Sad Francisco

Toshio Meronek

Covering the end of capitalism from a "far Left" trans/queer POV.

  1. 3d ago

    Judith Butler, Brooke Lober, Mama Ganuush and Lavelle Ridley: Queers Against Zionism LIVE SHOW

    THANK YOU to everyone who made it out to our biggest live show ever. The night ended up raising ~$5K for Bay2Gaza Mutual Aid, which will go directly to Gaza (Brooke shares details during the show). The episode was recorded at The Lab in the Mission on June 25, 2026, with music from DJ Parle G and help from a ton of volunteers. Brooke's performance focused on Cypress, a Jewish lesbian feminist who lived in the Bay. She talks more about Bay2Gaza Mutual Aid on this episode. Mama Ganuush read from their upcoming memoir. JB honored the late, great Leslie (Les) Feinberg. Lavelle sat them down to get the details on their pieces. Supergrateful to everyone who picked up some Sad Francisco dad hats, t-shirts, and tabi socks to help cover some of my bills. Speaking of, you can support the show and get merch on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

  2. Jul 20

    Down the Manny/Scott/Brooke Jenkins Rabbit Hole

    A lot has been happening in the lives of three of this podcast's longtime foes: District Attorney Brooke Jenkins; cafe owner and wannabe supervisor Manny Yekutiel; and the state Senator running for Nancy Pelosi's soon-to-be vacant seat in Congress, Scott Wiener.  Guests: Balto from Frisco Voices and Joshua Reyes, who's been doing court support and security for some of the people experiencing the wrath of Brooke Jenkins.  We talk about the arrests at the Trans March and Stud Alley parties during Pride; Brad Chapin coming forward as a victim of Manny Yekutiel; the Golden Gate 26 sentencing, and more. A very local episode involving characters that help explain San Francisco's twisted political scene. There is a lot going on here; I'm very open to comments or tips about things we didn't speak on. Frisco Voices: friscovoices.org Frisco Voices IG: https://www.instagram.com/friscovoices/ Joshua (IG): https://www.instagram.com/joshuanlreyes/ — ADHD key to figures and organizations discussed in the episode: A Wider Bridge: pinkwashing organization where Manny was a fellow. A Wider Bridge closed in 2025, after its director Ethan Felson stepped down following a "lewd and lascivious conduct" charge. Baltimore PD: Brooke Jenkins declined to hold police accountable again. Discussed here: https://sfist.com/2026/05/11/sf-da-dismisses-2024-sexual-assault-case-involving-four-baltimore-police-officers/. Banko Brown: killed by Walgreens security guard Michael Earl-Wayne Anthony. https://www.thenation.com/article/society/banko-brown-killing-san-francisco-crisis/. Brad Chapin: came forward about being sexually assaulted by Manny Yekutiel. Calle 24: the city-designated Latino cultural district in the Mission.  Chesa Boudin: DA who began prosecuting police until he was ousted in 2022, after Brooke Jenkins recalled him in a campaign funded by wealthy conservative reactionaries. Chris Larsen: crypto billionaire whose company Ripple Labs donated office space for the SFPD's Real Time Investigation Center surveillance unit, and made the top donation to Trump's 2025 inauguration fund. Shortly after the inauguration, the $2 billion fine Ripple Labs owed the SEC for securities violations was suddenly reduced to $125 million.  THE REST OF THE KEY IS HERE: https://www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/down-manny-scott-164023395 Previously: Blocking the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges The Anti-Zionist Boycott of Manny's with Deeg The ADL is An Actual Psyop with Emmaia Gelman and Mama Ganuush Support the show and get merch on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

  3. Jul 13

    The White Night Riots: No Apologies

    May 1979: queer protesters set cop cars ablaze in San Francisco's Civic Center, in response to cop-turned-politician Dan White's relatively light sentence for the assassination of gay politician Harvey Milk and the Mayor, George Moscone. Four people who were there describe the riots, and the related police riots where cops stormed the lesbian bar Peg's Place in the Richmond, and the Elephant Walk, a gay bar in the Castro, during a time of heavy state surveillance and repression—so not unlike today. Event organized by Left in the Bay and PINKO magazine. Recorded live at Et Al in the Mission 6/24/2026. Left in the Bay: leftinthebay.com PINKO: www.pinko.online On this episode (in speaking order): Jen Reck, moderator: Sociology & Sexuality Studies professor at SF State who recently published a history of the Castro with Gerard Koskovich: The Castro: The Story of San Francisco's Best-Known LGBTQ+ Neighborhood. https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Castro.html?id=uu2Z0QEACAAJ Ruth Mahaney worked for years as a member of the Modern Times Bookstore Collective, and as an LGBT Studies professor at City College of SF. Randy Alfred is a journalist who cofounded the Bay Times, edited the San Francisco Sentinel, and hosted The Gay Life radio show. Revisiting The Gay Life, on Queer Power Hour / KALW: www.kalw.org/show/queer-power-hour/2026-06-18/revisiting-the-gay-life-e01-history-of-lgbtq-radio Charlie Hinton: co-founded Magnus magazine and has worked on campaigns against the World Bank/IMF and to free Leonard Peltier. Episode with Charlie on BAGL (Bay Area Gays and Lesbians): www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/gay-liberation-f-95946813 Charlie on solidarity with Haiti: www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/why-us-fears-f-98899594 Gwenn Craig worked on the Harvey Milk campaign, and against the Briggs Initiative. Support the show and get new episodes early on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

  4. Jul 6

    Hope You Like Burning Man Sculptures with Max Blue

    Max Blue is one of San Francisco's few remaining art critics in legacy media (see: his column in SF Examiner); he also contributes regularly to Hyperallergic.  Max gives the best brief introduction of the big art movements San Francisco is most well known for, and names names including:  BXP, the company that benefited from the Vaillancourt fountain's removal)  CIA Operation Mockingbird, the US government's mission to spread abstract expressionism across the globe KAWS's hold on the Instagram background niche  Randall Kline, SF Jazz founder behind the upcoming low-income artists' housing on Market Street Sid Sijbrandij, the tech billionaire and art patron flooding public space with Burning Man installations Max Blue: https://maxbluewriter.com Max's Substack: https://maxblue.substack.com/ Max for the San Francisco Examiner: https://www.sfexaminer.com/culture/private-funding-of-public-art-prompts-questions-about-intent/article_89b311c0-108a-4464-b676-73548d51471f.html Max for Hyperallergic: https://hyperallergic.com/author/max-blue/ Episodes:  Hanky Code Art NSF Trash Cans with Christen Cioffi: https://www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/78664457 The Technofascist Plan for an Elite City in Solano County with Anna Kirsch: https://www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/audio-planning-f-107037093 Support the show and get new episodes early on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

  5. Jul 1

    I Love Boosters (Sad Framecisco #3)

    Brutal honesty is all we have for Boots Riley's overstuffed filmic ode to shoplifters and maybe communism, I Love Boosters. Topics discussed include: The Coup's early work Betrayal by union leaders Megan Ellison, the alleged black sheep of the Zionist Ellison dynasty Tax credits they give you to film a movie set in the Bay in Georgia The Leaning Tower of Millennium A vow for the next episode to feature a movie we would actually recommend dee(dee) c. ardan, Jemma DeCristo, and Ralowe T. Ampu return for what turned into a roast of an episode. - Support the show and get new episodes early on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

  6. Jun 17

    FKA Bornstein & Bornstein

    A monologue revisiting a Truthout piece I wrote back in 2014 for this solo episode and stroll down memory lane featuring a Gay Shame action, crying in eviction court, and one of eviction lawyer Daniel Bornstein's boring-ass webinars where he explains the tricks of his trade. Daniel (who runs Bornstein Law—formerly known as Bornstein & Bornstein) is a white guy who's used his adopted Black kids as a cynical marketing tool, and describes landlords as the state's "whipping boy." He counsels his clients on the best ways get around tenant laws so they can smoothly empty their properties of lower-income people, and jack up the rent till life is unaffordable for everyone except Zionist property owners like himself.  Truthout: Tutors in the Fine Art of Eviction Under Fire in San Francisco Gay Shame documentation of a direct action at the Bornstein & Bornstein offices, then located off Polk Street Bornstein Law's webinar: Creating Vacancy Without an At Fault Eviction 'Villain' eviction attorneys Bornstein & Bornstein break up, sue each other (Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez in SF Examiner) Oakland landlords hold rally demanding end to eviction moratorium (CBS News) Bay Area Legal Aid (free lawyers for tenants) Eviction Defense Collaborative (also free lawyers for tenants)

  7. Jun 1

    Home Sweet Surveillance State with Ian Firstenberg

    Ian covers local oligarchs and the surveillance state for 48Hills and The Phoenix Project. We talk about FLOCK adding microphones to their camera network, state repression after the anti-cop protests of summer 2020, and how crypto oligarch Chris Larsen bought off the Trump regime. Ian in 48Hills: "Flock keeps spying on us all, and state and local officials aren't protecting us": https://48hills.org/2026/05/flock-keeps-spying-on-us-all-and-state-and-local-officials-arent-protecting-us/   And previously: "Inside SF's private surveillance state": https://48hills.org/2025/10/sfs-private-surveillance-state/ Ian at the Phoenix Project on Chris Larsen and his billionaire friends' latest mission: to kill attempts at a billionaire tax https://www.phoenixprojectnow.com/phoenix-review/blog/special-report-the-billionaire-tax-revolt Episodes: Erin McElroy on landlord surveillance tech: https://www.patreon.com/posts/landlord-tech-f-109663054 Jeremy Mack on The Phoenix Project's report on the rightwing rascals behind San Francisco's Doom Loop: https://www.patreon.com/posts/rise-and-fall-of-147853607 Get tickets to our live podcast show in San Francisco on 6/25: QUEERS AGAINST ZIONISM with Judith Butler, Mama Ganuush, and more (a benefit for Bay2Gaza Mutual Aid) https://buytickets.at/heritageactivistsliberationartists/2224123 Support the show and get new episodes early on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

  8. May 25

    The ADL is An Actual Psyop with Emmaia Gelman and Mama Ganuush

    The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) started as a civil rights organization for Jewish people in the US. It's now a pro-Israel group that spies on Leftist organizations and defends Elon Musk when he does a white power salute. Emmaia Gelman's new book The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State details the history of the Zionist group that influences everything from the history written into American textbooks, to the way headlines are written in mainstream news. Next, Mama Ganuush returns to discuss two gay Zionists running for election in the Bay who have helped manufacture consent for genocide in Palestine who you will know well if you're a regular listener, Manny Yekutiel and Scott Wiener. 'The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State' releases 6/16/2026, pre-order with code UCPSAVE30 at University of California Press https://www.ucpress.edu/books/the-anti-defamation-league-and-the-racial-state/hardcover Emmaia's site https://emmaiagelman.com/ Past Palestine episodes https://www.patreon.com/collection/383604 *** Get tickets to our live podcast show on 6/25: QUEERS AGAINST ZIONISM with Judith Butler, Mama Ganuush, and more (a benefit for Bay2Gaza Mutual Aid) https://buytickets.at/heritageactivistsliberationartists/2224123 Support the show and get new episodes early on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco

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4.9
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54 Ratings

About

Covering the end of capitalism from a "far Left" trans/queer POV.

Information

  • Creator
    Toshio Meronek
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    163
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Sad Francisco