BruceVC

So how would you suggest political leadership gets decided in any country? Or are you only talking about the USA?

Sure but my point is there are people who question the importance of government accountability that only exists in Democracies where courts are independent Its not just in Russia or China where courts would never reverse this type of decision by the president or leadership In South Africa I sometimes hear support for more autocratic countries because there leaders are seen as "strong " but people dont realize what freedoms they lose under those same governments

Yes, he can do tariffs in another form and see how they work But for me thats not the significance of this ruling There are 2 main takeaways from this the majority Conservative SC will not always support his policies. There has always been a concern around this because its a 6-3 Conservative majority. Trump's overall ability to implement sweeping policies effectively has been undermined And I predict this will become worse after the Midterms where the GOP will lose control of either the House and or the Senate But end of day its a victory for US Democracy, and global Democracy, because its an example of the functional structure of the checks and balances that all US presidents must be accountable to Can you ever imagine the courts in Russia or China being able to reject and reverse something as significant as these tariffs that the state decided to implement and vociferously support

Supreme Court strikes down Trump's sweeping global tariffsThe ruling opens the door to potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in tariff refunds.Not a good day for Trump with the SC ruling against the reasons for many of his tariffs A good example of the SC Conservative majority not being controlled or aligned to everything he does

W3 is my 4th favorite RPG of all time I played Cyb2077 recently and it was fun but no where close to W3 for me I am not an active fan of the Cyberpunk genre so that was one reason, fantasy is always my favorite genre So the lore of Cyb2077 was lost on me but also I found the city relatively empty of things to do and then the combat becomes too easy But its an entertaining game and worth playing It also had some interesting mechanics like quick hacks and netrunning but I prefer my Witcher signs and potions 🐉 And the companions and several side quests were well done

I completed Dead Island 2 after about 50 hours I tried to do every side quest and slowdown finally finishing the game because I was having so much fun But its not a long game or maybe its the normal length for this type of game but Im still thinking of my recent LoreRim\Skyrim experience which was 400 hours I need to stop comparing any game to that type of game length Anyway Dead Island 2 is a highly recommended Zombie killing game for the reasons I have already mentioned in previous posts It gets a solid 70/100 on the highly respected " BruceVC game rating system "

Sure but what do you think the EU\UK should do going forward around its defense? Stay in NATO or create something new specific to its common defense or if the US leaves NATO keep NATO going without the US? I appreciate your analysis of the current reality but Im looking for what you think is best for the EU\UK in the future

Im breaking my normal 20 minute long video rule and posting this 30 minute video because its so interesting Its all about Canada's strategic tariffs on the US because of Trumps tariffs and the thinking behind them by Carney, you can see he has a deep understanding of financial markets and what tariffs should be used by Canada @Malcador and @rjshae we were just talking about this Only minor complaint is he repeats certain words and points like scalpel

Yes adequately means does the EU have a military union that could be deployed to deter any Russian invasion or participate in any EU military campaign That obviously exists with NATO but if the US left NATO, which is not going to happen, how effective would NATO be? This is about making the right decision for whats best for the EU\UK What do you think the EU\UK should do? Stay in NATO and commit to 5% or create its own defense union which might be more expensive and complicated? Unfortunately you cant ignore the threat a country like Russia poses especially towards former Soviet states that are part of the EU

I have been playing Dead Island 2 for about 25 hours and its still entertaining as a typical Zombie apocalypse killing game The crafting is excellent and well thought out and so are the weapons you find and use To use weapon mods and other improvements you need to constantly scavenge for resources but your weapons dont level with you so even a good weapon you like you will find it becomes ineffective and degrades quicker as you fight higher level Zombies You do have an option to level up your weapon but thats expensive So this creates a reality where you motivated to constantly explore and find new weapons on your level and then upgrade them with mods And then the game has a good balance between when you use guns\ranged weapons and melee weapons, certain apex Zombies I can only defeat using guns so you have to be strategic in many battles. You also encouraged to use the environment in combat, blowing up oil barrels to kill Zombies is very rewarding Finally the game gives you skills when you find these cards and there are several dozen combat cards so you can customize your slayer by using different cards These types of mechanics make Dead Island 2 a really fun game and well worth playing 🧟‍♂️

And these types of new trade deals are to be expected because it must be very frustrating for historical allies of the US like Canada and the EU to be constantly threatened with tariffs from Trump because of exaggerated economic imbalances like " its unfair to the USA that there exists this trade deficit with country x" or using tariffs because of geopolitical objectives like Greenland So you do what the Chinese did when they learnt last time when Trump was president and you insulate yourself by having other export markets You can also wait out Trumps presidency but thats still a few years off and having these types of deals established makes sense It wont change the reality of the US still being the worlds strongest consumer driven economy and an incredibly advantageous market to get access to but you should have other options Its not anti-Trump, its pro-Canada

True, good point But the military contribution towards NATO from member states makes the difference So in the highly unlikely scenario that the US leaves NATO how effective will NATO be? So I should have said " the EU needs to ensure NATO is adequately supported so it is effective " Because NATO is also about the defense of the EU, you don't need another military union

Well the first part of what Rubio said is partly true, he is talking about the effectiveness of the UNSC and the EU relying on NATO for defense This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone on this forum because I have lost count of the number of times I have heard people lament the " failure or inconsistency of the rules based order " and its almost entirely because of the veto at the UNSC But I support the veto despite the frustration of its use at times because the veto actually prevents conflict between the worlds superpowers and makes the UNSC seem less ineffective because without the veto " the UNSC must intervene in certain conflicts " because the UNSC has passed a resolution but who specifically must send troops or commit resources? UN military resolutions cant force any country to send its troops so this becomes difficult to manage So sometimes resolutions to conflicts can only be found outside of the UNSC and thats fine as well. Thats what happened in Gaza and the DRC vs Rwanda conflict where the US did play a fundamental role But this doesnt mean the UN and the UNSC is pointless or irrelevant. It still has a critical role in overall stability of the world and Rubio knows this. The US doesn't have the resources and influence to leave the UN and have the same impact in every conflict which is why Trump was insistent that the UN agrees to the Gaza peace plan. Iraq was an example of the failure of the US when it assumed it could do something without any UN support And the second paragraph is just unconvincing subjective and selective ideological rhetoric aimed at the EU and I don't agree with it But the EU should be more independent and less reliant on the US for its military defense And this takes time and requires budget changes from the EU members so its a long-term objective but a prudent one because this is in the best interests of the EU and I include the UK in this

ICE will be leaving Minnesota and ending its operation. Not a surprise considering how badly they handled the job This confirms how citizen activism on the streets, and not Internet activism, can change policy Im just sorry 2 Americans had to die to get to this point But Homan is clearly not stupid, he can see when ICE cant win AP NewsBorder czar says Minnesota immigration crackdown is over,...The Trump administration says it is ending its massive immigration crackdown in Minnesota after weeks of angry mass protests, thousands of arrests and two fatal shootings.

Yes but the point Im making is Trump is very unpopular around several of his policy decisions both domestically and internationally And @uuuhhii views are fairly common but most of the time its from people who have never liked the USA or resented the USA and now they feel vindicated because there is lots of material to criticize the US on In South Africa I have been hearing negative views of the USA for the last 25 years but in different degrees but its generally the same thing repeated, the common complaints are " the US is an imperialist nation, its trying to be the policeman of the world, its a racist country " and so on Then you get the issues around dollar hegemony which has been around for decades but thats a different type of reality And everyone is entitled to there opinion even if I disagree because of the selective and inconsistent outrage around some these points But did those same people feel that way when Biden was president? Or Obama And much of the current criticism is legitimate and its because of Trump and his policies. For example you cant dispute how ICE has been heavy handed and they are acting in a completely draconian way or Trumps constant antagonism towards Canada or the EU and other traditional allies But what happens if the Dems win the next election and we see someone like Newson becoming US president? He will reverse many of Trumps views and policies like Biden did in 2020 and suddenly we see a different US controlled by the Dems So will people still be saying " the US cant fix itself " ? I predict you will still find the original critiques but there will be much less because the US president obviously is a big influence on overall policy and how people see the US So thats what I mean by " only the US can fix itself "