Lee Heidhues 2.20.2022

Any San Franciscan with minimally sharp political antennae knows where Mayor London Breed stands on the upcoming Recall attempt of DA Chesa Boudin.

Why this political charade continues is something only the Mayor’s handlers and gatekeepers know for sure.  One need look no further than Andrea Shorter, the Myrmidon who spearheaded the mercenary signature gathering campaign spending $1,400,000 of heavy Right Wing money to force this attempted political coup d’etat.

The mainstream media is derelict in allowing Mayor Breed to remain above the fray when it needs to be doing its job.

The mainstream needs to wake up and shine a spotlight on Mayor Breed and the Police Officers Association waging war to destroy the District Attorney and his effort to bring Progressive Justice to this town.

A town which sadly is “Progressive” in name only.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 2.20.2022

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Sunday that last week’s school board recall election was mainly a result of parents frustrated about a slow reopening of in-person instruction during the COVID pandemic.

In a Sunday interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Breed told host Chuck Todd the school board recall election that ousted three members on Tuesday was not a “Democratic, Republican issue” but instead about parents who were upset that the board did not focus of bringing students back into classrooms.

Todd also asked Breed whether she expects there will be “a crossover” from voter frustration in last week’s school board election to District Attorney Chesa Boudin’s recall election on June 7, and whether she will support the recall. Breed backed the effort to recall the three school board members.

“I haven’t made a decision one way or another about the (D.A.) recall,” the mayor said. “I’m still debating on whether or not I will, but ultimately what I want to be able to do is make sure that the decision I make is not an impediment to my ability to work with the district attorney in keeping San Franciscans safe.”

Breed answered that “people are definitely frustrated about accountability” in their “concerns around crime” in the city, but she didn’t draw a direct line between the two elections.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/We-failed-our-children-SF-Mayor-London-16933795.php

 

President Biden has named a number of women to the Federal Judiciary.

Going unnoticed is the fact that Biden has appointed women to high places in managing the environment. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is a native American. She was a Congresswoman from New Mexico prior to her confirmation by the Senate.

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

 Tracy Stone-Manning is in charge of the Bureau of Land Management.

Now there is another woman to join the list of environmental stewards in the Biden Administration.  Martha Williams is the second woman from Montana  going to Washington in a high level environmental capacity as head of the Fish and Wildlife Service.

https://www.fws.gov/

Montana Free Press 2.18.2022

The U.S. Senate confirmed Martha Williams to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a voice vote late yesterday evening.

Williams was the first woman to lead Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks under former Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, a post she held from 2017 to 2020. There she oversaw management of nearly 700 employees and more than 50 state parks. During her time with FWP, which also included a legal career with the agency from 1998 to 2011, she worked on controversial issues that are resurfacing in her new post, including wolf, bison and grizzly management.

Williams was appointed to become the federal agency’s principal deputy director in January 2021. In October, President Joe Biden announced he was nominating her to take the agency’s top post, which oversees 567 national wildlife refuges and about 8,000 employees. USFWS also administers the Endangered Species Act and manages and distributes more than $1 billion to states, tribes and territories for fish and wildlife conservation.

Williams is the second Montana woman to assume a high-profile leadership role in President Biden’s Interior Department. Missoulian Tracy Stone-Manning took the helm of the Bureau of Land Management last September after a lengthy and contentious confirmation process. 

In an emailed statement about Williams’ confirmation, Montana Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, said the agency is in good hands.

“Martha Williams’ confirmation to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a victory for Montana, our outdoor economy and heritage, and for every American that happens to care about our nation’s greatest natural treasures: our public lands and wildlife.”

MONTANA SEN. JON TESTER

“Martha Williams’ confirmation to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a victory for Montana, our outdoor economy and heritage, and for every American that cares about what happens to our nation’s greatest natural treasures: our public lands and wildlife,” he said. “As a Montanan and nonpartisan wildlife expert, Martha has time and again demonstrated her ability to bring sportsmen and conservationists together to find collaborative, science-based solutions to tough problems.”

Steve Daines, Tester’s Republican counterpart in the U.S. Senate, also supported Williams’ nomination. In a Nov. 16 letter to the Senate committee that considered her nomination ahead of the full-chamber vote, Daines celebrated Williams’ dedication to public service and understanding of “the importance of coordinating with state wildlife agencies in wildlife management and policy decisions,” as well as her appreciation for “Montanans’ concerns with top-down over-reaching policies and frustrations with bureaucratic regulatory challenges.”

Williams’ swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place in the coming weeks.

https://montanafreepress.org/2022/02/18/senate-confirms-martha-williams-usfws/

The mystery surrounding betrayal of Anne Frank and her family has been an unanswered question since 1944 when their Amsterdam hideout was raided by the Gestapo.

The diary Anne Frank kept during her family’s period of hiding from the Nazis has become a best seller and classic story of personal human suffering.

Now the story of who betrayed the Frank family has generated a controversy of its own.  This is a tragedy which has no end.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 2.17.2022

The director of HarperCollins Germany, Jürgen Welte, has justified the decision to publish Rosemary Sullivan’s “The Betrayal of Anne Frank” by saying that they want to enable “all interested readers […] to form their own independent opinion of the book and the associated media discussion,” he said in a press statement.

They are currently working on a “corrected, supplemented and annotated German-language edition,” the publisher added.

“The Betrayal of Anne Frank” was published in several languages in January.  In it, author Rosemary Sullivan lays out the investigative work of a Dutch-American team led by former FBI agent Vince Pankoke.

The team had claimed in February to have discovered who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Gestapo in Amsterdam during World War II. A Jewish notary was named as the guilty party, with “85% probability.” The presumption of innocence did not seem to apply in this case.

Critics found the book to be written in the style of a true-crime story, and the investigators’ actions appear speculative and dubious.

The book caused heated debate in the Netherlands. Historians found numerous factual errors. Jewish associations also sharply criticized the book’s publication.

In response, the Dutch publisher Ambo Anthos apologized for the publication and announced that it would not publish a second edition until the team of investigators had answered the questions raised.

Anne Frank and her family were murdered in Nazi concentration camps in 1945. Only her father Otto survived, and after the war, he published Anne’s diary, which has since reached millions of readers around the world.

Following the controversy surrounding the book upon its publication in English and other languages, HarperCollins Germany decided to postpone the publication of the German-language version. Initially planned for March, the publisher has yet to announce a new publication date.

Welte’s written statement goes on to say that it will not comment on remaining questions “until the book’s publication date, which has not yet been set.”

https://www.dw.com/en/disputed-anne-frank-book-to-be-published-in-german/a-60814773

Lee Heidhues 2.14.2022

Mayor London Breed is the Chief Executive of San Francisco. She needs to stop casting blame and making excuses for the cops. Change comes from the top and The Mayor needs to step in, step up and shake up the SFPD.

The San Francisco Police Department continues to be mired in incompetence and questionable activities which call into question the judgment of Chief Bill Scott.

The latest revelation that DNA of sexual assault survivors is being used to finger suspects in totally unrelated crimes speaks volumes about the SFPD culture, attitudes and policies. This disturbing news comes on the heels of Chief Scott’s unilateral cancellation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the District Attorney who has been responsible for investigating SFPD use of force incidents.

This decision by the Chief was nothing more than a cave in to the powerful Police Officers Assocation which has been a vicious foe of the District Attorney going back to his time as a candidate in 2019.

The Chief has forgotten he works for The People. Not the POA.

The SFPD is being deservedly hammered for its incompetence, sloppiness, laziness and ineptitude in responding to citizen complaints of crime even when some of these unlawful events are occurring before their very eyes.

The SFPD is relying on a lame excuse that the cops don’t want to do their job because prosecutions aren’t being pursued. That just doesn’t cut it and the time for the cops to blame the DA for their incompetence should not be permitted.

Today’s story of this DNA abuse is just the latest sorry tale coming to light.

Excerpted from The Standard 2.14.2022

District Attorney Chesa Boudin on Monday accused San Francisco police of using DNA evidence collected from sexual assault survivors to identify suspects in unrelated crimes, a practice he said raised legal and ethical issues and could dissuade reporting of sex crimes.

Boudin said he learned of the practice several days ago after an assistant district attorney discovered police allegedly used DNA evidence collected from a sexual assault survivor years ago to identify and arrest her in connection with a recent, unrelated property crime.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen said Monday that she asked the City Attorney’s Office to draft legislation prohibiting police or any other city agency from using DNA evidence obtained from a sexual assault victim for any other purpose than investigating their case.

“It never occurred to me in my wildest dreams that DNA evidence from a rape kit would be used against the victim,” Ronen said. “We need to stop this practice immediately.”

Boudin said the practice could compromise his ability to prosecute cases by violating the unreasonable search and seizure rules of the Fourth Amendment as well as Marsy’s Law, the state statute meant to protect the legal rights of crime victims.

Boudin announced his discovery Monday amidst an ongoing conflict with Police Chief Bill Scott, which escalated this month with the trial of a police officer accused of using excessive force. The two law enforcement officials accused each other of violating an agreement that makes the District Attorney’s Office the lead investigator of all police shootings, in-custody deaths and other serious uses-of-force in San Francisco.

In a statement, Chief Scott did not confirm the allegations and instead raised the possibility that the suspect “may have been identified through a DNA hit in a non-victim DNA database.” He said that the department’s “existing DNA collection policies have been legally vetted and conform with state and national forensic standards.”

“We must never create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police,” Scott said.

DA Boudin Accuses Police of Using DNA from Sexual Assault Survivors to Probe Unrelated Crimes

The presence of Muni minders on San Francisco public transit could be in for legal scrutiny if a case before the State of Washington Supreme Court rules in favor of a transit rider.

The Justices is the northwestern State are considering whether the transit minders are engaging in an unreasonable search and seizsure when they shakedown passengers and ask for proof of payment. The Maryland Supreme Court in a similiar case sided with the transit passenger.

Oral arguments are being held on February 17.

Excerpted from Seattles Times 1.26.2022

On March 18, 2018, three Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies boarded a bus in Everett and asked Zachery Meredith to prove he’d paid for his ride. That act of fare enforcement violated his civil rights under the state constitution, Meredith’s lawyer argues.

The argument is similar to one made in Maryland last year. The state’s highest court there sided with the train passenger, concluding his Fourth Amendment right against a suspicionless search and seizure had been violated when the agency conducted a “fare sweep.”

After being rejected by lower courts, the argument has now found its way to the Washington state Supreme Court, where the justices will weigh whether fare enforcement represents an unconstitutional incursion into passengers’ right to privacy.

If Meredith’s case is successful, transit agencies could be stripped of the authority, granted by the state, to pace the aisles of trains and buses, querying riders for evidence they’d tapped their ORCA cards or bought a ticket.

The implications for Sound Transit, King County Metro’s RapidRide routes, Snohomish County’s Community Transit and other agencies that employ fare enforcement officers are significant.

“There are statewide ramifications for transit in Washington state that will flow from this case,” said Nathan Sugg, a deputy prosecuting attorney with the Snohomish County Prosecutor’s Office who’s representing the state in the case.

But for Tobin Klusty, attorney for Meredith, a rejection of the case — which is being supported by the ACLU of Washington, King County Department of Public Defense and the Washington Defender Association — would signal an endorsement of unlawful search and seizures by law enforcement officers. The government “could conduct investigations without any reasonable suspicion or any suspicion of unlawful activities simply because they want to make sure the law’s being enforced,” he said.

 

Proof of payment

The question at the center of the case is not whether it’s legal to charge for public transit but whether it’s legal to ask for proof of payment.

In district court in Everett, Meredith’s lawyer sought to have the statement to officers and the evidence collected from the fingerprint device suppressed, arguing that the act of officers asking for proof of payment constituted an unlawful seizure. The court denied the motion and a jury sided against Meredith. The conviction was upheld in Superior Court.

Meredith then brought his case to the Division I Court of Appeals. The court also rejected the argument, saying that, by choosing to board the bus, Meredith had consented to the seizure.

Klusty then petitioned the Supreme Court to take the case. Oral arguments are scheduled for Feb. 17.

Legal arguments

Meredith’s case relies on whether fare enforcement officers asking for proof of payment constitutes a warrantless seizure or restraint. Klusty argues yes because, in that moment, Meredith had no choice but to engage with the officers.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/washington-state-supreme-court-to-hear-case-arguing-fare-enforcement-is-unconstitutional/

Time has Come Today to make JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park a permanent People’s Park devoid of polluting and climate killing cars.

On a gorgeous Saturday morning hundreds of people of all ages gathered to express an unwavering commitment that this movement will not be denied. Elected officials and City officials along with representatives from various NGOs participated in a show of solidarity.

The crowd was entertained by Lion Dancers to celebrate the Lunar New Year.

San Francisco Supervisors Matt Haney and Rafael Mandelman spoke up for a Car Free JFK Drive.

David Miles, the Mayor of Golden Gate Park, who has worked on this project for decades, exhorted the crowd.

Ruth Malone, a Health Professional, talked about the physical danger cars pose to people. She has witnessed the carnage as a long time medical professional and is outspoken in her support of a car free JFK Drive.

During the past year there have been rallies with increasing numbers of participants. Today’s was by far the largest and most enthusiatic.

With the recent Court decision turning back a group of litigants who sought an immediate Order to bring back climate killing cars rally goers were enthused.

People of all ages throughout San Francisco show their support for car free JFK Drive

This is a People power movement and it will prevail.

Now the push is on to convince San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors to look forward and make this City a beacon for the Planet in the time of climate change.

Lee Heidhues 2.10.2022

The absurd and vitriolic din that spoiled and entitled motorists have dumped on and polluted Social Media with for the past year has received a big Time Out from the San Francisco Superior Court.

The past year I, personally, have been attacked, vilified and pilloried on various social media platforms for my advocacy for a car free Great Walkway at the Pacific Ocean and JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park.

Along with thousands of other environmentally conscious citizens of all ages, genders, and physical abilities we have continued to stand and fight for our beliefs that cars are not first and foremost.

One Court victory is nice and the entitled motorists may be smarting tonight. But they are relentless in their goal to maintain their hegemony over the roadways.

Make no mistake we will continue to wage this fight until the goal is attained.

People and the environment come first.

Those spoiled petulant motorists I labeled The Entitled, dissatisfied with the government effort to find an equitable solution, have been jumping up and down, screaming, yelling threatening like spoiled children.

The Entitled have besieged bureaucrats, elected officials and NGOs. When surveys are conducted and The Entitled don’t like the results The Entitled claim the methodology is unfair and undemocratic.

So. What did The Entitled do? The All American thing. The Entitled hired a Redwood City attorney and sued The City and County of San Francisco. Next, not wanting to go through the entire litigation process, The Entitled rolled the legal dice and sought an injunction to order cars back onto car free areas while the litigation proceeds.

Judge Richard Ulmer ruled against The Entitled.

The Entitled lost. Now The Entitled can DEAL WITH IT!!!!

Excerpted from The San Francisco Chronicle 2.10.2022

A San Francisco Superior Court judge has ruled that the city is within its authority to have closed west side roadways, including the Great Highway, during the pandemic — quashing an effort by a group of residents to immediately reopen the highway to car traffic seven days a week.

In his ruling, Judge Richard B. Ulmer expressed doubt that the plaintiffs who filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to reopen the roadway to cars presented a convincing case capable of winning a trial.

He also said the courts should not be the ones to settle one of the city’s most caustic debates, if city leaders are already planning to make a decision on the matter.

City officials responded to Ulmer’s ruling ecstatically.

“One of the pandemic’s few bright spots was our city’s willingness to try out bold new ideas, such as allowing safe, healthy recreation on streets previously open to vehicles,” Phil Ginsburg, general manager of the Recreation and Park Department, said in a statement.

“JFK Drive and the Great Highway became respites from isolation, places to connect with each other and improve our mental and physical health,” Ginsburg said. “I’m pleased these streets will continue to be a source of joy while the City continues to engage with the public on their long-term future.”

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/S-F-judge-quashes-effort-to-reopen-Great-Highway-16848990.php

Liz and Lee Heidhues 2.9.2022

Tuesday evening we arrived at Chase Center in high anticipation of seeing the Icelandic icon Björk for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Liz and I went through the obligatory myriad security checks. Once inside we approached an Usher to ask directions to our seats. Instead of directions the Usher, Titus, informed us he was upgrading our seats to sit on the main floor of Chase Center in close proximity to the stage. Amazing! To receive this prize.

 

Our seats were in Row 1 of a raised section looking directly onto the stage and behind Bjőrk’s three-man technical crew with multiple screens and sound systems. It was not a sellout in all likelihood to the requirement to present proof of vaxxed and boosted.  A good-sized crowd waited in anticipation of the Icelandic muse.  The show started 30 minutes late to allow everyone to be seated. It was worth the wait.

The choreography, the visuals, the music …. Bjőrk.

It is impossible for me, technologically challenged, to describe the visuals, the acoustics, the incredible light acrobatics, the music and Bjőrk. It all synched.

Prior to the Performance, Bjőrk made it abundantly clear to the audience that she preferred we refrain from taking pictures and video, reminding the crowd it is very distracting. Bjőrk’s fans respectfully complied.

The most stunning was a 10-minute piece one hour into the extravaganza. It was a jangled montage of bodies and colors, mostly blood red. It was Dystopian to say the least. A powerful musical creation about the destruction we are wreaking upon the planet, ourselves, and ancient pagan mythologies. The intertwining of the bodies blended themselves into the most bizarre tapestries.

Bjőrk was exotically dressed in a white feathered outfit and dazzling platform shoes as she stomped about the stage in her unique vocal style, whipping her collaboration of vocalists and instrumentalists into an unforgettable performance. The crowd went wild. The applause and screams of the audience rose and fell.

The Performance lasted 1 hour 45 minutes. The entire production was extremely disciplined.

I keep asking myself how Bjőrk has so much creativity. She projected onto the stage an appearance by Swedish 19 year old environmentalist Greta Thunberg who scolded the world – leaders and public – about the future of our endangered planet and the horrors of climate change.

It’s more than Music. Bjőrk. A musical conscience about the strange beauty of Planet Earth and what we are doing in our heedless path of its destruction.  

Accompanied  with her supporting cast of flutists, drummers, and vocalists Bjőrk’s concert “Cornucopia” was a memorable experience!

Björk Guðmundsdóttir OTF (/ˈbjɜːrk/ BYURK; Icelandic: [pjœr̥k ˈkvʏðmʏntsˌtouʰtɪr̥] (listen); born 21 November 1965) is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer and actress. Over her four-decade career, she has developed an eclectic musical style that draws on influences and genres including electronic, pop, jazz, experimental, trip hop, alternative, classical, and avant-garde music.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rk

Review: Climate dread fuels Björk’s dazzling ‘Cornucopia’ in San Francisco

 

Lee Heidhues 2.7.2022

The mainstream media in America continues to beat the drums of Russian aggression in Ukraine and rev up the Cold War anti-Communist hysteria which gripped the USA for decades.

It’s fair to say that American mainstream media is a government vehicle to promote the party line. Particularly when it comes to the Big Power rivalry.

The People’s World definitely has a pro Russian bias. It’s articles are laced with commentary about “Nazis” and “Fascists” governing Ukraine and the Russians are simply upholding their territorial integrity.

The following should be read with a dose of skepticism. Still, it’s worthwhile to read the party line from the other side.

Excerpted from People’s World 2.7.2022

Over the weekend, on Saturday, Americans heard on corporate news media reports that anonymous U.S. government officials confirmed the Russians are “70 percent ready” for an immediate invasion of Ukraine. Only a day later, they heard that the invasion, which had been described as almost a certainty, would come instead in late February when the ground in Ukraine is frozen enough so that Russian tanks won’t sink in the mud.

Also this weekend, more stories appeared in the media about Germany allegedly harming the “unity” of NATO. Germany has continued to refuse to forego Nord Stream 2, a pipeline designed to carry Russian gas to that country at a time when it needs the gas to meet its energy needs.

The new German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, leads a party that has often called for cooperation with rather than confrontation with Russia. Scholz met with President Joe Biden on Monday, who was expected to turn up the pressure on Germany to get in line with Washington’s war message.

The supposedly pending invasion, described as imminent since last December, still fails to materialize.

The media topped this with an even worse scare story coming from U.S. “intelligence”—a claim that as many as 50,000 Ukrainians could die and as many as one million could become refugees flooding into Poland and other countries in Europe when the Russians invade.

As for Ukrainians being killed, the reality ignored by the media is that tens of thousands have already died, but those have been killed by Ukrainian government forces and fascist organizations allied with it attacking people in Eastern Ukraine. There, separatists have been trying to establish two small autonomous republics under the terms of an agreement reached with the Ukrainian government in 2014. Ukraine has reneged on that treaty and instead continues its assaults in the east.

As for refugees, there have been tens of thousands of them already, but they’re not people fleeing a Russian invasion. Instead, they are Russian-speaking Ukrainians fleeing into Russia to escape the Ukrainian military and its allied fascist militias. In order to alleviate that refugee crisis and simultaneously help protect the population in the east, the Russian-speaking Ukrainians have been granted the Russian passports they have demanded. The hope is that this “escape route” will give them the safety and confidence to stay in their homes in Ukraine unless or until it becomes absolutely necessary.

U.S. continues to foment war hysteria in Ukraine crisis

 

Lee Heidhues 2.6.2022

The California city of Woodside is roaring with its policy that housing cannot be constructed where mountain lions have lived since long before humans occupied the land.

It’s too much to expect the Attorney General, who deals with paperwork and arcane legal doctrine, to admit that humans are destroying the planet and  the Woodside policy is in no way radical.  

Protecting endangered species makes sense in this era of climate change. It’s going to take a lot of tough love to realize limits must be set and the avaricious human race will be forced to change its ways.

I say let’s give a shout out to Woodside and its feline population.

Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle 2.6.2022

 A Jan. 27 memo by the Woodside town planner, Jackie Young, that declared that because the entire town is in a region that is habitat for mountain lions, Woodside would not issue any permits for SB9 construction pending a California Fish and Game Commission ruling as to whether the animal will be listed as an endangered species.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta sternly rebuked the Peninsula town of Woodside on Sunday for using its mountain lion population as an excuse to avoid SB9, the state law that lowers construction barriers in a bid to ease the housing crunch. He said his office would not “stand idly by” and let the policy go forward.

“Woodside declared its entire suburban town a mountain lion sanctuary in a deliberate and transparent attempt to avoid complying with SB9,” Bonta said in reference to the new law that allows lot splits and construction of accessory dwelling units to encourage construction.

“This memorandum is — quite clearly — contrary to the law, and ironically, contrary to the best interests of the mountain lions the town claims to want to protect,” Bonta stated.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/State-attorney-general-threatens-Woodside-for-16837159.php