A couple days ago, on my walk home from Whole Foods, I saw a guy on the sidewalk who was obviously drugged out holding a piece of cardboard that was smoldering at the edge. It wasn’t in flames, but the red glow and smoke proved that it was capable of starting a fire. As the guy was clearly messed up on something, I watched. He was dressed in rags, and had a bottle of some liquid that looked like orange juice, which he proceeded to pour over his head. He seemed mesmerized by the smoking cardboard. At one point, he placed it on the seat of a bicycle that was parked nearby. Then he crossed Bay Place and disappeared on the grounds of the Senior Center-V.A. Center, still holding onto the smoking cardboard.
Newsom dug himself into a hole with reparations. Can he dig himself out?
I wonder if Gavin Newsom fully thought through the implications of the reparations task force he approved in 2020. He probably figured it was the right thing to do at the time; knowing it wouldn’t come to fruition for years, he kicked the can down the road, crossed his fingers, and dealt with more immediate concerns.
So much going on
Reparations. Affirmative action. Drag queens. Lots to think about over the weekend. Have a good one. Back on Monday.
In a funny way, our struggle against woke in Oakland is reminiscent of the LGBTQ struggle of past years
I watched a superb documentary last night, “L.A:. A Queer History,” that showed the history of the gay rights movement in Los Angeles, stretching all the way back to the 1930s. For those of us committed to gay rights, it was painful to see the injustices of the past, but inspirational how far we’ve come, from the horrible entrapment of the 1940s-1970s to legal gay marriage today (and thank you to Gov. Newsom for that!).
City Council & mayor sing Kumbaya while Oakland burns
It’s said that relations between the Oakland City Council and the mayor have never been warmer and less contentious than now, after years of squabbling between former mayor Libby Schaaf, a moderate-centrist, and the woke Council. The Council has always been to the left of the mayor, leading to ideological wrangling. But now, we have a leftist mayor who’s every bit as woke as the City Council. They get along because they’re ideological twins.