A new California bill headed to the governor&#8217;s desk would expand taxpayer-funded &#8220;safe&#8221; drug use sites across the state despite the failure of a pilot site in San Francisco.
California Democrats passed the bill last week, which would allow San Francisco, nearby Oakland, and Los Angeles to set up new supervised drug use sites, which will run for five years through January 2028.
The so-called “safe injection” sites are aimed at reducing overdoses, but critics say they have a poor track record of success.
The <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billVotesClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB57">bill</a>, Senate Bill 57, passed in the state Senate, with just 21 Democrats and zero Republicans voting for it, but it was enough to send it to Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Newsom has not commented publicly about whether he will sign the bill. However, during his campaign in 2018 Newsom said he was “very very open” to the concept of safe injection sites. 
The new sites would allow addicts to inject or smoke their illegal drugs in a sterile environment with clean drug paraphernalia in hopes of reducing the spread of diseases like hepatitis and HIV as well as preventing overdoses from illegal drugs like heroin, meth, and fentanyl. 
Selling drugs is supposed to be prohibited at the sites.
Critics say that San Francisco&#8217;s experiment with a safe injection site was not successful and that the program should not be expanded to other cities. 
San Francisco originally launched its flagship &#8220;safe&#8221; injection site as the Tenderloin Linkage Center in the Tenderloin District. The neighborhood is known for being flooded with drug dealers and struggling with homelessness and violence. 
Mayor London Breed <a href="https://sfist.com/2021/12/17/breed-declares-state-of-emergency-in-tenderloin-over-nasty-streets/">said</a> the neighborhood is in a state of emergency when it comes to drug addiction and started the center in an attempt to curb overdoses and help addicts get treatment, but the numbers have not changed much. 
In January, the month the center opened, 48 people overdosed in San Francisco, and that number <a href="https://sf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/2022%2005_OCME%20Overdose%20Report.pdf">stayed</a> about the same in the following months. Nearly 50,000 people <a href="https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/sf-tenderloin-center-drops-linkage-from-its-name/">used</a> the center between January and May, but only 163 people were referred to substance abuse treatment and only 38 were connected to treatment between the end of January and mid-May, according to Kron4. 
The city changed the name of the Tenderloin Linkage Center to the Tenderloin Center, and city officials said the center was focusing on providing basic services and reducing fatal overdoses.
In December, the city is slated to <a href="https://sfist.com/2022/06/16/the-tenderloin-formerly-known-as-linkage-center-to-shut-down-at-the-end-of-the-year/">shut down</a> the center, which is estimated to have cost the city about $<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11077587/California-state-senate-passes-bill-allowing-open-air-drug-sites-California.html">19 million</a>. 
The governor is facing pressure from Democrats to sign the bill as it is a longtime wishlist item for the progressive base in California.
&#8220;Drug addiction is a health issue, not a criminal issue,&#8221; Democrat State Sen. Scott Weiner <a href="https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/california-bill-safe-consumption-sites/2974043/">said</a> Wednesday, according to NBC Bay Area.
&#8220;The status quo is filling our prisons and our morgues,&#8221; said Oakland Democrat Mayor Libby Schaaf, according to the outlet.
Both Democrats claimed the bill will save taxpayer dollars.
Meanwhile, Republicans are urging Newsom to veto the legislation.
“This dangerous measure endangers neighborhoods, communities, and businesses,” <a href="https://timesofsandiego.com/politics/2022/08/02/republicans-in-state-senate-call-on-gov-newsom-to-veto-bill-allowing-drug-dens/">said</a> Republican state Sen. Brian Jones, according to the Time of Sand Diego. “Allowing people to get higher than a kite on heroin and other dangerous drugs, then turning them loose afterwards onto the streets is just crazy.”

London Breed, mayor of San Francisco, day in the life

California Passes Bill For More ‘Safe’ Drug Use Sites After San Francisco’s Failed

California Passes Bill For More 'Safe' Drug Use Sites After San Francisco's Failed

California

Fentanyl

Gavin Newsom

San Francisco

Walgreens allegedly failed to properly investigate &#8220;suspicious&#8221; prescription orders for almost 15 years that contributed to the opioid epidemic in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco">San Francisco</a>, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer wrote that pharmacists at Walgreens filled hundreds of thousands of opioid prescription orders without having enough time, staffing, or resources to investigate red flags laws from 2006 to 2020, per <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/walgreens-prescriptions-contributed-opioid-epidemic-san-francisco-us-court-2022-08-10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters</a>.
Breyer noted that the company shipped nearly one out every five oxycodone and hydrocodone pills distributed nationwide at the peak of the opioid crisis, per <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/10/walgreens-opioid-decision-san-francisco/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Washington Post</a>.
&#8220;Walgreens has regulatory obligations to take reasonable steps to prevent the drugs from being diverted and harming the public,&#8221; Breyer wrote. &#8220;The evidence at trial established that Walgreens breached these obligations.&#8221;
Peter Mougey, an attorney representing the city and other communities nationwide against big pharma companies, told The Washington Post that the verdict would help other cases.
&#8220;Walgreens has hidden, covered up, and run from the truth throughout the entirety of this five-year litigation,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Walgreens knew its system to detect and stop suspicious orders was nonexistent but continued to ship opioids at an alarming pace to increase profits.
&#8220;San Francisco is now one step closer to starting the healing process,&#8221; Mougey added.
San Francisco officials sued Walgreens and several other drug manufacturers and distributors like Johnson &amp; Johnson, Purdue Pharma, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in 2018 for creating a &#8220;public nuisance&#8221; by failing to prevent the illegal use of prescription opioids flooding the city.
Other companies involved in the lawsuit include Allergan, Endo International, and the three biggest drug distributors nationwide — McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Corp., and Cardinal Health.
Walgreens remained the only company involved in the lawsuit that did not settle with the city before the court ruling.
Walgreens spokesman Fraser Engerman said the company was &#8220;disappointed&#8221; with the decision and would appeal, standing by its claim that the company never manufactured or marketed opioids.
&#8220;Nor did we distribute them to the &#8216;pill mills&#8217; and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis,&#8221; Fraser wrote in an email to The Washington Post.
Walgreens will face another trial at a later date to determine how much the company must pay the city for the damage it allegedly caused the city.
According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>, the opioid epidemic caused more than half a million overdose deaths over the last 20 years.
Reuters reports that more than 3,300 lawsuits concerning opioids were filed against drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies, and other companies nationwide.
The court ruled San Francisco led the crisis with opioid-related emergency room visits that tripled from 886 in 2015 to 2,998 in 2020.
Other factors of San Francisco&#8217;s drug crisis can also trace back to the city&#8217;s open-air drug market, which the newly appointed District Attorney Brooke Jenkins has vowed to shut down.
Jenkins helped lead the recall of her predecessor and former boss, Chesa Boudin.
&#8220;I told the public that on day one, I will begin enforcing drug crime law,&#8221; Jenkins said according to <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/san-franciscos-new-da-vows-to-shut-down-open-air-drug-market/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KRON 4.</a> &#8220;I mean what I say, and I am focused on delivering on my promise to hold serious and repeat offenders accountable for wreaking havoc in our communities like the Tenderloin.&#8221;
&#8220;We cannot allow our residents to die on the street of overdose — without holding those who sell fentanyl accountable,&#8221; she added. &#8220;We had 45 overdose deaths in May — 33 of which were from fentanyl.&#8221;
Yet while Jenkins has pledged to clear out drug use on the streets, California lawmakers recently introduced a new bill that would open so-called safe injection sites, where drug users can get high in a &#8220;protected setting.&#8221;
San Francisco Democrat lawmaker Scott Weiner authored the bill and claims such sites have proven to help people avoid overdose deaths, which the city saw a new record of in the last two years.
KTVU <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.ktvu.com/news/new-law-could-open-safe-injection-sites-in-bay-area-for-drug-users" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> 711 people overdosed in 2020, while another 640 died in 2021.
However, Weiner asserts California and the rest of the nation have seen a dramatic increase in overdose deaths because of the lack of safe spaces.
&#8220;This legislation isn&#8217;t about whether we want people to use drugs,&#8221; Weiner told KTVU. &#8220;Rather, it&#8217;s an acknowledgment that people are using drugs, and our choice is whether we want to make every effort to help them survive and get healthy.&#8221;
&nbsp;

San Francisco Girds For Blow of Office Workers Never Returning

Thousands Of ‘Suspicious’ Orders From Walgreens Contributed To San Francisco Opioid Crisis, Judge Rules

Chesa Boudin

Opioid Crisis

Prescription Drugs

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/california">California</a> State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) was interviewed Thursday by The Washington Post about the response to his state’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">monkeypox</a> outbreak and said that people have to make their own decisions about having sex.
The Democratic state senator is heavily involved in San Francisco’s monkeypox response, a city that has reported rising cases in recent weeks, even as it hosted a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-fransisco-to-hold-gay-sex-festival-despite-city-declaring-emergency-over-monkeypox-outbreak">street fetish festival</a> celebrating gay sex.
“If people want to have sex, they are going to have sex,” Wiener <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/08/04/monkeypox-gay-safe-sex/">said</a>. “I know people who normally go to sex parties who will not. People will make their own decisions about their own risk levels.”
Wiener also <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/video/sen-scott-wiener-discusses-monkeypox-emergency/#x">joined</a> CBS Bay Area Thursday to discuss President Joe Biden’s public health emergency <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monkeypox-outbreak-public-health-emergency-declared/">declaration</a> over the monkeypox outbreak. Wiener celebrated Biden’s move, saying it would “open up public resources” to combat the disease.
When asked if he saw society as a whole shifting in their response to monkeypox, Wiener responded, “Yes, among gay men, we’re seeing a lot of decisions.”
The state senator elaborated on that point, explaining that he went to the recent San Francisco fetish festival, called Dore Alley, and saw a lower turnout than usual. “I know someone who was working the door at one of the sex parties the weekend of Dore, and attendance was down by 50%, and I’ve heard that about some of the other sex parties as well,” Wiener commented.
The Dore Alley festival held last weekend was expected to bring thousands of people into the city’s SoMa area and featured kink demonstrations, dancing, and shopping, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/kink-festival-monkeypox-Dore-Alley-17339435.php">according</a> to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The city <a href="https://sf.gov/information/monkeypox-cases">reported</a> 424 monkeypox cases as of Wednesday, a 65% increase from the previous week.
While monkeypox is not spread exclusively through sex, the disease is infecting gay men at a far higher rate than any other demographic. A new report from California showed that 91.7% of monkeypox cases in the state are in “[g]ay, lesbian, or same gender loving people,” while men make up 98.3% of all infections, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-report-shows-lgbtq-community-hit-hardest-by-monkeypox">reported</a>.
According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), monkeypox can spread through skin to skin contact that often happens through hugging, kissing, extended face-to-face contact, and sexual intercourse. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/symptoms.html">Symptoms</a> include fever, headache, cough, sore throat, and nasal congestion. The disease can also cause painful rashes and blisters.

Senator Scott Wiener

California Dem Senator On Monkeypox Response: ‘I Know People Who Normally Go To Sex Parties Who Will Not’

California Dem Senator On Monkeypox Response: 'I Know People Who Normally Go To Sex Parties Who Will Not'

Monkeypox

Ousted progressive <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco">San Francisco</a> district attorney <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/chesa-boudin">Chesa Boudin</a> announced Thursday that he won&#8217;t attempt to make a comeback in the general election in November.
In a long <a href="https://twitter.com/chesaboudin/status/1555228386074787840?s=20&amp;t=bc4KIu-QHaXjgjg5CsZWGA">Twitter thread</a> Thursday afternoon, Boudin explained that he was not running for re-election in November, citing family reasons. Boudin went on the tout the criminal justice reforms he enacted while serving as the city&#8217;s top prosecutor and took a few parting shots at his replacement, Brooke Jenkins, who has already begun to undo Boudin&#8217;s work after he was soundly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-fran-votes-overwhelmingly-to-oust-woke-soros-prosecutor-from-office-in-major-rejection-of-far-left">recalled</a> by the voters of San Francisco in June.
&#8220;Over the past weeks I&#8217;ve spoken to family, friends, supporters and everyday San Franciscans about how we can best continue to make our criminal justice system fairer and more effective,&#8221; Boudin wrote. &#8220;I have devoted my public life to this effort because it makes our communities stronger &amp; safer. I’ve also taken stock of the burden that more than three years of nearly non-stop campaigning placed on my family. I’m committed to criminal justice reform; I’m also committed to my family.&#8221;
Boudin then mentioned his father&#8217;s return from prison; Boudin&#8217;s father, David Gilbert, was released from jail in November. A member of the far-left terrorist group Weather Underground, Gilbert was serving a 75-years-to-life sentence for his role in an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/took-part-in-murderous-holdup-new-york-times-deletes-replaces-tweet-about-san-francisco-leftist-das-terrorist-mom">armed robbery</a> of a Brinks armored truck in New York in which two police officers and the truck guard were killed. His sentence was commuted by former Governor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cuomo-grants-clemency-to-hard-left-san-francisco-das-dad-who-was-convicted-of-murder">Andrew Cuomo</a> (D-NY) on his last day in office in August 2021. The former DA also mentioned his mother&#8217;s death in May, as well as his wife and infant son as reasons for his decision to bow out.
&#8220;I am choosing to put my family first: I will not be running for office in 2022,&#8221; Boudin said.
Boudin went on to tout his record as DA. &#8220;We made a lot of progress in a short period of time,&#8221; he wrote. &#8220;I am particularly proud of our significant expansion of victims services, including new programs to serve our AAPI community and the appointment of the first-ever multilingual Chinese American Victim Services Chief, our resentencing work that offered second chances to those who had caused harm and supported victims, our restorative justice work, our focus on accountability through behavioral health treatment, our Innocence Commission’s exoneration of a wrongly-convicted man, our innovative program tackling auto burglary fencing operations, our creation of a worker protection unit, our litigation against manufacturers of ghost guns, and our historic strides in police accountability.&#8221;
He then thanked his staff for their work.
Boudin concluded his thread by taking parting shots at his successor, Brooke Jenkins, who has already begun to unravel much of his work. &#8220;I am gravely concerned by what I’ve seen from the current, appointed District Attorney. We have heard no assurances that the successful programs we’ve implemented will continue, and indeed, we see worrying signs every day as progress is rolled back. I join the vast majority of San Franciscans in urging our elected — or, as is increasingly common, appointed — leaders to work for equal justice, evidence-based reforms, and improved services for victims.&#8221;
Within a week of her appointment by Mayor London Breed, Jenkins <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newly-appointed-progressive-san-francisco-district-attorney-fires-15-staffers-from-predecessors-office">fired 15 of Boudin&#8217;s high-level staffers</a>. Then on Wednesday, she revoked <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-da-revokes-dozens-of-plea-deals-made-by-woke-predecessor-cracks-down-on-drug-dealers">more than 30 plea deals</a> his office had struck with drug dealers during his tenure.
&#8220;I know this news will come as a disappointment to many who are dedicated to reform,&#8221; Boudin concluded. &#8220;I assure you I remain deeply committed to justice and to the people of San Francisco.&#8221;

Ousted Woke San Francisco DA Says He Won’t Try To Get Elected Again, Attacks His Replacement

Ousted Woke San Francisco DA Says He Won't Try To Get Elected Again, Attacks His Replacement

Criminal Justice

Recall

Twitter

The <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco">San Francisco</a> district attorney who replaced ousted woke DA Chesa Boudin revoked dozens of plea deals given by Boudin.
In a <a href="https://www.sfdistrictattorney.org/press-release/district-attorney-brooke-jenkins-announces-new-policy-to-hold-drug-dealers-accountable-revokes-misdemeanor-plea-offers-for-fentanyl-dealers/">news release</a> Wednesday, San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins announced she had revoked more than 30 plea bargains that Boudin, her far-left predecessor, had offered to drug offenders during his administration. The reversals were part of a broader policy unveiled by Jenkins, which would prohibit drug dealers arrested with more than five grams of drugs from being referred to the city&#8217;s so-called &#8220;community justice court.&#8221; It would also impose enhanced charges for dealers arrested within 1,000 feet of a school, and potentially seek pre-trial detention for fentanyl dealers, &#8220;in extreme cases.&#8221;
“Since 2020, nearly 1,500 people have died of drug overdose in part because dealers have been allowed to operate with impunity,” Jenkins said in the news release. “The lethality of fentanyl presents a different challenge, and we must immediately change course, so we can save lives and hold people accountable for the havoc they are wreaking in our communities like the Tenderloin and South of Market. Going forward defendants holding lethal doses of fentanyl will face felony charges.”
In one case in which a plea deal was revoked, described by Jenkins in the release, a fentanyl dealer in the city&#8217;s Tenderloin district was arrested with more than 100 grams of fentanyl. That drug dealer already had six open cases for dealing fentanyl in the Tenderloin. The dealer was previously referred to the community justice court at least five times by Boudin&#8217;s administration, despite not complying with the court&#8217;s mandated requirements and violating the terms of a stay away order from the Tenderloin district, each time he was arrested. That dealer was offered a single misdemeanor charge in order to close all six outstanding cases.
The release also pointed out Boudin&#8217;s failure to prosecute drug crimes during his tenure.
A review of outstanding drug cases published by the DA&#8217;s office found that as of July 2022, there are 157 cases involving narcotics sales currently in collaborative courts like the San Francisco community justice court; more than half of those cases, 88 in total, involve fentanyl, and 40 defendants in those cases have multiple open drug cases. On top of that, data from the San Francisco Superior Court, cited in the release, showed that Boudin&#8217;s administration did not obtain a single conviction for dealing fentanyl in the entire year 2021.
Even far-left Los Angeles district attorney George Gascon&#8217;s office obtained convictions in 90 drug cases in 2021, Jenkins&#8217;s office reported.
The new policy is Jenkins’ latest move to reverse course from Boudin&#8217;s administration. Shortly after assuming office in July, Jenkins <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/newly-appointed-progressive-san-francisco-district-attorney-fires-15-staffers-from-predecessors-office">fired 15 of Boudin&#8217;s staffers</a>, including Boudin&#8217;s chief of staff, managing attorney, assistant chief of general crimes, communications director and policy advisor, director of data, analytics, and research, and managing attorney of the independent investigations bureau.
“Today, I made difficult but important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms,” Jenkins said in a statement to SFGATE at the time.
Boudin was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/us/politics/chesa-boudin-recall-san-francisco.html">overwhelmingly recalled</a> in June. Fully 60% of San Francisco residents voted to recall the far-left DA, who had received support from left-wing billionaire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-have-no-intention-of-stopping-belligerent-soros-says-he-will-continue-funding-leftist-das">George Soros</a>.

San Francisco DA Revokes Dozens Of Plea Deals Made By Woke Predecessor, Cracks Down On Drug Dealers

Drugs

In a ruling released on Friday, a judge struck down a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco">San Francisco</a> city ordinance allowing non-citizens to vote in school board elections.
The ordinance, which allowed non-citizen parents of school-aged children to vote in school board elections, was approved in 2016 and took effect in 2018, and was extended indefinitely in 2021. The law was <a href="https://usjf.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Complaint-Filed.pdf">challenged</a> by various groups, including the California Public Policy Foundation and the United States Justice Foundation.
“The State of California has a long-standing requirement that voters must be United States citizens,” the plaintiffs <a href="https://californiaglobe.com/articles/california-judge-overturns-san-francisco-law-allowing-noncitizens-to-vote/">argued</a>. “This requirement applies to every election in the state, even those conducted by charter cities, because determining voter qualifications is a matter of statewide concern where state law supersedes conflicting charter city ordinances.”
The court agreed.
“Transcendent law of California, the Constitution … reserves the right to vote to a United States citizen, contrary to (the) San Francisco ordinance,” San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Ulmer <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22123680-2202-07-29-lacy-order-granting-writ-of-mandate?responsive=1&amp;title=1">said</a> in a ruling that will prohibit the city from counting non-citizen votes.
The lawsuit also argued that because the San Francisco Unified School District receives money from state taxpayers, the entire state has an interest in the qualifications of its voters, and the city does not have unlimited autonomy to redefine who is eligible to vote.
A similar law in New York City, which would have allowed up to 800,000 non-citizens to vote in city elections, was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/27/nyregion/noncitizen-voting-ruling-nyc.html">struck down</a> in June.
San Francisco has not indicated whether or not it plans to appeal the case.

Gavel

Judge Strikes Down San Francisco Law Allowing Non-Citizens To Vote

Education

Elections

School Board

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-calls-for-state-of-emergency-because-of-surging-monkeypox">San Francisco</a> will hold an annual sexual festival popular among gay men this weekend even though the city declared a local health emergency over the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">Monkeypox</a> outbreak earlier this week.
The “Up Your Alley” leather fetish festival, commonly called “Dore Alley,” scheduled for Sunday, is expected to bring thousands of people to the city’s SoMa area, featuring kink demonstrations, dancing, and shopping, <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/kink-festival-monkeypox-Dore-Alley-17339435.php">according</a> to the San Francisco Chronicle. The annual event has been running since 1985, being canceled only once since then due to the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Some people who have attended the event in the past are having second thoughts this year due to the Monkeypox outbreak in San Francisco. The most recent <a href="https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/monkeypox.aspx">data</a> shows 257 confirmed cases in the city, and city leaders recently <a href="https://abc7news.com/monkeypox-outbreak-san-francisco-cases-sf-state-of-emergency-vaccine/12079769/">announced</a> a public health emergency that will go into effect on August 1.
“The same population that’s being most affected by the disease is the same population that attends these events, most exclusively,” 29-year-old San Francisco resident David Harris said. “I just don’t even want to be here this weekend.”
Harris, who identifies as bisexual, told the Chronicle that he is frustrated with the group organizing the event, Folsom Street, for their apparent lack of concern around the disease. “I’ve been scanning their posts. They have yet to say a single word even mentioning the word ‘monkeypox.’ &#8230; It just feels utterly irresponsible,” Harris said.
Michael Davidson, a 40-year-old resident of the city who has gone to the &#8220;Dore Alley&#8221; festival multiple times in the past, said this year’s fair would be a Monkeypox “super-spreader event.” Davidson <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/30/beloved-san-francisco-fetish-festival-presses-ahead-amid-anxiety-uncertainty-over-monkeypox/">told</a> Mercury News that even though he received a Monkeypox vaccine, he would be skipping this year’s festival.
While Monkeypox is not spread exclusively through sex, the disease is infecting gay men at a far higher rate than any other demographic. A new report from California showed that 91.7% of monkeypox cases in the state are in “[g]ay, lesbian, or same gender loving people,” while men make up 98.3% of all infections, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/california-report-shows-lgbtq-community-hit-hardest-by-monkeypox">reported</a>.
According to the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/transmission.html">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a> (CDC), Monkeypox can spread through skin to skin contact that often happens through hugging, kissing, extended face-to-face contact, and sexual intercourse. <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/symptoms.html">Symptoms</a> include fever, headache, cough, sore throat, and nasal congestion. The disease can also cause painful rashes and blisters.
Folsom Street Executive Director Angel Adeyoha attempted to dispel some of the fears about the festival moving on as planned and assured that “strong precautions” were being taken.
“It’s important to remember that not all viruses and infections are the same and they don’t all have the same impacts,” Adeyoha said. “Therefore all interventions don’t need to look the same.”
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation <a href="https://twitter.com/SFAIDSFound/status/1552413524323860481?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1552413524323860481%7Ctwgr%5E7fecd899cdca061e7950ab0a968e9628b29e0583%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2F48hills.org%2F2022%2F07%2Fgay-men-dore-alley-festival-folsom-street-monkeypox-plan%2F">encouraged</a> people to go to the gay sex fair while giving them tips on how to protect themselves during the festival. “We’ve heard from people who are worried about attending events out of fear of contracting monkeypox. We hope you partake while also taking steps to reduce your risk,” the AIDS Foundation <a href="https://www.sfaf.org/collections/beta/douchies-guide-to-a-dore-alley-without-fear-of-monkeypox/?utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=post&amp;utm_campaign=dore_2022">said</a>.
Its tips included “playing dress up,” “going to sex parties with people you know,” and being “picky about your sex partners.”

MONKEYPOX

San Fransisco To Hold Gay Sex Festival Despite City Declaring Emergency Over Monkeypox Outbreak

San Fransisco To Hold Gay Sex Festival This Weekend As Monkeypox Cases Rise In The City

LGBTQ

On Thursday, in response to the surge of the virus among the residents of the city, San Francisco officials called for a public health state of emergency due to monkeypox.
Mayor London Breed announced that 261 people have been <a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/health/article/monkeypox-sf-state-of-emergency-17335483.php">reported</a> with  monkeypox infections; according to local health officials, the number will continue to grow; the emergency declaration will be implemented Monday.
“If there were any other community that was disproportionately impacted by monkeypox the way the gay community has been impacted, this whole country would be up in arms,” Breed <a href="https://abc7news.com/amp/monkeypox-outbreak-san-francisco-cases-sf-state-of-emergency-vaccine/12079769/">pontificated</a>.
Unlike the city’s reaction to COVID, when restrictions were ordered for the populace, San Francisco Health Officer Susan Philip said she had no plans for any closures or restrictions. She admitted that the trajectory of the number of infections “continues to go up,” adding, “as we know there are more cases that have yet to be diagnosed.”  The first case was reported in the city on June 3.
“What the experts told us would happen has happened,” Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener acknowledged.
“San Francisco and Los Angeles appear to be the two most worrisome hotbeds of the monkeypox outbreak in California, which, as of July 21, had the second-highest number of reported cases in the nation, after New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,” the Chronicle noted.
Tyler TerMeer, chief executive officer of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, ripped the federal government as he referenced the AIDS issue in the 1990s, saying, “We are once again in a moment of federal public health failure to cisgender and transgender men as well as nonbinary folks who have similar social and sexual networks.”
On March 5, 2020, San Francisco <a href="https://abc7news.com/timeline-of-coronavirus-us-covid-19-bay-area-sf/6047519/">reported</a> its first two cases of coronavirus. Less than one week later, San Francisco barred public gatherings of 1,000 people or more. The next day, San Francisco Unified School district announced all schools would imminently close for three weeks. On March 17, shelter in place orders were announced for San Francisco county. By April 17, San Francisco County announced that either masks or face coverings had to be worn when in public.

San Francisco Calls For State Of Emergency Because Of Surging Monkeypox

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">Monkeypox</a> has been detected in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/san-francisco">San Francisco</a>-area wastewater as the virus that plagues mainly gay men continues to surge in certain areas of the country.
Stanford’s Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, or <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://soe-wbe-pilot.wl.r.appspot.com/charts#page=overview_mpxv">SCAN,</a> recently added monkeypox to the list of viruses it checks for in wastewater. Since adding it, monkeypox has been detected in <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-jVSPJJJDdmy8JzaWUIVPawvrjgviDZRNpM7zggcSiU/edit#gid=0">10 of the 11 sewer systems</a> that SCAN tests, including ones in Sacramento, Palo Alto, and several other cities in California’s Bay Area, <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/07/23/1056399/monkeypox-california-wastewater/">according to MIT Technology Review</a>.
“The Bay Area is at the forefront of wastewater surveillance because we are Silicon Valley after all,” said Alexandria Boehm, co-director of SCAN and a Stanford professor who studies how pathogens spread. “But it&#8217;s not that California has monkeypox in the wastewater and no place else does.”
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COVER-UP: New England Journal of Medicine finds 98% of monkey pox patients = homo/bisexual men,41% of whom have HIV; yet MSM(+Matt DRUDGE) have tried to portray as pandemic affecting gen. pop to stop gay stigma. Even CDC says spread thru &quot;anus (butthole)&quot;:<a href="https://t.co/9n6mYRuUGA">https://t.co/9n6mYRuUGA</a>
&mdash; Paul Sperry (@PaulSperry30) <a href="https://twitter.com/PaulSperry30/status/1550665420075683843?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 23, 2022</a></blockquote>
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More than 2,500 cases of monkeypox have been recorded in the U.S in recent months. In the current resurgence, the virus has turned up in 74 countries — including 68 that had never seen it. Earlier this week, the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/world-health-organization">World Health Organization</a> (WHO) declared <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/monkeypox">monkeypox</a> a global health emergency, which the group’s director says is spreading “rapidly through new modes of transmission” around the world.
The virus was first discovered in 1958 among research monkeys, but spread to humans in the early 1970s. While extremely rare and not easily transmitted, the ongoing outbreak has been traced to gay sexual activity at two recent raves in Europe, according to a WHO expert.
Symptoms include “a fever, intense headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, swollen lymph nodes and a skin rash or lesions,” the WHO says on its <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/monkeypox?gclid=Cj0KCQjwhqaVBhCxARIsAHK1tiPl2UJ99mlUr7hmxD7m_HNWynPoPPyj3hYmxujjhbcGoCxkCykKA5AaAk_PEALw_wcB">website</a>.
“Lesions can be flat or slightly raised, filled with clear or yellowish fluid, and can then crust, dry up and fall off. The number of lesions on one person can range from a few to several thousand,” the WHO site states, adding that lesions are usually “concentrated on the face, palms of the hands and soles of the feet” but can spread to the mouth, genitals and eyes.
Two years ago, SCAN began to monitor California wastewater for COVID-19. The group’s current monkeypox testing looks for monkeypox in water from showers, sinks, and toilets sent to wastewater treatment plants for decontamination.
Boehm said testing monkeypox levels in wastewater is a good way to gauge its spread in a community.
The DNA of monkeypox can be detected in bodily fluids of those infected, including in their respiratory and nasal secretions, spit, urine, feces, and semen, according to the report.

Monkeypox virus cells outbreak medical banner.

Monkeypox Detected In Wastewater In Key California Region

Monkeypox Detected In Wastewater In San Francisco Area

Health

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins on Friday fired 15 staffers less than a week after replacing the city&#8217;s former DA Chesa Boudin in a recall.
&#8220;Today, I made difficult but important changes to my management team and staff that will help advance my vision to restore a sense of safety in San Francisco by holding serious and repeat offenders accountable and implementing smart criminal justice reforms,&#8221; Jenkins said to <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Brooke-Jenkins-makes-wave-of-firings-17308456.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SFGATE.com</a>.
Jenkins, who helped lead the campaign to oust her predecessor, held a &#8220;horrible,&#8221; &#8220;icy,&#8221; &#8220;uncomfortable,&#8221; and &#8220;insane&#8221; 20-minute meeting with most of Boudin&#8217;s staff almost immediately after the city&#8217;s Mayor London Breed swore in Jenkins earlier this month. During that meeting, Jenkins said to the approximately 25 employees that she would not fire anyone that day but planned on meeting with staffers for a possible &#8220;reshuffling&#8221; of the office, <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Inside-first-meeting-with-Brooke-Jenkins-as-SF-DA-17293728.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SFGATE.com</a> reported.
Through Jenkin&#8217;s reshuffling, Managing Attorney Arcelia Hurtado reportedly lost her job first.
Hurtado served as a representative for The Innocence Commission, which Boudin established in 2020 to review cases of those who were wrongfully convicted. In a recent interview with <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://www.kqed.org/news/11919634/meet-brooke-jenkins-san-franciscos-new-district-attorney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KQED</a>, Jenkins said she would support the commission.
However, Lara Bazelon, chair of the commission and law professor at the University of San Francisco, told SFGATE.com that Jenkin&#8217;s decision to fire Hurtado is &#8220;deeply concerning,&#8221; considering Mayor Breed&#8217;s brother could receive leniency with possible release from prison following his conviction for carjacking and manslaughter.
Other staffers booted by Jenkins were the former DA&#8217;s chief of staff, Kate Chatfield, who <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/ChatfieldKate/status/1548046688522084360" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> on Friday that Boudin&#8217;s reformations would disappear.
&#8220;The resentencing/innocence commission unit: gone,&#8221; Chatfield said. &#8220;Police accountability: gone. Data and transparency: gone. Political corruption investigation: gone. Champion for victims and children: demoted.&#8221;
She added, &#8220;Champion for humane, hugely-popular, and successful treatment programs: gone. Latino/a outreach: gone. Support for trafficked children: gone.&#8221;
Jenkin&#8217;s reshuffling also included Tal Klement, assistant chief of general crimes, who <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://twitter.com/talklement/status/1548024678727372807" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> he would never stop fighting for real criminal justice reform following his firing.
Jenkin&#8217;s dismissed Boudin&#8217;s communication director and policy advisor, Rachel Marshall, the former director of data, analytics, and research, Mikaela Rabinowitz, and the managing attorney of the independent investigations bureau Lateef Gray.
In a statement, Jenkin&#8217;s said she would do everything she could to restore accountability and consequences to the city&#8217;s criminal justice system while still using progressive reforms.
&#8220;I have seen firsthand the imbalances and disproportionate impacts of our criminal justice system,&#8221; she <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://sfmayor.org/article/brooke-jenkins-sworn-san-francisco-district-attorney" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.
During a press conference, she called San Francisco &#8220;a city of second chances.&#8221;
&#8220;But the truth is we have to draw a line with people who choose hate, violence, and a life of crime,&#8221; Jenkins said, according to <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://thegrio.com/2022/07/10/brooke-jenkins-to-be-san-francisco-da/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Grio</a>. &#8220;I want to make clear: holding offenders accountable does not preclude us from moving forward with vital and important reforms to our criminal justice system.&#8221;
She served as an Assistant DA in the city&#8217;s DA office for approximately seven years until resigning during Boudin&#8217;s reign, noting dissatisfaction with the direction of the office.
Mayor Breed said she hears from frustrated residents daily about feeling unsafe and the city&#8217;s accountability.
Under Boudin&#8217;s rule, the former DA eliminated cash bail for suspects, directed his department to refuse to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and prosecuted fewer shoplifters. Homicides and property crimes including burglaries and car thefts have spiked over the past two years, and Boudin’s handling of suspected fentanyl dealers drew criticism.
Although Boudin, who gained support from left-wing billionaire George Soros, admitted he made mistakes, Boudin blamed his recall on right-wing billionaires.
Jenkins serves as San Francisco&#8217;s District Attorney until November when she faces a special election that determines who completes Boudin&#8217;s term.
Daily Wire reporter Greg Wilson <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/chesa-boudin-soft-on-crime-son-of-terror-group-members-bitter-after-recall-as-san-francisco-da">contributed</a> to this report.

George Floyd Protests

Newly Appointed Progressive San Francisco District Attorney Fires 15 Staffers From Predecessor’s Office

Crime

As if parking in San Francisco wasn&#8217;t already difficult, the city&#8217;s planning commission took it a step further after threatening a couple with a $1,500 fine for parking their vehicle in their own driveway.
Ed and Judy Craine, a San Francisco couple who have parked car after car in their driveway for nearly 40 years, received a $1,542 warning from city officials stating parking a car in their driveway violated a <a href="https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/san_francisco/latest/sf_planning/0-0-0-62918">code section</a> that banned vehicles from parking in the setback in front of houses — regardless if it doesn&#8217;t block a sidewalk, ABC7 <a href="https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-parking-violations-driveway-carport/12009975/?fbclid=IwAR2_8a1g2sX8DcqmYEqddHKCvL-2xppjB7VeTYYgDv5gmdC9-0Ia_IQ039Q&amp;fs=e&amp;s=cl#l55mydkdhof29uvato8">reported</a>. To make matters worse, the city would add $250 per day if the car wasn&#8217;t removed from the driveway that &#8220;as far they could tell&#8221; was used as a place to park vehicles since the house was built in 1910.
&#8220;To all of a sudden to be told you can&#8217;t use something that we could use for years,&#8221; Ed told ABC7. &#8220;It&#8217;s, it&#8217;s startling. Inexplicable.&#8221;
&#8220;It was very surprising, to say the least,&#8221; Judy said. &#8220;I wrote them back saying I thought this was a mistake.&#8221;
But the city said otherwise and gave them a chance to prove that past residents have historically used the space a lot. If successfully, they might get a waiver.
&#8220;We could be grandfathered in if we show them a historical photo that showed a car or a horse-drawn buggy in the carport,&#8221; said Judy.
So the coupled sifted through personal photos and searched online for public documentation.
At first, they shared a photo of their daughter 34 years ago standing in front of the house with the front-right side of a vehicle barely visible in the corner. But the city said it wasn&#8217;t old enough. So then, the Craines pulled a 1938 photo showing their home and street with a bunch of &#8220;black blobs&#8221; with one that looked like it was parking in the driveway.
Still no luck.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t know what else they would be,&#8221; Ed said. &#8220;To me, it&#8217;s pretty compelling that that was a car pulling in or out of the parking pad.&#8221;
&#8220;They said that they were too fuzzy,&#8221; Judy said.
After sending photos and disputing the warning with the planning commission, city officials eventually agreed to drop the warning without any charging any penalties after the Craines parked their car somewhere else.
Planning Commission Chief Dan Snider told ABC7 in an email that the city enacted the law decades ago for aesthetic reasons like making sure front yards wouldn&#8217;t turn into parking lots.
&#8220;I recognize that the property owner is frustrated,&#8221; Snider wrote. &#8220;I think I would feel the same way in their situation. But the Planning Code doesn&#8217;t allow for the City to grandfather illegal uses on account of their having flown below the radar for a length of time.&#8221;
Snider said the city became aware of the Craine&#8217;s parking their car on their property after receiving an anonymous complaint. Two other neighbors were slapped with the same warning for the same violation.
The city said the Craines could use their parking space again if they build a covered carport or garage. But it sits empty now, and their neighbors just found themselves with another car fighting for an open parking spot.

San Francisco Houses

San Francisco Officials Slap Couple With A $1,500 Warning For Parking On Their Own Property

San Francisco Law Blocks Residents From Parking On Their Own Property 

Cars

If you don’t like anchovies on your pizza, better not eat it outside in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/san-francisco-school-district-drops-use-of-the-word-chief-in-job-titles-over-native-american-sensitivities">San Francisco</a>.
The little fish are raining down from the sky in the City by the Bay, and scientists have figured out why. There’s a boom in the coastal anchovy population, and the birds that dine on them while they fly overhead are messy eaters.
“The anchovies are in pretty big numbers right now, and are pretty close to shore,” Whitney Grover, interim deputy director at the Golden Gate Audubon Society, told the <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/raining-fish-in-san-francisco-17272717.php">SFGate.com</a>. “So we’re experiencing a lot of these seabirds fishing, and then if they fly back over the land on the way to wherever they’re going, sometimes they drop fish.”
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The Simulation is definitely breaking down: &quot;Anchovies are reportedly raining from the sky across San Francisco&quot; <a href="https://t.co/FEDgRKbttA">https://t.co/FEDgRKbttA</a>
&mdash; Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) <a href="https://twitter.com/stevesilberman/status/1541975404189167621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 29, 2022</a></blockquote>
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A Reddit user who goes by sanfrannie <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/sanfrancisco/comments/v87745/fish_falling_from_sky_in_outer_richmond/">posted</a> recently that a dozen anchovies “rained down from the sky” onto a pal’s deck; another reported that they “almost got hit by a fish waiting for a bus,” and still another thought “a band of roving kids were doing a Tik Tok sardine-throwing challenge on a roof somewhere” after seeing fish falling onto the sidewalk, the outlet reported.
Researchers say the burgeoning anchovy population has left birds with more fish than they can eat.
“I heard stories just last week from guys who said that the water out there was just covered with thousands of birds, and the birds were just sitting on the water with anchovies in their mouths because they can’t eat anymore,” Larry Collins, president of the San Francisco Community Fishing Association, told the outlet.
&#8220;Good news at least for fans of Caesar salads?!&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/leftcoastbabe/status/1542235678607409152?s=20&amp;t=aCiGYwiJH_ScuXmXv6Qxbw">tweeted Janet Hough</a>.
&#8220;Found a pile of anchovies in the park one day,&#8221; <a href="https://twitter.com/emptycontent/status/1542160427433467905?s=20&amp;t=aCiGYwiJH_ScuXmXv6Qxbw">tweeted Travis Gohr</a>. &#8220;Now I know where they came from.&#8221;
The boom is apparently due to a phenomenon called “upwelling,” in which cold water packed with nutrients rises to the surface, and attract the junior member of the food chain.
“It&#8217;s just totally healthy ocean out there right now. I heard guys telling me about pelicans that, instead of diving to fill their mouths up, they’re just skimming the water and getting full mouths of anchovies,” Collins said.
Those same pelicans are the ones dropping anchovy bombs all over the city.
“I could see them going to Ocean Beach and picking up some anchovies, then flying right over San Francisco and over the Castro to go into the bay,” Grover said.

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