Springing forth from SF's thigh, a new power couple is born: Savage Jew. Wednesday, Ed Jew appeared on hyperbolic grandpa/genius performance artist Michael Savage's show, The Savage Nation. Jew discussed why left-leaning views also deserve First Amendment protection and his decision to vote against Sandoval's proposed resolution to get Savage to use his inside voice. Along with his attorney Steven Gruel, Jew also blathered on about his own legal woes. (Maybe you've heard about......

After Supervisor Sandoval introduced a resolution to brand hyperbolic grandpa Michael Savage as a hate speech-spewing loon, it wasn't voted on unanimously yesterday, care of SFsit's favorite coverboy, Ed Jew. (Ah, World Net Daily, where we go to get all of our fair and balanced news, drizzled with a infusion of organic Nazism.) On July 5, after Savage predictably asked that students undergoing a weeklong fast for immigration reform (and, bonus, to slim down......

Oh, Michela Alioto-Pier! Our favorite absentee supervisor finally straggled on in to an actual committee meeting, only to find out that the code of conduct she's proposing for the supervisors has loopholes big enough for a Mack truck to drive though. As you may remember, Alioto-Pier (or MAP, as we like to call her) is spearheading the push to institute a code of conduct for supervisors, after the flap about Chris Daly saying that there......

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank. Phillyist was busy doing the Fourth of July up right, exercising their......

Most of the news about print journalism is a little depressing -- circulation is down, money is tight, etc, etc. So it gives us immense pleasure when we can share a little positive news. Evidently, there's something called the "Best of the West" Contest for print journalism, an award given yearly by First Amendment Funding Inc. in a variety of categories. While we can't claim to ever have heard of it before today, we......

Last week's winner, the SF Weekly: Gosh, the Chron seems awfully enthralled with that Zodiac movie, doesn't it? Also, more on the Leno/Migden throwdown, quoting Paul Hogarth from Beyond Chron (who now supports Leno). Cover article: An awesome piece about mentally ill dogs. Who knew bordie collies got OCD? Meredith goes to the Presidio Social Club; SFist Ced gruffly concedes maybe she's been doing a good job lately. Let's Get Killed laments the new boring......

We've been totally neglecting all the other stuff going on these days, so as to better gawk at the Newsom drinking and sexing debacle (does anyone else think it seems a little unsavory for Gavin to be paying off Mr. Tourk, in an Indecent Proposal kind of way?), but that doesn't mean there hasn't been a lot going on! As Ross Mirkarimi proudly announced a week or so ago, "Wait till you see some of......

Remember that lady who was painting signs all over house because of supposed messages from God? Well, San Mateo's Community Improvement Commission weighed in on the matter yesterday and determined that they've had enough. So the issued a ruling which said that the woman, Estrella Benevides has until February 14th to clean everything up. If she refuses, she'll be fined $50 for every day she leaves the message up. She also has to pay a fee of $1,829 for administrative reasons. ...

On Tuesday, the American -ists will be celebrating democracy and hitting the polls, letting politicians know what they really think. It just made us wonder: if it were up to the -ist-a-verse, what would we be voting for?...

It's our column about the sartorial elegance that is the District 6 supervisor election! This week's episode: Everybody Hates A T-Shirt. You know we've gotta click on an article titled "Supe's Daly Dose of Irritation" on the 'Gate! So it turns out that some SFPD members printed up on t-shirts the one-liner made to Matier and Ross by the head of their union (the SFPOA), Gary Delagnes: "I don't drink Diet Cokes, I drink screwdrivers......

Recently, the Senate voted on the Republicans biennial attempt at saving America from the horrible threat of flag burning. Goodness gracious, imagine the hullabaloo if a bunch of gay Mexicans ever decided to burn a flag. Anyways, we hoped that the bill would fail miserably and the Democratic Party would have nothing to do with it but it didn't happen. Instead it came a vote short of passing. We did happen to notice, however, that the bill was labeled as "bipartisan" as it was co-sponsored by a Democrat. And the particular Democrat who cosponsored it? Our very own Diane Feinstein. Which we knew about but totally forgot because what with the war still raging, government eavesdropping programs going unfettered, and our complete and total obsession with "Battlestar Galactica," had moved onto bigger and more important things to concern ourselves with. ...

Wow, it's got to suck when the rights of reporting you'd go to jail to defend contain factual inaccuracies, but that's the case for the beleaguered authors of Game of Shadows. Hmmm. Is it more difficult to self-righteously blog about your First Amendment 'battle' when reporters you're defending are damaging innocent peoples' reputations? The errors in question involve track and field star Gail Devers, who was mistakenly described as having trained with admitted steroid distributor......

The Susan Polk trial was in recess today, but it was still a pretty busy day for the local courts, which decided: *that kids who failed the state high school exit exam can still graduate if they've met all other requirements, because many of the students who didn't pass were in substandard schools. *that tuna doesn't need a mercury warning label, because that's something the FDA should decide. Besides, there's not that much mercury in......

Hey, the Examiner said it first, not us: BALCO Reporters Could Face Prison Time reads the thrilling headline to their article on Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, who have been have been subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury regarding leaked testimony in the BALCO case. Could they really go to jail over this? We at SFist are watching this case eagerly, and watching the comments on Phil Bronstein's post on the Chron's not......

"Our princess is in another castle!" remains protected speech at the moment, thanks to a ruling from Northern District Judge Ronald Whyte yesterday. The ruling placed a preliminary injunction on the law written by San Francisco Assemblyman Leland Yee and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger last month. We're happy about the injunction, and not just because it guarantees kids will be able to develop the skills they'll need to survive in an increasingly zombie-slaying and......

When we talk about Muni, we usually end up talking about the Transport Workers Union, the power of which is commonly blamed for a lot of Muni's problems. But what happens when the union starts turning on itself? Being Stallone fans, we know where this can end up. Given the fearful power of our Local 250, could this schism be a step toward loosening the union's grasp on our public transportation? According to this......

Realtor-slash-blogger Matt Lanning points up a new information site, San Francisco Bay Window, for that rare beast known as a San Francisco homeowner. Hey, it's free to dream, right? Cheesecake Factory employees dreamed of being able to take breaks, and now their dream has come true. The video game industry is none too happy about Arnold Schwarzenegger signing Leland Yee's bill restricting minors from purchasing 'mature' titles -- the Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association is......

Guerrilla action or not, if the cops catch you giving out a counterfeit MUNI transfer for the MUNI fare strike, they'll cite you for a misdemeanor. If they catch you not paying, they'll get you for fare evasion. You'll have to take those First Amendment arguments to the judge. MUNI's going to need all the extra quarters it gets from that fare raise anyways -- they just got hit with a $27 million verdict against them for the negligence of an employee truck driver who struck and killed a four-year-old girl at the corner of 24th and Potrero in 2003. The family claims that the city refused to apologize and refused to settle, which is why it ended up going to trial in the first place. MUNI had no comment, though the city attorney's office says they may appeal. ....and aw, man. John English, the Fairfield councilman who tried to plead out of a meth possession charge by claiming his nephew set him up for a reality TV show, was just rearrested at the Cache Creek Casino near Sacto with meth in his bag. Someone at the casino found a missing bag with meth in it, and then English went to lost and found to ask if anyone had seen his bag. After English IDed the bag as his, they arrested him, at which point he said the bag wasn't his. English is currently on probation for the first meth charge, so this probably won't end well. ...

It is no wonder that, when stealing the word amuse-bouche from the vocabulary of French cuisine, Americans commonly take only the first part, and unceremoniously dump its trailer. The First Amendment covers the freedom to butcher the French language, we cannot let old Europe's silly traditions straight-jacket the American idiom into a convoluted and elitist language. So amuse it is. Still, some of the silly French cooking traditions find a way to creep back......

Our super-secret SFist sources have notified us that Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval, repping the eleven for the Excelsior, is holding a rally today at noon, on the steps of City Hall. Why's he holding a rally?, you ask. Is he that worked up about line-item veto power over the MUNI budget? Well, no. So when Sandoval was running for reelection to the Board of Supes, someone anonymously started putting out flyers calling him anti-Semitic. (Sandoval made some unfortunate statements back in 2001.) Sandoval handily won District 11, but was so upset about the anonymous mailers that he sued. Funny, that First Amendment. So Duane Baughman, the political consultant whose clients put out the flyers (and who's now working with Mayor Bloomberg in NY), claimed that Sandoval's lawsuit inpinged on his First Amendment rights to call anyone a Nazi that he wants -- and he won. So, under California law, Sandoval is now on the hook for Baughman's legal fees, to the tune of $143K. Sandoval is now saying he might have to sell his house to pay. So Sandoval's holding a rally today to bring people's attention to the issue of anonymous mailers -- he's never figured out who paid for the flyers, but he suspects it's Don Fisher from the Gap -- and to protest the fees being assessed against him. It sounds like the whole progressive gang's gonna be there! And -- dare we hope? Maybe even Chris Daly? Oh, you better believe we're checking this one out. ...

New pictures for those of you who hate anarchy! Last week's winner, the Guardian: Okay, this has been bugging us since, well, forever -- why is the SFBG editorial page always exactly the same as the local news section? Is newsprint really that cheap? Just askin'. An adorable picture of Matty G. to illustrate the excesses of Superintendant Ackerman's new contract, and a First Amendment kerfuffle with sfgov.org over pulling its online video of the Building Commish kerfuffle. Cover article: secret military bases. A close reading of the new Patricia Unterman Food Lovers of SF book by Paul Reidinger (SFist Cedric, check it out!) Loving the childlike in the music scene. And hiking in France. (hmmm?) Last week's almost-winner, the East Bay Express: Awesome compare/contrast with the frat guys who shot the pledge with BBs and the rowdy countercultural dorm. CafePress! Cover article: keeping Jews off juries in Alameda County? Local hip-hop and the power that was the Nine Inch Nails show. And Savage Love: Dan will not be coining a disgusting term for "fristing" like he did for "santorum." (However, if you've got suggestions, post away in the comments!) The SF Weekly and the weekly of the week after the jump. ...

Late last month, the law firm Shearman & Sterling delivered a subpoena to Craigslist, Inc. as a plaintiff in a suit against a disgruntled employee in order to determine her name. Apparently Steve Hibbard of their San Francisco office (who recently helped represent Oracle in their case against PeopleSoft while with Bingham McCutchen) is not happy about a nasty email sent to the firm's staff manager, and he wants the emailer to be held......

Well, SFist got our legal history off to a good start -- we're involved in a court case, and we're not the defendant! Nor are we the plaintiff -- though if you don't abide by the terms of our Creative Commons license, we will come after you, and we've been in the same room as Lawrence Lessig, so watch out. We read a post on BoingBoing in which their counsel Lauren Gelman over at......

A British reporter's claims that Arnold Schwarzenegger first sexually assaulted her, then libeled her in the press when she told the LA Times about the incident, survived a first round of review by the London High Court, which determined that Schwarzenegger could indeed be sued in Jolly Old England. Schwarzenegger, who's been trying to shout down repeated claims of his history of getting handsy with a dozen or so women over the last ten years by claiming he was just being "playful" with them, claims that the woman had encouraged him to grope her during their interview, which forms the basis of her libel claim. Just like those saucy teachers wanting their pensions cut, or those randy nurses just begging him to compromise patient safety, right? All in good clean fun! We're not a barrister or anything, but it's our understanding that the libel laws in England are significantly stricter than they are here (that pesky First Amendment!), so Schwarzenegger can't be too happy about the prospect of this suit looming over him as he fundraises up a storm from those special interest groups he claimed to hate so much back in 2003. Picture from Code Pink's Santa Monica protests...

[Ed. Note: This post regards a very sensitive situation involving people we really like, but we would be remiss if we didn't report on the story or present the facts so that our readers can come to their own conclusions, hence we have included source documents that may be perceived as offensive, but only in the interest of full disclosure.] Friend of SFist Niall Kennedy managed to cause something of an uproar in the......

Hey photobloggers! Since you're bringing the digital camera downtown on Saturday anyways, don't forget to stop by and get some shots of the Chinese New Year Parade too! The parade starts at 5:30 at Second and Market, rain or shine, and goes until about 8. Lots of cute kids dressed up as emperors, dancing lions, the Centipede-like multi-man 201-foot dragon, and Miss Chinatown 2005 -- plenty of good material for your flickr account! They recommend getting to Chinatown no later than 5, but you can check out the street fair if you're there early. And just a friendly plug: we here at SFist love to show your work -- thanks again to Lackadaisical for the great shots of the Chinese Moon Festival he let us use last year -- so we welcome any and all pictures you want to send from your day! ...

We all know how much our readers (and our staff) lurve to complain about the Muniserable. And it's not just when they're sticking it to the First Amendment. In fact, and every progressive in town will get on our case for this, we'd almost give up our constitutional rights for a fast, clean, reliable public transportation system. Almost. Oh, hell, if they could actually deliver on that promise, we'd probably let the charter be......

While this story may not be about San Francisco, any story about cross-dressing invariably is. After all, isn’t it one of the joys of SF that by now, guys dressed in drag usually elicits a yawn at best? Of course, that’s not the response given in other places- places such as, oh, Texas. Apparently, a small town in Texas has cancelled it’s homecoming tradition of boys dressing like girls and girls dressing like boys because,......

Thomas Hawk, local San Francisco photo/blogger, posted an interesting essay on his experiences taking pictures at different private cultural venues around town. EssEffist found the link on Boing Boing, which often covers issues related to freedom of speech, expression, media and fair use....