The San Francisco Bay Area (commonly called the Bay Area) is a greater metropolitan area in Northern California, defined locally as the nine counties that border on San Francisco Bay, including the northern extension called San Pablo Bay. These counties are Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma. This area includes the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and (in the "South Bay") Silicon Valley with its center at San Jose.
A more expansive definition of the Bay Area includes three additional counties that are contiguous with the nine Bay counties and comprise a logical economic metropolitan area; for instance many workers live in these three counties and commute to jobs in the Bay counties. These additional counties are San Benito, San Joaquin and Santa Cruz. This twelve-county area is also called the "San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area."
In the 1990 census, San Jose overtook San Francisco as the Bay Area's most populous city; nevertheless, San Francisco remains the cultural and historic capital of the area and the name "San Francisco Bay Area" is not in jeopardy.
In 1970, Marin Count Judge Harold Haley's head was blown off by a sawed-off shotgun in a hostage incident in which members of the Black Panthers attempted to free Davis' lover, Black Panther member George Jackson. Jackson's younger brother took the judge, the prosecutor, and three female jurors as hostages and armed the defendants.[1][2] Davis had purchased several of the firearms used in the attack,[3] including the shotgun used to kill the judge.[4] Davis was also found to have corresponded with Jackson.[5] California considers "all persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense... principals in any crime so committed", and a warrant for her arrest was issued. J. Edgar Hoover listed Davis on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List; the third woman to ever be listed[6] behind Ma Barker and Bernardine Dohrn. She was apprehended and John Abt, general counsel of the Communist Party USA, represent her.[7] Davis was eventually acquitted of any role in the plotting and execution of the crime.
Willie Brown, later mayor of San Francisco and Kamala Harris's mentor, compared Jim Jones to Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi. Brown endorsed Jones as “a close personal friend and a highly trusted brother in the struggle for liberation."[9] Dianne Feinstein joined the rest of the San Francisco board of supervisors in honoring Jones “in recognition of his guidance and inspiration” in furthering “humanitarian programs.” Gov. Jerry Brown spoke at the People's Temple. At its peak, the Temple boasted 20,000 members.
Following the San Francisco mayoral election of 1975, the San Francisco District Attorney asked Timothy Stoen, a Temple member,[10] to lead a special unit to investigate election fraud charges.[11] Shortly thereafter Stoen was hired as an assistant district attorney.[12][13] Stoen found no evidence of fraud, but Temple members later alleged that the Temple brought "busloads" of members from Redwood Valley who were not registered to vote in San Francisco, to vote in the San Francisco election.[14] It was Willie Brown who brought George Moscone and Jim Jones together.[15][16] Moscone, who owed his position as mayor to Jones in a tight race, appointed Jones chairman of the city's Housing Commission Authority, effectively making Jones the city's largest landlord. Moscone's press secretary stated that Jones "made his followers available to support progressive Democratic candidates."[17]
Moscone's press spokesman explained it was "common knowledge that if you were going to run for office in San Francisco, and your constituency included the black, the young or the poor, you'd better have Jones in your corner." Of particular interest to politicians was the Temple's ability to produce 2,000 people for campaign work or attendance at an event with only six hours notice. [10] Moscone's aide stated that Jones offered thousands of "foot soldiers" willing to walk precincts and get out the vote, which was "an offer no politician in his right mind could refuse." Similarly, San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos stated that "If you were having a rally for a presidential candidate, you needed to fill up the crowd, you could always get busloads from Jim Jones' church."[18] The chairman of the county Democratic Central Committee, the governing body of the Democratic Party in San Francisco, referred to the Temple as "a ready-made volunteer workforce," and Jones was "a man who touched a component of the consensus power forces in the city, such as labor and ethnicity groups....here was a guy who could provide workers for causes progressives cared about."[19]
Herb Caen, a Pulitzer Prize winner for the San Francisco Chronicle, acted as a hype-generator for Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple. Jane Fonda joined other celebrities in expressing that she was “familiar with the work of Reverend Jones and Peoples Temple and have no hesitancy in commending them for their example in setting a high standard of ethics and morality.” [20] The Peoples Temple and the Nation of Islam held a joint event in the Los Angeles Convention Center in 1976 . Thousands packed the Civic Center. Two time CPUSA Vice Presidential candidate Angela Davis, along with the Lieutenant Governor and Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley attended the event. In speaking at the event Jones stated "We are grateful for this symbolic merging of our two movements . . . If the Peoples Temple and the Nation of Islam can get together, anyone can."
Rosalynn Carter called Jones at candidate Jimmy Carter's behest. She held a private dinner with him and had the Peoples Temple leader introduce her at the 1976 grand opening of the San Francisco Democratic Party Headquarters. Jimmy Carter's running mate, Walter Mondale, met with Jones on the tarmac in San Francisco during the campaign.[21] Jones dined with Rosalynn Carter at the head table at the Democratic National Convention.[22] Jones wrote to Carter requesting aid for Fidel Castro, whom Jones had earlier met with in Cuba.[23] In a handwritten letter to Jones on White House stationery, the First Lady wrote "Your comments on Cuba have been helpful. I hope your suggestion can be acted on in the near future." Carter also wrote that "I enjoyed being with you during the campaign -- and do hope you can meet Ruth soon", referring to her sister-in-law, Ruth Carter Stapleton.[24] Mondale stated regarding the Temple that "knowing the congregations deep involvement in the major social and constitutional issues of our country . . . is a great inspiration to me."[25] Health and Human Services Secretary Joseph Califano stated "your humanitarian principles and your interest in protecting individual liberty and freedom have made an outstanding contribution to furthering the cause of human dignity." President Carter sent a representative to a dinner at the Temple at which Jones and Gov. Jerry Brown spoke.[26]
Jones procured land in Guyana where nearly 1,000 of his followers settled in Jonestown, clearing the land, planting crops, and listening to him preach the gospel according to Karl Marx. “I call capitalism the devil,” Jones said from the pulpit, “and socialism is God.” A former member of the Indianapolis Human Rights Commission, Jones often quoted Marx's dictum, "From each as he is able, to each according to his need." One member said the Temple moved to Jonestown because "what we saw in the United States was creeping fascism. It was apparent that corporations, or the multinationals, were getting much larger, their influence was growing within the government, and the United States is a racist place."[27]
Up to $65,000 in monthly welfare payments from New Deal and Great Society programs to Jonestown residents were signed over to the Temple.[28] Officials from the U.S. embassy in Georgetown interviewed Social Security recipients on multiple occasions to inquire if they were being held against their will.[29] None of the 75 people interviewed, according to the embassy, said they were being held captive, were forced to sign over welfare checks, or wanted to leave Jonestown.[30] Civil rights lawyers Charles Garry and Mark Lane, who represented James Earl Ray, depicted Jonestown as a paradise and aggressively defended Jones in the media.
As reports seeped back of people who wanted to leave Guyana, Harvey Milk – the first openly gay elected official who was endorsed by the Temple for San Francisco city councilman – wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter defending Jones "as a man of the highest character," and stating that Temple defectors were trying to "damage Rev. Jones' reputation" with "apparent bold-faced lies".[31] The Temple claimed that "reactionary forces were trying to destroy his [Jones] image because he is the most persistent fighter for social justice.[32]
Russian dignitary Feodor Timofeyev visited Jonestown for two days to gave a speech.[33] Jones introduced him saying, "For many years, we have let our sympathies be quite publicly known, that the United States government was not our mother, but that the Soviet Union was our spiritual motherland." Timofeyev opened the speech stating that the Soviet Union would like to send "our deepest and the most sincere greetings to the people of this first socialist and communist community of the United States of America, in Guyana and in the world". Both speeches were met by cheers and applause. Angela Davis addressed the crowd by shortwave radio saying, "when you are attacked, it is because of your progressive stand, and we feel that it is directly an attack against us as well."[34]
Hearing allegations of abuse, Congressman Leo J. Ryan led a fact-finding mission to Jonestown which included in his group a staff member and future congresswoman, Jackie Speier. Ryan and four others were murdered when they attempted to leave. After the killings, Jones herded his followers into the camp's main pavilion and ordered them all to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid. 909 bodies, including 304 children, were found by Guyana police in following days. Some of the bodies had gunshot wounds.
Three survivors claimed they were given an assignment before the suicides began. They were given luggage containing $550,000 in U.S. currency, $130,000 in Guyanese currency, and an envelope, which they were told to deliver to the Soviet embassy in Georgetown, Guyana. The envelope contained two passports and three instructional letters, the first of which was to Timofeyev, stating:
The letters included listed accounts with balances totaling in excess of $7.3 million to be transferred to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.[36][37] Jonestown was the greatest loss of American civilian lives in a non-natural disaster until the September 11, 2001 attacks. Progressivism suffered a devastating blow in the eyes of most Americans. Not until the rise of Barack Obama did it recover.
The Committees of Correspondence (CoC), also known as the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS) was formed in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[38][39] Several prominent party Communist Party USA ruderless without the Soviet Union to offer funding and instructions, and disillusioned with the dictatorial rule of CPUSA General Secretary Gus Hall, split off and to form their own group.[40][41]
The group's first organizational conference was held in Berkeley, California, July 17–19, 1992. Charlene Mitchell, who had been a leader of the California Communist Party, spoke at the conference. Mitchell said "the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe left the United States in a near unchallenged position of world leadership." She continued,
“ | What began as a moment to take stock and ponder where to go from there has now become a very different entity. People from the Communist Party, from CrossRoads, from the Democratic Socialists of America, from NCIPA [National Committee for Independent Political Action], from Solidarity, from the Socialist Organizing Network and many others, including independent leftists and independent socialists, have come together here in Berkeley. | ” |
Criticizing U.S. actions in the First Gulf War, Mitchell stated,
“ | progressive forces were nearly powerless in the face of an onslaught of demagogic, patriotic jingoism and yellow ribbons. This war, fought for no legitimate reason, was the crowning height of President [George H.W.] Bush's New World Order. Previously, the Soviet Union helped to provide a certain balance to rein in the crazies in this country. Now, that balance is no longer there. It is now up to us, the American people, to rein in our own crazies. The left must take a major responsibility in organizing this task. | ” |
Former congressional investigator Herbert Romerstein said the CCDS has "a close working relationship with the Stalinist remnants in the former East Germany, now called the Party of Democratic Socialism..." Romerstein points out these were the people who ran the concentration camps and the Communist Party apparatus in East Germany.
In 1970, Marin Count Judge Harold Haley's head was blown off by a sawed-off shotgun in a hostage incident in which members of the Black Panthers attempted to free Davis' lover, Black Panther member George Jackson. Jackson's younger brother took the judge, the prosecutor, and three female jurors as hostages and armed the defendants.[1][2] Davis had purchased several of the firearms used in the attack,[3] including the shotgun used to kill the judge.[4] Davis was also found to have corresponded with Jackson.[5] California considers "all persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense... principals in any crime so committed", and a warrant for her arrest was issued. J. Edgar Hoover listed Davis on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List; the third woman to ever be listed[6] behind Ma Barker and Bernardine Dohrn. She was apprehended and John Abt, general counsel of the Communist Party USA, represent her.[7] Davis was eventually acquitted of any role in the plotting and execution of the crime.
People Organized to Win Employment Rights or POWER (Garza) evolved from the now defunct communist group STORM (Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement). Obama’s former “green jobs czar” and CNN contributor, the self-described “communist” and “rowdy black nationalist” Van Jones, served on STORM's board. In January 2015, POWER merged with another Liberation Road group, Causa Justa,[42] and Garza left.[43] BLM founder Alicia Garza wrote at about the same time,
"When I use Assata [Shakur]'s powerful demand in my organizing work, I always begin by sharing where it comes from, sharing about Assata’s significance to the Black Liberation Movement, what its political purpose and message is, and why it’s important in our context."[44]
Assata Shakur is the former "queen" of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) terrorist group, who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973. She was convicted of murder and seven other felonies. While serving a life sentence, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979. She was granted political asylum in Cuba in 1984 where she has lived ever since, despite US government efforts to have her extradited. She is on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, under her maiden name Joanne Deborah Chesimard. BLM founders openly admit to being "trained Marxists".[45] Garza is a black separatist and more recently was affiliated with the Marxist Freedom Road Socialist Organization that wants to carve out an independent nation-state in the Bay Area.[46]
Bay Area Democrats rioted in Oakland,[48] California.[49] Nearly 10,000 people took to the streets of the California community, looting stores like Target and Walgreens,[50] and setting fire to a Chase bank. A Black officer from the Department of Homeland Security was murdered and another officer shot.[51][52]
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf ordered a hate crime investigation after Oakland Police identified five ropes they described as “nooses” hanging from trees at Lake Merrit, with the city government apparently believing that the ropes were akin to racial intimidation tactics and allusions to lynchings carried out by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The FBI was called in support of the investigation. A black man stepped forward stating that he and some of his friends installed the rope and small nooses merely for use as swings and exercise equipment. The nooses were used to attach a makeshift swing. “It’s unfortunate that a genuine gesture of just wanting to create a good time got misinterpreted," stating that he couldn't see how anyone would view the small ropes as a hangman's noose. The Democrat mayor however, refused to accept the word of a Black man and continued to claim the findings are indicative of a hate crime and continued the witchhunt for white supremacists invading Oakland.[53]
San Francisco (colloquially known as Scat Francisco[55]), California faces Environmental Protection Agency fines over the environmental damage done by the city in collaboration with its homeless partners.[56]
The last Republican mayor was elected in 1964.
Since 2011, the city's Poop Patrol office has received 118,352 reports of turds in the street, or roughly am average of one every 90 seconds, around the clock, for eight solid years.[57] With a growing population, the numbers can only be expected to increase. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in 2018 on the plight of residents unable to get a response from the city. A frustrated citizen finally called the newspaper after finding a suitcase full of human excrement on the corner of his block. The resident purchased a $750,000 condo for his wife and 2 `1/2 year old child. The paper described the neighborhood as "progressive."[58] With the city already covered in feces, the newly elected Democrat district attorney vowed to not prosecute public urination.[59]
In a city with an estimated homeless population of 8,000,[60] the taxpayers liberally hand out 4.5 million free syringes annually,[61] or roughly one every 16 hours, assuming (a) the needles are used exclusively by the homeless and (b) all 8,000 homeless are intravenous drug users. While homeowners and renters may take advantage of this taxpayer subsidy, there is no means testing. And the city leaders give little thought to the health and safety of children in public parks and elsewhere exposed to the careless disposal of dirty needles which are thrown away at a rate of some 12,000 daily. While the city has banned the use of plastics straws because they are a "threat to the environment."[62] the city continues the distribution of disposal plastic syringes which are a threat to everybody's health and the environment.
Chesa Boudin was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2019. Chesa was elected with money from George Soros,[63] is the child of two cop-killing communists,[64] and is named after a cop killing communist.[65] Chesa, a Democrat, was elected on a platform of not prosecuting criminals and opening the prisons as an important step in furthering the Marxist revolution.[66] Chesa is named after Joanne Chesimard,[67] also known as Assata Shakur of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list currently living in Cuba. Chesimard was convicted of the murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1977 and escaped prison in 1979. Chesimard is the inspiration of Patrisse Cullors, founder of Black Lives Matter (BLM).
Chesa's mother is Kathy Boudin, who served 22 years in prison for the murder of two policemen and a Brink's guard. His father, David Gilbert, remains in prison. Chesa was adopted and raised by Weather Underground (WUO) self-admitted terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn.[68]
Chesa's namesake, Joanne Chesimard aka Assata Shakur, is the former "queen" of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) terrorist group, who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper in 1973. She was convicted of the murder in 1977 and seven other felonies. While serving a life sentence, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979. She was granted political asylum in Cuba in 1984 where she has lived ever since, despite US government efforts to have her extradited. She is on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, under her maiden name Joanne Deborah Chesimard. BLM founders openly admit to being "trained Marxists."[45] BLM co-founder Alicia Garza is a black separatist and more recently was affiliated with the Marxist Freedom Road Socialist Organization that wants to carve out an independent nation-state in the Bay Area.[46] Garza wrote, "When I use Assata [Shakur]'s powerful demand in my organizing work, I always begin by sharing where it comes from, sharing about Assata’s significance to the Black Liberation Movement, what its political purpose and message is, and why it’s important in our context."[44]
Los Angeles has had one Republican mayor since 1961.
Los Angeles currently is undergoing a typhus epidemic.[69] Typhus is the name given to a group of bacterial infections transmitted to people living in crowded and unsanitary conditions by lice and fleas, coming from infected rats. The rats are attracted into the human environment by unsanitary conditions created by humans.
Los Angeles Democrats sold off all its emergency medical stockpiles and ventilators for a respiratory pandemic in 2011.[70]
During the 2020 leftist uprising rioters beat up a cop[71] and burnt a police vehicle.[72] The city's Democrat mayor Eric Garcetti cut funding for the police department by $250 million.[73] LAPD reported that during the week of May 31 to Jun 6 homicides went up 250% and victims shot went up 56% compared to the previous week.[74]