BruceVC

I mentioned this before but this has become controversial in South Africa because white Afrikaners are not refugees by the correct technical definition I have no issue with anyone migrating legally to any country because its a personal and difficult decision and we have family and friends who migrated to the US years ago and they very happy Trumps understanding of the reality of the lives of white Afrikaners in SA is inaccurate and clearly this hasnt been explained to him by his advisors so he keeps peddling this false narrative around white genocide and land expropriation But end of the day whats interesting is the main Afrikaner special interest groups in SA have no interest in leaving and they have explained this several times https://iol.co.za/news/politics/2025-02-08-afriforum-flip-flop-on-white-genocide-declines-trumps-refugee-offer-as-they-call-for-local-solutions-to-south-africas-challenges/ "In a joint media briefing on Saturday, the Afrikaner interest and civil society group AfriForum, and the trade union Solidarity, were unequivocal, saying white Afrikaners were going nowhere and the Afrikaners’ future lies in Africa, specifically in South Africa. " “Emigration only offers an opportunity for Afrikaners who are willing to risk potentially sacrificing their descendants’ cultural identity as Afrikaners. The price for that is simply too high. We also owe it to our forefathers not to nullify their sacrifices to let Afrikaners take shape as a people by giving up our self-existence as Afrikaners,” he said. "

https://forward.com/opinion/719134/netanyahu-trump-rift-israel-houthis-iran/ A good read around the ostensible rift between Trump and Netanyahu In summary the objectives of the Israeli far-right are becoming counterproductive to Trumps political aspirations in the ME

Writing an article that is critical of Israel definitely shouldn't get you arrested She wasnt involved in a protest that broke the law and Im glad she has been released

Yes the word gets abused and thrown around and then it loses its symbolic significance because everything becomes " woke " if you dont like it. It always was a unusual word that only started getting used a few years ago But we should be use to this by now, there are lots of examples of abuse of words from certain people on the left and right, I remember when words like racism and Nazi use to mean something and when they were used they were significant and concerning Now if you dont like someone on the right or something they said , throw in Nazi or racist for maximum impact

Yes the midterms are always a good benchmark of success and popularity for any president And I predict much voters remorse but the other consideration is what are the Dems offering US voters? If they just going to rely on there normal strategy of vilifying Trump will we see much change? The Dems need to have real policies that arent just about how terrible Trump is, something substantive and constructive Remember Obamas successful formulae " yes we can " , I know it was just a slogan but thats what Im talking about

This is exactly what I'm talking about The drama and the exaggeration around Trumps presidency " The world as we know is over ...only nuclear holocaust can save us " Its good you didnt live during the WW or the Cold War and real times of global crisis like the Cuban Missile Crisis I cant imagine how negative and defeatist you would have been

Yes, as I have maintained from the beginning Trump will be gone in 4 years. There is only 1 Trump and his personality is a big part of his popularity. You wont find another GOP candidate who has Trumps influence and ideas once his term is over There is lots of unnecessary fearmongering and drama around the long-term and current impact of Trump Its clear lots things he claimed he was going to do arent going to happen But he will have an impact while he is US president, we just want to curtail his bad ideas and policies

Looks excellent, lots of nice Romance developments and some good GTA themes I love the whole guns component and the sordid Vice element

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/6/trump-says-bombing-of-yemen-to-stop-as-oman-confirms-us-houthi-ceasefire This should be a win for Trump as far as international geopolitics is concerned The Houthis have agreed to stop attacking ships in the Red Sea and the US will end its military campaign Lets hope it maintains and its an example of where sometimes you need a military solution to see results

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/india-pakistan-attack-kashmir-tourists-intl-hnk It seems this latest conflict was caused by the massacre of Indian tourists in Kashmir

It will be worth the wait, I have been following some of the opinions, leaks and updates and its going to be epic But hopefully this delay means the PC release will be the same as the consoles

@Hurlshot Good idea? It should address the rampant crime in California or at least contain it ?

But thats not a bad idea, Alcatraz is a very famous prison and the US has lots of criminals Im not sure how it will be better than the maximum security prisons but its got potential

I finally completed Kingmaker after about 130 hours, its one of the best party based RPG I have ever played and its now in my Top 10 RPG of all time I have mentioned in previous posts what I loved about this game but I will summarize it combat is the best part of the game. There are dozens of different strategies and ways to win battles deep character customization and how you can develop a party engaging main narrative, lots of twists and turns and exciting developments lots of choices around how the narrative develops and how your choices influence certain outcomes great party and companion side quests and how you can engage and build your companion loyalty I ended up defeating Nyrissa on my third try. It was easier than I thought. She has high AC and lots of spells dont work against her so I did the following spread my party around so her AOE spells only hurt one or 2 people lots of buffs and healing was used during the battle I used Kalikkes earth burst ability on 4-5 level burn and that did loads of damage to Nyrissa because it doesn't require a hit She was wounded badly and she had to use Heal constantly until she ran out of Heal spells. Also by having to Heal all the time she was limited around offensive spells usage My fighters and Ekun did some minor damage to her but they mostly missed And then I used spells like Greater Shout which did hurt her But it was Kalikkes kinetics that did the most damage to Nyrissa, she was my trump card And the final ending for me worked out well. I let Nyrissa apologize but I gave the Crown to Shyka the Many so she died at the end. Im was happy with that because of all death and carnage she inflicted on various worlds But excellent experience and I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys party based RPG with a complex but worthwhile ruleset Now Im going to play Wrath, I download it last night. Im in the mood for more Pathfinder

Makes sense, they both part of the whole Dynamics training which is aligned to your work anyway

https://www.newsweek.com/maga-leaders-defend-americans-right-boycott-israel-2067909 This is an example of where the current Congress, or certain representatives , is too aligned with Israel and what it considers is anti-Semitism but this bill encroaches on freedom of speech What they dont realize is this type of bill fuels anti-Semitism because it adds to the whole narrative that Jews control the USA. " According to the lawmakers who introduced the bill, Lawler and Gottheimer, H.R. 867 "amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to include international governmental organizations (IGOs) in existing anti-boycott laws. The congressmen said in a January press release that the change "targets harmful and inherently antisemitic" boycott efforts undertaken at IGOs while also "extending protections already in place for boycotts instigated by foreign countries. However, critics warn the bill threatens the constitutional rights of Americans. The penalties under the legislation include civil penalties, criminal fines of up to $1 million and imprisonment of up to 20 years for supporting calls to boycott Israel. "

https://www.timesofisrael.com/waltzs-coordination-with-netanyahu-on-iran-strike-contributed-to-firing-report/ Waltz is being moved to another position and apparently the main reason for this is his relationship with Netanyahu and how its not aligned to what Trump prefers and specifically around Iran "Two of the people quoted by the Washington Post said that Waltz upset the US president by engaging in what the report described as “intense coordination” with Netanyahu on possible military options for Iran, prior to the premier’s White House meeting with Trump in February. " I do think the Trump WH is too close to Israel on several issues, it needs to be seen as more objective and whats best for the USA first But Iran is a threat to the overall stability of the ME and they cant be allowed to get nukes, thats a very important geopolitical objective. The issue is now what is the most effective and sustainable way to achieve this goal?

Nice and you saving money on food I love roasted duck, I love all duck dishes. One of my favorites is still Peking Duck I have cooked duck, it releases lots of fat and I needed to drain the pot but it ended up a good meal

Sound great, is the overall Danish experience better than what you were expecting considering how many other countries you have lived in? What specific Microsoft training and new certifications are you doing? I wrote M365 Fundamentals 2 months ago, its an excellent and required foundation exam for cross-skilling or working with M365 and then you select further exams to specialize. I am going to study Pureview which is the Compliance and Governance service that M365 provides Im want to get back into Microsoft from a consultancy perspective

And? You allowed to go into details, there are no forum regulations around this Whats it like staying in the old homeland again, is it nice seeing family again? Doing anything interesting and how have things changed now that you living in Denmark again

@Gorth Are still living in Denmark? If so will this be long-term ?

No thats inaccurate, Elerond try not be fooled by fake news and anti-US sentiment around the long-term advantages of this mineral deal Most of the minerals are not in Russian controlled regions, you can see from this map. Just look at the colour sizes

Russia has already made the US a similar offer The difference is the US investors will have more influence in the future of this mining than an investment in Russia It may not seem like it but this is good news for Ukraine and its future, its better to have greedy Capitalists committed to your country than not at all

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/30/ukraine-says-it-is-set-to-sign-minerals-deal-with-us This is huge development and doesn't get the attention for its relevancy around how its in the best interests for Ukraine For example once US investment starts there is no chance Russia will ever able to occupy Ukraine entirely " Announcing the agreement, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the creation of the United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund was a signal to Russia that the Trump administration was “committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term”. “President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine,” Bessent said in a statement. “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”

I learnt an important lesson about finding items and then cleaning screens when you leave an area in Kingmaker I have mod configured that gives me an option to clean every area of items I leave and it helps with save file bloat and makes the game more stable Anyway I am busy with the Varnhold Vanishing quest and I am finding the Sisters for the barbarians and at the end you go back to the barbarian camp and the Sisters end up attacking you. I killed them and looted some items and then left for Valley of the Dead and cleaned the area in the barbarian camp But I didnt loot the one Incense Burner and you need all 3 to enter the Valley , I missed it and I ended up cleaning all items. Luckily I save regularly and I just restored to before the Sisters battle. But the lesson of the story, I am now very careful before I say " clean " when I leave an area because this one oversight meant I could unintentionally not being able to finish the game