Big Day

[Kip]

This whole line of thought originated a couple months ago after one of my friend William's neighbors murdered another. The two were sitting in front of their houses when a mango fell from the tree. An argument erupted over whose mango it was, and culminated in one man killing another with a machete. A mango. A mango.....in a country where there are tens of millions of them available literally falling onto the ground.

Today, a breakdown of Santiago's 20+ homicides per 100k residents was published (2018 year to date). There have been 146 murders YTD. Here's the bare bones quoted from the article (well, quoted post-translation). The article said 146, but only detailed 122 cases because the balance are unclassified.


"Of the homicides, 45 were domestic cases where women were murdered by their partners and ex-partners and 25 were among gangs in disputes over drug sales points.....

Another ten people died in “exchanges of gunfire” with the police and five were lynched by mobs having been suspected of committing robberies or assaults.....

Four of the murders were due to family disputes over inheritance and nine murders in the northern area were linked to robberies and assaults.

Two of the murders were as a result of road rage and another 22 following arguments between people who had consumed large quantities of alcohol."




Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk

[Kip]

From today's news, and in light of the recent suspensions of 2 Dominican MLB players....

"The Dominican Society of Pediatric Endocrinology warned on Wednesday, 23 May 2018, on the increase in demand for performance enhancing substances by young athletes whose ages vary between 11 and 14 years. The society expressed its regret that the parents of these minors are those who come to the doctors' offices to request the approval of the substances that can even cause death.

The warning comes from Dr. Elbi Morla, the president of the society, who warned that the substances can cause death and permanent injury and he recommended that the state apply new policy to avoid the problem becoming worse. He said that sports where these substances are used are baseball and football, with the latter being much practiced by young middle-class athletes. He noted that these substances are growth hormones, testosterone and other anabolic steroids used to increase performance.

He called public's attention to the growing demand for the prohibited substances to increase performance by children. Dr. Morla expressed particular frustration with the parents themselves who take their children to clinics in search for this type of substance on the recommendation of trainers. He noted that many young athletes have died from the use of anabolic steroids, some of which are used to inject thoroughbred race horses. He further noted that these PED's were also in great demand by persons between the ages of 18 and 25 who work out at different gymnasiums in the country.

The use of these medications is not controlled by the Ministry of Public Health. The doctors noted that one of the effects of these medications is erectile dysfunction."

Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk

[Kip]

....and to go with the gun talk, there was a guy murdered just down from my house this morning. I heard the shots just after 5:30, and the body was still lying on the side of the road when Kristi went to school at 7am. Police say no ID on him. They presume him to have been a passenger on a moto, but my money says he was the driver and was robbed for his bike and stuff.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 9272225856



Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk

[kurtdesign1]

I enjoy these conversations because of the company we keep here. I'd welcome more people's opinions. First of all, I didn't see your posts from the 18th. I was starting some training last week so its possible I got caught up in a screwy schedule and missed it for that reason. Secondly, I think we have an incredibly common reason for our current state of firearm harm increasing; herd mentality.
Look, I'm a pretty liberal guy. For perspective on that, I value human rights over the words of the constitution in some cases. That said, I'm unsure if "gun control" (GC; a stupid phrase) is the answer because of a pattern of past human behavior. In an extreme case where guns are completely taken away (e.g. Cuba in 1960) a regime has demonstrated that they are all powerful. Granted, Castro was a dictator but removal isn't synonymous with complete safety. Secondarily to that extreme point of GC, someone will find a way to "keep" their firearms. This is not a safe proposal either. I dont want my enemy having a weapon or an insane person having a weapon and not fearing that someone else does too.
Thinking of more likely GC options, I'd expect that additional purchases could be heavily restricted or prevented and that our existing stock of firearms would tend to closely be maintained. This is more preventative in regard to future crime numbers continuing to grow but would logically (albeit very basic logic) not do anything about existing owners committing crimes.
These two options do little to solve the problem we face. People still choose to conduct many of these crimes. What will we do to change the mindset of our citizens to lessen future acts of violence or even accidental incidents due to improper care?
The saying has been politicized and associated with extremism in modern history (happy gilmore, Anyone?) but "Guns don't kill people, people do" is a statement with at least some merit. I agree that without ANY firearms their associated deaths would not occur but I think we all can be smart enough to realize that this will never occur. We need to logically embrace a solution that is for our mutual improvement and not our individual agendas or emotionally jaded opinions.

[jledou]

No doubt with the allure of money and getting off the island i am sure many parents use their children as a instrument and will increase their chances no matter what the risk.

[Kip]

I don't fully understand the legal system here. There are idiosyncrasies in many respects, but in general it is similar to US law for judicial proceedings (outside of the degree to which it's glaringly corrupt). However, there's a process that baffles me. When someone is arrested, they are given a "preventative" sentence. Someone can - and usually does - receive up to 18 months of pre-trial jail time. I generally see 12-18 months. This isn't due to a backlog in the system. The accused actually appears before a court and receives a sentence of "x" months *before* their trial takes place. I don't understand the purpose of this. A perfectly innocent person can do up to a year and half without even a trial, and just based on an accusation.

Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk

[Stewmuse]

Ouch. I wonder how disproportionately (I’m assuming) this occurs to people who are financially distressed. My guess is that it also similar to US arrests and incarcerations.

[Kip]

Ouch. I wonder how disproportionately (I’m assuming) this occurs to people who are financially distressed. My guess is that it also similar to US arrests and incarcerations.

That's a good question. Anecdotally, I see it in plenty of high profile cases....*however*, I also know the 18 (very wealthy) government officials under investigation for the global Oldebrecht corruption scandal were only held a couple weeks then allowed to go back home. There was a lot of "See? We're doing something about all this corruption....y'all can stop protesting and holding huelgas now." Then, they were quietly released back home.

Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk

[Stewmuse]

Ouch. I wonder how disproportionately (I’m assuming) this occurs to people who are financially distressed. My guess is that it also similar to US arrests and incarcerations.

That's a good question. Anecdotally, I see it in plenty of high profile cases....*however*, I also know the 18 (very wealthy) government officials under investigation for the global Oldebrecht corruption scandal were only held a couple weeks then allowed to go back home. There was a lot of "See? We're doing something about all this corruption....y'all can stop protesting and holding huelgas now." Then, they were quietly released back home.

Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk

Did they really say “y’all can stop?” That would be something!

[Kip]

We're about to find out. The Odebrecht scandal is breaking open as I type. The Procuraduría (govt office with no American counterpart; like an Attorney General or Internal Affairs group) is having a press conference and has announced that they're ready to go after politicians....and the majority are in the party that has had a stranglehold on politics here for 20 years. So much so that last election they changed the constitution so President Medina could run again even though he'd surpassed his term limits. They're actually trying to do this again. Anyway, if that's coming down look out for some instability. We'll see how it shakes out soon...

Sent from my SM-G610M using Tapatalk