"Neighborhood feedback" on Twin Peaks denied

From: Gary Russ

Sent: Thursday, September 3, 2020

To: District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee

Cc: Mary Miles

Subject: Unable To Comment During Virtual Public Hearing

Hello District Supervisor Yee and Clerk Of The Board Angela Calvillo: 

Just want you both to know I was listening to the September 1, 2020, Public Hearing (File No. 200883) but unable to share my comments. 

No matter how many times I raised my hand via the Webex system, I was not allowed to speak. 

I wonder how many other people had that experience? Very frustrating.

That day I had spent a few hours boiling down my messaging for the Board to 2 minutes and then never got to present any of my comments to the Board. So disappointing and frustrating.

I was going to advocate in favor of the continuance based on my own experience with what happens when the City fails to conduct an environmental review and fails to solicit neighborhood feedback before deciding to close a street whether temporarily or even permanently.

My Best,

Gary R. Russ

Burnett Avenue North

San Francisco, CA 94131

See also How the city "improved" the Twin Peaks neighborhood, and Public Comment: The Twin Peaks Boulevard project.

Donald Trump: The draft dodger's contempt for the military

Michael Gaughan

From Jeffrey Goldberg's story in the Atlantic:

When President Donald Trump canceled a visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery near Paris in 2018, he blamed rain for the last-minute decision, saying that “the helicopter couldn’t fly” and that the Secret Service wouldn’t drive him there. Neither claim was true.

Trump rejected the idea of the visit because he feared his hair would become disheveled in the rain, and because he did not believe it important to honor American war dead, according to four people with firsthand knowledge of the discussion that day. 

In a conversation with senior staff members on the morning of the scheduled visit, Trump said, “Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.” In a separate conversation on the same trip, Trump referred to the more than 1,800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood as “suckers” for getting killed...

Jonathan Chait on Goldberg's evidence:

...The Associated Press, New York Times and Washington Post quickly confirmed Goldberg’s reporting. 

The Post added several related details, in addition to Trump describing fallen soldiers as “losers.” 

“In one account, the president told senior advisers that he didn’t understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got, according to a person familiar with the discussion.”

What’s more, other sources have claimed that Trump dismisses the value of military service. Michael Cohen testified in 2018 that Trump admitted faking bone spurs to avoid serving in Vietnam and told him, “You think I’m stupid? I wasn’t going to Vietnam.” 

Mary Trump, in a previously recorded interview, said Trump threatened to disown one of her[sic] sons if he enlisted in the military. (It’s significant that she offered this account before Goldberg’s story, and thus could not have crafted it to fit a narrative created by Goldberg)...

Rob's comment:
Just more evidence---did we really need more?---that Donald Trump is a contemptible human being and a suitable leader of the vile Republican Party.

See also Donald Trump: Draft dodger, Donald Trump: Chickenhawk, and Trump is a "chickenhawk,"

We pay the most for health care

Kevin Drum