Ryan Lochte and Three Teammates Robbed at Gunpoint

[Native]

Source: New York Times

RIO DE JANEIRO — Four American swimmers, including the six-time gold medalist Ryan Lochte, were held up at gunpoint early Sunday morning, according to the United States Olympic Committee.

The other United States swimmers robbed, according to a statement from the committee, were Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen.

“Their taxi was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers who demanded the athletes’ money and other personal belongings,” a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee said. “All four athletes are safe and cooperating with authorities.”

Violent crime was a top concern in the lead-up to the Rio Games, as Brazil’s economic crisis deepened, pushing up unemployment and poverty rates.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/sports/olympics/ryan-lochte-and-three-teammates-robbed-at-gunpoint.html?_r=0

[Rustyeye77]

1. Sad

a lot of desperate people in Brazil.

[Renew Deal]

4. Funny that you have sympathy for the criminals

But not the victims

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

10. Are you new here?

If there is any tangent to a sympathetic narrative about a criminal it will be posted here.

[TomCADem]

8. I Agree The U.S. Swimmers Were Desperate for Help...

...after they had been robbed at gun point. Most folks would be.

[davepc]

11. Armed robbers dressed up like cops smells more like organized crime then desperate poor people

n/t

[DURHAM D]

2. Start with the cab driver. nt

[Renew Deal]

3. The cab driver was probably in on it

[YOHABLO]

5. I wouldn't trust a soul in that city in the wee hours of the night. I'm glad they're all safe.

[MADem]

6. What a mess. Pathetic that they couldn't even keep the athletes safe.

One more argument for a "permanent" Olympic Village, with state of the art facilities and security, funded by contributions from all nations for construction and maintenance, in Greece, the historic home of the event....at least for the summer games.


Maybe they could have a few specialty events, like sailing, or rowing, or ocean swimming type-things, at different spots around the world, but hell, all ya need is a track and field stadium, a place for swimming and diving, and a gym for the gymnastics and you've got most of your events taken care of, right there....


I think the Olympics have been getting too absurdly Over-The-Top for years, now. The insane opening ceremonies, all the OOOH-ing and AHH-ing, and not enough LAUGHS.... the only ones with any sense of humor were the Brits, frankly (the Queen and James Bond? PRICELESS....).

Best opening ceremony, EVER--might not have been the most fancy, but it tickled mine...!

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

31. I doubt if this happened inside the Olympic Village.

But sometimes young people want to leave the gated compound. If the IOC would simply sequester all the athletes for 2 weeks, this sort of thing would not happen.

[beevul]

7. What kind of gun control does Rio have?

In Brazil, all firearms are required to be registered with the minimum age for gun ownership being 25.[1] It is illegal to carry a gun outside a residence, and a special permit is granted to certain groups, such as law enforcement officers.[2] To legally own a gun, an owner must hold a gun license, which costs BRL R$1000,[2] and the owner must pay a fee every three years to register the gun, currently at BRL R$85.[3] Registration can be done online or in person with the Federal Police.[4] Until 2008, unregistered guns could be legalized for free.[5]

However, Brazilian Department of Justice (Ministério da Justiça), at the time it performs each individual's mandatory background check (what is made prior every gun acquisition, and every three years after it's acquired, whats allows gun confiscation), have been forbidding almost every citizens to buy guns [2][3], based on the Executive Order # 5.123, of 07/01/2004 (Decreto n.º 5.123, de 1º de julho de 2004)[4], that allows Brazilian FBI (Polícia Federal) to analyze the reasons that motivate a gun acquisition and the will of keeping an acquired gun, in which it's not considered a valid argument "self defense" because, according to them, there are allegedly sufficient and efficient public polices that are in charge of nationwide security, among other reasons of this kind of denial. [5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Brazil

[forest444]

13. The problem, as usual, is enforcement.

Brazil, and to some extent the rest of Latin America (particularly Paraguay, Honduras, and Colombia), has a gigantic and intractable black market in weapons.

Gun control laws are no match against a network like that, and if any honest law enforcement official tries to stop it, they make him an offer he can't refuse - capisce?

[beevul]

27. Doesn't seem a problem for the criminals...

The problem, as usual, is enforcement.

Doesn't seem a problem for the criminals, in fact, it seems only a problem for those who obey and respect enforcements decisions that prevent them from getting a gun.

[mcar]

9. That's terrible

[ForgoTheConsequence]

14. You're blaming this on diversity?

I think you're looking for the Trump forum.

[Shandris]

15. No, I'm blaming it on the individuals who did it.

However, there does seem to be a degree of concern that people have over the country of Brazil and this Olympics was about, among other things, showcasing the strengths of multiculturalism. It is not a stretch to recognize that, at some level, there is a commonality that makes it worth investigating.

I'm sorry that such basic evaluation of circumstances is difficult for some. That doesn't make one a Trump supporter, nor does it make one not a Democrat. It makes one a Democrat who is resistant to one particularly virulant strain of idiocy running amok through our party.

Have a nice day.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

16. Multiculturalism is idiocy?

So, are you a separatist or a supremacist? Either way, your posts reek of bigotry. I suggest you stop digging yourself in.

[Shandris]

18. "I am incapable of nuanced thought. Therefore, you must 'be' one of these two things...

...that I will assign as equivalent to you, then I will suggest you stop it and will hamhandedly attempt to attach it to 'bigotry' (despite no category appearing that would be even remotely capable of being suggested as 'bigotry' because I also don't understand the word) so as to suggest that I am in the right."

I am sorry, but I choose not to allow you to apply your labels as you see fit. Oh, you can say them all you want, and all the others you like with them, but they mean something only to you and those who apply their own preconceptions to them.

Once again, have a nice day.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

22. You only talk in nuances because you know the core of what you're saying is bigotry.

You don't have to apply "my" labels, as you have already exposed yourself. You're saying a lot, without saying anything at all.

You sound like a first-year community college philosophy student. You can try to wrap your bigotry in anything you would like, but you're not intellectual enough to successfully wrap it in intellectualism. You're a bigot.

[Shandris]

24. Okay, have a nice day. =) n/t

[Akicita]

20. I have turned against diversity because I can see it is starting to tear our country apart.

I am into unity now.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

21. Unity as what?

?

[Akicita]

35. Unity as in people with different traits coming together for the common good.

Last edited Sun Aug 14, 2016, 07:07 PM - Edit history (4)

Unity as in stressing and celebrating what unites us instead of constantly bickering and over what divides us and always automatically blaming groups other than our own for everything that is wrong.

Unity as in coming together to fight injustice for all, not just for the group we belong to. Unity as in not making excuses when members of our group are the ones committing the injustices.

Unity as when my children's mother and I united to produce two beautiful bi-racial kids. Unity is beautiful.

From now on I am celebrating when a policeman risks his or her life to save a black life instead of just being outraged when they take a black life unjustly.

We are all in this together. We need to start acting like it. Hatred and division gets us nothing but strife.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

23. Diversity isn't tearing this country apart.

Racist white Trump supporters and Tea Partiers are.

[Shandris]

25. Well said. We won't survive this without unity.

And not just unity in America, but unity in our various (and separate!) nations.

The world, and the old systems, are starting to rupture. Entropy sets in as it inevitably does, but the turning of the age has given us a chance (tiny though it be) to break free and start anew, with fresh thoughts and ideas unhindered by the weight of the past.

If only we can stop playing with the Thief of the Past.

[ananda]

17. This Olympics was a fustercluck from the beginning!

I honestly don't know why anyone would want to compete there.

It's so dangerous in so many ways!

Fuck glory!

[Stuckinthebush]

19. It sure has been a load of bad press for Brazil

Bad publicity will lead to lower numbers of tourists. The Olympics haven't been good for them, I guess.

[underpants]

26. Tourists - that explains the empty seats

I wasn't sure if all the empty seats were because I've watched pretty much anything I can find. I have 6 channels set to flip through - yes I love the Olympics. Lots of empty seats.

[Stuckinthebush]

36. Yep

I wonder what the numbers are and how far off from projected number of attendees.

[Sgent]

37. The athletes almost don't have a choice

they have a small number of years in which to compete, they've been working all their lives for this moment, and for most sports its the pinnacle of achievement. Also its a career move for many athletes -- for instance a medal means an instant career in sailing if you want it.

Its on the organizing committees, its too tough of a decision for most athletes (except for men's basketball and golf).

[Akicita]

39. I am rather enjoying them. Fusterclucks and all.

[CentralMass]

28. I read a news article that quoted a Rio official that claimed Ryan Lochte's statement was not true.

What is going on there ?

[Native]

29. Supposedly Rio officials initially denied it but then confirmed it. Who the heck really knows.

[2QT2BSTR8]

30. The IOC is refuting the claims of the attack

The International Olympic Committee is denying wholeheartedly that anything ever happened. They of course are trying to protect the overall image of the Olympic Games. So the Rio official is likely leaning off of what the IOC has told them to say. The IOC has even gone as far as to say that he was quoting Ryan Lochte's own account.

"When reports began surfacing about the incident, International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told reporters at a press briefing in Rio, "I can tell you from Ryan Lochte's mouth that the story is absolutely not true."

[link:http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/14/sport/us-swimmers-ryan-lochte-robbed-rio-olympics/index.html|

But the USOC has already refuted the IOC claim that nothing happened, and in addition have started an aggressive acknowledgment that the attack did in fact occur, by having a one on one interview between Lochte and NBC, the primary network that is covering the games.

"Following conflicting reports — including the IOC denying any incident took place — Lochte himself confirmed with TODAY's Billy Bush that he and the other swimmers were robbed at gunpoint."
[link:http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-rio-summer-olympics/u-s-swimmer-ryan-lochte-robbed-gunpoint-brazil-n630396?cid=sm_fb|

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

34. Yes, "we deny everything".

And I thought Juan Antonio Samaranch was gone from the IOC. I guess there was another to take his place.

[MADem]

41. They've hired a new spokesmodel, maybe....?

[onehandle]

32. What brand of gun? Did the gun come from America?

Is American gun culture responsible?

[Akicita]

40. Huh? Um, I think the thieves are responsible.

[roamer65]

33. Welcome to modern day Brazil.

They are actually VERY lucky they weren't taken for ransom.

It is a common occurrence down there.