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Train burglaries in LA

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Re: Train burglaries in LA

#501
post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like a problem that armed guards would fix pretty quickly.

Maybe. Or you just up the stakes and now you have thieves with automatic weapons having a gunfight with the train guards.

The stakes remain unchanged, because the stakes are the packages.

Since there can't be that much profit in this activity, I think it's reasonable to assume that a lot of the people responsible are doing it just because it's easy.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#502
post #460

Kind of related : America Is Falling Apart at the Seams https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/america-falling-a... A loss of civic sense and cultural criminality are incredibly hard to weed out of a population, once it has taken root. I worry that the a mix of pessimism and a loss of civic sense is sending non-elite America into a death spiral. Opponents of return-to-normalcy claim that these are temporary and a…

In no particular order:

The rich are getting richer faster than the rest of us.

Real wages are stagnant. Social safety nets are constantly being removed.

Labor protections have been being rolled back or enforcement lax since the ATC strike.

Atomization and alienation have taken root.

The mythos of the nuclear family being paramount is fully embedded in the culture, destroying the older concept of a broader family and community taking part in the rearing of the next generation and just general socialization.

We're heading to the failure of multiple systems, including food production and power, due to climate change and the increasing frequency of disastrous weather systems.

"Greed is good" has been a value promulgated by the elites for a few generations now.

Things are getting more expensive faster than wage growth, especially basics and things needed for economic upward mobility (housing, education, healthcare, etc).

Identity politics and wedge issues are dividing people who otherwise have similar interests.

Modern life is anxiety and depression inducing, creating a rise in interpersonal conflict.

Our government is no longer accountable to the people or representative of them in any real way unless you're in the top quintile of wealth/income (and that is generous).

All of these things, and many more, are ripping apart the social contract. People no longer feel invested in the wellbeing of the places in which they reside or the governmental and societal systems they are a part of. Instead, they merely endure them with resentment. This won't end well.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#503
post #497

This is probably one of the most civilized ways to steal something. It hurts no one and is just a non-discriminatory tax on pretty much everyone in LA since most people order Amazon packages. I think of this like click fraud, a while ago Google decided to stop combatting it and just "let it happen" [1]. It turned out to be a winning strategy. [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-ceo-on-click-fraud-let-...

> It hurts no one

Unless of course one of the boxes had something like epi-pens or insulin or some other medical supplies of course.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#504
post #102

My observation from the comment sections to this post-apocalyptic video is the following: People focusing on how to prevent the theft of these cars, funding police, armed guards on trans, better security. I think this is an interesting perspective, it's very "American", it's like it has been accepted by these commenters that rampant thievery is a perfectly natural part of life and so, must be worked around rather tha…

Option 1) Upgrade the security on the containers Option 2) Re-work society from the ground up to eliminate any incentive for burglary It is no wonder why folks are drawn more to Option 1, which is about a bajillion times more approachable, but which doesn't preclude also working on Option 2 at the same time.

Option 1 is also attractive because it has a ready-made business model attached. Invent more doohickeys, buy and sell more doohickeys, install said doohickeys. If it actually works almost becomes a peripheral question.

Option 2 is long term, complicated, mostly requires buy in from several levels of underfunded state agencies. The private sector might pick up some crumbs.

Additionally, the people who make these decisions are probably pretty happy with the way that society is configured. Package theft is just a cost of doing business where the benefits are obviously enormous.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#505

> Responsibility for policing the railroad right of way falls on Union Pacific Police... not local agencies like LAPD So is 'Union Pacific Police' just a security company, or do you guys in the US actually have private businesses with their own police? Because that sounds pretty dystopian

Recall, if you will, that the rail lines are privately owned here. So you have privately owned trains, running on privately owned tracks that are on privately owned land ... it's not entirely clear what the legal framework for government police authority to take effect here is, at least not if you're concerned about the wierdness that would result from just saying "interstate commerce, put the FBI on it".

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#506

> Responsibility for policing the railroad right of way falls on Union Pacific Police... not local agencies like LAPD So is 'Union Pacific Police' just a security company, or do you guys in the US actually have private businesses with their own police? Because that sounds pretty dystopian

Lots of grey areas. But transportation and commerce affect everybody, and because there's big ticket issues at risk it becomes a political and practical priority.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#507
post #486

[flagged]

> But still a lot of Republicans seem to believe US is not able to organize fair elections. This is not as true as you are being led to believe. The media in general looks for extreme opinions to make news, so they'll find the rare person who believes this, and then write as if it's a majority belief. I experienced this first hand - I watched a journalist interview tons of people, most had centrist opinions, then the…

Is a majority of a minority allowed under your scheme?

After all, a substantial majority of Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was "stolen"; Republicans are a minority of Americans. Can the media in your wish-world report on this?

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#508
post #470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And that ... Theory about the lockdowns supposedly not being because of the virus but to hide a larger financial crisis/weath reallocation is spreading quite quickly at least at far as I can tell. That's not going to reduce tensions in that regard, that's for sure. There is only circumstantial evidence but the story sounds plausible. If things continue like this, I'd wager that trump will return in 24

Quoted post unavailable.

I'm not sure how good your reading comprehension generally is, but at least in this case you've clearly misinterpreted what I've written there.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#509
post #497

This is probably one of the most civilized ways to steal something. It hurts no one and is just a non-discriminatory tax on pretty much everyone in LA since most people order Amazon packages. I think of this like click fraud, a while ago Google decided to stop combatting it and just "let it happen" [1]. It turned out to be a winning strategy. [1] https://www.zdnet.com/article/google-ceo-on-click-fraud-let-...

> It hurts no one Unless of course one of the boxes had something like epi-pens or insulin or some other medical supplies of course.

By that logic carrying a bag of nails should be a crime since you might inadvertently drop one on a public road where a UPS truck might get a flat tire and as a result not be able to deliver someone's insulin.

Re: Train burglaries in LA

#510
post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But still a lot of Republicans seem to believe US is not able to organize fair elections. This is not as true as you are being led to believe. The media in general looks for extreme opinions to make news, so they'll find the rare person who believes this, and then write as if it's a majority belief. I experienced this first hand - I watched a journalist interview tons of people, most had centrist opinions, then the…

Is a majority of a minority allowed under your scheme? After all, a substantial majority of Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was "stolen"; Republicans are a minority of Americans. Can the media in your wish-world report on this?

> After all, a substantial majority of Republicans continue to believe that the 2020 election was "stolen"

And your basis for this "fact" is? The media? Do you actually talk to average Republicans, or only the ones who like media exposure?

Out here in the real world only a minority of Republicans believe this, but it's a vocal minority, who love the media exposure. You are a victim of exactly what I'm advocating against.

Moderate Republicans greatly outnumber the extreme ones, but the extreme ones are getting all the attention.

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