About

The gold brooch Nancy Pelosi placed on her white blazer the night of the State of the Union Address earlier this year was a miniaturized version of the Mace of the United States House of Representatives. The actual Mace is nearly four feet tall and made of silver and ebony.

It represents the authority of the Speaker. It is a symbol.

And for so many years, Speaker Pelosi, in her own right, has been a symbol: one of power, divisiveness, and #resistance.

As she was tearing up a copy of the President’s speech that night, a San Francisco progressive activist named Shahid Buttar was firing off tweets about the shallowness of her performative politics.

He and his team of political misfits have spent months building up a campaign to challenge her seat in Congress. It is a long shot but has been billed as the second most important race to watch in this country.

Shahid is the first serious Democratic contender to Nancy Pelosi in years. Or at least, he was.

Show Notes: 

1. [00:30] “The Layers of Heaven” by Jovica

2. [01:00] Light reading on Agatha Bacelar

3. [01:05] “Coulis Coulis” by The Blue Dot Sessions

4. [01:45] Light reading on the progressive movement

5. [01:50] Light reading on Tom Gallagher

6. [02:00] Light reading on Medicare for All, The Green New Deal and US Militarism

7. [02:50] “Swing That Horn” by Mary Riddle

8. [04:15] A profile of Shahid Buttar (@shahidforchange / @Sheeyahshee)

9. [04:45] That time Shahid Buttar ran against Nancy Pelosi in 2018

   • And the results

10. [05:20] “Exquisite Motion” by The Blue Dot Sessions 

11. [05:25] Light reading on Shahid’s background

    • His EFF background

    • A rapper and singer

    • A poet

    • A music producer and DJ

    • His 2016 Buring Man DJ set

    • His appearance on Russia Today’s “Breaking the Set”

12. [06:15] Related: Burning Man sucks Reason #1029492

13. [06:20] Related: “Freedom Music” by Irfan Rainy & Baba Israel

14. [08:45] Remember the Bernie Sanders Presidential campaign 

    • And when it ended

15. [09:20] More on Joe Eskenazi

    • Mission Local

    • His early coverage of Shahid’s campaign and here

    • Spoiler alert: his later coverage of the campaign

    • And a reminder to go back and listen to the Frisco series, Part I here

16. [10:55] “Setting Pace” by The Blue Dot Sessions  

17. [11:00] More on the clapback

    • The tearing up of speeches

    • The #resistance movement

    • The performative criticism

    • What Shahid tweeted

18. [11:20] More on Nancy Pelosi’s history in politics

    • Related reading and viewing

    • Her wheeling and dealing on Obamacare

19. [12:50] Her votes on Iraq Wars

    • More on her vote on Iraq War

    • Related: Her handling of Bush impeachment

    • Her votes on national security

    • Her stance against progressive movement

    • Her 2019 interview on 60 Minutes

20. [13:10] More on Medicare for All

    • More on Green New Deal

21. [13:20] “The Cornice” by The Blue Dot Sessions

22. [16:45] h/t @doorsoftunisia

    • Related Instagram trends

23. [18:20] Follow Otto Pippenger

24. [18:30] Light reading on SF Supervisor Dean Preston 

25. [18:45] Related: Rise of the DSA  

26. [21:00] Related: The recent drug overdose epidemic in the San Francisco Bay Area

27. [23:20] Light reading on San Francisco City College accreditation fight

28. [26:40] Follow Jasper Wilde 

29. [29:15] Light reading on Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign and feminism

30. [29:50] “Setting Pace” by The Blue Dot Sessions 

31. [30:00] For more on the specialty coffee scene, listen to “Bougie Coffee”

32. [30:25] Related: SCAA’s expo in Dubai

    • Bay Area coffee roaster’s sexual assault and harassment scandal

33. [34:00] More on Shahid’s backstory

34. [34:30] Related: Pelosi’s support of government surveillance

35. [38:15] Listen to Part II here