Pelosi slams those who prey on others
The crowded gathering in the ballroom of the Kabuki Hotel at 7 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21, was the 20th annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast, well-attended by politicians, civic leaders, members of the clergy and more. There were Buddhist prayer bells, a Muslim call to prayer, prayers of thanks for the meal, songs of prayer and gratitude, reading of sacred texts about education, and a Hebrew blessing to close.
The event was presided over by the Interfaith Council’s Executive Director Michael Pappas, and breakfast Chairman Kaushik Roy of the Shanti Project. Its theme was Communities of Faith Nurturing Education in Our City, and Clint Reilly was honored for his philanthropy, his creation and support of a Bay Scholars program that funds 375 low-income students in Catholic schools. Intending at first to be a priest, Reilly said he’d spent nine years in a seminary. “I began my life here with nothing,” he said, and he was grateful for the education “that others had given to me.”
OK, you’ve got the framework: Lots of speeches, most touching the council’s core issues: “civil rights, homelessness, housing affordability and disaster preparedness.” Mayor Ed Lee stressed that San Francisco remains a sanctuary city and proclaimed his civic and personal goal “to move 1,000 people off the streets this winter.”
But it was Nancy Pelosi, more relaxed and conversational than usual, who delivered the barn burner. Reilly had run Pelosi’s first campaign for Congress. Fresh away from ongoing congressional debates about tax cuts, she quoted her own words in the House, saying that many who “come out to pray on Sunday” come out “to prey on other people,” too. “I hate to say this,” she said, “but ‘Make America Great Again’ is really ‘Make America White Again.’ ”
Pelosi called “45” the “divider in chief” and said his diversions “are to keep your eyes off the fact that they are looting, plundering.” Of the proposed tax reforms, she said “Trickledown is a total scam . ... It all goes back to values.”
P.S. Pelosi mentioned that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone had left the breakfast early, so as to testify on behalf of Hugo Mejia, the undocumented man he defended that day in an opinion piece in The Chronicle.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence recently visited West Oakland’s Punks With Lunch — which gives out sandwiches, provides supply kits, and presides over needle exchanges for homeless people — and presented the nonprofit with a check for $1,000. Meanwhile, Gar Smith says that security for the Berkeley Half Marathon was done by bikers, “fierce-looking bearded dudes.”
ChefsGiving, at the Ferry Building on Nov. 19, reports Liam Mayclem, raised at least $750,0000 for Restaurants Care and the Tipping Point Emergency Relief Fund. More than 1,000 people attended, among them The Chronicle’s Michael Bauer and partner Michael Murphy , who won an auctioned food tour of the Ferry Building given by Mayclem; and Michael Franti and his wife, Sara, winning with a $10,000 bid for a Las Vegas weekend hosted by chef Hubert Keller.
David Landis is back from visiting Tokyo, where he was struck by how few homeless people he saw. There was one street, however, where people we’d call “homeless” lived in neat giant boxlike structures. The residents’ shoes
were left outside.
Dire Warnings Gazette, Installment Three (Alert: This is for the strong of stomach): “As millions of American families celebrate ... with traditional holiday meals, an inevitable crisis looms. Fat, oil and grease (FOG) from turkey, ham, bacon and all the trimmings will be discarded down kitchen sinks and toilets across the nation . ... In fact, last month a massive fatberg (a congealed mass of fat, personal care products and similar items found in sewer systems) was responsible for a sewer overflow that discharged around 1.2 million gallons of sewage into Jones Falls in Baltimore.”
This warning comes from FluksAqua, a group of wastewater professionals who suggest using a separate container to dispose of such items.