Lee Heidhues 12.31.2022

San Francisco had the best and the worst for Progressives in 2022.

There are two events which hi-lite political life in The City.

Car Free JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway will stand out as the most Progressive accomplishment of the year. On November 8 the voters overwhelmingly cast their votes in favor of more car free spaces in The City.

The June 7 political lynching of Progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin. With a nearly 9MM war chest funded by arch conservatives. Appealing to the most base law and order instincts of the voters. Chesa’s ouster is a permanent stain on the reputation of San Francisco.

Prior to the ouster of Chesa there was the February Recall of three Progressive members of the San Francisco School Board. This was the warm up act for the MAGA crowd which, emboldened by their School Board take down, successfully set their sites on the Progressive DA.

The political irony is the undisputable fact that many of the same individuals and organizations which supported Chesa’s Recall were firmly on the side of car free spaces.

On the other hand, a number of Progressives and like minded organizations either remained neutral or flat out opposed car free areas in San Francisco. Falling for the nonsense that somehow car free spaces discriminate against marginalized communities.

Where are we as San Francisco turns the clock to 2023?

The ouster of a Progressive DA has done nothing to mitigate the crime problem. Which presumes there was a problem during Chesa’s 30 month tenure. Since Chesa’s Mayoral picked successor Brooke Jenkins became DA crime has not abated. The only substantive change is that the too often shameful mainstream media, which was instrumental in Chesa’s ouster, is no longer beating the law and order drums to stir up the paranoid and fearful people.

On a more favorable side, the car free spaces at JFK Promenade, The Great Walkway and an abbreviated Slow Streets program appear to be a permanent fixture in San Francisco life.

Even though 2023 will not be an election year in San Francisco the close quarters political combat can be expected to continue non-stop.

Lee Heidhues 12.29.2022

This story is not receiving major coverage. Yet.

Deutsche Welle wrote about it a week ago. Since then the mainstream media has been generally quiet.

The article in today’s Wall Street Journal shines more light on the arrest of German intelligence officer Carsten L.

Perhaps the lack of coverage can be explained by the embarrassment the Germans are feeling due to this serious security lapse.

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 12.29.2022

BERLIN—A senior German intelligence officer arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia had access to a trove of top-secret information about the war in Ukraine as well as knowledge of how it was collected by the U.S. and its allies, Western officials say.  

The case could be the worst example of Russian penetration of Germany’s intelligence services since 1961, when a senior BND employee who was spying for the Soviet Union exposed a network of 100 CIA spies, said Erich Schmidt-Eenboom, who has written several books on the BND.

Prosecutors are trying to determine whether the material was shared with Moscow. If so, it could have alerted Russia to its own vulnerabilities and given away Western intelligence-gathering methods and capabilities.

American and British officials said they were trying to determine the scope of potential damage in Ukraine and elsewhere. One U.S. official said there was “grave concern” about the case.

The suspected spy, identified as Carsten L. by German prosecutors, worked for the signals intelligence branch of the country’s Federal Intelligence Service, which conducts electronic surveillance and works with the U.S. National Security Agency and Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters.

Prosecutors said the man was being held on suspicion of committing treason as their investigation continues.

The German intelligence service, known as the BND, confirmed the arrest but has declined to comment further, citing national security risks. The NSA and GCHQ declined to comment.

The Kremlin didn’t respond to a request for comment. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, or SVR, declined to comment.

The Kremlin’s suspected penetration of Germany’s most secretive security agency is the latest evidence of Moscow’s aggressive tactics in Europe, where Russia has been accused of killing political opponents, sabotaging infrastructure and trying to steal industrial secrets.

The BND received a tipoff about the suspected spy from an allied intelligence service earlier this year, German officials said. After an internal investigation, the case was passed to the federal prosecutor, who then ordered the man’s arrest last week.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/suspected-russian-agent-in-germany-had-access-to-western-intelligence-about-ukraine-war-11672255183

Lee Heidhues 12.28.2022

This story gets more bizarre by the day, if not the hour. The blatant lies spewed forth by the New York Congressman-elect started off as local news.

It has quickly spun out of control as the Republicans alternately are appalled yet will do anything to preserve their razor thin margin in the House of Representatives.

Even if it means seating someone who hasn’t even taken office and is already being investigated for his lies, and potentially more serious matters, at both the Federal and local level.

The Democrats only need sit back, smile and watch yet another Republican train wreck candidate crash and burn.

Excerpted from New York Magazine – The Intelligencer – 12.28.2022

George Santos, congressman-elect from the Third District of New York and international man of mystery, has been the feel-bad story of the holiday season.

For all the stuff Santos seems to have made up, there’s also a lot he didn’t disclose in biographical information: multiple evictions and debt defaults in New York, a criminal fraud conviction in Brazil, and a recently dissolved marriage to a woman (he claims to be openly gay and married to a man, though records on that can’t be found either so far).

The (apparently) 34-year-old Long Island Republican won one of the handful of upset races that gave his party a slim margin of control of the U.S. House. But when the New York Times began looking into his background in mid-December, it quickly became clear that the candidate who called himself the “full embodiment of the American Dream” may have been dreaming up an identity for himself.

Santos has now admitted in interviews with various media outlets that he was guilty of “embellishing his résumé.” But he insisted, “I am not a criminal,” and said he still plans to occupy his House seat on January 3, just like his 434 colleagues. With Republicans (and particularly presumptive Speaker Kevin McCarthy) needing every vote they can muster to organize the House and Democrats being reluctant to disenfranchise Santos’s constituents, he will probably get away with his lies for the present.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/12/george-santos-admits-lied.html

Lee Heidhues 12.27.2022

While the thousands of people who campaigned for a Car Free JFK Promenade and Great Walkway Park achieved a marvelous victory at the polls on November 8, 2022 those who want to bring climate killing cars back have not given up the fight.

A group calling itself ‘Open the Great Highway Alliance’ filed a lawsuit against The City in San Francisco Superior Court a year ago. Their Motion to obtain an Injunction ordering that cars be allowed on JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway was rejected earlier this year.

‘Open the Great Highway Alliance’ then filed an Appeal with the California Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

That Appeal is pending.

The question needs to be asked, “Who is funding this lawsuit?”

During the election campaign I obtained documents from the San Francisco Ethics Commission to find out how much money the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Dede Wilsey were contributing to Proposition I. The measure which Dede Wilsey got onto the ballot paying signature gatherers $200,000.

The name on the FAMSF submission is the same as that in the lawsuit to bring cars back to JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway. ‘Open the Great Highway Alliance.’

Defeated overwhelmingly at the ballot box, Dede Wilsey continues to spend her money and thwart the will of the voters.

Following the November election the Court of Appeal sent the following to both sides.

In light of events occurring since the filing of this appeal, including without limitation the election results as to Proposition I and Proposition J, the court directs each party to advise this court, in writing by December 2, 2022, whether the appeal should be dismissed as moot. Appellant may alternatively inform us that it elects not to proceed with the appeal. The party’s submission shall not exceed three typewritten single-space pages.

Attached is the response from the ‘Open the Great Highway Alliance’ which vows to continue its fight to bring cars back to JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway.

It can be expected that the Court of Appeal will set the matter for oral arguments sometime in late winter or early Spring 2023. Following oral arguments the three Justice panel will make its decision.

Lee Heidhues 12.13.2022

It’s going to be a brawling couple of years in the House of Representatives as extreme MAGA Republicans will be running the Circus in Washington.

It shows how reactionary the Republican Party is in 2022 that Kevin McCarthy a complete Reactionary craven Trump toady may not be selected Speaker.

Why? The hard core House Freedom Caucus which is beyond Reactionary won’t even listen to entreaties from their MAGA Hero Donald Trump and put McCarthy in the Speakers chair next month.

The unified Democrats may be in the minority but they are ready to battle and make life as miserable as possible for the Speaker. Whoever it may be.

The adults will be in the Senate. The Democrats with their majority will be approving President Biden’s judicial and cabinet appointments while putting a stop to Nonsense emanating from the House

Excerpted from The New York Times 12.13.2022

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald J. Trump has been working the phones, personally pitching right-wing lawmakers on voting to make Representative Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader he has called “My Kevin,” the speaker of the House.

“This is why we came to Congress,” Representative Bob Good of Virginia said. “This is why we’re here. We’ve got a chance to tip over that apple cart here on Jan. 3, when we elect a new speaker.”

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, the most outspoken far-right member of his conference, is publicly vouching for Mr. McCarthy. The California Republican has made private entreaties and public promises to win over his critics, including floating the impeachment of a member of President Biden’s cabinet.

And yet, Mr. McCarthy, who is toiling to become speaker next year when the G.O.P. assumes the majority, has so far been unable to put down a mini-revolt on the right that threatens to imperil his bid for the top job.

Mr. McCarthy has embarked on the kind of grueling campaign that lawmakers in both parties jockeying for the post have sometimes been forced to perform. But some of the hard-right lawmakers with whom he is attempting to bargain do not appear to have a price, and most care less about legislating than shrinking the federal government — or upending it completely.

Lee Heidhues 12.12.2022

A great music video is The Cure doing a performance of their classic song Burn at Glastonbury in the United Kingdom in 2019.

We first heard this song on the soundtrack of the film The Crow in the 1990’s.

The cult classic starring Brandon Lee who died following an accident during the filming of the movie.

Following is a link to the full length video along with several photos.

Excerpted from Bristol Live 7.1.2019

Following electrifying performances by Stormzy and The Killers, the pressure was on for The Cure to finish Glastonbury 2019 with a bang.

This was the band’s fourth headline set at the festival, previously performing back in 1986, 1990 and 1995. Perhaps unsurprisingly then, it was an accomplished performance that built up to a thrilling and hugely enjoyable conclusion.

They opened their two-hour set with songs such as Plainsong, Pictures Of You A Night Like This and Burn. While the first half of the show was noticeably lacking in hits, front man Robert Smith easily captivated the enormous crowd in a straightforward and stripped back performance.

Not bad, for someone who has been performing for 41 years.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/glastonbury-2019-cure-robert-smith-3038678

Lee Heidhues 12.11.2022

A man who professed himself to be a master at The Art of the Deal wasn’t interested in making it happen when an American citizen’s freedom was at stake.

It’s no surprise that during the period Donald Trump was still President (2018 – 2021) he refused to seriously negotiate for the release of American Paul Whelan from Russian custody.

Whelan was arrested and convicted on sham “espionage” charges in 2018. He is serving a 10 year sentence in Russia.

Whelan’s case surfaced prominently in recent weeks as negotiations which resulted in the exchange of professional basketball All-star Brittney Griner for convicted Russian arms merchant Viktor Bout made headline news.

Griner was detained with a small amount of marijuana oil last February in Moscow and after a bogus legal proceeding was sentenced to nine years in prison.

In the end it was only Griner who was released by the Russians prompting an outpouring of fury from political foes of President Biden and some people in law enforcement familiar with the prosecution of arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Now, Donald Trump is saying he never would have exchanged Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout.

People who worked with and are close to Trump speak of a different reality. He wasn’t interested.

Excerpted from The Hill 12.11.2022

Former President Trump on Sunday said he turned down a deal to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who’s been detained by Moscow since 2018, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout during his time in the White House.

“I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals,” Trump said on Truth Social. 

David Whelan, Paul Whelan’s brother, has accused the Trump administration of not appearing “interested in” the case.  

“I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases,” David Whelan said Saturday on MSNBC.

Former Trump White House national security official Fiona Hill said Sunday that the deal to swap Bout for Whelan was a possibility while Trump was in office.

“At the particular time, I also have to say here that President Trump wasn’t especially interested in engaging in that swap for also Paul Whelan. He was not particularly interested in Paul’s case in the way that one would have thought he would be,” Hill said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan. 

Bout was released last week in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who spent about 10 months in Russian custody.  

Trump criticized the deal soon after news broke of Griner’s release, saying Whelan should have been freed instead.

The Biden administration has said Russia was unwilling to include Whelan in a swap for Bout.

Trump said Sunday that, although he turned down the deal with Moscow, he “would have gotten Paul out,” though didn’t explain why he wasn’t able to do so.

“The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out , fast!” Trump said.  

Top photo – Paul Whelan. Still incarcerated Russia. Convicted of sham espionage charges in 2018. Serving a 10 year prison sentence.

Lee Heidhues 12.9.2022

Man Kit Lam is a vindictive notorious reactionary political operative who has strewn a path of political destruction against those with whom he disagrees across the City’s landscape during the past two years.

Kit Lam was a major figure in the Recall of three School Board members in February 2022.

Kit Lam was a major instigator in the political coup d’etat which ousted Progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in June 2022.

Kit Lam is a former Hong Kong law enforcement officer.

Kit Lam is a former San Francisco Unified School District address fraud inspector.

Kit Lam is now in line, according to at least one press report, to become a legislative aide to recently elected San Francisco Supervisor in waiting Joel Engardio, whose campaign he managed. Engardio was elected to office based on his support of the School Board and Chesa Boudin recalls. Engardio is also a founder of the strident Law and Order group Stop Crime SF.

Perhaps Kit Lam’s most dangerous action was his vicious pursuit of Jason Kruta, a young man who in a rash moment tried to take petitions being circulated during the School Board Recall campaign.

Kit Lam hectored San Francisco officialdom to make sure Kruta was charged with a crime.

Kit Lam then proceeded to sue Kruta in Superior Court to further harass Kruta. A matter which is still pending.

Recently it was announced that Kruta has paid price in the criminal justice system. The penalty, at least in Kit Lam’s mind, was insufficient.

Kit Lam has now taken to Twitter to blast what he feels is a soft punishment administered to Kruta. The irony here is that the woman he enthusiastically backed to replace Chesa Boudin, the current DA Brooke Jenkins, was in office while Kruta’s punishment was administered.

Kit Lam is saying nothing about the DA’s crime fighting decisions now despite the fact crime is running rampant in San Francisco.

Kit Lam is also taking aim at the DSA, Democrat Socialists of America in a vicious attack of red baiting.

It is disturbing to realize that Kit Lam in his role as an aide to Supervisor Engardio will have access to records and information not available to the average citizen.

Top Photo – Man Kit Lam argues with The Reverend Amos Brown, pastor Third Baptist Church and former D5 Supervisor, at a School Board meeting earlier this year.

Lee Heidhues 12.8.2022

It is nearly 90 years since Adolf Hitler attempted his foiled Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. The Coup failed. Hitler was jailed briefly. Upon his release he organized his Nazi followers and seized power on January 30, 1933 after winning an election complete with violence and intimidation of the Nazi opponents. Ushering in 12 years of terror, genocide and World War II.

The remnants of Hitler’s reign have never been eradicated as the arrests of the anti-government far right protestors, which include wealthy and connected shows. Nazism is alive and all too well in modern day Germany.

Perhaps most disturbing is the fact Q’Anon supporters were involved in the Coup attempt. The same Q’Anon which was involved in Trump’s attempted Coup d’etat on January 6, 2021.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 12.8.2022

As investigators comb through evidence collected in raids targeting a far-right plot aiming to topple the German government, officials are indicating that the number of people involved could grow.

The head of Germany’s criminal police (BKA), Holger Münch, said Thursday that two more individuals were found to be connected to the anti-government plot, bringing the total number of suspects to 54. The number of suspects could continue to grow, he told the ARD public broadcaster. 

Münch said other people had been “identified” and police were working to determine their status in relation to the network. At least 25 people have been arrested so far in connection with the plot. 

“You can’t say that a group comprising a two-digit or perhaps small three-digit number of people was in a position to truly put the German state system in doubt, let alone shatter it,” Münch said.

“But we do have a dangerous mixture of people here, following irrational convictions, some of them with a lot of money and others in possession of weapons, and with a plan that they do want to carry out,” Münch said. “And that does make it dangerous and that’s why we have now intervened and put up a clear ‘stop’ sign.” 

He said this involved conducted arrests, carrying out searches, widening the investigators’ net further and trying to get an even clearer picture of the group and the plot’s capabilities.

Prosecutors had said on Wednesday that the plotters’ “aim” was to overthrow the government, and that they were willing to use violence and even murder to achieve it; but they had said less about how viable or advanced the plot was. 

Wednesday’s search operation is reported to have covered 150 properties in 11 German states. Weapons were found at more than 50 of the properties searched, Münch had said Wednesday evening. The network is connected to the far-right “Reichsbürger” movement, a loosely connected group that has called for the dissolution of the German state and government. 

The interior minister of Germany’s Thuringia, Georg Maier, told DLF broadcaster on Thursday that more arrests were “expected” after police had time to process and analyze evidence seized during the raids, including cell phones.

Germany’s far-right scene has a strong presence in the eastern state, which is home to a hunting lodge owned by suspected Reichsbürger ringleader, Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, and which is now the scene of an investigation. The 71-year-old Reuss, who comes from an aristocrat family, was arrested at his house in Frankfurt on Wednesday.

Maier added that the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) had provided a forum for anti-government rhetoric in Thuringia, and elsewhere.

“The AfD has become more and more radicalized. It spreads these conspiracy fantasies and fantasies of overthrowing [the government],” Maier said. The AfD is already being monitored in Thuringia for suspected “anti-constitutional” activities.

https://www.dw.com/en/more-suspects-wanted-in-foiled-german-coup-plot/a-64028033

Top photo – Supporters of Far Right party Alternative for Deutschland on the march in September 2022. One of the arrested plotters is a former AfD member of the German parliament and a retired Judge.

Lee Heidhues 12.8.2022

American basketball star is Free at Last after being held hostage by Vladimir Putin in the Russian Court and penal system.

The Biden Administration negotiated her release in exchange for a Russian arms dealer who has served 19 years of a 25 year sentence. Some say, justifiably, that American Paul Whelan jailed the past four years on sham “espionage” charges should have been part of the exchange.

Putin was adamant that it was just Brittney or no deal. It’s easy to criticize The Biden Administration when it’s not a decision for the critics to make.

I have been blogging about this miscarriage of justice since Brittney was arrested and incarcerated 294 days ago. It’s an occasion to celebrate.

Excerpted from Moscow Times 12.8.2022

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tmz.com%2F2022%2F12%2F08%2Fbrittney-griner-viktor-bout-prisoner-swap-caught-on-video%2F&psig=AOvVaw2N2FiwWckQMgB5KVJZ1iD8&ust=1670647631592000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCOjP28bd6_sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS

Russia and the United States have exchanged the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, U.S. and Russian officials said Thursday. 

The WNBA star, who was serving a nine-year-prison sentence in a Russian jail on drug charges, was released on Thursday in a one-for-one swap for Bout, an arms dealer who has been in a U.S. prison for the past 12 years.

The exchange was approved by U.S. President Joe Biden last week and took place early on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, CBS news reported. 

Biden spoke with Griner on Thursday morning as the 32-year-old began her journey to the United States.

“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden later tweeted alongside photos of himself in the Oval Office with Griner’s wife Cherelle.

Saying that Griner would need time to recover from the “needless trauma” of her imprisonment in Russia, Biden nevertheless remarked that she was “in good spirits.”

“She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained,” he added.

Biden also confirmed that despite Griner’s release, the other high-profile U.S. citizen jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan, remains detained.

“We have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release,” Biden said of the former U.S. marine who was arrested in 2018 and accused of spying while visiting Moscow for a wedding, adding that his administration was “not giving up, we will never give up.”

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/08/russia-frees-us-basketball-star-brittney-griner-in-prisoner-swap-a79643

Top photo – Brittney Griner on her way Home – 12.8.2022