Lee Heidhues 10.8.2023

I keep asking myself how the Middle East has turned into such a cauldron of death and destruction.

Granted there has been religious and political strife in the Middle East; specifically Palestine nee Israel, since the times of Jesus.

It’s fair to say that the situation really deteriorated beginning on November 2, 1917 when the British government issued the Balfour Declaration.

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

The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then an Ottoman region with a small minority Jewish population. The declaration was contained in a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, for transmission to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. The text of the declaration was published in the press on 9 November 1917.

The State of Israel was created May 14, 1948. As they say the rest is history.

Displacement of the Palestinian population and creation of the hegemonic State of Israel.

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

The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel^[2] (Hebrew: הכרזה על הקמת מדינת ישראל), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708) by David Ben-Gurion, the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization,^[a][3] Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, and soon to be firstPrime Minister of Israel.^[4] It declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel, which would come into effect on termination of the British Mandate at midnight that day.^[5][1] The event is celebrated annually in Israel as Independence Day, a national holiday on 5 Iyar of every year according to the Hebrew calendar.

The current inferno in Palestine nee Israel is the latest manifestation of the Balfour Declaration.

Lee Heidhues 10.5.2023

That insane moment in November 1978 will forever be emblazoned in my mind as I spent several hours at San Francisco City Hall on October 4 viewing Senator Feinstein’s flag draped casket and watching family and the public pay their last respects.

Dianne Feinstein has been an integral part of my life in the news cycle for 54 years. My first connection was in 1969 when she was running for Supervisor. I went into her Richmond District campaign headquarters. A young girl approached me and asked, “Are you going to vote for my mom?” It was Katherine Feinstein who later became presiding Judge of the San Francisco Superior Court.

Several years later I was editor of the Sun Reporter newspaper. I regularly attended the weekly Board of Supervisors meetings and had an opportunity to watch a young Dianne Feinstein in action. On occasion I would speak briefly with her. She was always accessible and very forthcoming.

Over the decades as Dianne Feinstein’s career advance I did not agree with some of her policy positions but I found her to be very forthright, honest, clear about what she wanted and always prepared.

Today I feel as if something is missing in my life.

It is perhaps fitting that Senator Feinstein passed away just before the annual fleet week celebration. This event has become a part of the City’s landscape. It was instituted by Mayor Feinstein in 1981. This year the Blue Angels were flying back and forth through the City as Dianne Feinstein’s funeral service was taking place in front of City Hall in torrid 90 degree weather.

Lee Heidhues 9.28.2023

Mark Dietrich – A local Donald Trump

Mark Dietrich will stoop to any depths in the political swamp to destroy his opponents and all for which they stand.

The most incendiary political flamethrower in San Francisco’s Richmond District is unleashing his venomous and divisive rhetoric over a year before the 2024 election.

Mark Dietrich, whose extreme law and order rhetoric attacking and belittling the homeless, Progressives and all who stand in his way has now set his sights on the Asian American Supervisor representing his district.

Mark Dietrich was instrumental in the political coups d’etat which ousted Progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three school board members in 2022.

The photo of Mark Dietrich on election night June 7, 2022 showing him arm outstretched, beverage in hand, howling in glee with his cadres perhaps illustrates better than any words can describe the true nature of this political creature. Destroy all who oppose him and wallow in victory.

In a recent column in the online Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon Mark Dietrich tried to portray himself as nothing more than a neighborly good citizen. But, buried in this soporific column, Dietrich gets to the point of all his false neighborliness.

• Download the 311 app and use it to report dumping, graffiti, dangerous encampments or other civic issues. Sometimes issues are fixed instantly, sometimes it takes a few days. More importantly, 311 is how the City measures and monitors issues. The data that is captured is used to direct resources. If we all use it more, the magnitude and severity of our issues will become far more visible.
    
• Ask around and start or join a neighborhood watch group on your block. You can contact the professionals at SFSAFE for formal procedures, or just meet some neighbors and do it yourself. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You will find the benefits go far, far beyond just crime watching. For tips visit SFSAFE.org or StopRichmondBurglary.org.  

“Report dumping, graffiti, dangerous encampments or other civic issue…”

“If we all use it (the 311 app) more, the magnitude and severity of our issues will become far more visible..”

“Join a neighborhood watch group on your block..”

All of these law and order dog whistles are nothing more than Mark Dietrich’s appealing to fear and paranoia. The same strategies used to great advantage by Donald Trump.

The Standard 9.25.2023

WAITING FOR MARJAN: Disgruntled Richmond District voters have launched a website that includes an online plea for former mayoral aide and small business advocate Marjan Philhour to run against incumbent Chan. Signed by 102 Richmond residents and organized by resident Mark Dietrich, the online petition feels like a bit of 2011 throwback, when supporters of former Mayor Ed Lee launched a campaign imploring him to run. 

Lee Heidhues 9.26.2023

Heather Knight, who spent 20 years at the San Francisco Chronicle pitching law and order.

In the latter part of her tenure Ms. Nightcrawler scurrilously used her poison pen to destroy progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin. The Nightcrawler has now planted her poison pen as San Francisco bureau chief for the The New York Times.

In one of her opening pieces Heather failed to get the Haas family lineage of Mayoral challenger Daniel Lurie correct. Daniel is not a direct descendant of the Levi Strauss & Co. founder Levi Strauss.

In typical Heather fashion, more suited for The New York Post, she leads her story with, “he (Lurie) decided to run for mayor when he was walking his 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to school, and they saw a man stumbling down the street, naked and screaming.”

Details matter. Heather’s Faux Paux Unzipped.

A correction was made on Sept. 26, 2023: 

Because of editing errors, an earlier version of this article and correction referred incorrectly to Mr. Lurie’s familial connection to Levi Strauss. His mother married Peter Haas, who was a great-grandnephew of Mr. Strauss; neither Ms. Haas nor Mr. Lurie is his direct descendant.

Too bad Heather’s former employer The San Francisco Chronicle failed to equally check her misstatements when she was trashing, unfairly, Chesa Boudin.

Excerpted from The New York Times 9.26.2023 by Heather Knight

Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss clothing fortune, announced on Tuesday that he would run against Mayor London Breed of San Francisco next year, at a time when the city is struggling to overcome a number of crises in its downtown core.

Mr. Lurie, 46, planned to launch his campaign Tuesday at a community center in the city’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, a longtime working-class area now dotted with multimillion-dollar homes and upscale shops. His entrance in the race signals that Ms. Breed may be vulnerable in her bid for re-election and may have lost the support of some moderate allies.

Mr. Lurie said in an interview that he intended to campaign on solving the city’s quality-of-life problems, and that he blames Ms. Breed for doing too little to tackle them.

Mr. Lurie is the founder of Tipping Point, an anti-poverty nonprofit. He said that he decided to run for mayor when he was walking his 9-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter to school, and they saw a man stumbling down the street, naked and screaming.

Ms. Breed, 49, and Mr. Lurie are both San Francisco natives and Democrats, but have very different backgrounds. Ms. Breed, the first Black woman to lead the city, was raised by her grandmother in public housing near City Hall, and now rents an apartment in the Lower Haight, a lively neighborhood popular among young tenants for its restaurants, nightclubs and colorful Victorian homes.

Few San Francisco residents have family ties — or riches — that extend as far back in the city as Mr. Lurie’s do. When he was a young child, his mother married Peter Haas, a great grand-nephew of Levi Strauss, the German immigrant who opened a dry goods shop in San Francisco in 1853, when the city was bustling with new arrivals seeking gold in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Mr. Strauss found his own fortune by making durable denim pants for miners, and his company is still synonymous with bluejeans today.

Mr. Lurie’s mother, Mimi Haas, is a billionaire. His father, Rabbi Brian Lurie, was the executive director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco. Daniel Lurie is living in Potrero Hill temporarily while his house in Pacific Heights, the wealthy residential area where he grew up, is being renovated.

Lee Heidhues 9.25.2023

The extremist Alternative for Germany (AfD) has suffered a blow at the polls.

AfD was widely predicted to capture a Mayor’s seat in the city of Nordhausen, with its population of around 42,000. It is located near the former concentration camp Mittelbau-Dora, a part of the larger Buchenwald complex. In Mittelbau-Dora, slave labor was used to build V-2 rockets, with about one out of three workers dying.

Instead, the incumbent Mayor, a one time Green Party member now Independent, prevailed in a runoff vote and will serve another six years in office. While this is undoubtedly a victory for the anti right movement, there is no cause for celebration. The AfD is still polling at over 20 percent in German opinion polls. Currently, the AfD has 78 seats in the Germany national Bundestag. Nearly 11 percent of the seats.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 9.25.2023

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) has failed to unseat the incumbent mayor in a runoff election in the central industrial town of Nordhausen.

AfD candidate Jörg Prophet won 45.1% of the vote in Sunday’s local polls, while independent incumbent Kai Buchmann garnered 54.9%.

AfD candidate Prophet had raised eyebrows with his statements on Germany’s past, stating that Allies troops who liberated the Mittelbau-Dora camp were solely interested in information about rockets and missiles.

He has also urged an end to Germany’s “guilt cult” describing German attitudes towards the Holocaust.

The populist party has been mired in numerous controversies over their anti-migrant stance, with mainstream politicians warning of parallels between AfD ideology and the Nazis. Recently, a court in Thuringia decided that AfD regional leader Bjorn Höcke would face trial for allegedly using a banned Nazi slogan in a speech.

Prophet conceded defeat in a press statement referring to himself in the third person: “We have a new mayor. Mr Prophet has become the number two in this election.”

Prophet had been the clear favorite ahead of the polls. The 61-year-old entrepreneur won over 42% of the vote in the first round two weeks ago, with Buchmann securing only 23.7%.

Buchmann, an independent formerly associated with the Green party, had hoped to harness support from mainstream voters who view the AfD as right-wing extremists.

Germany’s established parties have united to keep the AfD out of power in the past, but the taboo against cooperating with them seems to be fading as the AfD’s popularity rises.

Reacting to the result, the management of the Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial said voters had chosen to live in a cosmopolitan, diverse city that is aware of its historical responsibility.

“Nevertheless, the many votes for the AfD candidate, who is openly historical revisionist, show that the enlightened culture of remembrance is the basic consensus of our democracy is at acute risk,” said foundation director Jens-Christian Wagner.

https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-afd-loses-mayoral-race-in-nordhausen/a-66909129

Lee Heidhues 9.24.2023

San Francisco District One Supervisor Connie Chan, despite her blatant betrayal of the Progressives who foisted her into office, is banking on these same Progressives to give her four more years.

What happened to the Connie Chan who opposed the Recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three school board members in 2022?

In 2020 it was Chic for Connie to pitch herself as a Progressive. Connie is no Progressive and once in office realized she is not in synch with her District.

Rather than stand on principle, Connie caved.

I will say it over and over.

The Progressives got played by Connie big time in 2020. Particularly the environmentalists, including such groups as Sunrise Bay Area, who endorsed Connie and helped her squeak into office by 125 votes.

Once in office Connie became the most fierce opponent of Slow Streets, JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway.

Connie’s only core belief is that climate killing cars are predominant and should rule the roads of San Francisco.

As Chairperson of the Supervisor’s budget committee Connie has voted for everything the San Francisco Police Department and its strident Police Officers Association has requested.

As has been aptly pointed out to me. How many times is Connie going to have a photo op with the Captain of the Richmond District Police Station?

The Progressives are blithely ignoring Connie’s craven right wing turn and will get played, again.

When Connie linked arms with uber reactionary David Lee days before the 2020 election that said it all.

Of course, Connie signing her campaign Lit “In solidarity” was the real tell tale sign…… and once safely ensconced at City Hall the REAL CONNIE appeared.

Lee Heidhues 9.23.2023

Our neighborhood Anza Branch Library celebrated its 91st anniversary this past Wednesday. On a day when San Francisco was swept up in a stream of toxicity caused by wildfire smoke from the Pacific Northwest a number of citizens braved the elements and enjoyed the festivities.

When our children were growing up the Anza Branch Library was a home away from home with its marvelous children’s room. Our daughter learned to read at an early age and spent hours in the library. Disappearing from our home for hours on end. Our blind son never missed the Tuesday morning story hour with Margaret the Librarian. She often wore a colorful skirt festooned with lady bugs. Our son, years before he learned to read braille, really loved the story hour as Margaret provided detailed verbal descriptions of the artwork and photos.

Lee Heidhues 9.17.2023

Germany’s Green party foreign minister Annalena Baerbock was in America this past week pitching Ukraine military assistance to skeptical Republicans the necessity to keep up the flow of arms to repel the Russian invasion. Now approaching two years.

Ms. Baerbock also received the grand treatment from Administration officials, meeting with Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. Both the German and American administrations are on the same page when it comes to funding the Ukraine government in its struggle against the Russian invaders of their country.

The biggest stumbling block to military aid is coming from an increasingly isolationist Republican party which for political reasons continues to oppose military assistance. A stance which marches right in line with that of Donald Trump who has a strangle hold on the Republican party.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 9.17.2023

https://www.dw.com/en/baerbock-blinken-urge-continued-support-for-ukraine/video-66831280

Top photo: German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock meets with Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

Lee Heidhues 9.16.2023

The hard truth comes out, eventually.

For holocaust survivors and Jews worldwide celebrating Jewish New Year 5784 this weekend the story published today has been circulating for decades.

The Vatican under the papacy of Pope Pius XII looked the other way while the murderous Nazi regime in Germany was exterminating millions of Jews.

Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle via Associated Press 9.15.2023

ROME (AP) — Newly discovered correspondence suggests that World War II-era Pope Pius XII had detailed information from a trusted German Jesuit that up to 6,000 Jews and Poles were being gassed each day in German-occupied Poland, undercutting the Holy See’s argument that it couldn’t verify diplomatic reports of Nazi atrocities to denounce them.

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

The letter from the priest, the Rev. Lothar Koenig, to Pius’ secretary, a fellow German Jesuit named the Rev. Robert Leiber, is dated Dec. 14, 1942. Written in German, the letter addresses Leiber as “Dear friend,” and goes on to report that the Nazis were killing up to 6,000 Jews and Poles daily from Rava Ruska, a town in pre-war Poland that is today located in Ukraine, and transporting them to the Belzec death camp.

The date of Koenig’s letter is significant because it suggests the correspondence from a trusted fellow Jesuit arrived in Pius’ office in the same three weeks before Christmas 1942 that Pius was receiving multiple diplomatic notes from the British and Polish envoys to the Vatican with reports that up to 1 million Jews had been killed so far in Poland.

The documentation from the Vatican archives, published this weekend in Italian daily Corriere della Sera, is likely to further fuel the debate about Pius’ legacy and his now-stalled beatification campaign.

Historians have long been divided about Pius’ record, with supporters insisting he used quiet diplomacy to save Jewish lives while critics say he remained silent as the Holocaust raged.

Corriere is reproducing a letter dated Dec. 14, 1942 from the German Jesuit priest to Pius’ secretary which is contained in an upcoming book about the newly opened files of Pius’ pontificate by Giovanni Coco, a researcher and archivist in the Vatican’s Apostolic Archives.

“The novelty and importance of this document comes from this fact: that on the Holocaust, there is now the certainty that Pius XII was receiving from the German Catholic Church exact and detailed news about crimes being perpetrated against Jews,” Coco was quoted by Corriere as saying.

Coco told Corriere that the letter was significant because it represented detailed correspondence about the Nazi extermination of Jews from an informed church source in Germany who was part of the Catholic anti-Hitler resistance that was able to get otherwise secret information to the Vatican.

According to the Belzec memorial which opened in 2004, a total of 500,000 Jews perished at the camp. The memorial’s website reports that as many as 3,500 Jews from Rava Ruska had already been sent to Belzec earlier in 1942 and that from Dec. 7-11, the city’s Jewish ghetto was liquidated. “About 3,000-5,000 people were shot on the spot and 2,000- 5,000 people were taken to Bełżec,” the website says.

Top photo: Pope Pius II meets with Adolf Hitler – date unknown

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/world/article/letter-showing-pope-pius-xii-had-detailed-18370271.php

Lee Heidhues 9.3.2023

Liz and I have been and will continue to be unwavering advocates for car free spaces in San Francisco. JFK Promenade. The Great Walkway. Slow Streets.

We have prevailed and will continue to fight. We will be “magnanimous” while savoring our small victories.

For three years Liz and I have been the subject of vicious attacks on Social Media. Someone even stooped to the depth of calling Liz Heidhues a “luddite” for her advocacy. We refuse to be intimidated. Our advocacy along with that of thousands of San Francisco citizens continue to achieve incremental progress in making the City a more pedestrian and cyclist friendly City.

Liz and I have been subjected to a litany of vitriolic comments for posting our opinion in The Richmond Review. By entitled motorists who lost at the Board of Supervisors, the ballot box and the courtroom in their well funded efforts to maintain their hegemony.

Most recently we took strong exception to an oped by the former publisher Tom Pendergast titled “Despite Pleas, Geary Blvd. Quick Build Project OK’ed” bemoaning the approval of the Geary Transit project.

We spoke up in favor of the Geary Transit Corridor project approved after 20 years of mindless kvetching and whining from the entitled motorists and business owners who blame their failures on the lack of parking.

One respondent called it a “tragedy” that the long overdue project will now go forward citing the alleged deleterious impact it will have on local business. An allegation which has no basis in fact.

The real “tragedy” is the continuing mayhem on City streets caused by cars.

This morning I came upon an accident scene at 43rd and Anza Street in the outer Richmond. Even though there is a four way STOP sign two cars collided. When I arrived one dazed motorist was being tended to by the emergency crew. The other motorist was sitting in the ambulance.

The financial impact to the City caused by accidents, injury and death is something which the entitled motorists refuse to acknowledge. Instead the entitled motorists continue to to assert their right of hegemony over the streets of San Francisco.