BruceVC

https://www.ibtimes.com/court-rules-nsa-surveillance-operation-exposed-edward-snowden-be-unlawful-3039833 Guys this is quite a big story, I always respect the rulings that any courts make in any legitimate Democracy. It doesnt mean I agree with them and I also believe in the principle of legally taking rulings to higher courts where applicable So in the case of Snowden IMO he is still a traitor because he broke the important contractual obligation he made to the NSA to not reveal state secrets, this ruling just supports the view that Snowden could have followed the legal path to raise attention to Prism and concerns around surveillance but he sold out to Mother Russia and turned it into a global spectacle ...pure theater and unnecessary antics instead of following the normal, expected route that a whistle blower can follow

But Comrade please believe me when I say the ME has changed and so have the new ideological alliances. So yes in the past you could argue its a " Zionist " plot but not anymore because the new conflicts in the ME include both Israelis on the left and right aligned with the Gulf States and the common enemy is Iran...if anything its " selective " Islamophobia but you dont get such a thing as " selective " bigotry towards a particular group ....not really So I wouldnt want you to honestly feel ashamed about being American due to an interpretation discussion and debate around semantics....it seems unfair ?

Skarpen can confirm what his real point was but IMO he is being sarcastic because there is a perception based on what several members, like you and Hurlshot, have said that you are surprised or cannot understand why " anyone would vote for Trump because of the Muslim Ban " So irrespective if this perception has been misunderstood and or embellished it still exists ...so its easy to understand how little the Muslim Ban ( which is still not a proper Muslim Ban ) would not be a reason many people who are Trump supporters would not still vote for Trump or more importantly this is not a reason for them not to vote for Trump as they support Trump for other reasons. So basically the Muslin Ban is raised by the likes of Fox as " another unfair attack by socialists and the media on the president with no real substance like the impeachment and Russian interference " arguments. As usual I think these points are true in some ways but not directly linked to Trump but they will get dismissed automatically by Trump supporters I can understand this view, so that is why Skarpens comment could easily be justifiable sarcasm and not meant to be taken seriously ?

I have no issue with any large IT companies like Google, Amazon, Facebook or Twitter. These companies are " monopolies " in the sense they are dominant players in there specific sector but as 2133 mentioned there is nothing stopping anyone from creating a competitive product in that specific sector and often this happens like Instagram, yes the large companies often buy these competitive smaller companies but that is the choice of the creator to sell there IP. You cannot blame the larger company for that And I also dont blame or have any issue with large social media companies being accused of " not doing enough to protect private information " , its not social media to blame for what people decide to make available in there profiles , sorry guys but its an oxymoron to have a reasonable opinion that " social media and privacy " go together. Dont make things available on SM , even if you implement privacy setting which unfortunately can be hacked, if you dont want them possibly available to the public I dont use Twitter and FB and I survive fine, its really okay. I dont dislike or mistrust Twitter or FB but they cannot do everything reasonably expected I want to ensure either acceptable decorum when people make points and I am not comfortable with the security they can offer. But I still appreciate what they offer and would happily utilize them if I had to, due to marketing for example , but not at the moment as its simply not worth the unlikely case of my account being hacked

Due to the temperamental Cape Town weather I plan my walks using a Weather App to understand rain patterns, this morning at 6:30 am it was cloudy where I live in the city and 50 % rain prediction But I started my walk at 7:10 am and as I walked up the roads towards the bottom of Table Mountain, Cape Town was built basically around the base of Table Mountain, I was able to walk through low level clouds which were the bad weather clouds So I was able to literally piece the overcast clouds by walking for about 1.5 Miles but I was walking up the whole time, it was lovely experience to be above the clouds and walking in good weather and an excellent start to my day

Thanks for posting this, it gave me more information around what you and Gromnir are saying about the Muslin Ban. I agree with some of what you saying For me I prefer people doing this or posting links so I can do my own research on any particular subject , I generally will always do this in a debate which is exactly what they taught me at school when I did debating as an extracurricular subject ...I loved debating, one of the few things I loved about school

I will only be happy with at least a 70-75% efficacy, the spread risk and its continuing, negative impact on our lives is to great with much less than that number People dont want to go back to work or live like they use to primarily due to real fears and some unnecessary concerns, but its occurring on levels unseen and unprecedented in the history of mankind or rather the way the worlds economies work.....the negative impact to the prolonged, global economic shutdown cannot be underestimated

Yes there is a valid economic argument about the structure of parts of the US economic growth under Trump but you still cannot deny if it wasn't for the virus the US economy was doing exceptionally well based on several, global ways economies can be measured. For example under Trump unemployment was the lowest in 50 years and the lowest ever in the history of when this data was collated within the African American and Latino communities....you could question the types of jobs that were created but I still think having a job is preferable to being unemployed ? https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/04/black-and-hispanic-unemployment-is-at-a-record-low.html And I assume this is true

Those are not acceptable or even remotely effective odds.....even if they turn out to be true with the v1.0 vaccines The good news this is a unique virus, albeit similar to others , and we cannot prognosticate with any real accuracy how effective the vaccine will be or how more effective V.xxxx will be until its released and we see the real outcome So Im much more optimistic than a 50 % efficacy

Really clever SA advert about inter-racial dating and since I believe and support inter-racial dating especially funny for me

But there is nothing wrong with any immigrant deciding to immigrate to another country if they not happy with laws in the country like immigration and border control and how you process citizenship? You cant expect them to go home but they can always immigrate somewhere else ? This has happened several times in SA with illegal immigrants and we fine with it

No I want Biden to win for several reasons, overall I think another 4 years of Trump will not allow the USA to recover as quickly from the virus impact as a Biden presidency and Biden will realign to certain important historical relationships like the important friendship with the EU and NATO But Trump is not all bad and has had several successful policies like how they made the USA economy stronger and more business friendly

No but there are important Democrat members, like Sanders and Warren, who could influence both Harris or Biden, mostly Harris, to implement well meaning but intrinsically, socialist and or damaging policies that do real harm to the USA and what defines being American This is a real concern to some Americans, and others globally because of the global impact, and shouldn't be automatically dismissed

Because if the Democrats control both the House and Senate I assume they could pass realistically any bill or law ..or attempt to pass? At the moment no one party controls both the House and Senate. And there are real concerns around extreme left populism that could severely impact the USA economy and or implement laws that lead to further divisiveness and acrimony between left and right ...and I can think of several, concerning extreme left laws or new bills that concern me immensely

GD you know you can sometimes be depressing, I would strongly advise you not to accept a new job doing something like " motivational speaker at a high school around the prosperous and bright political future the USA has " ....please think of the kids before taking that type of job

Gromnir if you honestly want a reason why anyone would vote for Trump after the Muslim Ban that is easy and its the same reason I gave you last time, it wasnt a ban on all Muslim countries therefore it wasnt a real Muslim Ban. If I was a Trump supporter I would only be concerned if it was a ban on all Muslim countries ...so no issue there about voting for Trump again if that reason is a real concern? I agree the ban was not logical and it was inconsistent with application in certain countries like Nigeria, Myanmar and Venezuela because these countries pose no risk of people attacking the USA due to Islamic Extremism ( Boko Haram operate in forests and very impoverished rural areas....they dont catch planes and go attack the USA ) but all other countries are definitely anti -American, brutal dictatorships and or do have links to Islamic extremism so its justified to ban them because these countries cannot guarantee adequate security checks at airports or simply just dont have stable internal government security forces to do enough to prevent the potential of people using the country to attack the USA in a myriad of different ways So you can criticize the Muslim Ban heavily but not because its a sweeping ban of all Muslims, its selective and in some cases justified

I like to see you and Gromnir extending the hand of courtesy and mutual respect , well played. I have always believed you guys have more in common than you realize. And from Gromnirs side he even "Liked " your post which is not common for Gromnir Unlike me I can potentially " Like " 5-6 posts a day but I can also explain in a logical and objective way why I " Like " the post or I like parts of it which is a good enough reason for me to " Like " any post. The point is I dont just " Like " posts on a whim for no reason ....oh and particularly humorous posts or posts that make me laugh invoke a " Like"

Yes you make some good points but the vaccine will, or should be , initially used for elderly people and or people at high risk, I dont imagine young people getting it first so why would elderly people not get it or not take the vaccine unless they refuse but that is there choice because my initial suggestion of making it mandatory will have legal challengers as Im sure you will be able to explain based on the US Constitution The outcome of this should be even if younger people refuse to take the vaccine they wont be able to unintentionally spread the virus to groups at high risk because these groups will have access to the vaccine as a priority . So I believe the harm even hardcore vaccine denialists may bring should be mitigated ?

I think some of you guys are underestimating the votes Trump will gain due to the protracted and unacceptable months of violence and anarchy we are seeing in certain US cities Of course the Trump campaign is going to focus on this and use it to gain support through both real and irrational fears and anxiety that many US citizens feel around the argument " Democrats dont about the rule of law and order " There is definitely degrees of false narrative from both parties around what BLM and the protests mean and both parties are guilty of sometimes politicizing the violence

This makes sense and supports your view and others who are not anti-vaxxers but rather have concerns with the risk that the vaccine may be rushed in some cases Living in SA by the time my demographic gets the vaccine and its freely available I am confident it will be on V3-4 so I will have less concern than living in a first world country which has resources to ensure it citizens get V1.0 ps : I like your characterization of " V1- xxx " , its a good way to frame the general concern about not being a guinea pig Also your view on this has now changed my view that the vaccine should be mandatory because push back can be valid based on the " guinea pig " concern

I consider you a reasonable person so your view on this matters, why woudn't you take the Covid vaccine? Do you ever take the yearly flu vaccine, I have never taken the flu vaccine but its only because I am very fortunate and generally never get flu

What do you guys think should be done about vaccine denialists and or people who claim they will not take the any vaccine around Covid when it is released. We see this in several countries and particularly the USA where apparently as many as 30-35 % of people polled wont take the vaccine Do you feel they have this right or do you think it should be legally mandatory. I think it should be obligatory because the virus spread is not about the individual but how a person by not taking the vaccine can spread the virus so it shouldnt be seen as an individual decision but rather a collective decision which all governments should enforce ?

I love cats, post some pics of the kittens for us cat and pet lovers And as you mentioned its a very safe and recommended procedure so they will fine

But we really need to be realistic about the ME and what can be achieved, Israel is not going anywhere and most of the countries in the world are dependent on oil as a factor that drives there economies. So our views on the way forward need to consider both these points if you want some kind of meaningful peace Also my definition of " Islamist " groups is not the Gulf States but the likes of ISIS, AQ and the Taliban. You can absolutely trade and work with the Gulf States, that include Saudi Arabia but you cannot work with the likes of ISIS

@ Gorthfuscious, I added the post as a response to your previous post in the event you missed this comment as the the post was closed by Amentep There are no real regimes in the ME that dont have some kind of human rights abuses or have mistreated another group so if you judged the objective I mentioned on that then there would never be a solution to achieve peace and meaningful economic stability and transformation But Saudi Arabia, which is a huge part of the objective, understands the importance of economic stability. They have played a huge part in helping the world and the USA in fighting Islamic extremism once they were targeted by AQ after 9/11 and they are the leaders and most influential country in OPEC which is critical to most of the world needing a reliable source of oil So yes, in a strange but difficult way to accept Saudi Arabia and there " alliance " partners do offer the best way forward. The reality Gorthfuscious we have had decades of different ideological conflicts in the ME and now there is a possible way forward that will benefit most of the various groups and countries in the ME Its worth supporting this latest alliance to see if it works?