This article of intrigue is buried in the October 17 Wall Street Journal. It invokes the Spy vs. Spy era in Russian American relations.  Interestingly a follow up on line piece in the WSJ downplays the incident.  I would rely on the veracity of the original story which was published before talking heads for Moscow and Washington could weigh in with the “official” party line.

Wall Street Journal 10.17.2019

Three U.S. diplomats were removed from a train headed to Russian cities with restricted access and located near the site of a recent deadly nuclear explosion, according to Russian news agencies.

Russian authorities resorted to Soviet-era style secrecy in the aftermath of the explosion, such as deleting an announcement about a spike in radiation levels from the Severodvinsk city website. The incident triggered fear among residents over possible exposure to radiation and a rush on pharmacies to buy iodide that can help block radiation poisoning, if taken appropriately.

Earlier this month, Maxim Yakovenko, the head of the Russian meteorological service, Roshydromet, was dismissed from his position. Following the blast, his agency reported that “it is supposed” that the spike in radiation in the city of Severodvinsk resulted from “the passage of a cloud of radioactive inert gasses.”

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave the order to sack Mr. Yakovenko, who had headed the agency since September 2017. No reason was given for Mr. Yakovenko’s dismissal.

Citing a law enforcement source, the official Russian news agency, TASS, reported that the diplomats were taken off the train Monday as it was bound for Nyonoksa, a closed village near the Russian Navy’s main test site, and Severodvinsk, a city that foreigners need special permission to enter.

According to the Russian news agency, Interfax, which cited its own source, the incident occurred at around 6 p.m. Monday at the Severodvinsk station, and naval and military attachés were among the three checked and removed.

Having ridden a bicycle in San Francisco since 1972, I am overjoyed.

It’s a time for celebration in San Francisco and major kudos to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition in particular.  The City sets the pace for progressive change.

“Time has come today,” sang the Chambers Brothers in their classic 1960’s song.

Time came today in San Francisco in the fight to give cyclists and pedestrians preeminence on City streets. The busy Market Street thoroughfare will be off limits to private vehicles beginning in 2020.

San Francisco Examiner – Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez 10.15.2019

Applause broke out after the SFMTA board unanimously approved the project.

San Francisco will soon kick cars off one of its busiest thoroughfares when Market Street goes car-free in January 2020.

That’s after a vote by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors on Tuesday, which approved the Better Market Street plan to transform the downtown street into a pedestrian boulevard and free up traffic to let buses flow more quickly.

“It is bold, it is transformative,” SFMTA board director Amanda Eaken told the public at City Hall shortly before the vote.

Malcolm Heinicke, SFMTA board chair, said he has remained on the board for eight years in order to see this project to fruition.

“This will not just be a better Market Street, this will be a magnificent Market Street,” Heinicke told the public. “We will have the above-ground subway for our bus lines. We will have a similar priority for our bikes and our taxis.”

The future was on everyone’s lips at the Market Street hearing at City Hall.

More than 60 people spoke, nearly every one of them in support of the project. That included entities and people who usually oppose transit projects: the business community, city leaders, and more.

Even Mayor London Breed lent her support to Better Market Street, and in a letter to the SFMTA board wrote, “I urge your approval of this project so we can transform Market Street to be safer, more reliable for transit, and more inviting for anyone enjoying our city.”

This is a “once in a generation” effort, said Viktoriya Wise, acting director of sustainable streets at SFMTA.

Photo above:  San Francisco Bicycle Coalition circa 1972

The $603.7 million Better Market Street Project has been more than a decade in the making. Under Mayor Gavin Newsom, SFMTA briefly piloted a car-free Market Street, and Third through Eighth streets now have turn restrictions that nudge many vehicles off Market.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/sf-transit-board-approves-car-free-market-street/

 

This well written  article about the woman who will be President on January 20, 2021,  Elizabeth Ann Warren dissects the angst sweeping Wall Street. A link to the entire piece is attached.

Excerpted from Vanity Fair – William Cohan 10.11.2019

You can tell Wall Street is getting more than a little worried that Elizabeth Warren may become the next president of the United States when research reports start popping up about what her presidency might mean for the financial markets. Spoiler alert: It’s not good.

At least she’s a capitalist, unlike Bernie. And in a pick-your-poison election, many Wall Streeters see her as much, much better than Trump and his chaos.

A Wall Street bigwig and longtime Democratic Party stalwart likes to use a football metaphor when it comes to figuring out who the Democratic nominee will be. He thinks Warren has one spot in the Democratic Super Bowl locked up; the other spot looks like it will go to Biden but there are a host of more centrist Democratic candidates—Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar—who are going to use the next debate, scheduled for October 15, to try to displace Biden as the inevitable challenger to Warren. But they can’t go after Biden directly. “People have already been burned by that stove,” he says. He says they will go after Warren, instead of Biden, in order to displace Biden as Warren’s challenger. It’s a subtle strategy. “It’s a little bit of a bank shot,” he continues, “but you’re going out to be the alternative to Elizabeth Warren. Elizabeth Warren, on today’s facts, has a spot at the Super Bowl. That could change.

The trick here is for someone to basically say, ‘I am the person who can take on Elizabeth Warren. Let’s get down to the two of us or three of us.’” And what are his Wall Street brethren thinking about Warren? “They’re all whiny,” he says. “Every time they open their fucking mouths, they probably gain Warren another 50,000 votes.”

Another  longtime Wall Street banker who has also been involved with Democratic politics has been impressed with Warren’s political skills. “She’s putting together a great campaign,” he says. “She has a great message. She’s resonating. She is smart politically, smarter than the rest of them.” He likes that she doesn’t “sugarcoat” things. And many parts of her message are resonating with him. In small groups, he says, she tones down her anti–Wall Street rhetoric and she’s becoming more moderate. “She’ll [now] put it differently,” he says, “which I don’t disagree with, which is ‘Do you think our country would be better off if we had less inequality?’ Well, I can’t argue with that. Of course, the answer is yes.” He seems genuinely impressed by her. “I think she’s incredibly smart and much more reasonable towards what she wants to do for this country than people think,” he continues. “A lot of what she does is against my own personal interest, but I think she has the greater interest at heart. And I like that. Okay. And she does not talk crazy.” He thinks she can win if she focuses her message on having wealthy individuals pay higher taxes than they are now, rather than talking about remaking capitalism by attacking corporate America. (He also thinks Tom Steyer, the billionaire and former hedge fund manager, is someone to watch at the next debate.)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/10/wall-street-tries-to-get-its-mind-around-a-warren-presidency?mbid=nl_th_5da3b25a466db300099951c6&CNDID=50715996&utm_source=nl&utm_brand=vf&utm_mailing=VF_Hive_101419&utm_medium=emai

 

The American electoral system allowed this horrific man to be selected President. Now, his deranged personality in the guise of a Fake News video is on display for all the World to see.  All the denials from his handlers and sycophants cannot hide the fact the Incumbent is unfit for the Presidency.

Wall Street Journal 10.14.2019

The White House said Monday that President Trump strongly condemns a graphic video that shows a fake version of the president shooting and attacking members of the news media and political rivals, but that he hadn’t yet seen it.

In the video, Mr. Trump’s targets include Sen. Mitt Romney, the late Sen. John McCain, Sen. Bernie Sanders, former President Barack Obama and others.

Cindy McCain, Mr. McCain’s widow, said on Twitter that reports of the video “violate every norm our society expects from its leaders & the institutions that bare their names. I stand w/ @whca in registering my outrage.”

Jonathan Karl, president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, said in a statement that the group was “horrified” by the video.

The New York Times reported Sunday that the video was shown at a recent three-day conference put on by the pro-Trump group American Priority at Trump National Doral Miami. As described by the Times, the most violent piece of the video appears to be a doctored version of a scene from the 2014 film “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” It shows Mr. Trump’s head superimposed on the body of a man who shoots and attacks a series of people with the heads of his critics or with news logos over their faces.

Nazi sentiment in Germany did not end with the death of Hitler. It has always percolated not far beneath the surface.  Anti-semitic sentiment is a world wide stain on humanity and needs to be crushed and obliterated wherever its ugly head arises.

Deutsche Welle 10.11.2019

The suspect in the synagogue attack, Stephan B., has confessed to the shooting in the eastern German city of Halle. He cited anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist motives for the attack.

German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer in comments published inthe Tagesspiegel newspaper on Friday said, “Our country and its basic order is being attacked from within.” She also called for stronger security laws.

Meanwhile, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has accused right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) of being partially responsible for the attack, and said they should distance themselves from inflammatory and hateful rhetoric.

He also described an “elevated” risk of attacks. He warned on Friday that more attacks could happen “at any moment” and that Berlin was “extremely alert” to further attacks.

A 27-year-old suspect (shown below in white prison suit) has confessed to the attack at the synagogue in Halle ​​​​​​that left two dead, Germany’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office said on Friday.

During a lengthy meeting with German investigators on Thursday, Stephan B. spoke “very extensively” and admitted that anti-Semitic and right-wing extremist beliefs motivated him to commit the attack, a spokesperson for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office said.

Read more: Deadly attack targets synagogue in Germany — as it happened

“He gave an extensive confession. He confirmed far-right and anti-Semitic motives” for the attack, the spokesman said.

The suspect made the confession to the judge at Germany’s Federal Court of Justice on Thursday evening. The arrest warrant, issued on Thursday, was for two counts of murder and seven counts of attempted murder.

More than 2,000 members of the community came together on Friday to form a human chain in front of the synagogue, which was targeted in the attack.

Similar vigils took place in many other German cities. The Jewish holy day of Shabbat begins each Friday at sunset.

The leader of the German Evangelical Church, Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, was also in attendance in Halle. He described himself as “overwhelmed by how many people had come.”

“There is hope,” he told the crowd.

People also lit candles outside the synagogue and held them in their hands as a mark of solidarity.

Prosecutors also said on Friday that Stephan B. had built his own weapons. After finding a 3D printer in his home, investigators said that they believed he had used this to assemble the weapons.

Stephan B. is currently in custody awaiting trial and the German authorities are treating the incident as a far-right terrorist attack.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-halle-suspect-confesses-to-yom-kippur-shooting/a-50791324

Germany’s upper house of parliament, the Bundesrat, on Friday held a minute of silence for the victims of the attack.

October 11, 2019 we attended the Menbers Preview of the James Tissot exhibit at the Legion of Honor situated on the bluffs of northwest San Francisco overlooking the Pacific. The exhibit is marvelous. In a small corner of the expansive showing is a story of art world controversy involving the featured artist.

Liz Heidhues penned a letter to San Francisco Chornicle art critic Charles Desmarais. The noted critic reviewed the Tissot exhibit without mentioning the brouhaha surrounding “The Impresario.” The root of the controversy began in 1953 when the painting shown above was given to the Fine Arts Museums as an Edgar Degas.

A link to the Chronicle review is attached.

Photos and following text: Elizabeth Heidhues

Dear Charles,

As usual, San Francisco is embroiled in controversy: political, artistic, whatever.

Your review of FAMSF’s “Tissot: Fashion and Faith” overlooked the big controversy of “The “Impresario”, which has its own special display in the exhibit.

A brouhaha continues to swirl around “Who gave a Tissot painting to the Museums as an Edgar Degas original?”

Did the donor of the “Impresario” (as it is titled) get a super big tax write-off for donating a painting inflated to be more valuable than it really was back in the day? You yourself said in your review that Tissot “failed to take the chances and set himself the challenges that might have made him great”.

My husband and I really enjoyed the Tissot exhibit.

The details of Tissot’s paintings are exquisite. The pools of water that he painted draw you in with color and depth to look deeper. So do his “leaves” and “flowers”.

The little touches like the cigar butt on the ground in Tissot’s representation of the young male dandies in a social tête-à-tête are realistic.

Tissot’s depiction of his muse and companion, Kathleen Newton, in a wasted condition, pale and dark-eyed, as she dies of tuberculosis is sad.

By the way, the caption adjoining the Chronicle’s photo of Tissot’s “October” was misleading.

It stated “…Much of the exhibit centers on James Tissot’s longtime lover, Kathleen Newton…”

The exhibit’s curators wrote that the relationship existed only for six years, since Kathleen Newton died at the age of 28.

We always read your art reviews in the Chronicle.

For me, a trip to one of San Francisco’s art museums is an escape from San Francisco’s mayhem and conflicts.

https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/art-exhibits/tissot-at-the-legion-of-honor-a-story-more-of-love-than-of-art

Deutsche Welle 10.10.2019

Worshippers at a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle only narrowly escaped a mass shooting by a neo-Nazi on a Jewish holiday. Anti-Semitism should not be trivialized, says DW Editor-in-Chief Ines Pohl.

More than 70 Jewish men and women had come together in a synagogue in eastern Germany to pray, sing and celebrate the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Only the secured door to the house of worship prevented a German man armed with a hand grenade and rapid-fire rifle from causing a bloodbath.

This was on October 9, 2019.

Eighty years after the beginning of World War II, in which more than 6 million Jews were murdered, Jews must once again fear for their lives in Germany if they wish to profess their faith openly when they visit the synagogue.

What does this say about Germany? And what does it mean that the 27-year-old found an audience for his acts by filming them with a helmet camera and streaming them onto the internet on a video game platform? Like the Christchurch attacker in New Zealand, he cast himself in the scene and — before the shooting began — announced to an international audience in English: “The root of all problems are the Jews.”

Suffering cannot and must not be relativized. Our condolences must, therefore, first and foremost go to the relatives of the man and the woman the perpetrator brutally killed.

But we also cannot look away. If the situation had been a little different, we would have seen the mass murder of Jewish men and women in Germany on Wednesday.

This act strongly underlines that the growing and deadly anti-Semitism in this country is by no means limited to Islamist terrorists. Anyone still making such claims is lying and refusing to face reality. This act emphasizes that the protection of Jewish institutions in Germany is still vital, even nearly 75 years after the end of the Nazi reign of terror. The fact that the synagogue was not protected on a holiday like Yom Kippur does raise questions.

This crime proves that even the most minor hints of anti-Semitism must be taken seriously and investigated. This includes the burning of an Israeli flag as much as the insulting of people showing their faith by wearing a yarmulke.

Anti-Semitism should not be trivialized. There’s no such thing as being a little anti-Semitic. Anywhere. And especially not in Germany.

https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-the-deadly-danger-of-being-a-jew-in-germany/a-50765282

Whether it be in Germany or the United States, Anti-Semite Nazi thugs spread their murderous hate.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 10.9.2019

Two people have been killed and two injured after an attack on a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle. Authorities believe the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism.

In the livestream of the attack, the assailant apologizes to the viewers repeatedly for his failure to kill.

The attack on a synagogue in the eastern German city of Halle in the state of Saxony-Anhalt sent shockwaves across country on Wednesday. Authorities have arrested a 27-year-old German, Stephan B. and have indicated that they believe he acted alone.

Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany said, “The brutality of the attack surpasses everything we have seen in recent years, and is deeply shocking to all Jews in Germany.”

Schuster was also critical of police, however, saying, “It is scandalous that police were not protecting the synagogue in Halle on a holiday like Yom Kippur.” Synagogues in many German cities receive special police protection, and Yom Kippur, the feast of atonement, is the highest holy day in the Jewish calendar.

Police say the man had no previous arrests, but his targets suggest that he had anti-Semitic and xenophobic beliefs. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that anti-Semitism was certainly one of the shooter’s motives.

The shooter was unable to break through the secured door of the synagogue using fire power and witnesses report that one homemade bomb also failed to explode.

Shooting began at synagogue and ended at kebab shop

The shooting occurred shortly after 11 a.m., when the perpetrator attempted to enter the synagogue but was unable to gain entrance. He then shot and killed a woman near the entrance to the adjacent Jewish cemetery.

The assailant then got back into his car and drove to a nearby kebab shop where he killed another victim. Police later said that they had found an improvised explosive device near the synagogue.

Two further people were injured during the rampage in Halle. Local authorities say that the two, a man and a woman, were treated for gunshot wounds. They are no longer at risk of death according to hospital officials.

Dressed in combat gear, the attacker was also wearing a helmet with a camera, which he used to livestream the attack on Amazon’s streaming platform Twitch. During the video, which was quickly removed, the assailant ranted that the Holocaust had never happened as well as shouting xenophobic and misogynistic statements.

The suspect was apprehended by city police after he crashed his car.

Technical failures saved lives

The shooter used multiple weapons, including homemade bombs and what appears to be a homemade rifle. He experienced repeated technical failures during the attack, which ultimately saved lives.

A man who stopped his vehicle to check on the woman shot outside the synagogue was able to get away unharmed when the shooter’s weapon failed to fire.

It jammed again after he began firing at the kebap shop. Several people were able to flee.

Politicians and religious leaders condemned the attack, which occurred on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, and expressed their solidarity with Germany’s Jewish community.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who attended a vigil Wednesday evening at a synagogue in the capital Berlin, conveyed her “deepest condolences.” Steffen Seibert, Merkel’s spokesman, wrote on Twitter: “Our solidarity is with Germany’s Jews on this Yom Kippur. Our thanks go out to security forces still deployed.”

City on lockdown

The attack put the city in lockdown for several hours as police followed leads that suggested accomplices may have fled the scene. The lockdown also affected national train traffic as the train station, a hub between Berlin, Munich and Hamburg, was closed.

Police later declared that it was safe for people in Halle to leave their homes, yet as DW’s Kate Brady reported live from the scene, there was an eerie silence across the city as flashing blue lights illuminated the night while police continued to search for evidence.

https://www.dw.com/en/police-investigate-anti-semitism-links-in-halle-shootings/a-50764327

 

“Take it Back.” That is the theme for the last month of the Chesa Boudin’s campaign.

Suzy Loftus has shown herself to be little more than a political “Hack” who so much wants to be District Attorney that she tossed any sense of ethical propriety, good judgment and common sense. How can any thoughtful San Franciscan expect Suzy to be fair minded, independent and follow the rule of law when she has sold her conscience to the Mayor and the Power Elite at San Francisco City Hall?

After the outrageous power play by San Francisco’s Mayor appointing her crony to the District Attorney’s job one month before the election, the Citizenry must stand up to abusive power.

Former State Senator, Supervisor and Mayoral candidate Mark Leno summed it up when he told a San Francisco rally on Sunday afternoon that Suzy Loftus will carry a burden whether or not she is elected District Attorney. Should she win there will always be the Asterisk by her name. Suzy could have told the Mayor, “No thank you. I want to win this on my own.”

When Chesa wins on November 5, Suzy can ask herself, “Why did I accept the job? It cost me the election.

Chesa Boudin and Mark Leno

The Mayor justified her cold political decision by saying she wants a District Attorney, “I can trust.” The District Attorney is not just someone the Mayor should trust. All San Franciscans should have “trust” in the District Attorney.

That is why the City Hall Establishment fears Chesa. He will not play favorites. He will follow lawbreakers no matter their place in long entrenched San Francisco political and social pecking order.

Already the San Francisco Examiner pulled its endorsement of the anointed District Attorney. Former candidate Mark Leno has enthusiastically endorsed Chesa as have a number of Progressive leaders.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has stepped up to decry the Mayor blatantly abusing her power to foist her handpicked candidate on the electorate.

“Take it Back” was a song by the 1960’s rock group Cream in the album Disraeli Gears. The superb drummer Ginger Baker passed away this weekend at the age of 80.

In the City where President Kennedy was murdered on November 22, 1963 another sick and twisted event has taken place.  Days after the conviction of a Dallas cop for murdering a black man, a prime witness for the prosecution was gunned down by unknown assailants.

Making it more perverse is that the deceased witness was taken to Parkland Hospital, the same venue where the mortally wounded President Kennedy was taken after his assassination.

New York Times 10.5.2019

Joshua Brown had provided key testimony about the 2018 killing of Botham Jean by Ms. Guyger, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Mr. Brown testified about the night of the fatal shooting, saying that he had heard gunshots after a surprise encounter between his one-time neighbors.

A witness who delivered key testimony in the trial of Amber Guyger — the white former Dallas police officer convicted this past week in the murder of an unarmed black man, Botham Jean — was fatally shot on Friday night, a lawyer for Mr. Jean’s family said.

The witness, Joshua Brown, 28, who lived in the same apartment complex as Ms. Guyger and Mr. Jean, was shot several times by an unknown assailant, Lee Merritt, the family’s lawyer, said on Twitter Saturday night.

Mr. Brown’s death occurred just two days after a Dallas County jury sentenced Ms. Guyger to 10 years in prison, well short of the maximum 99 years that she could have received in the killing of Mr. Jean, a 26-year-old immigrant from the Caribbean island nation of St. Lucia.

The sentence angered Mr. Jean’s family members and social justice advocates, who said it was another example of failing to hold white police officers like Ms. Guyger accountable for their actions.