Native Americans left the Supreme Court last week with raised heads and full hands.
The Supreme Court Voted to Uphold the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act
The Wall Street Journal published a totally callous and unfeeling editorial bemoaning last week’s Supreme Court decision in ‘Haaland v. Brackeen’ upholding the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act.
Even worse, many of the WSJ readers commenting agree with the editorial. This was my comment fighting the tide of White American colonialist thinking.
What all the Comments bemoaning the 7-2 Haaland v Brackeen ruling fail miserably to realize or admit.
Native Americans were in North America before the White colonialists; i.e. American occupiers stole their land and engaged in a pattern of systemic genocide.
The Supreme Court realizes thankfully, the totally clueless Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alioto notwithstanding, the Native Americans were the victims of White man’s Genocide.(In his dissent Thomas referred to Native Americans as “Indians.”)
This Decision is an important marker affirming their rights.
Fortunately Democracy Now, amongst other media outlets, chose to look at this important story in more historic terms. Not the narrow minded view of State vs Federal jurisdiction.
Democracy Now spoke with Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle about a major victory at the Supreme Court in a case that could have gutted Native American sovereignty.
In a surprise 7-2 ruling Thursday, the court upheld the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which protects Native children from being removed from their tribal communities for fostering or adoption in non-Native homes.
The court rejected an argument from Republican-led states and white families who argued the system is based on race. Nagle has covered the case closely for The Nation and her podcast, This Land, and says the far right is attacking the Indian Child Welfare Act as part of a broader conservative agenda to destabilize federal Indian law.
She calls the decision “really encouraging,” noting it is “good not just for Native nations and families, but for the rule of law.”
Native Americans – March 1881
Neil Gorsuch, a staunch conservative Justice, has become a leader on the Court affirming the rights of Native Americans. He wrote in a concurring opinion.
Often, Native American Tribes have come to this Court seeking justice only to leave with bowed heads and empty hands. But that is not because this Court has no justice to offer them. Our Constitution reserves for the Tribes a place—an enduring place—in the structure of American life.… In adopting the Indian Child Welfare Act, Congress exercised that lawful authority to secure the right of Indian parents to raise their families as they please; the right of Indian children to grow in their culture; and the right of Indian communities to resist fading into the twilight of history. All of that is in keeping with the Constitution’s original design.
When I got the news that Daniel Ellsberg died yesterday I was saddened. He was a true hero. A man who stood by his convictions and was ready to pay the price.
My memory jumped back to May 1969. Two years before the Pentagon papers were published in June 1971. Setting off a Constitutional battle over press freedom and sending President Nixon down the road which led to his resignation three years later.
In 1969 this was all in the future. I was a journalism student at San Francisco State University on assignment for the campus newspaper, The Phoenix. I convinced my faculty advisor to let me attend The World Affairs Council meeting at Asilomar in Monterey, California. Over 700 people including journalists, politicians and leading lights of the day were in attendance.
On the second evening of the event I spent the evening with Daniel Ellsberg. My journal entry captured the moment.
“I DRINK BOURBON AND WATER ALL NIGHT AND CHAT WITH A MAN NAMED ELLSBURG(sp.) FROM RAND CORPORATION WHO IS WELL TANNED, ARTICULATE AND PRECISE.” – Journal 5.3.1969Few new ideas – Foreign policy experts meet -San Francisco State University Phoenix – 5.15.1969
I returned to San Francisco and wrote an article. Not mentioning Daniel Ellsberg.
Two years later Liz and I are living in Germany working at the Ramstein Air Base when the following appears at the Base newsstand.
Vietnam Archive: Pentagon Study Traces 3 Decades of Growing U.S. Involvement – New York Times 6.13.1971
THE PENTAGON PAPERS – Copy I purchased at the Ramstein Air Base book store in July 1971
Shortly thereafter all the World knew that Daniel Ellsberg, the articulate guy with whom I had spent an evening two years earlier had just upended the entire American government.
The Most Dangerous Man in America – Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers – 2009 Academy Award nominated documentary
The Most Dangerous Man in America-Trailer
TIME – THE WAR EXPOSES: Battle over the Right to Know – Daniel Ellsberg – July 5, 1971
Top photo – Tony Russo, Daniel Ellsberg and Patricia Marx after all Espionage charges dismissed by Federal Judge William Matthew Byrne because of gross governmental misconduct and illegal evidence gathering – May 11, 1973
Liz Heidhues – Special to Lee’s Perspective – 6.16.2023
Garry Tan – MAGA financier whose money was crucial in the ouster of Progressive DA Chesa Boudin
Garry Tan and London Breed are pressing the fleshwith like minded law and order San Francisco keepers of the venture capitalist status quo.
Stablegains raises $600K and joins Y Combinator’s W22 batch
Perhaps Garry Tan – MAGA financier whose money was crucial in the ouster of Progressive DA Chesa Boudin – is seeking a bailout fromSan Francisco Mayor London Breed. The highest paid mayor in US ($357K ‘22) who has run the City into a 780M budget deficit.
Stablegains faces lawsuit after losing $44MM on failed UST stablecoin
Tan is barking up wrong tree. Breed is an incompetent money manager, just like Tan. Breed sankThe City into miasma of financial distress and dystopiascreaming law and order every step of the way.
How Y Combinator Garry Tan turned a $300K bet on Coinbase into a $680MM ‘Golden Ticket’
Tan ignited SVB bank collapse and owns other losses. San Francisco is in a free fall.Garry and London are the last people anyone should have guiding the financial fortunes of San Francisco.
SEC sues Coinbase for allegedly acting as an unregistered crypto broker
MORAL HAZARD! – GARRY $$ TAN – The Boy Who Cried Bail me out!
Top photo – Garry Tan and London Breed pressing the flesh as San Francisco spirals downward into the Doom Loop
Liz Heidhues response to Cara Levine, an artist grappling with some of the most pressing issues of our time, including police brutality, climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic, inviting the public to share personal stories of loss.
“Cara Levine – To Survive I Need You to Survive”
Theexhibit opens at the Contemporary Jewish Museum February 16, 2023.
Liz Heidhues has been a CJM member for nearly a decade.
Today, I am grieving…
A true story of Injustice in 21st Century San Francisco …
my loss of innocence, civil liberties, and life savings …
from two False Citizen’s Arrests in my old age 4.12.18 and 2.8.20 …
I was to go to the Symphony the afternoon of 4.12.18 …
Instead I lay on a hard wooden ledge in a filthy prison cell waiting for my husband to ride his bicycle with $20K cash in 200 $100 bills stuffed…
Mayor London Breed, born and raised in the housing projects of San Francisco, took the podium of the Board of Supervisors and lashed out at her number one tormenter. Dean Preston. Who happens to be white and progressive.
“Here we go, another white man talking about Black and Brown people as if you’re the savior of these people,” Breed told Supervisor Dean Preston, a frequent critic of both the mayor and police, whose district includes the troubled Tenderloin neighborhood.”
District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston and Mayor London Breed got into a heated exchange after Preston posed questions about Breed’s approach to the drug addiction epidemic in the city at a Board of Supervisors’ meeting on Tuesday. | Courtesy SFGovTVProgressive and white Dean Preston – Anathema to Mayor London Breed
What London Breed surely knows is that Supervisor Dean Preston is married to the grand daughter of Dr. Zuretti Goosby. A one time member of the San Francisco Board of Education and long time significant presence in San Francisco politics.
Before his death in 2000 Dr. Goosby was appointed to the War Memorial Board of Trustees by Willie Brown.
I was the one time News Editor of the San Francisco Sun Reporter, the black community newspaper in San Francisco. Owned and published by the late Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett. A prominent City street is now named after “The Doc.” The street which runs in front of London Breed’s City Hall office in room 200. ‘Carlton B. Goodlett Place.’ The street was named during Willie Brown’s Mayoral tenure.
London Breed surely knows Da Mayor. She babysat for his kids as a teenager.
In front of a map, dentist and education leader Dr Zuretti Goosby greets three seated people at Third Baptist Church, San Francisco, California, 1980. (Photo by Clarence Gatson/Gado/Getty Images)
In 1972 I interviewed Dr. Goosby. It was a memorable experience. A copy of that interview follows.
“A (San Francisco) police officer at Central Station expressed sympathy for the theft but told him the police had been “defanged” and that nothing would likely be done to help recover his equipment.”
SFPD “Defanged”? Hardly
When Chesa Boudin was District Attorney the cops had a lame excuse for their chronic ineptitude. Just blame Chesa. Casting aspersions on the Progressive DA who was holding them accountablefor their misconduct. The whole notion of respecting the rights of ALL citizens was (and still is) anathema to SF cops.
Well, Chesa was ousted a year ago with the active collaboration of their own Police Officers Association.
The question now becomes. Who is responsible for the “defanged” San Francisco Police Department? I am sure London Breed and her handpicked crony Brooke Jenkins, successor to Chesa, can provide a ready made excuse now that their Scapegoat is gone.
Excerpted from The San Francisco Standard 6.14.2023
A filmmaker took to Twitter to blast San Francisco police and crime after his car was broken into and $30,000 worth of camera equipment was stolen Wednesday near Lombard and Hyde streets, a wealthy area popular with tourists.
“Defanged” SFPD on the job
“SF police do nothing,” wrote Steele on Twitter. “While dealing with our situation we see more robbers pulling up in a Mercedes and looking into cars. We yelled at them. They pulled a gun on my friend. He’s filing his report now. Not one police officer showed up.”
Filmmaker Eli Steele first tweeted that he had lost around $15,000 worth of camera gear after his rental car windows were smashed at around 11 a.m. near the famous winding street.
Upon further inspection, he said $25,000 to $30,000 worth of filming equipment was taken in the theft. He told The Standard via text message that a total of $30,000 worth of equipment had been stolen.
San Francisco Police Department confirmed Steele reported the crime and did not comment on the criticism aimed at them in the tweet thread. Police said no arrests have been and the investigation remains ongoing.
Steele said he is in San Francisco to film a documentary starring his father Shelby Steele, and the film is a look at how George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officers affected America.
Donald Trump may in the Federal criminal docket down in Florida but the local media knows what sells.
Dr. Jill Biden had her morning workout in the City’s Castro neighborhood.
Give a cheer to The Standard for being on top of this important story.
The San Francisco Standard 6.13.2023
First Lady Jill Biden was spotted leaving a workout class at a San Francisco SoulCycle on Tuesday morning.
“[Dr. Biden] was sitting in the front, in the very front. It was kind of an empty class, so it was like whatever,” said Kaylyn Shinault, a class attendee. “She did great! She was kind of right in front of me—she crushed it.“
First Lady Jill Biden was spotted leaving a workout class at a San Francisco SoulCycle on Tuesday morning.
What appeared to be Secret Service agents in suits and plainclothes gathered outside the 400 Castro St. studio at around 8:15 a.m., flanked by black Chevrolet Suburban SUVs lining the curb outside.
“Happy Pride, Jill!” yelled an onlooker as Dr. Biden headed into a car.
Dr. Biden is visiting San Francisco for a busy day of fundraising for her husband’s reelection campaign. President Joe Biden is also expected to visit the San Francisco Bay Area from June 19 to June 21. Further details have not been released.
Dr. Biden attended an 8 a.m. SoulCycle spin class with instructor Chris Layda for 45 minutes and was spotted leaving in blue leggings paired with white running shoes and a black top. Layda did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
Jill Biden and Joe
Attendees said security checked their bags and waved airport-style security wands. Shinault and another attendee said they had no idea the First Lady was riding in their SoulCycle class.
A SoulCycle area manager, Caroline McConnell, declined to confirm the presence of any special guests at the site in an e-mail.
SoulCycle is a popular exercise chain with three San Francisco locations. It offers a signature spin class it describes as a “45-minute cardio dance party on a bike.” Classes start at $25 for new riders.
Liz and I went to our first San Francisco Giants game since the Pandemic put a damper on many social activities.
Taking advantage of a Levi’s ‘501’ ticket promotion we bought tickets to see the Giants play the Chicago Cubs. The City of Lee’s birth.
On a pleasant Sunday afternoon we walked down 3rd Street from Market to Oracle Park at 3rd and King. As the following photos show there was certainly a lot of street activity. It made the day more memorable.
By the way, the Giants thrashed the Cubs 13-3. Hitting four home runs. What made the game more exciting. All-Star shortstop Brandon Crawford pitched the 9th inning. Since the Giants were ahead 13-3 manager Gabe Kapler must have thought, “Let’s give the fans a thrill.” Good call. They cheered lustily as Crawford put down the Cubs with a scoreless inning to end the game.
Liz checks out the sites on 3rd Street
Disembarking from the bus on Market Street we saw a street person checking out the FREE publication rack
A statuesque statue in front of St Regis Hotel
One of the neighborhood locals out for a walk
Art of the neighborhood
BLACK LIVES MATTER – GALLERY 16 near the Giants ballpark
Lee strikes a poseUrban architecture on 3rd and Folsom StreetsThe clock strikes 12:30 at the RAYKO buildingCross town traffic for a bicyclist on 3rd Street
The Juan Marichal statue is enjoyed by two young fans
DELICIOUS ! ALL Meat Hot Dogs outside the ball park
Liz at the Oracle Park – San Francisco Bicycle Coalition–Bike Valet parking area. It was full
The Giants celebrate Gay Pride in front of Oracle Park
On the way home after the game. A quiet alley street far away from Oracle Park
Top photo – Statue of Willie Mays in front of Willie Mays Plaza at Oracle Park – Third and King Streets – San Francisco
The Twilight Zone would be hard put to come up with a better plot line.
Amidst the carnage of Friday’s night’s senseless Mission District mass shooting (aren’t they all senseless?) is a local business called DYING BREED.
DYING BREED, a clothing store on the corner where the shooting happened.. San Francisco Standard 6.10.2023
It was five years ago this month London Breed was elected Mayor. Five years later London Breed has successfully rid herself of a Progressive District Attorney, Chesa Boudin, who she held responsible for the dismal state of San Francisco safety. One year after Chesa’s ouster, and five years after Breed became Mayor, the situation has gotten worseunder the tutelage of Brooke Jenkins, her handpicked successor to Chesa Boudin.
The Mayor now owns it. So, it’s an eerie coincidence that a store called Dying Breed may be the political epitaph for London Breed.
COMMUNITY UPSET AFTER MASS SHOOTING IN SF -KTVU 2 FOX NEWS 6.10.2023
Lee's Perspective 