Cute Cat Friday 2016-08-12: Joni

I am the claw in the darkness. I am the watcher on the wall. I am the shield that guards the realm of the back garden.

Presidential Election Explained Using Food

Imagine the USA has to vote on what everyone eats tonight.

Hillary Clinton is like a cheese and tomato pizza. Some people would prefer additional toppings, or a different food altogether. Others are excited about the first pizza candidate with a real chance of winning. All things considered, it's a safe and widely acceptable choice.

Image by Lombroso, Wikimedia Commons

Donald Trump is like a cheeseburger laced with anthrax. If the cheeseburger wins, a lot of people will be made horribly ill, and some will die. We have no way of knowing how many, but those not in robust health to start with will come out worst. (Trump isn't even trying to hide the anthrax. He assures us the infection will Make America Great Again.)

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate, is like the five-alarm chili flavoured with Guatemalan insanity peppers. It's undoubtedly exciting, but let's face it, not to everyone's taste.

Jill Stein, the Green candidate, is like an organic kale and quinoa salad. It may be very nutritious; but as Homer Simpson has observed, you don't win friends with salad. (At least, you won't win over the Homer Simpsons of America, and a winning candidate needs their votes.)

Bernie Sanders started off supporting salad too. But he's won the concessions of basil pesto and better quality cheese, and now he is endorsing pizza. Nevertheless, some of his erstwhile supporters insist that it's salad or nothing.

In this election, "Nothing" is not an option. One of these candidates will win, and it will affect the entire world, not just America. Realistically speaking, it's either pizza or the anthrax burger. If you are so inclined, you can fight for salad another time. Right now, it's strongly advisable to get with the program and vote for pizza.

Cute Cat Friday 2016-08-05: Joni

Box inspector at work.

A Taxonomy of Trumpists

More and more, Trump's campaign looks like some mad piece of performance art. Exactly how bad can he get? How ignorant and hateful can he sound before he is abandoned by the American public?

Just in the last two weeks, Trump has insulted the parents of a dead Muslim American soldier, celebrated the use of torture, and claimed the Presidential election would be rigged. He reportedly asked a foreign policy expert why the USA had nuclear weapons if it didn't use them. In what I think is an unprecedented step for a sitting President, Obama said Trump was unfit to hold the office.

Obama is absolutely right. It's not simply that I disagree with Trump. He is unable to handle the responsibility of being President.

Image source: Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons

It is not so shocking Trump has said and done what he has. We always knew he was an ignorant bully; those who thought otherwise were deluding themselves. The shocking thing is that his popular support remains so high. The RCP polling average currently has Clinton 47.4%, Trump 40.6%. That should translate into a comfortable victory for Clinton, but it still means four in ten Americans prefer Trump.

Cute Cat Friday 2016-07-29: Joni

I got up and went downstairs to get a USB stick. 28 seconds later, Joni had taken over my chair. She remained there until I distracted her, by opening a desk drawer so she had to see what was inside.

Gone Festivaling

No blog entry this week, even though politics on both sides of the Atlantic is providing a wealth of material. I'm going to the Cambridge Folk Festival instead. Cute Cat Friday will be up as normal this afternoon.

Have a good weekend!

Image source: Cambridge Live Trust

Cute Cat Friday 2016-07-22: Joni

Nap time once again. The best thing about this spot is, it's out of reach of passing toddlers.