Let me tell you about the Alameda County Democratic Party Central Committee and the career bureaucrats that run it. There’s a certain type of career politician (Dan Kalb comes to mind) who sets himself the goal of a life in politics. There’s a well-tested path: start with volunteering, make contacts, establish relationships with powerful people. Then run for something boring: school board, rent control board, county party committee. This is preferably done when you’re in your thirties. You’ll have to put up with a lot of dreary people and interminable meetings, but that’s the price of advancing in politics.

The phrase “ethnic fundamentalism” is used by historians to describe Nazi Germany’s political orientation, which took many forms during Hitler’s twelve years of power. Part of ethnical fundamentalism was anti-semitism, of course. Part was Josef Goebbels’ propaganda machine, which convinced ordinary Germans that Hitler’s word was divine. And part was the myth that the Nazis represented the will of the universe and had “God on their side,” so to speak.

Everybody in Oakland, I suppose, has their own “Worst homeless encampment” spot. Usually it’s someplace near their home that makes them feel unsafe and creepy. Mine is just a block away: Lakeside Park, the 122-acre greenspace and lake that’s been called “The Jewel of Oakland.”

LeRonne Armstrong has finally released his platform as he runs for City Council At-Large, and I must say it’s a masterpiece of pablum.

Saturday night and Sunday may have been the worst 24-hour period in Oakland’s sad, sorry recent history. Crime swept the city, from rioting sideshow thugs who shut down the Bay Bridge to corpses strewn from West Oakland to Fruitvale. Yet the oblivious Sheng Thao (She/Her) is out there gloating about the Oakland Ballers, fabulous street parties, and an “upgraded 9-1-1 system” no one believes will work any better than the last one.