Steven P

As a distraction, a good news story, NASA are ending a mission to the space station early due to a "medical incident" - first time in 25 years. I reckon having 25 years without a medical issue in space is good news. (though I reckon 'medical incident' could be one of them going a bit crazy) Nasa announces timeline of astronauts’ early departure from ISS due to ‘serious’ medical issue UK.YAHOO.COM Space agency said crew of four will leave ISS next week with goal of touching down in California on 15 January

Do the batteries have temperature sensors in them that stop them working when too cold as well as too hot? Just thinking of the weather we've had this last week

Anyway, Greenland (I suspect that the shooting in the US has run it's course here now, ICE officer screwed up, woman killed, he will get told off but that will be the end of it). China taking Greenland? That is a bit of a stretch of the imagination. Russia taking it... again a bit of a stretch considering it is protected by NATO and Putin not likely to go up against us directly. There was a report that suggested Trump was willing to walk away from NATO to take Greenland - which would weaken NATO, and weirdly make the US more vulnerable to Russian attacks via Greenland. More likely that he has been listening to Sinatra, a realisation of his own mortality and wanting to do things "My Way"... leaving a legacy so his name lives on - taking Venezuela, the brief renaming of the Kennedy Centre - and so on strikes me as a vain man wanting to leave a legacy without realising just taking what you want or naming something isn't the way to do it.

This is true, I don't usually, insults and going after the person being the lowest form of internet discussions (slightly above discussing Hitler in what kills a thread). Though in this case it is not 'sides' - Mark has said before he had an issue with drink, JohnsonD is 'weaponising' that to attack him... which I don't think is acceptable - I'd do the same if he was attacking you or any others for personal issues - fair and even.

Tosser. You appear to be even more argumentative this week, more insulting to all, more rightarded that usual. Wonder if the problem is Mrs J isn't giving enough action for your liking over the Christmas period? Perhaps take yourself off for some quality 'thinking time' mighty calm you down?

I am assuming you mean the protestors killed in Tehran? I also assume that you will go off on one unless we agree with you that law enforcement killing civilians for not following orders is acceptable? Reality is it’s a shame some kids have lost their biological parents, life goes on. That’s not being callous it’s just the reality of things.

That made me laugh. "If she had followed orders"... because we all know well that everyone so directed will always follow orders. Stick out some traffic management cones to see how well they behave.... ANYONE who has to deal with law enforcement has to know that the public DO NOT follow orders, they are not trained monkeys to do as demanded. So to say "If she had followed orders" is simply demonstrating a distinct lack of knowledge of people. As far as I can make out there was no warning the he would shoot, there was less than a second between him drawing his gun and shooting - his mind was made up he was going to shoot (if you care to google driving reaction times, she wasn't given time to react to the drawn gun before she was shot). He stopped feet from the front of the car, there was no risk to others, put himself at risk - and in all training the common theme is do not put yourself at unnecessary risks. If he had walked 2 foot further he would not have been in danger. Whether that is law enforcement or tree climbing the rule is the same. She was a housewife, the car was identified with its registration plate, pick her up later. Or kill her? Noting she was not an immediate threat to anyone (till the officer stood in front of the car). So he screwed up, acted beyond what is reasonable and killed a woman. A woman who was not at all aggressive in any of the videos leading up to her death.

Noting of course that the officer who shot was the only one who thought she was threatening life - only one out of them all to be aiming at her. He of course had time, and space to choose another spot to shoot at, the SUV tyres are decent sized targets if he was determined to shoot at her. He didn't go for alternatives, he went for the lethal shot.

If you look at her actions in the car - go from a few minutes before, as much as the vidoes will allow, her crime was as serious as a traffic stop offence. She pulled out, her steering wasn't at the officer in front of her, it was to complete the turn down the road, she didn't stop. Traffic offence which I am sure does not warrant being shot.

We're fcked. (read this last night and thought it said mortality... and my response would be "we're not so fcked after all then")

A lot of video footage around (always a lot of video footage these days, no one stepping in to help, just want to record it for ticktocks). Saw one last night where a civilian doctor on the scene wanted to go and help her, but was denied till 15(?) minutes later an ambulance arrived. Didn't see many medics rushing around the car in the video trying to save her either. OK I am basing this bit on the UK, if the police here hurt someone they switch from enforcers to medics very very quickly (at least on the TV shows they do). ...victim blaming... from different angles it looks like she was simply trying to drive off from being parked... crime from the videos is a simple traffic stop... does that warrant being shot usually?

If it was me I would be telling them not to get too greedy, wanting to rule the world never ends well. Stick to Italy, southern Spain, north Africa, and do that extremely well rather than expanding too much, unable to control the monster you create and collapsing.

To bring the conversation right down, 2 pages in and it is still 'safe for work', can I borrow your movie collection next time Mrs P is away....

Kind of true still, if it is too long you forget points or your eyes glaze over towards the end of reading it. If I get one that is too long then my first assumption is whoever wrote it just copied and pasted from previous examples, cover everything, without ever looking at the site or site conditions. My favourite example is specifying a hard hat to walk into a green field months before any plant is considered to start work there. Copy and paste, makes me wonder if the rest of the risk assessment is up to the job.

That's quite worrying if they are - takes some skill to erase yourself off line so quickly - so points to someone with knowledge doing that