Thoughts and Prayers May 2018

Yet more shootings have occurred in US schools.  Again.


The above video was recorded last year in response to the way that US politicians keep blaming mental health for these shootings which do not occur anywhere as frequently in developed nations with decent gun controls.

I am grateful that I live in a nation where I do not have to worry as much as parents in the USA that my children will be murdered at school. Danger is everywhere in all nations and the mass murder of children can happen in any western nation. It last happened in the UK in 1996, following which a ban on handguns was imposed. Before this, following a mass shooting in 1987, semi-automatic weapons had been banned.

Since then, we have had incidents where the murder of more than one person has occurred, but these have been rare, one example being, how Derrick Bird killed many innocent people, followed by the murderous rampage of Raoul Moat. But this was in 2010 and while mass murder has occurred since then on several occasions, firearms have not been used in this manner to kill so many. The thing is that guns are still legal in the UK, though there are restrictions on what guns can be owned.

Gun crime exists here, but the rates are far lower than in nations like the USA, just like how the overall murder rate in the USA is higher than in other developed nations. The call in the USA by many is for assault weapons to be banned. Those who are against it cite the second amendment to the US constitution which allows the right to bear arms. But this was made in a time when a well trained person would take almost a minute to shoot three times. I have discussed this with my wife, and she is of the view that nothing will change in the USA. And to be fair, she may be right. After the murders of very young children in Sandy Hook, assault weapons are still legal, and this is probably due to the campaign contributions made by organisations like the NRA to protect the right of Americans to have assault rifles, though this has meant the continued murder of children in schools. Something that does not happen anywhere near as often outside the USA.  And when it is okay to kill kids aged between six and seven, teenagers have no chance of being protected by gun laws.  Which means, that other than the ban on bump stocks, Trump is not going to act to stop the continued mass murder of American children in schools.

All weekends are equal, but some are more equal than others

Today, we decided not to do the sensible thing, which was to stay at home and work on the garden.  Instead we went out for a trip to Southwold.  We have been here many a time and the children do not seem to mind the drive there, as now they have control over the music that we listen to.

Once there, we were lucky to find a parking space, but it was a bit colder than we had expected.  After some time on the pier where he had some lunch, enjoyed the sun, and gazed at the sea, it was a walk into town.  My son was amazing as he was willing to walk quite fast, though this was related to Pokémon Go.  This has been amazing for him when it comes to exercise and I have to say I was impressed with his endurance.

After that it was a drive home where my wife fed us some amazing pasta and we snuggled up on the sofa to watch a film.

Trump and his christian values on abortion

Ireland have agreed to a change in the abortion laws that have saved the lives of many babies who had mothers who were unable to afford a trip to the United Kingdom.

Do not get me wrong, like many, I think that abortion should be safe, legal and rare.  Working in healthcare, I am in a situation where I have helped people to obtain this, and when I do so, it is with a heavy heart, knowing that this is the least worst of several bad options available.

What is interesting are the christian values that a man on his third wife claims to follow.  We know for a fact that he started to see the woman who was to become his second wife while he was still married to the first.  While there have been allegations that he had assaulted other women, he can always say that this is not true.  People are innocent until proven guilty, and Trump has not been found guilty of such charges.  And while he has engaged in 'locker room talk' where he stated that he had taken part in unfaithful behaviour, again, he has not been found guilty of this and denied doing such things, and later tried to cast doubt about these things that he had said.

However, there are two allegations, strong ones, that Donald Trump, not only has been unfaithful, but has attempted to keep both quiet.  One with Karen McDougal and the other a single encounter with Stormy Daniels.  Again, these allegations are not proven.

So, while allegations have been made, which are unproven, the man is an admitted adulterer (who is now on wife number three).  How the Christian religious right can back him so much is beyond me.  Maybe one day, someone will let me know.

But back to the point of this post, if a man, one that many Christians on the right (but not all) respect, cannot be trusted to be faithful, how can those on the religious right expect other men to stay faithful?  And if they are not to be trusted, should a woman be forced to bear a child she does not want and risk being a single mother before her time?

I got one!

Since my last post about the family, my daughter has left.  She is away on a school trip for the next few days, and for now, my son does not seem to miss her, though my wife and I do.  Today was interesting as I got back from dropping my daughter at school to return home, finding that my son annoyed his mother, so I cooked him breakfast, and then, when he refused to eat it, made him eat it.  For the evening, we went to see Isabel and Tony were we ate dinner and then home.  A new hob was fitted and then it came to putting a draw back which had to be removed to fit it.  That was fun, though my wife and I made up after the slight discussion on now to perform this task!

Anyway, when it comes to Pokémon GO, on Tuesday, I had to go to the doctors.  On the way, I was able to attend an EX raid, where someone kindly caught my son another Mewtwo, and also, after it was defeated in battle, helped me catch it.  Which meant that it was third time lucky for me.  But he is ecstatic that he has two of these rare Pokémon while only have one.  But, I can boast that, for now, one of my Pokémon is still in a gym in Sri Lanka!

Arsenal without Arsène Wenger

Okay, I will admit it, I cried when it came to the last home game for Arsène Wenger.  Also, I was very glad, and surprised that we won our last league game, especially as it was an away game.

Also, I am optimistic about the next season.  People I have said this to think that I am insane, but the reasons that I am looking forwards to this is the legacy that Arsène Wenger has left the club.  While he won several FA Cups recently, the team has not performed to its potential, a big example of this being when Leicester won the title.  Do not get me wrong, they deserved it, and took advantage of the weaknesses of other teams.  But Arsenal was top of the league at New Years and should have won the title.  But it is our home form that gives me hope.  Our away form has been terrible, but our performance at home has only been second to the champions.  And a team that can have that home record is a team that is capable of winning the title, or at the very least, finishing second in the league.

Things will be hard.  Players that the team need will be attracted to other clubs.  It is thanks to Birmingham City that this is the case, as we were to have won the league in 2008, only for our season to fall apart after Eduardo was badly injured.  It was humiliating to finish third in a two horse race for the title, especially when we had a commanding lead. After that, players left for glory elsewhere, and while we would not have completed with wages in the 2008-09 season, being champions would have kept players at Arsenal and would have attracted others.

And on the topic of players, it is sad that Santi Cazorla is leaving the club.  He has been amazing.

Did Putin do it?

Sergei Skripal was discharged from hospital this week.  I have no idea about what state he is in or if he has had any residual effects from his poisoning.

What was interesting at the time, was that the poisoning made no sense.  Over the years, may Russians have died in mysterious, or not so mysterious circumstances.  So while some forms of arranging an accident of a spy may not be possible, others were.  And it is the use of a nerve agent that made me think that Russia was innocent.  Until this interview.


Russia has claimed innocence over many issues, this including the destruction of MH17, the accidental invasion of Crimea and the way that opponents of Putin keep dying.  All sorts of conspiracy theories have been put forwards by them.  And it is the way that the Russian Ambassador decided to cast doubt on the poisoning taking place which finally swung it for me.

However, while I do think that Russia is responsible for the poisoning, I still doubt that Putin himself was behind it.  To murder someone (or rather try to,) using a method that would be bound to antagonise the west in a manner that has caused a lot of collateral damage which will cause worldwide outrage is not something that the leader of a nation would do.

I do wish Sergei Skripal and his daughter the best. But, while I do not trust Putin, I do hope that an alternative leader who is worse does not replace him.

What a day

Today has been a busy day.  Last night we had gone to a party and thanks to Victoria and Adam, we had fun, but we did not get back until the early hours of the morning.  The downside was that we were meant to take my son out to play cricket this morning.  So when he sneaked into our room to say that he did not want to play cricket today, we were relieved.  To be honest, I suspect that I would have still been over the drink drive limit if I had driven this morning.  Which would have meant that I would not have been able to take him, or would have had to take a cab to get him there and hope that my wife would be able to get me back at the end of it all.  It is a shame, as he had wanted to go.  His desire to play cricket is amazing and is a change from how he started.  I had thought that today, he would not want to go, but instead would want to take advantage of the Pokémon Go community day.  We had agreed to take a friend of this out for this who had not been able to take advantage of this before.

So this morning, after breakfast, leaving my wife in bed, we went to collect Matthew before walking into town and the kids were great.  When there was a glitch with Pokémon Go which prevented them from taking part in it fully, they were okay and instead played in the playground in the park.  Things started to work later and both were glad that they had caught several Charmanders and also had evolved them into Charizard's.  For Matthew, this was a big thing as he had not been out on a day like this before and is a keen fan of Pokémon.

But going out meant that we missed the Royal Wedding, and watching the highlights on our return, it has brought a tear to my eye.  It is interesting though to see the different views on this.  And while I respect the views of those who are against the monarchy, I disagree with them.

Unarmed Palestinians have been assaulting Israeli bullets with their bodies and faces

The US has handed states the right to shoot unarmed protesters and has given up any moral authority to complain about any such abuses, at the very least, until there is a new POTUS.

Recently, along the border of Gaza, protesters have been killed or injured for approaching the border with Israel.  Over this time, not one Israeli soldier has been killed by these protesters.  I do think Israel is right to protect its borders, even if that means attacking those approaching its borders, but this use of lethal force is wrong.  

And to make matters worse, the ambassador to the UN has stated that Israel has shown restraint in these actions, ignoring the murder of the protesters, and then, when the Palestinian ambassador started to speak, walked out!  I am used to double standards existing (see how the west is okay to arm the Saudi backed forces in the Yemeni civil war but Russia is wrong to do the same in Turkey) but this is the worst example in a long time, and is one that will infuriate so many US allies.

Brightlingsea in the May Bank holiday sunshine

So far, this bank holiday has been a good one.

Yesterday involved a trip to beyond Tiptree for lunch once my wife had returned from work.  In the morning, I took my son to play cricket. He used to hate this and I was not able to take him to his first sessions as I am not the best person to encourage him in situations like this. Instead my wife took him, but as she was working this Saturday, that fell to me.  So while he played on the dry areas of the pitch, I watched him while talking to two friends, Victoria and Adam.  After this, it was a trip to the Red Dog cafe at Inworth. We have been there before and the lady who runs it recognised us from then. Eating in the sunshine was lovely and after we got home, it was time to mow the lawn which has taken advantage of the rain and sun that has fed it since it was last done.

This morning though I went to work for a few hours and when I got home, it was a trip to Brightlingsea were we borrowed a beach hut and enjoyed the sun after eating breakfast at Batemans cafe.  Later my son and I played a version of cricket which he loved.

Anyway, once again it is time for bed, so good night all!