My comments today are inspired by a letter to the editor in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle. It was from Stephen Perlman, of San Mateo, whom I don’t know. So if you happen to read this, Stephen, thank you!
As we all know the Oakland City Council has felt the need to issue a statement demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. These woke politicians can never resist the urge to virtue signal. They can’t manage (deliberately?) to apply for a grant for more funding for police. They can’t manage (deliberately?) to process 1,000 applications for 9-1-1 operators. Their incompetence is breathtaking, but they sure can waste their time putting out ridiculous proclamations nobody gives a damn about.
Stephen pointed out the cruel irony of the City Council doing this at this particular time. The murder rate in Oakland is spiraling toward a record high. Most crimes are up by double digits compared to last year. Downtown is a wreck, businesses are bailing out by the score, so are residents. Oakland’s international reputation is a pitiful punchline. Nobody wants to be here, which is why the A’s, Raiders and Warriors left. What is the City Council doing about it? Issuing condemnations of Israel which, frankly, smack of anti-semitism, and merely reinforce the fact that the progressive left has always been against Israel.
Stephen wrote this: “What is courageous and righteous is condemning violence in Oakland and doing something about it.” Wise words, indeed, but, as I’m sure Stephen knows, this City Council will never condemn violence in Oakland, either individually or collectively. That’s because they’ve staked their political reputations and finances on wokeism, which can be defined as accusing White people of racism and excusing dysfunctional behavior by people of color. Those allegations are, of course, wicked lies, but they’ve been extremely useful to grifters like Carroll Fife, Nikki Bas and their allies, including Cat Brooks. These people have amassed power, money and influence by peddling this Big Lie to people who are dumb enough to believe it. Therefore, you won’t see this City Council issuing a statement condemning violence in Oakland.
The truth is, these woke City Council members have a mutual back-scratching relationship with criminals: the City Council will make sure crime is not punished any more than is absolutely necessary at a minimum, and in so doing they will win elections because “progressive” voters, who also love to virtue-signal, don’t have a clue about what’s really happening or what to do about it. (Of course, once they themselves become victims, their attitudes usually change!) Meanwhile the criminals get away with murder, literally, and thus give the City Council more opportunity to raise money from corrupt unions like SEIU, whose workers mainly are people of color. It’s an insane, incomprehensibly lunatic pact, but it works for both sides, and hence there’s no reason for either of them to change their ways. If the rest of us—the peaceful, hard-working, tax-paying citizens of Oakland--suffer as a result of this deal from hell, then so be it.
This City Council, and in particular Carroll Fife and Nikki Bas, are accomplices to murder and every other crime in Oakland. I accuse them of fomenting violence in this city as a means to retain political power and line their own pockets. Of course, they run the risk that voters will become so frightened and disgusted that they, the voters, will turn against woke politicians and eject them from office, as we’re about to do with Pamela Price. But, as P.T. Barnum observed, there’s a sucker born every minute. Oakland is filled with suckers. They’re called “progressives,” and they’re flushing our city down the toilet.
Steve Heimoff