Because I’m a reasonable guy, I try to understand the wokes, I really do. Maybe they have a point, I tell myself. Maybe the “root cause of crime” really is racism.

If there’s something the Woke Left hates more than anything, it’s fighting crime, with all that implies: more cops, more aggressive policing, more imprisonments. The Wokes take their commitment to being anti-anti crime almost as a religious vow of faith. You have only to read what Cat Brooks, Carroll Fife and people like them have written. Over their dead bodies, they say in essence, will they allow crime-fighting to become public policy.

Since we’re primarily an anti-crime group, we’re only recommending candidates with direct responsibility for that issue. As conditions in Oakland continue to deteriorate, voting becomes more vital than ever. Many thanks to Jack Saunders, who worked hard on this.

Saturday’s launch of the Recall Thao campaign, at Jack London Square, got only scattered media coverage, but for the most part the recall hasn’t yet sunk in for most Bay Areans. I personally think that recalling Thao, which I support, is going to be a harder lift than recalling Price. The latter is clearly so dangerous to public safety that, if the election were held today, she would be voted out of office. But Thao’s recall, for various reasons, is going to be a tougher sell.

This is an edited transcript of a videotaped interview Cat Brooks gave to a CBS News reporter. (The video is contained within the body of the article.) The interviewer began by asking Brooks what she thinks of the CHP surge into Oakland initiated by Gov. Newsom. Brooks gave cops kudos for resolving stolen car cases: “That is actually the one thing that law enforcement is good at, because they ride along all day, popping license plate readers.”