Lee Heidhues 10.14.2022

The Green Party became part of Germany’s ruling Coalition nearly a year ago. 

One of the Green campaign pledges was its long standing commitment to shut down the three nuclear power plants in Germany.

That commitment has now come up against the reality of Putin’s Ukraine aggression and its impact on Germany’s energy needs.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 10.14.2022

The Green Party supported German Economy Minister Robert Habeck in his plans to operate two nuclear power plants in reserve in southern Germany by spring 2023.

At the delegates’ meeting on Friday evening in Bonn, a motion by grassroots representatives to block an extension of the nuclear power plants’ lifetime altogether failed.

The energy crisis triggered by the Russian attack on Ukraine affects everyone, business as well as people. Habeck has procured gas from many countries to replace the Russian supplies, which has little to do with a sustainable energy supply. And with coal-fired power plants already operating, the minister could use the party’s backing.

Omid Nouripour, one of two party co-leaders of the Greens, was sure at the beginning of the meeting that Habeck would get it. He told DW: “Our people in the Cabinet are taking responsibility. There are no manuals for the current situation, you have to solve problems off-the-cuff. And the party thinks that’s right and proper.”

“Thoughtfully and with determination,” Habeck said in his fiery speech to the conference, “this is how we lead Germany through the winter, this is how we give Germany security.”

However, he admitted that parts of this path could be painful for the Greens. “But we will never confuse what is the problem and what is the solution. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are the problem,” Habeck said.

Instead, the party congress supported the line of leaving the Isar II and Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plants in operation as emergency reserves until April 15. The Emsland nuclear power plant, on the other hand, should go offline at the end of 2022 — as previously planned for all three sites, the last still in operation in the country.

However, there is still a dispute about this in the federal government. The FDP is calling for the Emsland nuclear plant to continue to operate and even beyond spring 2023.

Habeck’s ministry, with responsibilities including energy and economic affairs, has been trading blame with the FDP-led Finance Ministry this week for the slow progress in bringing the coalition’s current plan for a limited extension through Cabinet and sending it on to parliament to be debated.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-greens-lay-out-nuclear-power-extension-position-amid-coalition-infighting/a-63449846

Top photo. Protesting nuclear energy. “Atomic energy. No thank you!”

Lee Heidhues 10.13.2022

It takes a an outspoken respected retired Judge to blow the whistle on San Francisco’s shameless ethically challenged Puppet District Attorney.

The law and order pandering and photo op operation Brooke Jenkins is engaging in are an insult to law and ethics. Regrettably, it appears that the new Police State of San Francisco lock ’em all up public is smitten with this charlatan masquerading as an upholder of law.

It will take more than one Judge Martha Goldin to blast away the facade disguising the incompetent and unqualified interim District Attorney of San Francisco.

Excerpted from FOX 2 KTVU – 10.13.2022

 A retired judge has filed a State Bar complaint against interim San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

The complaint alleges Jenkins violated State Bar rules and the Business and Professions code through acts of dishonesty. Retired Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin filed the complaint on Thursday. 

Judge Goldin is the author of the opinion in Doris Day v. Rosenthal, 170 CA 3^rd 1125 (1985), a leading opinion on legal ethics and attorney misconduct and Westinghouse Electric Corporation, v. County of Los Angeles, 129 CA3rd 771 (1982), a case of first impression on stop notices.

The misconduct allegations are outlined in the complaint and date as far back as a case Jenkins prosecuted in 2014 as the assistant district attorney. In 2016, a San Francisco appellate court reversed convictions in the case as a result of prosecutorial misconduct by Jenkins.

A press release from The Wren Collective, a research and policy group dedicated to criminal justice reform, said, “the appellate court found that Jenkins was guilty of a form of misconduct known as Griffin error, when a prosecutor violates constitutional protections by improperly commenting to the jury on a defendant’s failure to testify.”

The claim accuses Jenkins of lying last month during a district attorney candidate debate when she said, “I want to make clear first and foremost never have I ever been found to have committed misconduct in a case.”

Aside from allegations of lying, the claim accuses Jenkins of false and misleading representations, criminal conduct, and deceptive claims of attorney-client privilege.  

The basis for some other allegations stem from Jenkins’ work as a consultant for nonprofit groups closely tied to the recall of former D.A. Chesa Boudin, as was first reported in The San Francisco Standard.

The complaint alleges Jenkins’ portrayal of her employment by the nonprofits with connections to what she claimed was a volunteer position has been, “dishonest, deceitful, and either reckless or intentional misrepresentations.”

Part of the complaint states, “If Jenkins was a paid campaign consultant, she did not register as such.” The complaint lists this failure to register as a violation of San Francisco’s Campaign and Conduct Code, further stating it is a criminal misdemeanor.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/state-bar-complaint-filed-against-sf-interim-d-a-jenkins-by-retired-judge

Lee Heidhues 10.12.2022

Long before Progressive San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was politically lynched by the MAGA crowd and replaced by the Law and Order ethically challenged political animal Brooke Jenkins……

There was Kamala Harris who now sits just a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

To say her views on Marijuana legalization, in a City where Weed was de facto legal decades before it became Legal, are backwards and antiquated is an understatement.  

As the SF Gate notes,  our one time District Attorney, who rode to office on a scorched earth campaign against Progressive DA Terence Hallinan….

Sound familiar (at least she was elected)….

VP Kamala is now spokesperson to carry out President Biden’s recent Order expunging several thousand marijuana possession convictions at the Federal level.

Pass that  Joint to Kamala.

Excerpted from SF Gate 10.12.2022

It seems Vice President Kamala Harris has been tapped by the Biden administration to be its standard-bearer on the issue of marijuana following the president’s executive order last week that pardoned all those convicted of simple possession under federal law, and that choice couldn’t make any less sense.

Imagine that you’re one of the nearly 2,000 people in San Francisco who was convicted of a marijuana charge under Harris. Maybe you’ve had trouble finding and keeping a job, or maybe you’re a student who was denied financial aid for college. Then, you turn on the TV to see Harris laughing alongside Seth Meyers and saying, “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” You probably want to be hearing from someone other than the “fun aunt” version of Harris on this issue.

Harris appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Monday, where she said, “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” It was the exact same line, delivered with the exact same cadence, that she gave when addressing a crowd at an abortion rights rally in Texas on Saturday. It’s clear that she’s been prepped with talking points — perhaps related to accusations that she has trouble articulating thoughts off-the-cuff — but putting the cringey I’m-a-hip-older-person vibe aside for a moment, it must be understood that she has very limited credibility on this issue.

She actively fought a 2010 ballot measure that would have legalized recreational cannabis in the state, going so far as to author an opposing argument in the California voter guide. Then, when she was running for a second term as the state’s attorney general in 2014, she replied to a question about her opponent’s support for legalizing recreational marijuana use by saying, “He’s entitled to his opinion,” and then laughing.

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/kamala-harris-stop-talking-marijuana-17504856.php

Lee Heidhues 10.11.2022

San Francisco’s hometown newspaper, the Hearst owned Chronicle, is taking a gratuitous victory lap while taking a shot at the latest political scandal roiling La La Land down south.

In short, three Los Angeles City Council members and a labor leader were taped, during a private meeting discussing the City’s redistricting, disparaging Blacks and Asians.

The recording was a conversation among Nury Martinez, the Council president; Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, council members; and Ron Herrera, the leader of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, that took place in October 2021 during intense negotiations over City Council redistricting.

Ms. Martinez is heard comparing the Black child of Councilman Mike Bonin to a “changuito,” Spanish for little monkey, and joking with Mr. de León that Mr. Bonin carries the child around like a designer handbag. Those were only two of the offensive comments in the 80-minute recording, which included ugly remarks describing recent migrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and disparaging remarks about the trustworthiness of white liberals and a councilwoman who is of South Asian descent. (excerpted from The New York Times 10.11.2022)

While it’s all well and good to splash this scandal across the front page, San Francisco cannot be proud of its own political goings on.

The following paragraph buried in the Chronicle Op Ed succinctly takes down San Francisco.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 10.11.2022

By – Justin Ray a Los Angeles-based journalist who has published works for the Los Angeles Times and Columbia Journalism Review.

If you live in San Francisco, you may believe your political scene is the most volatile in the state and there are understandable reasons why. Mayor London Breed is embroiled in a scandal following the revelation that she has requested her appointees to sign undated letters of resignation.

There have been numerous other incidents among city leadership, including the bitter recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

And the revelation that his successor Brooke Jenkins was paid more than $140,000 by a nonprofit organization linked to his recall. And Breed is no stranger to controversies herself, like her attending a party at upscale restaurant French Laundry in the throes of a pandemic and $23,000 in fines related to her ethics violations.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/los-angeles-california-city-council-17502830.php

Lee Heidhues 10.11.2022

The Power of the Media.

The podcast ‘Serial’ shone a light on the Justice system in America and how one man, then a teenager was arrested, charged and convicted of a murder.

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

Adnan Syed spent 23 years in jail and person for a crime for which there was always a reasonable doubt he did not commit. Now, he is a free man.

Sadly, he can never have back the lost years of his life.

New York Times 10.11.2022

Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the charges against Adnan Syed, who was released last month after he spent 23 years in prison fighting a murder conviction that was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” officials said.

Emily Witty, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office, said in an email on Tuesday that the case had been dropped.

On Sept. 19, Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated Mr. Syed’s conviction on charges that he murdered his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. Prosecutors had 30 days from that date to decide if they would proceed with a new trial or drop the charges.

October 9, 2022

Letter to Chronicle Bill Nagel, Publisher and Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, Editor

ONGOING ARBITRARY VIOLATION OF LEE HEIDHUES’ RIGHTS AS A SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE SUBSCRIBER

Re: Block from @SFChronicle – Twitter site

Sincerely, Liz Heidhues

Lee Heidhues 10.9.2022

I was in High School when the Cuban Missile Crisis totally upended my life. The entire Planet Earth was transfixed with the looming spectre of nuclear war. 

It was genuinely terrifying. 

Years before the Internet people were glued to their television sets, radios and newspapers as the Crisis unfolded.

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

Now we have Vladimir Putin threatening to use nuclear weapons as his war of aggression falters in Ukraine.

We can only watch and wait.

Perhaps the best cinematic take on the Cuban Missile Crisis is the 2000 film “Thirteen Days.” For those of you who want a quick primer on this terrifying period 60 years ago the movie is a good place to start.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Days_(film)

Lee Heidhues 10.8.2022

Photos by Liz Heidhues

The theme of the afternoon – VOTE YES ON J FOR JFK PROMENADE.

It was a foggy afternoon in historic Golden Gate Park in the midst of Fleet Week with the Blue Angels flying overhead.

The foggy cool weather did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd which came to enjoy Prom on the Prom as advocates for Proposition J fight to preserve the car free oasis JFK Promenade.

There was music, food, a photo booth, free books courtesy of the San Francisco Public Library, and an atmosphere of camaraderie in the air.

Valet parking at Prom on the Prom

Dancing at Prom on the Prom

Luke Bornheimer – longtime advocate for JFK Promenade

Lee Heidhues 10.7.2022

People may be protesting around the Globe the murder by Iran’s “morality police” of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini for violating the strict dress code for women.

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

But, back in Iran, it’s business as usual. The government continues its crackdown on protest as The People struggle to have their voice of protest heard.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 10.7.2022

Iranian authorities have been struggling to put an end to the demonstrations that have roiled the country for weeks. The protests against the leadership began following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly failing to observe the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code for women.

The internet is still very slow. I feel cut off from the world;” “VPN connections don’t work this time either;” “Messaging services like WhatsApp or Signal are blocked.” These kinds of messages are rife in Iran amid escalating anti-hijab protests and people in the Islamic country are reporting extensive internet blockades.

Streets in the capital Tehran are quieter during the day. It’s a long weekend in the country, but more protests are planned for the coming days. To prevent this from happening, the country’s police and security forces are arbitrarily arresting civil society activists and journalists. 

On Wednesday, Iranian police arrested Amir Mirmirani, one of the country’s best-known bloggers. For a decade, Mirmirani has been producing a tech podcast, “Jadi.” In 2021, it received a national prize for the dissemination of knowledge.

From an award-winning blogger and podcaster, Mirmirani has become a “public enemy,” as his recent podcasts have openly criticized the internet blockades. He is also one of the few tech pros who did not support the government’s plans to “nationalize” the internet. Five of these IT experts have been arrested in the past few days as a result.

Authorities have so far detained people from various walks of life, including football players, singers, students, filmmakers and women’s rights activists.

“The wave of arrests started in Kurdistan, shortly after Mahsa Amini’s funeral,” said Asieh Amini, an author and women’s rights activist who currently lives in exile in Norway. 

She has compiled a list of female activists who have been arrested in the past three weeks. Among those on the list is Bahareh Hedayat, who was detained by authorities on October 3. The 41-year-old has been repeatedly arrested over the past 13 years, following the 2009 anti-government protests in the country. She has served a total of seven years in prison during this period for her peaceful advocacy for greater democracy in Iran. She has not commented publicly on the ongoing demonstrations.

https://www.dw.com/en/iran-hunts-down-anti-hijab-activists/a-63373577

Top photo – Mahsa Amini – Murdered by Iran’s “morality police.”