Tag: politics

Pathetic SF motorists sink to the depths of Recall selfishness

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.3.2024

PATHETIC LOSERS ALL OF YOU.

My message to the group of San Francisco west side spoiled rotten entitled motorists who are starting a Recall petition against Supervisor Joel Engardio.

Sore losers. All of them. Unhappy and refusing to accept the fact that the voters Citywide approved Proposition K on November 5th, 2024 with a 55 percent majority.

The creation of a Great Highway Park along the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco.

“Your involvement means the world to us, and we’re so grateful to have you on board. Together, we can make a real difference for District 4 and all of San Francisco.” The so called “world” is that of the spoiled entitled motorists. A group of sore losers who refuse to accept the 55 percent YES Citywide vote on Prop K..If you are unhappy with Joel Engardio vote him out in 2026. This misguided waste of taxpayer money when the City is staring down an 800M deficit is selfishness personified.

Quoted Language in blue border from the Recall website  recallengardio.com and my response in the email seeking support for the Supervisor Joel Engardio Recall

Excerpted from the San Francisco Standard 12.3.2024

A group of Sunset residents is launching a campaign to recall Supervisor Joel Engardio over his support of Proposition K, the ballot measure to close part of the Great Highway that was successful in the November election but roundly rejected by his district constituents.

A recall petition letter, filed Tuesday morning with the Department of Elections, accuses Engardio of violating his “campaign promises of transparency” and betraying voters in his district. 

Prop. K passed with 55% of the vote. But on the west side, including Engardio’s District 4, which encompasses the stretch of the coastal roadway affected by the measure, 64% voted against it.

About 80 residents signed the initial recall petition. The website recallengardio.com went live Monday night.

Supervisors Joel Engardio and Myrna Melgar at Prop K – Great Highway Park rally – 7.27.2024

Photos – Lee Heidhues

Will Germany arrest Bibi? Indicted Netanyahu in cross-hairs of ICC.

SAN FRANCISCO
Lee Heidhues 11.24.2024

Benjamin Netanyahu has been indicted by the international war crimes tribunal. What will Germany do if The Israeli Prime Minister sets foot in Germany?

The German government is one of 124 countries who are members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.

Germany was perpetrator of the Holocaust which saw the extermination of six million, mostly Jews, during the Nazi reign of terror (1933-1945), Germany is in a tough position.

Since the Hamas terror attacks on Israel, which resulted in the deaths 1200 people, Netanyahu has led the ferocious reprisal against the people of Gaza. Nearly 50,000 people have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Supplied with American weapons.

There is no doubt unrepentant and compromising Netanyahu must be held accountable.

What will Germany do to hold the accused leader of the Jewish state liable for his war crimes?

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 11.22.2024

The German minority government made up of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens would definitely have preferred to avoid the issue, even if officials should have seen it coming a long time ago: The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

The court said it had found sufficient evidence that both were complicit in crimes against humanity and war crimes as part of Israel’s ongoing offensive in Gaza. The military campaign began after Gaza-based group Hamas’ October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. An arrest warrant was also issued for Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif with the same charges, even though Israel says it killed Deif in July.

Germany is regarded as one of the biggest supporters of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which began its activities in July 2002 and is supported by 124  states. However, it does not include globally important states such as the US or Russia.

What is important in the current case is that the court has no means of enforcing the arrest warrants itself. Member states — including Germany — are formally obliged to take wanted persons into custody should they cross their borders. 

https://www.dw.com/en/would-benjamin-netanyahu-be-arrested-in-germany/a-70863500

Reactionaries in Germany, Trump USA and my block in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 11.16.2024

A year ago we were in Berlin. Who would have thought that 12 months later Donald Trump would be preparing to move into the White House?

Liz and Lee in Potsdam, Germany November 2023

Who would have thought that the coalition government in Germany, which included the Green Party, would collapse?

German Green Party members in happier times

Well, it’s all happened. It’s fair to say arch conservative reactionaries are on the rise. It’s not a comforting thought for anyone who believes in personal freedom and the expectation to be free from the oppressors.

The reactionaries are rising in Germany, America and, perhaps, on my block in San Francisco. Where it pains me to write Trump got nearly 22 percent (179 votes) in my precinct.

Nobody is exempt from the rising tide of oppression.

US President Donald Trump holds up a Bible outside of St John’s Episcopal church across Lafayette Park in Washington, DC on June 1, 2020.

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 11.7.2024

What now?

That was the question of the day after the collapse of the so-called traffic-light coalition — named for the colors of the three parties forming it: the center-left Social Democrats (red), the neoliberal Free Democrats (yellow) and the environmentalist Greens.

One day after the dramatic break-up, Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s view was very different from that of the leaders of the center-right opposition, whose cooperation Scholz is seeking.

Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) – far right on the ascendency in Germany

The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavaria’s Christian Social Union (CSU) are not only the largest opposition bloc in the current parliament, they are also, according to current polls, most likely to emerge from new elections as the strongest force.

CDU leader Friedrich Merz who is tipped to become Germany’s next chancellor urged swift action. “The government no longer has a majority in the German Bundestag and so we have to call on the Federal Chancellor — with a unanimous decision by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group — to call a vote of confidence immediately, at the beginning of next week at the latest,” he said.

https://www.dw.com/en/political-wrangling-starts-after-german-coalition-collapse/a-70725678

Chronicle gives Breed’s hand picked DA Jenkins election day pass

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 11.3.2024

San Francisco’s newspaper The Chronicle did not endorse DA Brooke Jenkins for reelection.

It’s lame coverage of the race for chief law enforcement officer in San Francisco is a de facto affirmation for this craven political creature.

Jenkins was Foisted into office by Mayor London Breed, the behind the scenes leader of the the 2022 Recall of DA Chesa Boudin.

The Chronicle has totally ignored the campaign of Jenkins opponent Ryan Khojasteh; the former assistant district attorney in the Boudin administration.

https://ryanforsfda.com/meetryan/

In its November 2nd piece on the DA race the Chronicle skates over the ethical lapses of DA Brooke Jenkins. Perhaps the most telling being the fact Jenkins called herself a “volunteer” during the Recall campaign. Only after the Recall did she admit to having been paid over 150K by the Recall funders for her “volunteer” political chores.

London Breed’s handpicked DA Brooke Jenkins called herself a “volunteer” after she resigned from DA Chesa Boudin’s office to work for his Recall. After the fact Jenkins admitted she was paid over 150K

Jenkins has refused to debate Ryan Khojasteh. Treating him in the most cavalier manner, dismissing his candidacy with the comment, “I don’t take Ryan to be a serious contender.”

During the 2022 election there was a debate at San Francisco State University with her foes. When pushed by people in the audience Jenkins, accompanied by her security detail, stormed out in a snit.

Brooke Jenkins at SFSU debate in 2022 moments before she stormed out of the event.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/2024-san-francisco-da-race-19877563.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc2ZjaHJvbmljbGUuY29tL3BvbGl0aWNzL2FydGljbGUvMjAyNC1zYW4tZnJhbmNpc2NvLWRhLXJhY2UtMTk4Nzc1NjMucGhw&time=MTczMDY1NDY1MDc1OQ%3D%3D&rid=OTJhM2RhZWItNDMzYy00ZjMxLTgyMTQtZTU2ZjE2NDIzNDRl&sharecount=MQ%3D%3D

Surf’s up for Chesa Boudin. He’s All in for Great Highway Park

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 10.16.2024

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin, ousted from office in a disgraceful Recall in June 2022, is very alive and well. And doing just fine, thank you.

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

In June 2023, Boudin joined the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law as the founding executive director of the Criminal Law & Justice Center.

Today I learned that Chesa, a long time surfer in the waters off San Francisco’s Pacific Coast shoreline, has come out in favor of Proposition K. The November 5th ballot measure will create a permanent two mile car free space between Lincoln and Sloat.

POLITICS MAKES FOR STRANGE GREAT HIGHWAY PARK ALLIES

It’s no small irony that some of the very same individuals and political organizations who drove Chesa from office are major supporters of the Great Highway Park.

The law and order fueled opponents of DA Boudin joined with billionaire reactionaries and spent nearly 9M to oust this progressive prosecutor. It was a political lynching masterminded by Mayor London Breed and her cronies who wanted to rid themselves of someone not considered to be a City Hall insider.

These cretins drove an ethical and forward looking prosecutor from office. It was a pyrrhic victory. San Francisco is a sadder place without Chesa’s leadership.

San Francisco Standard-Power Play 10.16.2024
Surf’s up for Chesa Boudin

A message to Donald Trump. Your Election Denier gets 9 years in jail

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 10.3.2024

Where is the Judge who will mete out a sentence to convicted criminal, liar and election denier Donald Trump???

When will the election deniers learn that doing Trump’s dirty work for him is a fools mission which will result in jail time?

Colorado Judge Matthew Barrett sentences former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters to nine years in prison

Excerpted from Colorado Public Radio 10.3.2024

Tina Peters is headed to prison.

The former Mesa County Clerk was sentenced to nine years of incarceration, most of which will be served in the Colorado Department of Corrections.

Convicted election denier Tina Peters in happier days

Peters was found guilty of three felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation. She was also convicted of first-degree official misconduct, violation of duty, and failure to comply with an order from the Secretary of State, all misdemeanors.

Her sentencing was handed down in a packed courtroom Thursday that included supporters of Peters, several uniformed sheriff’s deputies and local elected officials. Interested parties also gathered just outside the courtroom, streaming the proceedings on their phones from feet away. 

Peters was found guilty by a jury of Mesa County residents in August on seven counts, including four felonies after she helped facilitate unauthorized access to county voting equipment that she was supposed to safeguard. 

The Election Official Who Tried to Prove “Stop the Steal”
How a group of conspiracy theorists enlisted a county clerk in Colorado to find evidence that the 2020 vote was rigged. The New Yorker – September 7, 2022 https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/the-election-official-who-tried-to-prove-stop-the-steal

During Thursday’s hearing, the prosecution argued that Peters should face the maximum penalty for each charge and said Peters should serve time in prison, noting her lack of contrition even after she was found guilty. 

“I don’t think anybody in this room would make a straight-faced argument that Mrs. Peters has demonstrated any respect for the law,” 21st Judicial District Attorney Dan Rubinstein said.  

https://www.cpr.org/2024/10/03/tina-peters-former-mesa-county-clerk-prison/