BruceVC

But it is a 250 year celebration of the US military Trump cant hijack that historical landmark and its significance

https://america250.org/news/the-united-states-of-america-to-honor-the-250th-anniversary-of-the-u-s-army-with-a-grand-military-parade-and-celebration-in-washington-d-c/ Huge and important US military parade on Saturday, 250 years to celebrate I except its going to be very well supported and it will be interesting to see the US military on display. Last time was in 1991 This is not about politics but rather the sacrifice and duty that the military and its personnel have made towards the country and its history. @rjshae @Gfted1 @kanisatha @ShadySands I imagine you will be watching parts of it?

Im 130 hours in WoRT and its still going great I have reached the Midnight Fane I use the whole Crusader mini-RTS components to have breaks from the RPG progress, I like being in charge of the commander choices and my choices have results like additional army units I am really enjoying all my companion side-quests and potential Romance arcs with Camellia and Arueshalae. It took a while before Sosiel accepted we were just going to be friends but it really took a while around numerous dialogue options Its also the first RPG where I have made certain "evil " choices because my main objective is to defeat the demons and close the Worldwound so the end justifies the means, so for example I have undead units in my army, I aligned with Jerribeth at the Ivory Sanctum and Im prepared to work with most groups who are opposed to Deskari. I also didnt kill the Succubus who gave me the key in the Midnight Fane The game really delivers on a myriad of narrative choices that makes me constantly think what is the overall best path I should follow And Im not suffering from the demon killing fatigue that many people have raised as a legitimate criticism of the design in parts of the game

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anti-ice-protests-held-coast-coast-l-unrest-national-movement-grows-rcna211980 ICE protests are spreading across the country including GOP states, is the national guard going to be deployed in these states? I doubt it but lets see if Trump is consistent

I dont think this makes a very convincing argument about " federal waste being non-existent " because he was deployed to only one department as part of DOGE and that was Department of Veterans Affairs according to the link? Its amazing that any news media source can make such a generalized statement based on the experience of DOGE in a single department Saying all that Musks initial opinion of the Federal government being rampant with inefficiency and corruption was clearly exaggerated and the task of easily restructuring the Federal government to " save $2 trillion " was both underestimated and inaccurate But we know this because of the overall cost cutting and how the initial DOGE outcome kept dropping and it ended on $150 billion And thats the data and the facts and its believable. But this article doesn't make a very convincing headline point

You have had Democrat presidents for several terms since illegal migration became a global problem over the last 20 years and I dont recall them coming up with anything different to alleviate the crisis in the US? I hear the same thing in South Africa, activists and human rights lawyers say our entire migration system needs to change but they never come anything realistic except for completely unrealistic ideas like " give illegal migrants papers so they can work legally and contribute towards the tax base " You might as well just give them citizenship And thats a terrible idea for us because we have such high unemployment and very few jobs for South Africans as it is The global migration crisis faces the exact same problem, every country has limited resources and no country can just absorb millions of people from other countries, the entire migration process needs to be managed and controlled And the only real solution is to reduce the reasons why people are leaving any country and that applies specifically to failed states or very impoverished countries where you find mass illegal migration But how does any government fix another countries problems, thats the conundrum I am interested in what suggestions you or anyone else has to solve the migration crisis that several countries grapple with?

Im trying to have an opinion based on accurate timelines and yes the link does say 4pm but then the ICE centre was attacked that night So the protests were dealt with correctly by local law enforcement from 4pm but then the ICE centre specifically was attacked in the evening and that triggered the Trump response and the DHS comments which I posted But just to be clear I think Trump deployed the National Guard largely for political reasons, to undermine the Dems and to show he is serious about the deportations but he also rushed it. He didnt have to act so quickly if you think of the timelines, give state authorities the chance to address the violence. Its almost impossible to believe he would have used the NG in a GOP controlled state so soon Thats one issue but the main issue for me is ICE has to be able to do there job so the real question is "what happens in the future in a state like California where ICE is very unpopular but they have large numbers of illegal migrants " ? Will we see these protests again and how does the state and Federal government work together?

I want to have this debate because you make your points without all the grandstanding and political rhetoric that is common with these types of developments. I also dont want to defend Trumps comments because thats part of the whole political rhetoric common on both sides, I want to debate the facts around events in California I want to list some points and then tell me if you agree or disagree with them ( Im going to summarize things but then the link provides more details ) All the violence we seeing in California started because of ICE trying to do there legally mandated job, we can discuss the response later. If you look at the timelines in this link you can see how started and then how it escalated https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/06/09/la-protests-timeline-ice/84106969007/ ICE started arresting illegal migrants from Friday in raids and some small protests started California did commit to arresting violent protestors and people were arrested and by Saturday daytime the protests had subsided more or less But then on Saturday night the ICE centre was surrounded and violence resurfaced again and California state response was slow and thats why Trump deployed the national guard https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/07/dhs-releases-statement-violent-rioters-assaulting-ice-officers-los-angeles-ca-and " According to Homeland Security, on Saturday night, rioters surrounded the immigration services building and detention center, "assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property. In response, Trump signed a presidential memorandum deploying "at least" 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles." And then Sunday the protests continued again with more violence and anarchy But all of this started because of ICE doing there job and my main question is " do you support ICE doing there job and arresting and deporting illegal migrants " And if you do support that is your concern more about how the National Guard was deployed by the Federal government and not the Governor of California And finally if any federal building is attacked when should the National Guard be deployed if the state security doesn't act quick enough?

It must be such a disappointment for you to see all these issues going on in the US because you always had such respect and admiration for the US until Trump became president Its terrible when that happens, I hope you going to be okay

I dont buy or believe for a second that using a heavy security presence when you have rampant anarchy or violent protests is '' going exacerbate the situation ", that sounds exactly like what a human rights lawyer who isnt interested in the violence ending would say What ends violence and criminality around this type of protest is when the protestors know there is consequences and law enforcement will do its job In South Africa in 2021 when we experienced the infamous "Zuma protests " where hundreds of people were killed it was only when the army was deployed to help the police that the violence and looting ended , over 5000 people were arrested but it absolutely required a heavy security presence before the violence ended https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/12/south-africa-deploys-army-to-quell-protests-in-two-provinces No need to overcomplicate something that is easy to understand Gromnir

Its not the first time the national guard has been deployed, there were several examples during the worst violence in BLM protests https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/6/1/george-floyd-mapping-us-national-guard-deployments Sometimes its necessary to restore law and order " “As of Sunday, National Guard Soldiers and Airmen were activated in 24 states and the District of Columbia in response to civil disturbances, bringing the total number of Guard members on duty in support of their governors to nearly 62,000,” the guard announced in a statement. "

The end of the bromance between Trump and Musk has real potential political consequences for the GOP\Trump and this will be realized in the midterms Musk will echo and elevate anti-Trump sentiment and criticize the controversial real things like the " big, beautiful bill " and then the SM drama conspiracy theories like the Epstein files, its pity the latter gets more attention And then you will have less funding for the GOP because Musk was a big donor Share prices recover and Im sure Musks business entities will be fine because political sentiment has limited influence when investors want to make money

Its funny you mention that but thats exactly what some of the MAGA SM outrage is suggesting But what is more hilarious is how the last 4 months we have seen the MAGA SM activists support and justify everything Musk has said and done and they now turning on everything he said Now suddenly " Musk did make a Nazi solute and DOGE is his failure " DOGE was absolutely supported and endorsed by Trump on every level and you cant separate the shortfalls and failures of the commitments of DOGE from either person Trump and Musk are very similar, there egos and general sentiments are why they got on so well But thats also why the Bromance has ended so badly Musk is one of the worlds most successful and brilliant visionaries around business but he should have stayed out of politics He is not a good politician

Interesting to see the outcomes around the issues they raise like India banning the video Good to see they doing well and going strong and how satire and parody still has a place and relevancy in political critique And Juice Media has grown from early days of the 2 girls being main actors, they getting the sponsorship and funding they need

I didnt expect the relationship to collapse and become so personal Normally when people have a fallout from Trump they walk away but Musk has decided to respond and predictably SM is his tool The bromance is definitely over https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-disappointed-elon-musk-musk-strikes-back-real/story?id=122543215 " As the exchanges grew progressively personal, Musk posted, without providing evidence, about Trump and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, "Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!"

Sounds like NZ is descending into a Nazi state, only one thing can save you now ....a Russian invasion

Im really happy with how the new Ciri model looks, she is attractive and looks more like Ciri in the previous Witcher games CDPR claims they didnt change the model but that type of denialism is understandable considering how they want to avoid the woke backlash

Im about 80 hours into WoRT and Im still having lots of fun I am really enjoying the whole Crusader management, I am comfortable with the army combat mechanics and how you train and buy army units and then engage in combat with various demon armies And its great making all the Commander decisions, I should have done this P:K and not let AI manage my kingdom because it provides a nice break from the standard RPG progression And then Romance, I have some very interesting companion choices and Im not sure how things will progress, firstly Arueshalae has joined my party and its a fascinating take around an ascended Succubus. If you find fallen Angels then why not the opposite? I really want to Romance her but Im not sure how without dying because of the Succubus life drain. But she is an excellent ranged combat addition And then the truth about Camellia has just been revealed to me and thats become a greater conundrum, I have taken an entire stance in this game that my decisions will always be about the main objective which is stopping the Demons and closing the Worldwound. And that means certain grey choices and even some evil choices with the view "the end justifies the means " So Im keeping Camellia in my party, Im Romancing her but I told her to stop killing people ...maybe her insane spirit can help with the main objective but I have to some standards and blood sacrifices is not ideal

That looks excellent, " Day 1 watch " for sure

Yes any candidate in any Democracy needs to align with what there voters think but in the US you need more than that as a serious presidential candidate You must be able to influence the important undecided voters, 14-18% of registered voters, or you need to run in a political era where is there is problem that most voters feel strongly about Look at Obamas success in 2008 and how war fatigued most Americans were AOC is considered one of the progressive Dems and a member of the "squad " and this is seen as "socialist " which many Americans will immediately reject outside of the expected Democrat base There is lots of legitimate and exaggerated criticism towards her and things she has said or done During the DNC when the Dems elect there candidate this will become very apparent and Conservative media will have a field day with her And this will only become worse if she is the presidential candidate. Harris was and is more likely to win than AOC It will be almost impossible to believe or take seriously that AOC will ever win the DNC or the US election? @rjshae Yes, Shapiro is a good choice. I have listened to him before and he makes sense on issues But he does fail several Dem checkboxes but thats one of the things the Dem strategists need to update if they want to change there political misfortunes and voting losses They need to accept thats it okay to be a white male as the candidate. Biden won in 2020 so its not like it should be that difficult to accept? Thats why we have the DNC, let the supporters decide on the right candidate

I dont see this being accepted by Russia The 2 main sticking points that Ukraine should agree to is not to join NATO, but it can join the EU, and the Donbas will stay Russian. Im not sure it means international recognition but you freeze the war on current gains. Its not ideal and Ukraine loses 20% of its country but at least the war ends, thats what compromise is about and its always hard

Again its disappointing how out of touch the Dem strategists are, its almost like they want to hand another presidential victory to the GOP They need a candidate who is not so associated with Biden, Harris is seen as Biden v2 Surly there must be someone new who doesn't have previous baggage that the Dems can get behind? Newsome is the type of candidate Im talking about And I see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the second most popular candidate in this poll, you got to be joking

Yes, of course there is an appeal process and they often end up in the SC but the SC outcomes are not guaranteed because of the ideological views of judges Trump loses more cases in courts than he wins and he has lost on appeal https://democracyforward.org/updates/trump-loses-93-percent-of-cases-we-know-because-we-win/ But thats not really the point Im making, the main point is the US has an independent judiciary and that's why any US president cant do anything they want or pass any law\EO\bill they want because they can and do get challenged. We cant predict the outcome of any case but thats the same as any Democracy with an independent judiciary. It wouldnt be called independent if we could guarantee court outcomes Elerond try not to believe that the US is about to become a dictatorship or an autocracy. The Constitution still matters and so do court rulings

Great news, I am definitely going be playing Starfield but once more mods are released and established as providing the best ways improve the vanilla game , maybe 8-12 months from now? What are you enjoying about, its always good to hear positive feedback I can probably guess, you using LoversLab adult alien mods ...Im right hey

The reality of the independence of the judiciary in any Constitutional Democracy is the main reason why Im not concerned that Trumps presidency could or would lead to the collapse of Democracy in the US Its often overlooked because we tend to focus on what politicians say and then its assumed " this is what is going to happen " but the judiciary and courts provides an important bulwark around the actions of any government to destroy what Democracy represents and the interpretation will be based on the Constitution which is equally important Thats also one of the most significant differences between any established autocracy and any Constitutional Democracy, there is no judicial independence or challenge of new laws in a country like Russia. Putin can decide on any kind of legislation and the courts will rubberstamp it the next day South Africa thankfully also has an independent judiciary and even though I complain about certain rulings they make I would never want to see the independence of our judiciary undermined or controlled by the state Its easy to forget how important an independent judiciary is until you have a presidency like Trumps around some of his decisions and then the difference between a real autocracy and Democracy becomes real The judiciary really becomes the last line of defence