BruceVC

Yeah, happy Thanksgiving to all our American members

This is a good post and makes sense to me on numerous levels but here is what I dont understand Why is posing next to ISIS dead bodies such a bad thing? ISIS is the most barbaric, murderous and dysfunctional group the world has seen since the Nazis I dont feel even the slightest remorse when I hear " ISIS fighters have been killed " and you cant possibly add to the anti-Western ISIS propaganda that has always existed and at times has evolved during the time of the false ISIS Caliphate era ..which is now over. So I dont see how posing next to dead ISIS fighters will in any way change how ISIS feels about the West So is it fair to want to prosecute or penalize Gallagher for this considering the important facts that he was acquitted on previous serious allegations around war crimes ?

There is nothing unusual or difficult to believe about your views, I would argue its not uncommon and is what most people believe or aspire to achieve

What an enemy, imagine having to actually suggest meaningful and sustainable policies and or laws to defeat " the neoliberal corporatist establishment " Can we at least identify this foe so we all on the same page, who exactly are this group that we need to win against. For me this is just another sweeping statement that is common in populist groups, anarchists and anti-establishment people but when it comes to reasonable outcomes and strategies these comments lack constructive suggestions

I dont understand this analogy as an example of inequality, I dont think there are many cases of the actual miners being shareholders in any mine. Therefore no miners generally own the wealth of any mine because the owners are technically global, multinational companies who are all listed companies so shareholders are the owners And you cannot ever say with certainty who all of the actual individual shareholders are because no one openly puts there name behind buying retail shares, its done through an intermediary like a stock broker who would know your details for things like dividend payouts but this is confidential unless you publish it Then asset managers, Investment banker, public sector investment corporations and general investors buy large blocks of shares and this is done through a company as a stock investment. So its not as clear and cut as saying " person x definitely owns the wealth "

Last night I finished Metro Exodus and it was definitely a fitting and worthy successor to previous Metro games The game was graphically brilliant and I was able to run everything on maximum settings which added to the overall positive experience. But it also has those components I have come to enjoy about Metro games. For example you have to deal with numerous murderous human factions and there are those frenetic battles in the dark with mutants which are always both exciting and brutal You also learn how to avoid certain battles because of the scarcity of ammunition and general resources that exist in this post-apocalyptic world . But overall it was an excellent game and I give it a solid 75/100

2133 to quote the erudite Jordan Peterson, " Capitalism can lead to both wealth creation and increase inequality but communism\socialism leads to just one thing.....inequality " You know its true, history doesnt lie

Well said Gromnir, support for our armed forces in such tumultuous times always makes sense .....in most Democracies you would assume people would always support there military in the majority of reasonable initiatives and or strategies. But unfortunately its not always like that

Interesting post, Im glad you clarified what you mean because its true people like me tend to respond to certain terms around what we define them to be globally or even symbolically, yet their is nuance and also more importantly different definitions to what we all consider " left and right to be" And this definitely can have both different and or similar meanings but we need to look at the actual country where these terms are being used to understand there colloquial meaning

I am still considering buying a console for the same reasons, I dont want to be denied playing certain games because they dont have a PC version

Great and convincing endorsement of this style of gaming, I like and I can appreciate the balance of sometimes you need to take " normal " notes and hand written observations but the game must also assist in its own way so the experience isnt frustrating in the interests of time For example I like in some RPG where you first need to discover the teleportation device before you can use them like in the Gothic games

The good news is I have a very high end relatively new PC, I invested in the Geoforce RTX 2080ti and I very keen to push it towards maximum performance where possible in games like this Wasnt one of the reasons you invested in a console was to play RDR1, how would you compare the games?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/evo-morales-of-bolivia-accepts-asylum-in-mexico/ar-BBWBCSk?li=AAnZ9Ug Sorry Zora but there are many articles from many independent sources that support my view, Morales was a bad leader at the end who tried to cheat and undermine one of the core principles of what defines any Democracy. And quite simply that is " where you accept defeat, if you have indeed lost, through the Democratic electoral process as a governing party and step down " ....this is on him. No need to blame bad leadership on the USA

Scandinavian countries use a successful hybrid model, yes they have working socialist institutions in there public sector. But they still have an independent private sector, banks and the economies are driven by interaction with " free markets\Capitalist" rules and laws of global trade So the Scandinavian countries aren't true socialist countries compared to what was attempted in numerous failed examples of the " success of socialism " like Venezuela and Cuba, you always have to have an independent private sector for sustainable and effective economic growth ( the exception being China which is not a Democracy so they have different measurements and outcomes )

I am very keen to start playing RDR2 for PC which has some enhancements, what do people generally think about this game?

I have to mention since South Africa won the Rugby WC most of the country has been gripped by understandable " Springbok fever " and we have been celebrating in different ways on an almost daily basis but its coming to an end now but what a victory

Oh please Zora " military coup in progress in Bolivia " is one myopic and biased way of framing this, sure you can see it like that Or rather how about " president of country x admits to vast irregularities in last election and concedes he has to have election again " ....its about the principle of a transparent and free and fair election. Surly you can understand this ? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/10/evo-morales-concedes-to-new-elections-after-serious-irregularities-found

But why would anyone support failed and historically proven flawed ideologies like Marxists\Communists\Leftists, so for example most people outside of Zionists\Facists know these systems of government are not sustainable and you cant show any success stories around them. Its a common view to have

https://fareedzakaria.com/columns/2019/11/7/in-defense-of-mark-zuckerberg Excellent read about how blaming the likes of Facebook is unfair for much of the divisive and concerning societal comments and some outcomes we see

I have come to appreciate these types of posts because they give me a better understanding of the differences in our views on what makes societies better but also I have changed my personal views on certain SJ debates after realizing certain views I had were wrong or rather I wasn't aware of certain realities....and for me when you and others share your views on the USA it is important because its representative of valid concerns that are real and or perceived. And sometimes in life when we want to make things better through a well meaning view of a particular SJ objective we unintentionally can make things more dichotomous and we can actually alienate people who are not part of the problem or the perceived problem. So in other words, and this is just one small example, when people use terms or assume that comments like "white male privileged " are the most effective ways to implement any change or to build real understanding of issues . For me if you want to address certain historical imbalances it would seem logical that you would work with all people who share this view and or believe in direct ways to do this and that would surly include white people who are like minded But my observation around most examples of people using " "white male privileged " is that it is used more to criticize and make certain generalizations around how white people achieved, if relevant, financial success and then really counterproductive comments can be made like " white people cant possibly comment about racism " or " white people have no agency to understand historical injustice " This is the most unhelpful framing of these points because every single human being of course has empathy and the ability to understand any historical injustice or why for example any form of bigotry is unacceptable. You may need to research certain events but that is not hard to do if you want to understand these things. But this does not mean white people cant understand these things and be part of the solution. Also you cant assume all white people must or will necessarily be part of a certain SJ movement, and the reasons for this will vary but thats not the same thing as making assumptions about what most white people believe Finally part of the Trump victory was because there are some of his support base that do believe that there is this unfair or unreasonable attack on white people and generally wanting to change or undermine established cultural. Now I dont support this in the final assessment of how relevant this criticism is because even though there are certain narratives or SJ movements that absolutely generalize and play the race card but that doesnt mean anyone needs to believe these views are actually going to change what is normal to many of us. My advice is just ignore these comments but focus on societal changes that you can influence in a normal way For example in SA its not uncommon for some to say things like " all white people are responsible for Apartheid and Colonialism " but the problem with this view is it ignores the historical reality of when Europeans arrived in South Africa and more importantly it conflates the genesis of who was responsible for the actual implementation of these systems so the entire point becomes more of an unhelpful view that we must just accept responsibility for things because ...we have the same race. Its easy to understand when your ancestors came to Africa but there reasons would vary and not everyone will have the same family connection to these things or rather you wouldnt necessarily have any resources or ways to address this

GD doesnt it annoy you when people like Chomsky undermine and constantly criticize the USA and " Capitalism " yet he lives in the USA and benefits immensely from the so called " imperialist " system that he claims is flawed and problematic Through my life and things I have experienced I have certain views on what makes a person someone I admire or respect, people in the public limelight should be consistent when it come to there moral compass and what they say they believe in. Being part of end of Apartheid and then voting in 1994 in South Africa I have learnt a lot about what makes a country succeed and what makes it fail. In the narrative of SA I have heard people say and do things that are incomprehensible or rather incongruous to what makes us better For example, sometimes there is this unnecessary criticism of English as the primary language in SA. We have a unique Constitutional component where all 11 local languages are seen as equal in sense they all in our Constitution....but the reality is everyone prudently learns English as the main language. Black South Africans from SA generally come from one of the 9 tribes and most black people speak multiple languages and English. Years ago sometimes there was there negative view from some commentators " that white people dont speak African languages because we dont respect black people " ....of course that isn't true and respect isnt about learning someones language But still every now and again some " Chomsky " equivalent will pop up in some discussion or debate and they always, always, always just repeat what other people have been incorrectly saying for years. I remember about 2 years this Kenyan linguistic expert came to SA to be part of 2 discussions at some of universities, I had never heard of this guy but based on some feedback on talk shows he seemed to be held in high regard. Anyway I made a point to listen to his first lecture to see what he was about and what he stood for He was invited to SA representing an aspect of our narrative which for some people is about " decolonising " and addressing the perceived and real historical imbalances we sometimes grapple with as a new Democracy, In summary this so called " expert " on African history basically spent 2 hours undermining the usage of English and kept saying things like " black people must reject English and focus on there own African languages "....he went on about how " English is so bad mkay....." But guess what he does for a living, he lives in the USA and works at some California University and guess what....he speaks English all the time. The bizarre thing he didnt see anything wrong with what he was telling students and what he actually practices ..... Anyway he meant well but he reminded me of Chomsky

I would argue Germany wasnt bombed to end the war, yes Dresden occurred but it was considered a legitimate target in the German war machine Unfortunately Hitler and a few of his closest confidants like Goebbels refused to surrender and they made a final stand in Berlin, there were also SS regiments and other German forces that fought literally a street to street with the Soviets in the final days of the final attack against Berlin Now the Allies couldnt be sure of just using a bombing campaign to kill or force Hitler to surrender considering Hitler was living in a bunker at the end and I doubt this would have worked. So it was necessary for a ground campaign and soldiers clearing the streets There is a huge difference between the reasons for the bombing of Dresden and why nuclear weapons were used in Japan, the Allies didnt have the same concerns about when Germany would be defeated and if there would be a huge, unacceptable loss of US soldiers fighting some fanatical remnants of the Nazi army, Yes of course there was real German resistance throughout the final offensive to get to Berlin. But you had a very different and much less effective German army that made the final stand. And the Soviets also played a huge role in defeating the Germans from the East. So final predictions for loss of soldiers in the Berlin attack was much lower than the prediction of 1 million US who might have been killed invading Japan using a traditional island attack strategy

I noticed this story on various networks and it seems credible, he apparently used his suicide vest to kill himself because US special forces were about to kill/capture him. I dont blame him, that is the first decision he has ever made that I can guarantee you I would agree with him on. He would have spent the rest of his life on Guantanamo Bay as an isolated prisoner. death is preferable in certain realities https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/abu-bakr-al-baghdadi-leader-isis-targeted-u-s-raid-n1072506?yptr=yahoo I am sure it is him, I hope it is him because he has to face accountability for his egregious war crimes and the huge part he played in the creation and sustainability of ISIS For me its not fundamentally going to change the reality of how ISIS operates nowadays as since the Caliphate was destroyed ISIS has become more of an amorphous group that doesn't need or require the a leadership structure as the basic brutal belief is practiced by several examples of groups affiliated to ISIS ....yes this will upset ISIS disciplines who knew he was still alive but just like AQ the group will continue as its about the belief. Its appalling that anyone would practice this corruption of the Koran but this what extremists do

Its so funny you made this point because you right but I was hoping you wouldn't notice it, so in other words I misunderstood your post to Hurlshot because I thought you were being sarcastic. Sorry about that. But the interesting thing is after I made my post I realized you weren't being sarcastic as you not like that when you make points and in fact my entire post can be characterized as " "Because Japanese were bad people." if you read it a certain way But just to explain further so you understand where I was coming from. I want to share this extra information so you understand my broader view on this topic which comes up sometimes in RL. Lets say Hurlshot had raised the question outside any internet forum maybe in a school classroom or even a normal debate, he basically asked " why weren't the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki seen as war crimes or some sort of holocaust ", even though your answer is not incorrect its an over simplification and also it can be seen as a generalization. So in other words its not detailed enough to adequately answer the question to a certain audience. The question is relevant to certain opinions and some views people have that I have debated with but I am well aware this doesn't apply necessarily to anyone on this forum , occasionally I had exchanges with people who use this point as an example of USA\Western hypocrisy or rather history being selective about these types of events. Of course most people are well meaning when they raise this and normally its because the idea of killing 300k civilians by dropping the bombs cannot be justified by them or accepted. This is a normal view for people living in the year 2019 Which is why the historical precedent is very important about " why the USA did it ". And as I mentioned in my previous post there were reasons for this that were applicable at the time and made sense. I will ague that most of the remaining Japanese army were prepared to fight to the death, part of there ideological view was surrender was for cowards and anathema to there core beliefs and because this was there primary homeland how could they accept terms ? So somehow you needed to find a way to get the Japanese Emperor to accept surrender and I doubt a protracted land invasion would have had the same result Finally of course the terrible loss of civilians lives will be seen as a tragedy. But considering the outcome it was part of the overall strategy that was necessary to end the war

Geez as I always say, you Swedes are hardcore There are about 9 million people in Sweden, I cannot believe how DHL can just expect you to speak to all of them....very unreasonable but well done for doing it. As I said HARDCORE