Breakdown In Civil Order

[Politesse]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that. As in any city. It's the media narrative that the Bay is in some sort of irrevocable "doom loop" of crime and abandoned businesses that is sure to strike next year.... nope, next year... nope, surely the next year after that... Decade after decade, they push this story, and meanwhile the communities of the SF Bay Area continue to be, as they have always been, some of the most prosperous, innovative, and socially tolerant and tolerable places in this godforsaken country. The idea that all of us who live here are desperately crying out for some Republican turdbag to turn us into the next trafficky, blight-stricken amalgam of gun-toting suburbs like Dallas or Jackson is ludicrous.

 

[TSwizzle]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that.

No but you constantly downplay and handwave it all away. "billionaire tech bros" indeed.

 

[Politesse]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that.

No but you constantly downplay and handwave it all away. "billionaire tech bros" indeed.

It's not "downplaying" crime to reject hysteria over it. Panic does not lead to good decision-making, and it certainly does nothing to reduce crime. Addressing Oakland's problems requires looking at the sources of those problems with a calm and clear eye, and implementing substantive, rational policy to ameliorate those causes.

 

[TSwizzle]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that.

No but you constantly downplay and handwave it all away. "billionaire tech bros" indeed.

It's not "downplaying" crime to reject hysteria over it.

Hysteria? Behave yourself. Where is your empathy for the people that have to endure this shit on a daily basis? 752 people overdosed last year, tens of thousands of people sleeping in tents on the sidewalk, robberies so frequent businesses (In and Out, Denny's and others) close their stores and you want to pretend it's just part of city life? Get out of here.

 

[Politesse]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that.

No but you constantly downplay and handwave it all away. "billionaire tech bros" indeed.

It's not "downplaying" crime to reject hysteria over it.

Hysteria? Behave yourself. Where is your empathy for the people that have to endure this shit on a daily basis? 752 people overdosed last year, tens of thousands of people sleeping in tents on the sidewalk, robberies so frequent businesses (In and Out, Denny's and others) close their stores and you want to pretend it's just part of city life? Get out of here.

No, I want to take considered, rational action to reduce crime and build healthy communities. Yellow journalism accomplishes neither. Lying about the causes and effects of crime accomplishes neither. Lying about where and to whom and by whom crimes are happening accomplishes neither.

 

[bilby]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that.

No but you constantly downplay and handwave it all away. "billionaire tech bros" indeed.

It's not "downplaying" crime to reject hysteria over it.

Hysteria? Behave yourself. Where is your empathy for the people that have to endure this shit on a daily basis? 752 people overdosed last year, tens of thousands of people sleeping in tents on the sidewalk, robberies so frequent businesses (In and Out, Denny's and others) close their stores and you want to pretend it's just part of city life? Get out of here.

No, I want to take considered, rational action to reduce crime and build healthy communities. Yellow journalism accomplishes neither. Lying about the causes and effects of crime accomplishes neither. Lying about where and to whom and by whom crimes are happening accomplishes neither.

But surely accepting the Daily Mail's incessant invitations to be outraged is an effective response.

If only more people would go purple in the face with rage at the problem, we would be half way to solving it.

Right?

 

[thebeave]

I guess all the nostalgia of staggering junkies, sidewalk poop and shattered car window glass was too much for him to bear and he had to go back and relive it.

Do you feel at all insulated from all that blight in the South Bay? I was considering San Jose at one point.

Yes, the South Bay (at least around my area) is nowhere near as bad as SF or Oakland. The main problem I see on a daily basis are scattered small scale homeless encampments, mostly in slightly overgrown areas around the expressways and freeways, but you sometimes see clusters of tents and tarps on sidewalks or vacant lots. Dilapidated RVs line the streets in select areas. Its pretty common to see someone disheveled with obvious mental problems wandering the streets yelling randomly at nothing or passed out at in front of a 7-11 or other store. I recently drove by a guy taking a dump on the ground at a bus shelter. There is also a lot of retail theft (which I have witnessed several times and reported here), and many stores have certain high value items behind locked bars (my local Home Depot now has their 10' copper pipe behind a locked cage...people would just walk out the door with it and the employees were forbidden to confront them). I don't see sidewalk feces, drug use out in the open and car break-ins are nowhere near SF levels, so that's a plus. Lots of panhandlers...far more than from just a few years ago.

San Jose is a big city and there are decent areas and some areas you should stay away from. I haven't been to the downtown area for a long time, but I hear the main problem there is the struggling businesses and lack of visitors. They seems to have good mayor who is pragmatic and trying to get things fixed, so I'm somewhat hopeful there.

 

[Derec]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that. As in any city.

The problem is how crimes are treated by fauxgressive DAs like Pamela Price.

The idea that all of us who live here are desperately crying out for some Republican turdbag to turn us into the next trafficky, blight-stricken amalgam of gun-toting suburbs like Dallas or Jackson is ludicrous.

You are already gun-toting. But people like Pamela Price doesn't think teenage gang members toting those guns should be locked up, especially if they are "black or brown".
Leaked memo: DA Pamela Price to shorten prison sentences, lean into probation

 

[Shadowy Man]

I'm not denying that crimes happen, and horrific ones at that.

No but you constantly downplay and handwave it all away. "billionaire tech bros" indeed.

It's not "downplaying" crime to reject hysteria over it.

Hysteria? Behave yourself. Where is your empathy for the people that have to endure this shit on a daily basis? 752 people overdosed last year, tens of thousands of people sleeping in tents on the sidewalk, robberies so frequent businesses (In and Out, Denny's and others) close their stores and you want to pretend it's just part of city life? Get out of here.

I don’t see any of that where I live therefore it doesn’t exist and any hysteria over it is simply the ravings of a rapture-like cult.

 

[Elixir]

I guess all the nostalgia of staggering junkies, sidewalk poop and shattered car window glass was too much for him to bear and he had to go back and relive it.

Do you feel at all insulated from all that blight in the South Bay? I was considering San Jose at one point.

Yes, the South Bay (at least around my area) is nowhere near as bad as SF or Oakland. The main problem I see on a daily basis are scattered small scale homeless encampments, mostly in slightly overgrown areas around the expressways and freeways, but you sometimes see clusters of tents and tarps on sidewalks or vacant lots. Dilapidated RVs line the streets in select areas. Its pretty common to see someone disheveled with obvious mental problems wandering the streets yelling randomly at nothing or passed out at in front of a 7-11 or other store. I recently drove by a guy taking a dump on the ground at a bus shelter. There is also a lot of retail theft (which I have witnessed several times and reported here), and many stores have certain high value items behind locked bars. I don't see sidewalk feces, drug use out in the open and car break-ins are nowhere near SF levels, so that's a plus. Lots of panhandlers...far more than from just a few years ago.

San Jose is a big city and there are decent areas and some areas you should stay away from. I haven't been to the downtown area for a long time, but I hear the main problem there is the struggling businesses and lack of visitors. They seems to have good mayor who is pragmatic and trying to get things fixed, so I'm somewhat hopeful there.

I have friends in Palo Alto, and frankly that "very nice" place gives (gave - it has been 6 years or so) me the creeps. The think I liked about San Jose was that it was relatively "real" at the time, fairly devoid of pretense but offered most of what upscale parts of the Bay area featured.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

(Warning: possible paywall)

Judge clears charges against alleged white supremacists, says there's a bias against the far right

In his decision, a judge agreed that the alleged white nationalists were being selectively prosecuted instead of 'far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa.'

www.latimes.com

How about this for weak prosecution?

But they're far right, the cops must have it in for them.

 

[thebeave]

I guess all the nostalgia of staggering junkies, sidewalk poop and shattered car window glass was too much for him to bear and he had to go back and relive it.

Do you feel at all insulated from all that blight in the South Bay? I was considering San Jose at one point.

Yes, the South Bay (at least around my area) is nowhere near as bad as SF or Oakland. The main problem I see on a daily basis are scattered small scale homeless encampments, mostly in slightly overgrown areas around the expressways and freeways, but you sometimes see clusters of tents and tarps on sidewalks or vacant lots. Dilapidated RVs line the streets in select areas. Its pretty common to see someone disheveled with obvious mental problems wandering the streets yelling randomly at nothing or passed out at in front of a 7-11 or other store. I recently drove by a guy taking a dump on the ground at a bus shelter. There is also a lot of retail theft (which I have witnessed several times and reported here), and many stores have certain high value items behind locked bars. I don't see sidewalk feces, drug use out in the open and car break-ins are nowhere near SF levels, so that's a plus. Lots of panhandlers...far more than from just a few years ago.

San Jose is a big city and there are decent areas and some areas you should stay away from. I haven't been to the downtown area for a long time, but I hear the main problem there is the struggling businesses and lack of visitors. They seems to have good mayor who is pragmatic and trying to get things fixed, so I'm somewhat hopeful there.

I have friends in Palo Alto, and frankly that "very nice" place gives (gave - it has been 6 years or so) me the creeps. The think I liked about San Jose was that it was relatively "real" at the time, fairly devoid of pretense but offered most of what upscale parts of the Bay area featured.

Palo Alto is a nice "little" city, but very overrated, IMHO. Its one of the most sought after places to buy a house in the Bay Area and people who buy there these days mostly just want to have that zip code on their mailing address. And you can definitely say a lot of them think their shit doesn't stink. But they're harmless. I know quite a few people in Palo Alto, and most are on the elderly side who have lived in the same house for decades. One guy, who just recently died, was a wealthy client who later became a good friend and was living in the same 100+ year old home his grandfather bought. He lived 7 houses down the street from Mark Zuckerberg's PA home and about 4 houses up the street from former 49'ers QB Steve Young. But he was a humble hard working guy, mowing his own lawn, fixing his own car and raising his family since back in the days when this area was just a bunch of orchards.

But yeah, you'll get a much better value if you buy in San Jose. I would definitely buy there before buying in PA, though I'm not in the market for buying a house here.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

(Warning: possible paywall)

Judge clears charges against alleged white supremacists, says there's a bias against the far right

In his decision, a judge agreed that the alleged white nationalists were being selectively prosecuted instead of 'far-left extremist groups, such as Antifa.'

www.latimes.com

How about this for weak prosecution?

But they're far right, the cops must have it in for them.

“Prosecuting only members of the far right and ignoring members of the far left leads to the troubling conclusion that the government believes it is permissible to physically assault and injure Trump supporters to silence speech,” Carney wrote in his order.

WTF?! Violence is now "speech"?

 

[TSwizzle]

A Bay Area Target has shuttered indefinitely after a suspected arsonist set the store's paper towel aisle ablaze, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Multiple people called 911 just before 3 pm Saturday to report that a fire had broken out inside the Target on Admiral Callaghan Lane in Vallejo. Witnesses spotted an unidentified person igniting rolls of paper towels before the fire spread through the paper products section. Vallejo Fire spokesperson Kevin Brown said the blaze is projected to have caused around $1 million in damage to the store's roof, interior and inventory.

Daily Mail

Probably a "homeless" person set the fire.

Newsom 2024!!

 

[Politesse]

A Bay Area Target has shuttered indefinitely after a suspected arsonist set the store's paper towel aisle ablaze, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Multiple people called 911 just before 3 pm Saturday to report that a fire had broken out inside the Target on Admiral Callaghan Lane in Vallejo. Witnesses spotted an unidentified person igniting rolls of paper towels before the fire spread through the paper products section. Vallejo Fire spokesperson Kevin Brown said the blaze is projected to have caused around $1 million in damage to the store's roof, interior and inventory.

Daily Mail

Probably a "homeless" person set the fire.

Newsom 2024!!

What is a "homeless" person, and why do you assume that?

 

[thebeave]

A Bay Area Target has shuttered indefinitely after a suspected arsonist set the store's paper towel aisle ablaze, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Multiple people called 911 just before 3 pm Saturday to report that a fire had broken out inside the Target on Admiral Callaghan Lane in Vallejo. Witnesses spotted an unidentified person igniting rolls of paper towels before the fire spread through the paper products section. Vallejo Fire spokesperson Kevin Brown said the blaze is projected to have caused around $1 million in damage to the store's roof, interior and inventory.

Daily Mail

Probably a "homeless" person set the fire.

Newsom 2024!!

Funny story, Newsom was actually in line at a Target Store recently when a thief just walked out the door with some unpaid for stuff. No store employee tried to stop him. Newsom piped up, "Why isn't anyone going after him?", and the clerk blamed it on the governor, not realizing it was him at first. He proceeded to give her a lecture about how its not his fault, California is super awesome, blah, blah, blah. He had no idea that stores were not pursuing the thieves "organized groups of folks". He is so out of touch.

 

[TSwizzle]

Funny story, Newsom was actually in line at a Target Store recently when a thief just walked out the door with some unpaid for stuff. No store employee tried to stop him. Newsom piped up, "Why isn't anyone going after him?", and the clerk blamed it on the governor, not realizing it was him at first. He proceeded to give her a lecture about how its not his fault, California is super awesome, blah, blah, blah. He had no idea that stores were not pursuing the thieves "organized groups of folks". He is so out of touch.

I saw the video of the insufferable prick recounting this story. My immediate thought was "I'll take "Things That Never Happened" for $1,000 Alex". Has this ever been verified?

Newsom is liar, there is something wrong with him.

 

[Swammerdami]

I skimmed this thread just now, and will offer that "homelessness" is driven not only by poverty, but by mental illness, drug addiction and by emotional stress.

Do other developed countries experience poverty, mental illness and emotional stress at levels comparable to the U.S.A.?

 

[TSwizzle]

A Bay Area Target has shuttered indefinitely after a suspected arsonist set the store's paper towel aisle ablaze, causing an estimated $1 million in damage. Multiple people called 911 just before 3 pm Saturday to report that a fire had broken out inside the Target on Admiral Callaghan Lane in Vallejo. Witnesses spotted an unidentified person igniting rolls of paper towels before the fire spread through the paper products section. Vallejo Fire spokesperson Kevin Brown said the blaze is projected to have caused around $1 million in damage to the store's roof, interior and inventory.

Daily Mail

Probably a "homeless" person set the fire.

Newsom 2024!!

What is a "homeless" person, and why do you assume that?

"Homeless" (aka "unhoused") is not an assumption. It is an educated guess. I may be wrong that it wasn't a "homeless" person but a disgruntled shopper who is upset with the cost of toilet paper and started the fire as a political protest against Brandon's ruinous economic policies.

 

[TSwizzle]

I skimmed this thread just now, and will offer that "homelessness" is driven not only by poverty, but by mental illness, drug addiction and by emotional stress.

Do other developed countries experience poverty, mental illness and emotional stress at levels comparable to the U.S.A.?

Captain Obvious has entered the chat.