’s arrest on February 8, 2020. A false citizen’s arrest which was “Discharged” by the District Attorney days later. Nonetheless, the damage was done and long lasting.
Liz property bag, receipts and unused April 12, 2018 San Francisco Symphony ticket.
It was a momentous evening filled with bitter memories to return to Davies Hall. Particularly being able to watch, again, one of our favorite movies of all time. A story of a wronged man, whose life has been destroyed, fighting for Justice.
The San Francisco Symphony and choir perform Gladiator
The San Francisco Symphony and choir made Gladiator all the more exciting. Accentuating the riveting dialogue and action scenes during the two hour 35 minute opus.
Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall lit up in Gay Pride colors.
May 22nd is Harvey Milk’s birthday. The San Francisco Supervisor who was assassinated along with Mayor George Moscone across the street from Davies Hall in City Hall in November 1978. Wednesday was nearly 45 years to the day of the May 21, 1979 White Night Riots. San Franciscans marched on the seat of San Francisco government and engaged authorities in a ferocious riot. Following the light sentence handed down by the jury in the trial of the assassin. Former Supervisor Dan White.
San Francisco City Hall ablaze in Gay Pride colors to commemorate slain Supervisor Harvey Milk’s birthday – May 22, 2024
Liz and Lee at Davies Symphony Hall – May 22, 2024
Dressed in fashion of the times. Attendees draped themselves around Gladiator clad man taking selfies
Lee's Perspective 