Don’t look now, but we just loaned almost $7 billion to Greece. That’s our share of the International Monetary Fund bailout for the country.
Don’t worry, though, we can always borrow from China or raise taxes, in the likely event that Greece can’t repay the IMF and the eurozone countries that are contributing to enabling Greece to refinance the loans coming due this month and the rest of the year, and next. A bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.
It’s hard to tell whether the bailout of Greece is farce or tragedy.
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If Republicans are “making love to Wall Street,” as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., put it, one wonders if there’s a printable description for his torrid affair with the financial sector.
Reid’s slur was the standard Democratic attack — that Republicans, by opposing regulations, are prostituting for the big banks. It’s a dishonest attack, belied by basic facts, but President Barack Obama and other Democrats get away with it. Look between the sheets, however, and you’ll see it’s Reid in bed with Wall Street.
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A new program linking the state criminal database with federal immigration is expected to begin in San Francisco next month, bypassing The City’s sanctuary law, officials said Thursday.
San Francisco’s sanctuary ordinance allows local law enforcement the discretion not to report those booked for misdemeanor offenses to federal immigration officials. Those booked for felonies and believed to be undocumented are still reported, under the ordinance.
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Switzerland's army should stop preparing for a foreign attack and concentrate on security operations inside the country, according to a leaked government discussion paper published online Thursday.
The proposal, which also includes cutting funds for new weapons systems and reducing the size of the army, was obtained by Swiss weekly Weltwoche and published on its website.
A Defense Ministry spokesman confirmed that the document was produced by defense officials for discussion at a regular government meeting Friday, but declined to comment further.
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The makers of The North Face outdoor gear have agreed to pay $207,500 to resolve allegations that the company made unverified claims that its footwear kills or controls bacteria, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday.
The agreement with San Leandro-based VF Outdoor Inc., the parent company of The North Face, settles an administrative complaint the agency filed with a regional EPA hearing officer in September.
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A chance to talk with a lawyer and ask other legal questions will be part of San Mateo County’s Community Law Night today. The free event is sponsored by the San Mateo Superior Court, San Mateo County Bar and San Mateo County. The event will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Hall of Justice, 400 County Center, Redwood City. For more information, call (650) 363-4168.
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A new season of the South San Francisco Certified Farmers’ Market opens Saturday. The weekly market will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Orange Memorial Park and runs through Oct. 30. Fresh fruits and vegetables will be available at reasonable prices, according to the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association. A contest in which the winner will receive a bag of produce will be held May 15, while information about where the food comes from will be distributed May 29.
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WHAT: The federal government finally started requiring airlines to check no-fly lists within two hours of being notified about updates — an improvement made only after the accused Times Square bomber successfully boarded a flight to Dubai approximately eight hours after being added to the no-fly list.
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In many ways, President Barack Obama’s commencement speech at the University of Michigan was perfectly reasonable.
But when he said that “government is us,” you began to see his political purposes at work, because while those words may seem to constitute a warm and fuzzy thought, they confuse “us” with some “majority” of a moment and too easily suggest that majorities are beyond criticism.
For all its levelheadedness, the speech was in some ways a political sneak attack.
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When Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter left the Republican Party one year ago last week, he was rather blunt about his motivations. He was losing in the polls, he explained, and he did not want to be judged by Republican primary voters alone. He figured he’d have a better chance running for re-election this year as a Democrat.
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A Visitacion Valley Middle School band teacher was arrested earlier this week and has been charged with committing lewd and lascivious acts on three students between 2006 and 2009, authorities said Wednesday.
Terry Braye, a 60-year-old San Francisco man, was arrested Monday. Police investigators obtained information that a teacher at the middle school may have engaged in inappropriate activities with students and the arrest followed a “very extensive investigation,” police Officer Samson Chan said.
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A San Francisco Superior Court judge Tuesday ordered a man accused of fatally stabbing another man in the Tenderloin last year to stand trial for manslaughter and not murder.
Judge Jerome Benson made the finding at the conclusion of a preliminary court hearing for Patrick Sullivan, 46, who allegedly stabbed 40-year-old William Quinn inside the Cadillac Market at 499 Eddy St. on Nov. 30, 2009.
The two men had reportedly been arguing about drugs outside the store prior to the stabbing.
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President Barack Obama will be visiting San Francisco later this month for a reception and dinner to raise money for Sen. Barbara Boxer’s re-election campaign.
Obama will join Boxer and other dignitaries on May 25 at a reception at the Fairmont Hotel, followed by a dinner at the home of billionaire philanthropists Ann and Gordon Getty, according to Boxer’s campaign.
It is the president’s first visit to San Francisco since a trip in October for another Democratic fundraiser.
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A 15-year-old boy killed in a shooting in South San Francisco on Tuesday night has been identified as Jose Manuel Lopez, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said Wednesday.
Lopez, a South San Francisco resident, was shot at about 7:30 p.m. while walking with another juvenile in the 800 block of Hickory Place, South San Francisco police Sgt. Joni Lee said.
Responding officers found Lopez lying in the street between two parked cars. He had suffered at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.
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A study has been released by a number of environmental and transit groups that says California’s proposed bullet train from Anaheim would get to San Francisco faster and with less environmental damage if it traveled over the Altamont Pass to the East Bay and then the Peninsula rather than through sensitive wetlands, over the Pacheco Pass to Gilroy and then north, as now proposed.
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