Self driving car set ablaze by San Francisco crowd

The problem is more likely related to opportunities for the residents than the political party elected to run the jurisdiction. When no honest good outcomes seem achievable people might choose a dishonest way to live a better life. This opens the pipeline for preteens to get involved in crime and they don’t have a mature enough brain to understand the consequences of their actions. It’s not a simple matter political affiliation.

This is a commonly held belief that the data does not support.

Car thefts are up

Shoplifting is rampant;

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2023/07/25/san-francisco-shoplifting-theft-lah-dnt-ebof-vpx.cnn

And yet unemployment and work force numbers are at record levels;

If, indeed, it were largely a lack of opportunity causing theft, crime should be dropping but instead it is increasing. And vandalism has no financial benefit to the vandal, it is people acting badly with no worries of retribution.

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This reminds me of a funny story. A coworker decided to upgrade his ride & sold his used Civic, a car that seldom caused him any grief, and replaced it a new VW GTI. Straight away he was missing work meetings b/c of flat tires … .lol … next he decided to drive his “little brother” (the charitable program) to Berkeley to see their science museum. When they returned to the parking lot, glass broken, radio missing … lol … he never was able to resolve the flat tire problem. Next up, the car wouldn’t start. When he asked the mechanics why they were replacing the ignition switch, they said “that’s the part that makes it start” … lol … As you might expect it still wouldn’t start. He gave up and bought a mazda.

Probably had a DIN - format radio, easy to install, unfortunately easy to steal. Many German cars of that era had them.

+1
Back in the '80s, it was virtually impossible to park a BMW or a Mercedes in Manhattan without the radio being stolen. I think that most of them had an Alpine radio, and that brand of radio attracted thieves. That’s when BMW acquired the nickname of Break My Window.

I’m no longer amazed at the extreme stupidity of many people. Conspiracy people are right up there at the top. The 5g Covid to flat earthers to jet Chem trails.

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Yeah the DIN and double DIN’s…

I remember back when I was doing audio systems for a bit and the customer would bring in their own head unit from their old car and want it installed with some new 18"s and 6" and tweets etc etc plus multiple amps and so on, then once you power up the head unit out pops Reba McEntire or similar… I would just look at them like… lol
Or better yet, remember the pull out head units and or removable face plates so they aren’t stolen?? Yeah had a bunch of those come in for install and I would just tell them to go back and steal the rest of it so I could install it… :rofl: :man_facepalming:

Unemployment data doesn’t show the chronically unemployed. After a while they are dropped from the calculations. Also, SF residents are likely better off than people on the East Bay. Oakland has a 4% unemployment rate vs the 3% for SF, close but 33% higher and IMO the criminals are not carried on the unemployment rolls. Here’s a recent article about crime in Oakland, CA. Crime there is probably the worst in the SF Bay Area and it spills over into other nearby areas. SF is just across the bride, as short as a 7 minute BART ride. I mention that only to show how close they are. I think the criminals that plan the big thefts provide transportation to and from work.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/06/business/oakland-crime-business/index.html

Take a look at the states with the highest homicide rates, and you will likely change your opinion:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/murder-rate-by-state

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Yes it does. Please note below,

The BLS unemployment numbers are an estimate based on a large survey sample. If you are looking for a job, you are counted as “unemployed.” Even if unemployed for a year. Even if unemployment insurance has run out, you are still counted as “unemployed.”

If you stop looking for a job, you are no longer included.

As for why you might be chronically unemployed, the responsibility for that problem is often the worker themselves, not the job market. Ditches still need to be dug, roofs still need to be stripped, trash needs to be sorted, boxes still need to be loaded. All these jobs are going unfilled right now so if you can riot and steal, you can work an honest job.

San Fran (and much of CA, too) created their own problems. They have no clue how to solve those problems so people are leaving the city and the state faster than those coming in. Businesses are leaving the cities because they can’t stand the theft losses because the city won’t punish the thieves. So as the tax-base leaves (dropped 7.8% from 2020 to 2023), the problems just get harder to solve.

There is an excellent model for this; Detroit. 70 years of declining population resulted in their bankruptcy in 2013. The last census showed their population dropping yet again.

I did look and my opinion remains the same…

The numbers in your reference are skewed, your reference defines it as the “rate of murders per 100,000 people.” Blue states generally have a larger population that the Red states so if you were killed by a “spear” in California, that rate would indicate that there is almost no chance of you ever getting a spear through you, but if you were killed by a “spear” in Montana, then you had better watch your back… L :grinning: L . . .

Of the top ten states with high rates of murder, the Blue States are: California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Georgia, New York, Ohio, Michigan, and Virginia

Of the top ten states with high rates of murder, the Blue States are: Texas, and North Carolina,

My reference only counts the total murders, not the murders per 100,000 people… And the original issue was Total Crime, to include “spitting on the sidewalk…” a hold over Blue Law from the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918 in some states, even some Blue States…

Murders in the U.S. by state 2022 | Statista.

Not a meaningful statistic. I’d much rather have a 0.1% chance of being a victim of crime in a populous state than a 1% chance of being a victim in a sparsely-settled state.

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Yup!
That’s how statistics actually work.

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Well here are the Front Pages of New York City’s Daily News for the last week, I can see how you would want to live in a "populous state than a sparsely-settled state… Not…

PS, I subscribe to PressReader and I have access to over 7,600 publications from around the world (over 3,000 newspapers and over 4,500 magazines…) Inquiring Minds Want ot Know…

When in fear, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout…

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I don’t make my decisions based on the size of the headline, or the outrage over a crime. Plenty of outrageous crimes in all corners of our great land.

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According to your reference,

“ To be counted as “long-term unemployed” by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), you must be unemployed for 27 weeks or longer and have actively sought employment during the past four weeks.”

Someone has to seek employment to be on your list. Those are not the ones I meant. Even honest people can’t be counted. Parents that can’t afford child care are stuck at home even if they want to work. There’s no sense in applying for jobs if they can’t accept them.

They just need to add self protection to the deep learning procedures.