Sad Francisco

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&...

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. Jo...

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-founde...

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 Anakbaya...

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...

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 @realba...

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 Ki...

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...

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 a...

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 episode...

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 Berkel...

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...

  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 Boyc...

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 n...

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 Proje...

Dylan Rodriguez is back to talk about his new piece: "How the Stop Asian Hate Movement Became Entwined with Zionism, Policing, and Counterinsurgency." Launching off the murders of Asian sex workers in Atlanta in 2021, The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) raised over $1 billion in six months. How was the rage over those deaths transformed into liberal, reformist solutions to violence, plus a TAAF b...

Erin McElroy is back to talk about fresh release "Silicon Valley Imperialism." Starting in the 2010s, the post-socialist Romanian government created special visas to attract tech corporations and digital nomads. They hoped to create a mini-San Francisco; the book looks at how that materialized. Silicon Valley Imperialism (Duke) Anti-Eviction Lab Previous Erin episode: Landlord Tech Watch Silicon H...

Nonprofits could never: Three members of the autonomous West Side Tenants Association/WSTA discuss the evergreen problem of charity; what movements gain by putting collectivism before individualism; how knowing your neighbors is the most effective and meaningful survival tactic; and the inspiration we all get from past solidarity work in the Bay, like the thousands of people who came together arou...

Politics have turned COVID into a dirty word, but Jillian Crochet , a Senior and Disability Action member, is working to get the San Francisco Department of Public Health to keep masking requirements in medical facilities and jails beyond April 30, when they're set to expire. Letter to SFDPH to keep masks in healthcare April 16 Action (IndyBay) Senior and Disability Action  ( Instagram  | Twitter...

Well-known drag artists have been using their platforms to combat the genocide in Gaza since last October. In part two, Lady Bunny takes on virtue signaling politicians, and describes her suspicions around the viral photo with her name written on an IDF missile . Check part one for Nicki Jizz, host of locally beloved drag night Reparations, who explains how politics and drag mix. And our recent ep...

Well-known drag artists have been using their platforms to combat the genocide in Gaza since last October. In this first part, Nicki Jizz, host of locally beloved drag night Reparations, explains how politics and drag mix. Check part two for Lady Bunny, who talks about virtue signaling politicians, and describes her suspicions around the viral photo with her name written on an IDF missile . And ou...

Instead of demanding free housing or health care, some people think the answer to homelessness is to build "mental health" jails and forced "rehab" centers to stow unhoused people, indefinitely. With Clio/Thatcher Sady and Tory Becker, from Gay Shame. "Cities Across the US Are Stripping Homeless People of Their Autonomy," by Tory and Toshio, for Truthout In other news: April 5 at Bluestockings in...

On February 15, eight artists altered their works at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in solidarity with Palestine. Ralowe Ampu is on to talk about the YBCA's neoliberal nothingspeak response to the artists' - and now many staffmembers' - demands of a museum that claims to be centered on diversity and community. **The museum remains closed as of March 7. Love Letter to Gaza, Open Letter...

Pierre Labossiere and Charlie Hinton (Haiti Action Committee) speak on common threads between Haiti and Palestine, and how US-enabled death squads are creating chaos in the first country to come out of a successful slave uprising. Haiti Action Committee HAC: Haiti Ten Years After the Earthquake HAC: 'From Haiti to Palestine: One Struggle/One Fight' on Antoine and Georges Izméry, Palestinian-Haitia...