Late on Christmas Day I came home from visiting my San Mateo family. Walking home from 19th Street BART, I decided to grab a beer at one of my favorite neighborhood gastropubs, Low Bar. When I got to the door, there was a sign on it:

Everybody is talking about insurrection, in the wake of the MAGA assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and Trump’s and his co-conspirators’ upcoming trials for inciting it. The underlying assumption is that the extreme Right, desperate not to lose the presidency and its scourge of coercion and control, was behind the insurrection; and moreover, that the extreme Right resorts to violence casually.

A letter to the editor of the S.F. Chronicle really got my blood boiling. I’ll quote just part of it; hopefully the bureaucratic gobblety-goop won’t turn you off. “Sociologically, homelessness underscores the interplay of personal agency, structural limitations and social dynamics. While shelter options exist, factors like past trauma, safety concerns, mental health challenges and lack of autonomy in shelters can significantly deter individuals from accepting them. The decision to refuse shelter often stems from a need for independence, the desire to maintain personal belongings and a reluctance to conform to institutional rules.”

I make no secret of the fact that I support the Oakland Police Department. I’m proud of it; I wish everyone felt the way I do. At the same time, I despise the anti-police groups that for years have tried, with some success, to emasculate and demoralize OPD. Chief among these (and there are many) is the Coalition for Police Accountability (CPA), comprised of far-left wokes who have targeted OPD and continue to spread the Big Lie that Oakland cops are rampaging murderers whom society needs to control and hold accountable. According to these leftists, the “relentless drum of police immunity and propaganda” needs to be exposed and resisted. If this sounds like the B.S. we hear from Pamela Price, it’s no coincidence. Before she was elected District Attorney, Price helped CPA with pro-bono legal counsel when the group was seeking its nonprofit status.

I sent the following email yesterday to Dan Kalb, the Oakland City Council member who’s running for the State Senate.