There are LAWS against this?
 From the LA Times: “The son of former Liberian President Charles Taylor was indicted in Miami on U.S. charges of committing torture as chief of a paramilitary unit during his father’s regime…”…The indictment marks the first time a 12-year-old federal anti-torture law has been used, U.S. officials said.
“Charles McArthur Emmanuel, 29, also known as Chuckie Taylor Jr., was charged with committing torture overseas as a U.S. citizen as well as conspiracy. He could be sentenced to life in prison. “Suspects who face the torture charges must either be U.S. citizens or be caught in the United States; in this case, Taylor was both.” Last I heard, retired torturer Donald Rumsfeld was a U.S. citizen, and I suspect you could find him skulking somewhere in that very country. |
Gallery: Day of the Dead, Oaxaca
Click on the looming phantom to enjoy death the way that we enjoy death in Oaxaca. Because life is overrated. more »
Gallery: Day of the Dead, Oaxaca
Click on the looming phantom to enjoy death the way that we enjoy death in Oaxaca. Because life is overrated. more »
Hairless Love: Understanding Mexico’s Very Bald Dog
FIFTY YEARS AGO, the Xoloitzcuintli — the Mexican Hairless dog — was on the edge of extinction. Now one sleeps in my bed. Whether this is an improvement in the creature’s circumstance can be debated. more »
Hairless Love: Understanding Mexico’s Very Bald Dog
FIFTY YEARS AGO, the Xoloitzcuintli — the Mexican Hairless dog — was on the edge of extinction. Now one sleeps in my bed. Whether this is an improvement in the creature’s circumstance can be debated. more »
Milrose Munce & The Plague of Toxic Fungus
VOLUME TWO in the Epic Milrose Chronicle Saga in Many Volumes
Milrose Munce & The Plague of Toxic Fungus
VOLUME TWO in the Epic Milrose Chronicle Saga in Many Volumes
Canada the Weird
(INITIALLY PUBLISHED in Travel+Leisure Magazine, this feature won the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers, and was republished by Pico Iyer in The Best American Travel Writing 2004.)
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I have made a career out of not enjoying Canada. more »
Canada the Weird
(INITIALLY PUBLISHED in Travel+Leisure Magazine, this feature won the Lowell Thomas Gold Medal from the Society of American Travel Writers, and was republished by Pico Iyer in The Best American Travel Writing 2004.)
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I have made a career out of not enjoying Canada. more »
How to Not Get Beheaded in Mexico
I CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER when I last experienced the beheading of a close friend. Everyone assumes it must be a weekly, or even a daily event: after all, I live in Mexico. The truth, however, is that you are as likely to have your head removed against your will in my town — Oaxaca — as you are to be murdered by roving, machete-crazed gangs in Martha’s Vineyard. more »
How to Not Get Beheaded in Mexico
I CAN’T EVEN REMEMBER when I last experienced the beheading of a close friend. Everyone assumes it must be a weekly, or even a daily event: after all, I live in Mexico. The truth, however, is that you are as likely to have your head removed against your will in my town — Oaxaca — as you are to be murdered by roving, machete-crazed gangs in Martha’s Vineyard. more »
Slithering Into Publication
Some time ago I stumbled upon an entirely new genre of literature. While searching for a Sonny Rollins disc on Amazon, I happened upon the following customer review of Saxophone Colossus:
“Among the finest jazz works ever. more »
Slithering Into Publication
Some time ago I stumbled upon an entirely new genre of literature. While searching for a Sonny Rollins disc on Amazon, I happened upon the following customer review of Saxophone Colossus:
“Among the finest jazz works ever. more »
The NRA’s “Slippery Slope” Lie
The NRA’s famed slippery slope argument is entirely valid. Nobody seems to have noticed, however, that the slope is tilted in the opposite direction. Give the gun lobby a millimeter, and they’ll slide a mile. more »
The NRA’s “Slippery Slope” Lie
The NRA’s famed slippery slope argument is entirely valid. Nobody seems to have noticed, however, that the slope is tilted in the opposite direction. Give the gun lobby a millimeter, and they’ll slide a mile. more »
The NRA Is My Hall Monitor
By all means let’s put armed guards in public schools. I remember in kindergarten really wishing we had cops stalking the hallways: the kind armed and trained to take down determined shooters in bulletproof vests. more »
The NRA Is My Hall Monitor
By all means let’s put armed guards in public schools. I remember in kindergarten really wishing we had cops stalking the hallways: the kind armed and trained to take down determined shooters in bulletproof vests. more »
Now We Know Who’s Going to Take Down the NRA
People would love to donate money towards fighting the NRA. They keep telling me this. I’ve been desperately promoting an obvious solution since the Newtown massacre: a counter-lobby to take on the National Rifle Association, dollar for dollar, using their own grotesquely successful tactics to bring them down. more »
Now We Know Who’s Going to Take Down the NRA
People would love to donate money towards fighting the NRA. They keep telling me this. I’ve been desperately promoting an obvious solution since the Newtown massacre: a counter-lobby to take on the National Rifle Association, dollar for dollar, using their own grotesquely successful tactics to bring them down. more »
So You’re Tired of the Newtown Massacre?
Do you care as much about your children as owners care about their guns? That’s an offensive question, isn’t it. Please. It’s an exercise in tasteless hyperbole — either that or I know nothing about the bond between parent and child. more »
So You’re Tired of the Newtown Massacre?
Do you care as much about your children as owners care about their guns? That’s an offensive question, isn’t it. Please. It’s an exercise in tasteless hyperbole — either that or I know nothing about the bond between parent and child. more »
Guns? Mental Health? Really? Let’s Talk About Psychopaths
It is touching that Wayne LaPierre, the compassionate CEO of the National Rifle Association, has expressed concern for the mental health of his fellow citizens. Let’s take this comical pose seriously for a moment, and imagine just how we might improve psychiatric health services in a way that would diminish the obscene rate of gun violence in America. more »
Guns? Mental Health? Really? Let’s Talk About Psychopaths
It is touching that Wayne LaPierre, the compassionate CEO of the National Rifle Association, has expressed concern for the mental health of his fellow citizens. Let’s take this comical pose seriously for a moment, and imagine just how we might improve psychiatric health services in a way that would diminish the obscene rate of gun violence in America. more »
A Proven Way to End the Gun Slaughter: Will We Fight For it?
Let’s do what doesn’t work. That way we’ll feel like adults, as our loved ones are massacred. The “middle ground,”‘ in particular, is the place to stand if you care more about guns than children. more »
A Proven Way to End the Gun Slaughter: Will We Fight For it?
Let’s do what doesn’t work. That way we’ll feel like adults, as our loved ones are massacred. The “middle ground,”‘ in particular, is the place to stand if you care more about guns than children. more »
It’s the End of the World: Have a Cigar Box Guitar
The Maya never predicted that 2012 would be the Year of the Cigar Box Guitar. They missed the most important story. The end of the world, which ought to be in a couple of hours, is not this year’s crucial event. more »
It’s the End of the World: Have a Cigar Box Guitar
The Maya never predicted that 2012 would be the Year of the Cigar Box Guitar. They missed the most important story. The end of the world, which ought to be in a couple of hours, is not this year’s crucial event. more »
Walking in the Shoes of Our Slain Children
We care about the parents of children murdered. We care when they lose their loved ones to psychopaths enabled by the NRA. We care deeply, don’t we? That’s why we’re all so livid about this: the father of a boy shot in that school massacre, who was taunted by a proud militiaman, “Your son should have had a gun, you stupid….”
The howls of indignation have been heard nationwide. more »
Walking in the Shoes of Our Slain Children
We care about the parents of children murdered. We care when they lose their loved ones to psychopaths enabled by the NRA. We care deeply, don’t we? That’s why we’re all so livid about this: the father of a boy shot in that school massacre, who was taunted by a proud militiaman, “Your son should have had a gun, you stupid….”
The howls of indignation have been heard nationwide. more »
This Is What You Take to a Gun Fight
The NRA has done the nation a tremendous service by rating politicians. The most manly — which is to say, the most servile — earn a solid A. Those most resistant to lockstep loyalty earn an F. more »
This Is What You Take to a Gun Fight
The NRA has done the nation a tremendous service by rating politicians. The most manly — which is to say, the most servile — earn a solid A. Those most resistant to lockstep loyalty earn an F. more »