Tag: San Francisco

Speaking Friday night at the 92nd Street Y on New York’s Upper East Side, Ms. Harris covered many bases: her origin story from Oakland to Capitol Hill, what drew her into public life and the importance of voters “seeing themselves” reflected in the nation’s array of leaders. It was a broad, biography-heavy message — not a rigid ideological mantra — meant to lay groundwork for a national profile as she prepares a next possible step: joining a growing field of Democrats who will compete to take on President Trump. Though rated as one of the most liberal members of the Senate, Ms. Harris speaks less about Wall Street corruption and economic populism than do Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, two fellow senators who are also looking to a 2020 matchup against Mr. Trump. Ms. Harris has built a devoted following because of her Senate committee interrogations of Trump administration officials, but she remains disliked by some criminal justice activists who say her policies as California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney helped increase the state’s prison population. “I didn’t think someone from California could speak to all parts of the country,” Ms. Leegant said, “but I was impressed.” “She’s my first choice to be my first choice,” said Betsy Kagen, a 33-year-old film editor who attended the talk. The themes of Ms. Harris’s new book, “The Truths We Hold: An American Journey,” could help her stand out in a crowded Democratic presidential primary. “If she can get people to have that hope again, that’s what’s important. Ms. Warren, the Massachusetts senator who became the first major candidate to announce presidential intentions and head to Iowa, has drawn attention for challenging Democratic candidates to propose a more broad restructuring of American society that would address economic inequality. Ms. Warren rarely mentioned Mr. Trump on the campaign trail, and is pushing primary candidates to have a more policy-driven discussion. Sarah Weiss, a 33-year-old book editor, said she was disappointed by Ms. Harris’s talk, especially after the heavy policy focus of Ms. Warren’s trip to Iowa.

Public bank: Strategy session for organizing a San Francisco public bank. The Women’s Building, 3543 18th St., San Francisco. Politics 101: United Democratic Club presents San Francisco Politics 101, an introductory course on politics with a panel of experts and activists. 6:30 p.m., 3092 16th St., San Francisco. Sponsored by San Francisco Party for Socialism and Liberation. 2 p.m., San Mateo Public Library, 55 West Third Ave. More information is here. 9:30 a.m., Grace Cathedral, 1100 California St., San Francisco. Free; advance registration recommended. 6:30 p.m., World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200, San Francisco. Sponsored by Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley.

The Women’s Building, 3543 18th St., San Francisco. 6 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. 6:30 p.m., Manny’s, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. 6:30 p.m., 3092 16th St., San Francisco. Free; advance registration recommended. 6:30 p.m., World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200, San Francisco. Sponsored by Center for Latin American Studies at UC Berkeley. 6:30 p.m. 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. 6:30 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. 6:30 p.m. at Manny’s, 3092 16th St., San Francisco.

New Oakland council members: Inauguration celebration for new Oakland City Council members Nikki Fortunato Bas, Sheng Thao and Loren Taylor. $15 for members, $20 for nonmembers. 6 p.m., 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. 6:30 p.m., Manny’s, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. 6:30 p.m., 3092 16th St., San Francisco. 2 p.m., San Mateo Public Library, 55 West Third Ave. More information is here. Free; advance registration recommended. 6:30 p.m., World Affairs Auditorium, 312 Sutter St., Suite 200, San Francisco. $20 for non-Commonwealth Club members, $7 for students. 6:30 p.m. 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco.

Speaking of the White House, will Newsom have more photo ops with President Trump given his ex-wife is former San Francisco prosecutor Kimberly Guilfoyle? Will Newsom’s advocacy for LGBTQ issues and environmentalism endear him to national voters? —Tony Bravo Are ‘influencers’ here to stay? If you look at the numbers, the trend of brands using online “influencers” to help market products will continue next year. And 2019 will be the year the LGBTQ influencers truly arrive. Can San Francisco be far behind? Two magazines that took their content in a more social and political direction, Teen Vogue and Glamour, ceased their print publications this year and moved online. 2019 will likely see this continued melding of traditional style content with stories about politics and culture as publications continue to move online. (The writing is also on the wall at California-based Sunset magazine.) Society has changed since the foundings of these publications, many of which are over 100 years old.

The “yellow vest” riots in Paris should alarm Democrats, especially the new progressive governors in blue states like California. Fuel would be more expensive, people would drive less or more thoughtfully, and the problem would be solved, tout de suite! So now enters the next governor of California, champion of sanctuary cities and San Francisco’s drug-addicted sidewalk defecators, and a promiser of higher taxes, father of the California’s budget-busting single-payer health care proposal, building his own wall against climate change. California has highest marginal income tax rate of the states, 13.3 percent. And apparently not the top 1 percent who make 24 percent of the income and pay 48 percent of the taxes. But what about the other 59 percent, the middle-income earners who pay 50 percent of the taxes, high property and sales taxes, and are increasingly unable to buy a home or even afford rent? This was apparently because Newsom as governor promised to raise taxes even further. Veiled in a tax conversation during the gubernatorial campaign were promises of higher spending, a single-payer health plan and feigned indifference to repealing property tax limits. Gov.-elect Newsom clearly might think he has a mandate to continue a high spending progressive agenda, but when might the yellow vests come out? Just about the time Newsom is getting comfortable in the governor’s chair, people will be reminded that they cannot deduct those huge California income or property taxes on the federal tax forms.

“A border wall is immoral.” – Democrat Nancy Pelosi. The “why can’t we compromise” crowd is right, for example, about DACA and the Wall. But once Pelosi declared the Wall “immoral,” we left politics behind for the realm of religion. And for progressives, politics is their religion. A fixed border barrier isn’t good or bad. Is it a good way to reduce illegal border crossings? But “immoral”? And, once again, don’t blame Donald Trump. Or Pelosi or Schumer, for that matter. Blame the millions of their voters watching back home on TV … and cheering them on.

Upcoming political events in the Bay Area. 7 p.m., Jewish Community Center of San Francisco, 3200 California St. More information is here. 5 p.m., San Jose State University Student Union, Student Theater, 211 South Ninth St. More information is here. Jesse Jackson: A conversation with the founder and president of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club. 2 p.m., Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin St. More information is here. 2781 24th St., San Francisco. Palestinian holiday crafts bazaar: A crafts fair benefiting Palestinian children. Leah Daughtry and former Clinton administration official Minyon Moore are featured in a forum at the Commonwealth Club, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics.” $30 nonmembers, $8 students. 7 p.m., the Women's Building, 3543 18th St. No. 8, San Francisco.

Unwilling to leave political arguments for after Thanksgiving, Donald Trump returned to the offensive against judges and judgements he does not like, blaming both for “bedlam, chaos, injury and death”. “Whatever the scope of the president’s authority,” Jon Tigar wrote, “he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden.” Tigar, who was appointed by Barack Obama in 2012, is in fact a district judge based in San Francisco, under the jurisdiction of the ninth circuit but not a member of its appeals court. On Wednesday, in response to the president’s invective on the matter, Roberts issued a statement denying that judges’ opinions were shaped by the president who appointed them. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.” Trump tweeted then: “Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have ‘Obama judges’, and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the ninth circuit was indeed an ‘independent judiciary’, but if it is why are so many opposing view (on border and safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. We need protection and security – these rulings are making our country unsafe! The Washington Post reported that though ninth circuit rulings are often overturned by the supreme court, “studies show that over the past five years, three other [circuit courts] have a higher percentage of decisions overturned”. After vaunting his record on border security, the president called the ninth circuit “a big thorn in our side” and “a disgrace”. In 2017, he attacked the legitimacy of a Washington-state judge who ruled against his first travel ban against people from certain Muslim-majority countries.

Democrats might want to keep in mind something that humorist Will Rogers famously quipped, "I am not a member of any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.” Rogers’ sentiment echoes today as House Democrats decide whether to keep Nancy Pelosi as their leader and thereby return her as speaker of the House. For Republicans, Pelosi is the piñata that keeps donors giving, much as Ted Kennedy was to a previous generation of Republicans. Like Kennedy, she is someone who can work across the aisle, but unlike Kennedy, she is a shrewd general who knows how to get her members to toe the line. Nancy Pelosi is “the best speaker I’ve ever seen,” said David Obey, a former Democratic congressman from Wisconsin. As he told Robert Draper of the New York Times,“She understands her caucus, and she doesn’t run it like a San Francisco liberal. She runs it by trying to find its center of gravity. A number of incoming freshmen Democrats ran on the promise of voting for someone else as their leader. “The only time I was ever in the Democratic speaker’s office was when I became speaker,” Pelosi told the Times. “When I decided to run, the first thing I heard was: ‘Who said she could run?’” Adding insult to injury, party bosses said, “‘Why don’t women just make a list of things they want done, and we’ll do them?’ We’re not talking about the 1800s — we’re talking about 19 years ago!” Although a group of Democrats opposed to Pelosi has signed a letter signaling their intention to vote against her, odds are Pelosi will reclaim the speakership.