Politics
San Francisco ties welfare to drug-screening, boosts police powers in stunning tough-on-crime shift
Mayor London Breed was all smiles during a packed primary party on Tuesday in Hayes Valley, a boutique neighborhood about a half mile from City Hall, stopping for selfies and congratulations as she navigated the crowded bar toward a microphone.
“Change is coming!” Breed shouted to thundering applause from the patio at the hip cocktail bar Anina.
Early results showed promise for a slate of local candidates running on a more centrist agenda, and for ballot measures that would transform downtown with new development and called on the city school board to reinstate Algebra I as an offering for middle school students.
But the focus of Breed’s excitement that evening was two ballot measures she championed to broaden police surveillance powers and impose drug treatment mandates that were garnering overwhelming voter support — a stunning rightward shift for a city known nationally for its progressive politics.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed rallies supporters during an election night party.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
The first measure, Proposition E, bolsters police powers in the city. The second, Proposition F, will require drug screening and treatment for people receiving county welfare benefits who are suspected of drug use.
The measures give teeth to efforts to address the city’s open-air drug addiction crisis — and the street crime and rampant homelessness that come with it. Taken together, they give credence to Breed’s message that San Francisco is not the bastion of lawlessness its critics love to claim.
“Enough is enough,” Breed said. “We need change.”
Breed faces a difficult reelection campaign in November as she seeks a second full term in office. Two of her opponents — Levi Strauss heir and nonprofit founder Daniel Lurie, and venture capitalist Mark Farrell, a former district supervisor and interim mayor — are considered moderates by San Francisco standards, and have blasted the mayor for the city’s street conditions and the lagging post-pandemic economic recovery.
A third opponent, Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, is a well-known progressive likely to garner support among stalwart liberals concerned with the city’s recent shift toward the center.
As she navigates a middle path forward, Breed’s supporters hope the ballot victories inject her reelection bid with a jolt of energy and chart a clearer path forward for a city that has struggled to get homeless people off the streets and to rebound from the pandemic-related exodus of its downtown tech sector.
“This is a really good night for London Breed, Madam Mayor,” state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) told the crowd. “This city has been getting beaten up for the last few years, and San Francisco is coming back, and it’s going to be even better than ever.”
The ballot measures approved Tuesday build on several initiatives Breed has spearheaded over the past year to put teeth to the city’s efforts to stem drug addiction and overdose deaths, adding punitive components to policies that long have centered on a gentler treatment-focused approach.
Last fall, city officials announced plans for a law enforcement task force, set to launch in spring, that will investigate opioid deaths and illicit drug dealing in the city as potential homicide cases. Months before, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed the California National Guard and California Highway Patrol to target drug-trafficking networks funneling fentanyl into the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods, an operation that has led to hundreds of arrests.
Breed contends those efforts are paying off: Over the last six months, property crime has fallen by 30% and violent crime by 4%, according to the mayor’s office.
San Francisco Mayor London Breed says the ballot measures voters approved this week give needed teeth to efforts to address the city’s drug crisis.
(Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
Breed said the drug-screening initiative will build on those efforts by compelling more people with substance-use disorder into treatment.
Proposition F, set to go into effect in January 2025, will modify the County Adult Assistance Programs, which offers cash benefits to low-income single adults 65 and under without dependent children. Recipients will now be required to undergo a drug-screening assessment if there’s “reasonable suspicion” they struggle with substance-use disorder, and to enter into treatment if warranted.
Proponents say the change will safeguard city resources against a street drug culture that’s ballooned because of San Francisco’s lenient policies and generous benefits.
The program assisted about 5,700 people monthly in the 2022-23 fiscal year, according to the city controller’s office, with some recipients receiving up to $712 per month. Between March 30, 2023, and the start of February, 141 people who were cited for public drug use were also receiving the county assistance, according to the mayor’s office. Of those, 33% did not actually live in San Francisco.
“This is just adding another level of accountability of screening, and hopefully what will lead to the kind of results we want to see: people who are in treatment and people who end up getting clean and sober,” Breed said.
Critics of Proposition F dismiss it as a poorly crafted proposal that fails to fix the roots of the city’s homeless crisis: a lack of affordable housing and quality treatment options. They echoed a popular progressive tenet that forcing people into drug treatment doesn’t work, and said the policy changes will have devastating consequences on low-income residents who rely on the assistance to for housing and other necessary expenses.
“It’s just going to make treatment less accessible for everyone in San Francisco,” said Jeannette Zanipatin, state director for the left-leaning nonprofit Drug Policy Alliance. “To sell an initiative with false promises is just really the mayor and her office choosing political convenience over really trying to roll up their sleeves and find real solutions that are actually going to have an impact on the overdose crisis.”
The measure wasn’t drafted with specific rules around how the drug screening will be administered or how treatment will be enforced. Breed has directed the city’s Human Services Agency to create an “action plan” for implementation, meaning it could be months before official guidelines are available.
Breed’s office has said the measure was intentionally designed to be flexible on the treatment component. Treatment options could range from out-patient services to a prescription for buprenorphine, a medication used to treat addiction. They noted it doesn’t include a requirement for participants to remain sober, recognizing that people often lapse in recovery and shouldn’t be kicked out of the program for a slip-up.
“I don’t think Proposition F is as bad as its critics say it is, and it’s probably not going to be a panacea as some of its more fervent supporters said it was either,” said Supervisor Matt Dorsey, a moderate Democrat who’s been candid about his own addiction recovery journey. “But I do think on balance, it’s a step in the right direction.
Wiener, one of the state Capitol’s leading progressives, didn’t support Proposition F but said he understands why people voted for it. “Only by San Francisco standards would this be considered moderate,” he said. “As in many cities right now, there is a concern about public safety and public drug use and people want their neighborhoods and their city to be as good as it can be.”
Proposition E, the measure that bolsters police powers, also passed handily. The measure weakens certain oversight authority by the Police Commission, which has been a voice for clamping down on police use of force.
The measure also eases restrictions that have been blamed for fostering a lax police response to retail and property crimes. It provides more leeway for police to pursue suspects by car and allows officers to use drones for certain pursuits. The changes also loosen requirements for documenting suspect confrontations that lead to police use-of-force and authorize body camera footage to stand in for certain paperwork.
Supporters of Proposition E said it will cut the amount of time police spend behind desks on administrative tasks and ensure they are properly equipped with technology to fight crime. Opponents see a troubling retrenchment toward reduced transparency and oversight.
“It made it easier for SFPD to hide police violence and makes it harder for the public to hold police officers accountable,” said Yoel Haile, director of the Criminal Justice Program at the ACLU of Northern California. “What we’re seeing right now happen is politicians who are offering the public these tried and failed solutions as the magic bullet to real frustrations that people have about crime and public safety.”
Breed is offering no apologies.
On Thursday, she delivered her State of the City address at Pier 27, a waterfront venue with a shimmering view of the city’s skyline as her backdrop. She sharply rebutted the narrative that San Francisco had lost its progressive way, instead positing that Tuesday’s election results were in alignment with the city’s liberal values to house and treat those suffering from addiction and provide communities with quality policing.
Throughout her speech, she doubled down on the message that San Francisco is turning a corner, proclaiming it a “city on the rise.”
“San Francisco is not wearing the shackles of your negativity any longer,” she said as the room echoed with applause.
Politics
Kamala Harris blasts Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s Maduro as ‘unlawful and unwise’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Saturday evening condemned the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, calling the operation both “unlawful” and “unwise.”
In a lengthy post on X, Harris acknowledged that Maduro is a “brutal” and “illegitimate” dictator but said that President Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela “do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable.”
“Donald Trump’s actions in Venezuela do not make America safer, stronger, or more affordable,” Harris wrote. “That Maduro is a brutal, illegitimate dictator does not change the fact that this action was both unlawful and unwise. We’ve seen this movie before.
“Wars for regime change or oil that are sold as strength but turn into chaos, and American families pay the price.”
SEE PICS: VENEZUELANS WORLDWIDE CELEBRATE AS EXILES REACT TO MADURO’S CAPTURE
Vice President Kamala Harris had strong words for the Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
Harris made the remarks hours after the Trump administration confirmed that Maduro and his wife were captured and transported out of Venezuela as part of “Operation Absolute Resolve.”
The former vice president also accused the administration of being motivated by oil interests rather than efforts to combat drug trafficking or promote democracy.
“The American people do not want this, and they are tired of being lied to. This is not about drugs or democracy. It is about oil and Donald Trump’s desire to play the regional strongman,” Harris said. “If he cared about either, he wouldn’t pardon a convicted drug trafficker or sideline Venezuela’s legitimate opposition while pursuing deals with Maduro’s cronies.”
SECOND FRONT: HOW A SOCIALIST CELL IN THE US MOBILIZED PRO-MADURO FOOT SOLDIERS WITHIN 12 HOURS
President Donald Trump shared a photo of captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro aboard the USS Iwo Jima after Saturday’s strikes on Venezuela. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)
Harris, who has been rumored as a potential Democratic contender in the 2028 presidential race, additionally accused the president of endangering U.S. troops and destabilizing the region.
“The President is putting troops at risk, spending billions, destabilizing a region, and offering no legal authority, no exit plan, and no benefit at home,” she said. “America needs leadership whose priorities are lowering costs for working families, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening alliances, and — most importantly — putting the American people first.”
MADURO’S FALL SPARKS SUSPICION OF BETRAYAL INSIDE VENEZUELA’S RULING ELITE
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch U.S. military operations in Venezuela from Mar-a-Lago in Florida early Saturday. (Donald Trump via Truth Social)
Maduro and his wife arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn late Saturday after being transported by helicopter from the DEA in Manhattan after being processed.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
Earlier in the day, Trump said that the U.S. government will “run” Venezuela “until such time as we can do a safe, proper and judicious transition.”
Harris’ office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr contributed to this report.
CARACAS, Venezuela — It was about 2 a.m. Saturday Caracas time when the detonations began, lighting up the sullen sky like a post-New Year’s fireworks display.
“¡Ya comenzó!” was the recurrent phrase in homes, telephone conversations and social media chats as the latest iteration of U.S. “shock and awe” rocked the Venezuelan capital. “It has begun!”
Then the question: “¿Maduro?”
The great uncertainty was the whereabouts of President Nicolás Maduro, who has been under Trump administration threat for months.
The scenes of revelry from a joyous Venezuelan diaspora celebrating from Miami to Madrid were not repeated here. Fear of the unknown kept most at home.
Hours would pass before news reports from outside Venezuela confirmed that U.S. forces had captured Maduro and placed him on a U.S. ship to face criminal charges in federal court in New York.
Venezuelans had watched the unfolding spectacle from their homes, using social media to exchange images of explosions and the sounds of bombardment. This moment, it was clear, was ushering in a new era of uncertainly for Venezuela, a nation reeling from a decade of economic, political and social unrest.
Government supporters display posters of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, right, and former President Hugo Chávez in downtown Caracas on Saturday.
(Matias Delacroix / Associated Press)
The ultimate result was an imponderable. But that this was a transformative moment — for good or bad — seemed indisputable.
By daybreak, an uneasy calm overtook the city of more than 3 million. The explosions and the drone of U.S. aircraft ceased. Blackouts cut electricity to parts of the capital.
Pro-government youths wielding automatic rifles set up roadblocks or sped through the streets on motorcycles, a warning to those who might celebrate Maduro’s downfall.
Shops, gas stations and other businesses were mostly closed. There was little traffic.
“When I heard the explosions, I grabbed my rosary and began to pray,” said Carolina Méndez, 50, who was among the few who ventured out Saturday, seeking medicines at a pharmacy, though no personnel had arrived to attend to clients waiting on line. “I’m very scared now. That’s why I came to buy what I need.”
A sense of alarm was ubiquitous.
Motorcycles and cars line up for gas Saturday in Caracas. Most of the population stayed indoors, reluctant to leave their homes except for gas and food.
(Andrea Hernandez Briceno / For The Times)
“People are buying bottled water, milk and eggs,” said Luz Pérez, a guard at one of the few open shops, not far from La Carlota airport, one of the sites targeted by U.S. strikes. “I heard the explosions. It was very scary. But the owner decided to open anyway to help people.”
Customers were being allowed to enter three at a time. Most didn’t want to speak. Their priority was to stock up on basics and get home safely.
Rumors circulated rapidly that U.S. forces had whisked away Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
There was no immediate official confirmation here of the detention of Maduro and Flores, both wanted in the United States for drug-trafficking charges — allegations that Maduro has denounced as U.S. propaganda. But then images of an apparently captive Maduro, blindfolded, in a sweatsuit soon circulated on social media.
There was no official estimate of Venezuelan casualties in the U.S. raid.
Rumors circulated indicating that a number of top Maduro aides had been killed, among them Diosdado Cabello, the security minister who is a staunch Maduro ally. Cabello is often the face of the government.
But Cabello soon appeared on official TV denouncing “the terrorist attack against our people,” adding: “Let no one facilitate the moves of the enemy invader.”
Although Trump, in his Saturday news conference, confidently predicted that the United States would “run” Venezuela, apparently during some undefined transitional period, it’s not clear how that will be accomplished.
A key question is whether the military — long a Maduro ally — will remain loyal now that he is in U.S. custody. There was no public indication Saturday of mass defections from the Venezuelan armed forces. Nor was it clear that Maduro’s government infrastructure had lost control of the country. Official media reported declarations of loyalty from pro-government politicians and citizens from throughout Venezuela.
A billboard with an image of President Nicolas Maduro stands next to La Carlota military base in Caracas, Venezuela, on Saturday. The graffiti reads, “Fraud, fraud.”
(Andrea Hernandez Briceno / For The Times)
In his comments, Trump spoke of a limited U.S. troop presence in Venezuela, focused mostly on protecting the oil infrastructure that his administration says was stolen from the United States — a characterization widely rejected here, even among Maduro’s critics. But Trump offered few details on sending in U.S. personnel to facilitate what could be a tumultuous transition.
Meantime, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez surfaced on official television and demanded the immediate release of Maduro and his wife, according to the official Telesur broadcast outlet. Her comments seemed to be the first official acknowledgment that Maduro had been taken.
“There is one president of this country, and his name is Nicolás Maduro,” the vice president said in an address from Miraflores Palace, from where Maduro and his wife had been seized hours earlier.
During an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council, Telesur reported, Rodríguez labeled the couple’s detention an “illegal kidnapping.”
The Trump administration, the vice president charged, meant to “capture our energy, mineral and [other] natural resources.”
Her defiant words came after Trump, in his news conference, said that Rodríguez had been sworn in as the country’s interim president and had evinced a willingness to cooperate with Washington.
“She’s essentially willing to do what we think is necessary to make Venezuela great again,” Trump said.
Pro-government armed civilians patrol in La Guaira, Venezuela, on Saturday after President Trump announced that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and flown out of the country.
(Matias Delacroix / Associated Press)
Somewhat surprisingly, Trump also seemed to rule out a role in an interim government for Marina Corina Machado, the Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize laureate and longtime anti-Maduro activist.
“She’s a very nice woman, but doesn’t have respect within the country,” Trump said of Machado.
Machado is indeed a controversial figure within the fractured Venezuelan opposition. Some object to her open calls for U.S. intervention, preferring a democratic change in government.
Nonetheless, her stand-in candidate, Edmundo González, did win the presidency in national balloting last year, according to opposition activists and others, who say Maduro stole the election.
“Venezuelans, the moment of liberty has arrived!” Machado wrote in a letter released on X. “We have fought for years. … What was meant to happen is happening.”
Not everyone agreed.
“They want our oil and they say it’s theirs,” said Roberto, 65, a taxi driver who declined to give his last name for security reasons. “Venezuelans don’t agree. Yes, I think people will go out and defend their homeland.”
Special correspondent Mogollón reported from Caracas and staff writer McDonnell from Boston. Contributing was special correspondent Cecilia Sánchez Vidal in Mexico City.
Politics
Marjorie Taylor Greene criticizes Trump’s meetings with Zelenskyy, Netanyahu: ‘Can we just do America?’
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Sunday called for President Trump to only focus on America’s needs as the president meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The president has been heavily involved in the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts since returning to the White House.
Trump met with Zelenskyy on Sunday at Mar-a-Lago to discuss a peace plan aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war that began with an invasion by Moscow in February 2022.
Netanyahu arrived in Florida on Sunday ahead of their scheduled meeting on Monday at Trump’s estate to address Israel’s conflicts in the Middle East. It will be the sixth meeting of the year between the two leaders.
TRUMP ZELENSKYY SAY UKRAINE PEACE DEAL CLOSE BUT ‘THORNY ISSUES’ REMAIN AFTER FLORIDA TALKS
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene criticized President Donald Trump’s meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Greene, responding to Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy and Netanyahu, said that the Trump administration should address the needs of Americans rather than becoming further involved in global conflicts.
“Zelensky today. Netanyahu tomorrow,” she wrote on X.
President Donald Trump welcomes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida. (Jim WATSON / AFP via Getty Images)
“Can we just do America?” the congresswoman continued.
The congresswoman has been a vocal critic of supplying U.S. military aid to foreign countries amid the conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.
She has also referred to Zelenskyy as “a dictator who canceled elections” and labeled Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide and humanitarian crisis.
ZELENSKYY READY TO PRESENT NEW PEACE PROPOSALS TO US AND RUSSIA AFTER WORKING WITH EUROPEAN TALKS
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and President Donald Trump had a public feud in recent months. (Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
This comes after Taylor Greene, who is set to resign from the House in January, had a public spat with Trump over the past few months as Trump took issue with the Georgia Republican’s push to release documents related to the investigations into deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump had withdrawn his endorsement of Greene and called her a “traitor” over the public feud.
Owners of mobile home park destroyed in the Palisades fire say they’re finally clearing the debris
City Section boys’ basketball has nowhere to go but up after hitting rock bottom
Hundreds march in silence to honour Crans-Montana fire victims
Here’s a partial list of U.S. elected officials opposing Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
Runner fought off mountain lion with stick just weeks before fatal attack on same Colorado trail
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Hundreds march in silence to honour Crans-Montana fire victims
Here’s a partial list of U.S. elected officials opposing Trump’s invasion of Venezuela
Crans Montana organises solemn march for the victims • FRANCE 24 English
Kamala Harris blasts Trump administration’s capture of Venezuela’s Maduro as ‘unlawful and unwise’
US Republicans back Trump on Venezuela amid faint MAGA dissent
-
Entertainment1 week agoHow the Grinch went from a Yuletide bit player to a Christmas A-lister
-
Connecticut1 week agoSnow Accumulation Estimates Increase For CT: Here Are The County-By-County Projections
-
World7 days agoHamas builds new terror regime in Gaza, recruiting teens amid problematic election
-
Indianapolis, IN1 week agoIndianapolis Colts playoffs: Updated elimination scenario, AFC standings, playoff picture for Week 17
-
Southeast1 week agoTwo attorneys vanish during Florida fishing trip as ‘heartbroken’ wife pleads for help finding them
-
Business1 week agoGoogle is at last letting users swap out embarrassing Gmail addresses without losing their data
-
World1 week agoSnoop Dogg, Lainey Wilson, Huntr/x and Andrea Bocelli Deliver Christmas-Themed Halftime Show for Netflix’s NFL Lions-Vikings Telecast
-
World1 week agoBest of 2025: Top five defining moments in the European Parliament