Sad Francisco

Tourmaline's work spotlighting the life of Marsha P. Johnson began with collecting a popular archive online, then a film, and now a biography that's out May 20. In the book, you learn about the notorious Black, trans heroine who moved to New York when she was thirteen, rioted at Stonewall, protected the dolls with Sylvia Rivera and their group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries/STAR, performed in and around the Village, and left the door open behind her for future queer and trans people, and everyone who believes we should be allowed to self-determine our destinies. Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677583/marsha-by-tourmaline/ Happy Birthday Marsha - Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel's movie about Marsha (free with a library card on Kanopy) https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/happy-birthday-marsha The Personal Things - animated short film Tourmaline made about Miss Major (with Micah Bazant, Pamela Chavez, and Hope Dector) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzafzVv2G2E

Even if you don't use Spotify, the streaming platform's anti-labor orientation means it's affecting musicians and thus, the music you listen to, which Liz Pelly covers in depth in her new book, "Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist." Discussed this episode: Spotify's in-house "fake"/ghost artists, how it uses a "payola-like" system to charge artists to get discovered, Walter Benjamin's "aura loss," and more. Liz's website  https://lizpelly.info Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C6719844 Critical Listening (Liz's new podcast with Max Alper) https://www.patreon.com/criticallistening Bay Beats - SF Public Library's music streaming service https://baybeats.sfpl.org   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

CJ Trowbridge discusses his latest land project, the High Desert Institute, and a previous one that was featured on the 2023 reality show "The Garden: Commune or Cult?"--where the founding of an anticapitalist, consensus-based community was chronicled by corporate TV channel producers for a Discovery Channel audience. We also talk about the Cyberpony Express mesh network he's working on (basically, a parallel internet outside the clutches of the telecoms oligarchs like AT&T).  CJ on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@cjtrowbridge CJ on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CJTrowbridge High Desert Institute https://highdesertinstitute.org Castro Media on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@castromedia.org   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

AI is coming for our jobs, the environment, and is even starting to stand-in for human creativity. Derek Allen, Sam Kirchner and Varvara Pavlova are part of the newly formed direct action group Stop AI, which is particularly concerned about the existential threat of Artificial General Intelligence and the potential for robots to outsmart humans, which Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, says is coming this year. Stop AI https://www.stopai.info/ 
"Lavender: The AI machine directing Israel's bombing spree in Gaza" (Yuval Abraham, +972 Magazine) https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/ Brian Merchant's book "Blood in the Machine: The Origins of the Rebellion Against Big Tech" covers the history of the Luddite movement https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C5986948 Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Erica Meiners and Priya Kandaswamy on how prison guard unions use the valor of labor movement to reinforce the prison industrial complex.  TW: Discussion of brutality, murder, sexual assault and suicide of prisoners at the hands of prison employees. "Prisons Are Anti-Labor Institutions. We Need an Anti-Carceral Labor Movement." (Truthout) https://truthout.org/articles/prisons-are-anti-labor-institutions-we-need-an-anti-carceral-labor-movement/ Legal Aid Society: "I'm Just Collateral Damage. The Human Cost of an Illegal Prison Strike" https://legalaidnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/LAS_PrisonersRightsProject_ClientStoriesReport_Final.pdf Southern Poverty Law Center on white supremacy among prison guards  https://www.splcenter.org/resources/hate-watch/new-york-fired-racist-prison-guard-identity-evropa-membership/   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Malcolm Harris, on how pragmatism has been monopolized by centrists who fail to take climate change seriously—the same kind of centrists who'd trust tech industrialists to save the human race. We discuss why you need a pharmacist on your apocalypse team, and Malcolm's new book, 'What's Left', which understands how our survival depends on anti-capitalist collectivity, unlike Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's Libertarian-leaning Democratic Party think tank bestseller, 'Abundance.'  'What's Left'  https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/malcolm-harris/whats-left/9781668646861/?lens=little-brown  "What's the Matter with Abundance?" The Baffler https://thebaffler.com/latest/whats-the-matter-with-abundance-harris   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

After last November's election, everyone from campaign consultants, to media critics, to Donald Trump himself credited alt-right media and the manosphere for making the US a more welcoming place for repressive, retrograde politics and values.  Ome (@sugarskullangelic on social media) is a sociologist and host of the podcast Liberación Army Radio, who speaks to why it's not just Andrew Tate and Joe Rogan followers who get sucked into the alt-right pipeline. Ome's Linktree https://linktr.ee/sugarskullangelic  Ome serving the public interest through analysis of the Khalil and Danisha Carter TikTok drama https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP82GKryn/ Pieces mentioned: Cheryl Harris's 'Whiteness as Property' https://web.archive.org/web/20180917081313/https://racism.org/index.php/articles/race/66-defining-racial-groups/white-european-american/369-white02a2  Olufemi O. Taiwo's 'Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (and Everything Else)' https://archive.org/details/olufemi-o.-taiwo-elite-capture-how-the-powerful-took-over-identity-politics-and-/mode/2up  Silvia Federici's 'Caliban and the Witch' https://files.libcom.org/files/Caliban%20and%20the%20Witch.pdf   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

A quick check-in where we look back at the longest three months in recent memory, with some notes on what's coming up.  Thanks to all our subscribers on Patreon; please join them at patreon.com/sadfrancisco

Live from the Mission! A conversation between Deeg, Deni, Jemma and Lavelle recorded March 13, 2025 at 518 Valencia Street, steps away from the Death Star known as Manny's. A night of "tales of queer insurrection" where the audience heard the short and sweet versions of the histories of three longstanding Bay Area queer movement groups: Gay Shame, LAGAI Queer Insurrection!, and Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism!  Presented in collaboration with HALA Collective and Left in the Bay; thanks also to Clean Air Network.   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Mario Riveira and Abe Woodliff's first collaborative documentary, The City of Sensitive Frauds, premieres this week. Its topic: gentrifiers and how they homogenize cities. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71eCUCI9CpM Abe on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/realbayareamemes/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@abeisabadwriter Twitter: https://x.com/HeLLaTaLL510 Mario on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mario0o0o0o0o0o Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@mario0o0o0o0o0o YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@mario0o0o0o0o Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Stephanie Lumsden is a scholar in Feminist and Native American Studies, currently teaching at UC Davis. She tells the story of a gang of Hupa tribe resistance fighters in 1860s California that included Curly-Headed Tom, who wreaked havoc on the area's settlers. Elsewhere in the conversation: the 'bad' vs. 'good Indian' dichotomy, and the concept of 'revenge' as anti-colonial resistance. stephanielumsden.com=

Signal (the phone app) has become an obligatory download for every organizer on the Left in the US. But it was funded through one of the American government's propaganda agencies, and the atmosphere it creates is one of a neverending meeting permeated by paranoia. Epic conversation, care of Jemma DeCristo and Ralowe Ampu.  LAGAI—Queer Insurrection! [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/OTIxNTJmOWUtMDAxZi00YjgxLWExZGMtZDJlMzBjN2M0OWMx?view=apps&sort=popularity] Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!) [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/NDI2Y2VjYTItMjcwNi00MjQ5LWFkZTMtZmQyMjE2YjdjMjQ2?view=apps&sort=popularity] Ruth Wilson Gilmore, scholar recently on Sad Francisco [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/NjQwMzVkZGUtMzU4MC00YjdkLWI5N2MtNzk2MjdmZWM2YjJk] SFPD racist texting scandal, 2015 edition [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/26/san-francisco-police-officers-racist-text-messages-jason-lai] Mentioned in the introduction: "Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet" by Yasha Levine [https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C3541049]  "Cloudflare Issue Can Leak Chat App Users' Broad Location" (Joseph Cox, 404 Media) [https://www.404media.co/cloudflare-issue-can-leak-chat-app-users-broad-location] Past episodes with Jemma: "The Twitter Tax Break: How AOC West Sold Out SoMa" [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/MTUxODQwOGEtNDZhYy00YWQ2LWJlZjMtODdiZmNjYmE3OGM2?view=apps&sort=popularity] "Is the Transgender District a Force for Liberation or Gentrification?" [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/YmEyM2FiYzktYTA5OC00ODJkLWE4NjktZTY5YzA3MzlkYTAz?view=apps&sort=popularity] "Trans Black-Palestinian Solidarities" [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/NmYwYTkxYmEtYmYxNS00ZTQxLTk1OWItMzZjNDY3YWMwZDRm?view=apps&sort=popularity] And Ralowe: [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/MmIyMmJiYTgtYjMxZS00MGJjLWFjYTctMTYwOTU1YmQ0YmNl?view=apps&sort=popularity] Referenced:  "Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet" by Yasha Levine [https://sfpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S93C3541049]  "Cloudflare Issue Can Leak Chat App Users' Broad Location" (Joseph Cox, 404 Media) [https://www.404media.co/cloudflare-issue-can-leak-chat-app-users-broad-location] Past episodes with Jemma: "The Twitter Tax Break: How AOC West Sold Out SoMa" [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/MTUxODQwOGEtNDZhYy00YWQ2LWJlZjMtODdiZmNjYmE3OGM2?view=apps&sort=popularity] "Is the Transgender District a Force for Liberation or Gentrification?" [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/YmEyM2FiYzktYTA5OC00ODJkLWE4NjktZTY5YzA3MzlkYTAz?view=apps&sort=popularity] "Trans Black-Palestinian Solidarities" [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/NmYwYTkxYmEtYmYxNS00ZTQxLTk1OWItMzZjNDY3YWMwZDRm?view=apps&sort=popularity] And Ralowe: [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/MmIyMmJiYTgtYjMxZS00MGJjLWFjYTctMTYwOTU1YmQ0YmNl?view=apps&sort=popularity]   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Chris Lee studies the emergent Asian and Asian American rightwing in the US, including forces like the Falun Gong cult. We discuss the FLG and its flagship soft power campaigns that include the Shen Yun dance company and the Epoch Times newspaper—and how it's part of a larger effort to sow anti-communist, anti-trans sentiment in the US.    Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Margaret Killjoy on coming out as an anarchist, why anarchist history is so hidden, and the importance of deescalating conflict that isn't with the enemy (and more). Margaret's Substack [https://substack.com/@margaretkilljoy] has her essay "The Sky is Falling; We've Got This" [https://margaretkilljoy.substack.com/p/the-sky-is-falling-weve-got-this] Marget on BlueSky [https://bsky.app/profile/margaret.bsky.social] | Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/margaretkilljoy] | Twitter [https://x.com/magpiekilljoy] Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Two founders of the prison abolition movement—renowned thinkers and doers Craig and Ruth Wilson Gilmore—speak on the prison industrial complex's California roots. Also discussed: Why focusing on closing private prisons is too narrow a vision, and Gavin Newsom's campaign to put a kinder, gentler face on mass incarceration via the medicalization of imprisonment (eg. increasing conservatorship, forced rehab, and slapping the words "Rehabilitation Center" on San Quentin).    Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

It started when San Jose State University's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office sponsored a visit from CSU's premier Zionist. Sang Hea Kil describes the repression she experienced as the only faculty member who joined an encampment of Muslim students in solidarity with Palestine last year at the school.  Later in the episode, G, a former worker at GLIDE Church (a San Francisco nonprofit where the head of "Social Justice" is a Zionist rabbi), speaks about explicit and implicit Zionist bias at progressive nonprofits.  Sang's piece in Radical Teacher: "Islamophobia, Dirty Water Tactics, and Student Encampments for Gaza": https://radicalteacher.library.pitt.edu/ojs/radicalteacher/article/view/1310  Sang on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sangheakil/  G on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gay13/  Episodes mentioned: How South African Solidarity Encampments Worked f/ Matt Ray and Matt Wranovics (Left in the Bay):  https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/YmVmZmIxY2QtYzg4Ny00OTliLWJmZGYtMjVkOTM1MjYwNWJj  Can't Hide a Genocide f/ Dylan Rodriguez and Loubna Qutami: https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/ZmVhOGRjMDYtMmVjOS00NmM4LThmZDktN2JmYjQxMTk0Yjc4  Debt is a Threat to Liberation f/ Maddy Clifford (Debt Collective):  https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/MjdhNWQzNmMtNTg4My00NDkwLWIyMmItZmE4NzkwN2RkYzAx  Should Social Movement Work Be Paid? with Dean Spade: [https://episodes.fm/1653309103/episode/ZmY5YTNkMTUtOTkzNC00YTBjLTk0NDQtMzNkOTliY2EzMDdk   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco ]

A crowd of people set fire to a robotaxi last Lunar New Year in San Francisco's Chinatown. Jasmine explains how Asian American influencers and corporate media outlets used the "death" of a Waymo "self-driving" vehicle to stoke fear about anti-Asian violence. Fundraiser for Yazan in Gaza [https://chuffed.org/project/115145-yazan] Write to Casey Goonan [https://www.abcf.net/blog/update-on-casey-goonans-legal-case] LA Public Press Podcast: https://lapublicpress.org/the-tenant-association/ Episode referenced: Dylan Rodriguez on Zionists and Counterinsurgency in Stop Asian Hate [https://www.patreon.com/posts/zionists-and-in-103600189]   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Churches, nonprofits and politicians have turned the anti-sex trafficking movement into a billion-dollar industry. The lives and stories of migrant sex workers get used as an excuse to hire more cops, and criminalize a form of labor that pays better than most. Chanelle and Elene, on their new book featuring the stories of migrant sex workers from across North America. Not Your Rescue Project (Haymarket Books) [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2258-not-your-rescue-project] Butterfly: Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network [https://www.butterflysw.org]

"Abolish Rent" is a new organizing bible from Leonardo Vilchis and Tracy Rosenthal, laying out the reasons why capitalism will never provide everyone with the basic human need of shelter. They discuss tactics from successful rent strikes, how California's COVID-19 eviction moratorium was both a success and failure of tenant activism, and the attempt by landlords to rebrand as "housing providers." Buy Abolish Rent [https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2443-abolish-rent] "Privatizing Public Housing: 'The Genocide of Poor People'" (Toshio in Truthout) [https://truthout.org/articles/privatizing-public-housing-the-genocide-of-poor-people/]   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Hanin, Mai and Nadina met and became friends through the Palestine solidarity movement in Tokyo a little over a year ago.  We cover some of the recent successes of the movement, including Israeli defense company Elbit Systems losing contracts, and Israel being disinvited from the yearly event in Nagasaki that memorializes the day the US dropped an atomic bomb.  They speak to some of the particularities of organizing against imperialism from inside Japan, and ways to sustain the organizing as the latest wave of genocide in Gaza continues. Palestinians of Japan (Instagram) https://www.instagram.com/palestinejapan Mai's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yudetamai Nadina's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nadina.mp4 Nam Nam Space (Koenji, Tokyo) https://www.instagram.com/namnam_space Support Simo in Palestine https://www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-relief-for-salamas-family-in-gaza

Mama Ganuush and Toshio bring you AIPAC Zombies: people in American culture who have been possessed by the worst Zionist brainrot.   Our first episode: California politician Scott Wiener.   More: "Scott Wiener's Appalling Legacy as San Francisco Supervisor" (Patrick Range McDonald, Housing is a Human Right) [https://www.housingisahumanright.org/scott-wiener-appalling-legacy-san-francisco-supervisor/]   "Gay Neoliberal Candidate in San Francisco Disproves Myths About LGBT Values" (Toshio, Truthout) [https://truthout.org/articles/gay-neoliberal-candidate-in-san-francisco-disproves-myths-about-lgbt-values/]  

Join Tofu and Toshio on an end of the year, stream-of-consciousness check-in.  New episode of Sad Francisco on January 3. AIPAC Zombies with Mama Ganuush premieres January 1. Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

A check-in with Mama Ganuush where we hear about their recent hunger strike, their visit with family who evacuated Gaza for Egypt, and discuss how US elections are bought and sold by AIPAC.   SF Drag Artist Leads Hunger Strike Against US Funding of Israel (Nastia Voynovskaya, KQED) https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967427/sf-drag-artist-leads-hunger-strike-against-us-funding-of-israel Mama Ganuush on Instagram HALA Collective   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

[This episode went up back in September, but it felt OK to put it back on the feed for anyone who might've missed it. New episodes soon.] As liberation movements face intense repression from CEOs, cops, landlords, politicians, and Zionists, Dean Spade and friends put together a list of questions we can all ask ourselves, so we don't reproduce the logics of the state. Dean is author of the classics Mutual Aid and Normal Life: Administrative Violence and the Limits of the Law, and future classic Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together. "Cultivating Solidarity in Times of Escalating Repression" (Dean, with Community Justice Exchange, Jocelyn Simonson, Pilar Weiss, Atara Rich-Shea and Zohra Ahmed: http://bit.ly/cultivatesolidarity  Our last episode with Dean: Should Social Movement Work Be Paid? https://www.patreon.com/posts/should-social-be-109620321?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link  Dean's website: http://deanspade.net  Support us and watch the video version of this episode on Patreon.

Lavender Phoenix https://lavenderphoenix.org/  SF People's Budget: https://www.instagram.com/sfpeoplesbudget/  #JusticeForAkaiGurley: AAPI response to people supporting Peter Liang, the NYPD officer who killed Akai Gurley.  https://caaav.org/justiceforakaigurley-national-sign-on-letter Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco *People's Budget Coalition listed for ID purposes only.  

Originally from San Francisco, Brandon Lee was working as a journalist in Ifugao in the Philippines when he survived an assassination attempt–a shooting carried out by forces close to the US-backed Duterte regime.    Brandon talks about surviving the attack, the US disinformation machine, and why the Bay goes so hard for liberation in the Philippines.    Website: Justice4BrandonLee.org IG: Justice4BrandonLee: https://www.instagram.com/justice4brandonlee/  FB: https://www.facebook.com/Justice4BrandonLee    International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines-US: https://ichrpus.wordpress.com/  BAYAN USA: https://www.bayanusa.org/    "Death Squads Hunting Environmental Defenders" (Brandon, In These Times): https://inthesetimes.com/article/brandon-lee-philippines-violence-environmental-activists "The U.S. Is Complicit in War Crimes in the Philippines" (Brandon, Inkstick Media): https://inkstickmedia.com/the-us-is-complicit-in-war-crimes-in-the-philippines/ "The Forces That Nearly Murdered Me Are Meeting In San Francisco Today" (Brandon, The Nation): https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/apec-summit-san-francisco/    "Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic" (Chris Bing and Joel Schectman, Reuters): https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-covid-propaganda/   "SHUTDOWN: The Rise and Fall of Direct Action to Stop the War": documentary about the protests in response to the Iraq war in 2003 that shut down San Francisco for: https://vimeo.com/57710595   Past episodes mentioned: Imperial War Games of RIMPAC f/ Abbey Irodistan from BAYAN USA NorCal: https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-imperial-f-108415933 SF Against APEC w/ Anakbayan CCSF: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sf-against-apec-109660245 - Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Jeremy Mack (from The Phoenix Project, which exposes dark money in Bay Area politics) is back for a discussion about upcoming elections, TogetherSF, the billionaire-funded, "pro-moderate" astroturfing group behind SF's Prop. D, and Balaji Srinivasan's plan for "The Network State," a techbro-led New World Order complete with a walled-off Hayes Valley.   The Phoenix Project: https://www.phoenixprojectnow.com/  Instagram: @phoenixprojnow | Twitter: @phoenixprojnow   Past episodes mentioned:  -Alison Collins on being recalled from SFUSD: https://www.patreon.com/posts/project-2025-in-111973369  -Anna Kirsch on the billionaire attempt to create a billionaire's compound in Solano County, "California Forever": https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-planning-f-107097104    "The Tech Baron Seeking to Purge San Francisco of 'Blues'" (Gil Duran, The New Republic): https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat   "SF Dems' sexual-misconduct inquiry puts politico Jay Cheng back in the spotlight" (Joe Rivano Barros, Mission Local): https://missionlocal.org/2024/05/sf-dems-sexual-misconduct-committee-puts-allegations-against-politico-jay-cheng-back-in-spotlight/      Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Mama Ganuush hosts a discussion on whether people in the US actually stand a chance under American democracy, when money rules everything around us. Guests from The Phoenix Project (exposing dark money in Bay Area politics) and Pups for Palestine (what it says :) ). Salon HALA will return in 2025.  Salon HALA on Instagram  The Phoenix Project  Zinedogs |  Instagram @zinedogssf  Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

It's one year since the start of the most recent wave of Israel's US-backed genocide of Palestinians. This episode was recorded last fall with Loubna Qutami (co-founder of the Palestinian Youth Movement and a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective), and one of her mentors, and ours, Dylan Rodriguez (co-founder of Critical Resistance and the Critical Ethnic Studies Association).  Both organizers and professors, Loubna (UCLA) and Dylan (UC Riverside) discuss Zionist repression, and why we must continue to fight it.   >> LISTEN TO ALL 14 OF OUR PALESTINE EPISODES FROM THE PAST YEAR HERE.

"Brothers in recovery" Matt Dorsey (an ex-SFPD staffer turned politician) and Tom Wolf (the rightwing influencer who said the impending closure of a Macy's store was "San Francisco's 9/11") are examples of how conservatives are using their drug rehab journeys to prop up the war on drug users. With enemies like Tom Wolf, rightwing lobbyist Christopher Rufo, and conservative misinformation machine PragerU, our guest, Tenderloin-based writer Lea McGeever, must be doing something right. Lea: Substack: https://leftylea.substack.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leftylea_in_sf/  TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@leftylea?lang=en    Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Project 2025 soft launched in San Francisco years ago, with successful attempts to replace politicians with people who are obedient to the rightwing. Because it's the Bay, these replacements are registered as Democrats and they virtue signal about diversity, but make no mistake, they are deeply aligned with rightwing forces like the Heritage Foundation.  This episode's guest Alison Collins is a SFUSD teacher and former school board member who was recalled in a rightwing recall campaign in 2022. Ali's Patreon: www.patreon.com/justtalkspodcast Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Mutual aid and relationships with people we trust are gonna be key to surviving the political and climate apocalypses ahead. Brooke, Lauren and Mama Ganuush  on Bay2Gaza Mutual Aid, and how to sustain connections with people living through the genocide in Palestine, as the US and Israel do everything they can to repress signals of solidarity. Bay2Gaza Benefit is 9/20 at Oakland Secret https://www.instagram.com/p/C_ggDqUyDoj/?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==  https://www.Bay2Gaza.org  Thank you to LoCura for this episode's outro track “Guerriller@s (Bang Data remix)  https://www.locuramusica.org Past Sad Francisco episodes mentioned: Pinkwashing, with Brooke, Mama Ganuush and Deeg https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-genocide-f-108029780 Trans Black Palestinian Solidarities with Jemma Decristo, Lavelle Ridley and Mama Ganuush https://www.patreon.com/posts/video-trans-f-105794127  Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

"Cultivating Solidarity in Times of Escalating Repression" (Dean, with Community Justice Exchange, Jocelyn Simonson, Pilar Weiss, Atara Rich-Shea and Zohra Ahmed: http://bit.ly/cultivatesolidarity    As liberation movements face intense repression from CEOs, cops, landlords, politicians, and Zionists,   https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/over-60-people-indicted-on-rico-charges-in-atlanta-allegedly-promoting-anarchist-ideas/  Official Indictment: https://unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/atlanta-rico-indicts-doc-official.pdf    Dean Spade and friends put together a list of questions we can all ask ourselves, so we don't reproduce the logics of the state.   Dean is author of the classics Mutual Aid and Normal Life: Administrative Violence and the Limits of the Law, and future classic Love in a F*cked-Up World: How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together https://www.deanspade.net/2024/08/14/new-book-out-january-pre-order-now/   Our last episode with Dean: Should Social Movement Work Be Paid? https://www.patreon.com/posts/should-social-be-109620321?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link    Dean's website: http://deanspade.net  Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco    

Debt is a tool of control wielded by rich people. Maddy Clifford and Debt Collective (the union for people dealing with debt) want to wipe it out.   Maddy's Linktree https://linktr.ee/madlines   Debt Collective https://debtcollective.org/   Tenant Power Toolkit https://tenantpowertoolkit.org/   "They Want to Keep You in Debt" (Maddy at More Perfect Union) https://perfectunion.us/the-secret-student-debt-fight/   “It's a system that's rigged. It's messed up, and we're the ones that have to bear that burden." (Maddy at In These Times) https://inthesetimes.com/article/leimert-park-jubilee-debt-collective   "Debt" by David Graeber https://linkencore.iii.com/iii/encore/record/C__Rb42088729   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Hate to be that bummer podcast, but Zionism has invaded party culture, too.    Mama Ganuush discusses Adam Swig, a party promoter from the real estate empire that brought you San Francisco's posh Fairmont and St. Francis hotels.   Next, we talk Israel's colonization of the Playa, complete with a Nova Music Festival memorial, and a “No donations for Doctors Without Borders” policy at the queer Comfort & Joy camp.   More episodes on with Zionist culture-washing: “Civic Joy Brings Sorrow” with Mama Ganuush https://www.patreon.com/posts/civic-joy-brings-108848550?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link “Zionists and Counterinsurgency in Stop Asian Hate” with Dylan Rodriguez https://www.patreon.com/posts/zionists-and-in-103600189?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link “The Anti-Zionist Boycott of Manny's” with Deeg https://www.patreon.com/posts/anti-zionist-of-106162019?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link “Pinkwashing Genocide” with Brooke Lober, Deeg and Mama Ganuush https://www.patreon.com/posts/pinkwashing-f-108029935?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link “Queers for a Free Palestine” with Kate Raphael https://www.patreon.com/posts/queers-for-free-109660043?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link “Haaretz confirms Grayzone reporting it dismissed as ‘conspiracy' showing Israel killed own festivalgoers” (via The Grayzone) https://thegrayzone.com/2023/11/21/haaretz-grayzone-conspiracy-israeli-festivalgoers/amp/   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Elections suck people's energy, money, and imagination, while legitimizing a system where a few elites cling to most power and wealth. (Not to mention the multiple genocides.) What's not to love? Edxi's Linktree linktr.ee/bettsurevolt I'm NOT Dreaming of a White 'Insurrection': How the Right Wing Stole Crisis https://edxithatradgworl.substack.com/p/im-not-dreaming-of-a-white-insurrection?r=327odc&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web   Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Love to everyone who listens to the podcast. Short announcement today. BTW, if you're a member, the new Patreon-only content is up today! Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Homelessness is becoming even more criminalized thanks to the Grant's Pass decision at the Supreme Court, plus the desire by politicians to suck up to their Nextdoor.com lurker donors. Permanent supportive housing (PSH) is one way to give people a roof over their heads without taking away their self-determination. Jordan Davis discusses living in, and fighting for, permanent supportive housing. Check patreon.com/sadfrancisco to listen (free) to a conversation about the Supreme Court's Grant's Pass decision further criminalizing homelessness, recorded live at Salon Hala at Queer AF in the Castro on 7/26 (with Mama Ganuush, Ka-Sun Cho, and Snowflake Calvert). Jordan Davis on Instagram: www.instagram.com/veganpaczki  Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

The Civic Joy Fund is an artwashing front for nefarious causes like Zionism and the Police Officers Association, helmed and funded by sociopaths like Manny Yekutiel of Manny's in the Mission, crypto bro Chris Larsen, and Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie. Mama Ganuush on the boycott directed at the aforementioned rich guys and the milquetoast art they're funding. HALA Collective - Mama Ganuush-founded artist collective (Toshio is a member) https://www.mamaganuush.com/hala Our episode with Deeg on the Anti-Zionist Boycott of Manny's https://www.patreon.com/posts/anti-zionist-of-106162019?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=web_share Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

For RIMPAC, 29 countries and so-called Israel are in Hawaii to explode some old naval ships, waste a ton of money, kill some birds and dolphins, and make local kids feel like they're under a perpetual state of siege. Abbey Irodistan is with the Filipino anti-imperialist group BAYAN USA NorCal, which is joining Hawaiians to call for an end to RIMPAC forever.  "SF Against APEC" episode with Anakbayan CCSF BAYAN USA NorCal (Instagram) Anakbayan USA  Gabriela USA  SF Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines Toshio Meronek and Tofu Estolas make Sad Francisco.  Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco

Sad Francisco fam Brooke Lober (Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area), Deeg (Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism), and Mama Ganuush on why Zionists started putting rainbow flags on tanks destroying Gaza, and the Bay Area roots of Brand Israel's gay hasbara campaign.  Recorded June 27, 2024 at the Queer & Trans Artists for a Free Palestine closing at SOMArts, hosted by the BLOOM Collective. Palestinian queer group alQaws: “Reflecting on Queerness in Times of Genocide” Mama Ganuush on queers for Palestine, and Trans Black Palestinian Solidarities Deeg on the Manny's in the Mission boycott, and LAGAI - Queer Insurrection Brooke Lober on Urban Alchemy Toshio's reporting on pinkwashing at Truthout, Waging Nonviolence, and Bitch magazine Toshio Meronek and Tofu Estolas make Sad Francisco. Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco

Abe Woodliff on how it's impossible to actually predict when a meme will hit, writing, and the shocking lack of negatives there are to existing authentically. Plus his recent piece on who wins and loses from fake narratives around crime rates. "Crime is Down in the Bay Area, Why Are People Pretending It's Not?" at Broke-Ass Stuart Abe Woodliff on Substack | Instagram | Twitter | Abe's Book @realbayareamemes on Instagram | Facebook

YIMBY billionaires are buying up thousands of acres northeast of the Bay, to build a planned community of rich tech types. To sell their East Solano Plan (f.k.a. “California Forever”) to locals, its founders launched a PR campaign complete with artwashing and more. Vallejo-based Anna Kirsch of Artists Against Billionaires is part of the resistance. Artists Against Billionaires on Instagram Anna Kirsch (@girlonbus) on Instagram

Kevin L. Jones from Doomloop Dispatch–"the podcast about the worst parts of the San Francisco Bay Area" reached out! Him and Toshio speak on the ongoing death of traditional corporate news, plus background on the origins of Sad Francisco.  Doomloop Dispatch is on all the podcast platforms, plus Twitter and Instagram. Toshio Meronek and Tofu Estolas are Sad Francisco. Support us and find links to our past episodes: patreon.com/sadfrancisco  

Get to know the gay Zionist Burner Manny Yekutiel, of Manny's cafe in the Mission, and why groups like Gay Shame and Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!) have been boycotting Manny's since 2018. HALA Collective  BAD (Bay Area Drag) Fund  "Progressive coalition boycotts ‘woke-washing' of San Francisco event space" (Toshio at Waging Nonviolence) "What boycott of Manny's in the Mission is about" (Margot Goldstein and Rachel Lederman at SF Chronicle)

For our first live show taping in May, Jemma DeCristo, LaVelle Ridley, and Mama Ganuush spoke brilliantly on Trans Black-Palestinian Solidarity amidst the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Naturally, given the topic, things got emotional. Thanks to everyone who made the night possible! Jemma Decristo currently holds the record for most appearances on Sad Francisco! Her repertoire includes the episodes "Is the Transgender District a Force for Liberation or Gentrification?" and "Hot Cop of the Castro" This was LaVelle Ridley's debut episode; she will return! Mama Ganuush (the episode with Mama Ganuush from earlier this year, "We're Queer, We're Trans, No Peace on Stolen Land!" is a must-listen)

LEFT IN THE BAY exposes histories of the Bay Area that explain how we got our ideological reputation. Two from the collective, Matt Ray and Matt Wranovics, speak on their recent piece covering the Bay's protests in the 1980s against South African apartheid, and some lessons to genocide in Palestine. "They're watching you; don't let them down": the 1985 anti-apartheid occupation movement at Berkeley by Left in the Bay (at Notes from Below) Left in the Bay on Instagram  Left in the Bay on Twitter

Julie Pitta and Jeremy Mack are part of the Phoenix Project, which is tracking the wealthy wannabe overlords of the Bay. They run down dossiers of five extremely rich dudes who want to run local politics: Michael Moritz, William Oberndorf, Chris Larsen, John Kilroy, Jr., and Garry Tan. Phoenix Project - request the Phoenix Papers: Volume 2 Episodes mentioned:  "VCs vs. SF" f/ Julie Pitta  "Michael Shellenberger Thinks He Knows Your Gender" f/ Soleil Ho "Stop Garry Tan to Stop Asian Hate" f/ Emily Mills

  Part 2 of the conversation with Deeg, with more on LAGAI-Queer Insurrection (formerly Lesbians And Gays Against Intervention), the Bay Area collective that started organizing in 1983 in response to the US war machine meddling overseas. UltraViolet (LAGAI's zine) "How a queer liberation collective has stayed radical for almost 40 years" (Toshio in Waging Nonviolence) Episode with Deeg on the Boycott of Manny's in the Mission Episode with LAGAI member Kate Raphael: Queers for a Free Palestine

Deeg is back for some oral history lessons about LAGAI-Queer Insurrection (formerly Lesbians And Gays Against Intervention), a radical collective that started organizing in 1983 in response to the US war machine meddling overseas. Some of the same members from forty years ago continue to meet, plan direct actions, and send thousands of copies of their zine UltraViolet into prisons for free, with no 501(c)3 and next to no funding. We talk: avoiding burnout and cooptation, how to measure movement successes (and why sometimes you can't), and more. This is Part 1 of a two-part episode. UltraViolet (LAGAI's zine) "How a queer liberation collective has stayed radical for almost 40 years" (Toshio in Waging Nonviolence) Episode with Deeg on the Boycott of Manny's in the Mission Episode with LAGAI member Kate Raphael: Queers for a Free Palestine

In the US, traditional media censorship of pro-Palestinian voices didn't start October 2023. A new report on Zionism's chilling effect on journalists is out this week, spotlighting how some reporters and editors self-censor, and corporate outlets keep Palestinian stories from being published. With Tiana Reid (@tianareid | tianareid.com
) of the National Writers Union's Freelance Solidarity Project. *This episode was recorded in March. Subscribers to our Patreon got this episode early. Help support the show there. Red Lines: Retaliation in the media industry during the war on Gaza National Writers' Union Freelance Solidarity Project Writers Against the War on Gaza Media Against Apartheid & Displacement International Federation of Journalists, War in Gaza death count Sad Francisco is produced by Toshio Meronek and edited by Tofu Estolas.