Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Running up the score

They're into a record year for murders in poor ol Cd. Juárez. From the world's worst newspaper:
In one of the deadliest three days that officials can remember, more than 50 people were killed in Juárez.
Among the 53 victims between Thursday and Saturday were a Juárez police officer, a municipal patrolman and a state investigator.

That first sentence really wants some editing. Read it all here, and consider this ... we've just been through a bunch of TV specials on the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in Chicago. There were seven people killed in that shooting, and it so upset the people of the city that it was the occasion of a massive crackdown on crime. In Wazoo, they just did in seven times that many people over three days, and nobody much notices. It's hard to believe that not so long ago, folks went across the river as insouciantly as they might run to the corner grocery store. [Marginally relevant and just remembered – there used to be a whorehouse in Juárez named the Sans Souci, same etymological root as the insouciantly in previous sentence. It was purportedly a high-class joint.]

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