It will be a long wait

Mark Fiore

Masonic Avenue and the Nils Linke lie

The Examiner continues to retail the lie about Nils Linke's death:

Cyclist Nils Linke, 22, was struck and killed by a drunk driver on the corridor in 2010. The German tourist’s death grabbed headlines and galvanized the long-languishing safety project, said Michael Helquist, a writer and neighbor who was among those instrumental in advocating for the street changes. Linke’s death “was a sad situation to get through,” Helquist said.

Helquist has long been a liar about Masonic Avenue in general and about Nils Linke specifically, who, as the story says, was killed by a drunk driver in the Turk/Masonic intersection. Even if this project had already been implemented, it wouldn't have prevented Linke's death (For more on Helquist, click on "Michael Helquist" below).

Since the facts about Linke's death are well-known, why keep lying about it now that the Bicycle Coalition and its enablers in City Hall have successfully promoted and implemented this project?

Our new District 5 Supervisor is repeating the falsehood about Linke's death:

But Supervisor Vallie Brown, who represents one neighborhood the project cuts through and worked to usher in the project as a legislative aide, was hopeful Linke’s death will ultimately make a difference, through the safety improvements presented today, and also through future ones she promised to pursue. “We had the tragedy of a cyclist being killed,” she told the crowd Wednesday. “It also gave us the power to keep moving. We’re not done."

Ignorance or stupidity? That distinction also wasn't easy to make when her predecessors, Ross Mirkarimi and London Breed---who appointed her former assistant to the board---talked about Masonic Avenue.

This project, a bike project with some landscaping, was always promoted using the safety lie, even though, considering its high traffic volume, Masonic has been relatively safe.

From Hillary hate to Pelosi hate

The Hunting of Hillary

From letters to the editor in today's Chronicle:

Pathetic attempt

Republicans attack Rep. Nancy Pelosi because she is effective and a strong woman, two things Republicans can’t stand. There is a deep thread of misogyny running through these attacks. 

Republicans have been very effective at getting Democrats to turn on one of our own. The attack ads using Pelosi are a dog whistle to those who are uncomfortable with women in power. I hope voters can see through these pathetic attempts to use Pelosi in Republican races.

Susan Wilder

Oakland

Rob's comment:

Good to see Bernie Sanders defending Pelosi.

Later: See also Bad News, Republicans, Voters Aren’t Afraid of Nancy Pelosi and Who’s Afraid of Nancy Pelosi?

"Trump hates animals"

Gail Collins in today's NY Times:

And about him calling people a “dog.” This all goes back to the fact that Trump hates animals. Particularly friendly animals. You don’t see him constantly saying an enemy is a “coyote” or “hyena” or “python.”

Trump has never even owned a goldfish, as far as anybody knows. No pets at all, except a poodle named Chappy that belonged to his first wife, and which he tried to evict. 

Ivana Trump said in her recent autobiography that Chappy “had an equal dislike of Donald.”

Not surprising that Trump wants to dismantle the Endangered Species Act.