gottorf

12 ms·

181.
by gottorf 1y ago
> Crime is a problem, but taken within context it isn't anywhere near as bad as Baltimore or Philadelphia. Baltimore and Philly are worse, yes. That's little reprieve for the average Joe living in DC surrounded by disorder. DC,
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by gottorf 1y ago
> if all you're looking at are homicide stats you really need to think about how those are affected by technological changes which greatly increase lethality. Funnily enough, academic work suggests the exact opposite, that the homic
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by gottorf 1y ago
> they only are supposed to rule on whether or not something violates the constitution or not. The constitution is the supreme law of the land, so yes, by definition, they are the final arbiter of what is legal and what is not. Note that
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by gottorf 1y ago
> Cherry picking. Urban core vs. rural population. The GP elsewhere in the thread pointed out that in like-to-like comparisons of Washington, DC against peer world cities, it fares really poorly in violent crime. > Post-pandemic peak
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by gottorf 1y ago
I've read the same "30 year low" press release. 30 years ago, in the 90s, DC's homicide rate was hovering around the 70-80 per 100k range, which are truly frightening numbers not be seen outside of literal wartime[0]. It
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by gottorf 1y ago
> Doesn't seem like it's that hard to get a conviction. The US has a sociology problem, not a difficulty getting convictions problem. There are more people in prisons in America because more people commit crimes in America, com
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by gottorf 1y ago
> Idaho has a lower crime rate because it is mostly rural and has a single large city, which isn’t that big. Crime is a function of population, not land. The comparative lack of people in Idaho is accurately accounted for in its crime r
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by gottorf 1y ago
Poverty does not cause crime. Instead, poverty and criminality are linked by common behavioral causes (high time preference, low impulse control, etc.). You cannot reduce crime by reducing the gap between the rich and the poor, because the
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by gottorf 1y ago
> Debt and poverty are absolutely correlated to crime rates. Correlation is not causation. In this case, the same factors that make one more prone to criminal activity also make them more prone to poverty; therefore, you cannot solve cri
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by gottorf 1y ago
> Most criminals aren't criminals because they innately like crime. Rather, they choose crime because they think the reward is worth the risk. If the reward falls, or if the risk is too great, many won't turn to crime. This &qu
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by gottorf 1y ago
The whole point of SCOTUS is that they are the final arbiter of what is legal and what is illegal in this country[0]. Are you saying that federal judges in lower courts are given leeway to act against the law, provided they disagree with th
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by gottorf 1y ago
High housing prices are probably 5% caused by economically inefficient uses of land (e.g. surface lots in downtown areas) that an LVT would solve, and 95% by zoning and other building regulations. Though perhaps you're right that if th
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by gottorf 1y ago
Forget who said they will do this or that; federal judges have been actually defying SCOTUS[0] because they disagree politically with the administration. Sometimes the call comes from inside the house... [0]: https://archive.is&#
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by gottorf 1y ago
There is no trigger being pulled, metaphorically or not. USAID isn't a force of nature that would have continued to flow, as though water going downhill, if only it weren't for those sadistic meddlers at DOGE! It's humanitari
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by gottorf 1y ago
You're right, I should cool off for a bit. Names are flying all across the thread, and it's hard!
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by gottorf 1y ago
It's probably more the fact that DC constitutionally belongs to the federal government, so it's a lot easier for Trump to unilaterally deploy the National Guard there.
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by gottorf 1y ago
Not the GP, but obviously as a general rule, Republicans are the hard-on-crime (three strikes, "don't do the crime if you can't do the time") party and Democrats are the soft-on-crime (Soros DAs, "we must address th
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by gottorf 1y ago
> When you don't give the local authorities the money and autonomy to do so DC spent over $26k per resident, well above the overall US federal budget of roughly $20k per person. And the DC budget doesn't even have to account fo
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by gottorf 1y ago
26.6 murders per 100k in 2024 is neither empty nor idiotic. It's distressing. Why don't you compare that to peer cities around the world and see how it stacks up. You're right that I don't need dramatic effect; it's
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by gottorf 1y ago
What is your point? I'm well aware that DC is a city. Its crime stats are horrific as a city, compared to other cities. The cities that rank higher than DC are even more horrific. I'm dismayed that policymakers in all of these pla
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by gottorf 1y ago
Your source has DC at #30 in total crime, #25 in total violent crime, and #29 in total property crime.
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by gottorf 1y ago
> but I don't believe that'd be a concern for almost anyone alive today On the contrary, it is a significant concern for me and I'm sure I'm not alone in my thoughts. Fully half of the top ten richest counties in this
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by gottorf 1y ago
Sorry, I did not make myself clear enough. I'm not disputing that there exist people whose lives depend on USAID. I'm disputing the claim that there is a direct moral culpability on the part of the people who work for the administ
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by gottorf 1y ago
> I've often asked what the point of constitutional monarchies were, but this seems like a good one. Bagehot divided the dignified and the efficient. I've long thought that one glaring downside of the American presidential syst
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by gottorf 1y ago
> Simply ignore all rights -- something this admin is getting really eager to do -- and then dump enormous, completely irrational amounts of resources into it. Criminology studies have shown that you in fact do not need a hyper-resourced
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by gottorf 1y ago
[flagged]
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by gottorf 1y ago
Sure. At a rate of 26.6 homicides per 100k as of the conclusion of 2024, it would belong in the top 10 most murderous cities in the US, and would appear to fall in the top 100 in the world. I'm not sure what point you're trying to
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by gottorf 1y ago
I have no problem admitting that other cities have higher violent crime rates, though I have no particular knowledge of Marksville, LA. I'm not sure why you would suggest that. I would approve of stronger efforts of curbing violent cri
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by gottorf 1y ago
The "30-year low in violent crime" still puts DC ahead of every state in homicide rate. If DC were a country, it would rank somewhere around the top 20 most murderous. Venezuela, a literal failed state, has a lower homicide rate.
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by gottorf 1y ago
The data is publicly available: https://mpdc.dc.gov/dailycrime . By any measure, it shows a horrifying level of crime, disorder, and antisocial behavior. If DC were a country, it would be among the top 20 most murderous in t

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