We’ve basically decided that actually reforming the bureaucratic machine is much too hard, so instead of reform let’s just not enforce anything.
One of Zohrans ads is such an on the nose example of this. He has an ad where he says he’s gonna help out small business by cutting down the fines that they face. Which on the surface sort of sounds nice, but now we basically just get shitty businesses selling shitty things and facing small slaps on the wrist instead of actually going through and removing the onerous laws and enforcing the important ones.
Same thing going on with immigration. The system is so fucked up, that instead of reform we simply won’t enforce immigration laws.
You see the same thing with housing that abundance basically called out. The system has gotten really good at writing more and more complicated laws at the cost of things basically falling apart in the real world
These copper thefts affect millions of people. It regularly happens to the MTA and shuts down the subway. A functional society would make an example of people committing these thefts so that the rest of us can continue to contribute and live their lives without being screwed by antisocial people
The right to use drugs in public, to camp in a park, to steal copper, to do sexually inappropriate stuff, to break laws, all seem to be more important than societal safety, comfort, and peace now.
It’s very hard for me to make a case for urban living, and more apartments, and less cars when the average experience in cities in America is rampant drug use, and tons of unenforced quality of life issues.
The left isn’t generally in control of policing.
mrtesthah•32m ago
aeonfox•30m ago
JumpCrisscross•20m ago
When it’s unique, yes. In the case, metal theft is documented in Australia, Australia, Canada, France, Czechia, the Netherlands and the UK [1].
(To be fair, I’m not seeing any sources credibly auditing prevalence versus occurrence.)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_theft#Notable_metal_thef...
aeonfox•9m ago
sltkr•14m ago
- https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/heilbronn/t...
- https://www.ladepeche.fr/2025/11/14/info-la-depeche-explosiv...
- https://nos.nl/artikel/2591857-na-koperdiefstal-in-veenhuize...
aeonfox•7m ago
JumpCrisscross•25m ago
At least in Arizona, it’s a lot of meth addicts. (Friend works in the space, albeit around water versus electrical infrastructure.)
stebalien•21m ago
bongodongobob•17m ago
UberFly•13m ago
vondur•19m ago
JumpCrisscross•12m ago
Some of them are. The ones using “hard hats and vests to disguise themselves” and “utilizing more-professional tools, such as battery-operated saws” probably aren’t.
andy99•19m ago
If we have litter and excrement all over the streets, do we blame ourselves instead of the people littering? Is every “this is why we can’t have nice things” situation actually our own fault? How about holding people accountable for their actions?
Fogest•10m ago
I'm honestly a bit tired of nothing productive being done about drug addiction. And I am pretty convinced programs like safe injection sites are pushed by NGO's because they make a lot of money off them. A lot of the information suggesting they are useful is pushed by the same groups making major money off running them.
bongodongobob•15m ago
baiac•12m ago
defrost•8m ago
Mind you the US already has globally record setting levels of retribution in the form of imprisonment, death penalties, broken justice system etc.
Perhaps it's worth looking at other G20 countries with lower crime rates, less economic disparity, police that carry minimal weaponry, etc. and ask how is they appear to be doing better.
baiac•5m ago
mcphage•51s ago
If that were true, we could simply wait for them to all die out and be done with the problem for good. And since that won’t work, this claim can be dismissed.
marcusverus•11m ago
swatcoder•3m ago
It doesn't take desperation to "raid [one]'s own community of basic infrastructure" -- the news shows rich and very un-desperate people doing that right in the open every day, both with and without the protection of the law.
What it does take is people just not caring about each other very much.
It would indeed be great to have a society where even the worst off could be safe and secure, but that seems orthogonal to the problem of why people take from others like this. This is not stealing bread for the day's meal.