Again piracy in the Caribbean

[Chris31415]

This thread drifts deserves the Mark Watney (Matt Damon) space pirate quote from the movie the Martian.

Mark Watney: “I've been thinking about laws on Mars. There's an international treaty saying that no country can lay claim to anything that's not on Earth. By another treaty if you're not in any country's territory, maritime law aplies. So Mars is international waters. Now, NASA is an American non-military organization, it owns the Hab. But the second I walk outside I'm in international waters. So Here's the cool part. I'm about to leave for the Schiaparelli Crater where I'm going to commandeer the Ares IV lander. Nobody explicitly gave me permission to do this, and they can't until I'm on board the Ares IV. So I'm going to be taking a craft over in international waters without permission, which by definition... makes me a pirate. Mark Watney: Space Pirate.”

[Shanachie]

If you are well-to-do and flaunting your wealth in front of impoverished people, you will become a target.


It doesn't matter whether you have a million-dollar yacht cruising off the coast of Venezuela or a $150,000 BMW riding through the South Side of Chicago.


It's nothing new. The world has been this way since the dawn of time. Take proper precautions and don't expect that your economic privilege will protect you from life's realities.



Pushing the "piracy" button gives ordinary robbery and assault a certain glamor.



Even a cursory glance through these threads will tell you that while "piracy" happens, it's also fairly rare. Much rarer than street crime in Chicago, New York and other places where most of us go without a second thought.

[Jim Cate]

Much rarer than street crime in Chicago, New York and other places where most of us go without a second thought.

That's funny! I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and now (as a geezer) I avoid such places like the plague... but I voyage to third world island nations with no fear and great pleasure. A different point of view for sure...

Jim

[s/v Jedi]

That’s funny, I’ve never seen any street crime at open sea, nor any robberies etc.

When you are out there all alone and suddenly another boat tries to intercept you to take everything you have then this is called piracy.

[lestersails]

Originally Posted by Shanachie

(Stuff deleted)
Pushing the "piracy" button gives ordinary robbery and assault a certain glamor.
(stuff deleted)

Agree. Thus my reaction whenever I see a pleasure boat flying the skull and crossbones. Just idiotic to suggest pirates are somehow glamorous, fun, or cute.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by TeddyDiver

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" not that pirates smell roses but who cares what they are called when they just plain rob you?

I think you might be reaching for the other one.

If it smells like s——, tastes like s——, feels like s——-, it probably is.


The definition, who cares! It’s still terrorists with guns. In Venezuela, it could even be their own military. It’s common knowledge to stay a couple hundred miles off shore there.

We were in Bonaire and were hit by another boat while on our mooring. Local authorities of all kinds were useless beyond all words.

We have been cruising the Caribbean since 2016. There are places we will not go. Many ‘entitled’ western folks do not get this.

[OndinePLC]

I bet a dollar to a bolivar they were transmitting AIS. Pirates or seagoing paramilitaries love it.
When heading to Panama from Aruba or further East, stay at least 100nm offshore (security plus kinder seas), keep a permanent lookout, turn off the AIS transmitter, you can still avoid big ships using the receiver, , turn off all lights at night.

[AndyEss]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

That's funny! I grew up on the South Side of Chicago, and now (as a geezer) I avoid such places like the plague... but I voyage to third world island nations with no fear and great pleasure. A different point of view for sure...

Jim

The Hyde Park “island” around the University of Chicago was reasonably livable in the mid-1970’s. East Chicago (across the border in Indiana) had a nice area on the shores of Lake Michigan.
The west side was rough in those years - it’s probably much worse now.

[gulfislandfred]

There are more desperate people, here in Canada, as well as in the US, and other places, made homeless, every day. On this little island paradise, in safe, civilized Canada, forty percent of the people (including me) live below the poverty line. I was lucky enough to buy a lot, to build on, before land got so expensive that a pretty decent full time job doesn't pay enough to afford rent here, never mind home ownership.


I don't want to be robbed, either. But we will see more and more of this, as more people are displaced, in the chaos that humans have created.
We will have to adapt, and learn how to protect ourselves and our property, like they do in places with a history of a large divide between rich and poor: Walls with spikes, armed guards, locks on everything.



Mobility is a privilege. We now live in a society where just owning a place to sleep is a privilege. Homeless people, and refugees from violence are mostly people who had a stable, productive life, before things fell apart.



We may be innocent bystanders, but we're rich (me, too. I'm below the poverty line, but I own a house, have a car, thousands of dollars worth of tools, musical instruments, and a 30 foot sailboat. I have a freezer, and a pantry, so I can buy food on sale, and store it to use later. Lucky I like to eat beans and rice.)


Large homeless encampments are not a place that people choose to live.
We can get involved in social change, if we're inclined, but in the meantime, we need to get over the idea that we live in a peaceful, civilized society.


How do we protect ourselves and our property, and still understand that the desperate, homeless people could be us, or our families? Passive protection; Walls, barking dogs, lots of motion sensor lights, maybe motion sensor sirens?
It's not a pretty picture, and we're not doing things to make it better, at least in the short term.

[sv_pelagia]

Originally Posted by gulfislandfred

There are more desperate people, here in Canada, as well as in the US, and other places, made homeless, every day. On this little island paradise, in safe, civilized Canada, forty percent of the people (including me) live below the poverty line.

Fred, your stats are way, way off.

There are many sources you can cite, all indicate the percent living below the poverty line in Canada is much lower than you suggest:

The number of people living below the official poverty line decreased substantially from 14.5% in 2015 to 10.1% in 2019,[7] and 6.4% in 2020.[4]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty_in_Canada

Today, Statistics Canada released results from the 2021 Canadian Income Survey, which showed that the growth in median market income more than offset the decline observed in 2020 and brought the median market income 3.5% higher than its 2019 level. The results also showed that Canada’s overall poverty rate was 7.4% in 2021, following the end of temporary emergency pandemic benefits that were provided in 2020. This is below the 2019 pre-pandemic rate of 10.3%, and nearly half the 2015 rate (14.5%)...
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-...ic-levels.html

Too high? yes. 40%? no

[Wolfhound]

Homelessness has more to do with drug addiction and mental health issues than it does with poverty.

Payments on an 8% mortgage will be covered by an $8 a month per thousand payment. To service a $50,000 mortgage will therefore cost $400 a month. An individual earning $10 an hour can make $20,000 in an average work year. That's more than enough to pay a $400 per month mortgage. And yes, in the midwest US, livable houses may be bought for $50,000. Poverty does not cause or excuse crime.

Pirata est hostis humani generis.

This has been true since history first began to be recorded.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Wolfhound

Homelessness has more to do with drug addiction and mental health issues than it does with poverty.

Payments on an 8% mortgage will be covered by an $8 a month per thousand payment. To service a $50,000 mortgage will therefore cost $400 a month. An individual earning $10 an hour can make $20,000 in an average work year. That's more than enough to pay a $400 per month mortgage. And yes, in the midwest US, livable houses may be bought for $50,000. Poverty does not cause or excuse crime.

Pirata est hostis humani generis.

This has been true since history first began to be recorded.

You forgot something. To qualify for a mortgage you have to make significantly more than the monthly payment and have a deposit ready.

That’s why people don’t have houses.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Wolfhound

Pirata est hostis humani generis.

This has been true since history first began to be recorded.

"Since piracy anywhere is a peril to every mariner and ship everywhere, it is held to be the universal right and the universal duty of all nations, regardless of whether their ships have been beset by the particular band of pirates in question, to capture, try by a regularly constituted court-martial or admiralty court (in extreme circumstances, by means of a drumhead court-martial convened by the officers of the capturing ship), and, if found guilty, to execute the pirate via means of hanging from the yard-arm of the capturing ship, an authoritative custom of the sea."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostis...entOfPirates-2

[Wolfhound]

$20,000 per year is $1,667 per month. Mortgage banks generally want your mortgage amount to be no more than 1/3 of your gross monthly income. The $400 in my example is well less than a third of $1,667.

Many states have programs that will permit an individual to put 10% down on his or her first home. That would be $5,000 in my example. Many individuals earn that sort of money over a relatively brief period of time by holding a second job.

[mitiempo]

With housing prices in this area - Victoria or worse Vancouver - as high as they are your example doesn't work. Average house price in Victoria in 2022 was $872,000. In Vancouver average price is $1,297,000.