“Elon Musk is equipped with unbridled communication power.”

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues – New Year’s Eve 12.31.2024

Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) boss Alice Weidel has caught herself a big fish, Elon Musk, as she seeks to become the nation’s Chancellor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Weidel

The world’s richest man Elon Musk is swimming happily in stormy German political waters. Insulting the President of the country. Elon Musk has added German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the list of politicians he has insulted in Europe. He also announced a plan to speak to the leader of the country’s far-right AfD.

Continuing his extremist trolling and interference in German affairs while he blankets the planet on his @X platform

Injecting himself into the German electoral process campaigning for the far right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) as the February 23, 2025 election nears.

Plans: online Musk-AfD boss Alice Weidel meeting

The spokesman for the leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel, said concrete plans were underway for an online meeting between her and Elon Musk.

A deceptively cheery anodyne New Year’s greeting from AfD boss Alice Weidel

That came after Musk himself suggested a meeting between the two via X’s Spaces chat feature. “Wait until Alice and I do an X Spaces conversation. They will lose their minds,” he posted. 

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on Tuesday hit out at Musk and his attempts to influence the German elections.

“Elon Musk is equipped with billions and unbridled communication power,” Habeck wrote on X. “His call for the AfD is systematic: He wants to weaken Europe. Power must be limited: no business model must destroy our democracy. Europe must now use its power consistently.”

Concerns are also growing in the UK as Musk takes an increasingly close interest in Britain’s political scene, aligning himself with hard-right lawmaker Nigel Farage.

Musk has busied himself with taking aim at the UK’s center-left Labour government, launching a series of blistering comments against British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

AfD boss campaigns on the slogan “Time for Deutschland.” For whose Germany is it time??

https://www.dw.com/en/elon-musk-insults-german-president-frank-walter-steinmeier/a-71191756

Elon Musk support for German far-right (AfD) unleashes political storm

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.30.2024

Elon Musk is Donald Trump’s Rasputin.

Elon Musk and friend

Yet the somnolent American public, save for the usual Leftie suspects, is silent.

Perhaps the American public, as usual asleep at the political wheel, is in such a funk after the election it is bowing to the world’s richest man. A staunch make no bones about it reactionary Musk seeks to ingratiate himself into the Project 2025 vibe of the lying convicted felon Donald Trump. As he prepares for his second destruction derby against the foundations of America.

One can look to Europe and quickly realize Elon Musk is not getting the free ride he seeks in Germany as he advocates for far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in the upcoming February 23, 2025 national election.

AfD recruiting poster

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 12.30.2024

US tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday reaffirmed his backing for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an op-ed published by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. This came just days after he had posted on his social network X that “only the AfD can save Germany.”

The chairman of the DJV journalists’ association, Mika Beuster, warned editorial offices not to allow themselves to be instrumentalized in the run-up to the general election but to handle guest contributions with care.

“German media must not allow themselves to be misused as mouthpieces for autocrats and their friends,” he said

Musk wrote that the far-right populist party was “the last spark of hope for the country,” which he claimed was teetering on the brink of “economic and cultural collapse,” and that only it could revive the German economy and prevent a loss of identity through a “controlled immigration policy.“

“To those who condemn the AfD as extremist, I say: don’t let the label attached to it put you off,” Musk wrote. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!”

In the article, published in German, Musk also praised the AfD’s approach to regulation, taxes, and market deregulation.

Although it was published as an op-ed by designated Welt editor-in-chief Jan Philipp Burgard, the decision to print it was met with protests by Welt editorial staff and led to the resignation of a senior editor at Welt am Sonntag.

Friedrich Merz, the center-right candidate for chancellor in Germany’s February 23 legislative election, lashed out at Musk, calling the article unprecedented interference that was “intrusive and pretentious.”

The AfD is currently polling at 20% and in second place behind Merz’s conservative alliance of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU).

The chairman of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, accused Musk of wanting to “plunge Germany into chaos” and compared him to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Both want to influence our elections and specifically support the AfD’s enemies of democracy,” Klingbeil said.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-why-elon-musk-is-promoting-the-far-right-afd/a-71186763

Most beautiful place in San Francisco. A genuine urban gem

SAN FRANCISCO – SUTRO HEIGHTS PARK

Lee Heidhues 12.28.2024

I will always appreciate the fact we live less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA). I can step away from the urban life of tumultuous San Francisco into a serene well kept Sutro Heights Park and enjoy the stormy beauty of La Mer.

It was a foggy chilly afternoon when I took a year end walk through this urban treasure which I have enjoyed since its inception over 50 years ago.

Debussy: La Mer L109-1. Del ‘Aube A’ Midi Sur La Mer

Jimmy Carter exits the stage

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.29.2024

I didn’t appreciate Jimmy Carter until he was long gone from office.

I voted for Jimmy Carter enthusiastically in 1976 when he ousted Gerald Ford. The Republican congressman President Nixon picked as his successor. Nixon resigned in disgrace in August 1974 rather than face Impeachment for his myriad abuses of power accentuated by the Watergate scandal.

In 1980 I could not support President Carter’s reelection after he withdrew the American team from the 1980 Olympics in Moscow. In protest of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. I would never vote for Ronald Reagan. Instead, I voted for the Independent candidate, John Anderson the Republican congressman from Illinois.

My vote was a stupid vote. Reagan won the presidency.

Motorists hit the gas pedal while people die on Great Highway Park

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.28.2024

The San Francisco Chronicle continues to do its political chores for the entitled drivers of San Francisco with the tabloid style headline and feature article whining on behalf of the motorists.

The San Francisco Chronicle needs a political spin attitude adjustment.

Hours before this incendiary and pandering to the motorists article was published an elderly pedestrian was cut down and killed by a motorist on the soon to be permanently car free Great Highway Park.

There is something mysterious and magical conveyed in this 1968 song at the height of the Vietnam war by San Francisco’s own Jefferson Airplane. Knowledge of and respect for the elderly is something today’s American social media reactionaries are unwilling to confront.

Even more disgusting than the Chronicle article are the responses to this tragedy on social media. Blaming the elderly victim for the carnage caused by the spoiled rotten entitled motorists.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/sf-war-on-cars-threats-19958047.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL2JheWFyZWEvYXJ0aWNsZS9zZi13YXItb24tY2Fycy10aHJlYXRzLTE5OTU4MDQ3LnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTczNTQxMzgwNDI1MA%3D%3D&rid=OTJhM2RhZWItNDMzYy00ZjMxLTgyMTQtZTU2ZjE2NDIzNDRl&sharecount=MA%3D%3D

Donald Trump. Time Magazine 2024 USA-LIAR of the Year

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues UPDATED 1.1.2025

I CANCELLED MY SUBSCRIPTION TO TIME MAGAZINE.

Time Magazine had the effrontery to name serial liar and advocate of the most strident reactionary, some would call it, neo-fascist rantings is soon to become America’s President, again.

This is the same pathological liar who fomented an insurrection on January 6, 2021. He exhorted thousands of reactionary thugs to storm the American capitol and nullify the election he lost to Joe Biden. This criminal, now a convicted felon in New York State court, should be in jail.

Only in America could this convicted felon be President

Only in such a reactionary country could this criminal be elected President.

Only in America could an insurrectionist, rapist and convicted felon be elected President

There is only one word to describe it. CRIMINAL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack#:~:text=On%20January%206%2C%202021%2C%20the,in%20the%202020%20presidential%20election.
January 6, 2021. Trump’s insurrection. A day which will live in infamy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Hawk_Down_(film) The January 6, 2021 insurrectionists were no heroes. Just criminal thugs. Unlike those genuine soldiers who fought in the controversial failed 1992 extraction mission in Mogadishu, Somalia

Trump is little more than Musk’s preening German AfD wannabe

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.22.2024

Few if any of the learned WSJ editorial page audience are admitting that Trump is nothing more than a preening facsimile, akin to such extremist political parties as German the Alternative for Deutschland(AfD).

STOP THE AfD – photo Lee Heidhues

Elon Musk’s favorite German political party. The extremist far right organization currently polling at 19 percent in national polls. Prior to the February 23, 2025 election. Which was called following the collapse of the coalition government in Berlin. None of the German political parties will join in a coalition with the AfD.

It is beyond reprehensible that this Guy is going to be President, again. Look at Brazil where his soul buddy Jair Bolsonaro, who tried his own January 6th insurrection.

He’s been barred by Brazil’s judiciary from seeking the presidency for eight years for his abuse of power. Good luck with that in allegedly democratic America. Where the Republicans, the Courts and, yes, the Democrats bow down before this not so closet racist fascist.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump, on Friday December 20th endorsed Germany’s far-right party, a group with ties to neo-Nazis whose youth wing has been classified as “confirmed extremist” by German domestic intelligence.

Partners in far right extremism. Elon Musk and AfD leader Alice Weidel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Weidel

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Mr. Musk posted to X, referring to the anti-immigrant party, the Alternative for Germany, by its German initials.

In doing so, he is wading into German politics at a moment of acute turmoil, and at the very same time that he has wielded his influence in Washington to help blow up a bipartisan spending deal that was meant to avoid a government shutdown over Christmas. The German government recently collapsed, resulting in early elections, which are planned for next year.

German politicians criticize Elon Musk backing for far-right AfD

Anton Hofreiter from the Green Party called the AfD “traitors bought by billionaires” and “a band of fascists who have not only been bought by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin but are now being supported by a multi-billionaire-turned-right-wing-extremist.”

Asked about Musk’s comments, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “Freedom of expression also applies to multi-billionaires, but it also means that you’re allowed to say things which aren’t correct, and aren’t good political advice.”

Other German lawmakers from across the political spectrum criticized both Musk’s post and Weidel’s response, slamming “interference” and insisting that no other party will form a government with “fascists bought by billionaires.”

https://www.dw.com/en/german-politicians-criticize-musk-backing-for-far-right-afd/a-71117414

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather – He covered the White House for decades and speaks authoritatively

Judge for yourself

Trump says “I don’t care. America comes first.”as Syria implodes

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.7.2024

It’s a scary thought that Donald Trump will hold the fate of the planet in his hands, again.

Donald Trump’s the ultimate transactional guy. His understanding of global events only goes so far as his bank account. If there’s nothing in it for him his attitude is “I don’t care.”

If this were an episode of The Apprentice, Trump would be telling Syrian strongman Bashar Al Assad, “You’re fired!!!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad

I guess Trump never wanted to built a resort or casino in Damascus.

Trump may mouth the words “America First.” The reality In Trump’s world is, “Me, First.”

Excerpted from Associated Press 12.7.2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military should stay out of the fast-escalating conflict in Syria, where a dramatic rebel offensive reached the capital and threatened the rule of Syria’s Russian- and Iranian-allied president. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump declared on social media.

Trump’s comments on the dramatic rebel push were his first since Syrian rebels launched their advance late last month. They came while he was in Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral.

In his post, Trump said Bashar Al Assad did not deserve U.S. support to stay in power.

As world leaders watched the stunning rebel advance, with its potential to alter the balance of power in the Middle East, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser separately stressed that the Biden administration had no intention of intervening.

Trump says US should stay out of fighting in Syria as opposition forces occupy Damascus and Bashar Al Assad flees the country

“The United States is not going to … militarily dive into the middle of a Syrian civil war,” Jake Sullivan told an audience in California.

Sullivan said the U.S. would keep acting as necessary to keep the Islamic State — a violently anti-Western extremist group not known to be involved in the offensive but with sleeper cells in Syria’s deserts — from exploiting openings presented by the fighting.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-syria-biden-administration-rebels-assad-72015f143aa6b40bb62c09724c71e34f

Iconic singer Umm Kulthum

What’s democracy gotta do with it? Don’t ask SF Sup. Connie Chan

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.4.2024

The arrogance of Connie Chan is breath taking in piously claiming “She will invite proponents of of Prop. K to discuss if there is room for compromise.“

All San Franciscans who care about the environment and people’s democracy need to keep a vigilant eye on Supervisor Connie Chan.

This is the local ambitious politician who drove to victory as an environmentalist four years ago. Then proceeded to stiff the “progressives” who foisted her into office by 125 votes. Becoming the most car-centric and anti-environmental elected official in San Francisco.

Connie Chan’s hypocrisy is mind boggling.

It’s obvious that just reelected Supervisor Connie Chan has forgotten who won the citywide vote creating Great Highway Park by with a 55 percent majority.

Connie’s comment that she “will hold proponents accountable” flies in the face of reality.

Connie should be telling the opponents of Prop. K to stand down and shut up.

The people Connie should hold “accountable” are the screaming cadres of entitled motorists, a main prop in her successful reelection effort. Connie needs to tell these whiners to accept the will of the 55 percent majority. Connie has catered and bowed to the motorists since the day she took office as a Supervisor in January 2021.

Great Highway Park is coming. Soon. The message to Prop K opponents is simple. Deal with It.

Say, what??!! Sup. Chan “will hold proponents of Prop. K accountable the changes they proposed.”

The citizens of San Francisco cannot ever forget that it was Supervisor Connie Chan who has opposed Great Highway Park ever since it was closed to cars in spring 2020.

The citizens of San Francisco cannot ever forget that it was Supervisor Connie Chan who almost single handedly destroy JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park. It’s a documented record that Connie Chan met with the lobbyist for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco numerous times in their nearly million dollar effort to destroy JFK Promenade.

Ethical conflict. Connie Chan anti-Car Free JFK Sup must put the brakes on

Pathetic SF motorists sink to the depths of Recall selfishness

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.3.2024

PATHETIC LOSERS ALL OF YOU.

My message to the group of San Francisco west side spoiled rotten entitled motorists who are starting a Recall petition against Supervisor Joel Engardio.

Sore losers. All of them. Unhappy and refusing to accept the fact that the voters Citywide approved Proposition K on November 5th, 2024 with a 55 percent majority.

The creation of a Great Highway Park along the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.

“Your involvement means the world to us, and we’re so grateful to have you on board. Together, we can make a real difference for District 4 and all of San Francisco.” The so called “world” is that of the spoiled entitled motorists. A group of sore losers who refuse to accept the 55 percent YES Citywide vote on Prop K..If you are unhappy with Joel Engardio vote him out in 2026. This misguided waste of taxpayer money when the City is staring down an 800M deficit is selfishness personified.

Quoted Language in blue border from the Recall website  recallengardio.com and my response in the email seeking support for the Supervisor Joel Engardio Recall

Excerpted from the San Francisco Standard 12.3.2024

A group of Sunset residents is launching a campaign to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio over his support of Proposition K, the ballot measure to close part of the Great Highway that was successful in the November election but roundly rejected by his district constituents.

A recall petition letter, filed Tuesday morning with the Department of Elections, accuses Engardio of violating his “campaign promises of transparency” and betraying voters in his district. 

Prop. K passed with 55% of the vote. But on the west side, including Engardio’s District 4, which encompasses the stretch of the coastal roadway affected by the measure, 64% voted against it.

About 80 residents signed the initial recall petition. The website recallengardio.com went live Monday night.

Supervisors Joel Engardio and Myrna Melgar at Prop K – Great Highway Park rally – 7.27.2024

Photos – Lee Heidhues