BruceVC

Its been rainy and gloomy in CPT this weekend but there is only one proven remedy for much melancholic weather ...a cheese fondue never disappoints which is what I will be making for late lunch\dinner

Im about 7 hours into D:OS 2 and Im really starting to appreciate the game, I nearly stopped playing it because I wasnt use to or enjoying the jovial way its written and how characters seem to interact .....it seemed unusually and uncomfortably light-hearted for normal RPG I play But I got over that and I am getting use to combat and Im enjoying it

Agreed

All Putins close allies are paradigms and excellent examples of reasonable and Democratic leadership

I was watching an interesting prediction on CNN around what could be the next steps for Trump Once he accepts he has lost he will create " Trump TV " which will compete directly with FOX news..its an interesting and possible idea? But can you imagine the reality of FOX news on steroids around hyperbole and conspiracy theories ..... which will be what Trump TV is going to be about

Nah, it will be fine...have faith GD Remember what Obama inherited in 2008? The potential collapse of the US financial sector which would have crashed the global economy and the USA involved in 2 seemingly interminable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan The USA survived that and became stronger

Well said Hurlshot, I agree with most of it

You make some good points, not bad for a " commie subversive " I absolutely believe globally the real social divide is " haves and have nots " and not primarily race or left or right politics which do play a part in certain voting decisions but not as much as the class divide But Gorthfuscious let us not dismiss as fearmongering well meaning " socialist " policies that certain Democrats have openly espoused. Both Warren and Saunders have openly raised economic changes they would like to see and what they would implement that are very concerning due to the potential harm this could lead to around sustainable economic transformation and how to address inequality For example we dont want more corporate regulation or suggestions we want to breakup successful businesses that contribute hugely towards the US economy. This includes criticism towards companies like Facebook and Amazon

Amentep I am shocked you would say such a thing ? You are an American citizen....you CANNOT ever turn off from politics...its your lifeblood and defines you, remember what they taught you at school The weather in CPT is very temperamental and I assume its got to do with it being coastal and somehow being built around mountains must impact wind and general weather patterns? Anyway I went for my walk this morning and it always starts the same way where I walk about about 1.5 miles up-hill towards the base of Table Mountain and due to the erratic weather patterns it was overcast and gloomy when I started. Yet by the time I got to Table Mountain I had walked through low level clouds\mist that represented the bad weather ....and it was clear weather So it was an amazing experience that within 20 minutes I could walk to clear weather by literally being above the bad weather

Its looking very certain that Biden will win, this election has been about many things and its outcome was significant on many levels But there really has been hyperbole from many sides around what it meant. For example this was not " an existential vote on the future of the USA ". This election did show us, for example, the importance and interest people still have in the Democratic process....Democracy is alive and well so hopefully we can bury these doom and gloom prognostications about the future of our Democratic systems and think Socialism\Communism offers a better way forward But one important consideration I want to raise, Biden didnt really " beat " Trump. The Virus beat Trump and this is significant going forward. I would argue that Trumps mishandling of the pandemic was the biggest factor in his loss and was a huge factor in how Biden gained support from states and citizens who may not gave voted Democrat in previous elections If there was no Corona I believe Trump would have won, why not considering factors like the previous strength of the US economy But Biden is definitely a better candidate in addressing and recognizing the risk and spread of the virus in the USA and this is a salient factor in assessing " what were the reasons the Democrats won " in the future I dont believe the whole BLM and " racial reckoning " were the reasons Trump lost Anyway this will be unpacked in the future but whatever all the factors were that contributed to the Democrat victory Biden is the best person to be the US president because IMO he is better candidate in addressing the virus spread locally and internationally So well done Democrats and well done to all US citizens for participating in these elections and that includes people who voted Libertarian or other parties outside of the 2 primary parties

That would be concerning, we dont want that kind of " sweeping " victory in the swing states and traditional Republican strongholds like Georgia

But only until Quantum Computer is integrated into gaming Do you guys know how much more complex and amazing MMO and online games can potentially become ....I dont see it playing a major role in single player games because of how the PC technology always grows at an amazing rate for single player games but your online gaming experience should change in a hugely more advanced way....you just need the games to take advantage of QC

Elerond I'll listen to your speech ?

Actually Putin supports Trump and always has in a strategic way , Mother Russia is desperate for the US and EU sanctions, prudently and correctly implemented , to be dropped. The sanctions of course wont be dropped until Russia gives the Crimea back to Ukraine Thats primarily why Russia interfered in the 2016 election, they dont want to destroy the USA ....they wanted Trump to help them restore there weak economy

Yes he is and so are other Trump surrogates like Giuliani But I dont expect any real violence outside the normal and Trump, if he loses, is just delaying the inevitable As GD said, its a pity Trump cant walk away with dignity. He had a good run and did some good things but we must all respect the will of the people in a Democracy

With the pandemic I am working 90 % from home in the lounge and the TV is on broadcasting, in the background, global news 24\7.......I realised I need a break from news all the time and I have started adding other shows I follow to my daily consumption of channels I started watching reruns of Bizarre Foods America, I love Andrew Zimmerman. He is a real food lover and I appreciate how much he loves unusual food and offcuts like heart, sweetbreads, livers, brain and how he not only personally hunts with guests but eats the whole animal He always finds these amazing restaurants throughout the USA that believe in this food philosophy where you believe " we dont waste anything from the animal " which I wholeheartedly support

Yeah so Georgia at the moment is leaning Democrat, first time in 64 years Very exciting political race

I dont think that is possible, interesting question though?

I tend to agree, you cannot ignore the overall " Trump " factor in his support and without him in the WH what would the real support for his type of populism ?

There have been 3 types of votes in this election, the normal "walk-in " votes, the early votes and the mail votes Basically the mail votes are outstanding and this is what is taking time to count. We dont know for certain which supporters represent the mail voters but ostensibly its Democrat supporters which is why we see Democrats slowing gaining the lead in the swing states Its still to early to call this election but Trump has done very well and whatever the final results its evident his 2016 victory was not a one-off victory and his support base and message needs to be recognized going forward

Pennsylvania could also go to Biden, there are over 1 million votes still to count

Hells Bells but these elections are exciting and tumultuous...with all the mail votes coming in the political landscape is changing literally by the hour Far to early to call a winner

Excellent question and there are different and important considerations in how we need to assess all left and right inspired groups and what is there real threat. Also the good news is the groups that really pose the greatest threat to our societies are, in most countries, already outlawed or known as groups linked to real global terrorism or violence, like ISIS or known Aryan Brotherhood violence And then the best way to really understand how to fairly define all the various left and right groups is simply ask yourself 3 questions about each group , if you are interested in seeing real connections between these groups that are different to ideological views or reasons people sometimes are very concerned about a particular groups outcomes The 3 questions are Why was the group created or what is it influenced by is important to understand its foundation What policies does the group have or what is the groups objective Then you ask, " what are the real actions or outcomes " the group has committed and do they align to the original objection This may sound overly complicated but its much easier to do once you get use to it and it does allow better objective understanding of the differences in the groups that exist nowadays So to answer your original question I will use the 3 questions approach to explain the logic and where the data comes from that answers the question " What is the real threat from BLM " BLM was created to address a real societal problem that exists in some states around some cases where the police were involved in excessive force, profiling or criminal choices around the treatment of African Americans It doesnt have clearly defined outcomes that arent already in the law or Constitutions of most countries, for example you cannot kill anyone for no reason irrespective if you the police or not in the police. It has raised attention to real societal issues and examples of some police discrimination and this should be seen as a positive thing, it is unclear if these things have been reduced or meaningfully addressed in the long term but I am confident the US police have learnt lessons So in summary, BLM is a well meaning movement that has some elements within it that push there own agendas or criminal acts But they dont have any policies that would be considered illegal so you cant generalize when we see looting or violence even though the people involved say they BLM inspired we must see this as criminal acts and arrest the people committing the illegal acts So the real harm they pose is the direct negative economic impact sustained protests have on any city or region and then people committing criminal acts in the name or support of BLM

Sometimes we think this type of valid assessment of groups like BLM and Antifa is the reason these types of groups dont pose a risk to our societies in any real way. But this a well meaning false equivalence and strawman argument and unintentionally misses the real threat these type of groups can and do create within most modern first world Democracies They cannot be compared to the likes of ISIS or any established Right wing, Hitler inspired group because the reason for there creation and the way they operate within the US is very different to how BLM and Antifa operates. Also technically I dont really consider BLM or Antifa " far left " in the sense there are real, far left militant groups linked to violent acts of terrorism throughout the world but you dont really see this in the USA as the Cold War is over and the militancy element within the left is not the same as the established and well known " neo-Nazi " violence we see sometimes from right wing groups I personally have also called them " far left " but thats only because its easier to make the point on this forum that way, they operate on the left but BLM needs to be separated from Antifa as Antifa is more " far left " which means Antifa gets automatically moved into the criminal side of all current far left groups globally. This is the same as how we should view all established right wing groups, the moment the group is openly encouraging and participating in any acts that breaks the law they get moved into the " criminal " view we should have of them. I dont consider BLM the same as Antifa is this regard But thats not the concern we should all have over the outcomes and future approaches groups like Antifa would adopt. The risk BLM and Antifa poses is more about the economic and social changes they could impact on our cities or ways we address inequality. So in other words no one wants a BLM or Antifa protest in there neighborhood that sometimes and often leads to violence because communities suffer real economic damage when you look at the impact looting has. But with the risk Islamic extremism and right wing violence creates its more about real loss of lives and real targeted killings. So we should try to separate our views on danger that right wing and left wing currently poses globally because they real but very different And just to respond by making the same point I am trying to make with Majestic, sometimes we get pulled into the interesting debate over " who is worse to the USA....Islamic extremism, far left or right wing " and we think this debate can be easily understood through binary definitions by using accurate statistics around loss of lives caused by real violence created by people from these groups But that isnt a fair way to compare the risk these groups pose to our modern societies and more importantly how we personally respond or how our governments respond. In other words each groups impact is nuanced and has levels of complexity and requires at times a different response But we must never think " group X " is no real threat because they only killed 2 peoples as opposed to " group y " killed 100 people Just an example

I must say I am impressed with your content and variation, I didnt think you would cover such a range of topics and it all looks like its really pertinent but not to complicated for the kids. Good choices How do you explain the French teacher killing and how do the kids respond to the idea of " Islamic extremist " because how would you explain the killer to young people....its tough because is he called a killer or an extremist?