SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.6.2024

Political audacity obviously has no boundaries at election time.

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan facing a tough reelection campaign has wrapped herself in the garb of being a staunch supporter of the police. Which, understandably, is the road to drive on to be awarded a safe parking space from the electorate.

Connie Chan parked herself this week on JFK Promenade during National Night Out. The annual celebration lauding the cops.

This is the now car free JFK Promenade which Connie Chan worked feverishly to dismantle. This pedestrian and cycling oasis in historic Golden Gate Park. Meeting 14 times with lobbyists for the well heeled DeYoung Museum. Which expended money and its political power to bring cars back to JFK Promenade. Connie Voted against JFK Promenade when the Board of Supervisors voted to create JFK Promenade in April 2022. Connie opposed JFK Promenade in November 2022 when it received final approval with a 63 percent YES vote from the San Francisco electorate.

Connie Chan has also been a strident foe of Ocean Beach Park along the Pacific Coast shoreline. She supported the ballot measure in November 2022 which would have brought cars back full time to this roadway. It is currently car free on weekends. The measure was soundly defeated with a 65 percent no vote. Connie Chan now opposes the ballot measure for this November which, if passed, will make the area between Lincoln and Sloat Boulevards, approximately two miles, permanently car free.

Now, in a frenzied effort to have four more years in City Hall Connie hangs out with the cops on National Night Out, taking a seat on JFK Promenade. The pedestrian cyclist oasis she tried to bury. The hypocrisy is stunning as an obviously upset citizen posted the following after National Night Out.

Top photo: Liz Heidhues, lifelong cyclist and car free space advocate, parleying with Mayor London Breed at the fourth anniversary celebration of JFK Promenade – April 28, 2024. Mayor Breed signed the enabling legislation creating JFK Promenade on May 7, 2022. Mayor Breed also supports the November 2024 ballot measure which will create a permanently car free Ocean Beach Park. – photo by Lee Heidhues

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.5.2024

BREAKING: The Supreme Court has refused to delay Donald Trump’s sentencing until after the election.

On September 18, Trump will be sentenced in his NY criminal case.

What do you think his penalty should be? pic.twitter.com/he5dO2UON5

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) August 5, 2024

The Guardian 8.5.2024

Supreme court won’t stop Trump sentencing going ahead

The US supreme court has declined to halt Donald Trump’s upcoming sentencing for his conviction in state court in New York on felony charges involving hush money paid to an adult film star, Stormy Daniels, and a related gag order until after the 5 November election.

The decision by the justices came in response to a lawsuit by the state of Missouri claiming that the case against Trump infringed on the right of voters under the US constitution to hear from the Republican presidential nominee as he seeks to regain the White House, Reuters reports.

Trump is set to be sentenced on 18 September in Manhattan. He was found guilty in May of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in a criminal hush-money scheme to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

He is the Republican party nominee for president in the election in November, facing Kamala Harris for the Democrats.

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.4.2024

The anti-immigrant hate stirred up by Donald Trump in the past nine years has gone global.

The intolerance, xenophobia and racism spewed forth by the former and now wannabe president has found a receptive audience in Europe. Now Britain.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 8.4.2024

Police in the northern English city of Rotherham struggled to hold back a group of far-right activists on Sunday, who broke into a hotel believed to be housing asylum-seekers.

The disturbance is the latest in a series of violent protests by anti-immigration groups in British towns and cities this week after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport in northwest England on Monday.

Protesters can be seen storming the building and removing chairs from inside to use as weapons. Footage aired on British TV showed officers with shields targeted by a barrage of projectiles outside the Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham, near Sheffield.

The riots began last week due to misinformation over a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party at a studio in Southport, a seaside town in northwest England.

Three children were killed in the knife attack, and 10 other people — eight of whom were children — were injured.

A 17-year-old boy, Axel Rudakubana, has been charged with several offenses, including the girls’ murder, which happened during a Taylor Swift-themed workshop.

Since the Southport attack, far-right social media channels have been awash with false claims that the suspect was an asylum-seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat.

Police have emphasized that Rudakubana was born in Britain. He was remanded to a youth detention center and will next appear in court in October.

Close to 100 people were arrested after skirmishes broke out at far-right rallies in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Blackpool and Hull, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland on Saturday.

In Liverpool, in the northwest, protesters threw chairs, flares and bricks at police officers. Manchester also saw clashes between officers and rioters. 

In the city of Hull, protesters broke windows of a hotel that was housing migrants, the BBC reported. 

In Belfast, fireworks were thrown due to a clash between an anti-Islam group and anti-racism protesters.

Opposing groups also faced off in the cities of Nottingham and Bristol.

In Leeds, anti-immigration protesters carrying British flags chanted, “You’re not English anymore.” They were met with counter-protesters shouting, “Nazi scum off our streets.”

On Friday, Sunderland saw violence erupt as a police station and an overturned car were set on fire.

In London, a pro-Palestinian demonstration was carried out as usual despite counter protesting nearby.

https://www.dw.com/en/uk-far-right-rioters-storm-hotel-housing-migrants/a-69851161

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.2.2024

San Francisco, The City of Saint Francis, is going full speed ahead with its cruel and insane crackdown on its homeless population.

Having been freed up from any legal constraints by the Republican Trump MAGA dominated Supreme Court, Mayor London Breed has unleashed the full power of law enforcement to abuse and disrespect the most down and out people in the City. Breed is blatantly pandering to the law and order voters in her quest to win election for another four years in office on November 3rd.

It was San Francisco’s Brief in the Grants Pass (Oregon) case which Justice Neil Gorsuch cited eight times in the Court’s 6-3 ruling in June unleashing the power of the state.

San Francisco is a mean, nasty town. This annihilation of its homeless population if one of the most treacherous acts in the long history of the city.

Excerpted from San Francisco Standard 8.2.2024

Homeless people brace for arrests, lost property amid ‘barbaric’ crackdown

Nine people have been arrested during sweeps on San Francisco streets since July 29.

Tracy Oxsen, 53, called the crackdown “cruel” and said Breed is abusing the homeless population for “political gain.”

“It’s inhumane,” said Oxsen, who sleeps under the Central Freeway. “They made us this way.”

As San Francisco cracks down on homeless encampments, unhoused people say they are afraid of losing their property — and getting arrested.

“They’re gonna get worse, be barbaric,” said 59-year-old Jeff “Tex” Connick, sitting in front of his tent on Treat Avenue, behind Best Buy. “They’re gonna throw our things away, arrest people.”

Homeless people are voicing their fears as the city moves forward with “very aggressive” sweeps promised by Mayor London Breed in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass decision. The ruling gives cities broader authority to punish people for sleeping or camping outdoors, even if there is no available shelter space.

Emboldened by the decision, Breed has said the city will clear tents from sidewalks and underpasses without warning people first, as has been the norm for years. On Thursday, the mayor went further, issuing an executive order directing city workers to offer bus tickets to homeless people before offering them shelter beds.

Top photo: The homeless a block away from Mayor Breed’s office in San Francisco City Hall

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 8.1.2024

This is what Vladimir Putin wanted all along to release his political prisoners.

WSJ reporter arrested – Putin’s assault on free speech continues

Have his hired thug assassin Vadim Krasikov return to Russia. Krasikov gunned down a Chechen dissident execution style in broad daylight in Berlin’s Kleiner Tiergarten Park in August 2019.

I am well familiar with this spot, having run and walked in the park during several trips to Berlin. The park is directly across the street from the Tiergarten Hotel where Liz and I stay when visiting Berlin.

Deutsche Welle 8.1.2024

Germany confirmed the prisoner swap with Russia involving the United States and European allies.

Among those returning to Russia was Vadim Krasikov, convicted in 2021 of shooting to death a Georgian citizen of Chechen ethnicity in Kleiner Tiergarten Park in Berlin in August 2019. 

The victim, 40-year-old Zelimkhan Khangoshvili was shot in an “execution-style” killing The killing was carried out the drive-by style shooting on a bicycle in broad daylight — shooting the victim in the head and chest, prosecutors said

Berlin police probe ‘execution-style’ killing in Tiergarten Park in Moabit

German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement the deal had involved close and trusting cooperation with the United States and European partners.

US President Joe Biden, when asked by reporters about what Germany wanted in return for its cooperation, replied: “nothing.”

According to the German statement, the exchange agreement secured the release of 15 people who were unlawfully detained in Russia and a German citizen, Rico K. who had been sentenced to death in Belarus.

https://p.dw.com/p/4j14O

SAN FRANCISCO via CHICAGO

Lee Heidhues 7.30.2024

Condemning migrants, supporting the January 6 insurrectionists and disrespecting Kamala Harris.

Make no mistake bloviating mendacious racist Donald Trump knows exactly what he is doing.

Every utterance coming out of his mouth is geared toward one audience. The racist know nothing MAGA crowd to whom Donald Trump throws political red meat.

These are the people, primarily white and marginally educated, this convicted Felon expects will return him to the White House next January.

The ENTIRE @NABJ Trump Interview (34 Minutes) pic.twitter.com/ItkhzmYsc3

— Jeff Storobinsky (@jeffstorobinsky) July 31, 2024

Rachel Scott is the senior congressional correspondent for ABC News, reporting from Capitol Hill across all programs and platforms, including “Good Morning America, “World News Tonight with David Muir,” “Nightline,” “This Week with George Stephanopoulos,” “20/20,” ABC News Live, ABC News Digital and ABC Audio.

Particularly obscene was Trump’s assertion that he has done more for American black people than any President since Abraham Lincoln.

I forced myself to watch the entire Donald Trump’s sit down with Black journalists.

Rachel Scott of ABC displayed guts and integrity.

Refusing to be bullied and pushed around by convicted Felon and sociopathic liar Donald Trump.

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.30.2024

In May 2019 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance regulating surveillance technology used by the San Francisco Police Department.

It’s obvious the cops have failed to get the message.

The willful non-compliance has resulted in a lawsuit against The City and County of San Francisco and possible dismissal of criminal prosecutions which fail to follow the Law.

The case is Secure Justice Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco – CPF-24-518631 attached below.

San Francisco Chronicle – Bob Egelko – 7.18.2024

Five years ago, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to require police and other agencies to seek approval from elected officials before using new methods of technology to conduct surveillance. But a lawsuit says the city has ignored its law for at least four years and allowed officers to use whatever surveillance techniques they choose.

The Chronicle reported in 2020 that San Francisco police may have sidestepped the ordinance by using technology from a regional law enforcement agency, not covered by the law’s disclosure requirement, to investigate an illegal-gunfire case. Then-District Attorney Chesa Boudin said he was uncertain about using such evidence in a criminal prosecution.

Four years ago, the suit said, the San Francisco Police Department “quit complying with the Surveillance Ordinance and has not submitted to the (Board of Supervisors) any further proposed use policies for pre-existing technology.” 

SF appears ready to Clamp Down Surveillance Tools

“Police surveillance technologies may help reduce crime,” lawyers for the nonprofit Secure Justice said in a suit filed Tuesday in San Francisco Superior Court. “But they also pose a clear and present threat to the civil liberties of the citizens of San Francisco.”

The technology is “controversial and error-prone,” particularly for racial minorities, the suit said. It said one study found a 35% error rate in identification of darker-skinned women.

The San Francisco ordinance took effect in June 2019 and similar measures have been adopted by many other local governments, including Oakland, Berkeley and Alameda. It requires police and other agencies using facial recognition technology to notify city officials of the technology they were already using, and to obtain approval from the Board of Supervisors for any new methods they planned to use.

Secure Justice said it identified 42 recognition technology programs in June 2023 that had not been approved by city officials, and asked for an explanation but received no reply. Police Chief Bill Scott confirmed to the city’s Committee on Information Technology in January 2023 that his department was using technology the Board of Supervisors had not approved and attributed the actions to two officers, the suit said.

While the ordinance allows police to continue using unapproved surveillance methods for a short period while they seek approval, that is not a “a get-out-of-jail-free card, wherein a guilty party can merely promise to do better next time by simply posting a notice and promising not to do it again,” Mitchell Chyette, a lawyer for Secure Justice, said in the suit. 

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/sfpd-facial-recognition-19582427.php

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.28.2024

Next month in Chicago the Democrats will move from the party of despair to the party of the future when Vice President Kamala Harris is formally nominated as its presidential candidate.

After reading the attached in the San Francisco Standard I went into my sizable music collection and found the CD “Paint it Blue – Songs of the Rolling Stones” produced by the House of Blues Music Company. A compilation of Rolling Stones songs covered by an ensemble of Chicago blues musicians.

The song Ventilator Blues is attached as a reminder of convicted felon Donald Trump and his weird behavior during the pandemic.

Top photo: San Francisco Mayor London Breed with Oakland native, former SF District Attorney and currently vice president Kamala Harris, presidential nominee in waiting.

SAN FRANCISCO OCEAN BEACH PARK

Liz and Lee Heidhues 7.27.2024

During a gathering to launch the campaign Liz and I, decades long outer Richmond District residents, life long bicyclists who have never owned a car, were asked to share our thoughts about the upcoming ballot measure which, if passed, will result in creation of Ocean Beach Park.

It was an enthusiastic crowd which gathered on a drizzly Saturday afternoon to kick off the campaign to make the Ocean Beach Park a reality in the November election. http://www.oceanbeachpark.org

Supervisor Joel Engardio, four of his companions on the Board of Supervisors and Mayor London Breed, placed the measure on the ballot. If the initiative passes citywide the Ocean Beach Park at the edge of San Francisco by the Pacific will become a permanent park.

Should the measure pass San Francisco will have flipped the switch on the motorists. First, it was the eyesore Embarcadero Freeway which was torn down after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Second was the motorists freeway which ruined Golden Gate Park for decades. The voters, by a 63 percent margin in November 2022, banned cars and now JFK Promenade is a pedestrian and cyclist oasis.

Approval of Ocean Beach Park by the voters on November 3rd will complete the San Francisco environmental triple play.

Supervisor Engardio faces a sandstorm of criticism from some constituents for his advocacy.

Motorists are engaged in a never ending fight to preserve what they feel is their birthright to drive their cars anywhere, anytime.

The Supervisor, at risk to his political career, refuses to be bullied and intimidated. Should the measure prevail Joel will be considered an environmental leader who stood up for the environment.

Top photo: Cycling along on Ocean Beach Park

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 7.27.2024

John Mayall is gone after a long productive life on the world stage at the age 90. Several days ago I was thinking about him. This foggy Saturday morning I learned of his passing.

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

On March 1, 1969 after attending the Chinese New Year parade in San Francisco I went into a record store in North Beach and purchased his classic album, “The Blues Alone.” At that moment I became a Mayall fan. This LP is one of my all time favorites.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/jul/24/john-mayall-obituary