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Train burglaries in LA

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Re: Train burglaries in LA

#431

Post by vecinu »

bestnameever wrote: post #94
vecinu wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so hard to have this discussion with people that live in California but a lot of the scenes in SF and LA are literally out of developing, corrupt countries. I think people just don't want to admit how bad it has gotten because then they have to face their fears and take some action to change their future. Homelessness, crime, theft, lack of security, mentally ill people in droves on the street, "do not go areas"…

I live in California and people admit all the time how bad it has gotten.

I'm surprised to hear that as I've spoken with extremely wealthy people ($5M+ homes) to people renting a room (That have lived in CA almost their entire life)and a common narrative I hear is "Oh California is the best, there's no other place like it so these problems aren't really that important".

People will lament on Nextdoor, Reddit, Facebook, forums, but in the end, the people I spoke with, won't leave the state or make drastic changes.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#432

Post by Someone »

gonehome wrote: post #420
Someone wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see anybody arguing that people doing this shouldn’t get charged. I do read people (rightfully, IMO) claiming that societal changes can significantly decrease the number of people doing this. I don’t believe USA has so many people in prison because its population _is_ more criminal than that of other countries.

> "I don’t see anybody arguing that people doing this shouldn’t get charged." This comment is basically arguing that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29932479 They frame it a little indirectly, but it's the underlying core of their point. You can advocate for policy that reduces crime while still enforcing laws against criminals and not excusing the criminal behavior.

I don’t see that claiming anything about whether to punish people who commit crimes. IMO, it argues that keeping people out of jail by making it easier for them to not perform crimes is better for everyone.

Even if it does, I didn’t see that comment when I wrote mine. HN currently shows my comment as 10 hours old, the one you mention as 9, so I also think I couldn’t have seen it.

Comment numbers also support that observation (29932220 < 29932479)

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#433

Post by keiferski »

q1w2 wrote: post #428
dredmorbius wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throughout most of history, any given culture was prone to call any surrounding culture "barbarians", or equivalent terms. The meaning was more akin to "foreigner", though there were also often connotations of ethnic or nationalistic superiority. This was the case amongst the Romans, previously the Greeks, also Persians and other tribes and cultures of the Middle East / Western Asia. And similarly in China. Nationali…

This is only partially accurate. The Romans and Persian, for example, did not consider the other, barbarians. Same between the Greeks/Egyptians/Carthaginians/Jews/etc... What defined a "barbarian" group was that they we undeveloped scattered tribes - without central political power. They usually lacked written codified laws, formal political assembly, ambassadors, etc... The Gauls, the Celts, the Germanic tribes, the…

The Greeks used the term barbarian for all non-Greek-speaking peoples, including the Egyptians, Persians, Medes and Phoenicians, emphasizing their otherness. According to Greek writers, this was because the language they spoke sounded to Greeks like gibberish represented by the sounds "bar..bar..;" the alleged root of the word βάρβαρος, which is an echomimetic or onomatopoeic word. In various occasions, the term was also used by Greeks, especially the Athenians, to deride other Greek tribes and states (such as Epirotes, Eleans, Macedonians, Boeotians and Aeolic-speakers) and also fellow Athenians in a pejorative and politically motivated manner.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbarian

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#434

Post by [deleted] »

q1w2 wrote: post #428
dredmorbius wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throughout most of history, any given culture was prone to call any surrounding culture "barbarians", or equivalent terms. The meaning was more akin to "foreigner", though there were also often connotations of ethnic or nationalistic superiority. This was the case amongst the Romans, previously the Greeks, also Persians and other tribes and cultures of the Middle East / Western Asia. And similarly in China. Nationali…

This is only partially accurate. The Romans and Persian, for example, did not consider the other, barbarians. Same between the Greeks/Egyptians/Carthaginians/Jews/etc... What defined a "barbarian" group was that they we undeveloped scattered tribes - without central political power. They usually lacked written codified laws, formal political assembly, ambassadors, etc... The Gauls, the Celts, the Germanic tribes, the…

[deleted]

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#436

Post by BitwiseFool »

w_t_payne wrote: post #124

Why is there not CCTV there? CCTV + police follow-up and arrests made seems like a good way to combat this (serious, economically damaging) situation.

You need a District Attorney willing to actively go after these kinds of suspects. In my experience the police don't really do anything about thefts unless they happen to catch the perpetrator in the act. My family had our car stolen from our driveway and they did virtually nothing to try and recover it. In fact, the only reason why we got it back was because the tweaker who stole it managed to park it in a reserved stall on private property and it was towed. The police said they swept the car for evidence, but we found multiple prescription bottles with the suspect's name on it in easy to reach places. The cops obviously missed this and refused to accept it as evidence. We did a LexisNexus search of the name on the bottle and lo-and-behold, multiple priors for armed robbery and auto theft. No charges were ever filed against the person.

So I have virtually no faith in security cameras. They do their jobs, but the DA certainly doesn't.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#437

Post by dheera »

Serious question: Have they not thought of mounting Mark Rober-style devices on each freight car that releases some combination of {glitter, fart spray, honey, glue, itch powder, pepper spray, ink}?

It might sound funny but I think the sheer discomfort would deter thieves in an instant, and they would be easy to identify for several days.

A device of this sort would be super useful for car thieves as well.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#438

Post by [deleted] »

blamazon wrote: post #9
Ansil849 wrote: post #5

I don't really understand what is happening here. Why is the ground completely covered in packages? Do thieves just break into the passing train compartments and start throwing out packages?

The trains are forced to stop at this accessible location sometimes, just outside the rail yard. They don’t stop for long, so the strategy is to hop on, cut a container open, and throw as much stuff to the ground as you can before the train starts moving again. Then you hop down and look through your spoils for items of value. Hint: look for “lithium ion battery device inside” warning labels.

[deleted]

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#439

Post by netizen-936824 »

coryfklein wrote: post #410
netizen-936824 wrote: post #408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow I wonder why the climate is dying. No way is the desire to take the easy way out related /s

What alternative strategy exactly are you suggesting that individual entities take which solves the problem? This reminds me of the rats from Meditations on Moloch [1]: > In fact, it’s not just art. Any sect at all that is leaner, meaner, and more survivalist than the mainstream will eventually take over. If one sect of rats altruistically decides to limit its offspring to two per couple in order to decrease overpopu…

For one we could stop electing idiots who only care about enriching themselves and maintaining the broken power structure

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#440

Post by baby »

barbacoa wrote: post #179
dkdbejwi383 wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're like some of my older relatives, people choose to become "beggars" because they "want something for nothing" and would rather do that than work a job and live in stable accommodation.

In Austin Texas when they legalized urban camping the short term effect was the homeless shelters and transitional housing programs cleared out in favor of camping in the posh downtown parks. There was a sudden increase in young rastafarian looking white kids living on the streets. When the ban was reinstated all those newcomers just melted away to wherever they came from. Didn't seem like that bad of a life while it…

> just melted away to wherever they came from

out of sight out of mind

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