Dawn

Dawn

Friday, January 09, 2015

Conspiracy theories; Richard III; Andorra; Driving; Drugs; Fotos; & A joke.

It didn't take long for the internet's resident nutters to dismiss the Paris attacks as the work of Israel(Mossad) alone; Israel plus the CIA; Israel plus the CIA plus the French government; or Israel, plus the CIA, plus the French government plus Nato. It's even been suggested that the gunmen were a specialist Ukrainian duo. Well, I suppose anything is possible but I do wonder how any or all of these could have been so incompetent as to leave so many clues proving that it was all fake. You can review the claims and the evidence here. As you'd guess, the contributors are not nice to each other.

The conspiracy theorists seem particularly exercised about the fact that the policeman shot when prone in the street didn't oblige by having blood, gore and his brains spray onto the pavement. The simple explanation may be that the gunman missed, hitting the ground from which the dust rose. As regards this scene, all the British media blocked out the face of the policemen, whereas - as is customary - the Spanish media were less queasy. At least the newspapers were and I'd be happy to bet the TV channels were too.

I was intrigued to hear yesterday that the much vilified English king, Richard III, was responsible - during his brief 1493-5 reign - for introducing laws to counter corruption in government. Here in Spain, President Rajoy says he'll be getting round to this during this (election) year.

President Rajoy did something else unusual this week - he visited little Andorra. This, incredibly, is the first time Spain has honoured her neighbour in this way. Need I say it was a move designed to show that Madrid really is doing something about corruption and all the cash which has found its way across the border and into Andorran banks?

Up in the Galician hills, a zealous policemen has again re-defined a motoring offence. A woman driver has been fined after her boyfriend gave her a peck on the cheek - because her 'attention was distracted'. By this logic, we'll soon be fined for having flies in our car. Let alone radios, CD players and satnavs, etc.

Talking of Galicia . . . I was interested to discover yesterday we have an outfit called El Greco. But nothing to do with art. It's the Grupo de Respuesta Contra el Crimen Organizado. And it's based here in Pontevedra. They've arrested a (well-known) drug baron (narcotrafico) called O Mulo (The Mule), in connection (I think) with the discovery of 1.5 tonnnes of white powder in a boat off our coast. A not infrequent occurrence.

A couple of fotos . . .

This is what wild boar stew looks like. At least when you use a dumbphone to snap it . . .



And this is what my front hedge looks like this year. It's never had this colour before and I wonder whether it's a result of global warming. Specifically the December combination of 31 cold nights and 31 sunny days.




Finally . . . A nice Xmas cartoon in the latest edition of Private Eye: Joseph is asking the 3 Wise Men: So, which way did you come, then? What was the traffic like? When do you have to go back?

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