BruceVC

Well the virus and its spread are real so you should support this type of government initiative to help address the pandemic Lockdowns are never nice but if you need to go through one again its for the greater good of your society and they generally achieve the result so I wouldnt see any problems there It also sounds completely self-inflicted, citizens rejected mass testing so you force government to implement something else to understand the virus spread and to slow it down? You should have agreed to mass testing because then at least your government would have some data to work with And I wouldnt think just because it failed in Slovakia that would mean it is going to fail in Austria ?

2133, Elerond is correct, you cannot be selective with the definition of democratic just because you want it to suit your interpretation of a political narrative

And there games are normally excellent

Nah, I havent even played Cyberpunk yet and I already forgive CDPR Games sometimes get released with bugs, its not the end of the world and historical evidence definitely supports the view that the gaming company still survives and can even thrive

Geez the Sky News presenters can be harsh to the UK current politicians around "why are you cancelling Xmas travel now " .. Of course having your Xmas cancelled I week before Xmas is terrible for anyone, like me , who has made Xmas plans but there is a new virus strain that we are also seeing in SA and the virus becomes 70 % more transmissible With the rise of the virus in the UK and this new strain you can only do 1 thing as a government, sadly you cancel Xmas travel

Absolutely and Germany is a very good example of how governments can prosecute private sector companies and politicians when they involved in crimes like manipulating of the stock price But that doesnt mean we should support the banning of allowing any politician to be able to trade shares unless its illegal activity like BAFIN in which case you should prosecute

Yes they can influence corporate profitability but political policies are not suppose to be about the direct influence of share price of any listed companies If you have any evidence of that at any listed company you need to take that evidence to the police or legal authorities that deal with financial crimes like the SEC in the USA. I can guarantee they will prosecute if the evidence is accurate because in most countries the authorities love throwing the book at private sector companies and making a good show about it

Yes but any politician is not the CEO or CFO or is a board member, that is my point So why should a politician be charged for trading shares on a company that they have no influence on?

Just wait for the quarantine period for 10 days, I am confident you will be fine either way. But you all should take a test before you go back to work on the last day of quarantine because you may have the virus but you only started manifesting symptoms on day 10 of the quarantine and you are asymptomatic which is not uncommon. And now you go back to work and still spread the virus in an asymptomatic way So you all must take a confirmation test before going back to work or the quarantine period is meaningless

I have several issues with what Warren is doing and they start with this is the type of thing I raised as a concern with a Democrat victory ...the implementation of well meaning "far left " and socialist policies that could inadvertently harm the US financial markets and how they operate Most, not all but most, politicians should be able to trade any stocks if they understand the market. I doubt they really did there own trading so they would use a stockbroker known as an intermediary But there is no conflict of interest unless you are suggesting these politicians can directly influence the stock price which would be a form of inside trading which is a crime and they would be prosecuted But they dont influence any stock prices as the price of your stock is intrinsically linked to buying and selling of the shares and this is directly linked to the real performance of the company. So for example is the company going to make its committed and yearly target ? Politicians dont control the profitability of private sector companies because it would be illegal or unconstitutional at least

I apologize, I was wrong about you not raising genuine Russian concerns I didnt read those previous comments but I did read your Trump concerns which was why I was under the wrong impression Because now Biden is president their will naturally be less Trump chaos and the USA needs to focus on other real foreign and domestic threats like this constant and irritating Russian cavalier attitude towards perpetuating crimes like Cyber espionage

Gromnir now that the Trump presidency is over I always wanted to ask you a question that I felt the issues with Trump would have made the question unfair due to your focus at the time Why have you never been openly critical about or concerned around Russia's attempts to undermine US institutions that do define what the US is about, like the importance of free and fair election? I am not trying to single you out on a disingenuous level, its just you are a qualified lawyer who has devoted his life to important values of the US Constitution and how even sometimes you must do things that are anathema but you do these things in the interest of legal principles like " all people accused of a crime are entitled to a qualified defense " ....like defending a racist or a right winger So I am just surprised you arent raising real concerns about this type of warfare on the USA. I do know you have been critical on the Trump surrogates who worked with Russia and lied but I cant recall you actually calling out Putin or Russia directly ?

It should be seen as a real offensive on the institutions of the USA and all Americans should be annoyed and concerned But you cant or wont go to war on cyber espionage because even though you can almost definitely prove it was a Russian attack they will always deny it and even if you confirm it comes from within Russia they will just deny its state sponsored and claim its independent hackers. So there is no " real " smoking gun to motivate a serious escalation. This needs to be fought in the world of cyber warfare and the USA has the potential and resources to do this through its own cyberwarfare division

Hoonding !!!! That is a terrible thing to suggest, we dont want to create such appalling choices because that would really take these countries backwards. The Russian answer to the EU is well known and these countries could join it anytime if they leave the EU It consists of generally weak, autocratic and inconsistent economic policies that dont seem to benefit the member countries but Poland and Hungary could join if they wanted ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Economic_Union But you dont want either country to leave the EU as they do contribute but more importantly I doubt the majority of their citizens would vote to leave the EU?

Okay thanks for the detail again because now I do understand your overall opinion but its also made some of my answers irrelevant so I need to update some things, I may only respond tomorrow as it will take me about 20 minutes and I want to do some gaming now

Majestic why you trying to starve countries into submission? I am surprised but strangely impressed as this an effective strategy but nowadays considered anathema and counter to most human rights that our Constitutions directly protect But there are sometimes gray areas in life and you never know when you may experience them

I am glad you responded in such detail as it demonstrates you have lived experience that explains your opinion or a view that is informed on other similar views I have heard around this negative view of the EU I am really glad you made the point in this way as I did some research around this and want to share some different realities on the EU but first I just want to clarify something so we on the same page, in summary you saying the EU is not a real success or representation of the power of unity of EU because The current EU actually reduces or limits the real power and choices of citizens because of how laws can change through the EU that immediately can make the citizens have less or no say The current Brussels HQ passes laws that can undermine the rights of countries and they end up losing sovereignty, so the EU becomes autocratic and less in touch with citizens right What would you solution be in summary, for example would you reduce certain Brussels law to grant more independence. You always need to provide a high level alternative to any existing government model if you accuse them of such egregious policies and outcomes Finally are you someone who may have real opinions of historical events based on work, levels of research and often lived experience that you naturally and normally believe and this view could shape other opinions which is how most of us formulate our views on topics, geopolitics and ideologies. But if you were presented with irrefutable evidence that gave you a different view of your old opinion would you update and accept the new information? This can be harder than you think because older views are sometimes trenchant or exist in worlds of " subconscious bias " but its always better to update views that dont represent all the facts ?

I finished Divinity 2 on Sunday and all I can say is what a brilliant and engaging RPG, I was reminded how my true gaming genre love is fantasy RPG. The game gets an impressive 81/100 on the highly respected and globally recognized " BruceVC gaming rating " system I have to admit I nearly stopped playing it after about 6 hours, I am very glad I persevered as quitting the game would have been denying myself an excellent experience of a new type of party based RPG. If I think back it was the combat and my lack of understanding the combat mechanics that led to me always losing certain battles. But you must understand the combat mechanics and rules because they great fun and complex but rewarding once you do this So the overall combat is a big part of the enjoyment but the quests were interesting and had alternative solutions. I enjoyed the narrative and often laughed at some of the cynical character dialogue choices, I generally say nice things but you could be rude I thought the way Larian addressed enemy levels as overall the best way any game can implement and address this factor. In Divinity there was no auto-leveling of enemies and it worked out fine because you learnt to avoid certain battles until later and that made battles and decisions more relevant I also enjoyed the way items made such a difference to defense and character skills so it made finding looting exciting And then they even implemented forms of Romance which was limited but convincing and that made it realistic and fun to pursue So in summary, excellent game and it bodes very well for Baldurs Gate 3, after playing Divinity I am very confident Larian will deliver on this much loved franchise

Just so I am clear can you summarize some of the issues some Polish people may have with the EU Gorthfuscious I have always been concerned with this negative view you seem to have of the EU....but then I realize I dont understand what you actually mean by " way when they decided they wanted to be a giant nation state rather than a trade block.though" and " proud "no!" voter to the Maastricht treaty 1992" as its before my time and how I can easily tell you all the reasons the EU is the worlds most successful economic union and works. But you have to accept to be part of the EU every country has to accept certain EU laws and regulations that are about the whole EU and not optional But this is a small price to pay for the advantages of the EU and the economic advantages of single market

I have made the very difficult but prudent decision to cancel my Xmas trip to see family and celebrate the best time of the year for me I am doing this to protect older family members from any unintentional exposure to the virus. I feel its the right thing to do but its going to be a lonely and miserable Xmas for me by myself in Cpt Anyway I cannot focus on the negative of my decision as Im doing this to protect people I love and its not about me

They do seem to be going against some of the basic human rights laws that exist within the EU and are mandatory for all member states

Guys I have a serious question that I would like feedback on I am suppose to fly to my hometown, Durban, on Sunday for our yearly Xmas family gathering at our beach cottage as we normally do The problem is we are seeing our second wave in SA and the virus increase is huge in coastal provinces where I am going to and where I live. I am now seriously considering cancelling my flight to DBN so there is no risk from my side by unintentionally spreading the virus to numerous older family relatives who are at high risk from the virus and will be there at our Xmas gathering I am not saying I have the virus but I risk exposure by flying to DBN....so what would you do if you were me? Would you cancel your Xmas holiday plans because of the reality of the pandemic spread in SA?

I can see how it may appear this is the end of the Republican party as we know it but I am confident that this will not be case, the GOP will survive but once Trump is gone there needs to be some honest reflections on certain political decisions certain politicians made in support of Trump and the GOP will address this internally You mustnt forget that Trump helped achieve core Republican objectives like tax breaks and the SC court placement. These do matter and people will remember this and continue to support the GOP which is the right thing to do because the bad things Trump did that caused major criticism is not enough to honestly destroy such a prestigious and historically important party Can you imagine if it was possible for a 4 year problematic president to really destroy any political party that has existed for over 150 years. If this somehow did occur it would be a travesty of justice and an idiosyncratic anomaly around reforms that all parties have to make at times But I do agree they will have to make some changes in there ranks and remove any extreme " Trump " politicians that use to deny the virus and question the things like proven science in a vociferous way

I am not sure what you guys are concerned about, maybe I am misunderstanding this debate We have real unnecessary comments from citizens in many countries that now people are questing the legitimacy of these vaccines, people are raising concerns that have been explained many times around how these vaccines " cannot be released so early as vaccines take 3-5 years " ....yes this is the normal time period but you can change this by simply reducing the number of live humans in the trials This is not compromising on the vaccine, its just making the sample numbers less but the most important thing is basically each vaccine has been tested on 100 K people which for me is good enough for me to take the vaccine Anyway I dont think anyone is going to deny the science behind taking the vaccine but we have to also accept there will be a small number of people who will have a bad reaction or no reaction but that is a not a reason to doubt the positive outcome

I like the way you think, I can work with you because I believe I can both empathize and understand what motivates you and its reasonable IMO