BruceVC

Massie lost in Kentucky and Cassidy lost in Louisiana in both primaries These were both considered GOP representatives who opposed Trump in different ways These clear Trump primary victories confirm Trump still has real influence and support amongst GOP voters. This is not about his support in the midterms because then its about how all Americans will vote Here is good link that summarizes Trumps recent wins around candidates he supports NBC NewsTrump notches more GOP primary wins, but big midterm ques...The president unseated one of his biggest Republican foes Tuesday in Kentucky, while a Trump endorsement in Texas concerned GOP senators.

This is one of the dumbest and most myopic ideas Trump\DOJ has ever come up with The fund will be used for " victims of political prosecution from the Biden presidency " So whats the bet people involved in the 6 January Capitol attacks who broke the law, were jailed and then pardoned will now claim they were " unfairly prosecuted " and want to claim from this fund

Yes, this all looks fundamentally correct Governments that own US bonds cant sell them until maturity but they can sell them on secondary markets which some countries have been doing which he mentions Just something interesting, governments like Japan and China only own 20% of the total $39 trillion US debt The rest of the US debt is called domestic debt and is owned by domestic holders and investors in the US. The Federal Reserve for example is the largest single debt holder of this domestic debt with $4.6 trillion Here is a good link that summarize this debt breakdown Peterson FoundationThe Federal Government Has Borrowed Trillions. Who Owns A...Most federal debt is owed to domestic holders, but foreign ownership is much higher now than it was about 50 years ago.For me its not foreign governments selling US bonds that could really crash the US economy because it wont have enough impact even if all countries did it at the same time. It would hurt the US but not crash it But if the overall US economy fails to grow and US companies are suddenly no longer profitable that will hurt the US much more because now domestic debt holders will mass sell bonds on secondary markets and because thats 80% of who owns the US debt that will have much worse economic consequence So if you see a real lack of belief and confidence because of real negative economic data that will become the real crisis But then the US survived the 2008 financial crisis despite being the creator of that global crisis so you can never predict when it comes to the future of the US economically I still think it always goes back to the fundamentals of the success of the thousands of US listed companies as the most effective way to understand investor confidence in the US and the sustainability of the US economically?

TRT World - Polls vs prediction: The Kentucky primary tes...In Kentucky’s crucial primary, Trump is backing challenger Ed Gallrein, a Navy SEAL, to defeat firebrand Republican incumbent Rep. Thomas Massie in Tuesday's consequential GOP contest. An interesting primary election in Kentucky tomorrow, its really just a bellwether election around Trumps influence within GOP voters Massie has become one of Trumps biggest " critics" especially around the war in Iran. His Trump endorsed challenger, Gallrein, is heavily funded by AIPAC because Massie is seen as anti-Israel Its very close the polling data But we will know who won by Wednesday.

I just completed Hero-U after about 35 hours and I had a great fun. Its an excellent successor to the Quest for Glory games and highly recommended if you enjoy these types of adventure\RPG hybrids The mechanics around increasing your skills is well done and its exciting exploring the catacombs and sea caves. The combat is more complex than I first assumed, especially when you use certain items to fight undead I ended up winning Rogue of the Year, I completed most of the main quests like ending the Drat invasion I hope we see a Hero-U 2 someday 🐲

Atari is going to allow you to import your characters from W1 to W2 Now its time for me to play the new version of W1 because the series has a future that is supported from the same company 🐲

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260506151146/en/Atari-Acquires-Rights-to-the-Legendary-Wizardry-RPGs Atari has bought and now owns all the IP for Wizardry 1-5 I have never played any of these games so maybe we will see new releases of these iconic games for modern PC?

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has overall changed things within Russia for the worst, its not just the carnage and protracted outcome of the war or the economic reality because that takes years and isnt the same for everyone Its the enforcement of authoritarianism to ensure Putin remains a leader for life, this is the worst long-term outcome for Russian citizens This is realized in different ways and what is a real concern now is how Russia is going to be trying to control and restrict Internet access and create its own "Internet " where all access can be monitored and controlled . I dont think most of us realize how depressing this type of future must be Hopefully the Russian state fails in its endeavors to achieve this https://jamestown.org/russia-continues-creation-of-sovereign-national-internet/ The Russian State is seeking to massively expand its ability to surveil and filter internet traffic by upgrading systems to deal with increasing traffic volumes and increasing fines for providers who do not fully comply. Russia is also pursuing further restrictions on virtual private networks (VPNs) by pressuring platforms to block those using them and requiring mobile operators to charge higher fees for those using more than 15 gigabytes of traffic from abroad. The Kremlin is aiming to restrict civilian use of digital encryption and create full-spectrum internet surveillance, which will likely expand further in the coming years. " The Russian state is continuing its rapid creation of a sovereign national internet space. It has established new funding and initiatives to block civilian use of virtual private networks (VPNs), expand internet surveillance, and consolidate control over telecommunications providers. The Russian Ministry of Digital Technologies announced plans at the end of March to dramatically increase the computing power of the Technical Measures for Countering Threats (TSPU) system through 2030 by 250 percent, reaching 954 Terabit per second (Tb/s), with estimated costs of 15 billion rubles ($200 million ) (Kommersant, March 25). The new set of technologies is intended to fill gaps in the current monitoring system, which now covers nearly 100 percent of all traffic, from broadband providers to mobile providers to nodes connecting the Russian segment to the broader global internet (see EDM, November 25, 2024). This is an improvement over 2023, when only 80 percent of traffic was subject to the system’s filtering (Habr, October 27, 2025).

I'm now playing Hero-U : Rogue to Redemption, its an adventure RP game where you are a rogue learning to become a hero in a school for adventurers Its from the same developers that created the iconic Quest for Glory so it has very similar narrative humor and mechanics Initially I thought I would get bored but its really fun especially how you increase your skills, explore and solve puzzles and quests Im only 8 hours into it so its early days but so far so good 🐉

I have completed the main quest of AC Valhalla and it took me about 190 hours I finished the main quest where you end up in the machine with Siguard but I was still having fun so I decided to complete the last few quests like killing all the Order and the Asgard quests The Order assassinations were all easy to find, I had most of the clues and it was just about finding the last few. And the Asgard quest was different and entertaining with all the ties to Norse Mythology like fighting Fenrir and the Jotun magic And then the game ends after you find the last memory shards I found some interesting stats on Steam around overall completion of this game 6.6 % of players killed the entire Order 5% of players got the settlement to level 6 6.4 % of players finished the Jotun quests So the majority of people never finished this game. I was a little surprised by these low overall numbers? But great AC game overall, its gets a solid 68/100 on the globally respected "BruceVC game rating system " Its your quintessential AC type design and mechanics but you cant play these types of games all the time but they definitely fun every now and then Really good value for money

But what about the current Cuban blockade, thats been ongoing for longer than 60 days There is Congressional concern about that but is that an act of war?

I hear you around the blockade but I dont think that is considered part of a military campaign requiring Congressional approval This is more about being actively engaged in fighting Iran through daily bombing campaigns like the US was doing So Hegseth and Trump are saying "there is a ceasefire, we not fighting anymore " But I think its legally confusing and unclear

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2026/04/30/new-unemployment-applications-plunge-to-lowest-level-since-1969/ Some positive economic data for the US I doubt its going to change the general negative sentiment towards Trump but its still good news for the US on these economic metrics Unemployment benefit applications totaled 189,000 in the week ending April 25, the Labor Department reported, falling well below consensus analyst estimates of 214,000, according to FactSet. That’s the fewest jobless claims filed in a single week since 1969. Continuing jobless claims, or the number of Americans already receiving benefits, dropped to 1.79 million, the fewest since April 2024 and below economist projections of 1.83 million.

But this is because any conflict longer than 60 days needs Congressional Approval and its unlikely he would have got that from Congress and then if he had got approval it makes this already unpopular war with US citizens more visible and trenchant So its not about " winning ", its the legal justification to continue. It makes sense considering how confusing, unachievable and nebulous the military objectives were But the US blockade will continue and so will the Iran blockade. And the US blockade is the main strategy now to get Iran to agree to terms "Under the War Powers Resolution, the law that sought to constrain a president’s military powers, President Donald Trump had until Friday to seek congressional authorization or cease fighting. The law also allows an administration to extend that deadline by 30 days. Democrats have pushed the administration for formal approval of the Iran war, and the 60-day mark would likely have been a turning point for a swath of Republican lawmakers who backed temporary action against Tehran but insisted on congressional input for something longer. “That deadline is not a suggestion; it is a requirement,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted Thursday in favor of a measure that would end military action in Iran since Congress hadn’t given its approval. She added that “further military action against Iran must have a clear mission, achievable goals, and a defined strategy for bringing the conflict to a close.” AP NewsTrump administration says its war in Iran has been 'termi...The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April.

Daily MaverickHate on parade: Xenophobic marches gather pace as UN warn...Across major cities, political entrepreneurs like Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma and Zandile Dabula are staging increasingly bold anti-migrant marches, with little pushback from authorities. As António GuterresI have mentioned many times how South Africa has failed to deal with illegal migration or maintain control of our borders. Only now, over last 3-4 years, has the ANC accepted and realized what a crisis this has become that impacts primarily black people in townships and living in poverty because that's where the illegal migrants live and use the limited resources we have. We have millions of illegal migrants in South Africa Until then the ANC response to illegal migration was this outdated and irrelevant rhetoric like " the borders are Colonial borders, they dont matter" or " we have a responsibility to help our fellow African brothers and sisters because they helped us end Apartheid " All of this made no difference to our reality, limited resources and many South Africans living in poverty. You have to control migration in any country but in South Africa its even more important because we not a first world country and levels of poverty are much worse There is now another movement called March and March that has become very popular, its basically another anti-illegal migrant movement The mainstream media in South Africa is liberal so the headline I posted is " Hate on parade: Xenophobic marches gather pace as UN warns South Africa" which is a mischaracterization of the problem and the protests If this type of movement was happening in the US or EU it would be labelled as Nazi, racist or right-wing but you cant use that type framing in South Africa because its black people involved so its defined as Xenophobic And there are now examples of Xenophobia from some of the protestors but thats only because government has failed to do anything about ilegal migration for the last 20 years. Before illegal migration became the crisis it is we never had any anti-migrant protests The point of this post is this is the inevitable outcome of what happens when any government fails to control its borders. And its much worse for us in South Africa because we already have historical and current levels of poverty exacerbated by governments overall inefficiency