California governor Gavin Newsom visited downtown Los Angeles on January 20 to see the cleanup of the Union Pacific line where the much-publicized train robberies have occurred. After picking up some trash himself, he spoke to reporters.
“I see what you see. I see what you’ve been covering,” Newsom told the reporters gathered. “I’m asking myself, ‘What the hell is going on?’ We look like a third-world country.”
While the “third-world country” line plays well and makes headlines, it’s not quite right. Third-world countries that don’t want to be third-world countries anymore understand better than anyone that the rule of law is one of the key ingredients to development. They also understand that the rule of law is difficult to instill and preserve. Cleaning up rail lines and punishing train robbers is one of the basic things that third-world countries prioritize as they strive toward the rule of law.
Swachh is Hindi for “clean” or “tidy,” and it’s been a major point of emphasis for India’s national government in the past few years. In 2014, the government launched the “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” (Clean India Mission), with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying, “A clean India would be the best tribute India could pay to Mahatma Gandhi on his 150th birth anniversary in 2019.” It made global headlines for Modi’s promise to build toilets as a way to reduce open defecation.
As part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, India’s Ministry of Railways launched the “Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat” (Clean Rail, Clean India) initiative. The initiative included an annual report based on in-person inspection of hundreds of railway stations and thousands of interviews of passengers. It ranks stations by cleanliness and suggests best practices to improve.
Of course, India is not exactly swachh just yet. Modi announced Phase 2 of the initiative last year, implicitly admitting that Gandhi’s 150th birthday present was not delivered. The Times of India has made fun of the initiative, posting pictures of garbage taken by citizens.
The problem India is running into is common for third-world countries. Everyone agrees on the policy aim, but the government simply doesn’t have the capacity to make it happen. As the country becomes wealthier, higher cleanliness standards will become easier to maintain.
What we are seeing in California is not a third-world problem. It’s not that California was unable to prevent this pattern of train robberies. It was unwilling. The United States is already a wealthy, first-world country. When governments in the United States don’t maintain basic standards of cleanliness or order, they are making a choice.
In this instance, progressives in California made that choice by not prosecuting people who were arrested for stealing from trains. A reporter questioned Newsom on that, noting that Union Pacific wrote a letter to Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón in which it placed blame for the robberies on the county’s lax criminal-justice system. Newsom dodged the question, saying he hadn’t read the letter. He said, “We need to hold folks to account, and we need to focus on what we can do to be more supportive of one another. . . . There’s a burden of responsibility, and all of us share that.”
Not only was he reluctant to blame progressive prosecutors for their failure to enforce the law, he was also reluctant to call organized groups of criminals “gangs.” Earlier in the interview, Newsom (correctly) said, “This is not a one-off. This is organized theft.” Then, he said, “These are organized gangs of people,” and caught himself. “Forgive me for saying, ‘gangs,’” Newsom said. He settled on “organized groups of folks” as his preferred phrase.
Third-world countries don’t have time for these sorts of word games. They don’t have university-educated people who believe basic law enforcement is evidence of “structural oppression” or “white supremacy.” The train robberies in California are the result of putting into practice a progressive ideology that only rich countries could afford.
Third-world countries wish they could uphold the rule of law and find it difficult to do so. California could uphold the rule of law, but many of the progressives in power there wish they didn’t have to. Those are fundamentally different problems, even if they both lead to piles of trash in public.
Reprinted with permission from – National Review – By Dominic Pino
Newsom told the reporters gathered. “I’m asking myself, ‘What the hell is going on?’ We look like a third-world country.” So says the pompous, entitled, completely out of touch Governor of the state that he has run into the ground. How dare he be forced to take time out of his busy schedule of self-indulgence and opulent living to have to bare witness to such an appalling site. Why it’s enough to ruin his appetite for dinner at the French Laundry. Oh the horror of it all…
Organized gangs rob traIns,
Remedies:
Improve locks on RR cars
CCTV Yard array
More security
Bounties
Trains speed in key areas.
Or more robberies ahead
California is a basket case as far as crime is concerned. Smash and grabs, homeless using sidewalks as toilets, now trains.
I feel sorry for railroads. How much damage has been done to their property? How much in insurance claims? All that trash seen on TV will bring rats and mice. Too bad railroads can’t refuse to go into LA. Saw on news a pharmacy is closing it’s doors due to smash and grab. Yea, LA is turning into a third world country slowly but surely. Congratulations governor.
Grusome Newsom is over his head.
Democratic Party gone Communist is responsible for the ludicrous increase in crime that is rampant across this nation. Communists look through a delusional haze; writing their Fairytale remedies. According to Marxists; police were to be transformed into ‘social workers’, criminals taken care of in Day Care, and fed pureed food. Once Upon A Time In The Land of Nod; the mainstream media encouraged this way of thinking, with demonizing the police. They dug up every type of situation where babies were being handcuffed; and cockroaches too! They rammed it down our throats on MSNBC and CNN constantly. After they did the FEAR thing for about five months; suddenly all there was on television was cops abusing the masses. It was amazing how they switched the subject of disease to police brutality literally overnight. The mainstream media has NO SENSE IN TIMING; (and no common sense either.) As an audience we often wonder; is it possible to make better and more believable propaganda? At least if they are going to brainwash the masses; can’t they make it more professionally? Anyway, that is why the audience has dropped dramatically for the liberal mainstream media. Gratitude goes out to these stations; as I would still be a liberal if it were not for their incompetence. The Democratic/Communists & the mainstream media is fully culpable for the rising crime in this country. Police Officers and the Rule of Law should have respect. Our Founding Fathers would be appalled at the blatant disregard for law and order. May God Protect Our Country!
It was wonderful exercising First Amendment Rights here. The comments by everyone have been valuable. However, the First Amendment seems constrained somehow. I am much better off;
sticking to knitting, sewing, gardening, baking, and general homemaking subjects. Thank-you for the great times; of sharing opinions together. Time To Knit The Country Together!
I heard that even Zuckerberg is leaving California – he needs to be turned back at the border!
I thought that theft from a interstate shipment was a federal crime??
If the ‘gangs’ were skinheads Newsome would have the national guard out with shoot to kill orders. The opacity of his statements reflect the sacred cow nature of the perps.
Catch the theves,then what// 30 days in jail. Kyle L.
Watch what Calif. does on the brink of the Super Bowl….watch them scramble to make their city less
“third world appearing” just to capitalize on the big game….when the teams and the fans go home it will be as it was……….hipocracy at it’s finest.
A third-world country would have shot the looters..
We are definitely third world with the left people trying to reverse the rule of law and western civilization in general; May be they want us to go back to the old style Wild West and everyone own a gun to protect themselves…And what about the head of the LA city police union advising people not to come to his city as cannot adequately protect them, I sure wouldn’t travel there this weekend for football.
I am a native Californian. I knew what the beautiful City By The Bay looked like before needles were free, thanks to a relative, and homeless were allowed to exposed themselves while they used the streets as toilets. Is Gavin going to get those homeless into the luxury apartment housing he built for them?
As for LA, let’s not call a spade a spade. Make up other words for thugs and thieves so we don’t victimize them by our words. I like the guy who said a third world country would shoot them. But being civilize we have the police and those expensive squat vans that are where? Maybe the thugs got them from the defunded police stations.
I am for the State of Jefferson up North in California. Let’s break this state into 3 states. Maybe we can make a State of Pelosi Gavin’s auntie where all Liberals can live.
Electrify the containers! Or, as was threatened, not service L.A.
Twenty years ago, I left California for reasons which have become much worse today than they were then! Exercising my sense of humor, I came up with the acronym for “California.” Perhaps the acronym may explain why CA is the way it is! LOL
Calling All Liberals Incesters Fornicators Ornery Runts Needed In Area!
Hearing and seeing images of the riots in our inner cities while some government officials are seen blatently encouraging it like Maxine Waters and the imposter VP Harris; seeing the images of the trash heaps in homeless camps and homeless vagrants defecating on city sidewalks, and these recent scenes of trash strewn around rail cars from organized gang robberies!!!
This all brings a vivid picture of the demons being released from the bottomless pit mentioned in Holy Scriptures. They’re reeking havoc across the country!!
If Communism is allowed to takeover this wonderful country by our so-called Democratic Party, WE WILL BECOME A THIRD WORLD NATION!
Hey Newsome, I voted for Larry Elder in the recall. He would have called it like he saw it: gangs, not organized groups of people. Also, unlike you, he would not blame it on the Democrat Socialist Communist Party line that all problems are a direct result of “white supremacy.”
That CA governor is related to ole Nancy..just as stupid.
Stealing from “interstate commerce vehicles” is a FEDERAL OFFENSE, that President Biden’s Sec of Transportation and Justice Dept. could step in and try those caught.
The whole theft problem can be eliminated if the railroads modify their equipment so the container doors can not be opened while those containers are on their trains. Even the trucking trailers could be loaded back to back. Theives are taking advantage of the railroads ignorance. They just don’t want to spend money on security. Why should they insurance companies reimburse them for their losses. You can bet the shippers get their insurance checks. Manufacturers just sell more of their products when they replace the stolen goods. If you stop the insurance trail, security measures will surely improve. The losses also ultimately drive up the costs to the consumer. Think about the big picture. Who gains the most? Big business and the rich.
Give Kalifornia back to Mexico, include gruesome Newsome
Newsom told the reporters gathered. “I’m asking myself, ‘What the hell is going on?’ We look like a third-world country.” So says the pompous, entitled, completely out of touch Governor of the state that he has run into the ground. How dare he be forced to take time out of his busy schedule of self-indulgence and opulent living to have to bare witness to such an appalling site. Why it’s enough to ruin his appetite for dinner at the French Laundry. Oh the horror of it all…
Organized gangs rob traIns,
Remedies:
Improve locks on RR cars
CCTV Yard array
More security
Bounties
Trains speed in key areas.
Or more robberies ahead
California is a basket case as far as crime is concerned. Smash and grabs, homeless using sidewalks as toilets, now trains.
I feel sorry for railroads. How much damage has been done to their property? How much in insurance claims? All that trash seen on TV will bring rats and mice. Too bad railroads can’t refuse to go into LA. Saw on news a pharmacy is closing it’s doors due to smash and grab. Yea, LA is turning into a third world country slowly but surely. Congratulations governor.
Grusome Newsom is over his head.
Democratic Party gone Communist is responsible for the ludicrous increase in crime that is rampant across this nation. Communists look through a delusional haze; writing their Fairytale remedies. According to Marxists; police were to be transformed into ‘social workers’, criminals taken care of in Day Care, and fed pureed food. Once Upon A Time In The Land of Nod; the mainstream media encouraged this way of thinking, with demonizing the police. They dug up every type of situation where babies were being handcuffed; and cockroaches too! They rammed it down our throats on MSNBC and CNN constantly. After they did the FEAR thing for about five months; suddenly all there was on television was cops abusing the masses. It was amazing how they switched the subject of disease to police brutality literally overnight. The mainstream media has NO SENSE IN TIMING; (and no common sense either.) As an audience we often wonder; is it possible to make better and more believable propaganda? At least if they are going to brainwash the masses; can’t they make it more professionally? Anyway, that is why the audience has dropped dramatically for the liberal mainstream media. Gratitude goes out to these stations; as I would still be a liberal if it were not for their incompetence. The Democratic/Communists & the mainstream media is fully culpable for the rising crime in this country. Police Officers and the Rule of Law should have respect. Our Founding Fathers would be appalled at the blatant disregard for law and order. May God Protect Our Country!
It was wonderful exercising First Amendment Rights here. The comments by everyone have been valuable. However, the First Amendment seems constrained somehow. I am much better off;
sticking to knitting, sewing, gardening, baking, and general homemaking subjects. Thank-you for the great times; of sharing opinions together. Time To Knit The Country Together!
I heard that even Zuckerberg is leaving California – he needs to be turned back at the border!
I thought that theft from a interstate shipment was a federal crime??
If the ‘gangs’ were skinheads Newsome would have the national guard out with shoot to kill orders. The opacity of his statements reflect the sacred cow nature of the perps.
Catch the theves,then what// 30 days in jail. Kyle L.
Watch what Calif. does on the brink of the Super Bowl….watch them scramble to make their city less
“third world appearing” just to capitalize on the big game….when the teams and the fans go home it will be as it was……….hipocracy at it’s finest.
A third-world country would have shot the looters..
We are definitely third world with the left people trying to reverse the rule of law and western civilization in general; May be they want us to go back to the old style Wild West and everyone own a gun to protect themselves…And what about the head of the LA city police union advising people not to come to his city as cannot adequately protect them, I sure wouldn’t travel there this weekend for football.
I am a native Californian. I knew what the beautiful City By The Bay looked like before needles were free, thanks to a relative, and homeless were allowed to exposed themselves while they used the streets as toilets. Is Gavin going to get those homeless into the luxury apartment housing he built for them?
As for LA, let’s not call a spade a spade. Make up other words for thugs and thieves so we don’t victimize them by our words. I like the guy who said a third world country would shoot them. But being civilize we have the police and those expensive squat vans that are where? Maybe the thugs got them from the defunded police stations.
I am for the State of Jefferson up North in California. Let’s break this state into 3 states. Maybe we can make a State of Pelosi Gavin’s auntie where all Liberals can live.
Electrify the containers! Or, as was threatened, not service L.A.
Twenty years ago, I left California for reasons which have become much worse today than they were then! Exercising my sense of humor, I came up with the acronym for “California.” Perhaps the acronym may explain why CA is the way it is! LOL
Calling All Liberals Incesters Fornicators Ornery Runts Needed In Area!
Hearing and seeing images of the riots in our inner cities while some government officials are seen blatently encouraging it like Maxine Waters and the imposter VP Harris; seeing the images of the trash heaps in homeless camps and homeless vagrants defecating on city sidewalks, and these recent scenes of trash strewn around rail cars from organized gang robberies!!!
This all brings a vivid picture of the demons being released from the bottomless pit mentioned in Holy Scriptures. They’re reeking havoc across the country!!
If Communism is allowed to takeover this wonderful country by our so-called Democratic Party, WE WILL BECOME A THIRD WORLD NATION!
Hey Newsome, I voted for Larry Elder in the recall. He would have called it like he saw it: gangs, not organized groups of people. Also, unlike you, he would not blame it on the Democrat Socialist Communist Party line that all problems are a direct result of “white supremacy.”
That CA governor is related to ole Nancy..just as stupid.
Stealing from “interstate commerce vehicles” is a FEDERAL OFFENSE, that President Biden’s Sec of Transportation and Justice Dept. could step in and try those caught.
The whole theft problem can be eliminated if the railroads modify their equipment so the container doors can not be opened while those containers are on their trains. Even the trucking trailers could be loaded back to back. Theives are taking advantage of the railroads ignorance. They just don’t want to spend money on security. Why should they insurance companies reimburse them for their losses. You can bet the shippers get their insurance checks. Manufacturers just sell more of their products when they replace the stolen goods. If you stop the insurance trail, security measures will surely improve. The losses also ultimately drive up the costs to the consumer. Think about the big picture. Who gains the most? Big business and the rich.
Give Kalifornia back to Mexico, include gruesome Newsome