This is what San Francisco has become in 2025. A surveillance State.
Unbeknownst to the hundreds of people who gathered in San Francisco Civic Center on a beautiful March afternoon to protest Donald Trump’s evisceration of the federal work force their every move was being filmed from above.
Perched on the fourth floor of the Superior Court building the blogger had the same view as the omnipresent surveillance cameras positioned atop the Asian Art Museum and the San Francisco Library.
Hundreds of people gathered at a Stand Up for Science rally outside City Hall on Friday, protesting in the face of widespread cuts and layoffs from the Trump administration. Attendees held up signs like “Public Health Over Private Wealth” and “Science for All. Justice for All.” They chanted, “This is what democracy looks like” and cheered.SF Chronicle 3.7.2025
Surveillance camera atop the Asian Art Museum films everyone and everything. “What we’ve seen so far are cuts on the order of 10% to NOAA and the weather service,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, during a briefing Friday. “There are highly credible rumors that the plan is for a further 30% to 50% cut.”SF Chronicle 3.7.2025 –
Surveillance has been a decades long fixture in San Francisco. Its early history is best memorialized in the classic opening scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film “The Conversation.”
The opening scene of “The Conversation” establishes Harry Caul (Gene Hackman), a surveillance expert, eavesdropping on a couple walking through Union Square in San Francisco, using a team and equipment to record their conversation, which is often muffled by ambient noise.
Top photo: Surveillance camera perched atop the Main Branch of the San Francisco Public Library sees all in the Civic Center.
This afternoon Liz and I, on our way home after a meeting in North Beach, walked by the 333 Pine Street skyscraper in which California Senator Alex Padilla has a local office. Outside during the rush hour on a cold windy afternoon a hardy group from Amnesty International was campaigning to CLOSE GUANTANAMO.
We spoke with several Amnesty International campaigners who have been advocating for the closure of this American incarceration facility in Cuba which has detained, tortured and abused detainees since its opening in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks.
Liz Heidhues and Gavrilah Wells – Amnesty International Death Penalty Abolition Coordinator, CA, at California Senator Alex Padilla’s San Francisco office.
The Guantanamo Survivors Fund
A portion of a letter sent by several senators to Donald Trump 2.24.2025.
YES IT CAN…AND IT IS… HAPPENING HERE..PATHETIC THAT ONLY ONE MEMBER OF CONGRESS HAS ENOUGH COURAGE TO CALL OUT THIS FELON.
Top photo: Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green was removed from the House chamber after heckling President Trump during his first address to a joint session of Congress of his second term.
Though lawmakers in the opposition party have been vocal from their seats during past presidential addresses, Green’s removal from the chamber marked a stark break from tradition.
Green stood up and began yelling at Trump after the president referenced his 2024 election win and claimed he had been given a mandate from the American people. Green first received a warning from House Speaker Mike Johnson and when he did not stop was escorted out by the Sergeant at Arms.https://www.npr.org/2025/03/04/nx-s1-5318102/trump-joint-session-al-green-protest
A Night in the Garden in 1939 was the preview of what America has become in 2025.
“I’ll pass on tonight’s state of the union. I’ve already seen it on the history channel.” Posted by a user on Elon Musk’s “X”
On a glitzy night in Hollywood when a kow towing cinema industry shamefully bowed down to the Nazi Felon President Trump there was a notable exception.
The Palestinian Israeli produced film “No Other Land” which chronicles the destruction of a Palestinian village, in an act which the director described as “ethnic cleansing”, by the Israel military won the Academy Award for Best Documentary.
Despite the fact this gripping documentary received rave reviews and awards including best documentary at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in 2024 no American large scale distributor has picked up the film.
For fear of offending the powerful Israeli lobby in America, the Israeli government and the current regime in Washington “No Other Land” cannot be readily seen in Trump’s America.
The West Bank-based film No Other Land has won this year’s best documentary feature Oscar.
Despite acclaim, the film could not find distribution in the US and was self-distributed instead. The Guardian’s Adrian Horton called it “straightforward, un-sensationalized and completely infuriating” in a five-star review.
The film, which is made by a Palestinian–Israeli collective, won out against competition from Black Box Diaries, Porcelain War and Sugarcane.
No Other Land premiered at the Berlin film festival last year where it won the Berlinale documentary award. The film was made between 2019 and 2023 and focuses on the steady forced displacement of Palestinians from their homes in Masafer Yatta, a region in the occupied West Bank targeted by Israeli forces.
Speaking to a standing ovation, the film-makers thanked the Academy before co-director Basel Adra said he had recently become a father and hoped his daughter’s life would not be like his – “always fearing certain violence, home demolitions and forced displacement”.
He continued by saying his film reflected “the harsh reality” that his fellow Palestinians had endured for many years, “as we call on the world to take serious action to stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.
Co-director Yuval Abraham then took to the stage to say that Palestinians and Israelis had made the film together “because together our voices are stronger. We see each other the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people must end.
Excerpted from The New York Times 3.3.2025 – Marc Tracy
Most Political Speech
It was not surprising that “No Other Land” took home the Oscar for best documentary feature. Nor was it surprising that, upon accepting the award, the filmmakers would discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the demolition of homes in the West Bank.
But the acceptance speeches by two of the film’s four credited directors, the Palestinian activist Basel Adra and the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, notably did not hold back from a kind of rhetoric not ordinarily heard in mainstream American discourse. Adra called on the world to “stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.”
Abraham condemned “the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people” (he also characterized Israeli hostages in Gaza as victims of “the crime of Oct. 7” who were “brutally taken”). The remarks were delivered eloquently by filmmakers who have lived, seen and documented some of the events they sought to describe. They also entered a political maelstrom, with a presidential administration that has sought to transfer Gaza’s Palestinian population and a film industry rived by charges that its pro-Palestinian voices have been insensitive to Israeli suffering and antisemitism generally.
No Other Land. “I don’t wan them to take our home.”
A local senior law enforcement official recently told me, “The truth will prevail.”
March 1st is a historic and memorable day for San Francisco in general and for Liz and me in particular.
Today March 1st 2025 San Francisco officialdom announced a date for the formal opening of Great Highway Park, the two mile stretch of road adjoining the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.
Liz and Lee in younger days
On this first of March day in 1969 Liz and I moved to a place which came to be known as the ‘Beach House’ in the outer Richmond District. High on a hill this house, still standing 56 years later, overlooks Golden Gate Park and a view which stretches all along the coastline. Site of Great Highway Park.That night we took the 38 Geary bus downtown to the Chinese New Year Parade; ate dinner at Sam Wo and bought two LPs, which we still have today. ‘The Blues Alone’ by John Mayall and ‘Sailor’ by The Steve Miller Blues Band.
Todayofficials from City Hall announcedThe Great Highway Park will formally open on April 12th 2025.
The date,April 12th, has taken on a tragic, traumatic and long lasting significance in Liz’s life.
It was on this day, seven years ago April 12th 2018 that Liz, then 68, was subjected to the first of two citizen’s arrests.
This event has had an ever lasting traumatic impact on Liz’s life.
Liz self portrayal behind bars at San Francisco County Jail.
The fact The Great Highway Park will open on April 12th 2025 is a joyous event, one which we have battled for the past four years and will ease the hurt of what happened seven years ago. The fact Liz and I, along with countless other environmental advocates, persevered despite the opprobrium heaped on us taught us one thing.“The truth will prevail.”
Liz and Lee on JFK Promenade
Top photo: Looking down the Pacific Coast shoreline in San Francisco adjacent to Great Highway Park
Official date is April 12, 2025….But cars will be permanently banished in less than two weeks.
“Upper Great Highway will close permanently to cars Friday March 14, 2025.”
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Annual Sand moving operation at Great Highway Park March 14, 2025. Over the following weeks Friends of Ocean Beach Park will be working closely with SFMTA, SFPUC, and Rec & Park on major traffic and safety improvements at the Great Highway’s intersections—making it easier to access the park by foot, bike, and transit. At the same time, crews will be setting up seating areas, recreation spaces, and the first round of temporary public art installations.
It’s official. San Francisco voters citywide approved Proposition K with a 55 percent majority last November which mandated Great Highway Park as a two mile oasis along the Pacific Coast shoreline.
Six weeks from now this stretch of land will officially become a permanently car free oasis.
This landmark accomplishment, in large part due to the advocacy of former Mayor London Breed, will cement San Francisco’s reputation as an environmental leader.
Former Mayor London Breed whose advocacy for JFK Promenade and Great Highway Park was crucial meets with life long cyclist and car free space advocate Liz Heidhues at 4th anniversary celebration for JFK Promenade 4.28.2024
SAN FRANCISCO – SITE OF GENE HACKMAN CINEMATIC GEM “THE CONVERSATION”
Lee Heidhues 2.27.2025
I am truly saddened to read about the passing of Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. The cause of their deaths is raising many questions which may eventually be answered.
One thing which will never be in doubt is Hackman’s greatness as a performer.Five years ago I published a blog post about this incredible film and am reprising it to commemorate Gene Hackman. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Hackman
In my mind his most compelling role was that of private investigator Harry Caul. The Francis Ford Coppola psychological mind bender filmed in San Francisco and released in 1974.The Conversation won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, the highest honor at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards for 1974,but lost to Francis Ford Coppola’s own The Godfather Part II. It won the National Board of Review Award for Best Film. – excerpted from Wikipedia.
Francis Ford Coppola and Gene Hackman during filming of The Conversation in San Francisco
Considered one of the best San Francisco movies of all time, “The Conversation” featured Hackman as Harry Caul, a surveillance expert and a loner who has been hired to record the conversation of a couple as they walk through Union Square. Retired San Francisco Chronicle film critic Mick LaSalle 2.27.2025
The opening scene in San Francisco’s old Union Square is unforgettable.
Hackman appeared in another film which portrayed the perils of surveillance. The 1998 Tony Scott directed “Enemy of the State.” In its Appreciation of Gene Hackman the Wall Street Journal wrote, “Mr. Hackman would essentially reprise his character for a flashier thriller, the 1998 Will Smith man-on-the-run tale “Enemy of the State,” which was prescient about the potential for technology to keep tabs on us all.”
Two-time Oscar winning actor Gene Hackman and his wife, classical pianist Betsy Arakawa, were found dead Wednesday afternoon in their home northeast of the city.
Although investigators do not suspect foul play in the deaths of the longtime Santa Fe residents, who over more than 30 years here became known for their involvement in the local cultural and business scenes, the circumstances of their deaths were “suspicious enough” to warrant a thorough search and investigation, according to law enforcement.
A search warrant affidavit filed by Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies offers scant answers to the question of what happened to the couple, who were both found dead along with one of their dogs inside their house just outside Santa Fe city limits Wednesday afternoon.
Betsy Arakawa and Gene Hackman at the Academy Awards – 2003
The bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 65, were each found lying on the floor in separate rooms of their Hyde Park-area home, the affidavit says, and one of their three dogs was found dead in a kennel or crate in the closet, Sheriff Adan Mendoza told CBS. The door to the home was ajar.
The gang of Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) Neo-Nazis are the type people The Felon Donald Trump, Elon Musk and JD Vance cheered on during the recent German election.
AfD the descendants of The Third Reich
Deutsche Welle continues to report on last Sunday’s German elections.
The far right “Nazi Curious” Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) captured 152 seats in the 630 member Bundestag.
Deutsche Welle found several of the most incendiary AfD members who will now have an outsized influence in formulating German policy; some of which involve hate speech and neo-Nazi activity in a country ravaged by Adolf Hitler during his 12 year reign.
Details about each AdF Bundestag member were found on Wikipedia.
MATTHIAS HELFERICH. During his election campaign, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) banned Helferich from holding political office. Helferich had described himself in messages as the “friendly face of the ns [sic],” referring to National Socialism. Helferich also called himself a “democratic Freisler,” referring to a Nazi-era judge. Helferich later said that his statements were meant as parody: “If you are confronted with Nazi accusations as frequently as AfD politicians, you compensate for that in private spheres. You ridicule it.”MAXIMILLIAN KRAH: is a German lawyer and politician. He has served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019 as a member of right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). In April 2024, Krah gained international attention when the German Prosecutor General arrested his assistant, suspected of spying for China by passing on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to China’s intelligence service. This and comments Krah made about the Nazi era in a subsequent media interview were seen by observers as having triggered the decision by the European parliamentarian group Identity and Democracy (ID) to exclude the AfD from membership on 23 May 2024. Since then, Krah has sat with the non-attached members.JAN WENZEL SCHMIDT became member of AfD in 2014. One year later he was co-founder of the rightwing extremist youth organization Junge Alternative (young alternative for Germany) and became their first chairmen. In 2016 he was elected to the Landtag of Saxony Anhalt. He became member of the Bundestag in 2021.STEPHAN PROTSCHKA became member of the bundestag after the 2017 German federal election. He is a member of the Committee for Food and Agriculture. In 2019 he was involved in controversy after funding and supporting a memorial in Poland honoring German soldiers in WWII and the Nazi paramilitary organization Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz. The construction of the memorial was partially initiated by the neo-Nazi organization Junge Nationalisten which is being monitored by the German intelligence services. Polish courts started an investigation against Protschka for supporting Nazism and defamation of victims of the Holocaust. In 2024, Protschka agreed to pay a 12,000 euro fine in exchange for prosecutors dropping charges related to his calling Bavarian state premier Markus Söder “a traitor to the country” and “Södolf” at a political event in 2023.DARIO SEIFERT a German politician who was elected member of the Bundestag in 2025. From 2012 to 2014, he was a member of the Junge Nationalisten, The youth wing of the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD). SEBASTIAN MUNZENMAIER. German politicianAfD and a member of the German Bundestag since 2017. Since 2023 he has been deputy parliamentary group leader of the AfD parliamentary group in the BundestagIn July 2017, Münzenmaier and many other people were charged with grievous bodily harm and attempted theft of fan trophies at the Mainz District Court . In 2012, he was alleged to have been involved in an attack by members of the 1. FC Kaiserslautern ultra and hooligan scene on fans of 1. FSV Mainz 05. This was preceded by a series of insults by Mainz ultras that had been practiced for years to denigrate the Kaiserslautern idol Fritz Walter. The masked hooligan group had ambushed and attacked buses of Mainz fans, which also contained children. The Kaiserslautern fans were chased away by the defensive Mainz fans with sticks and bottles. During the scuffle, Mainz fans are said to have suffered lacerations and broken fingers from punches. A representative of the Mainz ultras testified in court that the incident was a typical “beating” among ultras. The press has been critical of the legal investigation . According to Münzenmaier’s defense attorney , the defendant’s apartment was searched immediately after the crime . The police found a telescopic baton , a balaclava and “trophy” photos of masked hooligans with opposing fan paraphernalia. Three of Münzenmaier’s co-defendants pleaded guilty at the beginning of the main hearing, Münzenmaier denied the charges. On 18 October 2017, the district court sentenced him to a suspended prison sentence of six months with a probationary period of three years and a fine of 10,000 euros. Both Münzenmaier and the public prosecutor’s office appealed against the verdict . In December 2017, the German Bundestag lifted Münzenmaier ‘s immunity to allow the proceedings to continue. On 17 December 2018 , he was sentenced in the appeal proceedings before the Mainz Regional Court to a fine totaling 16,200 euros.
Elon Musk the AfD Neo-Nazi cheerleader
Top photo: Trump and Alternative for Deutschland (AfD). Kindred souls of Neo-Nazism
I will continue to question and call out any and all progressive groups and parties who oppose car free areas in San Francisco; JFK Promenade, Great Highway Park, and the Slow Streets program.
Green Voter Guide NO on K with its specious claim Great Highway Park, approved by 55 % of the voters, would create an “environmentally damaging park next to Ocean Beach.” So much for bogus disingenuous Progressive environmentalism. Voters didn’t buy this nonsense.
Political correctness runs amok in San Francisco progressive cadres.
The Green Party San Francisco, which I am a long time member, has “blocked” me on “X” formerly Twitter for questioning the political orthodoxy which infects doctrinaire organizations.
What is the sin which resulted in my banishment from Elon Musk land?
It was this message on ‘X’ which resulted in my banishment by the San Francisco Green Party.@Dogrunner47 San Francisco Dept. of Elections voter registration card – 11.29.2016
The SF Green Party falsely believes it is doing something for the environment by protesting at a Tesla Dealership. This protest does absolutely nothing except fatten Elon Musk’s wallet.
Traffic is getting worse in San Francisco, in part, thanks to the shameful adherence to the car by many so called Progressives.
Here’s a song for all the car addicted Progressives as they drive their climate killing vehicles courtesy of the Rolling Stones
Despite the ascendency of the far right “Nazi Curious” Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) the Green Party stands tall and will continue to fight for enlightened and progressive values.The Greens will have 85 seats and the surprising Linke (Left) party captured 68 seats in the 630 member Bundestag.
While saying that he was proud of the election campaign and he stood behind the Greens’ policies, “I know that we still wanted more.”
“This result does not live up to what I was hoping for,” Habeck said, announcing that the Green party would regroup and restructure itself in the coming days and weeks.
Habeck has been vice-chancellor and economy minister under outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and has taken the blame for many of Germany’s recent economic woes. He was also criticized for soliciting gas from oil-rich countries as a leader of the Green Party.
A Gang of Three: AfD leader Alice Weidel, Nazi Felon Donald Trump and Elon Musk
Naturally the Felon Nazi President is taking credit for the victory of German conservatives and the ascendancy of the far right, some would say Neo-Nazi Alternative for Deutschland (AfD).
Excerpted from Politico 2.23.2025
In a post on social media — written entirely in capital letters — Donald Trump did not mention either Frederick Merz or his party by name, referring to “THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY IN GERMANY,” but argued that the country’s swing to the right was part of a political shift that Germany shared with the U.S.
“MUCH LIKE THE USA, THE PEOPLE OF GERMANY GOT TIRED OF THE NO COMMON SENSE AGENDA, ESPECIALLY ON ENERGY AND IMMIGRATION, THAT HAS PREVAILED FOR SO MANY YEARS,” Trump wrote. “THIS IS A GREAT DAY FOR GERMANY, AND FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF A GENTLEMAN NAMED DONALD J. TRUMP. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL — MANY MORE VICTORIES TO FOLLOW!!!”
Excerpted from The Washington Post 2.23.2025
Alice Weidel, the AfD’s co-leader, was triumphant Sunday, suggesting on television that Frederick Merz’s victory would be “pyrrhic” if he had to ally with Social Democrats or the Greens. She also mocked the Christian Democrats for trying to copy the AfD’s far-right manifesto and predicted her party would be waiting in the wings for the collapse of Merz’s “unstable government which will not last the next four years.”
Trump’s Rasputin Elon Musk was a substantial factor in the AfD surge.
Conservatives Win German Election, But Far-Right “Nazi-Curious” AfD Places Second in Historic Rise – Democracy Now on results of German election.
The former East Germany, which was ruled by Communist Russia from 1945-1949had the largest share of votes for the “Nazi Curious” Alternative for Deutschland (AfD).
Top photo: The birds of prey are circling German democracy with a boost from America’s Felon Nazi President Donald Trump and his Rasputin Elon Musk.
Lee's Perspective 