The thing to realize about reparations is that a lot of people are pushing for it, and they’re so fanatical that they don’t realize their movement is going anywhere.

While Thao is out there taking credit for lower crime statistics in Oakland, the rest of us know why crime is down: Because Gov. Newsom sent in the cavalry, in the form of the California Highway Patrol. The latest numbers prove what an overwhelming success this has been: CHP “has made 329 arrests, recovered 606 stolen vehicles and seized 35 firearms in two months,” Newsom announced yesterday.

Lord knows it never takes me long to find something dumb and untrue when I read my morning S.F. Chronicle. On Sunday it took all of two minutes. I had turned to the “Insight” section where the political gadfly, Joe Matthews, said Gov. Newsom sent Oakland the California Highway Patrol (one of the Governor’s wisest decisions) because “Oakland police have failed to act.”

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.