The Weekly Digest (January 14, 2024)

Written By Bill Jackson

Happy MLK week, Brionies!

Here’s what you need to know about San Francisco politics this week and beyond:

City Hall

  • The Board of Supervisors will take this week off, after their stunning and brave effort to end the war in the Middle East. 

Happenings around town

Action items

  • Volunteer and/or donate to support the Briones Society slate for Republican County Central Committee!

  • Confirm your voter registration here. Remember: only registered Republicans for vote in the RCCC race.

What we’re reading

  • It’s a big news day for your pals at the Briones Society: we’re on the front page of the National Review! Reporter Ryan Mills spoke to our co-founder Jay Donde about the Briones campaign for RCCC and our quest to revive the local GOP. NR subscribers can read the largely complimentary (and highly entertaining) comment section. We especially liked this post by blairgirl: “I'm a lifelong conservative, and I think I voted for a Democrat precisely once in my life (and that was only to irritate another Democrat who was even worse), but living in a blue state that rarely votes GOP, you have to think outside the box, or your party will wind up buried six feet under inside the box. If, as in SF, the GOP has only 7 percent of registered voters, if you don't reach out and find common ground among the sane left in the city, you will be and do precisely nothing.” 

  • As you’ve probably heard, San Francisco supervisors joined their Oakland colleagues (rarely a good idea) in passing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East. The resolution condemns both Hamas and Israel in a saccharine “very fine people on both sides” manner (which is now allowed, apparently). The most shameful moment during the disorderly hearing occurred when a Jewish San Francisco resident spoke about his family members, five of whom were murdered in the attack on Kibbutz Be-eri, and two of whom were taken hostage. As the man spoke, members of the audience booed and jeered at him, and he testified that others were making pig noises in a gross display of antisemitism. This same crowd shouted down Supervisor Matt Dorsey with chants of “liar” when he insisted on language regarding Hamas for sexual violence against Israeli women. These displays should have been enough for any supervisor with a shred of moral clarity to oppose the resolution, but of course it passed 8 to 3. We give credit to Supervisors Matt Dorsey, Catherine Stefani, and Rafael Mandelman for voting against it.

  • The Supreme Court of the United States agreed to hear a challenge to the Ninth Circuit’s decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, a case arising out of a tortured understanding of “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment. This line of cases severely restricts a local government’s ability to prohibit public encampments in the western United States. We hope the Supes bring sanity to the issue and restore the authority to enforce generally applicable safety laws, such as San Francisco’s sit-lie statute.

Quick hits


Bill Jackson
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