My reliable political source tells me politically savvy, hard working and blunt spoken Supervisor Aaron Peskin will enter the November 2024 San Francisco mayoral race shortly after the March 5th primary voting.
San Francisco progressives have been reeling since the 2022 recalls of District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three members of the School Board.
Help is on the way for beleaguered progressives. Now we have a genuine mayoral race in 2024.
This week Peskin, who has represented the North Beach/Chinatown District 3 for over 16 years, confirmed what has widely been rumored during a dinner with close allies.
Aaron Peskin will climb out of the frigid waters of San Francisco bay near Alcatraz into the political swamp of mayoral politics.
With the Mayor being chosen by ranked choice, “Progressive” Peskin will undoubtedly have a strong vote in the first round. He needs to convince enough voters not scared off by the attack ads which will blast his record to vote for him as their second choice. He is a veteran someone who knows how City Hall works and gets things done.
Excerpted from San Francisco Standard 1.26.2024
The president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors has a message for progressive supporters hoping he’ll run for mayor in November: hard pass.
“I’m not afraid of running,” said Aaron Peskin in an interview on Thursday. “I’m not afraid of losing. I’m afraid of winning.”
Aaron knows the four candidates in the race are law and order moderate/conservatives feeding at the trough of GrowSF, Garry Tan and assorted venture capitalists trying to takeover San Francisco.
Top photo: Aaron Peskin points the way to room 200 in City Hall.
Board of Supervisors president Aaron Peskin with Mayor London Breed
Words cannot describe the revulsion I feel watching the video of the 33 year old Russian/American ballerina being blindfolded, handcuffed and carted off to jail by Putin’s thugs.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has arrested a U.S.-Russian woman suspected of collecting money for the Ukrainian military, the law enforcement agency’s press service announced Tuesday.
The independent news website Mediazona and legal rights group Perviy Otdel identified the woman as Ksenia Karelina, who had previously written on social media that she obtained U.S. citizenship in late 2021 after marrying an American man.
Ksenia Karelina – When will she smile, again?
Russian authorities placed the U.S.-Russian woman in pre-trial detention, where she faces between 12 and 20 years of imprisonment if found guilty of high treason.
Video shared by state-run news agencies showed FSB agents escorting a handcuffed and blindfolded woman out of an apartment building and later into a courtroom where she was placed inside a glass defendant’s cage.
The arrest of the “33-year-old resident of Los Angeles” took place in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, over 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow.
The FSB said the unidentified woman is accused of “proactively collecting funds since February 2022 in the interests of a Ukrainian organization, which were subsequently used to purchase tactical medicine, equipment, weapons and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
“In addition, the citizen in question repeatedly took part in public actions in support of the Kyiv regime while in the United States,” the law enforcement agency added.
State terror in Putin’s Russia
According to Perviy Otdel, Karelina donated $51.80 to a Ukrainian human rights non-profit from her American bank account on the day Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
The Moscow Times could not independently verify either of the two reports.
Top photo: Jailed Russian/American ballerina Ksenia Karelina
The United States cannot call itself a beacon of human rights and press freedom as it pursues the extradition of Julian Assange from Britain.
Julian Assange shone a light on American perfidy in its overseas military intervention and catastrophic meddling in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Julian Assange made public, for all the world to see, the real militaristic bent of American foreign policy. It has never been about human rights and freedom. American policy is to protect American hegemony.
Excerpted from The Guardian 2.20.2024
Julian Assange faces the risk of a “flagrant denial of justice” if tried in the US, his lawyers have told a permission to appeal hearing in London, which could result in the WikiLeaks founder being extradited within days if unsuccessful.
Assange, who published thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, could be jailed for up to 175 years – “a grossly disproportionate punishment” – if convicted in the US, the high court heard on Tuesday.
Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange, also argued that his client could be targeted by US state agencies for “extra-legal attack elimination” if he was extradited, particularly given “the real possibility of a return of a [Donald] Trump administration”.
Assange’s lawyers are seeking a full appeal hearing. If the two judges deny permission, all challenges in the UK courts will have been exhausted, leaving an intervention by the European court of human rights (ECHR) as Assange’s only hope to avoid extradition to the US.
Outside the court, scores of his supporters held placards and chanted, demanding his release. The WikiLeaks founder was granted permission to attend the two-day hearing but Fitzgerald said Assange was unwell.
Convicted financial fraudster and soon to be convicted criminal felon. Donald Trump has uttered not a word about the mysterious death of Russian opposition leader, now martyr, Aleksei Navalnyin a Russian prison.
Aleksei Navalny in death. Larger than life.
Nor has shyster con man Trump said anything about Vladimir Putin’s crackdown on Russians. Citizens courageous enough to speak out and protest Navalny’s death in a Russian Siberian gulag.
Why? Thug Putin is Trump’s kind of guy. Trump would like to treat Americans exercising their right to protest in the same vicious manner.
President Donald Trump during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. (Stephen Crowley/The New York Times)
Excerpted from The The New York Times 2.18.2024
A bishop who planned a public prayer for the Russian opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny was detained as he left his house. Two men were arrested for having a photograph of Mr. Navalny in a backpack.
A man who lay flowers at a memorial said he was beaten by police officers for the small act of remembrance.
An installation that reads “Happiness is not far away” in the settlement of Kharp, Russia, where Mr. Navalny was imprisoned.Credit…Anatoly Maltsev/EPA, via Shutterstock
Someone else placed a copy of Franz Kafka’s “The Trial” at the Solovetsky Stone , while others hung chains of paper cranes, candles, and a photo of Mr. Navalny smiling with fellow opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in 2015 in the shadow of the Kremlin.
Lena, who gave only her first name for fear of reprisal, started to cry. “They are scared of Navalny in jail,” she said, “they are scared of dead Navalny, they are scared of the people who bring flowers here to the Solovetsky stone.”
A wall of flowers expressing grief over the death of Aleksei Navalny in a Putin Siberian prison camp – photo: Moscow Times
As thousands of Russians across the country tried to give voice to their grief for Mr. Navalny, who died in a remote Arctic penal colony on Friday, Russian police officers cracked down, temporarily detaining hundreds and placing more than two dozen in jail.
Until Mr. Navalny’s death at the age of 47, many observers had believed that the Kremlin would limit repression until after presidential elections in mid-March, when President Vladimir V. Putin is all but assured a fifth term. But many now fear that the arrests portend a broader crackdown.
Top photo: Police officers detained people who were paying tribute to Mr. Navalny at the Solovetsky Stone in St. Petersburg on Saturday. Credit…Associated Press
Trailer – Academy Award winning documentary 2022 – NAVALNY
PLANNING COMMISSION – CITY HALL SAN FRANCISCO 2.15.2024
Lee Heidhues 2.17.2024
MYOPIA – lack of imagination, foresight or intellectual insight.
After only a cursory hearing and without any detailed probing of the applicants or neighborhood opponents arguments the San Francisco Planning Commission waved through a building project doubling the height of a single family home. A decision only favorable to the self-centered property owners. It can only be described for what it is. LAND USE GLUTTONY.
The day after the Planning Commission approved this project I called the Planner, David Winslow. I told him the action the Commission took was “disgraceful in general and you in particular were disgraceful.“
David responded, “I’m glad you got it off your chest.”
MY PRESENTATION TO THE SAN FRANCISCO PLANNING DEPARTMENT IN OPPOSITION TO THE MONSTER BUILDING PROJECT AROUND THE CORNER FROM THE HOUSE WE HAVE OWNED AND LIVED IN SINCE 1984.
“With all due respect to Jeremy Paul and the property owners at 4820 Anza Street this project is all about LAND USE GLUTTONY and playing the Zoning Code to the maximum extent possible. This project (doubling the size of the existing building) should be rejected out of hand.
PROPOSED PROJECT AT 4820 ANZA STREET
My name is Lee Heidhues,. My wife and I have lived around the corner 40 years where we raised our family.
I would simply ask you, Planning Commissioners, if you lived next door to this project “How would you feel?”
I have done a Public Records Request. The Commission asked this Project be scaled back in late 2021. Three months later the property owners said NO. A position they still maintain today.
A brief walk down Anza Street between 39th and 40th Avenues makes obvious these are all single family homes. A garage and one floor above. This project is totally out of scope with the neighboring single family homes. The owners at 4820 Anza Street know it. Their hired gun Jeremy Paul knows it.
4820 Anza Street (yellow building on the right). Currently two stories. Soon to become four stories and disrupt the entire surrounding area.
Someone had to take a walk out the door following the 49ers shocking loss at the Super Bowl this past Sunday in Las Vegas.
For those who may have forgotten or weren’t paying attention the 49ers lost in overtime to the Kansas City Chiefs, 25.22.
All season the 49ers defensive coach Steve Wilks had received criticism for some of his play calling. After the 49ers were defeated in the most depressing fashion. In overtime. After leading much of the game and taking the lead in overtime. Someone had to go. Three days later it was Steve Wilks.
Excerpted from The Athletic – Steve Kawakami – 2.14.2024
49ers’ scapegoat?
Steve Wilks’ firing is a bad look. The mistake was hiring an ill-fitting defensive coordinator.
Defensive coach Steve Wilks on the sidelines with the 49ers. Where will he land?
A year ago, Kyle Shanahan gave Steve Wilks a great opportunity that was also mostly unfair to him at the very same time. Both things. Built upon each other.
A great job because it was difficult enough that anyone who succeeded would be heralded as a great defensive mind and possibly delivered a head-coaching job at the next convenient moment. Difficult because it was loaded with great players, great resources, great responsibility and the greatest expectations.
Niners defensive coordinator Steve Wilks watches a Jan. 24 practice as the team prepared for the NFC Championship Game at Levi’s Stadium. Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle
Which is why it’s logical to say that Shanahan’s decision to fire Wilks as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator on Wednesday was two partially contradictory things at the same time — an extremely awkward moment of very public Super Bowl-loss scapegoating and also the logical conclusion of a failed year-long experiment.
It could’ve worked, if Wilks developed more chemistry with Fred Warner, Nick Bosa and the rest of the defense in the short time he had, but he didn’t. Wilks, who came up as a defensive secondary coach, was a bit more reserved and much more focused on the defensive backfield than they’re used to. And it became clearer every week that the 49ers’ top defensive players just didn’t fully believe in their DC.
Steve Wilks. No longer part of the 49er family.
It could’ve worked if Shanahan was willing to adjust some more, but he wasn’t.
It could’ve worked if the 49ers’ defense was a little more focused and a lot less confused during the playoffs. But those distracted moments kept piling up through the Green Bay and Detroit games and then all the way into the last minutes against the Chiefs, when Shanahan at one point called timeout to get the 49ers out of a defensive call he hated and then another when linebacker Oren Burks pinballed around the formation, looking anxiously toward the sideline, before a critical third-down snap trying to figure out where he was supposed to line up. Patrick Mahomes quickly completed a pass for a first down on that play, of course.
And then, in his postgame session, Bosa flatly said that the defense was not prepared well enough to defend Mahomes running the ball on two back-breaking plays. Once Bosa said this, it was pretty clear that Wilks’ status was in serious jeopardy.
Car free Market Street was not suffering prior to the Pandemic. It was a healthy oasis in car centric San Francisco. And still is today. But, not if Mayoral wannabe Mark Farrell has his way.
Mayoral wannabe Mark Farrell is engaging in a total distortion when he claims without evidence this car free oasis is the source of the downtown slump.
Wealthy businessman Mark Farrell. The Pacific Heights guy. Former Supervisor and one time six month interim Mayor wants the job, again.
The Car Free Market Street concept is older than tubular Mark Farrell
What’s the lede on his law and order hooray for big business campaign?
Bring climate killing cars back to San Francisco’s premier thoroughfare. Market Street.
A wide street which City Hall, in a moment of enlightenment and concern for pedestrians and cyclists, banned private vehiclesin January 2020.
Now, here comes Mark, who rather than pushing for cars on Market Street, should get out of his car and get some exercise on Market Street.
Give Mark Farrell The Malocchio on Market Street
Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 2.13.2024
He’d (Mark Farrell) like to let private cars once again drive on Market Street downtown, which would reverse a ban put in place four years ago.
Nikki has finally taken the gloves off and fired one (a rhetorical golf ball) right into Donald Trump’ golf cart.
I am no fan of Nikki Haley. But I must give her credit for this Zinger.
Excerpted from The New York Times 2.12.2024
“The most harm he’s (Donald Trump) ever come across is whether a golf ball hits him on a golf cart, and you’re going to go and mock our men and women in the military?” Haley said. “I don’t care what party you’re in, that’s not OK.”
Top photo: Donald Trump drives his golf cart on the links. He needs to be walking the golf course and lose some of that excess baggage.
Some San Francisco 49ers players said following the team’s Super Bowl LVIII loss to the Kansas City Chiefs that they were unaware of the overtime rules that allowed for both teams to possess the ball.
Lee Heidhues 2.11.2024
As BB King sang, The Thrill is Gone. This time for the San Francisco 49ers.Shocked in Vegas.
The 49ers bring something akin to heartbreak for their fans. During the past several seasons they’ve come oh so close. Two Super Bowl appearances and four times in the NFC championship game.
Yet they can’t make the final leap.
The Thrill is Gone – for the 49ers in 2024
The 49ers Super Bowl hopes have been dashed once again.By the Kansas City Chiefs.
This time in Las Vegas. In overtime no less. Only the second overtime in Super Bowl history. The score was 25-22.
The media and many fans will blame kicker Jake Moody who missed an extra point. Which might have made the difference in regulation time. But, having said that, Jake also made three field goals. Two of which were over 50 yards.
The 49ers in regulation time made long drives and had to settle for field goals. Likewise in overtime. Had the 49ers made one more first down just over two minutes remaining in regulation time they could have run down the clock. Attempted a field goal and probably won the Super Bowl in regulation time.
San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy walks off field after after Niners’ 25-22 loss to Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on Sunday, February 11, 2024.Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle
It was not to be.
I turned off my App when the game started at 3:30PM. Including a g’zillion commercials, a long halftime show and overtime the game ended disastrously for the 49er faithful at 8:00PM.
Of course there have been some glory moments in 49er history. Five Super Bowls. I attended the Super Bowl in 1985 at Stanford Stadium when the Niners, led by Joe Montana, scored three TDs in the 2nd quarter and demolished the Miami Dolphins 38-16.
I was at The Catch game in January 1982 when Dwight Clark broke the Dallas Cowboys heart and sent the Niners to their first Super Bowl.
San Francisco 49ers Dwight Clark (87, WR), goes up in the air in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown pass from QB Joe Montana to set up the PAT which beat the Dallas Cowboys to give the 49ers their first NFC Championship and Super Bowl berth. At right is Cowboys Michael Downs (26, S) and at right Everson Walls (24, CB).
Sadly for much of the past decades there has been too much frustration and heartbreak. I think of more than 10 years ago when Richard Sherman intercepted Colin Kapernick’s pass in the end zone in the final seconds. Sending archrival Seattle Seahawks to the Super Bowl.I was so upset I retreated to my downstairs bathroom and furiously scrubbed out the bathtub.
In 2024 I just unhappily and disgustedly exited the kitchen quietly. Came downstairs and folded my clean wash.
Heartbroken 49er fans digest the overtime Super Bowl loss to Kansas City
I must ask myself why the 49ers have had such a hold on me. I went to my first game at Kezar Stadium when I was nine years old. A year later I witnessed my first heartbreak when the Niners lost to Detroit in a playoff game 27-31. after leading 27-7 in the third quarter.
I possessed season tickets for two years when I was in high school. A season ticket for seven games was only $31.50. In adulthood I attended several games at Candlestick Park. So, as I look back on my life I can glance backwards and remember it all.
Kansas City is definitely excellent. Their quarterback Patrick Mahomes is top notch. The coach Andy Reid, early in his career, coach at San Francisco State University in the 1980’s.
In 2026 the Super Bowl will be played at Levi’s Stadium. So, if the Niners make it in 2026 the game will be home field advantage for the locals.
Top photo: Kansas City Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 15, and wide receiver Montrell Washington, 12, as the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers 25 to 22 in overtime during Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV, on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024.Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
I must correct the misstatements regarding JFK Promenade in your article.“Tech Millionaires Take on Politicians in a Fight to Fix San Francisco.” 2.8.2024 The City did not decide to “reopen” JFK Promenade to cars when the Pandemic subsided. Quite the Contrary. The Board of Supervisors voted 7-4 to make JFK Promenade a permanent car free space. The legislation was signed by Mayor London Breed in May 2022. I was there. (see attached photo of Mayor London Breed signing the legislation creating JFK Promenade 5.7.2022) The Supervisors, to cement this legislative victory, placed the issue on the November 2022 ballot. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), whose jewel the De Young Museum sits astride JFK Promenade, paid signature gatherers to place their own measure in opposition to JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway along the shoreline. The FAMSF spent nearly 1M on this effort. In November 2022 the voters approved the Supervisors measure, Proposition J, with a 63 percent YES vote. Simultaneously the voters turned down the FAMSF measure, Proposition I, with a resounding 65 percent NO vote.
Buried deep in the WSJ piece the reader can find the incorrect history of JFK Promenade
Car-Free JFK Drive supporters enjoy during the sunset while celebrating the Prop J victory and continuation of Car-free JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park San Francisco Calif., on Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022. | Camille Cohen/The Standard
TOP PHOTO: Mayor London Breed signs legislation creating JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park 5.7.2022 – photo Lee Heidhues
Lee's Perspective 