The New Coffee Room

Seems rather heavy handed . Are tax mistakes always so harshly punished?

It's just another tax on motorists.
London has an inner Congestion charge, an outer ULEZ (ultra low emission zone).

We are taxed for use of the road, on buying insurance, on buying petrol/gas, now taxed for just being in certain places and for polluting certain places.

Hang on, Trump just removed a dictator who took power after losing an election.
The person who actually won that election and had to flee her country visits Trump to thank him for his action and gives him a sincere present with a message of hope that he continues to help her country.

She seems too nice to be a politician.

Skilled comedian, obviously juggling well within his limits.
I've seen him do his motorbike juggle, classic clowning

And if Xi or Kim or Putin win?
Greenlanders would be both selling and trading.
Its not just about the cash, it's also about maintaining their way of life balanced with new US citizenship.
What's US citizenship worth?

I'm pointing out the idea has a lot of upsides

You offered the current equivalent of 1.7 billion to Denmark after the WW2.

Guarantee the Greenlanders money when they have voted to join the States. The individual people. Not Denmark.

The minerals thought to be there are worth trillions, and include REE.

I thought you all arrived on boats, similar to the Greenlanders

@xenon said

@AndyD why? Do we need to do that to build bases? Do we have a lot of money to throw around right now?

We need to throw money around to build bases?

Bribery is effective and of course far better than fighting.
As for money, you have it: each Presidential election costs a billion and federal elections in 2020 are reported as costing 14 billion. With tarrifs coming in and Venezuelan oil on the horizon, Mr T will finish that border wall and have loads spare for a forward base in the far North of Greenland.

You'd actually get something concrete (if icy) instead of another oily politician for a few years. A new frontier for you.
And the world would have the USA providing far better defence than Denmark against Russian and Chinese expansionism.

I can quite see Trump as another Sir Francis Blake Delaval of Delaval Hall in Northumberland, who, on nomination day in 1754 won the Hampshire parliamentary seat of Andover by firing a cannon filled with 500 golden guineas across the town square.

Jeepers its not rocket science. Greenlanders under Danish law can become completely independent etc if they vote for it.

Potus should just do what politicians do, and did quite openly a few hundred years ago, pay for votes.
Give every voting Greenlander $xxxxx, to vote for the USA to accept it as a Union State.
And a bottle of Jack when you win

You could probably take over three quarters of Greenland, i.e. the northerly and NW areas and the 57k folk living on the island wouldn't even notice.
Just do it, give Putin something to think about.

Happy Days

@jon-nyc said in ICE kills a US citizen in Minneapolis:

@AndyD said in ICE kills a US citizen in Minneapolis:

I'd like to think I would have got out of the car as requested.
I'd like to think I would have dived out of the way of the accelerating car and not shot.

It's not a perfect world.

All your points about her doing the wrong thing and acting illegally are valid. It doesn't warrant execution. At least two of the mans shots were fired after the bumper moved beyond him.

This I've now seen on BBC Verify and agree. The first shot was from in front as the driver moved forward and is reasonably defensive.
The next two were through the side window. I hope your FBI prosecute him.

I see the UK helped with taking another oil tanker, Iranian by way of Venezuala, boarded off the coasts of Scotland/Iceland.

I'd like to think I would have got out of the car as requested.
I'd like to think I would have dived out of the way of the accelerating car and not shot.

It's not a perfect world.

So you think there is no chance the law officer actually thought "this driver is accelerating towards me"?
You'd have had no worries?
Not even after you'd seen your colleague ask the driver to get out and she'd purposely reversed, possibly hurting him?

What will a jury make of it?

The officer at the drivers door has obviously requested verbally that the driver stop and get out of the car, as demonstrated by him trying to open the door. With the officers hand in the door handle in the handle the driver disobeys and reverses, no doubt hurting the officers hand.
The driver then accelerates forward causing the officer to jump back.
It is an officer in front of the car who draws his gun as the driver reverses, then fires as the car accelerates forward.
In an instant the driver turns right and the officer fires.

No way could that officer shoot the tyres with defensive effect, nor could he, concentrating on his colleague and the driver, know the drivers intent to turn nor have seen the wheels moving right as he fired.

That's my take on the video right or wrong.

The UK Highway Code is crystal clear:
You MUST obey directions and signals from the police, highway officers etc.

And you have to be pretty confused/panicked/criminal/drugged/stupid, to argue with a gun. Especially an armed law officer. With back up.

Bloody awful incident.

You can't park your car like that!

A car is one of the most dangerous potential weapons, and nearly all of us possess one. To drive one we have to demonstrate we are responsible and are trained to use one safely.

What the f was the driver doing if not challenging US law and acting in a dangerous and threatening way towards law officers.

Proportional response?
Once in motion that large vehicle was weaponised by the law breaker, who was ignoring the requests of law officers and immediately endangering their lives, and the public in the chase that would inevitably follow.

Yet. Greenland would be a first.

I find it hard to believe some disgruntled citizen doesn't step up to the plate and take these unpopular dictators out. They can't all be passive & peace loving once they leave the army.
Putin for example must have intense and uncomfortable levels of security given the hate he must generate in Russia.

I can honestly see no legality in the action however moral it may be if a Venezuelan elected leader takes control.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese consider their doom.