One of our tech overlords, Mark Zuckerberg recently published a manifesto in the Wall Street Journal describing why we should cheerlead him on his quest for infinite growth and profits.  Eddie Kim writes for the anti-generative AI outlet Gazetteer SF, and several of his recent pieces contend with why Marc Andreesen (venture capitalist, Andreesen Horowitz/a16z), Alex Karp (co-founder with Peter Thiel of surveillance giant Palantir), and Zuckerberg keep larping as Aristotle.  Also discussed: Crime reporting that only takes into account press releases from the District Attorney and Mayor's offices, how tech media article slop fed the AI bubble, and the Luigi Mangione effect.  Eddie for Gazetteer: Asshole shrugged [on Mark Zuckerberg's manifesto] The banality of Palantir's evil airport ad Eddie on Twitter/X   Mark Zuckerberg for the Wall Street Journal: The AI Future Is for Everyone Palantir on Twitter/X: The Technological Republic  CNBC: New CNBC Generation Lab poll shows almost half of 18- to 34-year-olds see democratic socialism positively Most recent PatronScan coverage from Cydney Hayes: 'Members of the LGBTQ+ community have legitimate reasons to be sensitive about privacy' Thom Waite (Dazed): Techno-fascist fashion: Why Silicon Valley is moving into menswear   Episodes: Enter the Panopticon with Ian Firstenberg Aesthetics of the New Rightwing Tech Intelligentsia with Jimmy Wu   Support the show and get merch on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco    PS. The 60th anniversary of the Compton's Cafeteria riot is this year. Come see Susan Stryker's documentary about the riot, Screaming Queens, on 8/27 in SF. It's free, and Susan Stryker and dee(dee) c. ardan from the podcast are also on the lineup. There will be Sad Francisco merch for sale.

What was the filmic movement called mumblecore? Jemma Decristo and dee(dee) c. ardan offer an abridged history of the post-college-centric genre that went mainstream in the early 2000s. One of few mumblecore movies with a Black director and Black leads is 2008's indie romance Medicine for Melancholy by Barry Jenkins, before he did Moonlight If Beale Street Could Talk, and the 2024 Lion King sequel. In the movie, girl living in the Marina hooks up with boy living in the Tenderloin, and a meditation on gentrification ensues, replete with a cameo by anti-gentrification activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca. Return to the time of "violently heterosexual" hipsters on fixed-gear bikes as we talk MOAD vs. MOMA, the influence of Criterion, Awkwafina's blaccent, and why being the solitary blerd or gaysian in an otherwise white clique should never be the goal. Episode: Jemma on her book The Aesthetic Character of Blackness: Sounds Like Us Support the show and get merch: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco 

In 2026, dead internet theory—the idea that most of the internet is bots and AI-generated content—is more reality than theory.  Matthew Lawson co-hosts Eating For Free—a podcast critiquing American culture and politics through the lens of pop culture—with Paper Magazine editor Joan Summers. In their series "It's All Bots, Girl," they've been reporting on the corporations and politicians (Benjamin Netanyahu, for example) who are engaged in psychological warfare against the rest of us, using bots that pretend like they're real people on the internet. Topics discussed include industry plants, fake fan accounts, and manufactured hate campaigns devised to control discourse and sell you products. And possibly to punish Chappell Roan for being a gay woman who supports Palestine and Epstein survivors. Eating For Free https://eatingforfree.com/ https://www.instagram.com/eatingforfree/ https://x.com/_matthewlawson Eliza McLamb: Fake Fans https://www.wordsfromeliza.com/p/fake-fans Times of Israel: Netanyahu, allies using armies of bots to influence social media discourse – report https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-allies-using-armies-of-bots-to-influence-social-media-discourse-report/ Madiswan on YouTube: Is Zeus Network a CIA Psyop? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-9wU2sRdpY Buzzfeed: In the Chapell Roan controversy, 23% of posts were bots https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/chappell-roan-controversy-bots Zeteo: The Fake 'Invasion' of Spain: What You Need to Know https://zeteo.com/p/the-fake-invasion-of-spain-what-you What did Epstein have to do with 4Chan, and Ghislane have to do with Reddit? https://www.ms.now/opinion/jeffrey-epstein-4chan-chris-poole Support the show and get merch on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco 

The government is putting queers on lists and hunting undocumented people at the Home Depot parking lot. Have you ever felt so seen? Sad Francisco Surveillance State Correspondent Ian Firstenberg returns to talk about our current dystopia, but it's not all bad news: people are destroying FLOCK cameras with abandon, protests against data centers are getting bigger, and Garry Tan is freshly single. Ian's recent piece for 48Hills on the death of privacy culture in San Francisco: https://48hills.org/2026/07/what-happened-to-sfs-privacy-culture/ Cydney Hayes for Gazetteer: Why do these Castro gay bars have TSA-style face scanners: https://sf.gazetteer.co/why-do-these-castro-gay-bars-have-tsa-style-face-scanners Matt Wolfinger for Working Mass: The Dungeon Over Lowell: How the Data Center Boom Divided One City's Working People: https://working-mass.com/2026/06/10/the-dungeon-over-lowell-how-the-data-center-boom-has-divided-one-citys-working-people/ ShotSpotter lobbyist's dramatic monologue at an Oakland City Hall hearing (via Jaime Omar Yassin / @hyphy_republic on X): https://x.com/hyphy_republic/status/1846598258308825144 Noah Shachtman and Maddy Varner for Wired: "Madison Square Garden Kept a List of Gay Celebrities": https://www.wired.com/story/madison-square-garden-celebrity-database-surveillance/ Andy Greenberg and Dhruv Mehrotra for Wired: "A Leak of San Francisco Police Drone Footage Exposes the New Reality of Urban Surveillance": https://www.wired.com/story/sfpd-drone-video-leak-surveillance/ DeFlockSF (IG): https://www.instagram.com/deflocksf/ Have I Been Flocked?: https://haveibeenflocked.com/ Ian's last episode: https://www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/home-sweet-state-158916825 Episode with StopAI: https://www.patreon.com/sadfrancisco/posts/end-agi-before-127632638/ Support the show and get merch on Patreon: https://patreon.com/sadfrancisco 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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)