Monday, 18 July 2016

Cats and Dogs.

America is troubling me. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it is. This picture troubles me:

  
You see, I can’t imagine that it could have been taken in any modern, economically developed country other than the USA. It was used to illustrate a news report on the fact that the cops in Cleveland want a ban on guns at the upcoming Republican Convention (despite the Republicans being the very people who jealously guard that section of the Constitution which gives every citizen the right to bear arms. Nice irony, folks.)

Mr Trump says America is falling apart. Mr Obama disagrees. I might for once agree with Mr T, but probably for different reasons. The image of America that’s crossing the water is of a country becoming dangerously polarised into those who want to keep the Middle Ages going as long as possible, and those who want to evolve and catch up with nearly everybody else. And please don’t shoot the messenger (irony is flowing freely here.) I’m just saying that it’s the image which is coming over the water. And America does sort of run NATO, doesn’t it?

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So let’s get off the nasty stuff and onto something much pleasanter – two more pictures of two animals that were very significant to me in less troubled times. The first is Em doing her smart-but-a-bit-confused collie dog look. The second is Ratty doing cool (and ‘the rustle I just heard means that something is going to die pretty soon.’ OK, graphic but maybe not particularly pleasant.)



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