Daily Archives: January 19, 2021

One more day of having a raging personality disorder in the White House. This stable genius who isnt. This desperately small man who staged a failed coup on the 6th of January. This weak man who doesnt have the ego strength to admit defeat, nor the grace to congratulate the winner. This frightened man who slinks away to his Florida estate without attending the inauguration of his successor.

Trump is undoubtedly the worst president we have ever had in modern times or are likely to ever see again.

Some folks around here disagree enamored with the Trump Cult and badly in need of deprogramming. My comrade on the right side of this page called him the best president ever. Excuse me?

Of course, Republicans only have a couple moves left in their playbook. If it doesnt involve tax cuts for the wealthy, spending cuts for single moms or obscene increases in military spending, the Republicans just dont know what to do. They have become one dimensional. Do these things, or say these words, and you will continue to get votes around here until time in memorial.

Which is probably why Trump messed up on COVID. They have taken Reagans pejoratively famous nine worst words Im from the government and Im here to help and have turned that into an item of faith; a chiseled commandment in the rock of right-wing ideology.

The fact is some problems are best solved by government. By working together. We are about to see a new philosophy of good government emerge when Biden takes the reins on Wednesday. And he inherits a real mess. Luckily, he has a Democratically controlled Senate and House poised to save the day.

It is deja vu all over again. Remember 2009, when Obama took over and the economy was in a free fall? We have a similar situation this time, possibly even worse. In 2009, the Democrats had the House and the Senate and they led the way out of the Great Recession. They will lead the way out of this challenge too.

Republicans break things; Democrats know how to fix things. It is as simple as that. The people of Georgia knew that when they had the wit to vote in two Democratic senators in our time of need. We all need to eat a peach in gratitude for the wisdom Georgia has shown the country.

Last week, the normally conservative Chico Enterprise Record called on Rep. Doug LaMalfa to resign. LaMalfas antics on national TV where he embarrassed northern California by bringing up skepticism of the moon landing on Chris Cuomos show was just the start of a very bad post-election season for LaMalfa.

Doug has been in lockstep with Trump for the past few years. Congressman LaMalfa joined in with those who tried to undue the 2020 election by challenging the electoral votes of two states. This after the failed coup of Trump zealots storming the Capitol and briefly holding the building while Confederate flags were paraded around Statuary Hall.

But in a move that might cost severe illness or even death for a peer, he refused to wear a mask while in cramped quarters with other Congressmen and women during the occupation of the Capitol building. They spent hours hiding in a meeting room where a colleague, Lisa Blunt, offered him a mask. LaMalfa refused, while a fellow Republican said he didnt want to make the situation political. LaMalfa succumbed to Republican politically incorrect peer pressure just like any high school student. Shame.

Three Democratic lawmakers have since tested positive for COVID, including a stage 4 cancer survivor, and they blame the time spent with Doug and his COVID Mary colleagues as their probable exposure.

How sad is that? What kind of leadership is that? No wonder Tehama County has a nation leading 44% COVID test positivity rate. The rest of California has a 12.6% rate.

Doug LaMalfa has become a zealot for the anti-science, anti-common-sense, extremist right-wing of the Republican Party. He not only has become toxic for our democracy, he now has become toxic for the best way, besides the vaccine, that we have for combating a virus that sickens and kills his constituents.

The Chico ER is correct: LaMalfa should resign and return to the government subsidized rice ranch he inherited.

Audrey Denney would have been a much better congressional representative for us. Maybe someday we will learn to vote for the best candidate rather than just voting for the candidate with the R behind his or her name.

Allan Stellar is an RN and a freelance writer who moved to Red Bluff after the Camp Fire. He can be reached at Allan361@aol.com.

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One more day of the Trump administration - Red Bluff Daily News

What happened on January 17 in the history of the New York Rangers

The 2003-04 season was the last season that the NHL had games end in a tie. On this date in 2004, the New York Rangers played the last tie game in their history. The game was in Montreal and the final score was 2-2. It was the 5,320th game in the team history and the 808th game to end in a tie. Alex Kovalev scored with just over five minutes left in the third period to tie the game.

From its inception until the 1942 -43 season, NHL teams played a 10 minute overtime period (not sudden death), but an overtime loss did not count for any points. Eliminated due to wartime restrictions, the league then just played a 60 minute regulation game until the 1983-84 season when the NHL introduced the five minute sudden death overtime. Games could end in a tie in this format. A team that lost in overtime or tied, got one point in the standings.

Ties went away completely when the league introduced the shootout in the 2005-06 season. The last tie registered in the NHL was on April 4, 2004 when the Carolina Hurricanes came back to tie the Florida Panthers in their last game of the season.

Ties were never a satisfactory way to end a game. Politically incorrect in these times, the common phrase to describe a tie was like kissing your sister. Its hard to imagine, but the Rangers actually played 21 ties in the 1950-51 season. Thats 30% of the games in what was then a70 game campaign.

Coincidentally, that 1950-51 team broke the franchise record of 13 ties in a season on this exact date when they tied the Bruins 2-2 at Madison Square Garden. The old mark had been set by the 1948 Rangers.

Five of the 21 NHL players born on this date were members of the New York Rangers, including one Hall of Famer.

On this date in 1929, Jacques Plante was born in Shawanigan Falls, Quebec. Plante is considered one of the greatest goaltenders in NHL history and he was the first to use a mask in an NHL game. He played only two seasons in New York, traded from Montreal in a swap of legendary goalies. Gump Worsley went to Montreal in exchange for Plante after the 1962-63 season.

It was not a good deal for New York as Plante retired after being sent down to the AHL while Worsley won two Vezina Trophies with the Canadiens. In 1967 he attempted a comeback with Oakland, but the Rangers disputed his contract. He did come back in 1968 in 1968 with the St. Louis Blues, winning the Vezina Trophy for the seventh time.

Plante won six Stanley Cups with Montreal and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1978.

Leo Bourgeault was a defenseman bornon this date in 1903 in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. He was a member of the first New York Rangers team after being bought from the Toronto Maple Leafs. He played five years in New York and was on the 1928 Stanley Cup championship team.

Fred Hunt was born on this date in 1918 in Brantford, Ontario. He was one of the players who made the NHL during the war years, playing 44 games in 1944-45. The right winger scored 13 goals in his one season in New York, one of two years he was in the NHL.

Aaron Ward was born on this date in 1973 in Windsor, Ontario. The defenseman was a high profile free agent signedto a two year deal worth $5.5 million in 2006, right after he had won a cup with the Carolina Hurricanes. His time in New York was short as he feuded with Jaromir Jagr and he found himself traded to the Boston Bruins for Paul Mara after only 60 games.

Viktor Stalberg was a Swedish winger signed as a free agent by the Rangers in the summer of 2015. He was born in Gothenburg, Sweden on this date in 1986. He had previously played two season in Nashville after winning a Stanley Cup with the Blackhawsk in 2013. He played only one season in New York, scoring nine goals. He departed via free agency and is now playing in the KHL.

The Rangers have not enjoyed playing on January 17 with only 11 wins in 34 games.

Games: 34Regulation wins: 11Regulation losses: 17Ties: 6Points percentage: .411

A year ago the Rangers were off, recovering from a dramatic win over the Islanders.

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On January 17 in NYR history: The last tieever - Blue Line Station

For most of us, memes are the harmless fodder of an extremely online internet culture, floating benignly between different social media platforms and, on the whole, making us laugh. But in the shadier corners of the internet, like on the forum 4chan, memes can quickly mutate from jokes into more ambiguous, shocking and potentially harmful viral content.

Thats especially true of memes that call into question the efficacy and safety of vaccines often termed anti-vax content. Anti-vaccination sentiment is not a new phenomenon, but is increasingly fuelled by online misinformation. Unfounded claims proliferate online, linking vaccines to disease development, or presenting COVID-19 as a hoax.

When they go viral, such conspiracy theories present a major obstacle to the success of any immunisation campaign, as they may contribute to vaccine hesitancy. In the UK, more than a quarter of the population signals reluctance or suspicion about receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Globally, willingness to be vaccinated varies widely.

To combat the spread of anti-vaccination rumours, platforms are currently using a dual strategy of censorship and fact checking. Both practices have their pitfalls. Censorship may actually stimulate curiosity, while people who distrust mainstream media are not likely to trust fact checkers.

And much online content like viral memes is not primarily meant to inform, and is therefore hard to evaluate in terms of whether its information, misinformation, or simply a joke.

Internet memes are a defining feature of online communication. The term can refer to any widely shared and replicated piece of online content in a variety of styles and formats. While mostly humorous or relatable, some memes have come to be associated with hateful beliefs through their occurrence on influential websites such as the imageboard 4chan.

Read more: Coronavirus and conspiracies: how the far right is exploiting the pandemic

4chan boasts over 20 million unique visitors a month, and is highly influential in meme culture. On 4chans Politically Incorrect board (/pol/), people anonymously discuss world news and political events from perspectives that run counter to the public consensus. Views expressed on /pol/ can be shocking and unpleasant.

Conspiracy theories such as QAnon flourished on /pol/, and the forum has been linked to the recent Capitol riots.

Presumed malicious intent behind vaccination programmes is a commonly voiced concern on the board. In a recent study, I showed that anti-vaccination posts encountered on /pol/ (and found across social media) display a number of recurring elements, such as revulsion to vaccine ingredients and selective appeals to authority. With vaccine hesitancy becoming an increasingly pressing concern, the role of such memetic patterns in the spread of misinformation deserves careful attention.

Anti-vaccination posts regularly contain a visual component. For instance, a reference to authority can be expressed through a vaccine-critical quote next to the face of the person who supposedly uttered it. Surprisingly often, quotes included in anti-vaccination discussions are attributed incorrectly.

Online, incorrect attribution does not just happen by accident. Fake quotes are a very popular meme format, often intended to satirise and amuse. Todays internet users are likely to encounter the face of historic figures such as Lincoln, Einstein or Gandhi, paired with an absurdly out-of-place statement.

Such memes creatively critique the popular practice of sharing inspirational messages. They also ridicule received sources of wisdom and authority. But as a result, it is often unclear whether anti-vaccination statements voiced through the face-and-quote format are shared and received in earnest, or through an ironic lens.

Accustomed to online irony, a proportion of internet users on 4chan and beyond may not intend their multi-layered jokes to contribute to vaccine hesitancy. The influence of ironic meme culture may also mitigate the impact of misinformation by priming the browsing crowd for absurdity rather than accuracy. However, diverse audiences make for diverse reactions. While quotes supposedly exposing the evil intentions of figures such as Bill Gates a common target of conspiratorial beliefs can easily be read in jest, they can also influence internet users to distrust vaccines.

A second common feature of anti-vaccination discourse is revulsion to vaccine ingredients. This sentiment tends to be communicated by means of lists combining chemical and bestial elements. When taken out of context, a compilation of vaccine components mentioning mercury, formaldehyde, and cows blood can indeed inspire fear and disgust. When presented to shock, the ingredients of any complex product may come to look like an alchemists concoction or a sinister witchs brew.

Feelings of aversion may be exacerbated by the image of a syringe, which in anti-vax posts is often presented together with ingredients deemed harmful. Most children fear needles, and a large proportion of adults do, too. In many contexts, sharp objects are associated with harm, not health.

It is surprising, then, that ironic replications of the syringe-plus-ingredients template circulate online, mocking the anti-vaxxers fears and supposed scientific illiteracy. Such memetic efforts may aim to comically combat misinformation, but nonetheless spread visual prompts that reinforce suspicion. From this perspective, you may even wonder whether popular newspapers contribute to vaccine hesitancy by repeatedly using pictures of a needle breaching the skin.

Attitudes to vaccination are communicated not just through what is written, but also through particular representational patterns. Meme formats and visual outlines can spread misinformation, even when created and shared with humorous intent.

After all, Poes Law dictates that theres a wafer-thin line between satirical and fanatical content. In the context of COVID-19, that line is all too easily crossed.

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How anti-vax memes replicate through satire and irony - The Conversation UK

Earlier this week, my family found itself in a rather strange predicament. A distant relative had died. My mother-in-law wanted to pay her condolences to the family. Visiting the grieving family was ruled out given the COVID-19 concerns we're all harbouring despite vaccines rolling out and official numbers coming down.

And then we received a strange invitation on Microsoft Teams from the son of the deceased. A virtual prayer meeting was to be held and we were all to offer our condolences -online.

To my surprise, my mother-in-law, who is very quickly adapting to the new normal, didn't bat an eyelid and decided that she would embrace this too and perform her duties.

What followed was the strangest exercise in coordinating a Microsoft Teams call. A few politically-incorrect giggles followed which didn't fit the occasion. And of course, some tech goof-ups are the trademark of every online class, virtual conference, or meeting, and in this case, a virtual prayer meeting.

We asked ourselves the all-important questions. Would it be appropriate to switch off our video while we offer condolences to the grieving family? What if my son wakes up and starts singing Peppa Pig anthems, or worse yet, what if he screams for a run to the washroom?

We sat down solemnly, patted our hair in place, and muted our microphones. After all, we didn't want someone asking "what's for dinner?" in the middle of this grave exercise!

Family members from across the country and even other parts of the world logged in. Multiple windows were opened, each struggling to keep a sombre face in an unnatural setting. Some forgot to mute their microphones and were heard juggling household chores while the family of the deceased tried to keep their Wi-Fi connection strong enough to handle the virtual grief.

And I thought to myself -- this perhaps is a new way of life. A new way of connecting or disconnecting. We've suffered through the pains of working-from-home and juggling household chores. We have borne the pain of separation from loved ones during lockdowns. And now, we must say goodbye to our loved ones in the most disconnected way too. And yet, we show up, we maintain a sombre face, we persevere.

At some point during the virtual prayer meeting, someone's son had to use the washroom, while another's house help asked what to cook for dinner. Some laughed at the faux-pas while others ignored them. We struggled to keep a straight face, momentarily forgetting why we were in this strange predicament in the first place.

And then it dawned upon me that the pandemic has changed us in more ways than one.

It's one thing when education moves online, weddings are held on video conferences and baby shower gifts are exchanged on Google Pay. But it is truly strange when grief goes virtual. When the end of life is marked with multiple chat windows and curious faces peering at one another. Some observe the other's clothes, some notice the weight gain, others feel obligated to connect with those with whom they have lost contact over time.

And for the elderly, it is an unfair battle. When I see my mother-in-law embrace technology, it gives me pride. When I see her preparing herself to monitor my son's online classes, I feel grateful. But when I see her sitting down on a Microsoft Teams call, grieving and yet worried if the Wi-Fi connection will betray her, I feel frustrated.

But then again, we fight on, we persevere, we realize that this is the New Normal. Who knows if people will ever congregate to offer condolences again?

I shudder to think of what else will move online. Any guesses?

(Disclaimer: The views of the writer do not represent the views of WION or ZMCL. Nor does WION or ZMCL endorse the views of the writer.)

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Opinion | When grief goes online - WION

Succeeding in the world of theater is tough no matter who you are. But if youre a conservative Orthodox Jew, its even tougher. Just ask Joshua Danese.

Danese is hardly new to the profession. Some three decades ago, he found success as a young, progressive, secular Jewish writer. He wrote and produced plays and occasionally acted as well. Then one day, he was inspired to write a play about Orthodox Jews.

I started doing research about them, one thing led to another, and in that journey I ended up being religious, he told me in an interview.

Josh changed his name to Yehoshua Danese, and became a rabbi in a yeshiva. He got married, and he and his wife have 11 children. Now, 30 years later, he has gotten back to writing, but as a very different man. And his current identity has made his reception in the theater world very different from what it had been when he was young and liberal.

I understand that things are stacked against me, he says, and that no one will put on a play that is politically incorrect.

But he perseveres, and now his play, When Ms. Thompson and Cynthia Met at the Beach, will be performed for the first time at thefifth annual Conservative Theatre Festival, which will take place at the Abbey Theater in Dublin, Ohio, on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30. This may be the nations only conservative theater festival.

Playwright Linda Howard Cooke harbored similar concerns about her play Unplanned. She was sure it would never see the light of a theater because of its pro-life theme.

Cooke started writing plays 10 years ago, when she was working in a small rural high school in Nebraska as a drama coach. I had a hard time finding many plays that I liked, she told me, so it was the old adage: if you want it done properly, do it yourself.

She has since had four plays published, and Unplanned will be performed for the first time at the Conservative Theatre Festival at the end of this month.

Robert Cooperman, the founder of Stage Right Theatrics, explains that he started the annual Conservative Theatre Festival because he was tired of seeing conservatives presented as bumpkins and people who needed to be educated. Now in its fifth year, the festival describes its content as original plays from marginalized voices.

The irony is hard to miss. The arts have long been a place for marginal voices. But today, theater, film, television, and literature are almost entirely in lockstep with the woke leftand marginal voices have been marginalized into silence. Moreover, the arts are increasingly used as a cudgel to beat up those who do not adhere to the prevailing worldview of the left.

The pressure for theaters to host woke contentor else feel the backlash of cancel cultureis extreme. Last year, theater producer Marie Ciscopublisheda list of Theaters Not Speaking Out She asked people to list theaters that had not made a statement against injustices toward black people.

The fact thattheaters across the countrywere struggling merely to stay alive amid canceled seasons was of no concern.

It is all the more admirable, therefore, that Cooperman is not afraid to stand as a lone voice in organizing the fifth annual Conservative Theatre Festival. And in spite of the fact that the coronavirus will restrict the audience size, the good news is that for the first time, the performances will be livestreamed, making them accessible to audiences across the country.

The plays that will be performed in this years festival are: For a Daddy by Anne Nygren Doherty; Friday Night Dead Teiresias by Mark Dinsmore; Grandmas Easter Parade by Jason Ford; If the Shoe Fits by Hope Bolinger; Unplanned by Linda Howard Cooke; and When Mrs. Thompson and Cynthia Met at the Beach, by Joshua Danese.

As we enter this next, difficult phase of the battle for the soul of the country, conservatives must re-engage in the culture. We cannot allow it to be the exclusive domain of the left.

As Andrew Klavan pointed out in his article The Crisis in the Arts: Why the Left Owns the Culture and How Conservatives Can Begin to Take It Back: The arts are one of humanitys most noble enterprises. They have been hijacked by adherents of a low and oppressive ideology. We should take them back.

Supporting conservative playwrights and conservative theater is one step in the right direction.

>>> Performances will be Jan. 29 at 7:30 p.m. and Jan. 30 at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. For more information, visitconservativefestivaloh.com.

Originally posted here:
Among Marginalized Voices at Upcoming Theater Festival: Conservatives - Heritage.org

A Ram 1500 with an American flag decal and a I identify as a Prius tailgate sticker was snapped ICE-ing a Tesla charging station early this month, suggesting the trend has not yet completely gone away.

ICE-ing involves deliberately parking an internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicle in front of a public electric car charging space, keeping EVs from filling up there.

Electric vehicles cant get those electrons just anywhere, so being blocked access to a charging station is very annoying for EV owners indeed.

Some have suggested the incidents are often be pulled off by blue-collar pickup truck owners who think theyre, in a manner of speaking, sticking it to the proverbial EV man. The (unsurprisingly) politically incorrect I identify as a Prius sticker on this truck seems to underscore the odds of that possibility.

In the fads heyday a few years ago, photographs of ICE-ing incidents sparked outrage across social media, with people arguing both for and against it. These days, more than anything it seems like a plea for attention, since, largely, nobody cares.

At this point, putting an EV charger in your trucks tailpipe is about as cool and imaginative as an obnoxious NOGAS-type novelty plate on a Tesla.

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Ram truck with Tesla charger in tailpipe shows 'ICE-ing' trend not over - Driving

New Delhi: Protesting farmers are not inclined to relent from the path they have chosen of a long-drawn agitation, if need be. But they will not be politically incorrect either, lest they alienate the sympathy they have generated. So, even as Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav announced that they will carry out a tractor parade along Delhi's Outer Ring Road on Republic Day, the latter also underscored that the parade will be conducted peacefully with the Tricolour in hand.

"Along with jawans, the kisan will also celebrate the sovereignty of the country," Yadav said at a press conference here, raising the decibel level on the 53rd day of the farmers' protest at the borders of the national capital against the Centre's farm laws.

Yadav also added that brandishing of weapons, use of inflammatory language and intimidation would be a strict no-no.

"There will be no disruption of the official Republic Day ceremony," he added. The parade will pass through Peeragadhi, Janakpuri, Dhaula Kuan, Munirka, IIT, Khel Gaon, Chirag Delhi, Nehru Place, Okhla, Majnu ka tila, Burari, Azadpur, among other areas.

"Each tractor will carry the national flag (Tricolour) besides the flag of the union concerned. No political party flag will on display. Those not able to reach New Delhi will organise the tractor march in their villages," the farmer leaders said.

On Sunday, farmers continued to organise mock tractor rallies in various parts of Punjab to encourage more people to join the proposed march in large numbers.

All eyes are now on the Supreme Court which will hear various pleas related to the contentious farm laws on Monday. A three-judge bench of the apex court is likely to also take up the matter of recusal of Bhupendra Singh Maan from the four-member committee on farm laws. The committee will hold its first meeting on January 19.

The Supreme Court will also hear a petition by the Delhi Police seeking an injunction against the proposed tractor march, claiming that it could lead to a law and order situation.

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Farmers' tractor protest on Republic Day will be with Tricolour in hand - Free Press Journal

A few days after the end of the administration of President Donald Trump, the United States announced new sanctions against the Cuban Ministry of Interior (Minente), one of the unilateral measures recently adopted against the island.

Without providing any evidence, the pretext for this action is the purported responsibility of the portfolio minister, General Lazaro Alvarez Casas, for alleged human rights violations, an excuse that the United States government uses repeatedly against states that do not surrender. To their direction.According to an official statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the measure was adopted, according to Executive Order 13818, which implements the Program for International Human Rights Accountability, which is one of the laws that Washington uses to interfere in the internal affairs of other countries.

The text reiterates allegations similar to those made clear in recent years, and indicates that Minint is classified as responsible, complicit, or directly or indirectly participating in alleged human rights violations.Among other justifications for the imposition of sanctions on Minente, Pompeos statement notes that the Cuban government is holding at least 100 prisoners, according to that federal agency, in prison for political reasons.However, the Caribbean state authorities have rejected this category on several occasions, as they are in fact individuals who have violated Cuban laws by committing various criminal acts.

Finally, the Secretary of State calls on governments and other international organizations to comply with Washingtons demands and join these unilateral sanctions, in addition to those imposed by the White House against Cuba for nearly 60 years.

The unwarranted and unilateral action against Minente adds to Pompeos announcement this week regarding the new inclusion of the island in Washingtons list of countries that sponsor terrorism, a clause that experts describe as one-sided, bogus, and politically incorrect.Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel described the decision as the last strikes of a failed and corrupt administration with the Cuban-Miami mafia.

From Prinsa Latina translated by Edda Garbry

Communicator. Reader. Hipster-friendly introvert. General zombie specialist. Tv trailblazer

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Until the last day, Trump continued to hit Cuba with criminal sanctions - Prudent Press Agency

The law for us kids in the 1950s and 1960s meant the local police. They walked their beats and turned up in awkward places. They knew everyone and took no nonsense. Worse yet, many were my fathers patients or in his St John Ambulance first aid class, so they had a vested interest in his offspring not going off the rails.

In my fifth year at Stirling High School, my parents were made aware that possible expulsion was in the air.

There had been continued absences from cross-country running afternoons, and a chemistry class had to be evacuated due to the sudden production of clouds of dense white smoke.

Then there was a public strapping at the main entrance of the school by the gowned headmaster for repeated lateness which was gleefully observed by my peers from upstairs classroom windows.

There was also a poem, influenced by Robert Burns, describing the ample bosom of our French teacher, that had come to light after being proudly if naively shown to classmates.

Years later, the gulf between Scotland and our parts of Africa was underlined when a nursing sister from Soweto in South Africa, who had trained at the famous Baragwanath teaching hospital, was reading the headlines of a Glasgow morning paper Id brought back from annual leave.

28 murders last year. New national record, screamed the headline.

Hau! We have more than that in a weekend at Bara, the nursing sister said.

Tribes and rural communities here have their own laws, based on oral tradition and precedent, police and government authorities often not being involved.

For example, our elderly uncles goats, having eaten his neighbours cassava shrubs, were confiscated until the agreed fine was paid.

Our own cow evaded an inattentive herd boy for an illegal lunch of sorghum.

Had this been repeated, the felons calf would have become community property to be auctioned off.

Currently, the parents of a young man guilty of several thefts and assaults, at a hearing of the communitys elders, will have their belongings dumped outside their huts, the doors locked, and have to move outside the area.

The son was handed over to the police by the elders and imprisoned without further ado, later to join his deported family.

My wifes tribe, the Madi of southern Sudan, have discouraging rules for major offences, a fact explained to me while negotiating the bride price with her relatives in Khartoum.

Should the happy couple do the unthinkable before marriage or commit adultery afterwards, you are bound hand and foot before being taken to a traditional site in the bush.

A length of fresh bamboo is split, two internal rings cut out, and your head rammed into the gap, each end then being tightly spliced.

The tensile strength of the young bamboo as it dried out in the fierce heat literally scrambled your brains but long before that one of numerous predators like hyenas or leopards would have ended your predicament.

My own tribes now politically-incorrect approach to law-breaking seems sensible.

Dave Torrance was from Dundee, the much-respected manager of the first sugar mill at Simunye in Swaziland.

If an employee did something daft that endangered himself or his mates, the two of them would go round to the back of the factory, strip to the waist and fight bare-fisted.

There were no disciplinary hearings, no trades union inquiries and company reports, a visit to the clinic for repairs (Torrance was strong, fit and agile) instead taking their place.

The trappings of the law in Swaziland are more formal than the foregoing, bewigged judges garbed in startling crimson dressing gowns trimmed with artificial white fur.

The accused often insist on conducting their own defence despite pleas from the bench not to do so.

Dr David Vost studied medicine at Glasgow University and is currently working at a hospital in Swaziland. He and his family live on a small farm in Northern Uganda near the Albert Nile. If you wish to contact Dr Vost, send an email to davidvostsz@gmail.com

Dr David Vost studied medicine at Glasgow University and is currently working at a hospital in Swaziland. He and his family live on a small farm in Northern Uganda near the Albert Nile. davidvostsz@gmail.com

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Notes from Africa: No escaping the long arms of the law - HeraldScotland