Lee Heidhues 11.17.2022

The European Union pays a lot of attention to how its wildlife is protected and preserved. A recent nation joining the trend to protect wolves is Slovakia where wolves now enjoy year round protection.

It is now a crime against the environment to kill wolves in Slovakia.

It is now illegal to hunt wolves in the central European nation.

In my home town of San Francisco we live near the Federal Golden Gate National Recreation Area where I frequently see Coyotes.

Gray wolves and coyotes are very closely related. The numerous similarities include their diets, hunting styles and high intelligence. Excerpted from https://animals.mom.com/

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 11.17.2022

There have been wolves in Central and Eastern Europe for many centuries, and most farmers in these countries are familiar with ways of protecting their property and livestock against wolf attacks.

Farmers and wolves have been foes since time immemorial, so it may come as a surprise to many that a symbiosis between farmers and wolves is possible.

“They help reduce damage to agricultural crops through predation pressure on ruminants,” Kristina Bockova, spokesperson for the State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic, told DW. “They mainly hunt sick and weak animals, as well as wild animals infected by the currently widespread African plague,” Bockova said.

Bockova said wolves were not only under threat from frequent poaching, but also from the fragmentation of the landscape and the loss of quiet zones with minimal human activity — both of which are crucial for the preservation of the wolf population.

Legislation protecting wolves in Slovakia was passed in 2021. But now some are calling for a change in the law because of an alleged rise in wolf attacks.

Juraj Lukac is a Slovak activist who has been fighting for the conservation of wolves for almost 50 years. His group, the WOLF Forest Protection Movement, began work in 1973, bringing together people from the eastern and northern regions of Slovakia who wanted to protect the country’s forests and the rights of the animals living in them.

It was a long struggle, but the group finally saw its life’s work bear fruit when a new law providing year-round protection for wolves in the Slovak Republic was passed in June 2021. The law has made it illegal to hunt wolves and has put an end to the regulation of the wolf population in Slovakia.

Before the law was passed, killing a wolf in Slovakia outside the provisions of the regulation was considered a crime of poaching. Now, it is considered a crime against the environment.

A little over a year after the law was passed, some farmers in Slovakia have voiced concern about alleged increases in wolf attacks on livestock.

For lifelong animal rights activists such as Lukac, this was very painful to hear. He believes that the statement has little to do with the conservation of wolves: “It was just a political move,” Lukac told DW.

“I think that the longer full protection lasts, the more people will see that wolves don’t cause any damage and nothing bad is happening. But hunters just don’t want that,” he said.

Lukac rejects the claims, saying there is no evidence of an increase in wolf attacks.

https://www.dw.com/en/claims-of-increased-wolf-attacks-in-slovakia-divide-opinion/a-63789099

Lee Heidhues 11.15.2022

Nothing is more terrifying than the prospect of Nuclear conflict.

Today the Russians fired missiles which landed in Poland, killing at least two Polish citizens. This is a serious provocation and raises the stakes as Putin pursues his War of Aggression against Ukraine. Now nearly 10 months and counting.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 11.14.2022

“Any use of nuclear weapons can escalate into a full nuclear war between NATO and Russia, and would produce a nuclear winter,” Professor Alan Robock told DW. “Almost all war games played with military officers result in this once nuclear weapons are used. There is not much chance that a nuclear war can be stopped once started.  Panic, fear, miscommunication, and bad information would result in commanders using the weapons they have.”

Robock, a professor of environmental sciences at Rutgers University in the US, was one of the authors of the Nature study.

Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and meltdowns at the Chernobyl and Fukushima power plants clearly affected people’s health. But experts say it’s hard to predict the fallout from a nuclear war today.

When we think about the war in Ukraine and the nuclear threat that it poses, we often think of two scenarios: an accident at a Ukrainian nuclear plant or the fallout from nuclear weapons.

In the first article of this series, DW looked at accidents at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011, and at Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant in 1986, analzying the impact those accidents had on the surrounding populations. And we compared those accidents and to what might happen in the event of fallout from an accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been central to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

In this second article, we will look into the short and long-term health effects that the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki had on surrounding populations in 1945.

Experts use the study of those bombings at the end of World War II to understand what might happen if a nuclear weapon were detonated today.

The detonation of a weapon in the air can kill many people at once, with less of a long-term impact on radiation in the surrounding population and environment.

The detonation of a weapon near the surface of the Earth could both kill many people at once and taint the environment and food supply for years.

This can be illustrated by the US bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima at the end of WWII and the 1986 Chernobyl accident in Ukraine. The attacks killed between 60-80,000 people in Nagasaki and between 70-135,000 people in Hiroshima in the months that followed.

The bombings released about 40 times less radiation into the environment than the 1986 Chernobyl accident, but killed hundreds of thousands more people in the immediate aftermath.

Today, people can safely live in Nagasaki and Hiroshima without fear of lingering radiation, but the Chernobyl exclusion zone remains radioactive and uninhabitable.

Other effects of the 1945 bombings include an abnormally high increase in leukemia among people in surrounding areas, particularly among children. Other cancers increased, but in lower numbers.

Further long-term impacts of the radiation included increased instances of small head size, slower physical growth, and mental disability among children still in the womb when the explosions occurred some studies have suggested. This generally wasn’t the case for children conceived after the bombings, as other research has shown.

https://www.dw.com/en/what-would-happen-if-a-nuclear-bomb-was-used-in-ukraine/a-63724809

Lee Heidhues 11.13.2022 (Updated with final Election results 11.17.2022)

The Victory numbers continue to grow for Proposition J. With all the votes nearly counted the Safe Parks for All ballot measure now has 180,220 votes. 63.03% of the electorate.

It’s a Blowout. NO matter how you slice it.

Equally stunning, if not more impressive, is the total trashing administered to the DeDe Wilsey De Young Museum Proposition I. 190,145 voters (65.1%) have rejected this climate killing measure which would have seen cars return to JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway.

The People won a landslide victory on November 8, 2022 when San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition J – Safe Streets for All which made permanently car free a 1.5 mile stretch of land in Golden Gate Park.

It will be known forever as JFK Promenade.

JFK Promenade is a place for people of all ages and abilities to walk, run, eat, meet friends and cycle.

The featured photo above shows a wheelchair user enjoying the sunny afternoon on the now permanently car free JFK Promenade.

To accommodate the citizens who have difficulty accessing JFK Promenade The City of San Francisco has taken a number of actions to allay these concerns. The 800 space parking garage has been available for years and with the passage of Proposition N control of the garage has been handed to the City. More equitable parking rates are sure to follow.

There is a Free Shuttle service which runs regular routes on JFK Promenade.

In an area adjacent to JFK Promenade a number of parking spots for disabled motorists have been installed near The historic Japanese Tea Garden. There are also pickup and drop off spots for Paratransit vehicles.

To celebrate this historic and joyous victory by The People a party was held on JFK Promenade inside and outside the Beer Garden.

It was a well attended party and bodes well for what will become a destination for visitors throughout the World.

Lee Heidhues 11.12.2022

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY – SHOPPING FOR CLOTHES EDITION

Here’s the job for which our ethically challenged DA is genuinely suited to perform.

DA Brooke Jenkins acting as Personal Shopper for her Mentor, San Francisco Mayor London Breed.

For some musical accompaniment readers can listen to the classic song by The Coasters. “Shopping for Clothes.”

Thanks to The San Francisco Chronicle for this marvelous photo.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=shopping+for+clothes+the+coasters

Lee Heidhues 11.11.2022

Brittney Griner, the American basketball star, has been transferred to a Russian penal colony to serve what could be a nine year prison sentence.

Her arrest, sham trial and imprisonment by Vladimir Putin is a human rights outrage. The worldwide media has paid some, but not enough, attention to this crime against humanity.

At this point it is painfully obvious that Putin is not going to release this American woman. Brittney Griner never should have been arrested, jailed, tried in a kangaroo Russian Court and sent to Prison.

The world must continue speaking out and demand her release.

Excerpted from New York Times 11.9.2022

Wherever Brittney Griner was on Wednesday, one thing was clear: The American basketball star imprisoned by Russia was not heading back home, despite a concerted U.S. campaign to win her freedom.

Ms. Griner was instead being transferred from a jail outside Moscow and thrust into Russia’s vast and opaque penal colony system, lawyers said.

Beyond that, little was known.

Asked whether foreigners are treated any differently, a senior official with Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service said some years ago that they were not. The only difference is that they have a right to visits from consular officials from their home country, the official, Sergey Esipov, was quoted as telling the RIA Novosti news agency.

“There are no special conditions,” he said. “All foreigners serve their sentences on the grounds and in the manner prescribed by Russian law.”

Ms. Griner’s legal team said in a statement that her intended destination was unknown and that it expected to be officially notified, along with the U.S. Embassy, once she had arrived. The process can take up to two weeks.

American officials have repeatedly denounced the treatment of Ms. Griner, and they did so again on Wednesday.

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, in a statement, called Ms. Griner’s transfer to a penal colony “another injustice layered on her ongoing unjust and wrongful detention.” And President Biden directed his administration to “prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony,” the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said in her own statement.

Ms. Jean-Pierre said the United States was “unwavering in its commitment to its work on behalf of Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia,” including Paul Whelan, a former Marine who in 2020 was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security Russian prison on espionage charges.

Penal colonies are notorious for abusive treatment of inmates, overcrowding and harsh conditions. Political prisoners like Aleksei A. Navalny and members of the Russian punk band Pussy Riot have previously been sent to them to serve sentences.

At any given time, there are usually around 350 foreigners from what the Russians call “far abroad,” meaning countries that were not part of the Soviet Union, serving sentences in penal colonies, prison officials have said. Usually, about a third are jailed on drug charges, they said.

Lee Heidhues 11.9.2022

It was less than 24 hours after Proposition J prevailed by a landslide 60 percent victory to permanently preserve JFK Promenade.

A large hardy band of campaign veterans assembled on a chilly late afternoon on JFK Promenade near the roller skating area to hug, congratulate each other and celebrate.

The local media was present chronicling the happy event for posterity.

The celebrants had plenty of company as the community traveled back and forth on foot, bicycles, strollers, walkers and plenty of canine companionship.

This historic vote now puts Golden Gate Park in particular and San Francisco in general as an international City that knows how to do it.

Lee Heidhues 11.9.2022

It is a smashing hard fought historic victory.

The amazing 60-40 landslide of Proposition J and the demolition of the Dede Wilsey Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco’s insidious so called ‘Access for All Alliance’ is a historic event.

Tens of thousands of San Franciscans stayed the course since the creation of car free JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway. Undaunted by the whining and complaining of the motorists.

The Entitled motorists and their camp followers waged a vicious, expensive and dishonest campaign to destroy less than three miles of car free spaces.

Personally,  Liz and I have been criticized and lectured on Nextdoor, The Chronicle Conversation page and The Richmond Review. Neighbors and friends took us to task for not drinking the kool aid that motorists and their camp followers have an unlimited right to drive anywhere, anytime.

The voters have spoken emphatically. They no longer have this right of entitlement on JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway.

Following are several photos from the 14 events Liz and I have participated in to preserve JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway since March 2021.

Lee Heidhues 11.7.2022

The vote which will decide the fate of JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park and The Great Walkway along the Pacific Ocean is tomorrow.

San Francisco needs to make a statement that it cares about the environment and wants to provide two car free recreation spaces for all its citizens.

Dede Wilsey and the wealthy connected patrons who run the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco are sparing no expense to destroy the two car free venues.

All in the name of greed and profit. Doyenne Dede Wilsey, Dow Chemical scion and lavish supporter of Donald Trump, cut the 200K check paying mercenaries to qualify Proposition I for the ballot.

As judgment day approaches Dede Wilsey just chipped in another $10,000. Which for her is virtually nothing. But to those who are watching her callous political effort it means a lot.

The FAMSF have argued that the car free JFK Promenade has stifled attendance at The De Young Museum. This argument is a total fiction. Last Saturday Liz Heidhues and I visit the De Young and had lunch in the cafeteria. The Museum was packed.

Since launching its campaign just five months ago Dede Wilsey and the FAMSF have received officially $762,105.01. Of course some of these so called ‘contributions’ have been Dede’s own money funneled into the campaign as Contributions.

San Francisco voters cannot allow themselves to be swayed by this tsunami of corporate money and greed.

Top photo – Diane ‘Dede’ Wilsey

Lee Heidhues 11.5.2022

Tuesday is election day in San Francisco and with two days to go a hardy band of supporters to preserve The Great Walkway along Ocean Beach and JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park gathered for the final push.

The Sunday crowd was joined by District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose district is near the Pacific Ocean and The Great Walkway. The Supervisor pointedly reminded her listeners that a defeat of Proposition I is essential to preserve the shoreline and protect the Westside Wastewater Treatment facility.

Lee Heidhues 11.5.2022

Election day is only three days away and on a rainy Saturday the supporters gathered one last time to preserve JFK Promenade.

The People in San Francisco who are working to preserve less than three miles of space as a car free oasis in Golden Gate Park and along the Pacific Ocean at The Great Walkway have waged a 2 1/2 year struggle.

Now the battle is reaching its judgment day as the voters of San Francisco will decide. Those who want these areas where people can mingle and not fear the automobile have to fight back against an entrenched community of motorists. In addition the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco has poured its vast resources to destroy JFK Promenade and The Great Walkway.

After the JFK Promenade event Liz and I went into the De Young to check out the action and despite the false cries of Museum management that car free areas negatively impact attendance we found large throngs of visitors.

The crowds were attending the various exhibits and the Museum Cafe was totally packed with lunchtime diners. Including Liz and me.