Euro, Cycling, Gunmen etc

All this Euro football is wearing me out.  Not that the games are that exciting, indeed I have been disappointed with the show so far and this afternoon I spent more time ironing shirts for what I call work than watching Spain struggle against the Czech Republic.  Three games a day at the moment and few really exciting incidents.
However the fitness of such young men was in my mind as I struggled up the old railway this morning.  The slope was steeper today than yesterday, do you think they were working on it to spite me?  Monday brings a different crowd from the weekend as a few have to walk the dog before work and others are met cycling past in haste, especially downhill, to get in before seven o'clock. I joined the retired set and the 'so late it's not worth rushing set' as I dawdled downhill on my way home.   
How would fit footballers find this slope?  Considering that forty years ago most footballers idea of healthy eating was fish and chips, which indeed are good for you, and two or three or more pints of beer, which are less kind, I suspect older footballers would struggle and today's athletes would find cycling up here very easy indeed.  The transformation in footballers fitness is quite something, all based on proper exercise and eating habits.  Must stop, the chips are burning...

    
Ignoring the news for the most part these days gives me a much better understanding of the world around us.  It avoids the news being forced down the throat and allows us to stand back and consider the news we do see.  Take the fuss over the latest mass killing in the US for instance, lots of reactions in the media and much condemnation for those who do not react, also in the media.  This of course is because this time the gunman (I refuse to say 'shooter') chose a gay bar as his target therefore as we know this makes this killing worse in the medias eyes than if it was a run of the mill school shooting.
The With little news other than a killing and the continuing but boring referendum lies the hack journalists must be delighted with a an outrage they can get their teeth into, much lamenting, a great many stories (some true) and an opportunity to ask the eternal 'Why?' question that they know will not be answered.  Others have jumped on the bandwagon, Nicola Sturgeon the Scots First Minister has flown the gayboys flag outside the Scots Parliament in a show of support.  She of course has a deluded view that she can introduce a 'third gender,' and this also gets her support from the younger chattering classes around her, even the English queen sent a message though to be honest she usually does this in any disaster but it is not often quoted.
The arguments rage concerning the motives, hatred of gays, Islamic terrorism or just another unbalanced crank?  Well of course the answer is all three.  This guy was it appears, and I have not tried to delve deeply into the half truths and lies published concerning him, this guy appears to have been influenced by some 'radical' preachers offering an ISIS type approach to Islam, he also was possibly a bit slow in understanding but as he was born in Afghanistan I believe his culture has not developed into a normal US culture.  A culture that carries guns and often shoots people.
Guns, the carrying of anything outside a small pistol in a town or city where there are no dangerous animals walking the streets would be banned in any sensible nation, in the US however almost anyone can walk into a gunshop and leave with a Kalashnikov or even a Second World War anti aircraft gun if they so choose, this must be seen as absurd but for reasons of their own it isn't seen that way by the National Rifle Association!  Carrying a nail file onto an aircraft is seen as dangerous, carrying a sub machine gun is however OK to them!  These are the people who will vote for Trump!
Was this gunman anti gay?  Probably.  Was he an ISIS terrorist?  Probably not but certainly impressed by them.  Was he under orders?  I doubt it, he was just doing what he understood to be his duty before his god.  Such a shame he did not discuss this with others, as is often the case such people act individually with no contact with any varying opinion.
Forty people are dead, possibly more depending on which paper you read, much pain and sorrow is left behind.  While many grieve the gay lobby is making the most of the opportunity to gather support and suppress opposition as they always do.  I wonder if they condemned the killing of just as many in Turkey a short while ago, or the treatment of migrants in several European countries?  It is  a sad fact but this nation and the west in general lives under a fear of Islamic terrorism yet forgets and under reports the plain truth that more Muslims are killed by Muslims than anyone else!
Shia kill Sunni, Pakistan has seen hundreds of thousands killed yet we offer no sympathy, wars in Iraq and Syria are encouraged and paid for by Islamic states (and we give the bombs to Saudi to drop of Yemen's children) and horrendous treatment is offered in many Islamic countries to their own people yet we tend to fear killings here
I fifty people have died here it is a tragedy however thousands have been killed by everyday Americans this year alone and it is taken for granted!  The US Police have killed more than any terrorist this year that's for sure!
I'm irked because the gay lobby are taking advantage of this tragedy while elsewhere suppressing people who disagree with them, I'm irked because people use tragedy for political or personal advantage, I'm irked because until we give ourselves in repentance to Jesus this will continue, lie after lie and tragedy after tragedy.   

On a lighter note I did not get knocked off my bike by a horse on the bridleway this morning.  Finding horses that early is hard in these parts.  Finding ducks at the pond was also difficult, I could hear them making gruff noises but could not see them for the undergrowth.  How lovely that growth is at this time of year.  The overnight rain brought out the deep atmospheric aroma vegetation offers, birds of many kinds singing in the trees enlightens the mood and knowing the trip is downhill now and I will not be impersonating the wee J5 engines that used to puff up and down the slope cheers me greatly.  Getting fit is a good idea but it is killing me!