Excerpted from San Jose Mercury News 6.1.2019

The Laney College soccer field hosted Warren’s biggest campaign crowd yet

OAKLAND — Sen. Elizabeth Warren drew thousands of fans to Laney College on Friday night for a town hall that she described as her largest event in the country so far, a show of force for the progressive presidential contender.

As for the misogynistic rhetoric so common in American politics, the successes of politicians like Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY and Ilhan Omar, D-MN, have given him hope for 2020.

“Most Americans are sexist – like, 99%,” Long-Copes said. “But with Trump, I think nobody’s going to care anymore. If you’ll be a good president, people will vote for you.”e

“Most Americans are sexist – like, 99%,” Jordan Long-Copes said. “But with Trump, I think nobody’s going to care anymore. If you’ll be a good president, people will vote for you.”

 

An estimated 6,500 people waited in a line that stretched for blocks. Organizers had relocated the event from the gymnasium to the much larger soccer field that morning, but it still took two hours for everyone to make it through the gate, delaying the start by an hour.

Despite the wait, the crowd was in good spirits, cheering at Warren’s proposals to end corruption in Washington and booing references to the Koch brothers. Warren said little about big tech during her speech, focusing instead on the influence of money in politics and issues facing the middle class.

The candidate is in town for the state Democratic convention in San Francisco this weekend, where she and 13 other presidential candidates will make their case to party insiders and activists. California’s March 3 primary is expected to play a more important role than in past years due to its earlier spot on the calendar.

The rally marked the largest presidential campaign event in Oakland since California Sen. Kamala Harris’ kickoff rally in January, which attracted 20,000 people to Frank Ogawa Plaza.

Warren didn’t take crowd questions, which she blamed on the late hour. Instead, she opted to address a few topics she’s been asked about frequently at prior town halls. The first was gun violence.

“It’s not just the mass shootings. It’s the ones that never make the headlines. It’s the kids who are shot at the playground, on the sidewalk, in their own homes. Gun violence touches families every day,” she said. “On the question of gun violence, I will be fearless.”

She also dedicated significant time to student loan debt, the needs of working mothers and the importance of Medicaid, a safety net for millions that often lands in Republican crosshairs.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/05/31/elizabeth-warrens-laney-town-hall-delayed-by-huge-crowd/

J

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

May 31. 2019

Photo from a recent Wall Street Journal article re American sanctions towards the Iranian Government.

Given the economic hostility and warlike posture the American government has exhibited towards Iran since 1979, I can understand this political piece of art.

There is at least one nation with a sensible, soft spoken and articulate leader. It’s not America.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.30.2019

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed students at Harvard encouraging them to shape the future. Her halting speech contained  digs on President Donald Trump, without mentioning him by name.

In clear reference to  US policy under President Trump, she said, “protectionism threatens the foundations of our prosperity.” Instead, Merkel laid out a different path, one that is, “Multilateral rather than unilateral, global rather than national, outward looking rather than isolationist. In short, we have to work together rather than alone.”

The biggest applause came when she told the graduating class, “We must be honest with others and with ourselves, and that means not calling lies truth and not calling the truth lies.” The line struck a note with the audience and she was given a standing ovation for it.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a low key commencement speech to Harvard graduates on Thursday after being greeted with rousing applause when introduced as “one of the most respected and influential leaders of the postwar era.”

Addressing students at the Ivy League school’s 368th commencement ceremony, Merkel began in English, yet quickly switched to German.

Merkel, speaking through a translator, touched on a number of topics throughout the speech — beginning with her own upbringing in East Germany under the shadow of the Berlin Wall. The idea of the wall was one that she would return to throughout the speech.

She would go on to speak of the “walls in peoples minds, walls of ignorance and narrowmindedness,” at one point calling on students to, “Tear down walls of ignorance and narrowmindedness for nothing has to stay as it is.”

She warned students that nothing could be taken for granted, yet encouraged them to realize that: “Anything that seems to be set in stone and unalterable, can be changed. Every change begins in the mind.”

Merkel also acknowledged Germany’s historic responsibility, as well as the theme of forgiveness, noting that: “The relations between Germany and the US, too, shows how former enemies can become friends.”

During that passage, she underscored the importance of transatlantic relations based on shared values, referring to George Marshall’s famous 1947 Harvard commencement speech in which he unveiled his plan for helping rebuild Europe after the war.

https://www.dw.com/en/angela-merkel-tells-harvard-grads-to-tear-down-walls/a-48981123

May 29, 2019

Several weeks ago there was a Pro-Trump rally in San Francisco.

Now an incendiary virulently anti-semitic Nazi like letter  (see attached) has been sent to residents in The City who live near the Holocaust Memorial in the northwest corner of San Francisco . It is very disconcerting and a warning sign of where things are headed in this country.

The San Francisco Police detention and interrogation of a journalist on May 10 is just another Marker on how Trumpism is infecting the body politic.

Even in “Progressive” San Francisco.

The letter from Barnes Review follows.

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier in the year I Blogged about the courageous journalist Anabel Hernandez She has been awarded a Freedom of Speech Award. Whether its journalists being handcuffed by police for six hours in San Francisco for refusing to reveal a source or being murdered in Mexico the threat to journalists is real and ongoing.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.28.2019

The exiled Mexican journalist has received Deutsche Welle’s Freedom of Speech Award at the Global Media Forum. In her acceptance speech, she issued a warning against organized crime and a plea for truth.

“For months I contemplated the bulletproof vest that the government of Mexico gave me in 2016, shortly before publishing my last book on the case of the 43 students who disappeared in Iguala in the state of Guerrero in September 2014.

“It was a way of warning me: ‘you have gone too far’ in your investigations. But even with the vest in front of me I refused to think about myself and the risk. There has always been something more important: truth and justice.”

Anabel Hernandez’s work as a journalist had put her in the firing line. Following that direct threat to her personal safety, she took action. Today she lives in exile and incognito. For twenty years now, she has reported tirelessly about corruption, the drug trade, sexual exploitation and injustice. DW honored this work with its Freedom of Speech Award, presented to Hernandez during the Global Media Forum in Bonn.

‘Why do they kill us?’

Hernandez survived — in contrast to more than 100 journalists, who have been killed in Mexico during the past decade. Mexico has the highest murder rate for journalists in the world.

“But why are they killing us?” Hernandez asks. “Why are they threatening us? Why are they imprisoning us? Why do they want to silence us?”

https://www.dw.com/en/dw-freedom-of-speech-award-presented-to-anabel-hernandez/a-48909099

This should come as no surprise to anyone.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 5.27.2019

The World Health Organization (WHO) for the first time put burnout on its International Classification of Diseases (ICD) list, which is used globally as a benchmark for health diagnosis.

“Burnout refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life,” according to the classification.

The international body reached the decision to categorize burnout as a medical condition during its recently concluded World Health Assembly in Geneva.

Following recommendations from health experts around the world, the updated ICD list was drafted in 2018 and was approved on Saturday.

The WHO has now classified burnout as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.”

The global health organization said the burnout syndrome is characterized by three dimensions: “1) feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; 2) increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and 3) reduced professional efficacy.”

https://www.dw.com/en/who-recognizes-burnout-as-a-disease/a-48908837

 

 

May 26, 2019

In 1995 I saw the wildly intense, futuristic film “Strange Days” starring Ralph Fiennes (shown above) and Angela Bassett, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. In its time the film was generally overlooked and panned by critics, though Roger Ebert gave it four stars. Perhaps because of its violence and mind boggling plot line the critics and viewing public took a pass on this film.

Nearly 25 years later “Strange Days” deserves another look, if for nothing else to see Juliette Lewis (above) do an incredible cover of the PJ Harvey song “Hardly Wait.”

Make no mistake there are very disturbing scenes in this film.

Nonetheless, the use of technology in “Strange Days” in the form of “Clips” is thought provoking and intense. Considering that Director Kathryn Bigelow put this in the public arena a quarter century ago is amazing.

The film ranks right up there with the original 1982 “Blade Runner.” It, too, was generally overlooked at the time. Now it is considered a cult classic.

Attached is the Wikipedia article on “Strange Days.”

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

May 26, 2019

Every Picture Tells a Story – Ongoing Series

These pictures were taken Friday afternoon in busy downtown San Francisco. The scene was disrupted by the sudden appearance of several police cars careening down Market Street enroute to a crime scene.

Photos by Lee Heidhues

May 25, 2019

By – Lee Heidhues

“Progressive” San Francisco  must hit  hard at the POA for a shameful, dangerous intervention in the political process. The Mayor and Board of Supervisors cannot allow themselves to be intimidated by a Police State.

The POA was not satisfied with trashing Jeff Adachi  after his death.  The release of a Police Report compiled the night of his death on February 22, by as yet unnamed cops, was illegal and unethical.

The May 10 detention and brutalization of a local freelance journalist  by a squadron of local cops and FBI agents raised the hackles and set off  the alarm bells of Press Freedom advocates.

Chief of Police William Scott (pictured above), local elected officials and the Judiciary have been villilfied for their  generally silent reaction to what can  be described as a Police State action in conducting the raid on a Journalist.

Finally, the Chief has apologized for the actions of his department.

This apology is too much for the POA. It published a strident Statement blasting the Chief, ridiculing him in the most abusive manner and calling for his immediate resignation.

The POA is engaging in an act of shameful behavior which can be described as “eating its own.”

San Francisco Chronicle 5.25.2019 News Story

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Adachi-leak-SF-police-union-calls-on-police-13896795.php