Zuckerberg can hold up to congressional grilling

Mark Zuckerberg is showing a lot of political smarts by agreeing to go before Congress this week to talk about how Facebook data on users’ profiles and “likes” wound up in the hands of Donald Trump’s friends.

The revelation that Team Trump’s allies at Cambridge Analytica got ahold of information of about 71 million Facebook users in the U.S. during the 2016 campaign is a political and public relations disaster for the Menlo Park social media company. The mild-mannered Zuckerberg may not be able to smooth over Facebook’s problems with a couple of trips to the Hill, but his nonconfrontational manner will at least make him a sympathetic figure if he comes under attack by politicians looking for a media moment.

He will offer explanations. He will offer apologies.

He will vow that it will never happen again. And if he does it right, and comes off as truly humbled, he wins.

Unlike some tech leaders such as Oracle’s Larry Ellison, Zuckerberg has never been perceived as elitist. He doesn’t have a giant yacht or own a Hawaiian island. He’s a guy in a T-shirt who gives enough to charity to have a hospital named after him.

He is also smart. And, let’s be honest, Congress is not known for being on the high end of the intelligence scale.

It ought to be fascinating TV, and not just to see how Zuckerberg handles himself. He’ll be testifying before a Senate committee that includes California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, who will have to decide how hard they want to come down on a hometown company.

By the way, Zuckerberg’s political problems aren’t limited to Washington. Signatures are being gathered for an initiative to set up California’s own rules for platform privacy.

And that could be a real headache.

Backdraft: Supervisor Aaron Peskin’s vocal criticism of the Fire Department’s performance at the North Beach blaze on St. Patrick’s Day evening has taken on a life of its own.

Peskin hustled over from dinner at a restaurant as the fire burned at 659 Union St., demanded to know why firefighters weren’t pouring water on the building (they were inside looking for possible victims) and called for the fire chief to be canned.

Internal department memos about his conduct and demeanor that night, including firefighters’ statements that Peskin appeared to be intoxicated, are doing serious harm to the supervisor.

Peskin denies he had been drinking, but, given his history, it’s questionable if people are listening.

Now, some Fire Department officials are lobbying to ban the supervisor from going into command centers at future fires.

To calm things down, Fire Chief Joanne HayesWhite has agreed to a private meeting with Peskin, with me as mediator. To prepare for the task, I rewatched the famous Italian restaurant “sit-down” scene in “The Godfather.”

I’m thinking John’s Grill seems would be the appropriate venue. It’s public enough that everyone would be safe there. Including me.

Inside baseball: The Giants’ celebration of the life of the late Mayor Ed Lee lent an air of elegance to Opening Day, and made for some fun moments behind the scenes.

The first issue was who should lead the procession of former mayors out onto the field.

“We should go in order of how we served,” I said before anyone had a chance to chime in. Because Dianne Feinstein was in Los Angeles, that meant Art Agnos would go first.

“Thanks, Willie, so I get booed the most,” Art quipped.

Boos or no boos, Gavin Newsom appeared more than ready to get out onto the field. I couldn’t blame him, as former “Mayor for a Minute” London Breed was ripping him up and down for not endorsing anyone in the mayor’s race.

Incidentally, when we finally got out there, I didn’t hear one boo. Not even for me.

Looking for love: While I was sipping a vodka martini with my friend Maurice Kanbar, some ladies at the next table were discussing their favorite dating websites. Turns out there are some for niche markets.

JMatch is where Jewish people go, and BlackPeopleMeet is, well, where black people meet. But you don’t have to be Jewish or black for either. SilverSingles is targeted at folks with a touch of gray.

But the women were also singing the praises of an old-fashioned meet-up technique: Join a dance group! Ah, the swing, the tango, the cha-cha.

And even if you don’t succeed in hooking up, it will be good exercise. Movie time: “Acrimony.” It’s been some time since Tyler Perry went beyond the Madea black slapstick space. This one could be about any ethnic group.

The story centers on a woman who thinks her husband has cheated on her. She’s the smartest, most vicious, unforgiving creature you’ll ever come across. And she puts hubby and everyone else through hell. Green streets: I was in the Tenderloin near Mason Street the other day, thinking about how much the neighborhood has improved in recent years, when a guy walked up and said, “Hey, Mr. Brown, what are you doing out here?”

“Just checking things out.”

He joined me in looking around, then said, “Yeah well, you know, it’s all going to hell.” “How so?” “You used to be able to score weed on every corner. Now you got to go all the way to one of these stores to buy it.

“They even charge you tax!”