Yanuni | Official Trailer

Leonardo DiCaprio Oct 16, 2025 Juma Xipaia from the Brazilian Amazon represents the Indigenous leaders who remind us what it means to live in harmony with the Earth. Her courage, wisdom, and leadership inspire a global movement to defend nature, culture, and community. Yanuni, the award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary that tells Juma’s story, is a testament to the power of Indigenous voices and the hope they carry for our shared future. Thrilled to share the official trailer and that the film will premiere at the São Paulo International Film Festival on October 17. Director: Richard Ladkani Producers: Juma Xipaia Anita Ladkani, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Executive Producers: Dax Dasilva, Joanna Natasegara, Laura Nix, Eric Terena, Martin Choroba, and Philipp Schall. #YanuniFilm is a ‪@MalaikaPictures‬ production in association with Appian Way, Nia Tero, ‪@ageofunion‬, Tellux Gruppe, and with the support of ÖFI+ Film Institut. The impact campaign in support of the Instituto Juma is led by Earth Alliance.

Jack Smith finally talked…and he had a lot to say

It’s been a long time coming.

Dan Rather and Team Steady Jan 2, 2025

Credit: Getty Images

It may be the biggest irony in the history of American politics – if not the history of our country — that if Donald Trump wasn’t elected to a second term, he probably would be serving time in prison right now.

Instead, the president flat out got away with it. And now he will never face federal criminal charges for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election or removing highly classified documents from the White House and hiding them at his Palm Beach resort.

We’ve waited a long time for former special counsel Jack Smith to tell us what evidence he amassed against Trump. And now we know at least part of that picture. His recent matter-of-fact recounting of his comprehensive investigations only whets the appetite for the whole story.

The famously tight-lipped Smith, who led two investigations into Trump and secured two indictments, testified before the House Judiciary Committee on December 17. Surprise!

Smith’s deposition, a robust defense of his investigations, was reported in the media. But The New York Times, for example, ran its piece on page A19 of the print edition of the paper, because the closed-door hearing was free of reporters and no video recording or transcript of the exhaustive eight-hour testimony was made available. Until December 31.

After ignoring calls from Smith’s lawyers to release the transcript, Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the committee, decided to dump the 255-page transcript after everyone had gone home for the New Year.

Smith, who was subpoenaed to appear, asked for a public hearing. Surprisingly, so did the president. “I’d rather see him testify publicly, because there’s no way he can answer the questions.” Actually, he did – at least all the questions he was not barred by a Trump-appointed judge from answering.

The reason for the closed session was that Republicans were concerned Smith would use the hearing as a platform to divulge heretofore unreleased information.

Smith withstood a barrage of questions from both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans, doing Trump’s bidding to go after those who went after him, tried to trip him up. Democrats hoped to bait him into revealing details of his investigations. Neither side succeeded, though that doesn’t mean the testimony was without revelations.

Smith, a career prosecutor, who served under Democrats and Republicans, spoke with confidence and candor.

“The decision to bring charges against President Trump was mine, but the basis for those charges rests entirely with President Trump and his actions, as alleged in the indictments returned by grand juries in two different districts,” he said in his opening statement.

He went on to explain what he and his team discovered about Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election:

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

And Trump’s mishandling of classified documents:

“Our investigation also developed powerful evidence that showed that President Trump willfully retained highly classified documents… then repeatedly tried to obstruct justice to conceal his continued retention of those documents.”

Smith revealed that he planned to rely on Trump allies as witnesses, saying he thought they would be more credible than partisan ones.

“We had numerous witnesses who would say, ‘I voted for President Trump. I campaigned for President Trump. I wanted him to win,’” Smith testified. “Our case was built on, frankly, Republicans who put their allegiance to the country before the party.”

When asked if Trump ever admitted that he knew he lost the election, Smith answered yes. He went on to say the president made statements about it to several people.

“One is that, ‘It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still fight like hell.’ And then the other was, ‘Can you believe I lost to this f’ing guy?’ referring to Joe Biden.”

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Smith laid out his evidence like, well, a prosecutor.

“[Trump], in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, created a level of distrust. He used that level of distrust to get people to believe fraud claims that weren’t true. He made false statements to state legislatures, to his supporters in all sorts of contexts and was aware, in the days leading up to Jan. 6, that his supporters were angry when he invited them and then he directed them to the Capitol.”

As Trump is trying to downplay and distort what happened at the Capitol on January 6, Smith did not whitewash the violence perpetrated by the rioters. “Cracked ribs, traumatic brain injuries, smashed spinal disks and heart attacks as rioters used bats, poles, chemical sprays, stolen police shields and batons.”

That violence, Smith said, was “foreseeable” to the president and Trump exploited it.

When Republican committee members suggested Trump’s statements about the 2020 election were protected speech, Smith pushed back, hard. “Fraud is not protected by the First Amendment.”

Smith had far less to say about the classified documents case because Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who slow-walked the original case and then tossed it, is now deciding if Smith’s report of the investigation will ever be released. She blocked the release for more than a year, though ruled last week she would lift the order on February 24, if Trump doesn’t challenge the ruling. What are the odds?

In the meantime Smith is barred from speaking about it, including to the House Judiciary Committee.

When asked if he could draw any conclusions about Trump’s refusal to return the classified documents despite being given multiple opportunities, Smith responded, “I don’t think I can answer that question because it may involve nonpublic facts that are a part of the final report that is currently under an injunction.”

He gave a similar answer to most questions posed about the documents.

In Trumpworld, Jack Smith is Public Enemy No. 1. There is no doubt Trump’s allies in the House were hoping Smith’s testimony would give the president some viable legal avenue to use against him. Though he didn’t give them one, Smith is not naive about his future.

He said he wouldn’t be surprised if Trump directs the Department of Justice to indict him. “I believe that President Trump wants to seek retribution against me because of my role as special counsel.”

Which brings us to another great irony: The man who the government believed committed one of the greatest crimes in our nation’s history now has the ability to seek revenge against those who tried to hold him accountable.

Steady is free, but to support my team’s efforts to protect our democracy through the power of independent journalism, we’d appreciate it if you would consider joining as a paid subscriber. It keeps Steady sustainable and accessible for all.

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Dan

S.F. federal judge restores Temporary Protected Status for thousands

Next stop is likely the Ninth Circuit Court

A woman with wavy brown hair, wearing a sleeveless white top, gold hoop earrings, and a necklace, smiles at the camera indoors.by Sage Ríos Mace December 31, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)

A man speaks into a microphone at an outdoor rally, holding a white rose and papers, while people around him display banners and signs supporting TPS.
Jhonny Silva stands before a crowd of organizers and community members gathered in solidarity against the termination of TPS. Photo by Sage Rios Mace.

A San Francisco federal judge ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration’s decision to end Temporary Protected Status was unlawful, restoring the status for nearly 90,000 immigrants.

U.S. District Court Judge Trina Thompson’s decision pertains to a recent lawsuit that challenged the administration’s decision to terminate TPS for migrants who fled natural disasters in Honduras, Nepal and Nicaragua. It was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and partnering law firms.

The program covers about 72,000 Hondurans, 13,000 Nepalis and 4,000 Nicaraguans, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It gives them temporary status to legally stay in the country.

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The administration announced its intentions to cancel the Biden-era extension of TPS in July. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the decision on Aug. 20, and on Sept. 7, TPS holders from Nicaragua and Honduras lost their status.

Wednesday’s decision restores TPS for those from Nepal, Nicaragua and Honduras. However, the government could challenge Thompson’s ruling by appealing the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Jhonny Silva, 30, who is from Honduras, lost his job as a nursing student after TPS was terminated in September.

Paxton gate - 14

“The court’s order today is a tremendous relief, but the administration’s decision to terminate TPS has already wreaked havoc for me and so many others,” Silva wrote in an email today. 

A man sits at a table with a cake featuring "29" candles while a young girl hugs and kisses him on the cheek. A vase of flowers is on the table beside them.
Jhonny Silva celebrates his 29th birthday with his child in 2024. He will be turning 30 in November 2025, the same month as the next TPS court hearing, which will determine whether TPS status for Hondurans, Nepalis and Nicaraguans remains valid or not. Photo courtesy of Jhony Silva.

He continued,“I hope that this means my child and I can be secure in the United States for the time being but we will not give up fighting to protect our rights and the rights of others.”

In today’s 52-page decision, Thompson wrote that the administration failed to adequately consider country conditions that would prevent TPS holders from safely returning and rebuilding their lives in their home countries.

Back to the Picture SR

Thompson found that the decision to end TPS was likely “preordained,” meaning that it was made before the government received country-condition reviews for Honduras and Nicaragua. 

The decision  alleges that the Department of Homeland Security relied on “skewed data,” requesting  roughly one page of information on country conditions. The latter, Judge Thompson concluded, failed to capture the full scope of the conditions in the affected countries.

The judge further concluded that the decision was likely motivated by racial animus, echoing claims previously raised by the National TPS Alliance, one of the organizations that represents the plaintiffs.

1-1-26 to 1-31-26

In the court order, Thompson cited statements by President Trump and social media posts by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that portrayed TPS holders as criminal invaders.

Among them were Trump’s statement that migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” and another in which he wrote, “You now know a murderer. I believe this; it’s in their genes,” when referring to migrants in the United States.

Thompson wrote, “These statements reflect a stereotyping of the immigrants protected under the TPS program as criminal invaders and perpetuate the discriminatory belief that certain immigrant populations will replace the white population.”

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sage@missionlocal.com

I’m covering immigration for Mission Local and got my start in journalism with El Tecolote. Most recently, I completed a long-term investigation for El Centro de Periodismo Investigativo in San Juan, PR and I am excited to see where journalism takes me next. Off the clock, I can be found rollerblading through Golden Gate Park or reading under the trees with my cat, Mano.More by Sage Ríos Mace

U.S. Becomes First Country To Recognize Mega-Israel

Published: August 11, 2025 (TheOnion.com)

WASHINGTON—Calling the ongoing violence in the region “disgusting” while pledging America’s unwavering support, President Trump announced Monday that the United States would be the first country to recognize the state of Mega-Israel. “We recognize the right of Mega-Israel to exist as an ever-expanding sovereign nation,” said Trump, who added that he believed the West had turned a blind eye to Mega-Israel for too long, and that Mega-Israel had the right to defend whatever they claimed their borders to be. “Today, I called Giga-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and I told him that the U.S. stands behind Mega-Israel, its Mega-land, and its Mega-army. As such, we will continue to provide them with military support as they face attacks from the Micro-Middle East.” At press time, Trump announced plans for the United States to officially back a one-Mega-Israel solution.

My Quest to Make the Pentagon Care About the Crimes It Covered Up

For years, I’ve shared names of former soldiers implicated in atrocities with the Pentagon. It’s shown no interest in punishment until Mark Kelly dissed Trump.

Nick Turse

December 27 2025 (TheIntercept.com)

U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, look on a mass grave after a day-long battle against the Viet Cong 272nd Regiment, about 60 miles northwest of Saigon, in March 1967.

U.S. soldiers of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, look on a mass grave after a daylong battle against the Viet Cong 272nd Regiment, about 60 miles northwest of Saigon, in March 1967. Photo: Henri Huet/AP

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth took the unusual step last month of threatening to recall Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., to active duty to possibly face court-martial, after the retired Navy captain reminded service members in a social media video that it is their duty to disobey illegal orders. President Donald Trump suggested Kelly ought to be killed for his viral video, then seemed to call for him to be imprisoned.

The review of Kelly’s comments has since blossomed into a full-scale inquiry. “Retired Captain Kelly is currently under investigation for serious allegations of misconduct,” a War Department spokesperson told me.

Kelly issued a statement after Hegseth’s office announced it was escalating its case. “It wasn’t enough for Donald Trump to say I should be hanged, which prompted death threats against me and my family. It wasn’t enough for Pete Hegseth to announce a sham investigation on social media. Now they are threatening everything I fought for and served for over 25 years in the U.S. Navy, all because I repeated something every service member is taught,” said Kelly. “It should send a shiver down the spine of every patriotic American that this President and Secretary of Defense would so corruptly abuse their power to come after me or anyone this way.”

What most surprised me was Hegseth’s apparent willingness to recall a former member of the military for punishment.

That Hegseth is targeting a sitting senator is all but unheard of. But what most surprised me was his apparent willingness to recall a former member of the military for punishment. I was shocked because, for two decades, the Pentagon has failed to respond to questions about the potential recall of veterans accused of heinous illegality by Army investigators.

In the mid-2000s, I provided the Pentagon with the names of dozens of former service members implicated in crimes against civilians and prisoners during the Vietnam War: massacres, murders, assaults, and other atrocities. The Defense Department never recalled any to active duty. Years later, a defense official laughed when I asked if anyone even looked at the spreadsheet of names that I provided. In the wake of Hegseth’s threats against Kelly, I again asked his office if they want that list.

While working for the Los Angeles Times, I helped expose 320 atrocities that were substantiated by Army investigators, including seven mass killings from the 1960s and 1970s, in which at least 137 civilians died. This tally does not include the 1968 My Lai massacre during which U.S. troops slaughtered more than 500 Vietnamese civilians. The records chronicled 78 other attacks on noncombatants in which at least 57 were killed, 56 wounded, and 15 sexually assaulted; and 141 instances in which U.S. troops tortured civilian detainees or prisoners of war.

Murder, torture, rape, abuse, forced displacement, home burnings, specious arrests, and imprisonment without due process were a daily fact of life throughout the years of the American war in Vietnam. But the great majority of atrocities by U.S. troops never came to light — and almost never resulted in criminal investigations, much less courts-martial. These records — compiled in the early 1970s by a secret Pentagon task force known as the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group — represent some of the exceedingly rare instances that resulted in official inquiries.

Army criminal investigators determined that evidence against more than 200 soldiers accused of harming Vietnamese civilians or prisoners was strong enough to warrant charges, according to the records. These “founded” cases were referred to the soldiers’ superior officers for action. Ultimately, 57 of them were court-martialed, and just 23 were convicted.

Fourteen soldiers received prison sentences ranging from six months to 20 years, but most won significant reductions on appeal. The stiffest sentence went to a military intelligence interrogator convicted of committing indecent acts against a 13-year-old girl held in detention. He served seven months of a 20-year term, according to the files. Many substantiated cases were closed with a letter of reprimand, a fine, or, in more than half the cases, no action at all.

In the early 2000s, many veterans who had escaped justice were still alive, including members of Company B of the 1st Battalion, 35th Infantry, 4th Infantry Division. That unit committed a litany of atrocities, culminating in a massacre in a tiny hamlet in South Vietnam.

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On February 8, 1968, a medic, Jamie Henry, sat down to rest in a Vietnamese home, where he was joined by a radioman. On the radio, he heard 3rd Platoon leader Lt. Johnny Mack Carter report to Capt. Donald Reh that he had rounded up 19 civilians. Carter wanted to know what should be done with them. As Henry later told an army investigator: “The Captain asked him if he remembered the Op Order [Operation Order] that had come down from higher [command] that morning which was to kill anything that moves. The Captain repeated the order. He said that higher said to kill anything that moves.”

Hoping to intervene, Henry headed for Reh’s position. As he neared it, though, the young medic saw members of the unit drag a naked teenage girl out of a house and throw her into the throng of civilians, who had been gathered together in a group. Then, Henry said, four or five men around the civilians “opened fire and shot them. There was a lot of flesh and blood going around because the velocity of an M-16 at that close range does a lot of damage.”

Henry repeatedly reported the massacre, at peril to himself, and spent years attempting to expose the atrocities. Army investigators looked into the allegations for more than three years before closing the case and burying the files. They determined that evidence supported murder charges in five incidents against nine “subjects,” including Carter. Investigators concluded that there was not enough evidence to charge Reh with murder, because of conflicting accounts “as to the actual language” he used in giving the orders. But Reh could be charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the killings, the report said. The military did not court-martial any members of the unit — either in the 1970s or the 2000s. Some are still alive today and could, theoretically, face some modicum of justice.

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Hegseth has been on the hot seat since major media outlets picked up on The Intercept’s reporting of a double-tap strike that executed survivors of an attack on a supposed drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean in September. Military legal experts, lawmakers, and confidential sources within the government who spoke with The Intercept say Hegseth’s actions could result in the entire chain of command being investigated for a war crime or outright murder.

Hegseth said Kelly’s “conduct brings discredit upon the armed forces and will be addressed appropriately.” I asked Hegseth’s office if the crimes detailed in the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group’s files also brought “discredit upon the armed forces.” A spokesperson acknowledged that and other questions but offered no answers.

“Nick, we received your earlier message and haven’t forgotten about you,” she said last month. “Our response time is going to be delayed due to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.” That response has, weeks later, still yet to arrive.

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Hegseth has previously derided “academic rules of engagement which have been tying the hands of our warfighters for too long,” and, during President Donald Trump’s first term — before he became the Pentagon chief — successfully lobbied for pardons on behalf of soldiers convicted of crimes against noncombatants.

“This just shows their total distain for the rule of law,” Todd Huntley, who was an active-duty judge advocate for more than 23 years, serving as a legal adviser to Special Operations forces, said of Hegseth and Trump. “They view the law as a political tool to support their positions and help them get what they want.”

“They view the law as a political tool to support their positions and help them get what they want.”

Hegseth took his post focusing on lethality at all costs, while gutting programs designed to protect civilians and firing the Air Force’s and Army’s top judge advocates general, or JAGs, in February to avoid “roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief.” Military operations under Hegseth have since killed civilians from Yemen to the Caribbean Sea.

The Former JAGs Working Group — an organization made up of former and retired military judge advocates which was founded in February — issued a statement condemning Hegseth’s order and the execution of it “to constitute war crimes, murder, or both.” The group also called out the war secretary for targeting Kelly. “The administration’s retaliation against Senator Kelly violates military law. We are confident the unlawful influence reflected in the press reports will ultimately disqualify all convening authorities except possibly the president himself from actually referring any case to a court-martial,” they wrote in a statement provided to The Intercept.

Huntley said the War Department wasn’t following its typical investigative process in its case against Kelly.

UNITED STATES - DECEMBER 9: Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., talks with reporters in the Senate subway on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)
Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., talks with reporters in the Senate subway in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 9, 2025. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP

“There was no way that was unlawful. It doesn’t even come close to undermining good order and discipline of the military,” said Huntley. “Under normal circumstances, an investigating officer would be appointed. They’d look into it and then the report would come back, it would be reviewed by a JAG, and it would say there was nothing unlawful, no charges warranted. But these aren’t normal times.”

Huntley also noted that Kelly’s video was likely to sow confusion among low-ranking enlisted personnel and officers concerning determinations about whether an order is lawful.

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Huntley clarified that the Pentagon doesn’t have to bring Kelly back to active duty to charge him under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. “All that’s required is that you get permission of the service secretary. In this case, I’m guessing that Hegseth himself could probably give permission to do that,” he explained. When I asked why the War Department would have announced that it might recall Kelly despite not needing to do so, Huntley had a simple assessment: “Because they don’t know what the law is.”

Hegseth’s office and Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson failed to reply to repeated questions about the Vietnam-era personnel who might still be sanctioned for their crimes against Vietnamese civilians, as well as questions about the jeopardy troops today might be in for following Hegseth’s orders.

A Pentagon spokesperson also seemed to foreclose the release of additional information concerning the War Department’s persecution of Kelly. “Further official comments will be limited to preserve the integrity of the proceedings,” she said.

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Contact the author:

Nick Tursenick.turse@theintercept.com@nickturseon X

THE MAYOR IS LISTENING

Zohran Mamdani for NYC views Premiered Dec 31, 2025 On December 14th, I sat across from 142 New Yorkers as they shared their concerns, their dreams, the leadership they long for from City Hall. Our campaign was built around listening to the people of New York, and we will govern in the same way. Tomorrow, we get to work. RSVP To join the Inauguration Block Party tomorrow: https://t.co/6QvoGxuRFw Full corrected subtitles will be added shortly after publishing. In the meantime, please use auto-generated subtitles for accessibility needs.

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Zohran Mamdani speaks several languages, including English, Hindi, Urdu, Spanish, and Arabic, and also uses Bengali (Bangla) in his political communication, showcasing a multilingual approach in his campaigns and governance to connect with diverse New York City communities. 

Here’s a breakdown of languages he uses:

  • English: His primary language for broader communication.
  • Hindi/Urdu: Used extensively for South Asian communities, often blending them as a single linguistic code.
  • Spanish: Utilized to engage with the large Hispanic/Latino population, noted for its fluency.
  • Arabic: Spoken to reach Muslim and Arab communities in New York.
  • Bengali (Bangla): Also used in his campaign materials and outreach. 

When S.F. celebrated the New Year … by throwing garbage out the window

By Peter Hartlaub, Culture CriticUpdated Dec 30, 2022 (SFChronicle.com)

Gift Article

Children play in the calendar pages, phone messages and memos thrown out of high-rise windows in the Financial District on Dec. 31, 1976.Bill Young, Staff / The Chronicle

It was Dec. 31, 1977, and San Francisco’s strangest holiday had arrived: Downtown office workers opened their windows and threw a year’s worth of paper trash onto the street.

More than 15 tons of calendar pages, work memos, faxes, takeout menus and ribbons of waste from computer paper rained from downtown high-rises onto the street below — until sidewalks were no longer visible.

“Just as the snake sheds its old skin, the Financial District shed its 1977 calendar memo pads out of whatever windows it could open and went home early yesterday,” The Chronicle reported the next day. “Lovely festoons of toilet paper and computer tape accented the appointment-pad snowstorm to trim sidewalk trees, wallpaper parked cars and clog crosswalk rain puddles.”

That was near the peak of one of San Francisco’s most poorly aged lost traditions: the last workday of the year in the city, when office workers celebrated by becoming serial litterers.

The calendar pages started flying some time in the late 1920s or early 1930s, after the first wave of skyscrapers was built in the Financial District. Herb Caen was the first to write about the monsoon in the pages of The Chronicle, remarking on it Jan. 1, 1940, just a few months after his beloved column started.

“The most palpable evidence of the death of 1939 could be found Saturday afternoon in the Financial District,” Caen wrote. “For that day, torn leaves from outdated calendars came fluttering down in snowy profusion from the windows of Montgomery and Sansome — an annual custom which, I understand, is peculiar to San Francisco.”

Judging simply by photographs from the Chronicle archive, the tradition’s zenith came sometime in the 1960s, when photos show a steady downpour of paper drifting onto Montgomery Street, nearly covering the outside (but not the inside) of a garbage can that threatened a $250 fine for littering.

Around that time The Chronicle started an annual tradition of sending a reporter and photographer to sift through the calendar pages and report on some of the stranger findings. The notes ranged from curious to titillating to haunting, often saying something about the times.

Aug. 26, 1960: “George called to cancel our date and was I ever grateful!”

Aug. 5, 1964: “Had a long chat long distance with Pete. Guess that situation will finally be straitened out.”

Sept. 15, 1977: “Last night I dreamed I was a tear falling out of a green eye that belonged to a green man who had just landed in a UFO and got his first glimpse at the world. I woke up crying.”

Sept 25, 1977: “VD clinic today.”

April 4, 1978: “Tell Michael THE TRUTH this time.”

The late 1960s and 1970s brought the environmental movement to the Bay Area, but it didn’t reach the Financial District. In interviews through the 1970s, city officials responsible for cleaning the mess remained mostly supportive of the mass littering event.

Department of Public Works Director Myron Tatarian told The Chronicle that residents should just try to enjoy all the trash falling from the skies.

“I can’t help myself. There’s something I really like about this tradition,” Tatarian said. “It’s like a fresh snowfall — it makes us look at the world around us. And at the same time it helps us see ourselves.”

The Chronicle celebrated too. With the tradition often falling during a slow news period a day or two before the New Year, the front page often featured a centerpiece photo of falling papers or children joyfully playing in the refuse like it was snow.

By the mid-1980s, when computer paper and dot matrix printers were adding to the gigantic pile, the haul reached more than 25 tons, with a $25,000 price tag for street cleanup crew overtime. But city officials didn’t openly revolt until early 1987, after a heavy rain made the cleanup particularly frustrating.

“All the calendar pages that people tossed out of their windows have gotten wet, so they’re sticking to the parapets and the ledges of buildings,” Department of Public Works Manager Dick Evans said. “It’ll be awhile before they dry off. Then they’ll blow down into the streets.”

After the 1987 mess the movement grew. Landlords of the Transamerica Pyramid sent a memo to office workers, asking them not to jimmy window locks open and add to the trash. City Hall started a media campaign, asking workers to use recycling bins.

The pleas of city officials were mostly ignored. Downtown workers continued to throw paper out their windows until at least 2003, the last time The Chronicle reported the paper downfall had dwindled to a drizzle.

The tradition apparently ended from a combination of the rise of electronic calendars, and (more importantly) tougher heating, ventilation and air conditioning rules in tall buildings. Many owners of older structures sealed their windows to save on heating bills, and new skyscrapers like Salesforce Tower and 181 Fremont St. didn’t give workers the option to open windows.

In most San Francisco office high-rises in 2022, the only way to throw a year’s worth of recyclables into the street is to put them in a bin and walk down a flight of stairs.

Peter Hartlaub (he/him) is The San Francisco Chronicle’s culture critic. Email: phartlaub@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @PeterHartlaub

Dec 30, 2022 | Updated Dec 30, 2022

Peter Hartlaub

Culture Critic

Peter Hartlaub is The San Francisco Chronicle’s culture critic and co-founder of Total SF. The Bay Area native, a former Chronicle paperboy, has worked at The Chronicle since 2000. He covers Bay Area culture, co-hosts the Total SF podcast and writes the archive-based Our SF local history column. Hartlaub and columnist Heather Knight co-created the Total SF podcast and event series, engaging with locals to explore and find new ways to celebrate San Francisco and the Bay Area.

Mamdani Swearing In Ceremony: Zohran Mamdani Sworn in by Sen. Bernie Sanders | AOC | NYC

CNBC-TV18 Started streaming 87 minutes ago NEW YORK LIVE: Mamdani Swearing In Ceremony | Zohran Mamdani is sworn in by Sen. Bernie Sanders | NYC | N18G New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is sworn in by Senator Bernie Sanders in a public ceremony on the steps of New York’s City Hall. The “Inauguration of a New Era,” a citywide celebration marking the beginning of his tenure. Zohran Mamdani will formally assume office as mayor of New York City as the calendar turns to 2026, marking the moment with a pair of swearing-in ceremonies that blend personal history, public spectacle and civic symbolism. His team has planned two distinct events on Thursday: a quiet, private oath just after midnight, followed hours later by a large public ceremony and block party outside City Hall. Together, the ceremonies are intended to reflect both Mamdani’s personal journey and his vision for the city he is about to lead. #zohranmamdani#newyorkcitymayor#zohranmamdanioath#zohranmamdaniswearingin#zohranmamdanispeech#cnbctv18#cnbctv18digital —————————————————————————————————- Zohran Mamdani swearing in, Mamdani sworn in NYC mayor, Zohran Mamdani Quran oath ceremony, first Muslim mayor New York, Mamdani inauguration subway station, Mamdani midnight oath Old City Hall station, New York mayor use Quran oath, Bernie Sanders swears in Mamdani, private midnight swearing-in Mamdani, Mamdani public inauguration City Hall, Zohran Mamdani historic swearing-in using Quran, Mamdani first Muslim and South Asian mayor NYC, Mamdani sworn in at Old City Hall subway station, Zohran Mamdani oath administered by Letitia James, Mamdani public swearing-in by Bernie Sanders, Mamdani block party inauguration Canyon of Heroes, Mamdani rent freeze free buses policies, Mamdani progressive agenda inauguration, New York mayor inauguration 2026, Zohrah Mamdani Quran ceremony NYC mayor.