But it is anti other things, I’ll grant you that.)
In closing, diamonds are horrible. Get anything else but a diamond. People will figure this out soon enough and the worthless piece of rock on your finger will be even more worthless a couple decades from now.
And more importantly, it will be seen by others as worthless.
Could be (but I’ll never know ’cause I only have a rabbit ear antenna and, oddly, there’s no NBC affiliate in my tiny town, nor in the county, nor in any of the neighboring counties and I’ll be damned if the Comcast monopoly is going to get $100 per month out of me for basic cable.)
Anyway, leave us review, let’s travel all the way back to ought-ten:
So now in 2013, George Gascon sees a chance to make amends with all sorts of different groups by being the point man on SFGov’s anti-MUNI bus ad campaign?
Sure looks that way. See the press release below.
Hey, is George Gascon running for Mayor of San Francisco, you know, down the road?
Maybe. (All he needs to do is clear up his case of foot-in-mouth disease by 2017 or whatever.)
Contact: Stephanie Ong Stillman, DA Gascón’s Office
ADA Alex Bastian, DA Gascón’s Office
SAN FRANCISO – Today, District Attorney George Gascón, Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, and Supervisors John Avalos, London Breed, Malia Cohen, Jane Kim, Scott Wiener, Norman Yee held a press conference to denounce Islamophobic and racist advertisements by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) scheduled to run on MUNI buses today.
“These offensive ads serve no other purpose than to denigrate our city’s Arab and Muslim communities,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “When any community in San Francisco is attacked, it affects all of us. I and the city leaders standing with me today are exercising our free speech rights in condemning these ads and standing with the Arab and Muslim communities of San Francisco.”
“Hate has no place in our City,” said Mayor Ed Lee. “San Francisco is a city that celebrates its diversity, and hateful speech and discrimination against our Arab and Muslim communities will never be tolerated.”
“Our respect for free speech does not mean we allow hateful speech to go unchallenged,” said Board President David Chiu. “As a former civil rights attorney, I’m proud to stand with our Arab and Muslim American families to send a united message that San Francisco embraces diversity and tolerance, not hate and bigotry.”
AFDI’s founder Pamela Geller has been deemed an anti-Muslim hate extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center. In August of 2012, San Franciscans were outraged over AFDI advertisements on MUNI that referred to Arabs and Muslims as “savages.” Arab and Muslim community leaders say the new advertisements are even more offensive as they wrongly suggest that all Muslims are defined by extremism and violence, and baselessly target Arab and Muslim San Franciscans who make invaluable contributions to the city’s life and culture.
Supervisor David Chiu is introducing a resolution to condemn the Islamophobic and racist MUNI Ads at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. In response, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority will dedicate the proceeds from the offensive advertisements to fund a city-wide study on the impact of discrimination on Arab and Muslim communities. City leaders have met with Council on American-Islamic Relations – San Francisco Bay Area, Asian Law Caucus, the Ramallah Club, the Arab Cultural Center, churches and mosques to discuss targeting of vulnerable communities and the city’s commitment to protecting and standing with those communities.”
Columbus Day 2012 marks the 520 year anniversary of the genocidal and ecocidal project of Empire building and colonial expansion that began with the conquistador invasion of this continent and continues to this day through the daily violence and exploitation of global capitalism.
It also marks the 20 year anniversary of the first American Black Bloc which disrupted the 1992 Columbus Day Parade in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.
This year during Columbus Day weekend, a West Coast Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist convergence is being organized in San Francisco. As a contribution to this effort, we are calling for friends and comrades to gather at 2pm on Saturday, October 6 for a rowdy march through the heart of the city’s financial district.
We will honor the memories of all those who fought back and resisted the onslaught of empire over the past five centuries by unleashing the power of our own resistance in the very heart of capitalism on the West Coast. We are proud to stand in solidarity with others whose fierce struggles continue to hold off the machinery of domination and exploitation.
We draw inspiration from the countless struggles of indigenous resistance to capitalist projects of development and expansion: from the mountains of Black Mesa, where elders fiercely protect their way of life in the shadow of a coal mine, to the rebel autonomous municipality of Chéran in Michoacán, México where both the repressive forces of the state and the drug cartels have been expelled while loggers infringing upon indigenous territory have been chased off communal lands, to the far north of Canada where indigenous peoples block roads and disrupt plans for expanding resource extraction while students and radicals in Montreal riot outside the gates of the Plan du Nord summit. These brave fighters motivate us to spread the fires of resistance in the ongoing struggles against colonialism and capitalism.
It is also fitting that October 7 marks the 11 year anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan, another brutal example of colonial domination’s recent manifestations. We invite all those who stand in opposition to Empire and in solidarity with the struggles of the Afghan people to join us on this march.
The Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist March will gather at Justin Herman Plaza for a rally at 2pm and the march will begin at 3pm sharp. Stay tuned for additional details and ways to get involved.
This action is part of the Decolonize the New World 2012: West Coast Anti-Colonial, Anti-Capitalist Convergence in San Francisco during Columbus Day weekend. The convergence is being called for by Decolonize and Anti-Capitalist comrades in the Pacific Northwest and Bay Area.
On October 6, 2012 at approximately 2:50pm, a group of protesters gathered at Justin Herman Plaza. The group began a unpermitted march west bound on Market Street. The group, a number of them wearing black clothing, masks covering their faces, took to the streets disrupting the normal flow of traffic. Officers arrived in the area and were struck by projectiles thrown at them by members of this group. One officer was struck in the head and sustained non-life threatening injuries. The protesters were admonished multiple times that the march was unpermitted and there were causing a public safety hazard.
When the group failed to leave the roadway, Officers encircled them at California and Battery and the protesters threw flares and bags of paint at the officers. Some of the bags of paint contained rocks. A portion of this group ran to the area of Pine and Sansome where they were detained. A number of police officers and their uniforms were covered in paint.
Police made approximately 22 arrests from both locations. The suspects were arrested on one or more of the following charges: conspiracy, riot, refusing to obey a lawful order from a peace officer and resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer, and assault and battery on a peace officer. A lawful search of the arrested suspects’ backpacks revealed that many were armed with hammers, an ice pick, flares and other weapons and more bags of paint containing rocks. The suspects vandalized vehicles and businesses as the walked. Any witnesses to these acts of vandalism are encouraged to notify the SFPD. Attached are photos of some of the weapons the protesters had in their possession.”
Do you know about craigconnects from craigslist Founder Craig Newmark? It’s his:
“…personal, Web-based initiative aimed at helping people work together for the common good using the Internet. In addition to veterans’ organizations, the initiative spotlights many other organizations and agencies working in the areas of community building, connectivity, journalism integrity, open government, service and volunteering, and technology for social good.”
“craigslist and craigconnects Founder Craig Newmark Announce Campaign to Support Veterans and Military Families
SAN FRANCISCO, June 28, 2011 — craigslist and craigconnects founder Craig Newmark today launched a month-long campaign to support non-profit and government organizations that successfully work with veterans and military families. The campaign is part of his craigconnects initiative launched in March, and includes a $100,000 grant challenge for four highly respected non-profit veterans’ organizations, as well as extensive social media outreach by Newmark and the organizations involved.
“A lot of people do a lot of good work to help military families and vets, and I’d like to bring attention to them and to provide some direct support,” said Newmark.
The non-profit organizations selected for the campaign are Blue Star Families, the Bob Woodruff Foundation, the Intrepid Foundation, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. The four will participate in a grant challenge to raise funds from their existing and new supporters.
“These guys really get the job done, effectively providing services and advocacy where they’re needed,” said Newmark.
Newmark said he will donate a total of $100,000 to the four organizations based on the number of donations they receive during the challenge, rather than the amount of money they raise. “What I want to do with craigconnects is help build involvement, not just raise money. All non-profits need money, but what they really need are supporters who will be there long-term. I hope everybody will come to our site, check out these groups, and decide which they want to support.”
He added that he is also using social and traditional media to support government agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs and local VA medical centers. “They’re starting to use social media to provide better customer service and outreach to our veterans,” he said. “I want people to know about the good stuff they’re getting done.”
Additionally, the non-profit organizations will participate in craigconnects’ extensive social media effort through Twitter, Facebook, and the craigconnects website. Guest authors on the site will include several individuals prominent in the field of veterans support, including NASCAR CEO Brian France and entertainer Eddie Money. Newmark said guest authors will write about the organizations and issues they support.
craigconnects is Newmark’s personal, Web-based initiative aimed at helping people work together for the common good using the Internet. In addition to veterans’ organizations, the initiative spotlights many other organizations and agencies working in the areas of community building, connectivity, journalism integrity, open government, service and volunteering, and technology for social good.
Here’s Saturday’s march from above. The 440 or so people marked with white circles represent a third of the total number. (It took about 4 minutes to tally this shot and another ten minutes to tally folks in other photos.) Click to expand:
(Of course lots of people want to give President Barack Obama some time to have a chance to deal with matters, and it was raining, and yada yada yada. The point is that it shouldn’t be so hard to say that the crowd was slightly bigger or smaller than last year – there’s no reason to lie about it, is there? Moving on…)
Robert Livingston is also correct in stating that writers Heather Knight and Steve Rubenstein produced a bit that was “well composed, accurate, and captured much of the essence” of the event, so that’s a good thing. It’s not clear who came up with the boner “massive.”
Anyway, the correct estimate is 1330 marchers, mas o menos, depending whether you include the cops, the undercover cops, the people who didn’t have the chance to march because they were setting up in Civic Center, the people who left early, the people who arrived late, the marchers without signs who happen to be on the sidewalks, the photographers, the videographers, etc.
The Rule of Three has been tested and proven. Would certain people have more credibility if they didn’t spin so much? Yes, yes they would.
Jessica:“If a guy tells you how many girls he’s hooked up with, it’s not even close to that. You take that number and divide it by three, then you get the real total. OK, so if Kevin is saying it’s been three girls it’s more like one or none.” Vicky:“None?” Jessica:“The rule of three. It’s an exact science. Consistent as gravity.”
Did 4000 peoplemarch? No. Did at least a couple thousand march? No. Not to belabor the point, but you don’t need to hire a helicopter to accurately estimate the size of a march. Moving on…
Where’s Waldo? Sadly he wasn’t there. But, where’s Code Pink and the Black Block? Click to expand and you’ll find them. This was the bulk of the crowd just after the speakers stopped speaking, with the insular International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) camera left, out of frame.
So yes, there were other groups around the Ferry Building area but they were much smaller. Oh, here’sCode Pink:
One of the speakers was a San Francisco Chronicle employee(!) From her, the crowd learned that “health care is free and will always be free in Cuba.” She urged listeners to defy the current ban on travel to Cuber by visiting this year, specifically July. O.K fine.
Heading up Market Street in light, on-again-off-again rain:
And here’s el bloque negro:
The 911 Truth crowd was there as well – it handed out varying denominations of Truth Bucks, sadly disintegrating in the wet.
A terrorist is “what the big army calls the little army.”
“Jail Greedy Bankers”
“Queer Israeli” vs. “Queer Palestinian”
Speaking of which, you had a good 50 or so counterprotesters with Israeli flags penned in right in front of City Hall.
This green-hatted NLG “observer,” avec “Specs” brand goggles, was briefly enthralled by an exchange between the blonde and the cop, who wanted her to stay on the sidewalk. She could probably get the Lieutenant for battery and maybe even false imprisonment, if he weren’t an on-duty, uniformed peace officer. See? There’s always a catch…
See all their youthful activities here, courtesy of Fox News. Did you know that San Francisco is “historically a military city?” That’s what they think over at the University of San Francisco, where Troop 911 was founded.
