Tag: politics

Xenophobic Trump. 2025 will be a terrible year for Arab Americans

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 1.1.2025

It’s going to be a difficult year for Arab Americans as extremist Donald Trump returns to power with his xenophobic mind set. One place where his racist policies will be on abhorrent display will be those sycophants he places in power to implement his warped governance.

Israel will be given a free reign to continues its murderous assault against the Palestinian children, women and men of Gaza facilitated by outgoing President Joe Biden.

Bibi Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are responsible for the wanton slaughter of over 45,000 Palestinians. Killed in retaliation with American supplied weaponry since the Hamas attack on Israel killing over 1200 on October 7, 2023.

A Palestinian youth faces down The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 1.1.2025

Trump’s pro-Israel picks for key positions

There are voices like Khalid Turaani’s, an Arab American activist, warning that the situation for people in Gaza and Arabs in the United States would only get worse under Trump.

Turaani cited the selection of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee as the ambassador to Israel. Huckabee once said, “There’s really no such thing as a Palestinian.”

Protests against Trump’s ban on travelers from Muslim-majority countries took place in airports around the United States

“When he says there’s no such thing as Palestinians, when people don’t exist, then there’s no genocide,” said Turaani. “You cannot kill or genocide a group of people who do not exist. I think throughout history when people commit genocide, they deny that those people existed.”

Israeli Defense Forces on the march 1970. Jerusalem – Postcard purchased by blogger Lee during a 3-month adventure in Israel/Palestine. Much of the time spent living in a hotel in the Old City (Arab section of Jerusalem)

Turaani said he was also concerned about Trump selecting New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be the US ambassador to the United Nations.

These are the type people Trump and his xenophobic flunkies seek to humiliate and displace.

A childhood spent in a camp for Palestinian refugees in Syria has made Turaani wary of Stefanik’s stance toward the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Stefanik has repeatedly expressed support for Israel’s decision to defund UNRWA and called on the US to do the same, as Trump did in 2018.

Uum Kulthum. Icon in the Arab world and inspiration for Palestinian people. During his stay in Jerusalem blogger Lee listened to Uum Kulthum while drinking tea in the Old City cafes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umm_Kulthum

https://www.dw.com/en/arab-americans-eye-trumps-pro-israel-government-picks/a-71062610

Liz ready for the Women’s March in San Francisco to protest Trump’s inaugural in 2017

“Elon Musk is equipped with unbridled communication power.”

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues – New Year’s Eve 12.31.2024

Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) boss Alice Weidel has caught herself a big fish, Elon Musk, as she seeks to become the nation’s Chancellor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Weidel

The world’s richest man Elon Musk is swimming happily in stormy German political waters. Insulting the President of the country. Elon Musk has added German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to the list of politicians he has insulted in Europe. He also announced a plan to speak to the leader of the country’s far-right AfD.

Continuing his extremist trolling and interference in German affairs while he blankets the planet on his @X platform

Injecting himself into the German electoral process campaigning for the far right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) as the February 23, 2025 election nears.

Plans: online Musk-AfD boss Alice Weidel meeting

The spokesman for the leader of the AfD, Alice Weidel, said concrete plans were underway for an online meeting between her and Elon Musk.

A deceptively cheery anodyne New Year’s greeting from AfD boss Alice Weidel

That came after Musk himself suggested a meeting between the two via X’s Spaces chat feature. “Wait until Alice and I do an X Spaces conversation. They will lose their minds,” he posted. 

Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on Tuesday hit out at Musk and his attempts to influence the German elections.

“Elon Musk is equipped with billions and unbridled communication power,” Habeck wrote on X. “His call for the AfD is systematic: He wants to weaken Europe. Power must be limited: no business model must destroy our democracy. Europe must now use its power consistently.”

Concerns are also growing in the UK as Musk takes an increasingly close interest in Britain’s political scene, aligning himself with hard-right lawmaker Nigel Farage.

Musk has busied himself with taking aim at the UK’s center-left Labour government, launching a series of blistering comments against British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

AfD boss campaigns on the slogan “Time for Deutschland.” For whose Germany is it time??

https://www.dw.com/en/elon-musk-insults-german-president-frank-walter-steinmeier/a-71191756

Elon Musk support for German far-right (AfD) unleashes political storm

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.30.2024

Elon Musk is Donald Trump’s Rasputin.

Elon Musk and friend

Yet the somnolent American public, save for the usual Leftie suspects, is silent.

Perhaps the American public, as usual asleep at the political wheel, is in such a funk after the election it is bowing to the world’s richest man. A staunch make no bones about it reactionary Musk seeks to ingratiate himself into the Project 2025 vibe of the lying convicted felon Donald Trump. As he prepares for his second destruction derby against the foundations of America.

One can look to Europe and quickly realize Elon Musk is not getting the free ride he seeks in Germany as he advocates for far-right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in the upcoming February 23, 2025 national election.

AfD recruiting poster

Excerpted from Deutsche Welle 12.30.2024

US tech billionaire Elon Musk on Saturday reaffirmed his backing for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in an op-ed published by the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. This came just days after he had posted on his social network X that “only the AfD can save Germany.”

The chairman of the DJV journalists’ association, Mika Beuster, warned editorial offices not to allow themselves to be instrumentalized in the run-up to the general election but to handle guest contributions with care.

“German media must not allow themselves to be misused as mouthpieces for autocrats and their friends,” he said

Musk wrote that the far-right populist party was “the last spark of hope for the country,” which he claimed was teetering on the brink of “economic and cultural collapse,” and that only it could revive the German economy and prevent a loss of identity through a “controlled immigration policy.“

“To those who condemn the AfD as extremist, I say: don’t let the label attached to it put you off,” Musk wrote. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!”

In the article, published in German, Musk also praised the AfD’s approach to regulation, taxes, and market deregulation.

Although it was published as an op-ed by designated Welt editor-in-chief Jan Philipp Burgard, the decision to print it was met with protests by Welt editorial staff and led to the resignation of a senior editor at Welt am Sonntag.

Friedrich Merz, the center-right candidate for chancellor in Germany’s February 23 legislative election, lashed out at Musk, calling the article unprecedented interference that was “intrusive and pretentious.”

The AfD is currently polling at 20% and in second place behind Merz’s conservative alliance of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Christian Social Union (CSU).

The chairman of the center-left Social Democrats (SPD), Lars Klingbeil, accused Musk of wanting to “plunge Germany into chaos” and compared him to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

“Both want to influence our elections and specifically support the AfD’s enemies of democracy,” Klingbeil said.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-election-why-elon-musk-is-promoting-the-far-right-afd/a-71186763

Trump is little more than Musk’s preening German AfD wannabe

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.22.2024

Few if any of the learned WSJ editorial page audience are admitting that Trump is nothing more than a preening facsimile, akin to such extremist political parties as German the Alternative for Deutschland(AfD).

STOP THE AfD – photo Lee Heidhues

Elon Musk’s favorite German political party. The extremist far right organization currently polling at 19 percent in national polls. Prior to the February 23, 2025 election. Which was called following the collapse of the coalition government in Berlin. None of the German political parties will join in a coalition with the AfD.

It is beyond reprehensible that this Guy is going to be President, again. Look at Brazil where his soul buddy Jair Bolsonaro, who tried his own January 6th insurrection.

He’s been barred by Brazil’s judiciary from seeking the presidency for eight years for his abuse of power. Good luck with that in allegedly democratic America. Where the Republicans, the Courts and, yes, the Democrats bow down before this not so closet racist fascist.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close adviser to President-elect Donald J. Trump, on Friday December 20th endorsed Germany’s far-right party, a group with ties to neo-Nazis whose youth wing has been classified as “confirmed extremist” by German domestic intelligence.

Partners in far right extremism. Elon Musk and AfD leader Alice Weidel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Weidel

“Only the AfD can save Germany,” Mr. Musk posted to X, referring to the anti-immigrant party, the Alternative for Germany, by its German initials.

In doing so, he is wading into German politics at a moment of acute turmoil, and at the very same time that he has wielded his influence in Washington to help blow up a bipartisan spending deal that was meant to avoid a government shutdown over Christmas. The German government recently collapsed, resulting in early elections, which are planned for next year.

German politicians criticize Elon Musk backing for far-right AfD

Anton Hofreiter from the Green Party called the AfD “traitors bought by billionaires” and “a band of fascists who have not only been bought by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin but are now being supported by a multi-billionaire-turned-right-wing-extremist.”

Asked about Musk’s comments, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “Freedom of expression also applies to multi-billionaires, but it also means that you’re allowed to say things which aren’t correct, and aren’t good political advice.”

Other German lawmakers from across the political spectrum criticized both Musk’s post and Weidel’s response, slamming “interference” and insisting that no other party will form a government with “fascists bought by billionaires.”

https://www.dw.com/en/german-politicians-criticize-musk-backing-for-far-right-afd/a-71117414

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather – He covered the White House for decades and speaks authoritatively

Judge for yourself

Trump says “I don’t care. America comes first.”as Syria implodes

SAN FRANCISCO

Lee Heidhues 12.7.2024

It’s a scary thought that Donald Trump will hold the fate of the planet in his hands, again.

Donald Trump’s the ultimate transactional guy. His understanding of global events only goes so far as his bank account. If there’s nothing in it for him his attitude is “I don’t care.”

If this were an episode of The Apprentice, Trump would be telling Syrian strongman Bashar Al Assad, “You’re fired!!!” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bashar_al-Assad

I guess Trump never wanted to built a resort or casino in Damascus.

Trump may mouth the words “America First.” The reality In Trump’s world is, “Me, First.”

Excerpted from Associated Press 12.7.2024

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. military should stay out of the fast-escalating conflict in Syria, where a dramatic rebel offensive reached the capital and threatened the rule of Syria’s Russian- and Iranian-allied president. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT,” Trump declared on social media.

Trump’s comments on the dramatic rebel push were his first since Syrian rebels launched their advance late last month. They came while he was in Paris for the reopening of the Notre Dame cathedral.

In his post, Trump said Bashar Al Assad did not deserve U.S. support to stay in power.

As world leaders watched the stunning rebel advance, with its potential to alter the balance of power in the Middle East, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser separately stressed that the Biden administration had no intention of intervening.

Trump says US should stay out of fighting in Syria as opposition forces occupy Damascus and Bashar Al Assad flees the country

“The United States is not going to … militarily dive into the middle of a Syrian civil war,” Jake Sullivan told an audience in California.

Sullivan said the U.S. would keep acting as necessary to keep the Islamic State — a violently anti-Western extremist group not known to be involved in the offensive but with sleeper cells in Syria’s deserts — from exploiting openings presented by the fighting.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-syria-biden-administration-rebels-assad-72015f143aa6b40bb62c09724c71e34f

Iconic singer Umm Kulthum

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