The life of a journalist can be treacherous and life threatening.

The brutal murder of American Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, kidnapped and beheaded in early 2002, is a horrific crime against humanity.

Deutsche Welle – various news reports

A provincial court in Pakistan on Thursday ordered police to release Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the man charged with the 2002 murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, according to the defense lawyer, Mehmood A Sheikh.

British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh was acquitted by a provincial court earlier this year for the murder of Daniel Pearl. The Supreme Court had barred his release following the Sindh High Court decision.

British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh

In September, the country’s Supreme Court ruled that Sheikh must remain in custody while an appeal against his acquittal was heard.

“The court has set aside the detention orders,” his lawyer Khawaja Naveed told DPA news agency.

Earlier this year, the Sindh High Court overturned the death sentence for Sheikh, who had been on death row since his conviction in 2002, along with three alleged accomplices. The decision sparked outrage, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressing contempt for the decision.

Wrong men convicted?

Nine years after Pearl’s murder an investigation led by Pearl’s friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Asra Nomani and a Georgetown University professor made chilling revelations, claiming that the wrong men were convicted for Pearl’s murder.

The report claimed the reporter was murdered by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, not Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad in Court after capture and arrest

Mohammed — better known as KSM — was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay.

A US psychologist who interviewed KSM said the prisoner had told him that he had beheaded Pearl.

At the time of Pearl’s murder in 2002 the Wall Street Journal released a statement.

 Publisher Peter Kann and managing editor Paul Steiger said: “His murder is an act of barbarism that makes a mockery of everything Danny’s kidnappers claimed to believe in.”

Both the Pakistani government and Pearl’s family have appealed against Sheikh’s acquittal. The Supreme Court will resume its hearing on January 5, 2021.

Who was Daniel Pearl?

Pearl, the New Delhi-based South Asia correspondent for the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal, was kidnapped and killed in the southern Karachi city in 2002.

Pearl traveled to Karachi from New Delhi following the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and was kidnapped and killed in early 2002.

A graphic video showing the beheading of the 38-year-old journalist was delivered to the US Embassy around one month later.

https://www.dw.com/en/daniel-pearl-pakistani-court-frees-man-charged-with-us-journalist-killing/a-56051259

 

December 23, 2020

My dear friend Charly moved to the Pacific Northwest several years ago.

Charly is an artist, free thinker and traveler. He sent me these drawings as he marks nearly a year of The Pandemic living in a tranquil place far away from the urban craziness.

The drawing above is titled Pandemic Puppy Parade.

Several more follow.

Crowded Covid or Social Distancing is Relative

The House that Covid Bill Built

Pandemic of Oz

P is for Pandemic Peril

This is tawdry international politics.  Or the incompetence of American law enforcement. Or just plain stupid.

I wrote about this in an earlier blog post. This is the update.

Last month the Justice Department cut loose former Mexican Defense chief Salvador Cienfuegos.  He had been charged in Federal Court for taking bribes in exchange for protecting cartel leaders.

The move to drop charges and Cienfuegos back to Mexico, where he likely will never face prosecution, was a political chess move by DOJ to protect American law enforcement assets in Mexico.

The Americans say “foreign policy considerations” were a factor. That’s for sure.

So, what happened? The Mexican Congress immediately passed a law restricting American Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) activity in Mexico.

The 50 year war on drugs has been a travesty. This is just another example.

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 12.21.2020

Explosive U.S. drug-trafficking allegations against Mexico’s former defense minister Salvador Cienfuegos rely largely on circumstantial evidence, diminishing the chances that the Mexican government could bring a case against him to trial or could convict him in a Mexican court if it did, according to people in both countries familiar with the case.

The surprise arrest, which angered civilian and military officials in Mexico who thought the U.S. overstepped its bounds, was followed by a bigger shock when the U.S. dropped the charges just over a month later and returned Gen. Cienfuegos to Mexico.

U.S. officials said foreign-policy considerations, including law-enforcement cooperation between both countries, played a big role in the decision.

They passed the results of their investigations to their Mexican counterparts and let Mexico decide whether to investigate and possibly charge the general.

U.S. federal prosecutors insisted in court hearings and filings that the evidence was strong against the retired general, who played a leading role in Mexico’s counternarcotics strategy when he headed the armed forces.

Justice Department spokeswoman Nicole Navas said the agency dismissed the case because of foreign-policy concerns, “not because of any perceived weakness in the case.”

Despite U.S. hopes that releasing Gen. Cienfuegos would safeguard security cooperation between the U.S. and Mexico, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador this month pushed a law through the nation’s Congress that U.S. officials say could cripple bilateral law-enforcement ties.

The law, which requires strict regulation of meetings between local, state and federal Mexican officials and foreign agents, would regulate the activities of the 50 Drug Enforcement Administration agents stationed in Mexico.

The law “can only benefit the violent transnational criminal organizations and other criminals that we are jointly fighting,” U.S. Attorney General William Barr said earlier this month.

 

Churches are not exempt from obeying strict lockdown measures during The Pandemic.

The ongoing obstinacy of certain religious institutions to flaunt and disregard common sense behavior during The Pandemic is confounding.

No amount of spirituality will protect a citizen, regardless of his/her religious preference from the ravages of Covid-19. These religious institutions which think they are immune need to get serious and Deal with It realistically.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 12.22.2020

“The Constitution,” U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal  of Riverside said, quoting past Supreme Court opinions, “is not a suicide pact.”

San Jose’s Calvary Chapel Pastor Mike McClure (right) with attorney Robert Tyler earlier this year outside of Santa Clara Superior Court in San Jose — McClure is in contempt of court for holidng indoor religious services. On Tuesday county health officials asked the judge Tuesday to issue another contempt order and impose more fines.

The federal judge ruled Gov. Gavin Newsom’s shutdown of indoor worship services in most of California is a valid measure to protect public health and protects religious freedom by allowing outdoor services, unlike the New York restrictions struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.

 Bernal, ordered to review Newsom’s current restrictions under the Supreme Court’s standards, said Monday the governor’s measures — now including a ban on indoor religious services in all counties except Mariposa, Sierra and Alpine — are justified and non-discriminatory.

Harvest Rock Church of Pasadena and Harvest International Ministry, affiliated with 162 California churches, argued that Newsom’s orders violated the constitutional standards set by the high court in its Nov. 25 ruling on the New York case.

After President Trump’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court rejected the reasoning of its May 30 decision allowing an earlier version of Newsom’s limits on indoor worship services and barred New York state from restricting religious activities more tightly than secular businesses. A panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cited that ruling Dec. 15 when it ordered Nevada’s governor to remove a 50-person limit on indoor religious services.

San Francisco Archbishop Salvador Cordileone – one of the leading religious figures encouraging disregard of Covid-19 protection measures.

The churches in Bernal’s court said they would appeal his decision to the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Newson-s-restrictions-on-indoor-religious-15822805.php#photo-20381047

Liz Heidhues was out at the World’s Edge along the Pacific to witness the mingling of Jupiter and Saturn for the first time in nearly 400 years. She took many shots to commemorate this historical astrological event.

For some musical accompaniment I am posting a link to the Pink Floyd piece Astronomy Domine from the 1970 double LP Ummagumma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dn9WoEHs5g

San Francisco Chronicle 12.21.2020

For the first time in centuries, the planets Jupiter and Saturn crossed paths in the night sky Monday, a rare celestial phenomenon made all the more special by falling on the winter solstice.

The notoriously unpredictable Bay Area weather cooperated, and residents were able to spot the glow of the overlapping planets — known to astronomers as a “conjunction”— just after twilight.

It was a highly unusual convergence: the last time Jupiter and Saturn came this close was in 1623, said Andrew Fraknoi, a professor of astronomy at University of San Francisco’s Fromm Institute.

As the planets aligned, Fraknoi said, they appeared as a single, bright point of light in the southwest night sky. While the planets weren’t actually any closer to each other, they looked aligned to earthbound observers.

In the end, the clouds cooperated.

Monday night’s forecast for the Bay Area called for some high clouds to drift in between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., but they failed to obscure the fleeting planetary alignment.

Even after Monday, Jupiter and Saturn will still be visible in the night sky — just moving a little further apart.

The two planets’ next rendezvous won’t occur until 2080, Fraknoi said. After that, they won’t overlap again until the year 2400. Each planet’s unique path and tilt around the sun make the conjunction a rare and irregular event for Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest planets in our solar system.

Saturn’s comet-filled rings could be observed through a telescope as the planet orbited past Jupiter. But unlike many other celestial events, the conjunction was also visible to the naked eye — no high-powered telescope or camera lens necessary.

“It’s very democratic — easily observable by anyone,” Fraknoi said.

 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Jupiter-Saturn-to-mingle-in-night-sky-getting-15820296.php#photo-20415239

Top photo – San Francisco Chronicle

All other photos – Liz Heidhues

“President Trump accomplished a great deal in four years…”

Yah, Right. Trump accomplished a lot. 

Trump Spent four years undermining a Democratic (and I don’t mean the political party) system of government which has survived over 200 years and finished off his reprehensible term in office with an abortive coup d’etat. 

Trump’s bizarro antics have been a boon for those in the medical profession who treat high blood pressure, stress and psychological disorders. 

All’s I have to say is, “You’re fired!!!!!  in 31 days. Good riddance.”

Wall Street Journal editorial 12.20.2020

As his days in office dwindle, he’s making everything about him.

President Trump accomplished a great deal in four years, but as he leaves office he can’t seem to help reminding Americans why they denied him a second term.

He could focus on the positive, such as the Covid-19 vaccines and his Arab-Israeli peace breakthrough. Instead he’s calling Members of Congress and asking them to object on the House and Senate floor to the results of the Electoral College count.

It’s only a month until arguably the worst President in American history will slither into retirement. Trump has been a conniving loser and con artist for 50 years.

The ultimate political joke in the form of a junk food eating liar will leave a tawdry legacy which will take years to unravel.

Vanity Fair 12.20.2020

“YOU CAN’T REASON WITH HIM AT ALL”: TRUMP SPENDS FINAL DAYS PLOTTING REVENGE AGAINST HIS ENEMIES AND PARDONS FOR EVERYONE ELSE

According to two sources briefed on the conversations, Republicans are privately suggesting to Donald Trump that he should call Biden. Their advice is that Trump doesn’t have to concede. Instead, Trump should tell Biden that he will assist with the transition while he waits for legal challenges to play out. Trump rejected the idea, the sources said.

Trump’s grip on the party is slowly slipping.

On Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell became the highest-profile Republican to recognize Biden as president-elect. A former West Wing official told me that more elected Republicans are waiting until January to come out and pressure Trump to step aside. (Congress officially counts the electoral votes on January 6.) “There’s going to be a coordinated effort to say we need peace,” the official said.

Inside the West Wing, officials are aware that the end is near. “They’re packing up,” a former White House official told me.

At the nadir of his 1990 debt crisis, Trump bunkered himself inside Trump Tower for days on end, subsisting on a steady diet of hamburgers and French fries.

Vanity Fair – September 1990

As his real estate empire was collapsing, and his first marriage unraveling, Trump simply refused to accept the reality that his life was in a tailspin. “Do people really think I am in trouble?” Trump asked Vanity Fair’s Marie Brenner at the time, to which she replied, “Yes, they think you’re finished.”

One of Trump’s lawyers, meanwhile, told Brenner, “Donald is a believer in the big-lie theory. If you say something again and again, people will believe you.”

Fast-forward 30 years, and Trump is living out the final days of his presidency in a similar state of denial. “It’s rigged and stolen!” he complained during a phone call with a prominent Republican the day after the Electoral College affirmed Joe Biden as president-elect. “You can’t reason with him at all,” the Republican said.

As Biden’s inauguration approaches, Republicans close to the White House told me Trump could be poised for a final round of norm-shattering actions. One source said Trump has discussed a preemptive-pardon blitz of everyone close to him, so Biden’s Justice Department can’t investigate his administration. (A White House spokesperson declined to comment.)

“Trump doesn’t want his team targeted,” the source said. Another source said Trump wants the Department of Justice to name a special counsel to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden as a way of getting even with Democrats for the Robert Mueller probe. “If Trump is going to leave office, he wants a special counsel, 100%,” the source said.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/12/trump-spends-final-days-plotting-revenge

San Francisco as yet another lock down takes place has some beautiful scenery at a time when fewer people are out and about. The natural splendor of the area can be seen in plain view.

Photos are taken at the Pacific Ocean, Holocaust Memorial at the Legion of Honor and a car free Golden Gate Park along with an aircraft high in the sky.

Photos – Lee Heidhues

 

Americans are too acquiescent in responding to the violent and racist acts perpetrated by Neo-Nazis such as the QAnon, the Proudboys and the Klan.

The Germans, who are well schooled in the evils of Nazism know how to stand up to these despicable deplorables.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 12.16.2020

Survivors of Germany’s Halle synagogue attack are now tracking white supremacist extremists worldwide. Terrorists use online platforms like Twitch, which police are failing to monitor, they say.

Proud Boys rally for Trump in Washington, DC 12.12.2020

When questioned in court, many of the police officers say it simply isn’t their job to investigate the background of the crime. After all, from a narrow legal point of view, this seemed reasonable. The case was clear: There was a confession and a video recording the act — why dig any deeper? “So often I heard them say: It’s not my job to understand the context,” said Talya Feldman, an art student from Colorado who was among the people in the Halle synagogue during the attack.

Feldman. said “Which leads me to ask, well then whose job is it?”

That’s an important question, given that both the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the German domestic intelligence agency, the Verfassungsschutz, agree that far-right extremism currently represents the biggest domestic terrorist threat in their respective countries. According to a Reuters report, a DHS memo from August this year even identified white supremacists and other lone offenders with “personalized ideologies” as posing the greatest threat of deadly violence in the US.

Stephan B.’s trial, which has lasted 25 court days, is due to reach a verdict on Monday.

 

https://www.dw.com/en/neo-nazi-attack-survivors-create-tool-to-track-racist-extremists/a-55959989

Here is a  tale of one woman’s ongoing public service to keep the environment clean and safe on her block in San Francisco

San Francisco Water Power Sewer newsletter 12.15.2020

Nestled on the bottom of a steep San Francisco hill is ‘Donna’ the drain.

“One time someone dumped wallpaper paste or some kind of white hardened stuff into Donna. I had to scrape it off her grate with a silverware knife. That is the one time I got fed up with the mistaken notion anything can be dumped into a drain.”

Elizabeth Heidues has been a part of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)’s, Adopt a Drain Program since January 2017. She wants to share her story in the hopes to encourage others to adopt a drain themselves.

“I’ve never owned a car; I bike, I walk or take public transportation. Being in the streets of San Francisco all the time, I’ve encountered clogged drains. I wanted to do something with my growing frustration. It was the perfect way for me to get off on the right foot in the new year.”

Elizabeth learned about the Adopt a Drain Program after she picked up a free SFPUC Pollution Prevention Calendar from her local garden store in 2017.

“In the calendar’s very first page, in the month of January, there was a written invitation to adopt a drain through SFPUC’s wastewater division. I responded.”

And for Elizabeth, the rest is history.

“My drain has given me a lot to contemplate about managing stormwater. At first, I worked hard to clean up Donna. But once I worked out a system, maintaining her became a lot easier, exclaimed Elizabeth.”

Every drain adopter seems to have a unique reason as to why they named their drain the way they did. Elizabeth considers ‘Donna the drain’ part of the family.

“ I named my drain Donna for two reasons: For one, Donna is situated on a steep hill. When it rains , everything is swept “DOWN-A the Drain”! Since I am half Italian, this pronunciation was perfect for my adopted drain. “DOWN-A the Drain” really describes what happens to the trash that is swept down the gutter with the cascading rain and deposited into Donna. Secondly, I named my drain after my sister Donna, my only sibling. My sister is a native San Franciscan, just like me. Naming a hard-working drain after my sister seemed an appropriate way to honor her grit for living harmoniously off the land and reducing her impact on the planet.”

Adopt a Drain adopter Liz and her helper, Lee

Elizabeth has a lot of things to say about her drain and takes it personally when she finds discarded face masks and gloves littering the streets.

“Personal Protection Equipment has put a big glitch in our environmental program, and the human impact on the environment has gotten worst. The gloves and masks discarded on our streets are going to be with us for a long time, and while masks are mandatory, people need to start thinking about using re-usable masks.”

On the flip side of things, Elizabeth has literally found that ‘someone’s trash is another one’s treasure.’

“One time I found an unusually large transparent marble with glittery stuff suspended in it resting on her grate.”

Elizabeth says that while she recognizes that we are in a pandemic, she hopes drain adopters won’t abandon their drain.

“My drain is part of my family; it’s named after my sister after all.”

https://sfpucnewsroom.com/sewer/how-a-san-francisco-drain-becomes-part-of-the-family/