From the annals of appalling news comes this headline. It should send shivers down everyone’s spine. Assuming the data are true, we have to ask, Why is Oakland’s homeless population rising so steeply, while that of other Bay Area cities is declining?

I noticed on Saturday that the block of Grand Avenue underneath the 580 Freeway, by Splash Pad Park, has been cleared of the tents and garbage that had plagued it for months, as so many of us had been requesting.  

Walking downtown yesterday, I passed through Latham Square and saw the bust of Breonna Taylor that’s been there since 2020, and I wondered how come there’s no official city tribute to Officer Tuan Le, the OPD policeman who was brutally slain in the line of duty on Dec. 29, 2023. Born in Vietnam, Officer Le had been an Oakland cop for four years and served his city honorably and faithfully. Ms. Taylor, to the best of my knowledge, never had anything to do with Oakland. With all due respect to Ms. Taylor and meaning no shade to her, why do we honor her in a public space instead of Officer Le?

I’ve read Brave New World and 1984. I know all about the Gestapo and how they became the leading spy agency in the world. I’ve heard all the doomsday scenarios about government surveillance. And yet I’m not at all bothered by Flock cameras, and I think that people who are against them are crying Henny Penny. Let me explain why the sky is not falling.

I’ve had a good run, more than five years, which is the human equivalent of fifty. But it’s getting harder and harder for me to find good things to write about.