Lee Heidhues 11.29.2022

It was a nail biting World Cup match. Both teams left it all on the Pitch, particularly USA striker Christian Pulisic who was injured plowing into the Iranian goalkeeper as he scored the only goal of the match.

In the end the Americans prevailed.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 11.29.2022

Iran’s run at the World Cup is over after they narrowly lost to the the United States in a tense contest in Doha.

A single Iranian goal would have been enough to flip the result on its head, but it never came as the US held firm to reach the knockout stages for the first time since 2014.

“The dream is over,” Iran coach Carlos Queiroz said.”We will keep going and try to win respect and admiration and credibility all over the world, because I think my players deserve it.”

Iran leave the competition having made headlines around the world when they refused to sing the national anthem in their opening game, which set the tone as Iranian fans, including many women, proudly displayed their pro-revolutionary symbols, slogans and attire.

The Iranian player Voria Ghafouri, not selected for the tournament but one of the country’s most prominent players, was even arrested back in Iran for supporting the women-led protests and “spreading propaganda” back home.

Reports even surfaced on Monday night that Iran had threatened the players’ families with imprisonment and torture if the players fail to “behave” ahead of Tuesday’s game.

“Conditions in our country are not right, and our people are not happy,” Iranian captain Ehsan Hajsafi told reporters after the England game. Hajsafi added that the victims’ families back home “should know that we are with them, we support them and we sympathize with them.”

The US will face the Netherlands on Saturday after Christian Pulisic’s solitary goal settled what was effectively a playoff for the knockout stages with group winners England beating Wales 3-0 in the group’s other game.

Tensions went up a notch at the World Cup when US Soccer posted the Iranian flag minus the emblem of the Islamic Republic, which has been present on the flag since 1980, one year after the Islamic Republic was established. US Soccer deleted the posts claiming that it was done to “show support for the women in Iran fighting for basic human rights” but the damage was already done.

The American coach, Gregg Berhalter, apologised for the tweet of the flag. “I can only reiterate that the players and staff knew nothing about what was being posted sometimes things are out of our control,” he said. That didn’t stop US captain Tyler Adams, the youngest captain at the tournament at 23, from being rebuked by an Iranian journalist in the pre-match press conference for mispronouncing “Iran”.

https://www.dw.com/en/world-cup-2022-dream-is-over-for-iran-who-leave-lasting-impression/a-63934697

Lee Heidhues 11.27.2022

LETTER TO THE EDITOR – SAN FRANCISCO RICHMOND REVIEW

The overwhelming Victory of Proposition J and the crushing defeat of Proposition I should have sent a message to the motorists and their followers who howled incessantly to put this issue to a vote of The People.

Funded by Dede Wilsey and The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco to the tune of 800K the motorists got their Vote.

There can be no doubt about the Result.

The People want car free areas in San Francisco.

It is sad and all too predictable that the Losers in this Vote by The People refuse to accept the result and continue to push their campaign to drive anywhere anytime.

The motorists want to further limit the car free time on The Great Walkway and continue to argue that The Great Walkway should not be car free beginning on Fridays at noon.

The motorists purposefully have forgotten already that Proposition I, their call to bring cars back to The Great Walkway, was crushed. Sixty-five percent of The People voted NO.

Equally disturbing is the motorists latest war on Slow Streets.

Like barnacles hanging to a collapsing pier the motorists have attached themselves to Slow Streets Cabrillo and 23rd Avenue as an assault on their hegemony in another attempt to thwart the will of The People.

The SFMTA, in a mind-numbing decision, has voted to cut by half the number of Slow Streets despite the election results.

This sense of Entitlement by the motorists is reprehensible and will be firmly rejected.

Sunday News Quiz Error – San Francisco Chronicle Edition

Lee Heidhues 11.27.2022

The Chronicle weekly news quiz editor must still be celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday.

State Senator Scott Wiener (D-S.F.) was the subject of a homophobic slur by MAGA flame thrower, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Rep-Marjorie-Taylor-Greene-calls-Sen-Scott-17606923.php

Question 9 this week asked, “Who did Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene refer to with a homophobic slur on Twitter?”

The correct Answer, according to The Chronicle, is B. George Takei who made his fame on the Star Trek television and cinematic franchise. Wrong!!!!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Takei

Senator Wiener and George Takei do have one thing in common. Both are Gay men and have been very active in the fight for LGBTQ rights. Rep. Greene would probably ascribe the same disgusting slur to the 85 year old Mr. Takei.

Lee Heidhues 11.26.2022

It was Black Friday, the traditional post Thanksgiving shopping day.

The yearly event certainly turned out to be a special day at the DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate Park.

I first saw this painting, The Flag is Bleeding by Ruth Ringgold on November 8, 2019 at the DeYoung members only showing of ‘Soul of a Nation.’

The next day progressive Chesa Boudin was declared winner in the San Francisco District Attorney election. 

I posted a blog about the ‘Soul of a Nation’ and used the painting. 

In the last three years I have displayed it several times on my Blog to illustrate the volatile political and racist history of America.

It is arguably my favorite piece I have EVER viewed at the DeYoung Museum.

Sunday is the last day of the Faith Ringgold exhibit.

The Flag is Bleeding is a lead painting of the Exhibit.

We purchased a beautifully framed print for a very fair price which includes a further discount Liz receives as a longtime member of the DeYoung Museum. Our purchase is now affixed with a RED DOT waiting to be specially wrapped prior to its journey to our home.

The curator will package it and I will pick it up next Tuesday after the  v  World Cup match.

https://www.famsf.org/press-room/unprecedented-faith-ringgold-american-people-to-make-west-coast-debut-at-de-young-museum

Lee Heidhues 11.23.2022

2022 was a good year for law and order reactionaries in San Francisco.

The most egregious example of this trend was the shameful recall of Progressive DA Chesa Boudin and his handpicked replacement, the ethically challenged Brooke Jenkins already looking at ethics, prosecutorial misconduct and possible criminal investigations.

The San Francisco Chronicle took a deep dive into the voting patterns of its residents in the November 8 election.

The reputation that San Francisco holds sway over progressive thought is not true.

One need only look at the Conservative MAGA funded recalls of Progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin and three Progressive School Board members earlier this year.

In reality, many San Francisco voters are reactionary, tight fisted, law and order minded. Like much of America too many San Franciscans have bought into the Fox News nonsense, particularly in the Western part of San Francisco.

Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 11.23.2022

San Francisco’s propositions on the November ballot covered a range of issues, including affordable housing, transportation, car free areas, education and even the library.

But while the 14 measures split voters along different issues, the geographic spread of the results tell the same story: Residents living in the city center voted very differently from those in the outer neighborhoods, particularly the Sunset and Parkside.

High-scoring precincts — those considered more “progressive” and colored in green and blue on the map — are more common and geographically spread out.

There are 60 precincts, mainly stretching from the Panhandle down to Bernal Heights, with scores above 75. Fewer precincts (44 of them) have scores under 25.

The precinct with the highest value is a six-block stretch between Buena Vista Park and the eastern half of the Panhandle. The “yes” shares from this precinct on Propositions E (the affordable housing initiative), M (vacancy tax) and O (City College parcel tax) are at least 10 percentage points higher than the citywide percentages.

Four blocks to the east in Hayes Valley are two more precincts with equally high progressivity scores. And less than a mile south in the Mission are two more.

The San Francisco Chronicle found the city’s least “progressive” precincts concentrated in a 2-square-mile area in the Outer Sunset. The precincts stretch from 19th Avenue to 40th and are bounded by Stern Grove to the north and Lake Merced and San Francisco State University to the south. Another precinct a few blocks east in St. Francis Wood has a similarly low progressivity score.

Top photo – Precincts with the highest progressivity scores

The five precincts with the highest scores are located in Haight-Ashbury, Hayes Valley, the Castro and the Mission.

A map showing the five precincts with the highest progressivity located in the Haight-Ashbury, Hayes Valley, Castro and Mission neighborhoods.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/sf-neighborhoods-moderate-progressive-17605112.php

Lee Heidhues 11.21.2022

I thought that after the smashing victory of Proposition J which made permanent JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park and the total smackdown of the Dede Wilsey Proposition I which would have returned cars full time to The Great Walkway that San Francisco City Hall would get the message.

The message being that San Franciscans want more Slow Streets and car free areas.

Obviously the bureaucrats in City Hall, led by opportunistic Mayor London Breed, have yet to receive the message.

Most distressing is the absence of Lake Street from Arguello to 25th Avenue. This has been one of the most scenic and widely used Slow Streets. Regrettably, the well heeled residents of this area have howled non stop that their hegemony over the road has been eliminated. Money talks and the City Hall bureaucrats have shamefully listened.

The latest proposal by the San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority (SFMTA) would severely cut back the number of Slow Streets, put in place by Mayoral decree at the beginning of the Pandemic in April 2020.

The SFMTA, as its reason for dialing back the program makes the eye rolling comment, “Others (Slow Streets) did not meet the needs of the community.”

I ask, Who is the so called “community?” Answer: The Entitled Motorists who will never be satisfied.

Those seeking a better, translation, Car Free environment in San Francisco will once again have to go to the proverbial barricades.

In the effort to have full disclosure, I am happy for a couple of reasons. Two of the Slow Streets which are planned to be permanent are in my neighborhood. In addition, the street on which I grew up is also one of the those on the permanent list.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 11.21.2022

San Francisco is primed to permanently keep roughly half of the Slow Streets that were implemented at the start of the pandemic by the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency.

“Slow Streets were a citywide experiment, and not all of these experiments were successful,” the SFMTA wrote in an explanatory document. “Some Slow Streets weren’t well utilized or developed conflicts with neighborhood access. Some Slow Streets didn’t connect to the overall citywide active transportation network. Others did not meet the needs of the community.”

The proposed network of Slow Streets, meant to deter car traffic on residential streets, would remove all but one of the Slow Street segments in the Sunset District, as well as all the Slow Streets in South of Market.

The SFMTA’s proposal, unveiled Monday, does not give a recommendation on Slow Lake Street — among the first four Slow Streets the agency’s board voted to keep permanent in August 2021. The fate of that particular Slow Street has divided its residents, and the Board of Directors will make a final call on whether to include it in the Slow Streets network.

The city installed 31 Slow Streets at the start of the pandemic as a way to give residents more space to recreate while social distancing. Some of the most popular Slow Streets have given pedestrians and cyclists more freedom to exercise and travel on their roadways with minimal worry about facing oncoming car traffic. Others have been utilized more sparingly, one of the reasons the transportation agency cited for the Slow Streets that failed to make the final cut.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-wants-to-make-15-of-the-city-s-Slow-17602299.php#photo-23193606

Lee Heidhues 11.20.2022

It’s hard to believe there is someone WORSE than Donald Trump. There is someone much WORSE than Trump.

God’s messenger. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. A right wing vicious Ideologue who believes he is a messenger sent by God. In his successful re-election campaign DeSantis ran this Video.

Terrifying and scary. Straight out of The Handmaid’s Tale.

Excerpted from New York Magazine – Intelligencer – 11.20.2022

None of Trump’s 2016 opponents was Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis is 44 years old, only four years older than Pete Buttigieg. He is guaranteed an opportunity to appear on Fox News whenever he wants for the foreseeable future; all he needs to do is to find more “woke” objects of his vengeful fury. Why tangle with Trump when the old man might soon die a natural political death?

Florida Guv DeSantis seems likely to be so formidable as to discourage some other rivals from playing in the 2024 sandbox dominated by the two big bullies from the Sunshine State. My colleague Jonathan Chait has been arguing for a while that the Florida governor is putting together a fan club that ranges from traditional conservatives who are ready to move on from Trump to the very extremists who think DeSantis is even better than Trump at “owning the libs” and expressing the life-giving hate of the MAGA movement. And now the outcome of the 2022 midterms has been like rocket-fuel for DeSantis, Chait observes:

The Murdoch-owned media, very much including Fox News, unleashed an undisguised propaganda blitz to convince its audience that Trump is the source of the party’s struggles and DeSantis represents its future. Trump’s angry response [attacking “Ron DeSanctimonious”] is a measure of how seriously he takes the threat to steer the base away from him. Many journalists registered surprise at the bluntness of the chorus blaming Trump. Yet the prospects for a DeSantis nomination, and the changes beneath the surface that have made it relatively likely, have not been fully appreciated outside the Republican world.

If DeSantis can indeed compete for Trump’s own base while thrilling more traditional conservatives who see him as a skillful demagogue who shares their views and interests, then yes, he could take down Trump — though not without a vicious and poisonous fight.

But there’s something about DeSantis that reminds me of former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a charisma-free ideological thug who terrified liberals everywhere until he actually ran for president in 2016 and he sank like a stone before any votes were cast. And the swooning over DeSantis among conservatives reminds me of Rick Perry when he briefly stormed the 2012 Republican presidential field like a conquering hero — until he suddenly became perceived as an insubstantial buffoon.

But even if DeSantis is Ronald Reagan reincarnated, and the irresistible force needed to dislodge Trump’s immovable self-regard, there is also a decent chance (as some reporters are already suggesting) that he will choose to wait until 2028 when he could either run as Trump’s natural successor (assuming an offer to step aside this year would instantly make Trump a DeSantis fan again) or the antidote to a failed MAGA movement if Trump runs and loses again.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/11/if-desantis-clears-the-gop-field-is-trump-doomed.html

Lee Heidhues 11.19.2022

San Francisco should hang its collective political head in Shame.

Seduced and bought off by the MAGA crowd with 9MM.

What did San Francisco get in its place after the Recall?

The “Personal Shopper” for Mayor London Breed. A total political hack unqualified to be in the same Room with Chesa Boudin.

A faux Chief Law Enforcement officer who reeks of unethical behavior, prosecutorial misconduct and, now a potential criminal indictment.

And, by the way, Crime is UP since the Puppet DA Brooke Jenkins became London Breed’s photo op companion. Alameda County voters looked across the Bay and decided, “We’ll take an honest Progressive.”

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 11.19.2022

Civil rights attorney and staunch reform advocate Pamela Price will be Alameda County’s next district attorney, defeating a veteran local prosecutor and making history as the first Black person to hold the office.

Price, who had been behind in early results, pulled 53% of the 428,233 votes counted as of Friday night, overcoming Chief Assistant District Attorney Terry Wiley’s 47%.

Less than six months after San Francisco voters recalled District Attorney Chesa Boudin, a former public defender, the Alameda County district attorney election was seen as yet another test for the region’s appetite for progressive vs. more traditional prosecutors.

In electing interim District Attorney Brooke Jenkins to a full term, San Francisco voters articulated their desire to see a former prosecutor who campaigned for Boudin’s recall run the office after promising more punishment for criminal defendants. 

Price claimed victory in a series of tweets Friday evening, and said her administration would embrace progressive legislative reforms that her predecessors had blocked.

https://www.pamelaprice4da.com/about

https://www.sfchronicle.com/election/article/Civil-rights-attorney-Pamela-Price-makes-history-17596670.php

Lee Heidhues 11.18.2022

The terrible saga of Brittney’s Griner’s inhumane treatment by the Russian government continues.

Thursday Brittney was transferred to a Russian penal colony 300 miles from Moscow to serve her nine year sentence for allegedly bringing a small amount of marijuana oil into the country last March.

At the same time the Russians are sending Brittney to the Gulag, the government spokesman is cynically saying a prisoner swap which would result in her release may occur soon.

A day after it emerged that the American basketball star Brittney Griner had been sent to a Russian penal colony, a top Russian diplomat said on Friday that the prospect of a prisoner exchange was increasing, and acknowledged that it could involve a Russian arms dealer imprisoned in the United States.

But U.S. officials dismissed the suggestion of any new optimism about an agreement, saying that the Kremlin had not been serious about negotiating a deal.

She has been jailed for nine months and was sentenced to nine years for entering Russia with vape cartridges containing hashish oil, and her lawyers confirmed on Thursday that she had been transferred to a penal colony, where harsh conditions and mistreatment are commonplace.

Since June, the Biden administration has proposed trading Viktor Bout, the arms dealer, for Ms. Griner, who has been jailed for nine months, and Paul N. Whelan, an American held for almost four years and convicted of espionage, according to U.S. officials and numerous news media reports.

“We have made a substantial offer that the Russian Federation has consistently failed to negotiate in good faith,” a department spokesman, Vedant Patel, said at a news briefing. The U.S. government “has continued to follow up on that proposal and propose alternative potential ways forward.”

But, he said, the Kremlin’s “failure to seriously negotiate on these issues in the established channel, or any other channel for that matter, runs counter to its public statements.”

Their fates have been caught up in the hardening confrontation between Washington and Moscow over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which American officials say is reflected in the tough treatment of Ms. Griner.

Mr. Bout is currently serving a 25-year sentence in a U.S. prison for conspiring to sell weapons to people who said they planned to kill Americans. Since his arrest in 2008, Russia has repeatedly made efforts to secure his release.

In addition to Ms. Griner’s case, the Biden administration has been working to secure the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine who in 2020 was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security Russian prison on espionage charges.

Every Political Cartoon Tells a Story – San Francisco Mayor London Breed Special Edition

Liz Heidhues 11.18.2022

Cartoon of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” starring @LondonBreed & her advisors @mattdorsey @BrookeJenkinsSF @NancyTungSF.

Fairy tale is about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects.

The emperor hires 2 tailors (con men) to make him a new invisible suit.

They tell the emperor their material is so fine, only intelligent people can see it.

His advisors, afraid of being thought stupid, praise the new suit.

The tailors mime dressing the emperor and he sets off in a parade before the whole city.

The townsfolk go along with the pretense, not wanting to appear stupid, until a child blurts out the emperor is wearing nothing at all!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_New_Clothes