Lee Heidhues 12.11.2022

A man who professed himself to be a master at The Art of the Deal wasn’t interested in making it happen when an American citizen’s freedom was at stake.

It’s no surprise that during the period Donald Trump was still President (2018 – 2021) he refused to seriously negotiate for the release of American Paul Whelan from Russian custody.

Whelan was arrested and convicted on sham “espionage” charges in 2018. He is serving a 10 year sentence in Russia.

Whelan’s case surfaced prominently in recent weeks as negotiations which resulted in the exchange of professional basketball All-star Brittney Griner for convicted Russian arms merchant Viktor Bout made headline news.

Griner was detained with a small amount of marijuana oil last February in Moscow and after a bogus legal proceeding was sentenced to nine years in prison.

In the end it was only Griner who was released by the Russians prompting an outpouring of fury from political foes of President Biden and some people in law enforcement familiar with the prosecution of arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Now, Donald Trump is saying he never would have exchanged Paul Whelan for Viktor Bout.

People who worked with and are close to Trump speak of a different reality. He wasn’t interested.

Excerpted from The Hill 12.11.2022

Former President Trump on Sunday said he turned down a deal to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who’s been detained by Moscow since 2018, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout during his time in the White House.

“I turned down a deal with Russia for a one on one swap of the so-called Merchant of Death for Paul Whelan. I wouldn’t have made the deal for a hundred people in exchange for someone that has killed untold numbers of people with his arms deals,” Trump said on Truth Social. 

David Whelan, Paul Whelan’s brother, has accused the Trump administration of not appearing “interested in” the case.  

“I think the first two years, partly I think the Trump administration was not prepared to or not interested in working on wrongful detention cases,” David Whelan said Saturday on MSNBC.

Former Trump White House national security official Fiona Hill said Sunday that the deal to swap Bout for Whelan was a possibility while Trump was in office.

“At the particular time, I also have to say here that President Trump wasn’t especially interested in engaging in that swap for also Paul Whelan. He was not particularly interested in Paul’s case in the way that one would have thought he would be,” Hill said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan. 

Bout was released last week in exchange for WNBA star Brittney Griner, who spent about 10 months in Russian custody.  

Trump criticized the deal soon after news broke of Griner’s release, saying Whelan should have been freed instead.

The Biden administration has said Russia was unwilling to include Whelan in a swap for Bout.

Trump said Sunday that, although he turned down the deal with Moscow, he “would have gotten Paul out,” though didn’t explain why he wasn’t able to do so.

“The deal for Griner is crazy and bad. The taking wouldn’t have even happened during my Administration, but if it did, I would have gotten her out , fast!” Trump said.  

Trump says he turned down deal to release Paul Whelan  

Top photo – Paul Whelan. Still incarcerated Russia. Convicted of sham espionage charges in 2018. Serving a 10 year prison sentence.

Lee Heidhues 12.9.2022

Man Kit Lam is a vindictive notorious reactionary political operative who has strewn a path of political destruction against those with whom he disagrees across the City’s landscape during the past two years.

Kit Lam was a major figure in the Recall of three School Board members in February 2022.

Kit Lam was a major instigator in the political coup d’etat which ousted Progressive San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in June 2022.

Kit Lam is a former Hong Kong law enforcement officer.

Kit Lam is a former San Francisco Unified School District address fraud inspector.

Kit Lam is now in line, according to at least one press report, to become a legislative aide to recently elected San Francisco Supervisor in waiting Joel Engardio, whose campaign he managed. Engardio was elected to office based on his support of the School Board and Chesa Boudin recalls. Engardio is also a founder of the strident Law and Order group Stop Crime SF.

Perhaps Kit Lam’s most dangerous action was his vicious pursuit of Jason Kruta, a young man who in a rash moment tried to take petitions being circulated during the School Board Recall campaign.

Kit Lam hectored San Francisco officialdom to make sure Kruta was charged with a crime.

Kit Lam then proceeded to sue Kruta in Superior Court to further harass Kruta. A matter which is still pending.

Recently it was announced that Kruta has paid price in the criminal justice system. The penalty, at least in Kit Lam’s mind, was insufficient.

Kit Lam has now taken to Twitter to blast what he feels is a soft punishment administered to Kruta. The irony here is that the woman he enthusiastically backed to replace Chesa Boudin, the current DA Brooke Jenkins, was in office while Kruta’s punishment was administered.

Kit Lam is saying nothing about the DA’s crime fighting decisions now despite the fact crime is running rampant in San Francisco.

Kit Lam is also taking aim at the DSA, Democrat Socialists of America in a vicious attack of red baiting.

It is disturbing to realize that Kit Lam in his role as an aide to Supervisor Engardio will have access to records and information not available to the average citizen.

Top Photo – Man Kit Lam argues with The Reverend Amos Brown, pastor Third Baptist Church and former D5 Supervisor, at a School Board meeting earlier this year.

Lee Heidhues 12.8.2022

It is nearly 90 years since Adolf Hitler attempted his foiled Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. The Coup failed. Hitler was jailed briefly. Upon his release he organized his Nazi followers and seized power on January 30, 1933 after winning an election complete with violence and intimidation of the Nazi opponents. Ushering in 12 years of terror, genocide and World War II.

The remnants of Hitler’s reign have never been eradicated as the arrests of the anti-government far right protestors, which include wealthy and connected shows. Nazism is alive and all too well in modern day Germany.

Perhaps most disturbing is the fact Q’Anon supporters were involved in the Coup attempt. The same Q’Anon which was involved in Trump’s attempted Coup d’etat on January 6, 2021.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 12.8.2022

As investigators comb through evidence collected in raids targeting a far-right plot aiming to topple the German government, officials are indicating that the number of people involved could grow.

The head of Germany’s criminal police (BKA), Holger Münch, said Thursday that two more individuals were found to be connected to the anti-government plot, bringing the total number of suspects to 54. The number of suspects could continue to grow, he told the ARD public broadcaster. 

Münch said other people had been “identified” and police were working to determine their status in relation to the network. At least 25 people have been arrested so far in connection with the plot. 

“You can’t say that a group comprising a two-digit or perhaps small three-digit number of people was in a position to truly put the German state system in doubt, let alone shatter it,” Münch said.

“But we do have a dangerous mixture of people here, following irrational convictions, some of them with a lot of money and others in possession of weapons, and with a plan that they do want to carry out,” Münch said. “And that does make it dangerous and that’s why we have now intervened and put up a clear ‘stop’ sign.” 

He said this involved conducted arrests, carrying out searches, widening the investigators’ net further and trying to get an even clearer picture of the group and the plot’s capabilities.

Prosecutors had said on Wednesday that the plotters’ “aim” was to overthrow the government, and that they were willing to use violence and even murder to achieve it; but they had said less about how viable or advanced the plot was. 

Wednesday’s search operation is reported to have covered 150 properties in 11 German states. Weapons were found at more than 50 of the properties searched, Münch had said Wednesday evening. The network is connected to the far-right “Reichsbürger” movement, a loosely connected group that has called for the dissolution of the German state and government. 

The interior minister of Germany’s Thuringia, Georg Maier, told DLF broadcaster on Thursday that more arrests were “expected” after police had time to process and analyze evidence seized during the raids, including cell phones.

Germany’s far-right scene has a strong presence in the eastern state, which is home to a hunting lodge owned by suspected Reichsbürger ringleader, Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss, and which is now the scene of an investigation. The 71-year-old Reuss, who comes from an aristocrat family, was arrested at his house in Frankfurt on Wednesday.

Maier added that the far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) had provided a forum for anti-government rhetoric in Thuringia, and elsewhere.

“The AfD has become more and more radicalized. It spreads these conspiracy fantasies and fantasies of overthrowing [the government],” Maier said. The AfD is already being monitored in Thuringia for suspected “anti-constitutional” activities.

https://www.dw.com/en/more-suspects-wanted-in-foiled-german-coup-plot/a-64028033

Top photo – Supporters of Far Right party Alternative for Deutschland on the march in September 2022. One of the arrested plotters is a former AfD member of the German parliament and a retired Judge.

Lee Heidhues 12.8.2022

American basketball star is Free at Last after being held hostage by Vladimir Putin in the Russian Court and penal system.

The Biden Administration negotiated her release in exchange for a Russian arms dealer who has served 19 years of a 25 year sentence. Some say, justifiably, that American Paul Whelan jailed the past four years on sham “espionage” charges should have been part of the exchange.

Putin was adamant that it was just Brittney or no deal. It’s easy to criticize The Biden Administration when it’s not a decision for the critics to make.

I have been blogging about this miscarriage of justice since Brittney was arrested and incarcerated 294 days ago. It’s an occasion to celebrate.

Excerpted from Moscow Times 12.8.2022

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tmz.com%2F2022%2F12%2F08%2Fbrittney-griner-viktor-bout-prisoner-swap-caught-on-video%2F&psig=AOvVaw2N2FiwWckQMgB5KVJZ1iD8&ust=1670647631592000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CA8QjRxqFwoTCOjP28bd6_sCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAS

Russia and the United States have exchanged the U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, U.S. and Russian officials said Thursday. 

The WNBA star, who was serving a nine-year-prison sentence in a Russian jail on drug charges, was released on Thursday in a one-for-one swap for Bout, an arms dealer who has been in a U.S. prison for the past 12 years.

The exchange was approved by U.S. President Joe Biden last week and took place early on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates, CBS news reported. 

Biden spoke with Griner on Thursday morning as the 32-year-old began her journey to the United States.

“She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” Biden later tweeted alongside photos of himself in the Oval Office with Griner’s wife Cherelle.

Saying that Griner would need time to recover from the “needless trauma” of her imprisonment in Russia, Biden nevertheless remarked that she was “in good spirits.”

“She deserves space, privacy and time with her loved ones to recover and heal from her time being wrongfully detained,” he added.

Biden also confirmed that despite Griner’s release, the other high-profile U.S. citizen jailed in Russia, Paul Whelan, remains detained.

“We have not yet succeeded in securing Paul’s release,” Biden said of the former U.S. marine who was arrested in 2018 and accused of spying while visiting Moscow for a wedding, adding that his administration was “not giving up, we will never give up.”

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/08/russia-frees-us-basketball-star-brittney-griner-in-prisoner-swap-a79643

Top photo – Brittney Griner on her way Home – 12.8.2022

Lee Heidhues 12.4.2022

The cruelty inflicted on wolves in Montana is reprehensible and shameful.

The Federal government is equally to blame for this carnage by not putting a stop to this senseless slaughter.

It was bad enough when Donald Trump permitted the killing of wolves.

It’s worse that the Biden Administration, which preaches its love of the environment, allows this mayhem to continue against one of the original inhabitants of North America. Wolves need to be protected.

Fortunately in California wolves are a protected species.

Since 2014, gray wolves are listed as endangered under the California Endangered Species Act and federal Endangered Species Act. The “take” of a gray wolf is prohibited anywhere in the state, including to hunt, pursue, harass, catch, capture, or kill. There is no hunting season for wolves in California.

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Gray-Wolf#560052459-what-is-the-legal-status-of-wolves-in-california

https://www.californiawolfcenter.org/wolves-in-california

Excerpted from Montana Free Press 11.29.2022

A Helena judge reinstated the 2022-2023 wolf hunting and trapping regulations passed by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission Tuesday in a ruling that rejected environmental groups’ request for an order halting wolf hunting and trapping while the larger issue of Montana’s wolf management is weighed by courts.

Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Christopher Abbott’s order also dissolved his Nov. 15 restraining order that had temporarily reinstated regulations from 2020-2021, before the Legislature passed four bills aimed at reducing wolf populations. The management framework adopted by the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission after those bills became law legalizes neck snares, loosens quotas in areas bordering national parks and raises the bag limit dictating how many wolves individual hunters and trappers can kill. 

Plaintiffs WildEarth Guardians and Project Coyote had filed suit against the commission and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks on Oct. 28. They argue that laws passed by the Legislature and regulations adopted by the commission run counter to the public trust doctrine enshrined in the Montana Constitution, which requires the state to manage natural resources like wildlife to preserve them for future generations.

In an emailed release about the decision, WildEarth Guardians carnivore coexistence advocate Lizzy Pennock said plaintiffs will “keep fighting for Montana’s wolves in the courtroom while our case carries on and outside the courtroom in every way possible.”

The lawsuit comes as the Biden administration weighs reinstating federal protections for gray wolves.

In September of 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service examined petitions to restore Endangered Species Act protections to gray wolves of the West and determined that there was enough evidence to merit closer study of gray wolves’ viability, due in part to wolf management frameworks in Idaho and Montana. That assessment was supposed to be completed within a year but is still ongoing.

https://montanafreepress.org/2022/11/29/wolf-hunting-regulations-reinstated-while-lawsuit-proceeds/

Lee Heidhues 12.2.2022

Brooke Jenkins spent eight months working as the 153K “Volunteer” to destroy and politically lynch her former boss Progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

She shamelessly appealed to the law and order MAGA crowd with over the top claims about the number of Perps being released from jail under Chesa’s watch.

The mainstream media was a willing partner in the dishonest reporting on Chesa Boudin.

What this opportunistic politician failed to mention, even though she had eight years experience, is that often suspects are released pending Trial on the Order of a Judge. It is well documented that Chesa Boudin argued to have Perps locked up when he thought the circumstances merited it.

Now DA Jenkins is receiving reminders from the Court about how the System works.

Why is the media ignoring this reality and not holding Brooke Jenkins up to the same standard?

The San Francisco Standard 12.2.2022

Suspects in two high-profile crimes against Asian Americans in San Francisco were released despite pressure from prosecutors for them to await trial in jail.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Marisa Chun decided Friday to put 20-year-old Gustavo Ribeiro-Quintanilha—who’s accused of holding an 88-year-old Asian woman at gunpoint during a home invasion and robbery in Ingleside—on house arrest with electronic monitoring.

In arguing for Ribeiro-Quintanilha to stay in jail on Monday, Nancy Tung, the chief of the Vulnerable Victims Unit at the District Attorney’s Office, said he’s a danger to the public because he used guns and has a rap sheet with multiple offenses in San Francisco and San Mateo counties. 

Releasing him would put others at risk of “great bodily injury,” Tung said. 

However, Judge Chun, who jailed Ribeiro-Quintanilha after his arrest in October, said he has “now been assessed,” and that new information suggests he’s suitable for supervised release.

Other factors that weighed into the judge’s decision included the suspect’s young age, family support, a short criminal history and how he didn’t physically hurt anyone during the alleged crime, which took place in April. Even so, Judge Chun admonished him to stay away from people who’d be a “bad influence.”

According to the police report, two suspects broke into the octogenarian’s home and “forced her into her bathroom at gunpoint” while they rummaged through her belongings. The victim’s daughter told KPIX the ordeal reduced the victim to tears and terrified her whole family.

Ribeiro-Quintanilha’s release from jail comes soon after a similar decision in a separate crime that victimized an Asian American.

Robert Green—who’s accused of driving the car involved in a fatal crash that killed a 66-year-old Asian woman, Huansu He, and seriously injured an 81-year-old—got out of jail last month. 

Prosecutors said releasing Green, who’s charged with manslaughter, would endanger the public, citing police reports that claim he was high on cannabis and heavily medicated while behind the wheel.

Chinese-language media first reported on Judge Patrick Thompson’s decision to release the 47-year-old Bay Area native.

Jesse Hsieh, the deputy public defender representing Green, told The Standard that supervised release would pose no danger to anyone. Some of the factors that Hsieh said suggest as much, include the defendant’s clean driving record, family support and a job that was steady until he was sidelined from injuries in the crash. Plus, he stayed at the crash scene, which indicates he’s not much of a flight risk.

“These facts,” Hsieh said, “demonstrated to the judge that this was a one-time, tragic accident.”

https://sfstandard.com/community/suspects-released-in-high-profile-sf-crimes-against-asians-despite-das-pushback/

Top photo – San Francisco DA and her parrots.

Lee Heidhues 12.2022

“There ain’t no Great Society as it applies to you and me. Our country isn’t Free.” Frank Zappa

It’s a Police State.

Cops rule America.

Aided and abetted by an American public indoctrinated with law and order rhetoric, mindless cop shows on TV.

An all too often fawning compliant media.

Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 12.2.2022

A Vallejo police officer fired for sending a threatening email to former Chronicle columnist Otis Taylor Jr., among other misconduct allegations, was cleared of wrongdoing by an arbitrator, Open Vallejo reported.

Taylor, a managing editor of KQED, said he was surprised, but not shocked, by the decision, and that it indicates that the department is “disinterested in actual reform.”

“It’s just really disheartening,” he said. “How is anyone supposed to believe that policing in Vallejo is going to change?”

Michael Nichelini, the combative leader of Vallejo’s police union, was fired in April 2021 following an investigation into an email he sent to Taylor, who reported extensively on misconduct and abusive behavior by the Vallejo Police Department, including reports on Nichelini.

The city also cited another email that Nichelini sent to members of the police union included the image of a 1906 Vallejo police badge, which was inscribed with what appeared to be a Nazi symbol, as reason for his termination. Lawyers for Nichelini immediately appealed the termination, sending it to arbitration.

Open Vallejo reported that Nichelini called the decision overturning his termination “a win for all of us and the process” in an email sent to union members Wednesday.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Report-Vallejo-police-officer-who-threatened-17627048.php

Lee Heidhues 11.29.2022

Attn:  Supervisor Connie Chan – D1 San Francisco

Connie

Whatever shred of Progressive “In Solidarity” credibility you may have had was just buried this evening.

Your blatant cave in with your YES vote to approve Police killer robots puts you firmly in league with the worst law and order reactionaries in San Francisco.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-could-approve-the-use-of-killer-robots-17618170.php

It is beyond disgraceful.

Only three of your comrades had enough guts to stand up to this Orwellian proposal. You were missing in action.

If you think that bowing to the reactionaries in District 1 is going to save your political career, forget it.

The Progressives are abandoning you in droves.

The reactionaries don’t trust you due to your Chameleon like behavior in office.

Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 11.29.2022

San Francisco police will be allowed to use robots to kill people in limited emergency situations under a controversial new policy approved by city supervisors on Tuesday.

Police leaders said they want the ability to deploy robots with lethal force during extremely rare cases against violent suspects such as mass shooters or suicide bombers. But critics, including a minority of the board, strongly objected to the policy over concerns that it could be abused and allow police to kill people too easily.

Following an impassioned debate, supervisors approved the policy in an 8-3 vote. They adopted an amendment that requires one of two high-ranking SFPD leaders to authorize any actual use of a deadly robot.

Several supervisors remained deeply skeptical that police need the extraordinary ability to kill someone with a robot. Supervisors Dean Preston, Hillary Ronen and Shamann Walton voted against the policy.

“This is a local police force here to protect us. This is not the U.S. military that we are arming,” Preston said at the board meeting. “There is serious potential for misuse and abuse of this military-grade technology, and zero showing of necessity.”

Ronen unsuccessfully sought to amend the policy to require police to exhaust non-lethal options before using a robot with deadly force. Peskin later proposed a successful and less restrictive amendment that lets police use a robot to kill someone if they have tried other de-escalation tactics or concluded that they would not be able to subdue the threat with alternative options.

“This is a big deal,” Ronen said. “This is opening up a Pandora’s box that could change our society in a significant way.”