BruceVC

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-67505674 Interesting story in the US and another example of unnecessary outrage around culture wars garbage and how some people dont understand race or they have their own definition of racial identity In SA one of our races is coloured people who have their own identity and history and they mostly descendants of the Khoisan A really talented R&B singer called Tyla is breaking into the US market and she openly and proudly identifies as coloured But she was heavily criticized by some black people in the US because the word " coloured " is offensive and she is expected to say she in black...but shes not black, she is coloured In SA these are separate races but she is not mixed race either like Trevor Noah who calls himself black in the US but he is not black in SA. Black people in Africa are Bantu tribes How to avoid this , American activists mustn't assume the world is defined by there definition of race. Its not, it much more complicated than that

Let me ask you and others a different question. And I think most of us are guilty of selective outrage and what matters to us around that outrage. And I put myself in that group There are several active conflicts in the world at the moment but our focus and commentary is mostly Gaza and Ukraine And my question is about ICC war crimes and who should be charged. Do you think the following countries\people should be charged Israel\Netanyahu Hamas leadership Russia\Putin And each group should be charged for different war crimes based on what they have done in each conflict. And Putin is not being charged for what the Russian military has done in Ukraine, he is being charged for openly admitting he moved Ukrainian children to Russia I think all 3 groups need to be charged

Its terrible when journalists are killed in wars or by a state. Imagine just getting killed for doing your job and trying to bring the truth to people Here is a list of journalists killed by Russia in Ukraine and this list extends far beyond the current war. And Russia still sits on the UNSC and claims moral stances like outrage against the US but yet its blatantly political. The worlds so full of falseness and crocodile tears https://cpj.org/data/killed/europe/ukraine/?status=Killed&motiveConfirmed[]=Confirmed&motiveUnconfirmed[]=Unconfirmed&type[]=Journalist&type[]=Media Worker&cc_fips[]=UP&start_year=1992&end_year=2023&group_by=location

its just an early video and it highlights some of the themes but the twerking is just a small part of the game like stripclubs ( saying all that I do hope for a Megan Thee Stallion cameo appearance ) Here is another example of an early GTAV trailer, its more about broad concepts. If you played GTAV you will see that only one main character is in this video and this trailer had very little to do with the actual game Here are the views from a former Rockstar animator who worked on GTAV about this latest trailer. Its very positive but its more about the animations and graphics and how brilliant they look

But I do think its time for Democratic representatives to compromise on the border measures Republicans want Ukraine will get the funding if Dems compromise on that and the border has become an absolute nightmare so its another legitimate target for increased funding. Biden cant agree by himself but yes he can influence his party in Congress

They could have avoided it by answering the question in the same way they would have answered the question and do answer the question if any other minority was threatened by violence or genocide. But they didn't answer it because since 7 October they have allowed violence and anti-semitic protests and they did nothing about that either at all these universities And they knew the next question would be " why havent you done anything then about the bullying and intimidation of Jewish students " So they got terrible legal advice and failed to explain or convince anyone they were committed to what the University is suppose to represent which is a safe place for students where they not bullied or intimidated They failed to do that over the last 2 months and they failed at the inquiry

Sure but they could have easily avoided the fallout and criticism if they stated the obvious " yes it is harassment and bullying " Watch this apology video from Magill afterwards, this is exactly what they should have said or at least something similar. I do think she is being sincere and I blame there lawyers for not preparing them properly because all 3 of them had the same types of response and it was understandably a united legal response they tried to make at the inquiry ....it was just an epic failure

I'm not sure if you aware what a backlash the terrible and tone death responses the 3 presidents gave has created ? They might be fired and I wouldnt be surprised. There is lots of criticisms towards how they responded but it was clear they had listened to their lawyers too much and lacked any expected empathetic response. They couldnt answer definitively things like " is calling for genocide of Jews considered harassment and bullying of Jewish students " And there has been no real actions towards the students but lots of lip service Imagine if it was far right students calling for the genocide of black people or LGBT, there would be no uncertainty if that was considered bullying or harassment . The presidents have subsequent apologized but the damage is done Here is a video that summarizes the disaster and then apology that came afterwards

I hear you but I am not convinced that the decision to become a soldier in a foreign war, even if its for economic desperation, is the same as illegal immigrants trying to get into Finland and Russia taking advantage of that immigration objective and then the abuse of the border fails so now Russia wants to enlist them in its cannon fodder military tactics The immigrants to Finland had no intention of going to war in Ukraine until they were coerced and this is not the first time Russia has done this. People from Africa sitting in Russian jails also " joined " the Russia\Wagner army and died in Ukraine, this is common around Russian conscription https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/ukraine-crisis-russia-wagner-africa/#:~:text=Of the three African men,a hero%2C” said Prigozhin.

But if people want to volunteer and get paid to fight in any war that should be there choice, your link is different to @Gorth The BBC link is about illegal immigrants being coerced to joining the Russian army Your link says "In October 2023, The New York Times reported that hundreds of Nepalese citizens went to war in Ukraine for money - they are fighting for both the Ukrainian and Russian sides. Nepal's Ambassador to Moscow Milana Raj Tuladhara previously said that there are 150-200 Nepalese mercenaries serving in the Russian army. According to him, they are recruited with promises of big money. "Every day we send back at least one Nepalese citizen. All of them were brought to Russia to serve in the army. If a person does not have a Nepalese passport, we issue a travel document and send him back to Nepal," he said." Gorth link says "The BBC has seen evidence of several cases in which foreigners were rushed into a military camp on the border with Ukraine, days after they were picked up for breaching immigration laws. The practice of coercing people in pre-deportation detention centres to sign contracts for army service in Ukraine is not new, but the numbers swelled as foreign migrants arrived at Russia's 1,340-km (833-mile) border with Finland" But they are different ways Russia is recruiting but the Nepal example is fine because its a choice?

Its the Internet, do we ever know anyones true identity

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/06/investing/bill-ackman-harvard-penn-antisemitism/index.html A most disturbing story, when the presidents of 3 prominent US universities were asked " whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates their respective school’s code of conduct on bullying or harassment" The response was "None of the school leaders explicitly said that calling for the genocide of Jews would necessarily violate their code of conduct. Instead, they explained it would depend on the circumstances and conduct " But I can guarantee you they would have an immediate response on other types of bigotry at Universities like racism or homophobia and circumstances wouldn't matter

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231205-us-house-to-pass-another-resolution-conflating-anti-zionism-with-anti-semitism/ So US Congress has passed a resolution that says anti-Zionism is the same as anti-Semitism I understand the sentiment because anti-semitism in on the rise in the US since 7 October but I think its misplaced because anti-Zionism is normally a political stance and there are many American Jews themselves who are not Zionists and believe in a 2 state solution and they do criticize Netanyahu's policies But opposing Zionism doesnt mean you necessarily anti-semitic because many of the more hardline believers in Zionism dont believe the Palestinians should have any state

The latest trailer is excellent. Im very excited about this game It doesnt look very woke like I assumed, nice stripclubs

https://yle.fi/a/74-20063067 Another example of Russian interference in the EU, this time its a focus on the Nordic countries and fueling Islamophobia and specifically in Sweden

This is the most balanced view on Churchill I have read in this debate and I agree with most of it Its much more informed and nuanced than listening to selective outrage around "he is a racist, we MUST take his statue down " or other similar comments @Zoraptor and yes Stalin does get positive recognition for helping to defeat the Nazi and the role the USSR played. Thats why they celebrate Victory Day

What does a morality ledger mean? I assume its where we judge people on their lives and that includes the good and the bad?

So the Nazi being defeated in WW2 is not a big deal to you? Thats what I mean by overall contribution and the UK and Churchill played a part in the Allies victory

Well his important stand he took against the Nazi is really what he is remembered for and thats no myth

I expect that from radical left and some BLM protestors, it will fail but people will still try Its no different to demands in the UK to take down Churchills statue because he was racist. And its always motivated by the same reason, outrage about something they ostensibly did in the past while ignoring or being unaware of their overall contribution towards the country but then judging them on today's values and morality There is even a word for it, presentism https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/presentism

Literally in my next session I came across Sangani and Grieving Mother, I can handle no Romance but not having any women in my party seemed ...incongruous I decided to keep Grieving Mother as a active companion, I dont have a Cipher

Im 20 hours into PoE and Im loving it, Im comfortable now with the ruleset changes compared to D&D and Im starting to appreciate many of the differences Full disclosure, I decided to use a mod that lets you Camp without camping gear. I realize this goes against the philosophy of "limiting " how rest is used but its unrealistic to suggest you cant rest without camping gear or that a bedroll can be used up. So I have changed my game to make it similar to other IE games where you can rest without camping gear But Im enjoying many things about this game and they include I love the lore and the narrative, the quests are interesting and worthwhile I really enjoy the combat and different strategies you need to adopt. It can get frenetic at times but if you slow down combat speed and use pause then you can micro-manage your party nicely if you want I like the classes and their abilities, I decided to be a Godlike Priest and a follower of Wael I also enjoy features like the Bestiary which allows you to learn about monsters the more you fight them I like reading peoples souls, its a pity you cant act on what you find But so far so good, really entertaining RPG in a new world with different mechanics Oh, one negative. No Romance at all and I only seem to have men in my party...where are the chainmail bikini armour women?

Keyrock thats a very cynical and jaded view to have, are you sure you believe that? In the US you have for months presidential candidate races that are normally influenced by public debates in open forums. Then people vote on the presidential candidate and then the national presidential election against the opposition party Its not the elites or big business that decides this success, its the people who go out to vote that decide this. Didnt the Trump victory in 2016 teach us that? Trump won despite massive media, most global public opinion and big business negativity towards his campaign I understand your concern but it doesn't make real historical sense or rather its not the main factor in deciding political leadership in the US?

But based on what evidence? The US doesn't fit the description of an oligarchy because US politicians and presidents come and go based on votes and you even have different groups within the established parties like MAGA Republicans or progressive Democrats that have political influence https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/oligarchy/

If the US is not a Democracy what do you consider it to be? And who do think would try to assassinate Trump, I mean specifically? I find that hard to believe