Lee Heidhues 8.26.2023

Now that Russian Thug Vladimir Putin has dispensed with his number one nemesis Yevgeny Prigozhin he can turn his attention to the barbaric jailing of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. Languishing in a Moscow jail as a political pawn.

If the following report in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency is correct the Russian speaking, Jewish journalist may be held hostage until after the 2024 American presidential election.

Excerpted from JTA 8.26.2023

A Russian court has extended the pretrial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich for another three months.

The Journal has reported that any consideration of a swap involving Gershkovich would have to wait until after a verdict is reached in his case, and that Russia may delay a prisoner exchange until after the 2024 presidential election in order to exacerbate discord in the United States.

In a hearing on Thursday at Lefortovo District Court that was closed to press, a judge ordered Gershkovich to remain in detention until at least Nov. 30, a court spokeswoman said. Investigators from the FSB, a Russian state security agency, had requested the extension.

Gershkovich, 31, is the American-born son of Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union. He was arrested while on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg on March 29 and charged with espionage.

Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal and the United States government deny the charges. If convicted, he would face up to 20 years in a penal colony.

Gershkovich’s pretrial detention was initially scheduled to end on May 29 before it was extended until Aug. 30. This latest extension until November means he could remain in jail for eight months following his arrest, if not longer, before a trial begins.

At a news conference in Helsinki last month, President Biden said the United States was “serious about a prisoner exchange,” which American officials have long seen as the most plausible way of securing Gershkovich’s freedom. In 2022, The United States obtained the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was imprisoned in Russia, via a prisoner swap.

But in a briefing last month, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who met with representatives from The Wall Street Journal and Gershkovich’s family, said he did not want to “give false hope” about bringing him home.

Russian officials have previously hinted at a prisoner exchange. But discussions of a possible swap have hit roadblocks, according to the Journal, as the United States has been unable to extradite Russian prisoners held in German and Brazilian custody. Russia has not appeared to express any interest in prisoners currently in U.S. custody.

https://jweekly.com/2023/08/24/russian-court-extends-pretrial-detention-of-jewish-journalist-evan-gershkovich-until-november/

August 24, 2023

Fulton County Jail – Atlanta Georgia

Excerpted from Time Magazine 8.24.2023

The world’s seen hundreds of thousands of pictures of Donald Trump. But this one’s different.

In Donald Trump’s mug shot taken at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday, he’s looking straight into the camera. His platinum blonde cotton candy wisp of hair shimmering in the harsh jailhouse lighting. His eyes locked in a hard stare. His mouth flattened in a grimace. Instead of smiling like some of his co-defendants, he appears to be scowling. 

https://time.com/6308324/donald-trump-mug-shot-georgia/

Lee Heidhues 8.23.2023

Who’s next?

The World knows who is leading the orchestra.

When even criminal thug mercenary Yevgeny Prigozhin is brought down to earth. Dead. There’s no respite from Vladimir Putin’s wrath.

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal 8.23.2023

Wagner paramilitary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short-lived uprising that challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority in June, was killed Wednesday after the plane he was aboard went down northwest of Moscow, according to Russian authorities.

Russia’s civil aviation authority confirmed that the Wagner founder was on the flight.

Social-media channels close to Wagner said Russian air defenses shot down the jet, an Embraer Legacy 600. Video footage posted by onlookers showed what looked like the trail of a missile and the plane falling from the sky with one wing missing.

Images of debris published by Russian media appeared to have multiple small holes consistent with the damage that is caused by air-defense missiles.

If Prigozhin’s plane was indeed deliberately shot down, it would amount to a very public execution of the man who presented the most serious threat to Putin in the Russian president’s 23 years in power.

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/plane-carrying-wagner-owner-prigozhin-crashes-in-russia-all-aboard-killed-82d25f1e

Lee Heidhues 8.22.2023

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco continues its campaign of stonewalling and treachery to smash down the effort by one citizen to force accountability.

The saga of the nearly million dollar attempt by the FAMSF to destroy JFK Promenade is a story which needs to see the light of day. It is a tale of the never ending saga of San Francisco where the wealthy and politically connected are able to hide in the shadows and escape accountability.

This fight will have its next hearing before the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force October 4 in City Hall. Heidhues v. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco – File 22052.

At its August 22 meeting in City Hall a task force committee agreed the dispute “must be decided once and for all.”

The committee continued my case and asked the City Attorney to draft a memorandum to address the FAMSF/COFAM refusal to provide the public documentation of its political activities to destroy JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park.

I filed my case with the task force in May 2022. The matter has now been argued three times. May 2022. July 2023 and August 2023. At its July meeting the task force ruled that FAMSF “violated” the Sunshine Ordinance “by failing to disclose public records in a timely and complete manner.”

The San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance Task Force has now upped the ante in my effort to force accountability and obtain records from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF).

The refusal of FAMSF is a sore point with the task force. It is a fact that this well endowed, politically connected institution is one of the worst agencies in San Francisco when it comes to public accountability.

The task force has seen and heard enough of the FAMSF hiding behind its non-profit entity, The Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums (COFAM).

The sought after documents concern the FAMSF/COFAM effort to destroy JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park. The main vehicle being last November’s Proposition I which was bankrolled by the Museum and its wealthy patrons. Primarily political power broker and chair emerita of the FAMSF Board of Directors Dede Wilsey.

I made public records requests of FAMSF in spring and summer 2022.

FAMSF continues to argue it is exempt from public scrutiny. It argues that The Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums (COFAM) has all the responsive documents. As a 501C3 non-profit FAMSF stridently contends it is exempt from the Sunshine Ordinance. This argument belies the fact that FAMSF and COFAM are tightly bound together in a very symbiotic relationship.

Lee Heidhues 8.20.2023

It’s hard to believe that JFK Promenade the 1.5 mile car free oasis is now a reality in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Saturday afternoon on a foggy windswept late afternoon a hardy group of San Franciscans gathered on JFK Promenade (adjacent to the De Young Museum which waged a ferocious battle in opposition to its creation) celebrated the second Prom on the Promenade. There was music, food and good cheer at the event sponsored by Walk SF.

Top photo: A celebrant jumps for joy at Prom on the Promenade

Lee Heidhues 8.18.2023

Why does the powerful and well connected Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco refuse to provide documentation about its involvement in the 800K lobbying, courtroom and electoral campaign to destroy JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park?

The battle is over. FAMSF and its anti-environmental backers were defeated in the legislature, at the ballot box and in the Courtroom.

I prevailed in my fight with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) to obtain documentation regarding its strident opposition to the creation of JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park.

On July 25, 2023 after waiting five hours to have my Appeal heard by the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force (SOTF) I prevailed. Unfortunately in San Francisco there is rarely such thing as a final victory.

Next Tuesday evening a Committee of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force will convene, again, to hopefully confirm my victory. I am told this is a pro forma matter. Knowing San Francisco and the power of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco I am skeptical.

During the late night hearing on July 25 the SOTF panelists made it perfectly clear they are frustrated and, yes, fed up with the difficulty in getting compliance from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco through Paria Dea, Senior Government Affairs Manager, submitted the attached five page Brief continuing to argue it is exempt from complying with the Order. I will be at City Hall to one more time make the argument that FAMSF cannot hide behind technicalities and needs to let the public behind the curtain of how it bullies its way past citizens who demand transparency and accountability.

Lee Heidhues 8.17.2023

It’s 100 years since a struggling Nazi party in Weimar Germany discovered a powerful propaganda tool. Radio.

When Hitler came to power in January 1933 his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels realized the power this new communication medium had to offer. During the Nazi’s 12 year reign of political terror, war and genocide the radio was an integral part of its destructive reign.

In the 21st century we have Donald Trump who is attempting to regain power with his non stop lies and distortions. Broadcast by his wholly owned propaganda machine ‘Truth Social’ and an often compliant mainstream media.

Self promotion and a compliant media are the same tools which aided Hitler’s rise to power and kept the public under his thrall until Nazi Germany collapsed in a pile of rubble in May 1945.

And Hitler committed suicide in his Berlin bunker.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 8.17.2023

When Adolf Hitler came to power in January 1933, radio then was similar to what the internet was in its early days: a powerful, new medium to disseminate information. A big difference: Radio was expensive. Having one could cost more than a month’s wage.

It ended the way it began: with propaganda and fake news. Hitler’s suicide, in his bunker in besieged Berlin, was kept from the public. Instead, his death was glamorously reported on May 1, 1945, as the result of fighting the Soviet invasion.

From early on, the Nazis recognized the propaganda value of radio. They would soon use it to influence Germany’s then 70 million people. Shortly after Hitler had become chancellor, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels compelled German manufacturers to sell cheap radio receivers.

The first model, the VE301, stood for Volksempfänger, and the date when Hitler became German chancellor: January 30th. The government set the price at 76 Reichsmarks, making it affordable for most households.

The discount paid off. At new the German Radio Exhibition in Berlin on August 18, 1933, 100,000 sets were sold. Until then, Germany was home to about four million households paying the public media license fee. By the middle of the war, that number quadrupled. The monthly fee of two Reichsmarks flowed to Goebbels’ propaganda ministry.

Propaganda, however, can only go so far. With Germany losing the war, Germans at home began to lose trust in their national radio. Many turned to foreign broadcasters, such as the BBC. Doing so was strictly prohibited, and those caught listening to “enemy stations” faced the penalty of death.

https://www.dw.com/en/nazi-radio-propaganda-turns-100/a-66551137

Lee Heidhues 8.14.2023

Mr. Donald Trump continues to totally ignore the admonitions from Federal Judge Tanya Chutkan to zip his lips.

The defendant Mr. Trump is goading the Judge to Lock Him Up.

The Judge, whose legal approach to January 6, 2021 insurrectionists who have been tried in her courtroom in Washington DC, has been firm in meting our Justice.

Mr. Trump should be treated in the same manner.

Mr. Trump is now nothing more than a criminal defendant in Federal court willfully ignoring Judge Chutkan.

Excerpted from The Hill 8.14.2023

Former President Trump ripped into special counsel Jack Smith over his recently disclosed search warrant for Trump’s account on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling Smith “deranged.” 

“How dare lowlife prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, breaking into my Twitter account without informing me and, indeed, trying to completely hide this atrocity from me,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Monday. “What could he possibly find out that is not already known.”

“What could he possibly find out that is not already known. Just like the early morning raid of Mar-a-Lago! Why isn’t the DOJ raiding Crooked Joe Biden, the most CORRUPT (and Incompetent!) President in the history of the United States?” Trump continued in his post, in reference to the FBI’s raid of his home in Florida last year, where it found more than 100 classified records.  

Trump rips special counsel over search warrant for Twitter account

Lee Heidhues 8.12.2023

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this story in The Guardian.

American cops, acting in the worst Police State manner, have raided a newspaper office in Marion, Kansas. Confiscating computers, cellphones and reporting materials.

The cops even expanded this questionable search and seizure to raid the homes of the publication’s publisher and reporters.

This kind of abhorrent behavior is something I expect to be happening in Putin’s Russia.

The Judge who signed this search warrant needs to take a look at the First Amendment to The US Constitution and study the Law. She’s wrong.

Excerpted from The Guardian 8.12.2023

Local police in Marion, Kansas, conducted a raid on the offices of a local newspaper on Friday as well as the homes of the publication’s publishers and reporters.

Eric Meyer, the owner and publisher of the Marion County Record, told the Kansas Reflector that the city’s entire five-officer police force and two sheriff’s deputies conducted the raid, which included the seizure of computers, cellphones and reporting materials.

Meyer said the raid and seizure stemmed from a confidential source leaking sensitive documents to the newspaper. He criticized the seizure, comparing it to seizures conducted by repressive government regimes.

The Kansas Reflector reported: “The search warrant, signed by Marion county district court magistrate judge Laura Viar, appears to violate federal law that provides protections against searching and seizing materials from journalists. The law requires law enforcement to subpoena materials instead. Viar didn’t respond to a request to comment for this story or explain why she would authorize a potentially illegal raid.”

The Marion police chief, Gideon Cody, did not respond to a request for comment.

Press advocates have condemned the raid as an infringement on the freedom of the press.

“An attack on a newspaper office through an illegal search is not just an infringement on the rights of journalists but an assault on the very foundation of democracy and the public’s right to know,” said Emily Bradbury, executive director of the Kansas Press Association, in a statement to the Kansas Reflector. “This cannot be allowed to stand.”

The chairperson of the National Newspaper Association, John Galer, added in a statement on Facebook: “Newsroom raids in this country receded into history 50 years ago. Today, law enforcement agencies by and large understand that gathering information from newsrooms is a last resort and then done only with subpoenas that protect the rights of all involved.

“For a newspaper to be intimidated by an unannounced search and seizure is unthinkable in an America that respects its first amendment rights.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/12/police-raid-local-kansas-newspaper-office-and-homes-of-reporters