Lee Heidhues 6.30.2023

I watched fascinated, appalled and, ultimately, participated in the San Francisco Police Department public review of the fatal shooting in the outer Richmond District the morning of June 22.

https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/news/sfpd-concludes-virtual-town-hall-june-22nd-officer-involved

Listening to most of the public comments repulsed me. Most callers spent their two minutes praising the SFPD. Insisted the officer behaved correctly. Decried the state of crime in San Francisco. Criticized the district Supervisor.

After I made my comments which were that the officer acted “precipitously” I was called a “Monday morning quarterback” and told by another caller I “should leave” San Francisco.

An SFPD officer shot and killed 37 year old Marc Child who had just murdered his 76 year old mother and a family dog.

The issue for me in watching the disturbing body cam footage was whether or not it was necessary to resort to fatal action within two minutes of arriving at the crime scene.

Equally disturbing was the behavior of the officer prior to the shooting. He yelled and screamed at an obviously mentally distraught man. His action did nothing to defuse a horrific situation.

The trained officer’s ultimate action, within two minutes of arriving at the crime scene, is questionable at best.

Dead men don’t talk. We will never know what was going on in the mind of Marc Child as he took his final breaths in the doorway of his home.

The SFPD officer was a distance away from Marc Child who had a 3 1/2″ knife in his hand.

It is obvious that SFPD shot Marc Child from a distance since the shell casings were found on the curbside a distance from the front door of the house.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/san-francisco-man-fatally-shot-by-police-after-allegedly-killing-mom-dog

Lee Heidhues 6.27.2023

Another incipient environmental disaster in the making is barely causing a ripple in the mainstream media.

Who would have thought that Norway, ancestral home of composer Edvard Grieg and locale of the classic Beatles song “Norwegian Wood,” would be conducting deep sea mining. And, for what?

Dig up the components for electric car batteries among other environmentally destructive uses.

Excerpted from The Financial Times 6.8.2023

“If someone gets there first it should be us,” said Walter Sognnes, chief executive of Loke Marine Minerals, which plans to mine Norway’s metallic crusts and recently took on two UK-sponsored exploration contracts in the Pacific. “We are a big fishery nation, we live by the sea, the ocean is our biggest resource . . . We would not be reinventing the wheel.”

Norway’s government is readying plans to open an area of ocean nearly the size of Germany to deep-sea mining as it seeks to become the first country to extract battery metals from its sea floor. The country’s energy ministry is racing to submit to parliament in the next two weeks a proposal to open the vast area to applications for exploration and extraction. The plan would then face a parliamentary vote in autumn.

But Oslo faces a battle with fishing businesses and environmentalists over the proposals, and risks opening a dispute with other nations as it pushes to enable mining close to Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic.

Norway argues it commands exclusive mining rights over a larger area of water there than Russia, the UK and the EU contend it does. Volcanic springs up to 4,000m deep that surge from the Earth’s crust on fault lines between tectonic plates in the proposed area contain an estimated 38mn tons of copper, more than is mined around the world each year.

Of the region earmarked for potential mining, the most contentious part would be the area close to Svalbard. The Svalbard Treaty, which gives Norway sovereignty over the islands, also gives other countries the right to mine on land and in the territorial waters around the archipelago. Russia, the EU and the UK are at odds with Norway over how large an area of water this treaty covers.

Amund Vik, state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, told the Financial Times that deep-sea mining would help Europe meet the “desperate need for more minerals, rare earth materials to make the transition happen”.

The government would take a “precautionary approach” on environmental issues, he added.

The fluid that emerges from hydrothermal vents such as those in Norway’s waters also contains other metals used in electric car batteries, including cobalt.

https://www.ft.com/content/44855d32-82c2-4f4c-b77c-1c21d3c1279f

Lee Heidhues 6.26.2023

Man Kit Lam is a vicious attack dog political operative who has no shame and will continue his slash and burn political vendetta against all those who oppose him.

Just today the San Francisco MSM is trumpeting the settlement of Man Kit Lam’s civil law suit against Jason Kruta. The young man who briefly disrupted his successful campaign to recall three Progressive School Board members in February 2022. An act for which Jason Kruta was fired from his job and was criminally prosecuted. A prosecution which was not enough for vengeful Man Kit Lam. He sued Mr. Kruta in San Francisco Civil Superior Court. A lawsuit which has just concluded.

“This lawsuit was never about money but uncovering the truth of whether there was a collaboration between Kruta and others to subvert the democratic process,” Lam said in a statement. “When I experienced and witnessed anti-democratic behavior and subsequently had my constitutional rights violated, I knew I must stand up for my rights and seek justice.”  

He thanked Kruta for his public apology, acknowledging the case has led to harassment against him, and hopes the settlement will resolve any lingering controversy.

Man Kit Lam quoted in San Francisco Standard 6.26.2023

At the same time Man Kit Lam’s Fake News kumbaya comment hit the press. Man Kit Lam unleashed his Twitter account (@mankitlam4). He launched an incendiary libelous assault on people who were exercising their First Amendment rights. They opposed his efforts to recall elected School Board members and DA Chesa Boudin.

It is a most reprehensible person who can in one breath claim to want a dispute laid to rest. And in the next breath fan the flames. Abusing and terrorizing his foes.

Top photo: Man Kit Lam shouts down former San Francisco Supervisor Rev. Amos Brown at meeting of the San Francisco School Board in 2022.

Lee Heidhues 6.24.2023

Are Americans paying attention to this fast breaking evolving crisis?

Excerpted from Moscow Times 6.24.2023

“The U.S. government is not able to coordinate evacuation of private U.S. citizens from the Russian Federation. As underscored in longstanding U.S. travel advisories for Russia, we continue to urge U.S. citizens to not enter Russia at this time, and that U.S. citizens remaining in Russia depart immediately if it is safe to do so.

The United States Embassy in Moscow has sent out a security alert to U.S. citizens in Russia, advising them to “prepare for any security developments” that arise.

“The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is aware of the reports of fighting between Wagner Group forces and the Russian Armed Forces in southwest Russia. The security situation in Russia continues to be unpredictable. We will continue to monitor the situation, but U.S. citizens should be aware that the Embassy has limited ability to assess security conditions in Moscow and other locations in the Russian Federation in real time,” the embassy said in an emailed advisory.

It urged U.S. citizens to “monitor local conditions and be prepared for any security developments.”

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/06/24/live-wagner-chief-rebels-against-military-leadership-a81618

Top photo: Wagner fighters in position outside of a circus in Rostov on the Don

Lee Heidhues 6.23.2023

It’s difficult to discern what is really happening in Putin’s Russia.

Reporters who tell the story may end up in jail. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been imprisoned since late March for his honest reporting from Russia.

Reporters aren’t the only ones threatening Putin’s ironclad rule. Now the head of the mercenary Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin has pledged retaliation after the Russian military allegedly attacked his forces. The Kremlin denies the charges and said he is attempting a “mutiny.

“This is not a military coup. This is a march for justice,” Prigozhin said. 

Naturally the Western media is falling all over itself to advertise what it hopes is Russian fratricide which could damage, if not destroy Vladimir Putin.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 6.23.2023

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office said on Telegram that Yevgeny Prigozhin’s actions could see him sentenced behind bars for 12 to 20 years.

Prigozhin is a Wanted Man in both Russia and the United States.

The office said Prigozhin was charged under Article 279 of the Russian Criminal Code for organizing an armed insurrection.

“His actions will be given a proper legal assessment,” the office added.

https://www.dw.com/en/wagner-chief-accuses-russian-army-of-deceiving-putin/video-66018741

https://www.dw.com/en/live-russias-wagner-chief-faces-mutiny-charges/a-66018647

Lee Heidhues 6.21.2023

The San Francisco Police Department has guidelines for engaging in high speed pursuit.

Looking at the photographic evidence on display from today’s smash up into a former Italian Restaurant in the heart of the Mission leaves one wondering if the cops read their own rule book.

Excerpted from Mission Local 6.21.2023

In the midst of a high-speed car chase, a San Francisco police SUV ran a stop sign, clipped a motorcycle it appeared to be trying to avoid and injured a child as it crashed into the front of the storefront that was formerly Lucca’s deli on the corner of Valencia and 22rd Street, witnesses said. 

Witnesses saw two people transported by ambulance, one of whom was a child. A witness said he aided both the victims after the crash and that their injuries did not appear life-threatening.

Neither the police department nor San Francisco General Hospital, the city’s go-to trauma center, responded to requests for comment. The victims’ conditions are unknown.

“I was just sitting next to the stop sign and a red car was flying through the stop sign, and the second after that I saw a police cruiser going just as fast,” said Chris, who said he was on 22nd Street west of the intersection and that the speeding red car was going “50 to 60 miles per hour” towards Valencia.

The car sped down 22nd Street, Chris said, followed by “a police cruiser chasing it with lights on.”

Chris ran down 22nd following the chase and saw the police SUV had crashed into Lucca’s facade, he said. The red car, witnesses said, sped off westbound on 22nd.

Robert Reyes, who lives on the corner directly opposite the store and was standing on the corner, said he saw the entire incident. He was waiting to cross the street when he saw a maroon Mercedes-Benz run a red light on Valencia Street, followed by the police SUV.

He said that the red car “slowed down” when it approached the intersection before speeding up and fleeing down 22nd Street. The police car, sirens on, followed and ran the red light, striking a motorcyclist cruising on Valencia.

San Francisco police officers are permitted to engage in vehicle chases under certain conditions.

San Francisco Police Department
GENERAL ORDER
5.05
Rev. 05/22/13
Eff. 06/26/13
EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND PURSUIT DRIVING

IV. VEHICLE PURSUITS
A. PURSUIT GUIDELINES

1. WHEN A PURSUIT IS AUTHORIZED. Except as otherwise provided in this order,
   an officer in an emergency vehicle may initiate a pursuit of an individual:
   a. Suspected of a violent felony; or
   b. When there is an articulable reasonable belief that the individual needs to be
   immediately apprehended because of the risk that individual poses to public
   safety.

Lee Heidhues 6.20.2023

To: Josh Koehn – San Francisco Standard

I read your feature article on San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

There is one glaring omission. 

CHESA BOUDIN!!!!!!

You must know that Breed was a substantial factor in the Recall of Chesa as District Attorney.

To have written nothing about London Breed’s political treachery is disappointing to say the least and a dereliction of journalistic responsibility.

San Francisco Standard 6.20.2023

‘They Don’t Fucking Control Me’

“Willie Brown didn’t wipe my ass when I was a baby — my grandmother took care of me. … I don’t do what no motherfucking body tells me to do.”

— London Breed, mayor

https://sfstandard.com/politics/london-breed-mayor-san-francisco-drugs-homelessness-crime-economy-election/

Top photo: Mayor London Breeds swears in District Attorney Chesa Boudin at the Marines Memorial Theater – January 8, 2020. I was there.

Lee Heidhues 6.19.2023

Native Americans left the Supreme Court last week with raised heads and full hands.

The Wall Street Journal published a totally callous and unfeeling editorial bemoaning last week’s Supreme Court decision in ‘Haaland v. Brackeen’ upholding the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act.

Even worse, many of the WSJ readers commenting agree with the editorial. This was my comment fighting the tide of White American colonialist thinking.

What all the Comments bemoaning the 7-2 Haaland v Brackeen ruling fail miserably to realize or admit.

Native Americans were in North America before the White colonialists; i.e. American occupiers stole their land and engaged in a pattern of systemic genocide.

The Supreme Court realizes thankfully, the totally clueless Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alioto notwithstanding, the Native Americans were the victims of White man’s Genocide. (In his dissent Thomas referred to Native Americans as “Indians.”)

This Decision is an important marker affirming their rights.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-haaland-v-brackeen-amy-coney-barrett-indian-child-welfare-act-a5fe6387

Fortunately Democracy Now, amongst other media outlets, chose to look at this important story in more historic terms. Not the narrow minded view of State vs Federal jurisdiction.

https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/16/scotus_indian_child_welfare_act_nagle?jwsource=cl

Democracy Now spoke with Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle about a major victory at the Supreme Court in a case that could have gutted Native American sovereignty.

In a surprise 7-2 ruling Thursday, the court upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which protects Native children from being removed from their tribal communities for fostering or adoption in non-Native homes.

The court rejected an argument from Republican-led states and white families who argued the system is based on race. Nagle has covered the case closely for The Nation and her podcast, This Land, and says the far right is attacking the Indian Child Welfare Act as part of a broader conservative agenda to destabilize federal Indian law.

She calls the decision “really encouraging,” noting it is “good not just for Native nations and families, but for the rule of law.”

Neil Gorsuch, a staunch conservative Justice, has become a leader on the Court affirming the rights of Native Americans. He wrote in a concurring opinion.

Often, Native American Tribes have come to this Court seeking justice only to leave with bowed heads and empty hands. But that is not because this Court has no justice to offer them. Our Constitution reserves for the Tribes a place—an enduring place—in the structure of American life.… In adopting the Indian Child Welfare Act, Congress exercised that lawful authority to secure the right of Indian parents to raise their families as they please; the right of Indian children to grow in their culture; and the right of Indian communities to resist fading into the twilight of history. All of that is in keeping with the Constitution’s original design.

Lee Heidhues 6.17.2023

When I got the news that Daniel Ellsberg died yesterday I was saddened. He was a true hero. A man who stood by his convictions and was ready to pay the price.

My memory jumped back to May 1969. Two years before the Pentagon papers were published in June 1971. Setting off a Constitutional battle over press freedom and sending President Nixon down the road which led to his resignation three years later.

In 1969 this was all in the future. I was a journalism student at San Francisco State University on assignment for the campus newspaper, The Phoenix. I convinced my faculty advisor to let me attend The World Affairs Council meeting at Asilomar in Monterey, California. Over 700 people including journalists, politicians and leading lights of the day were in attendance.

On the second evening of the event I spent the evening with Daniel Ellsberg. My journal entry captured the moment.

I returned to San Francisco and wrote an article. Not mentioning Daniel Ellsberg.

Two years later Liz and I are living in Germany working at the Ramstein Air Base when the following appears at the Base newsstand.

Shortly thereafter all the World knew that Daniel Ellsberg, the articulate guy with whom I had spent an evening two years earlier had just upended the entire American government.

Top photo – Tony Russo, Daniel Ellsberg and Patricia Marx after all Espionage charges dismissed by Federal Judge William Matthew Byrne because of gross governmental misconduct and illegal evidence gathering – May 11, 1973

Liz Heidhues – Special to Lee’s Perspective – 6.16.2023

Garry Tan and London Breed are pressing the flesh with like minded law and order San Francisco keepers of the venture capitalist status quo.

Perhaps Garry Tan – MAGA financier whose money was crucial in the ouster of Progressive DA Chesa Boudin – is seeking a bailout from San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The highest paid mayor in US ($357K ‘22) who has run the City into a 780M budget deficit.

Tan is barking up wrong tree. Breed is an incompetent money manager, just like Tan. Breed sank The City into miasma of financial distress and dystopia screaming law and order every step of the way.

San Francisco government is now spiraling into the Doom Loop.

Tan ignited SVB bank collapse and owns other losses. San Francisco is in a free fall. Garry and London are the last people anyone should have guiding the financial fortunes of San Francisco.

Top photo – Garry Tan and London Breed pressing the flesh as San Francisco spirals downward into the Doom Loop