Abortion war of words

Posted on by

Regarding “No faith in court ruling” (San Francisco Chronicle Open Forum, May 8): The opinion piece on the leaked Roe v. Wade ruling argues that a fetus is not the same as a human life, and that when a pregnancy endangers a woman’s life, it must be terminated.

The piece was an inadvertent reminder to me of how the pro-abortion movement has lost the word “life” to anti-abortionists. We need to take it back.

An abortion is not just about controlling our own bodies, it’s about protecting the physical, emotional and intellectual life of the mother. The one too young to raise a child alone. The one raped by an abuser. The one who can’t afford a bigger family.

The one who might die from delivery: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports 700 pregnancy-related deaths happen each year in the U.S. The maternal mortality rate for 2020 was nearly 24 deaths per 100,000 live births.

Messaging matters. The pro-abortionists language of controlling our own bodies is logical, but it doesn’t resonate against the near-magic of the language of pro-life. Abortion supporters are pro-life, too: the life of the woman.

Susan Gluss, Berkeley

My letter appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on 5/23/2022

The Joffrey Ballet Dazzles

Posted on by

The Joffrey Ballet wowed the crowd at Cal Performances in March, opening with Commedia, choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon, and closing with The Times Are Racing, by Justin Peck. It was a gift of a repertoire. Only one dance was slightly disappointing: Bliss by Stephanie Martinez. The costumes were out of sync; the men topless in plain tan pants, the women in short blue or pink tutus with bling: The Royals meet the working class.  

Beyond the Shore, choreographed by Nicolas Blanc with music by Mason Bates, was exquisite. It was a haunting, expressive piece that opened with audio of a NASA space flight and morphed into a hip, modern sound track.

But the crowd’s overwhelming pick was Peck’s piece: a colorful, buoyant mix of dance genres. The Chicago-based troupe danced in sneakers, and danced with abandon. Watch a clip here:

‘Dark Waters’ exposes hidden chemical hazards, but do others lurk?

Posted on by

 This article first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb.6, 2020

I woke late to the hazards of Teflon after watching “Dark Waters.” The film recounts DuPont’s dumping of Teflon waste into the waters and farmlands of West Virginia. Thousands of people working at the DuPont plant or living nearby developed ailments, such as kidney cancer, colitis, thyroid disease and more. Farm animals died hideous deaths. It was an egregious case of corporate wrongdoing.

One synthetic chemical in Teflon’s toxic brew was PFOA (a long-chain perfluorooctanoic acid). It took a courageous farmer and a dedicated lawyer to reveal its dangers by waging a 20-year legal battle against DuPont.

Continue reading →

It’s no secret: How Weapons Fuel America’s Mass Shootings

Posted on by

This article first appeared on the UC Berkeley Law School website on 8/13/2019

Mental illness. Video games. The Internet. These are excuses offered by the U.S. President and his supporters for a scourge of mass killings. But five decades of empirical research by preeminent criminal law expert Professor Franklin Zimring tell a different story: The core of our country’s deadly violence is access to weaponry.

An estimated three-hundred million guns are cached throughout America’s households: handguns, rifles, assault weapons. The idea that “guns don’t kill people—people kill people,” promoted by gun advocates, skirts the issue.

“Does the availability of guns increase the death rate from assault? Of course, it does,” Zimring said. “Trying to reduce death totals without discussing guns” belies logic and “ignores risks to public health.” 

Continue reading →

Struggle for Americans to get health care is a national disgrace

Posted on by

This article first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on June 26, 2019

The terrain darkened as I drove the rural back roads of Georgia, red clay lining the sandy soil, deep-green kudzu choking trees and climbing telephone poles; the highway transformed into bumpy roads wearing worn-out street signs. It was summer 1985, and I was driving to see Mamie, a part-time nanny who’d helped raise me as a child. I barely knew about her own life back then, only that she lived across town, a single mom with a teenage son. I hadn’t seen her for decades.

I was now a 30-something TV reporter in Atlanta. I’d just finished a report about the “sandwich generation” — adults squeezed between caring for their children and their elderly parents — when my mom called. Mamie, she said, had moved to Georgia to care for her ailing mother.

Little did I know then that Mamie’s mother was one of 37 million Americans without health care. The idea of universal coverage wouldn’t surface until a decade later — a Clinton effort that tanked. It took another two decades before Obama signed his signature Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — into law.

Mamie was family. So, on a hot, humid Sunday, I drove west, vintage jazz on the radio. I turned off the interstate and stopped at a dilapidated roadside store. The torn screen door banged shut behind me, as ceiling fans blew a wisp of warm, muggy, air. I grabbed a bottle of cold water and asked folks standing online for directions.

After an awkward silence, a middle-aged white woman in a baggy T-shirt and faded jeans spoke up: “Y’all must be going to the black side of town.” She waved in the general direction.

As I walked out, my naiveté hit me hard. I’d grown accustomed to Atlanta politics, where most power brokers were African American: the police chief; City Council members, including civil rights legend and future Congressman John Lewis; and Mayor Andrew Young. But in the outskirts, the racial split of old emerged.

I started the car’s tired engine and drove down a dusty road flanked by sagging homes, overgrown weeds, and a spray of pines.

Continue reading →

Gold Medal Ice Dancing

Posted on by

Ice dancing can be as graceful as any other dance genre. One of the most exquisite performances was the 2018 gold medal free skate by Germany’s Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot at the Winter Games in PyeongChang.

Bruno, who’s a foot taller than Aljona, tosses her high to the rafters, as if weightless. She lands with power and poise after a few aerial spins on the way down — and that’s just the opening. The haunting score, by French composer Armand Amar, creates a mood of romantic longing, while the couple’s height difference adds drama. (Sadly, the IOC has blocked this video.)

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago

Posted on by

The Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dancers move with strength and grace. At their Berkeley engagement at Zellerbach Hall in Jan. 2019, they danced Jardí Tancat (choreographed by Nacho Duato) in near-perfect synchrony. In the silent opening, they moved as a tight ensemble. The dance, set to haunting Catalan music, mesmerized with its interplay of couples dancing as one. But the rest of Hubbard’s repertoire disappointed. The repetition in N.N.N.N. (choreographed by William Forsythe) grew tiresome. And the finale, Grace Engine (choreographed by Crystal Pite) felt like Munch’s The Scream come alive. Powerful, yes, but an overly dystopian end to the night. Still, it’s a troupe worth watching; let’s hope they shake up the repertoire. See excerpts from Jardí Tancat (recording by vocalist María del Mar Bonet i Verdaguer):

A rebuke of Ed Whelan: What goes around comes around

Posted on by

Kudos to columnist E.J. Dionne (The ugly attacks on Christine Blasey Ford…) for chastising legal scholar Ed Whelan, who tried to pin Judge Kavanaugh’s alleged boorish behavior on an innocent man.

I watched Whelan’s shenanigans first-hand when he targeted then-UC Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu. Liu –widely admired for his decency, open-mindedness and intellect—was nominated by President Obama in 2010 to serve on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. But Whelan staged a full-frontal attack against Liu’s legal acumen. It was political hucksterism at its finest under the guise of conservative values.

The blatant misinformation campaign prompted Richard Painter, the chief ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, to rebuke it. Painter described Liu as a man guided by integrity rather than political expediency … a moderate liberal … open to ideas championed by libertarians and conservatives.

Painter—an eyewitness to the confirmation fights over Justices Roberts and Alito—was keenly aware of the politics behind the Liu attacks:

Indeed, much of this may have nothing to do with Liu but rather with politicians and interest groups jostling for position in the impending battle over the president’s next nominee to the Supreme Court, Painter wrote.

It was a prescient comment. Obama’s last nominee to the Supreme Court – Judge Merrick Garland – never even got a hearing on Capitol Hill.

Liu eventually withdrew his name from consideration. Nevertheless, in a masterful stroke, Gov. Brown snagged him for California’s Supreme Court in 2011. Justice Liu is now a highly respected jurist, akin to the court’s one-time intellectual powerhouse Justice Roger Traynor.

Fast forward as conservative Republicans jockey to get Kavanaugh on the U.S. Supreme Court—no matter the cost to his accusers – or the country. It has nothing to do with moral values and everything to do with political calculus. And Whelan is a willing conspiracist.

US Immigrants: Living in the Shadows

Posted on by

A longer version of this article first appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on July 12, 2018, entitled: Despite what you might think, there is no ‘good-guy’ visa.

Meet Antonio, a loving husband and father of three. A skilled furniture-maker and the sole provider for his family. In his 19 years in California, he’s put down roots, worked hard, and paid his taxes like any U.S. resident. But Antonio is undocumented.

Antonio (who doesn’t want to use his last name) came here to raise a family without fear of extortion or violence in his home town near Coyoacán, Mexico. He says it’s worse there now, rife with gangs, corruption and crime. No one is safe, he says; people feel threatened — even by the authorities.

But now Antonio lives in fear here in the U.S. One night in 2013, driving home late from work, Antonio was charged with reckless driving. It was his first and only offense. It was a minor infraction but has changed his life.

The U.S. government has been trying to deport him ever since. He just lost his asylum case before an immigration judge in San Francisco. He’s appealing the ruling, but his chances are slim to none.

Continue reading →

Lawyers as Change Agents

Posted on by

By Susan Gluss

Activist lawyers, not in-house counsel, are typically seen as change agents who advocate for human rights laws, environmental protections, and fair wages. But the role of general counsel is undergoing a seismic shift, as consumers urge companies to drive positive change, not just reap profits.

“Corporate lawyers have to consider what is right, not just what is legal,” said Amelia Miazad, the founding director of UC Berkeley Law School’s Business in Society Institute. “Companies now have to think about environmental, social, and governance issues, and that falls squarely within the role of the general counsel.”

For Nestlé, it started with a shocking accusation that one of its fish suppliers in Thailand trafficked in forced labor. Instead of quitting the market, Nestlé voluntarily worked to end the illegal practice.

“The company partnered with the NGO that was investigating the supply chain in Thailand. They published the NGO’s report on forced labor, and then worked with the Thai government to make sure it knew how to enforce local laws. It’s an example of how lawyers are weighing not only legal risk, but also reputational risk,” Miazad said.

Read the full story on the UC Berkeley Law website, published 12/19/17.

Blockchain: The Latest Technology Disrupter

Posted on by

By Susan Gluss

Advanced technologies are driving innovation in mobile banking, securities transactions, and data storage. Simply put, checkbooks are out, and Venmo is in. The newest technology disrupter, blockchain, may fundamentally alter business operations on a global scale, raising a host of legal, consumer, and regulatory issues.

Blockchain is described as a high-tech ledger of transactions and was originally developed to support the cryptocurrency bitcoin. But it’s quickly become the darling of multinational corporations eager to adopt it for their own needs: It’s a highly secure, decentralized and encrypted method of tracking digital assets.

Read the full story on the UC Berkeley Law School website, published 11/9/17.