BruceVC

Nah Im not worried about the Baltic states being attacked by Russia because they part of NATO which means it would be an attack on NATO and that means the majority of NATO countries will respond and retaliate. And the US would respond and we can see by the long list of Russian military problems with Putins War that Russia wouldnt last very long against the US Remember in that type of war the Russian military would not be able to do things they demonstrated they good at which includes bombing cities to the ground from miles away using artillery In a war with NATO the Ruskies would have to fight a traditional war and they would fail miserably at that if you consider the lack of training, resources and corruption that we have seen throughout the invasion of Ukraine So Im not worried but not because Putins not capable invading any sovereign country, he is a warmonger and he has shown time and time again he doesnt respect international borders Im not worried because of the reality of NATO...thank goodness for NATO. Imagine how much anxiety would exist if countries couldnt join NATO? @majestic Hopefully we can all buy some NATO cheese to support this important institution ?

What an unusual question but yes I'm still buying cheese. I always do. But I just buy less expensive imported cheese unless its a celebration like Macrons victory

@Mamoulian War Mamie this is a good idea, have you taken another look inside. I have experienced multiple problems occasionally with some of my PC hardware like my G933 Logitech headset

This post really made me laugh

I nearly had a crisis with my RDR2 modded sp game I have a mod that allows me to sell any weapons to unique vendors and I accidently sold my hunting knife. And do you know by design you cannot Skin any animal without your hunting knife and you cant buy another hunting knife at any vendor and to make things worse I couldnt find a way to spawn a hunting knife using any trainer mod Which meant I could no longer get animal fat which is a unique ingredient required in certain ammunition and throwable weapons So I accepted I could no longer participate in an important RP part of the game which is living off the land But then I killed some greedy Bounty Hunters tracking me and guess what ....one of them dropped a hunting knife !!! Crisis solved

Thats good news, now what about Russias friends in Africa who are going to be suffering from famine Is Putin going to end the Black Sea naval blockade, thats more important than getting energy from Russia because their are alternative sources and supplies of energy like oil but not the amount of wheat that cant leave Ukrainian ports?

Dont you speak German? Im shocked .... many people are very lazy nowadays and all of us should know multiple languages I speak about 14 languages but I only speak English on this forum because its an English forum and I dont want the Moderators to shout at me

The refreshing honesty from Lavrov makes a nice change but its nothing that most of us didnt know about Russia and have known for years I dont mind hearing from Lavrov but nothing changes the reality of Putins War, the only thing that really matters to me is when is Putin going to end his invasion of Ukraine And as usual with everything from Lavrov its spin, blatant lies and alternative facts. To quote "We didn't invade Ukraine," he claimed. "We declared a special military operation because we had absolutely no other way of explaining to the West that dragging Ukraine into Nato was a criminal act." No you did invade Ukraine and no Ukraine wasn't going to join NATO because it requires agreement from all member states and several NATO members would never have agreed like Hungary and Turkey Lavrov, the greatest and most unconvincing spin doctor of our era

Yes I agree, you can criticize Biden for certain things but his response to Putins War has been excellent and more importantly the bipartisan support from Congress has more than exceeded my expectations I only see the support possibly changing under a Trump presidency but thats in 2024 and hopefully Putins War will be over by then What I also have found reassuring is that the GOP establishment, like Mitch McConnel, and Democrat older members remember the Cold War and they understandably dislike any Russian aggression and hegemony. I remember when Trump became president both him and Putin thought Trump alone could drop the sanctions against Russia for the illegal annexation of Crimea But the GOP controlled Senate ignored any attempt to do this and in fact increased sanctions for the interference in the 2016 elections Because Trumps understanding of geopolitics was never his strong point and he did have an agenda of "normalizing " the relationship with Russia which we now know would have been a mistake because Putins objective of recreating the old Soviet borders would not have ended So this indirect war we are now in was inevitable , you cant trust a liar and warmonger like Putin And whatever happens around Ukraine the future will be where Russia under Putin is a pariah to the West and is not an active member of the global economy that the West sustains. Russia can be part of it own economy with its allies and countries that decide to trade with it, thats the choice of individual countries. We just need to end the dependency on Russian energy as much as possible

Thats a good link and I understand the concern raised. Its ostensibly about the type of training that exists in the police academies and how that contributes towards abuse and heavy handiness we see in some cases in the US The police academies have adopted a military style type of training that reminds me of " basic " training that all of us who did our military service will be familiar with. So here is an interesting question, is it necessary for the US police to be trained like this ? The article mentions " Proponents of this approach argue that cops are a lot like soldiers: They have to follow orders regardless of their personal feelings; they have to run toward gunfire, not away from it; and they have to remain cool and professional in the face of chaos, threats, and harassment. In this view, paramilitary training takes undisciplined young recruits and turns them into lean, mean fighting machines, ready to handle the rigors of street patrol " Some would say that the types of violent crime that exists in the US means yes the US police are at " war" and they need this style of training to save lives and themselves. We all aware of the criticism towards how the police acted in the Uvalde shooting where the police didnt act decisively and were even accused of cowardice The article makes a good point around different types of de-escalation training that include " LEED,” for “Listen and Explain with Equity and Dignity.” Instead of an emphasis on yelling and standing at attention, her recruits are trained to engage others in courteous conversation, and are evaluated during role-play exercises on their ability to listen, show empathy, explain their actions, de-escalate tense situations, and leave everyone they encounter “with their dignity intact.” And that would also be useful in training of police in situations on the streets But good article, its thought provoking

I thought it was mandatory as part of the job interview process as a moderator to have played and loved PoE? Please tell me you joking about not playing W3? Its my second favorite RPG of all time

I assume you joking but if you being serious you confused by what a paramilitary organization is. You cannot possibly suggest the police in the US are a paramilitary organization by the normal definition, this is the definition of a paramilitary organization A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces.[1] Paramilitary units carry out duties that a country's military or police forces are unable, or sometimes unwilling, to handle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramilitary

That does seem to be the obvious solution, I think its a budget problem for all police and it will differ from state to state ?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2022-election/republican-mayra-flores-flips-house-seat-texas-special-election-rcna33652 The GOP have flipped a Democrat House seat in Texas, Mayra Flores was born in Mexico and is another example of the reality of the success of the GOP which is often incorrectly portrayed as a party of and for " white men " (she is also smoking hot ) I predict this is a sign of the bloodbath that the Democrats will experience in the midterms I will comment more on this type of political change in the US after the midterms but their are two points I want to add about why this is occurring The Democrats focus on issues that arent what most voting Americans really care about, the party is too influenced and handicapped by the progressive Democrats and their pseudo-socialist policies and things like defunding the police and name changes I would normally be happy with a GOP victory in the midterms and in 2024 but I dont want to see another Trump presidency in 2024. But unfortunately the way things are going I am not sure this can be prevented And then I do think Biden is facing criticism for things that arent his fault like the global inflation, high cost of living and how the US withdrew from Afghanistan. But I suppose in all Democracies thats how it goes, the current PM or president gets blamed by citizens ?

No I still haven't found a credible school CRT curriculum (I dont actively search for it )yet people are still saying " we want to teach CRT in schools " and that sentiment exists now in SA Why would educators, outside Universities, want to teach something and talk about it if it doesnt exist? So Im still concerned about it . But if you can get people in SA to stop saying " we want to teach CRT in our schools " then I wont be concerned ...so please help me end this bogeyman because people clearly believe its a real subject

@alanschu I know you mean well so dont take this the wrong way but the moment you said KP was right with his exaggerated, spurious and generalized view that " a good rule of thumb to assume cops are lying in general" you immediately demonstrate you dont understand the reality of the good work that the police do in the US and more importantly the police dont lie all the time and often people are guilty of the crimes the police arrest them for Dont believe some of BLM rhetoric, yes their is racism in the police in the US and things like racial profiling can be abused But its not the majority of police and we should really not believe that Gromnir makes very good points in this debate and Im not talking about him bringing the "BruceVC" deride into the argument. I am talking about the reality of how the police function in the US and its not nearly as bad as some people maintain

You must defund the entire racist Canadian police, that will definitely solve the problem It can be done, look at how it worked in the US ....oh wait But on a serious note I dont have much confidence with these types of reports and more specifically their suggestions and outcomes if you look at the US and how certain states in the US that followed BLM recommendations and you now see the crime rate getting worse and politicians scrambling to reverse certain changes they made around how the police are allowed to operate in these states Your article mentions " officers to brace for a “challenging” public reaction ", what do you think that means? Do you know in the US that 70-80% of black people dont want to defund the police and never did. You can see this represented in the election victory of the new mayor of NY who is ex-police, black and opposed to defunding the police and thats the ticket he ran on https://reason.com/2020/08/06/81-percent-of-black-americans-want-the-same-level-or-more-of-police-presence-gallup/ https://www.newsweek.com/eric-adams-who-opposed-defunding-police-poised-new-yorks-second-black-mayor-after-primary-win-1607379 So this raises a question, who are these people that speak on behalf of " black people " because the reality is they dont represent what the majority of black people want The best way to get an accurate and honest view of what citizens think is to ask people. So in your personal lived experience do you find the Canadian police racist and what has been the overall experience that your family and friends have had with dealing with Canadian police Thats much more relevant than some report which doesnt represent the overall experience that most people have with the police

Good post Monty, Putin can absolutely end the invasion of Ukraine But he wont at the moment because he is an autocratic and sociopath and this egregious invasion of Ukraine has to be seen as some sort of success So if Russia is able to occupy eastern Ukraine I predict we will see a " peace solution " from Russia and the question is will Ukraine accept it? Their are so many moving parts its hard to know

Their is no such thing in life as real prognostication and economics is the same but you can more or less predict quarterly economic data accurately based on historical data when markets are stable and globalization is working and functional Thats not the case now so no one can say " the titanic is sinking " because thats just rhetoric but we all in for hard times on different levels until inflation subsides which is dependent on the supply chains working and the damage done by the 2 years of imprudent and severe lockdowns. And Putins War has exacerbated things definitely so we can blame Russia for making things worse But for me I dont ever to hear people say things like " globalization is a problem " because now we experiencing what happens in a world where globalization is dysfunctional and this includes things like oil sales, processors , global courier services and food exports So if their is one "silver lining " to this high inflation its that I doubt we will ever be subjected to people protesting at meetings like Davos and making irritating and meaningless comments like " down with globalization "

Nice, this game sounds fun

It depends where you live, we have different weather patterns in different parts of the country. Not as different as the US but it varies

Do you frequent Codex, whats your user name? The ridiculous hyperbole from some Codex members about the globohomo global control makes me laugh, I dont even know what people are suggesting most of the time. I just ignore it

Summers in Cpt I find very hot and some days its uncomfortably hot with average temperatures being about 84-89 Fahrenheit. But its not hot every day which is nice. We are now in Winter and today is the coldest day of the year so far, 53F in the daytime But I dont mind the cold, I dont really feel it. Its the heat that bothers me. I normally go for my walk when the sun rises which is now at 7:40 am and the temperature is 48F

Nice, do you not go for those walks anymore? I still do but I havent been for the last 4 days because we are going through a rainy spell at the moment

What.....gaming on a mobile is like being in a Vegas strip club and you realize you have lost your wallet !!! Its just cruel and unfair What games you playing on your mobile ?