Naturally the New Yorker does its best to bury the lead, but there are plenty of clues in this week's cover story "Gangs of Rio" as to why the world's #1 city for "violent international deaths" won the 2016 Olympics. Since the popular election of Marxist dictator President Luis Inacio Lula de Silva, the magazine grudgingly reports, the once-civil society of Rio has degenerated into something akin to a large South American Superdome, with more violence. While their more enterprising Latin American neighbors nurture healthy export sectors, Brazilians — not unlike so unlike us citizens of the People's Republic of Obameristan — have become net consumers, with "yesterday's" Marxist gangs revealing themselves to be (surprise, surprise!) …purely criminal organizations: they exist in order to sell narcotics to fellow Brazilians. Unlike the export-based drug cartels in Columbia or Mexico, Rio's bandidos are wholesale importers — of cocaine from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, and of marijuana from Paraguay. You mean to tell me socialism is a gateway drug to destitution, depravity and foul smells? "The percentage of crimes solved here in Rio is ridiculous — ninety percent of homicides go unresolved." Part of the blame went to Brazil's "politically correct culture," [City Councilor Alfredo Sirkis] said. "It's all Scandinavian talk in an Iraqi reality. Rio is completely schizophrenic. Everybody's very p.c. — all this violence is seen as coming from some injustice. At the same time, they'd like the favelas to be atomized, a la Buck Rogers, with a Disintegrator." (Say it ain't so Fredo!) So what does one complacent socialist state have over another? A charismatic gang leader named Fernandinho, whose Pure Third Command battles the socialist Red Command in the name of you-know-Who: Pastor Sidney explained that he had got to know Fernandinho in 2007, when some community leaders came to see him. There had been a series of shootings involving Fernandinho and his rivals — people associated with [rival Marxist gang] Marcelo PQD. "It was like a war zone," Pastor Sidney said. "It was very dangerous, and the community was afraid." He had already been preaching in some of Ilha's toughest neighborhoods, and this had earned him some respect. "I was working among the traficantes. I was going out and praying in the streets. I approach them all the same way, as if they were possessed by demons, and found that they accepted it, because there's something supernatural about it. But I had avoided Fernandinho. I'd heard things about him that I didn't like." Eventually, he said, "Fernandinho came to me himself. He watched me preaching. He saw people falling on the ground. And he asked me for a prayer." And lo and behold, Fernandinho began curtailing his killing squad, these days sparing the lives of Brazilians who inadvertently wear red nail polish, and dodging the apparatchiks who would have him quashed Fernadinho got away; the police found a four-and-a-half foot cake decorated with the Twenty-third Psalm, spelled out in icing. They also found an effigy of Marcelo PQD, wearing red panties, hanging from a lamppost. Maureen Tkacik is a contributor to Beliefnet, a senior editor at Insight magazine and author of the forthcoming memoir The God From Ipanema: Encounters With Christ at Carnevale (Regnery, 2010).
Related Posts
At The Game Awards last December, a reboot of the beloved Crazy Taxi franchises was one of five major games that Sega announced at once, and now, the company has provided some more details on what you can expect from the game. Sega has uploaded a new Japanese recruitment video focused on the Crazy Taxi reboot, talking about the game’s development, what it is envisioned at, what players can expect from it, and more.
As per details in the video as well as a number of lob listings (via Automaton Media), Crazy Taxi is going to be a fully open world game, while, as some prior leaks and reports have suggested, it’s also going to be a live service, “massively multiplayer” experience. As per the video, the game will be set…
Firewalk Studios’ Concord launched roughly two weeks ago to very little notable response. Sales allegedly sit at around 25,000 copies, while the overall critical response is seemingly one giant “meh” with a 62 Metascore based on 40 critical reviews.
It quickly became known as “This took how many years to develop?” and “It had how many peak concurrent players on Steam?”. There were expectations that it would chug along with its roadmap and add that promised cosmetic store with microtransactions, oblivious to plummeting player counts. However, in a recent PlayStation Blog post, Firewalk announced the unexpected – Concord is being pulled from storefronts on September 6th.
Not only will all custome…
As we’ve seen more than a few times over the years (including with some pretty recent and rather prominent examples), there’s never any guarantees that a hero shooter – or really, any live service experience – is going to be able to find any kind of success. If, however, you promise the bones of a legitimately well-made multiplayer experience, and add a major license on top of that, you certainly give yourself a much better shot. Marvel Rivals has certainly checked both of those boxes in the lead-up to its release, and has continued to look like a genuinely promising hero shooter that allows players to live out their Marvel power fantasies in a bombastic multiplayer experience. Ahead of its imminent release, here, we’re goin…
Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) has rejected claims by former Premier League official Mark Halsey that he was asked to alter the way he reported incidents of misconduct during games.
Halsey s remarks came on the back of the three-match suspension handed to Manchester City s Sergio Aguero for elbowing West Ham defender Winston Reid.
Aguero was punished retrospectively, with referee Andre Marriner not mentioning the incident in his match report, after City s appeal proved unsuccessful.
Any incident seen by a match official and not acted upon during the game cannot then be punished by the Football Association (FA) and while discussing the situation on Twitter, Halsey who retired in 2013 claimed that he had been asked in the past to say he had n…
Roy Hodgson loved talking about the future. England s bright future was always just around the corner. Even as he announced his departure following the humiliating Euro 2016 loss to supposed minnows Iceland, the 68-year-old spoke about the exciting future this sleeping giant of a footballing nation had to look forward to.
It s little wonder his gaze was fixed straight ahead, honed in on some mirage of greatness just on the horizon. If he d bothered to look behind, Hodgson would have been presented with a reality less palatable for someone intent on creating a legacy.
England had failed twice before at major tournaments under his dubious guidance. At least at Euro 2012 it was against credible opposition in the shape of Italy, and even then only on penalties. Two year…
Marco Silva believes that Jordan Pickford proved his quality in Everton s win over Chelsea, following a poor display against Newcastle United last time out.
Despite saving a penalty, Pickford made several errors in Everton s 3-2 defeat at St James Park, and was fortunate not to get sent off in the incident leading up to Newcastle s spot-kick.
But Pickford, making his 100th Premier League appearance, put in an assured performance on Sunday as Everton bounced back with a 2-0 victory over Maurizio Sarri s side, making five saves to conserve a second successive home clean sheet.
And though acknowledging that Pickford must add consistency to his game, Silva – who challenged the 25-year-old to show more emotional balance in his pre-match news conference – had no do…
Prediction: Manchester City to win and both teams to score
Odds:
Bookmaker:
New Leicester City manager Claude Puel will be given his harshest examination of his credentials at the weekend as his team welcome table-topping Manchester City to the King Power Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The East-Midlanders will look to halt the Sky Blues excellent run of form in recent months.
Leicester City
It is fair to suggest that Leicester City have enjoyed a new manager bounce since the sacking of Craig Shakespeare last month. The Foxes have won three out of their last four games in all competitions, reaching the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup in the process. Their positive form stretches back even further than too Leicester have only lost one out of their las…
Presnel Kimpembe has been replaced in France s World Cup squad by the uncapped Axel Disasi, despite returning from injury for Paris Saint-Germain at the weekend.
After sitting out the wins over Juventus and Lorient, PSG defender Kimpembe played the final 15 minutes of Sunday s 5-0 Ligue 1 triumph over Auxerre.
Kimpembe, who has represented France 28 times, said after the match he is feeling fine and was looking forward to linking up with his country for Qatar 2022.
However, the French Football Federation announced on Monday the defender does not consider himself sufficiently recovered to be able to represent the reigning world champions.
Didier Deschamps has added centre-back Disasi, who has made 23 appearances for Monaco this season, to his 26-man squad …
Any club looking to snatch Mykhaylo Mudryk will have to splash at least €100million, Shakhtar Donetsk s director of football Dario Srna has said.
The Ukraine international has courted the attention of Europe s elite with spectacular performances in the Champions League, where he scored three goals and contributed two assists in six appearances.
Earlier this week, Mudryk revealed he follows Arsenal closely, amid continued speculation the Premier League leaders are looking to launch a move for his services when the market reopens in the new year.
Mudryk s services will not come cheaply, though, with Srna arguing the transfers of Antony and Jadon Sancho to Manchester United, and Jack Grealish to Manchester City, have set the bar.
If somebody wants to buy …
Defending champions Uruguay began their Copa America campaign with an unconvincing 1-0 win over Jamaica.
With Barcelona forward Luis Suarez the 2011 player of the tournament banned for the competition due to his bite on Italy s Giorgio Chiellini at last year s World Cup, Uruguay were uninspiring in front of goal.
Oscar Tabarez s men struggled to break down tournament invitees Jamaica, who were resolute at the back for much of Saturday s contest in Antofagasta.
However, Uruguay took advantage of the one true defensive lapse made by the tournament outsiders, as Cristian Rodriguez opened the scoring in the 52nd minute.
Winger Rodriguez made no mistake with a close-range strike at the end of a well-worked set-piece move from the two-time World Cup winners…