The shutting down of services has sparked a legal debate that is definitely worth having. An action like this had never been taken by a government agency. On one hand, organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) contend it violated citizens’ First Amendment rights. EFF Austin (not affiliated with EFF) thinks BART likely violated section 333 of the Communications Act posted a statement showing. (Users have been using Twitter to urge people to file complaints with the FCC.)

On the other hand, there are those who do not think this could be challenged in court. The ACLU condemned BART’s move but a staff attorney with the ACLU now tells Wired that there could be times when a government agency would be justified in shutting down mobile services.

In reaction to BART’s shutdown of cell phone service Thursday, Anonymous has taken to the Internet and begun #opBART and #opMuBARTek (a reference to the Egyptian president’s shutting down that country’s Internet service during protests) a multi-pronged series of actions designed to protest the Bay Area Rapid Transit’s stifling of free speech. There will be [...]

The Obama Administration has denied the request of a married couple in San Francisco, ordering the expulsion of one spouse who is the primary caregiver of his legally married husband with AIDS.

Team Obama is incapable of valuing our actual relationships, while making pretty speeches about DOMA’s unconstitutionality.

Must be nice to have an almost unlimited number of bigoted rubes willing to open their wallets whenever h8 comes calling. Case in point: Charles Cooper, losing lead attorney guiding the ProtectMarriage consiglieres to defeat at every single stage of the Prop 8 trial, announced Oh, Hell Yes, They Will Appeal Chief Judge James Ware’s eloquent, swift beatdown of their horrific motion to order Judge Vaughn Walker to recuse himself because, you know what — he’s Ghey!

And, finally, we showed that people can demand that their government help find the solution. Given modern, technologically advanced 21st century medicine, it is, in fact, the least we should expect from our government.

A government that is the solution, not the problem — like the one you promised and delivered for so many of my dead friends.

Thirty two years ago today at 10:55 AM, openly gay city supervisor Harvey Milk was shot and killed in his office at City Hall in San Francisco. The message of hope that he preached, however, continues on, and his strategy of building coalitions and rejecting life in the Veal Pen is one progressives need to remember and repeat — that’s how you give hope.

Thanks, Harvey.

While you work within the constraints put on any Speaker, to implement the agenda of the president who’s in your own party, please let San Francisco have real representation again. San Francisco values really matter to America. The City needs a Congressperson again. Let San Franciscans elect someone who needn’t compromise on their every viewpoint for the sake of the Speakership. You can do this, Madame Speaker. Please make it so. Finally, as I always close my letters and emails to you, more and more futile though they seem because of your dual role nowadays: Thank you for your service to San Francisco, to California, and to the United States of America.

The best money spent in the Affordable Care Act was the $11 billion dollars put toward expanding and maintaining community health centers across the country. That money will get poured directly into universal care programs for the poor, and possibly lead to some innovations in how we treat people, not just one illness or injury at a time but a comprehensive approach to wellness. The best model for this in the country is San Francisco’s universal care program, Healthy SF, which provides for care for everyone in the city limits, regardless of health, employment or immigration status. It’s not single-payer health care, it’s socialized medicine, and it’s led to significant reductions in the uninsured and a healthier city.

How are you planning your summertime? Are there nearby venues you’ll explore for the first time, or again? Have you any major expeditions planned? Is there big travel in your future, or little travel? Planning a big vacation or an exploratory stay-cation?

This Saturday’s long urban ramble ended at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero at 4pm, just in time to join the rally of immigration rights activists planning to march to AT&T Park to protest the Arizona Diamondbacks because of their state’s new “papers please” law.