Chaos in Sweden.

[SOPS]

Sweden has been lost.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... weden.html

[Chuks]

Katie Hopkins again, eh?

[Chuks]

Katy Hopkins: "Later I went back to walk the no-go suburbs, ending up back in the centre of the town."

Yes, and I ate an inedible meal in a lousy Swedish restaurant once. I was sat there reading one of those Mills & Boon romances, Love's Tormenting Itch, that was so bad it was unreadable, while eating that inedible meal. Believe me, it was an incredibly bad experience!

[BenThere]

So no problem in Sweden, Chuks?

[Chuks]

Of course there are problems in Sweden, Ben. It's not paradise.

No problem in Mexico? Send La Hopkins to have a look and she will spazz right out, crank out a full page of overheated prose about a tropical hell-hole crammed to bursting with murder, child prostitution, drug cartels, rape, pillage, and mopery too. (Dull-minded readers of hers shall not notice the obvious contradiction of her going into no-go zones then.)

You seem to be happy to live in retirement in Mexico, just as we, the wife and I, are happy to visit Sweden every chance we get, although both places certainly do have problems. Go figure, eh?

[Chuks]

Alternative fact and fact, both on youtube and difficult to tell apart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta5a02MzWjc and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfLf6tO7vSA

Choose whichever one you prefer, I suppose ....

Here's another one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rF-mhgGWIgk

[SOPS]

It seems to me Chuks, that most of the problems in Sweden have been imported.

[Chuks]

That's fine, SOPS.

Just one quick question for you: Do you visit Sweden often, to have formed that opinion?

[BenThere]

Who in their right mind would go to Sweden as a tourist anymore? Sweden is toast. Same thing is taking place in France, UK, Spain, Greece, Italy and the Netherlands - all are teetering. All of these were once places we unsophisticated Americans liked to visit once upon a time.

I recommend Mexico, which is why I now spend half my time there. Mexico protects its borders. The food is excellent. Accommodations and entertainment are cheap. The sugar sand beaches are accessible. The people are friendly and generally want the same things I do. Is there really any choice?

[Chuks]

Ben, is 15.7 a bigger number than 0.9? I think it is, and the first number is the murder rate per hundred thousand for Mexico, while the second number is the same rate for Sweden.

No sugar sand beaches, just rocks for the most part, but no human heads left lying in the road either, so that I think I will take my chances with Sweden!

[BenThere]

Depends on which parts of Sweden and/or Mexico you frequent, maybe.

Can you find me some stats on Malmo vs. Southern Quintana Roo?

[Chuks]

It is 3.4 for murder in both Malmo and all of Quintana Roo, according to what I can find, Ben. Do you want to tell us that both places are equally safe?

What happens to you in Mexico when you get pulled over by a cop, compared to Sweden? What do you call that, una mordida? Is that the word that the Mexicans have for a bribe? (I know how to pay one Nigerian-style, and I bet that would work sort of okay in Mexico, but I would not want to have to find out. Get that wrong and you will be in big trouble one way or the other.) I don't think there is such a word for that in Swedish, no idea why ....

What happens if you are attacked or you simply have a road accident, so that you need to go to hospital? Mexico has that one sorted out as well as Sweden with medevac helos and air ambulances and ICUs and all that other good stuff we take for granted? I don't think so ....

[Bob]

Depends on which parts of Sweden and/or Mexico you frequent, maybe.

Can you find me some stats on Malmo vs. Southern Quintana Roo?

Hold on, Chuks just gave some facts that disprove your assertion and now you want some different facts?, alt facts perhaps?
Are you related to the President of the USA?

[BenThere]

I wasn't aware I had made an assertion, Bob. And no, I ignore alt facts. I don't think I'm related, but I haven't had my DNA analyzed, so I can't say for sure. I have a bit of Scot and German in me, though.

I've been going to Yucatan often since the 1980s. I have yet to have an encounter of any sort with law enforcement, so I can't comment on what happens when you get pulled over.

Last year, though, I rented a very nice house on the beach at Puerto Morelos at around $10,000 for the week of Dec 31 to Jan 6. It was a beautiful mansion on the sand with a chef, housekeeper, gardener and manager who attended to every whim our four couples could conceive. Everyone had an ensuite room with a balcony overlooking the beach. Our little group has been doing this for years , in different places. But that's not the point.

One of the men among us was stung by a sting ray while snorkeling. A local on the beach took over first aid, as he knew what to do and we didn't. Once my friend was stabilized, we took him to the small clinic in town where he was treated with extraction of the sting ray's stinger particles, given a tetanus shot and antibiotics, pain pills, and bandaging. Brendon recovered fully before we went home. His care was uninsured. The total tab at the clinic, all in, was less than $20.

So maybe Mexico's emergency medical care isn't world class, but their everyday accessibility to ordinary health care is commendable, from my perspective. If I have a chronic, expensive medical episode, and survive the emergency, I'll hop on a plane to Houston and check into a world class medical facility. I can be there in 2-3 hours.

[Bob]

I wasn't aware I had made an assertion, Bob

Well just this once I shall direct you: you made a claim Sweden was toast and it's quite aparent you meant it in the way off increasing violence and instability and also claimed Mexico to be much nicer in that respect, a claim or an assertion, it would be rather picky to differentiate don't you think?
but I'm not in the game of playing wordsmith with those that would forget their own poorly thought out arguements so soon after making them
You carry on spinning old man.

[BenThere]

Okay, Bob, maybe I'm guilty of an assertion by saying Sweden is toast.

Please allow me to ignore the rest of your response, which is nothing more than a gratuitous insult.

[Chuks]

Actually, I thought that was a rather cute move on Ben's part, cherry-picking stats for one of the worst parts of Sweden to compare with what must be one of the best parts of one of the best parts of Mexico. (Not even Quintana Roo as a whole, but southern Quintana Roo!)

Would you rather holiday on a Mexican beach or in a Swedish slum? Whoops, got me there!

Okay, Ben, so which is nicer, downtown Tijuana, or the old town in Stockholm?

Would you rather eat at the Blue Fox in Tijuana, or at La Tour d'Argent in Paris?

[BenThere]

Downtown Tijuana is the original home of the Caesar salad.

For me? I take a free tram from my home to Akumal, where I enjoy watching the young frolic on a white sand beach under a warm sun, gentle waves of aquamarine Caribbean water lapping at the shore, while dining on an $8 lunch of a pound or so of small lobsters and a chilled Pacifico beer, guacamole and chips, under the shade of a small thatched roof cabana restaurant, served by a smiling waitress who has become a familiar friend to my wife and me. But that's not everyone's idea of a good time. To each his own.

[Cacophonix]

BenThere (or should would call him Mr Tendentious) and Ms Hopkins are like odd peas in a pod in some ways except perhaps that BenThere is sane while she has a badly wired head and lives in an electrical storm of hyperbole, bigotry and misfiring neurons and gets sued for her frenetic guff while BenThere sips another Tequila and gets his housemaid to give executive relief or plump the cushions up or whatever she is expected to so gratuitously do!

Another free one from the vault (or for Ms Hopkins the volt) BenThere!

Caco

[OFSO]

I see that Sweden has reintroduced conscription:

The Swedish government has reintroduced military conscription for both men and women, officials said. Under the proposal, people born in and after 1999 would be required to undergo basic military training.
“The Swedish government has decided to re-activate conscription from January 1, 2018,” the statement from the government said, adding that the conscription is “gender neutral” and will include both women and men.

Sweden re-activates conscription https://t.co/pEvh9a2ZZC
— Försvarsdep (@ForsvarsdepSv) 2. März 2017

According to the announcement, recruitment to the Armed Forces “will be both voluntary and conscription. Individual motivation, interest and will should to be considered as much as possible.
“The security environment in Europe and in Sweden's vicinity has deteriorated and the all-volunteer recruitment hasn't provided the Armed Forces with enough trained personnel. The re-activating of the conscription is needed for military readiness.”
“We have had trouble staffing the military units on a voluntary basis and that needs to be addressed somehow,” Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist earlier told public service radio SR, adding “therefore it is necessary to reintroduce conscription.”

Source: Link from BBC News