Happy Independence Day everyone! I’m not sure how meaningful the Glorious Fourth is to anyone anymore, except for kids to explode fireworks, but maybe we should take a minute to ponder what actually happened on July 4, 1776.

Anytime the Oakland City Council talks about “civilianizing” OPD’s Internal Affairs Division (IAD), what they really mean is finding cop-hating leftists who will be biased against OPD in every case they investigate.

Let’s give a shoutout to the Oakland Police Department for the fine job they’re doing in fighting against that common enemy of all of us, crime.

As a Democrat, I’m concerned about the divide between moderates and progressives, but I’m also fascinated by it. I “get” both sides. Both have legitimate reasons for taking their positions. So do Republicans, in some instances, but I’ve explained here before why I’m not a Republican, so I won’t repeat that today.

Forty years ago, I was president of the homeowners association in my condo building on Montecito Avenue, in the Adams Point neighborhood of Oakland. I was an owner. My new next door neighbors were renters: a young couple from West Africa—Nigeria, to be exact. When they moved in, they began drying their clothes on a rope they had strung across their balcony.