BruceVC

https://www.news24.com/news24/SouthAfrica/News/violence-looting-continues-in-durban-and-surrounding-areas-on-monday-night-20210713 The rampant looting and torching of malls and shops continues in SA in 2 provinces One of the provinces is our economic hub that contributes close to 60 % to GDP has been targeted but where I live in the Western Cape we not seeing violent mobs Despite the army being deployed they cannot be everywhere at once as we have dozens of small towns where this criminality is occurring. Its like living in some theoretical SJ projection where people say unhelpful things like " the poor will rise due to inequality " except it real and its caused by small groups out of millions of impoverished people and its continuing because we have allowed a culture of impunity to develop over the last 12-15 years where our security forces havent enforced the rule of law and order effectively on other violent protests

Yaaaay, my fellow Ragnarok groupie Since no one cares about this series lets chat about it. Loki is brilliant, their is so much scope going forward and how the Mythology will be interpreted in the series. In the Norse mythology in the final days of Ragnarok Thor defeats Jormungandr in an ultimate battle but dies doing so....I wonder if the series will mirror this ? Also I wonder who the Sorceress will be going forward...so many interesting things to ponder

Zora please stop repeating this conspiracy theory, its inaccurate and intellectually and morally beneath you People died at Marikana due to a sequence of events and months of violent protests. Before the miners were killed 10 police and security members were killed by the miners....people who also had families and were just doing their job In SA their is still this false narrative repeated by a few " Cyril ordered the police to kill the miners ". No he didnt, he was at the mine negotiating between the unions and mine owners because he use to part of the trade union movement but his input made no difference When people use the additional false narrative of " the mine was part owned by Cyril " he was just a shareholder of Lonmin like tens of thousands of other people. Being a shareholder doesnt make you responsible for decisions that the police made due to fear and not being trained properly to deal with thousands of angry miners who were armed. Marikana was a tragedy, a terrible tragedy and numerous groups all should have taken equal responsibility If you genuinely care about this story I can share many links to confirm and clarify the truth

Maybe but I wouldnt care as long as England had made all their goals in the final

I hear you, end of the day we all have our own preferences around what we watch and what entertains us I just found Ragnarok to be something different, especially around the slow but interesting integration into Norse Mythology and season 2 is even better particularly with the arrival of Jörmungandr

The " Land question " as its known in SA is not our main economic problem, its an old debate and comes from those people who believe land ownership will achieve economic prosperity but this an outdated understanding of the structures of the SA economy. Agriculture only contributes 6-7 % of overall GDP so its not going to change much Our problem is job creation and how having a job allows you access to resources like the ability to get a home loan and have basic spending power to allow SA to become a consumer driven economy. But we dont have the jobs for several reasons like a lack of FDI ( foreign direct investment ) because of problems like self-inflicted downgrades from the credit ratings, our huge government debt and the massive problem with our unions and labor protest So we much worse off than any social and economic problems in the US. We can achieve our economic goals but government has to be decisive and implement necessary austerity and retrenchments in the public sector which has a bloated and ineffective work force in certain institutions....not all of them but several No you misunderstanding my point because I didnt clarify. During violent protests over the last 10 years their is pressure on the police to not even use rubber bullets because their have been isolated incidents of people during protests, 3 cases in hundreds of violent protests, being killed by rubber bullets. But no, live ammunition is not what I am suggesting at all and that wont help as we not China or some police state. But water cannons and rubber bullets can be used effectively to quell protests where buildings and shops are torched Here is an example of the push back on rubber bullets https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/15/south-africa-police-kill-bystander-protest

Yes this is also the pointlessness of this type of destruction normally, its in towns and areas where many impoverished people live so protestors are only hurting themselves and increasing inequality And to make things worse its not all the people living in these areas that involved in criminal acts but the entire community will suffer because of this Our problem in SA is have allowed much of these violent protests to continue and many people in society have made excuses for it so it sets a dangerous precedent But these specific protests in SA are also in residential areas and middle class sectors which are the main contribution towards our tax base and actually employ people. So we talking about a small number of people who feel emboldened by the lack of action and arrests and they believe they can act with impunity The good news is our army is now being deployed because the police are overwhelmed

https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-07-12-live-updates-riots-and-looting-mob-sets-mall-in-vosloorus-on-fire/ Here is an outcome of what happens when you allow violent protests to continue and like in the USA we also have some liberals who make public statements like " the police mustnt use rubber bullets because these protests are about ...inequality and poverty " so the protestors run rampant and just destroy business The USA isnt at the point of SA but its a slippery slope when you ignore and justify violence from mobs Take a look at the photos in the link, this is from today

What was the initial cause of your neck and arm issues ?

https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/amnesty-international-sa-condemns-looting-in-kwazulu-natal-and-gauteng/ The former SA president, Jacob Zuma, who has been complicate in billions of Rands of corruption charges over the last 10 years was jailed last week for......contempt of court for not appearing at an enquiry around a particular case of corruption. He received really bad legal advice and basically thought he could ignore a binding, subpoena to appear in court He was jailed for 15 months for this particular infraction. Now in parts of the country we are seeing looting and blatant criminal acts perpetuated by people who primarily belong to the same tribe as Jacob Zulu and in the province where this tribe is dominant which is where I grew up, Kwazulu Natal. His tribe are Zulus and most Zulu people are not involved in the criminal acts but small groups are However this criminal element has burnt trucks at toll bridges and looted and attacked malls and shops They need to deploy the army because allowing protracted, violent strikes to continue never achieves anything constructive in the long term

Not sure how relevant comparing arguably bad refugee decisions in a particular game is the same as clearly bad refugee decisions in the final? Two wrongs dont make a right The one benefit that the Italians players have is if they cant play football anymore I can guarantee you they will get jobs in Hollywood.....what a bunch of actors and this incident you mention was egregious

Their has to be a better system than penalty shootouts to decide who wins games like this ...oh well

I cannot believe it !!! Oh well I suppose now the game is more exciting and Italy was putting loads of pressure on England .....

Its looking good so far for England ....now they just need to hold the pizza munchers off for the rest of the game

Sorry to hear but at least that great meat wont go to waste. During this lockdown, and the fact I am single, I have on several occasions cooked a whole roast, different types of meat, just for myself So I eat it for lunch on Sunday or Saturday and then I have delicious leftovers for sandwiches for the next 3-5 days so nothing is wasted

Didnt your brother come through?

I think this is part of it because when Trump was president he use to ignore and insult different media houses and now journalists are aware they wont be treated like this when they addressing Biden .....so they making up for lost time And as I keep saying that despite my reservations about some of Bidens policies and strategies I like him and do think he is doing a good job overall, especially around the pandemic and where the USA was, so its always interesting to see him try to respond to all these questions thrown at him

Has anyone noticed when the US media generally ask Biden questions their doesnt seem to be any structure to how questions are asked and they tend to scream questions at him creating this vociferous deluge Its bedlam and I am not sure he minds, but its like he has this avuncular personality and its okay but its quite frenetic

@Gorth I know I can count on you to support England today, I know you wont turn your back on the Empire and how much you have benefitted on a personal level, even self-identifying anarchists can be magnanimous Gorthfuscious ....and I am sure you are not upset about Denmark losing to England right ? Go England !!!

Okay got it, so the Gold Coast is the place to be ....I understand and support your endorsement

Its always a good idea to mix up your training, I have mentioned since the lockdown that I dont go to gyms anymore when they open because in SA they can really be places where the virus spreads So I do my 5km walks, I dont think they as effective as going to gym but its good exercise and I am very fortunate to be living in a city where I can do this easily . But you made me think of something else You live in the Gold Coast right? What is the time their now, in SA its 7am now Also when you say you train at 2-3 am when do you sleep and do you work night shifts? I use to sometimes work at night on certain projects which was optional and it suited me but since I moved to Cpt I work " normal " hours and work during the day

Okay I can now comment with conviction that Sunless Sea is fun and offers a real entertainment factor The key to this for me was understanding the gaming mechanics and accepting outcomes like death are part of the game. But in summary you can gain money, which is critical to survival to buy fuel and goods, by just visiting unusual islands and then reporting this to the Admiralty in London. This is a just one way you survive in the game around increasing your revenue stream And then combat is necessary and once you understand how that works it is also fun. The writing has levels of complexity and humor and I appreciate that So its a perfect distraction for the next 2 weeks while I focus on RL pressures

Well done for exercising and training harder at the gym In these difficult times of pandemic its important to try to stay in good health as much as possible as their is no doubt their is a link between virus severity and your overall health What is your training program and how have you changed things ?

I have watched both seasons now and it really is entertaining, its something different and I love how it ties into the whole Norse mythology with "RL "characters I was always surprised it wasnt more popular on these forums considering how many people love fantasy

You make some good debatable points and someone can easily find examples of some of what you mention in the USA over the last 20 years or so But to be fair to people who voted for Biden they didnt all vote for him because they believe in the Democrats ideas around the economy or how to address inequality or even because of BLM and its current influence . Some people voted for the Democrats because of this but undecided voters made the difference and allowed the Democrats to win https://www.newsweek.com/2020/09/04/undecided-voters-were-key-trumps-win-2016-will-they-deliver-again-1526824.html And I would argue it was the absolutely appalling handling of the pandemic that swung most undecided voters to Biden, I believe this because that is what would have made my mind up at the end if I could vote as a US citizen The midterms or the next election once the pandemic is over will be the true test of whether the Democrats have real policies or strategies that resonate with the majority of US voters