The Great Los Angeles Train Kerfuffle

When the media gets a good story about a TRAIN ROBBERY, why, it's a special kind of glee. Headlines may read things like “Thieves loot freight trains in Los Angeles with impunity” but beneath the newsy professionalism is a childlike desire to write what reporters really feel about trains, crime, & policing:

"Choo-Choo's Boo-Boos Are No-Nos for the Po-Po"

In other words, some simple-ass storytelling, y'all.

Never fear, because our two intrepid news hoboes, Brandon & Stephen, dodge the bulls to hop aboard the story of these freight-train robberies in Los Angeles. Oh the boxes! So many boxes.

Who's to blame? Union Pacific points the finger at LA County's progressive District Attorney, George Gascon, for not prosecuting more people. The DA's office says it's hard to build a case since so few are caught in the act. 

The news media, meanwhile, is so happy to wade through the packages that it doesn't dig down much deeper — into whether more prosecutions would help anything, or whether Union Pacific should just ... hire more officers for its police force. To actually protect the property they're transporting.

Union Pacific can certainly afford it. With revenue in the billions and big dividend increases, 2021 was Union Pacific's "most profitable year ever." So why is it threatening to reroute service out of LA? And who knew that a train could even do that?

All this narrative tension — it's enough to knock a freight right off the tracks. 

There's plenty of ground to cover, so join our own Butch & Sundance to chase this one down, climb on, and steal the bullion of truth itself.

 

JOURNOS is produced by Heather "Eagle Ears" Wilson.

This episode featured sounds from meaganlongley through Creative Commons.