YoungWillz

Cancels remaining dates of tour due to his breathing issues. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49276175 He'll be my Joker for my TOTP theme team next year. If he makes it....

102 today!

No evidence Betts was motivated politically in respect of the shooting. By all accounts, a bad lot who probably wouldn't have had a gun with proper checks. Alternatively, quite clearly Paddy from Texas was politically motivated, quoting Trump's white supremacist tropes. We bang on about radicalisation in the mosques in this country. What happens when radicalisation comes from politicians? El Paso does. Pittsburgh does. Etc etc. Dunno where the mass shooter race profile comes in. Doesn't seem to include those who killed themselves or were shot by law enforcement, so that perhaps is a nice selective picture to put up. Needs broken down into those disaffected, neighbourhood disputes, mentally ill, politically motivated. Not all Trump/Republican supporters are white. Not all people against immigration are white. What's happening over there is their problem. Doing nothing, especially regarding automatic repeating death guns, seems to be no longer an option for the US.

82 today!

Cleverly not living up to his name.

That is an awesome write-up!

Josef Kadraba reported dead

I am a fair and reasonable person ha! There are players who know absolutely they have dodgy picks as far as obits are concerned. They have pressed ahead, as they are entitled to do. We've got months and what will be will be. Looks at the moment that the Captain definitely has found the balance needed for this game, but it's early days.

Harland & Wolff in administration. Just announced on BBC news.

Hmm, Sir C, all I know is I didn't deny you L Brooks Patterson, so why are you upset? Second, how do you know the contents of Private Messages between me and other players? Third, in actual fact L Brooks Patterson wasn't denied by me, on regional or any other grounds. I'm sure the player who proposed that pick will confirm. Fourth, oldest people of a country are specifically allowed. Supercentenarians generally qualify as of right given their great age. Smith bangs right into both. Fifth, Scotland isn't a "region" of anywhere.

Well, that escalated quickly. I've been watching coverage particularly local coverage of the El Paso incident. Now let's look at some of the facts. El Paso has what appears to be a well integrated bi-cultural community that even in a place of 700,000 people, there are minimal murders annually. Texas is essentially an open-carry state - wherever you are, more than likely someone is "packing heat". There's a larger than average military and ex-military personnel in El Paso (by all accounts). There were thousands of people in Walmart at the time of the incident. Further many more in the surrounding mall. Not one ordinary person including military and ex-military appears to have drawn their weapon and run towards the active shooter - even a military guy ran away, gathering some kids as he went to protect them. Now is that because in drawing your weapon you automatically make yourself a target for the cops who might shoot you dead? Or simply an equality of arms issue - shooter has the silly death spraying gun and you have your Saturday morning pop a cap in an ass gun? I don't know. In this case and it seems in many others, the ordinary folk and even those most covetous of their Second Amendment rights, run away, preferring to leave the taking on of the shooter to law enforcement, the security guards, etc etc. Notwithstanding all of the above, the shooter is arrested. Not shot down by anyone. If he goes to Death Row, he's got maybe 30-40 years anyway? Many make out the mental health aspect of this - I ask, what person not in their right mind is going to pay for treatment for their mental health issue? Cheaper surely to pop down the local gun store and allow your mental health its free expression. (Admittedly, I'm unsure how the US deals with mental health provision and whether that is actually free). It's all just such a different culture.

Wow, that's convenient. Calls from everywhere for McConnell to recall the Senate to discuss gun legislation and he has "an accident"? 'Dear Congress, Mitch (known as Moscow to friends and enemies alike) can't possibly come to the Senate today. He's had a nasty fall and will be out of commission for some time. We were both at the top of his staircase and he suddenly tumbled. More than anyone else in America, he needs your thoughts and prayers right now. Yours, Carolyn D Meadows (President, NRA)'

Nuon Chea BBC Obit: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-49228123

The fact that people were getting too close to snatching the Captain's lead has resulted in him grasping a unique hit with Scotland's oldest man. Time to consider cashing in that Joker? Anyway, leaderboard updated.

British silver medallist in the Marathon at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Basil Heatley, reported dead at 85: http://bmaf.org.uk/2019/08/04/the-passing-of-basil-heatley/

The New Zealander?

BBC Obit for Longthorne was posted to show another BBC Obit for my Generation Game DP. If you read my post on that thread, it's clear why it was done. Nobody disputes the veracity of your QO for other purposes.

Cheers! Lochore no more (wasn't that The Proclaimers? ). gcreptile draws the 8 Hearts for 8 points added to his total.

Definitely not enough. Currently 15 points behind, maximum for a sub is 14. QO currently elusive.

Done Macron no harm. Is the bloke a politician? Aspirations perhaps to Number 10?

Twitter got Brian Lochore dead. DDP pick.

Joe Longthorne makes it 19 hits and 19 straight BBC Obits.

How about here?

First hit on my third tier of the Generation Game DP, sadly. I rather liked him back in the day. RIP. BBC obit is here. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-49219270

I just don't know and I wouldn't intrude on the grief of the American people. So, encroaches a little rather than intrudes! I've drawn the analogy before I'm sure somewhere, but Trump is in the mould of William McKinley. Look what happened to him. So perhaps not worry too much about his re-election - should he survive the campaign trail. I hear of trillions of national debt, stock market on the slide, those tax cuts some are enjoying will stop for the middle class in mid next term, though the tax cuts for the richest will continue. Where's your infrastructure projects? What's to like about keeping the incompetent incumbent who uses the position to enrich only his friends, cause division everywhere, tries to persuade you that everything you read is fake and, more recently, all the people who once were revered without question are attacked. Surely that's the Russian way? Watched some of the coverage and I am frankly amazed the American public aren't snapping up the general thrust of Warren and Sanders on healthcare. I can't imagine that walking in and out of hospital with no bills isn't somehow attractive, especially as the deduction from wages would be progressive (cheaper for the poorest, more expensive for the rich) but everyone has access to it and the vast majority will be better off. That's not to say there isn't a place for private insurance, but that's a choice for those who have it. Could in some way federalise it to make it more attractive? Those more rural states could get additional funding out of the savings on prescription costs to keep their hospitals up? Immigration seems to be the main stumbling block - even with an all Democratic congress, there seems to be so much disagreement intra-party that resolution seems to be distant in that event. It's quite clear why more people are coming - threat of closure of the border, withdrawal of international funding for programmes in Central and Southern America - all self inflicted by the Americans by electing the current incumbent. Democrats still have to be much stronger here. Point here really is if you have better trading relations and cut tariffs/corporation taxes, the investment will flow in and America can afford to make undocumented immigrants citizens and afford the extra courts to sort out the economic migrants from the asylum seekers, afford the border control to sort out the genuine from the criminals. So that's where the US has to get back to a super economy that makes everyone better off. It impacts on everyone and everything they want. Seems to me constitutional change is needed, but it's not an issue for now - it's leaving folk cold. So those promoting like Buttigieg are failing. Gun controls - did Parkland and everything else still not teach them anything? Again, I don't understand why this doesn't seem to chime. From what I've seen you need a strong personality. Biden seems hamstrung by his past. Warren seems to have some baggage, perhaps a little too folksy. Sanders maybe right given his consistency on issues all his political life - is America ready for him, or has his message had it's time already? Will everything he wants done get done in 8 years? So I'd tend towards Harris as the Democrats' best hope. She'd rip Trump apart on his 4 years. Seems to be just radical enough to change America for the better. But it's for America to decide.