[guest post by Dana]

Feel free to talk about anything you think is newsworthy or might interest readers.

I’ll start:

Demonstrating feigned and craven ignorance to the fact that abortion is politics, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttiegieg (and mayor of South Bend, Ind.) says he doesn’t want the issue politicized in light of the ghastly news that more than 2,000 fetal remains were discovered at the home of a notorious, now-deceased Indiana abortionist. This as he politicizes it himself:

Law-enforcement officials announced Friday that they had found 2,246 “medically preserved” aborted fetuses in the Illinois home of the late abortionist Ulrich “George” Klopfer, who ran a number of abortion clinics in Indiana and Illinois and died September 3.

“Like everyone, I find that news out of Illinois extremely disturbing, and I think it’s important that that be fully investigated,” Buttigieg said after several days of silence on the matter. “I also hope it doesn’t get caught up in politics at a time when women need access to health care. There’s no question that what happened is disturbing. It’s unacceptable. And it needs to be looked into fully.”

Second news item: Trump pounces:

This is the real and only story! pic.twitter.com/4z8eOcm6PA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 21, 2019

Third news item: Claiming it’s a defensive move is the administration’s justification for sending US troops to Saudi America after the attacks on oil sites:

The United States is deploying military forces to the Middle East after Saturday’s drone attacks on major oil sites in Saudi Arabia that the administration of President Donald Trump has blamed on Iran…”The president has approved the deployment of U.S. forces which will be defensive in nature and primarily focused on air and missile defense,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said at a news conference Friday…Answering reporters’ questions about the deployment, Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described the troop deployment as “modest” and “not thousands.”…Esper said troops would be primarily focused on air and missile defenses…The United States will also accelerate shipment of military hardware to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Iran warns, don’t even think about it:

“Our readiness to respond to any aggression is definitive,” Maj-Gen Hossein Salami told state media on Saturday. “We will never allow a war to enter our land.”

“We will pursue any aggressor,” he continued. “We will continue until the full destruction of any aggressor.”

Fourth news item: California dreaming turns into a nightmare as San Francisco alone has an estimated 4,000 people who are mentally ill and addicted to drugs, and innocent residents continue to pay the price for the failures of their elected officials:

Teresa Man was walking from her apartment near Fourth and Brannan streets to an 8 a.m. coffee meeting in the Financial District on the morning of Friday, Sept. 13. Like on every workday, she strolled up Third Street past the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. But this particular commute turned frightening.

She first saw the disheveled man wearing mismatched shoes — a black Adidas sneaker on his left foot and a black sandal on his right foot — pressing his face into the glass of the museum gift shop.

He, too, noticed her attire: a black sundress with white flowers in preparation for the stifling heat that would reach 94 degrees that afternoon. He asked Man what kind of flowers were on her dress and whether she had smelled them. She thought his questions were weird, and she rushed along.

Then, Man said, he told her, “I just want to smell your flowers,” grabbed her, pressed his nose and mouth into her breasts and attempted to remove her dress and bra.

“I screamed and said, ‘Get the f— off me!’” recounted the 28-year-old designer at a startup. She ran north on Third Street, and the man followed her. She told him she’d call the police if he didn’t leave her alone. He laughed and said, “The cops aren’t going to do nothing,” she recalled.

It’s one more terrifying encounter — seemingly fueled by drugs or untreated mental illness — in a city struggling to respond to these twin crises in any comprehensive, coherent way.

There are too few mental health beds. Too few drug treatment beds. A clogged psychiatric emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital that quickly releases people back to the streets. A criminal justice system that seems more intent on shifting blame than ensuring the public is safe. A mayor and board adding some new beds here and creating a task force there, but not making big change.

And finally, let’s end on a thankful note, shall we? After all, how blessed are Americans that we have such an abundance of free time that individuals can dream up and participate in some extraordinary creative mental gymnastics just to ensure that democracy doesn’t dies in darkness:

The two are separated by race, gender and more than 100 years of history that forged an America that would probably be unrecognizable to Douglass. Still, experts say, their use of photography collapses the distance: Douglass sat for scores of pictures to normalize the idea of black excellence and equality, and Warren’s thousands of selfies with supporters could do the same for a female president.

Have a great weekend.

(Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.)

–Dana