Lee Heidhues 10.20.2022

The name Stow Lake is due for a historic name change.

Stow Lake is about to get waved away by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.  Turns out William W. Stow was notorious for both his antisemitic rantings and being a member of the xenophobic Know Nothing party.

Stow Lake has held this name for nearly 130 years. Why it is taking so long to correct this historical error is a legitimate question given the fact Jewish people have long held a prominent political and social place in San Francisco.

Perhaps most prominent is Levi Strauss & Co., a worldwide corporation founded in San Francisco and whose founders were Jewish. 

The landmark Temple Emanuel is just a mile away from Stow Lake.

The Jewish News of California 10.19.2022

Three San Francisco supervisors introduced a resolution this week to change the name of Stow Lake, which for 129 years has honored an openly antisemitic Gold Rush-era politician.

The lake in Golden Gate Park is named after William W. Stow, a California state assemblyman elected in 1853. On the Assembly floor, while arguing with a Jewish tradesman, he said: “I have no sympathy with the Jews and would, were it in my power, enforce a regulation that would eliminate them from not only our county, but from the entire state.” He went on to call for a “Jew-tax so high” that Jews would no longer be able to operate businesses. His comments are recorded in the book “Jewish Voices of the California Gold Rush.”

The resolution, introduced Oct. 18 by supervisors Myrna Melgar, Aaron Peskin and Connie Chan, urges the Recreation and Park Commission to remove Stow’s name from the lake, the surrounding drive and an adjacent boathouse.

The measure lists problematic positions Stow held, his antisemitic rhetoric and policy suggestions, and his allegiance to the xenophobic Know Nothing party.

“Stow Lake is the biggest lake in Golden Gate Park and attracts many tourists and residents as a prominent site for outdoor enjoyment and activities, making it a landmark representing San Francisco and our values,” the resolution says. “Our parks and outdoor spaces are for everyone in our diverse community and should not enshrine names of persons who utilize their positions of power to promote hatred or exclusion.”

Melgar, whose District 7 encompasses Stow Lake, introduced the resolution with two fellow supervisors. Melgar and Peskin are both Jewish.

“I’m pretty confident [the resolution] will go through, because I’ve talked to all of my colleagues about it already,” Melgar told J.

The process starts in the Rules Committee, led by Peskin. If the issue is approved, all 11 supervisors will then vote on the resolution, which requires a simple majority to pass.

After approval by the Board of Supervisors, the resolution would head to the seven-member Recreation and Park Commission, which would have the final say on the name change. The final step would be to “convene a community working group to look at alternative names,” according to Melgar.

Stow’s 1895 obituary (he died “suddenly and wholly unexpectedly,” according to San Francisco’s Call newspaper) said he served as park commissioner and credited him with being responsible for much of the development of Golden Gate Park in the late 1800s.

Melgar said she first became aware of the issue in July when J. informed her about the lake’s namesake; she responded by pledging to take action, saying modern values like inclusivity ought to be reflected in public spaces.

Stow Lake is not the first San Francisco public space to see name-changing efforts. Three years ago, Julius Kahn Playground, named after a 12-term member of Congress in the early 20th century who supported an extension of the Chinese Exclusion Act, was renamed to Presidio Wall Playground.

S.F. supes’ resolution urges renaming Golden Gate Park’s Stow Lake, named for politician who proposed ‘Jew-tax’

Lee Heidhues 10.18.2022

The just concluded final District Attorney debate at the University of San Francisco was boring and infuriating.

Most of all It’s a sad commentary on the State of Political Play in San Francisco.

I kept thinking there is only one reason I am watching this so called debate. An event which never should have taken place.

Because of the Coup d’etat and political lynching of Progressive DA Chesa Boudin, I was forced to spend a wasted evening looking at the woman who was responsible for this charade at USF.

I kept looking for Chesa.

The moderator, Retired California Supreme Court Justice Ming Chin, was more fixated on keeping the audience under control rather than encouraging a genuine debate.

Justice Chin could have served up a more spicy encounter. It was a missed opportunity.

The nearly two hour debate sponsored by The League of Women Voters offered up no fireworks and no surprises because the format, pre-submitted questions, did not allow for any substantive discussion.

Instead, the four candidates answered a series of canned generally non-controversial questions. It would have been more constructive had the candidates been able to grill each other about their positions on the administration of Justice.

John Hamasaki got off the best line of the night when he gave credit to San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight for getting interim DA Brooke Jenkins political career started. A truism which got some laughs and boos from the crowd.

Had a robust fiery back and forth occurred I would have come away more informed. The person who most benefited from this Weak format was interim DA Brooke Jenkins. She was able to skate through the evening with a series of canned photo op style responses.

Actually all the candidates got off easy on what should have been a tough evening. Had it been a real debate….

• Interim DA Brooke Jenkins would have been forced to talk about her 153K “volunteer” payment received from wealthy donors after she resigned DA Chesa Boudin’s office and went to work for his Recall. A payment she only divulged after the Recall election in June. A payment being investigated by the San Francisco Ethics Commission.
• Interim DA Brooke Jenkins would have been forced to talk about her prosecutorial transgressions which the State Bar is now investigating.
• Joe Veronese would have been forced to talk about his proposal that a ballot measure be put before the voters which would enable the DA to select the Chief of Police.
• John Hamasaki would have been forced to talk about his proposal that Minors be allowed to carry firearms in certain situations.

The fourth candidate Maurice Chenier is a political unknown, who presented himself as the most strident tough on crime potential DA. To his credit, he did not disguise his beliefs.

A USF Law School graduate, Justice Chin made the only funny comment of the evening. He talked about his part time work as an “RA” while going through law school and quipped, “I had a lot of bad meals in the cafeteria. I’m glad they didn’t serve dinner tonight.”

Top photo – District Attorney Chesa Boudin on the night of the political coup d’etat which ousted him from office – 6.7.2022

Liz Heidhues 10.16.2022

Purple belt!!

A few weeks ago, I beamed with pride and positivity at Tat Wong Academy when Master Chow verified, I had reached the highest Intermediate level in Kung Fu Martial Arts. In traditional ceremonial flourish, Master Chow presented me with a Certificate of Appointment. He then untied my Green belt from around my waist and replaced it with a bold Purple belt embellished with a Black stripe in its center.

The Black stripe signifies I am a member of the Black Belt Club. Black belt is a rank I promised myself I would earn by the age of 74.

It takes a lot of discipline and practice to attain.

I originally started training in Kung Fu self-defense in 2018, after my first False Citizen’s Arrest and brutal handcuffing.

I shut down after that cruel and unusual experience. My posture was noticeably impacted.

When a colleague exclaimed when I walked by her “Elisabetta! You’re all hunched over!! Like this . .” and proceeded to demonstrate, I realized I was walking around looking like a chewed-up stick of chewing gum.

I had always been interested in self-defense.

Our son earned a Black Belt in Martial Arts when he was a teenager. He was beaten up by sighted kids (he’s Blind) coming home from school one day. He enrolled in a Martial Arts program for the Blind. No one could ever beat up the Blind kid again, even though they threatened to do so many times and once even tried to steal his expensive adaptive equipment off his back. His ferocity scared his attacker off.

Our son was my inspiration to venture into Tat Wong Academy to learn self-defense. If he could overcome his barriers with self-defense training, then I could learn to cope with the debilitating aftermath of a False Citizen’s Arrest in my old age.

Tat Wong Academy was welcoming and compassionate.

Learning how to block attacks and strike back in powerful ways boosted my self-esteem. Mastering the targeted blows and kicks released my anger at the Injustices I had had to swallow.

I advanced from Yellow to Green belts under three kind and highly skilled Masters – stabilizing my posture, improving my physical and inner strengths, growing in self-confidence.

Grandmaster Tat Mau Wong, founder of Tat Wong Academy, shared a few laughs with me whenever he visited the Academy. Age-wise, I placed in a pecking order over Grandmaster Tat Mau Wong, a few years younger than me. He liked to tease me that he was no match for my physical strength and fitness from a lifetime of running, cycling, never owning a car. I admired that his biceps were bigger than mine, and that his agility and adroitness far surpassed me. Grandmaster Wong ardently supported my quest for Black belt.

I felt I was becoming a good fighter. I could successfully punch and kick back at higher level classmates than myself.

But the bottom fell out of my life with a second False Citizen’s Arrest at the age of 70!

Again, I had to process inexplicable police abuse. Again, I had to seek out physical therapy for my back, injured in a second brutal handcuffing. The trauma became too much to deal with.

I totally shut down this time. I stopped doing everything – teaching English, Kung Fu training, relationships, caring about living. I retreated from the world and hid in my kitchen. I didn’t jog, didn’t kick nor hit at imaginary foes, and didn’t practice my religion.

Then the Pandemic hit. The floor dropped out from under me, and my life was forever changed. Tat Wong closed as well as the language school where I had been teaching.

It took 2-1/2 years after my second False Citizen’s Arrest and yet another nightmarish incarceration to return to Kung Fu training.

I am grateful to be back at Tat Wong Academy. I have been working on my self-defense techniques for four months now. I feel safer and more in control with every class I attend. I am making up for lost time.

No longer am I afraid to leave my house. I can hold my head up high and walk again with a straight back, not bent over with the oppressive memories of two False Citizen’s Arrests in my old age.

I’m a survivor. I’m not afraid of anything really, anymore. I have walked through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, and I am a survivor.

My Martial Arts training is honing my body and mind to be a Warrior in my elder years – to fight for “Virtue In Action”. I am looking forward to the day when I will earn appointment to Black belt.

When that day comes, I want our Blind son to be there because I want him to know his mother never gave up.

For now – I am thrilled every time I don my Kung Fu uniform and cinch that hard-earned Purple belt with a Black stripe around my waist. It’s a good feeling to be back with my classmates at Kung Fu classes in Tat Wong Academy!

Lee Heidhues 10.16.2022

Putin’s War of Aggression against Ukraine has upended Germany’s goal to rid itself of nuclear energy and coal.

The German demand for energy has now trumped, at least temporarily, the nation’s long sought goal of having a clean energy society.

The Green Party may be part of Germany’s ruling coalition but the political realities are casting a dark shadow over their plans to radically change how the population gets its energy.

Excerpted from The New York Times 10.16.2022

LÜTZERATH, Germany — For months, die-hard environmental activists have camped in the fields and occupied the trees in this tiny farming village in western Germany, hoping that like-minded people from across the country would arrive and help stop the expansion of a nearby open-pit coal mine that threatened to swallow the village and its farms.

The protesters in Lützerath — balaclava-clad environmental activists, middle-class residents from nearby towns and a religious community that recently carried a cross around the village — say they are exhausted by their efforts but plan to keep fighting.

One activist, who refused to take off his white face covering or give his real name out of fear of legal retribution, has lived in a tree house in Lützerath since the spring, and said he was prepared for a showdown with the police when the bulldozers finally come.

They had reason to be optimistic.  Until…….

“Putin’s war of aggression is forcing us to temporarily make greater use of lignite so that we save gas in electricity generation,” said Robert Habeck, the German economy minister and a former leader of the Green party, referring to the low-grade coal under the village. “This is painful but necessary in view of the gas shortage.”

 

In June, Mr. Habeck announced the reopening of some coal plants — a bitter pill after the Greens’ success, just months earlier, at getting the new government to speed up its exit from coal by eight years. When a drought this summer compounded energy jitters by slowing coal transport on rivers, the government gave cargo trains carrying coal and other fuels priority over passenger ones.

Mass protests led the German government to step in and save an old-growth forest from coal expansion just two years ago. And the Green party notched its best showing ever in elections last year, a sign of how fighting climate change had become a winning political issue in Europe’s largest economy.

“If there were 50,000 on the street, politicians would have to do something,” said Eckardt Heukamp, 58, the last farmer remaining in Lützerath, who put up some of the protesters in apartments on his property. Others built tree houses, pitched tents or moved into abandoned houses in the village.

But the hoped-for surge in protesters never materialized. And last week, the government effectively sealed Lützerath’s fate by announcing that RWE, Germany’s largest energy company, needed the coal under the village — to make up for gas that had stopped flowing in from Russia.

The war in Ukraine, and the looming prospect of a winter without cheap Russian fuel, has cooled enthusiasm in Germany for greener policies, at least for now. In a nation that has pledged to wean itself off coal entirely by 2030, it has been an abrupt retreat — and for some, a difficult one.

And yet so far, there has been little public backlash.

A poll taken this summer found that 56 percent of Germans were in favor of turning coal plants back on, with just 36 percent against. That compares to the 73 percent of the population who supported ending coal use “as soon as possible” in a 2019 poll.

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

RWE has long been among the top targets of climate activists, in part as a result of a long-running, high-profile battle to preserve a forest in western Germany that is threatened by the planned expansion of one of the group’s coal mines. RWE also operates some of the largest coal-fired power stations in Europe.^[33]

In 2018, RWE was the largest producer of carbon dioxide emissions in Europe.^[33]

Since 2012, environmentalists have protested against RWE because of the Hambach surface mine situated in the area of Hambach Forest.^[44] In November 2017, in the lawsuit filed by Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND), the German arm of Friends of the Earth, the Higher Administrative Court in Münster ruled to end the tree cutting. According to BUND, Hambach Forest is a habitat type 9160 of annex I of the European Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992).^[45]

Opponents also argue that an environmental impact assessment study for the mine was never conducted. The Administrative Court in Cologne denied the necessity of such a study in November 2017, because the permission for the mining operations was given in the 1970s, long before environmental impact assessment studies became mandatory.^[46] In October 2018, an estimated 50,000 protesters turned out against the company’s planned continued forest clear-cutting for its open-pit coal mine expansion while a court order delayed the process until at least late 2020, to explore if it violated EU environmental regulations.^[47][8]

In September 2021, it was revealed that RWE are among a number of fossil fuel companies suing governments for enacting green policies against climate change. RWE are suing the Dutch government for $1.6bn following their move to phase out and shut down coal power plants.^[48]

Top photo – LÜTZERATH, Germany

Lee Heidhues 10.14.2022

The Green Party became part of Germany’s ruling Coalition nearly a year ago. 

One of the Green campaign pledges was its long standing commitment to shut down the three nuclear power plants in Germany.

That commitment has now come up against the reality of Putin’s Ukraine aggression and its impact on Germany’s energy needs.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 10.14.2022

The Green Party supported German Economy Minister Robert Habeck in his plans to operate two nuclear power plants in reserve in southern Germany by spring 2023.

At the delegates’ meeting on Friday evening in Bonn, a motion by grassroots representatives to block an extension of the nuclear power plants’ lifetime altogether failed.

The energy crisis triggered by the Russian attack on Ukraine affects everyone, business as well as people. Habeck has procured gas from many countries to replace the Russian supplies, which has little to do with a sustainable energy supply. And with coal-fired power plants already operating, the minister could use the party’s backing.

Omid Nouripour, one of two party co-leaders of the Greens, was sure at the beginning of the meeting that Habeck would get it. He told DW: “Our people in the Cabinet are taking responsibility. There are no manuals for the current situation, you have to solve problems off-the-cuff. And the party thinks that’s right and proper.”

“Thoughtfully and with determination,” Habeck said in his fiery speech to the conference, “this is how we lead Germany through the winter, this is how we give Germany security.”

However, he admitted that parts of this path could be painful for the Greens. “But we will never confuse what is the problem and what is the solution. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are the problem,” Habeck said.

Instead, the party congress supported the line of leaving the Isar II and Neckarwestheim II nuclear power plants in operation as emergency reserves until April 15. The Emsland nuclear power plant, on the other hand, should go offline at the end of 2022 — as previously planned for all three sites, the last still in operation in the country.

However, there is still a dispute about this in the federal government. The FDP is calling for the Emsland nuclear plant to continue to operate and even beyond spring 2023.

Habeck’s ministry, with responsibilities including energy and economic affairs, has been trading blame with the FDP-led Finance Ministry this week for the slow progress in bringing the coalition’s current plan for a limited extension through Cabinet and sending it on to parliament to be debated.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-greens-lay-out-nuclear-power-extension-position-amid-coalition-infighting/a-63449846

Top photo. Protesting nuclear energy. “Atomic energy. No thank you!”

Lee Heidhues 10.13.2022

It takes a an outspoken respected retired Judge to blow the whistle on San Francisco’s shameless ethically challenged Puppet District Attorney.

The law and order pandering and photo op operation Brooke Jenkins is engaging in are an insult to law and ethics. Regrettably, it appears that the new Police State of San Francisco lock ’em all up public is smitten with this charlatan masquerading as an upholder of law.

It will take more than one Judge Martha Goldin to blast away the facade disguising the incompetent and unqualified interim District Attorney of San Francisco.

Excerpted from FOX 2 KTVU – 10.13.2022

 A retired judge has filed a State Bar complaint against interim San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

The complaint alleges Jenkins violated State Bar rules and the Business and Professions code through acts of dishonesty. Retired Superior Court Judge Martha Goldin filed the complaint on Thursday. 

Judge Goldin is the author of the opinion in Doris Day v. Rosenthal, 170 CA 3^rd 1125 (1985), a leading opinion on legal ethics and attorney misconduct and Westinghouse Electric Corporation, v. County of Los Angeles, 129 CA3rd 771 (1982), a case of first impression on stop notices.

The misconduct allegations are outlined in the complaint and date as far back as a case Jenkins prosecuted in 2014 as the assistant district attorney. In 2016, a San Francisco appellate court reversed convictions in the case as a result of prosecutorial misconduct by Jenkins.

A press release from The Wren Collective, a research and policy group dedicated to criminal justice reform, said, “the appellate court found that Jenkins was guilty of a form of misconduct known as Griffin error, when a prosecutor violates constitutional protections by improperly commenting to the jury on a defendant’s failure to testify.”

The claim accuses Jenkins of lying last month during a district attorney candidate debate when she said, “I want to make clear first and foremost never have I ever been found to have committed misconduct in a case.”

Aside from allegations of lying, the claim accuses Jenkins of false and misleading representations, criminal conduct, and deceptive claims of attorney-client privilege.  

The basis for some other allegations stem from Jenkins’ work as a consultant for nonprofit groups closely tied to the recall of former D.A. Chesa Boudin, as was first reported in The San Francisco Standard.

The complaint alleges Jenkins’ portrayal of her employment by the nonprofits with connections to what she claimed was a volunteer position has been, “dishonest, deceitful, and either reckless or intentional misrepresentations.”

Part of the complaint states, “If Jenkins was a paid campaign consultant, she did not register as such.” The complaint lists this failure to register as a violation of San Francisco’s Campaign and Conduct Code, further stating it is a criminal misdemeanor.

https://www.ktvu.com/news/state-bar-complaint-filed-against-sf-interim-d-a-jenkins-by-retired-judge

Lee Heidhues 10.12.2022

Long before Progressive San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin was politically lynched by the MAGA crowd and replaced by the Law and Order ethically challenged political animal Brooke Jenkins……

There was Kamala Harris who now sits just a heartbeat away from the Presidency.

To say her views on Marijuana legalization, in a City where Weed was de facto legal decades before it became Legal, are backwards and antiquated is an understatement.  

As the SF Gate notes,  our one time District Attorney, who rode to office on a scorched earth campaign against Progressive DA Terence Hallinan….

Sound familiar (at least she was elected)….

VP Kamala is now spokesperson to carry out President Biden’s recent Order expunging several thousand marijuana possession convictions at the Federal level.

Pass that  Joint to Kamala.

Excerpted from SF Gate 10.12.2022

It seems Vice President Kamala Harris has been tapped by the Biden administration to be its standard-bearer on the issue of marijuana following the president’s executive order last week that pardoned all those convicted of simple possession under federal law, and that choice couldn’t make any less sense.

Imagine that you’re one of the nearly 2,000 people in San Francisco who was convicted of a marijuana charge under Harris. Maybe you’ve had trouble finding and keeping a job, or maybe you’re a student who was denied financial aid for college. Then, you turn on the TV to see Harris laughing alongside Seth Meyers and saying, “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” You probably want to be hearing from someone other than the “fun aunt” version of Harris on this issue.

Harris appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Monday, where she said, “Nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed.” It was the exact same line, delivered with the exact same cadence, that she gave when addressing a crowd at an abortion rights rally in Texas on Saturday. It’s clear that she’s been prepped with talking points — perhaps related to accusations that she has trouble articulating thoughts off-the-cuff — but putting the cringey I’m-a-hip-older-person vibe aside for a moment, it must be understood that she has very limited credibility on this issue.

She actively fought a 2010 ballot measure that would have legalized recreational cannabis in the state, going so far as to author an opposing argument in the California voter guide. Then, when she was running for a second term as the state’s attorney general in 2014, she replied to a question about her opponent’s support for legalizing recreational marijuana use by saying, “He’s entitled to his opinion,” and then laughing.

https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/kamala-harris-stop-talking-marijuana-17504856.php

Lee Heidhues 10.11.2022

San Francisco’s hometown newspaper, the Hearst owned Chronicle, is taking a gratuitous victory lap while taking a shot at the latest political scandal roiling La La Land down south.

In short, three Los Angeles City Council members and a labor leader were taped, during a private meeting discussing the City’s redistricting, disparaging Blacks and Asians.

The recording was a conversation among Nury Martinez, the Council president; Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, council members; and Ron Herrera, the leader of the powerful Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, that took place in October 2021 during intense negotiations over City Council redistricting.

Ms. Martinez is heard comparing the Black child of Councilman Mike Bonin to a “changuito,” Spanish for little monkey, and joking with Mr. de León that Mr. Bonin carries the child around like a designer handbag. Those were only two of the offensive comments in the 80-minute recording, which included ugly remarks describing recent migrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca and disparaging remarks about the trustworthiness of white liberals and a councilwoman who is of South Asian descent. (excerpted from The New York Times 10.11.2022)

While it’s all well and good to splash this scandal across the front page, San Francisco cannot be proud of its own political goings on.

The following paragraph buried in the Chronicle Op Ed succinctly takes down San Francisco.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 10.11.2022

By – Justin Ray a Los Angeles-based journalist who has published works for the Los Angeles Times and Columbia Journalism Review.

If you live in San Francisco, you may believe your political scene is the most volatile in the state and there are understandable reasons why. Mayor London Breed is embroiled in a scandal following the revelation that she has requested her appointees to sign undated letters of resignation.

There have been numerous other incidents among city leadership, including the bitter recall of District Attorney Chesa Boudin.

And the revelation that his successor Brooke Jenkins was paid more than $140,000 by a nonprofit organization linked to his recall. And Breed is no stranger to controversies herself, like her attending a party at upscale restaurant French Laundry in the throes of a pandemic and $23,000 in fines related to her ethics violations.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/los-angeles-california-city-council-17502830.php

Lee Heidhues 10.11.2022

The Power of the Media.

The podcast ‘Serial’ shone a light on the Justice system in America and how one man, then a teenager was arrested, charged and convicted of a murder.

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

Adnan Syed spent 23 years in jail and person for a crime for which there was always a reasonable doubt he did not commit. Now, he is a free man.

Sadly, he can never have back the lost years of his life.

New York Times 10.11.2022

Baltimore prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the charges against Adnan Syed, who was released last month after he spent 23 years in prison fighting a murder conviction that was chronicled in the hit podcast “Serial,” officials said.

Emily Witty, a spokeswoman for the Baltimore state’s attorney’s office, said in an email on Tuesday that the case had been dropped.

On Sept. 19, Judge Melissa M. Phinn of Baltimore City Circuit Court vacated Mr. Syed’s conviction on charges that he murdered his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, in 1999. Prosecutors had 30 days from that date to decide if they would proceed with a new trial or drop the charges.