Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 3.30.2019

Even before the Nazis’ rise in 1933, anti-Semitism was present in film. After 1945, many directors struggled to deal with the Holocaust, but some continued to make movies with anti-Semitic tendencies.

Photo above – Schindler’s List (1993)

Margarethe von Trotta’s film about Hannah Arendt was well received in 2012. The director sketched a balanced portrait of the philosopher and publicist who, in the 1960s, grappled with a figure who was largely responsible for the Nazi genocide: Adolf Eichmann. Arendt coined the phrase “the banality of evil” to explain anti-Semitism clothed in seemingly harmless bureaucracy.

https://www.dw.com/en/why-hitler-watched-hollywood-films/a-48062877

This story throws into sharp focus the growing dichotomy between the Haves and Have Nots in The City of Saint Francis of Assisi.

Excerpted from The Guardian 3.28.2019

Residents from one of San Francisco’s most desirable neighborhoods are taking a controversial approach to blocking a new homeless shelter: launching a crowdfunding appeal.

Their campaign on GoFundMe – best known as a site that hosts fundraisers for medical expenses or victims of natural disasters – has prompted an angry response from the city’s mayor.

It has drawn more than $46,000 dollars, nearly half of its stated $100,000 goal. The money is to go to  local attorney Andrew Zacks working on behalf of the residents, and its 91 donors include an anonymous contributor who gave $10,000, along with hedge fund managers, executives and authors.

A rival GoFundMe in support of the proposed shelter was launched on Thursday, and quickly received a $5,000 donation from GoFundMe itself.

A thriving tech economy has squeezed the San Francisco housing market, and like many cities on the west coast it is grappling with an overwhelming homelessness crisis. The number of homeless people has remained constant despite massive investments, and the new shelter in the Embarcadero was to be part of the city’s promise to increase the number of shelter beds by 1,000. There are roughly 7,500 homeless residents in the city and more than 1,400 are waiting for temporary spots to open.

“People want us to address the challenges on our streets and help our unsheltered residents into housing, and I am committed to doing the hard work to make that happen,” the San Francisco mayor, London Breed, said in a statement given to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The money raised will be paid to  real estate attorney Zacks, who advocates on behalf of the rights of property owners and last made the news in 2017, when he defended a San Francisco property owner who tripled the rent on his tenants, from $1,900 to $6,700.

The 2.3 acre vacant lot just beneath the Bay Bridge, on San Francisco’s eastern shore, seemed the perfect spot for a new temporary shelter, which would add 200 beds.

But, situated close to tourist attractions, seaside bike lanes, and – most notably – neighborhoods filled with million-dollar-homes and condos, the site was primed for local pushback.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/28/san-francisco-gofundme-homeless-shelter-embarcadero

Yesterday I Blogged about the movie (“American Gangster”) and the book (“The Force”). Today we have a real life event.

Excerpted from San Francisco Examiner 3.28.2019

Photo above. Jamare Coats (left center) and Sean Harrison (right) at their arraignment on Wednesday, March 27, 2019. (Ellie Doyen/Special to S.F. Examiner)

The deadly shooting that prompted the indefinite closure of the beloved Fillmore Heritage Center was a “gun battle” that erupted during a funeral reception for a local pimp, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Assistant District Attorney Michael Swart said the Saturday night shootout started with a confrontation between several men attending a memorial for Ron Newt, a storied San Francisco pimp and businessman.

The shooting killed 25-year-old Mister Dee Carnell Simmons III, injured five others and led to the cancellation of all events at the newly revitalized center in the near future to the outrage of community members.

The center has tried to distance itself from the shooting, calling it a “random incident” along the Fillmore Street corridor.

The shooting prompted the Fillmore Heritage Center to cancel all events through the end of the month. Community members fear that the newly restored space could close permanently as a result of the violence.

Supervisor Vallie Brown said the center needed to be closed because the violence was a potential liability for The City, which owns the building.

Brown said the center failed to inform city officials that it planned to host the funeral reception so that police units could be provided.

Brown said the Entertainment Commission and the Police Department recommended that the center be temporarily shut down over the lack of a security plan for the funeral reception.

“There was a complete disconnect,” Brown said. “There weren’t any police around and … the security wasn’t there.”

David Stevenson, a police spokesperson, confirmed that police officers were not asked or hired to perform security at the funeral reception.

https://www.sfexaminer.com/the-city/gun-battle-erupted-at-fillmore-heritage-center-during-memorial-for-pimp-prosecutors-say/

March 27, 2019

Taking a break from the daily news. Watching Ridley Scott’s 2007 film “American Gangster.”  As the movie promotes itself, “Based on a true story.”  Interesting, gripping, violent, well acted and fast paced by the Director of Blade Runner. Simultaneously, I am reading the 2017 novel by Don Winslow, “The Force.” In the photo above Denzel Washington, portraying real life New York gangster Frank Lucas, walks the street with members of his family.

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

The Force is just as gritty as American Gangster and equally riveting.

March 26, 2019

My favorite Music Video.  U2 doing a knock out performance of “Pride-In the Name of Love” in Berlin August 31, 2018 at the Mercedes Benz Arena.

Fantastic!!!. The crowd and the opening video ads to the aura.

Trumps’ buddy. Bibi Netanyahu. Two Corrupt Politicians who Continue to Prosper by letting their underlings take the Fall

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 3.26.2019

Prosecutors have launched an investigation into a submarine deal between German firm ThyssenKrupp and the Israeli military. Persistent bribery allegations linked to the sale have dogged Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

One of the scandals spiraling around Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has caught the attention of German authorities investigating potential use of taxpayers’ money to bribe Israeli officials.

State prosecutors in Bochum confirmed to DW that they have started an investigation into possible bribery as part of a deal to sell three “Dolphin” class submarines and four corvette ships from German manufacturer ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems to the Israeli military. The deal was approved by the German government in July 2017.

Prosecutors said in an email that after “assessing [international] press reports,” an investigation into unknown persons had begun, but refused to offer any more details. German authorities had previously only been “observing” the case.

Israeli police, who have been investigating so-called “Case 3000” for more than two years, filed bribery-related charges against six people last November, including David Shimron, Netanyahu’s family lawyer who also represented ThyssenKrupp’s former agent in Israel, Michael Ganor. Netanyahu himself is not a suspect.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-prosecutors-to-probe-israeli-submarine-deal/a-48068331

Americans will never see an ad campaign like this in this puritanical, and violence loving country. Guns are fine. Advertising Sex for a good reason is verboten.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 3.25.2019

German politicians have criticized a Transport Ministry advertising campaign that features scantily clad women and men wearing bike safety helmets. The posters feature the slogan: “Looks like sh*t. But saves my life.”

San Francisco is a tough and mean town.  There is chaos and mayhem.  The Swells at The Symphony and the Techies sipping lattes in trendy cafes is the politically correct version of this town.  It’s not the reality.

“Can’t stand the whole gourmet coffee bullshit anyway, standing in line behind some millennial asshole taking ten minutes to order a perfect latte so he can take a selfie with it.” The Force – Don Winslow (2017)

San Francisco Chronicle 3.24.2019

A shooting Saturday night outside the Fillmore Heritage Center in San Francisco killed a man and sent five others to the hospital with injuries, authorities said.

The victim — identified by the Office of the Medical Examiner as 25-year-old Mister Dee Carnell Simmons III of San Leandro — was shot on Fillmore Street near Eddy Street, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers responded to the shooting about 8:40 p.m.

Four men and one woman were also injured in the shooting, according to Rachael Kagan, spokeswoman for the San Francisco Department of Public Health. The men are ages 19, 25, 27 and 50, and the woman is 50, said Sgt. Michael Andraychak, spokesman for the Police Department.

Three of them were discharged in good condition, and two men remained hospitalized Sunday, including the 27-year-old, who was being treated for life-threatening injuries.

San Francisco police reported no arrests and said they had no information on possible suspects or what led to the shooting.

Police asked anyone with information to call their 24-hour tip line at 415-575-4444 or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. Those providing tips may remain anonymous.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/San-Leandro-man-dies-in-SF-quadruple-shooting-13712421.php?t=c0fb539bc6#photo-17118001

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 3.23.2019

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi died from a mixture of cocaine and alcohol, which caused his already-damaged heart to stop, the city medical examiner has concluded.

Supervisor Sandra Lee Fewer, who called for a public hearing after a police report was leaked to the media after Adachi’s death, said Friday, “What people do in their personal lives and in their own personal time is private.”

“As a public official, I know that it is hard to have a private life,” she said. “But the fact that you could not even have privacy after death is also very disturbing.”

Mayor London Breed, a longtime friend of Adachi’s, declined to comment.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner’s Office released the autopsy report on Adachi’s death late Friday, one month after the 59-year-old public defender collapsed in an apartment on Telegraph Hill and was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

“The cause of death is acute mixed drug toxicity with cocaine and ethanol, with hypertensive atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease as a contributing factor,” Assistant Medical Examiner Ellen Moffatt wrote in the report. “Based on the history, autopsy, microscopic and toxicology finding, the manner of death is accident.”

The public defender’s office declined to comment on the report.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/SF-Public-Defender-Jeff-Adachi-died-accidental-13710124.php

Alexanderplatz is a place Liz Heidhues and I  traversed in 2017 and 2018. It is a major Berlin hub and a venue for movie scenes.  Perhaps the most  fascinating being The Bourne Supremacy (2004) in which Matt Damon extracts Julia Stiles from a Tram in the middle of Alexanderplatz. When the scene was filmed there is a real life protest taking place.  Director Paul Greengrass filmed the scene during the protest.  Fantastic.

Deutsche Welle 3.22.2019

A call from two rival Berlin YouTubers saw 400 of their fans meet at the notorious Alexanderplatz square on Thursday. As the situation escalated a mass brawl broke out.

Berlin police were deployed in a major operation at the German capital’s central Alexanderplatz square Thursday night after hundreds of young people responded to a call on Youtube, resulting in a mass brawl.

“Around 400 people gathered on the square early on Thursday evening,” a police spokesperson said, leading to 50 of them kicking, hitting and attacking each other with pepper spray.

One hundred police officers were deployed to contain the fight, using tear gas after trying to calm the crowd over loudspeakers, according to local media.

Nine people were detained and one officer was injured.

Around 20 of the brawlers then broke off, running to a nearby subway station, jumping on to the tracks and throwing rocks used to keep the rails in place.

Local media reports said two rival YouTube users had called on their followers to face-off at the square.

Photo by Lee Heidhues – Alexanderplatz, Berlin 5.3.2017

The head of Berlin’s police union said influencers in Berlin’s rap scene were sometimes very negligent and it was fashionable to kick off disagreements to get more followers.

The Berliner Morgenpost reported the two YouTubers were “Thatsbekir” from Stuttgart in Germany’s south, who has about 260,000 followers, and “Bahar Al Amood” from Berlin.

The paper said after both of the groups posted videos of the fight, posts from their accounts denied the brawl was their fault.

https://www.dw.com/en/youtube-rivals-call-leads-to-mass-brawl-in-berlin-square/a-48018331