BruceVC

Are you just asking what if the amount of debt is so high the likes of the IMF cant provide the money? So if the US collapses how would the $36 trillion get paid back?

No I cant understand why people are getting so emotional about these tariff agreements? Its all about the benefits to be able to export to the USA because the USA has such a strong consumer driven economy China agreed to worse tariffs compared to the EU, China has 30% tariffs The main point is all these countries want to continue to export to the US because they know this benefits there economies Yes Trump is using the strength of the US domestic economy to pressure countries to agree but obviously it still benefits the likes of the EU, China or Japan or they wouldnt agree to these tariffs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2xylk3d07o The EU had now also cut a tariff deal with the USA, 15% on most EU goods And the EU has committed to certain other trade agreements with the USA Both sides will benefit from this " Trump said the EU would boost its investment in the US by $600bn (£446bn), including American military equipment, and spend $750bn on energy. That investment over the next three years in American liquified natural gas, oil and nuclear fuels would, von der Leyen said, help reduce European reliance on Russian power sources. Some goods will not attract any tariffs, including aircraft and plane parts, certain chemicals and some agricultural products. A separate deal on semiconductors may be announced soon."

Does anyone remember this from 2020, somehow I doubt Trump and Bondi would be laughing at this now

Yes, I agree This deal wont benefit US car manufacturers by definition because imports provide alternatives to local goods And well priced imports now become competitive with locally produced goods But thats the nature of trade around exports and imports, its a balance and really a decision that consumers make Im sure none of us want to live in a country where you cant find any imported goods I buy EU imported cheeses all time, they obviously more expensive but you cant find the same type of cheese around taste in SA like Roquefort, Gorgonzola or UK mature Cheddar

I think I understand what you suggesting but here is better link around where and how the $500 billion from Japan will be invested and it raises legitimate concerns https://www.axios.com/2025/07/24/japan-trade-deal-trump-tariffs I do agree its uncertain and I can understand why anyone would think its a bribe but its also more complex and nuanced than that Firstly $500 billion is a huge amount if it is bribe, thats 14% of Japans GDP in 2024 End of the day Japan seems fine with this agreement and its because they know the benefit of access to the US markets Trump is not the reason the US is such a strong economy, this is an outcome of the decades of US economic growth and the overall success of its free market system But Trump can use this to his advantage and claim " wins " because countries want to export to the US so he can force transactional negotiations like with Japan and tariffs Thats the main point Im making, there was a general sentiment from many commentators that US tariffs wouldnt benefit the US or wouldn't be accepted by US trading partners But we not seeing that and every country that is significant seems to be folding and agreeing to some sort of deal that benefits the US China was suppose to be the best example of " standing up " to the US and Trumps tariffs but even they agreed to 30% tariffs and US exports to China are only 10% https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx0ry7kdk5o

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/22/business/japan-trade-agreement-us Its not really a bribe, thats part of the negotiations in direct investment in the US. But they reached a trade agreement that benefits both countries. Japan will be charged 15% for exports into the USA This definitely benefits Japanese motor exports "The deal will see US importers pay 15% “reciprocal” tariffs on Japanese goods exported to the United States. But importantly for Japan, the 15% rate will also extend to automobiles and car parts - putting it at an advantage over other major vehicle exporters, which have faced a 25% levy on automotive sector exports since April. " Its interesting how Trump has been able to get countries to agree to these types of transactional trade terms and this is because of the strength of the USA economy and its buying power So we shouldnt use words like " vassals" because its about economics and if there were other export markets that could absorb the USA buying power countries would be using them It reminds me of our South Africa trade imbalance with BRICS, we have a trade deficit with BRICS of R230 billion and a trade surplus of R37 billion with the USA And yet now we facing US tariffs people are saying " lets just use BRICS to trade, we dont need the USA" But BRICS isnt buying our goods as much as they selling\dumping goods on us So BRICS is clearly not going to replace the USA as an export market But the main point Im making is no one is being forced to export to the USA, any country can decide who they want to trade or export with. If you can find other export markets then use them and just ignore Trump and his tariffs?

I dont think Trump is personally implicated in under-age sex in the "Epstein Files" , he attended various Epstein parties like hundreds of other people and that doesn't mean everyone who went to one of these parties over the decades did anything wrong. As you mentioned Clinton also attended some of these parties But I do think people he knows and who are considered allies of him are in the files and thats why the DOJ has been flip-flopping on releasing the files It will be an embarrassment to Trumps presidency due to proximity and it will create lots of negative media attention But they clearly trying to create distractions, now its " Obama created the Russian hoax, forget the Epstein Files....we must prosecute Obama !!!" https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/gabbard-pushes-report-on-obama-and-russia-probe-as-trump-faces-pressure-over-epstein

Im really enjoying Knights Tale now I have mitigated the initial frustration with the healing mechanics by understanding how to deal with injuries So I now have upgraded the cathedral and hospice to include more knights certain injuries arent a big deal and I can complete a mission even with them the real solution is to be better at combat and how to use Knights and strategy more effectively to avoid unnecessary damage And Im loving the combat and the different ways to use skills Neocore really delivered on this I like the Morality chart and how your decisions influence the direction you follow. Im going Old Faith and Rightfulness, similar to the path I followed in the two King Arthur RTS games

I completed Darkwood after about 45 hours Its one of the best and most exciting horror, survival games I have ever played and Im going to officially make it a " BruceVC must play game " It gets a solid 73/100 on the " BruceVC game rating system " Darkwood has one of the best crafting systems around finding resources I have ever seen, you need crafting to survive but until the last map you are always short of resources so you have to constantly make tough decisions around what to craft and you always exploring to find items Then the overall narrative is very dark, I got a little confused around some parts but then I used some high-level guides for pointers The " surviving each night " is probably the most part terrifying part of the game because you have to prepare your hideout for the the inevitable attacks from enemies but you dont know what types of creatures will attack so nothing is predictable But excellent indie game I am now playing King Arthur : Knights Tale I have played all the previous Neocore King Arthur games and I loved them. I am enjoying it so far, its fun but not fantastic I dont know how I feel about the healing mechanics, it seems limited. You lose vitality and you cant use a knight in a mission while he is healing Anyway I will comment more on this game when I have progressed further, Im only level 4

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/17/africa/africa-eswatini-trump-us-deportees-intl There is such a ridiculous and sensationalized story in our local media at the moment Basically 5 criminals have been sent from the US to Swaziland to be incarcerated, Trump has done this a few times in other countries like El Salvador For those who dont know anything about Swaziland its an absolute Monarchy where the king has 11 wives and lives a lavish lifestyle while most of the country lives in abject poverty But its a sovereign country and obviously the US is paying Swaziland to incarcerate these criminals The funny part is all the South African drama and comments from some people about this "A South African government source told CNN, “There is a feeling that some inside the Trump administration could be using this (the deportation of prisoners to Eswatini) to destabilize South Africa,” given its porous borders and Eswatini’s struggling economy. " Just to be clear, 15% of our prison population is foreigners so thats about 25k people who are in prison for many of the same crimes and we have millions of people in the country illegally but somehow 5 people are going to escape from Swaziland and ......" destabilize our country "

You really depressing me, whats going to happen first? Nuclear holocaust, re-emergence of the medieval Black Plague or Great Depression v.2? Or do you think they will all happen simultaneously

Yes, this entire Epstein scandal and list has become one big confused conspiracy theory with all these different opinions and allegations I hear people suggesting Epstein is still alive because he was a Mossad agent and Trump\DOJ wont release the list because he is controlled by Israel and then people suggesting " if there is no client list what is Maxwell doing in jail " But as you said, Epstein was a well known socialite and he had hundreds of parties and hundreds of people and celebrities attended these parties through the years but that doesnt mean everyone who knew Epstein or who attended the parties committed a crime Epstein and Maxwell were both charged and guilty of sexual exploitation around underage sex and sex trafficking, you dont need a client list for someone to be charged for these crimes https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/jeffrey-epstein-charged-manhattan-federal-court-sex-trafficking-minors " announced that JEFFREY EPSTEIN was arrested Saturday and charged with sex trafficking of minors and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors. The indictment unsealed today alleges that, between 2002 through 2005, EPSTEIN sexually exploited and abused dozens of underage girls by enticing them to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for money. Epstein allegedly worked with several employees and associates to ensure that he had a steady supply of minor victims to abuse, and paid several of those victims themselves to recruit other underage girls to engage in similar sex acts for money. He committed these offenses in locations including New York, New York, and Palm Beach, Florida. EPSTEIN is expected to be presented in Manhattan federal court this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman. " But Trump and the likes of Bondi made things worse because they keep flip-flopping on the client list and was there a client list and now they saying "there is no relevant client list to release " No wonder conspiracy theorists are having a field day Bondi initially said there was a client list on 21 February https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/07/politics/bondi-epstein-files-client-list-suicide-memo " During a February 21 interview on Fox News, host John Roberts asked whether DOJ would release a “list of Jeffrey Epstein’s clients.” “Will that really happen?” Roberts asked. Bondi responded: “It’s sitting on my desk right now to review. That’s been a directive by President Trump. I’m reviewing that.” In other words, Bondi didn’t commit to releasing such a list, but she affirmatively indicated it existed and that it was in her possession. And the question was specifically about the purported list – not other files related to Epstein. " I think there is a list of names and Trump\DOJ dont want to release them because certain people in Trumps inner circle will be implicated just by association and it will be embarrassing, Im not saying they necessarily guilty of sexual crimes I dont think Trump is a paedophile, I do think he had sex with women at the parties that Epstein arranged But a paedophile is someone who is attracted to pre-pubescent girls Its a very different type of sexual crime to statutory rape

Im about 20 hours into Darkwood and its good fun Its a tough horror survival and its definitely not for the faint hearted You basically have these 3 main map areas and you can only save in your hideout and there is 1 hideout per region. So if you die anywhere you respawn back in your hideout and you lose a percentage of your items in your inventory which you can go back and get Your survival is very dependant on crafting items and upgrading items so you constantly looking for resources And then at night you have to go back to your hideout where you get attacked randomly by about 5-6 different monsters in one night. So you might get attacked by human savages one night, or dogs, or undead banshee creatures and each requires a different strategy to survive the night. I mostly die at night unless its human savages And the map is RNG so when you explore the 3 regions you dont know where specific landmarks are until you find them and then they marked. But the map never tells you where you are unless you at a landmark so you have to use the main screen , like a fallen tree, to navigate Its very hard but exhilarating when you survive a night Overall, a very entertaining horror survival game

https://www.vice.com/en/article/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-has-a-concrete-2025-release-window-and-i-genuinely-cant-believe-it/ This is old but I didnt realize that Bloodlines 2 has an official release date, October this year I questioned if this game would ever be released ...good news. Lets hope it delivers on the much loved Bloodlines experience

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/interactive/2025/elon-musk-business-government-contracts-funding/ Here is a good link just how much Musk benefitted from the US government

Im playing Darkwood now, its another Indie game and its a horror survival game There is very little hand holding about what you suppose to do but Im working it out and I have referenced some high-level " no spoiler " game guides about starting tips and advice I dont mind applying myself to understanding the objectives of any game but I prefer some basic guidance

This is a shocking suggestion and a terrible idea and something that Israel should not go forward with Its not confirmed yet and I doubt they would be so stupid https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/08/israeli-plans-for-forced-transfer-of-gazas-population-faces-challenge-by-army-reservists "However, experts say a political commitment does not mean Katz will be able to build the “humanitarian city” he described or force the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, even using coercive measures including controlling access to food. Alon Pinkas, an analyst and former top Israeli diplomat, said: “⁠The plan is by definition unviable and impractical, without even getting to the moral depravity of forcing a desolate million people into a de facto internment camp. “Katz has a tendency to make outlandish, unfounded, chaos-stirring remarks (on Gaza, on Iran) that have the life expectancy of a mayfly.” However, it would be foolish to dismiss the plan to turn Rafah into a camp as purely political posturing given reported investment into planning for mass forced transfers, Pinkas added. "

In any Constitutional Democracy where people have the right to protest legally I dont support any justification or excuse around criminality or lawlessness during protests You dont need to break the law to protest And I cant respond to those Russian questions because people cant protest or criticize the state in Russia Those are just basic freedoms that are denied to Russian citizens

You would assume he would stay out of politics after his disaster at DOGE and how the Trump bromance ended He is one of the worlds greatest business visionaries and he can implement those ideas in the private sector but he is a terrible politician and he never will be an effective or popular politician

Interesting, so it was DOD who initially said they weren't sending weapons to Ukraine due to stock concerns and not Trump?

I had never heard of this game but it looks good for a horror adventure game I like Frictional Games, I have played most of the Amnesia games so I will keep this one in mind

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8d6yrd798no The US is going to renew sending weapons to Ukraine, Trumps normal flip-flopping on issues is demonstrated again " Donald Trump has said the US will send more weapons to Ukraine after an announcement last week that Washington would halt some shipments of critical arms to Kyiv. During a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said he was "not happy" with Russia's Vladimir Putin and that Ukraine was "getting hit very hard". Trump also indicated the US would send primarily "defensive weapons" to help Ukraine's war effort. "

Yes but we not talking about the history of Colonialism We talking about the UK now and domestic protests and the UK acting against criminality by protestors like Palestinian Action Either you believe that protestors should be able to break the law or you dont? So if you believe Palestinian Action should be able to damage and attack UK institutions then just say that, you entitled to your opinion As I often say, I reject the suggestion that the majority of protests should be about any looting, criminality or damage to property. And anyone breaking the law in protests should be arrested. But thats just my opinion

Are you saying that you support violence and criminality in UK protests as a way to achieve political change or around disagreements how the UK government defines its geopolitical views? Would you support protestors attacking and damaging UK public sector institutions like Parliament or is it only UK military sites you support being attacked? And then would you support right-wing groups breaking the law in protests or is it only pro-Palestinian groups that should be allowed to break the law?