The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: torture

  • The Doge’s Palace, Venice: Light and Dark

    The Doge’s Palace, Venice: Light and Dark

    A typical interrogation would start with the accused standing on the raised platform in the vaulted torture chamber.

  • The Most Fun I’ve Ever Had Exercising

    True confession: I hate to exercise.

  • Evil Mind Control

    Read at your own risk.

  • Child Witch Hysteria Revisited

    I’ve written about the Child Witch Hysteria in Africa before. It pains me to have to do so again. But the crisis has not abated. A new, disturbingly detailed report has come out, entitled Branded and beaten: The children accused of witchcraft and murder. It focuses on Nigeria in particular. It discusses how the local…

  • Death by a Thousand Cuts

    I absolutely hate being told that I’m overreacting. Unless you’ve walked a mile in my shoes, you don’t even know what I’m reacting to, Buddy-Roo. You have no freakin’ idea. That’s why it’s so annoying to hear men downplay the whole #MeToo movement. “It was JUST a little slip of the hand. You can’t even…

  • Who’s the Animal in This Scenario?

    One of the most distressing features of social media is that it really highlights the more despicable aspects of humanity. If I’m not reading about some sick $&*@(% who buried a dog alive, leaving only its snout exposed, causing its eventual death, then I’m seeing pictures of men cheering as roosters slice each other to…

  • Donkey Basketball

    Don’t ask me why, but for some reason just the other day I thought of Donkey Basketball for the first time in decades. For the uninitiated, this is, basically, regular basketball, only the players are riding donkeys. These games are usually fundraisers held at local schools. As a kid, I thought these events where hysterical…

  • There Are Just Too Many of Us Now

    I just read an interesting article in the New York Times entitled, In China, Wives Fight Back After Their Activist Husbands Are Jailed. It went on to describe the kinds of human rights abuses you come to expect from China: Defense lawyers being imprisoned simply for standing up for the rights of their clients. Being…

  • A National Case of Foie Gras Syndrome

    Being force fed has to be the most horrible, helpless feeling on earth. I can’t believe Foie Gras isn’t outlawed. I mean, they stick these ducks in cages and then violently stuff corn down their throats to fatten their livers. It’s unimaginable to me that I’d be able to enjoy eating something that comes from…

  • EVERY American Deserves a Political Apology

    No, I’m not talking about who won or didn’t win this election (believe it or not). As a matter of fact, I wrote the first draft of this entry well before election day. No matter where you fall on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree that this whole campaign experience has been…