BruceVC

"We " was used as general term because I have made several posts about what the stated Israeli military objective is and they have publicly mentioned it on many occasions. They want to wipe out Hamas in Gaza and destroy there operating bases. I also assumed you have been following this conflict and the Israelis have never said they want to end the Hamas ideology because you can't kill an ideology

Rather ask me to explain my view than making assumptions about what you think I mean

No its not naive if you understand what the Israeli military objective is and we have discussed this many times before We all know you cant kill an ideology, I know that, you know that and the Israelis know that. But you can absolutely remove all Hamas bases in Gaza and destroy there tunnel infrastructure especially in the north of Gaza. Then you ensure that Hamas doesnt govern Gaza anymore so they cant plan another 7 October. They will still exist in other countries and the ideology will exist but they wont be on the border of Israel with resources . But it adds a real geographical obstacle to future 7 October attacks Its an effective and obvious strategy that can work and its no different to other examples where Islamic extremist groups like ISIS operating bases were destroyed and that vastly reduces there operating capability. So there is precedent for it as well But I dont agree with the heavy handed approach the Israelis are following and using missiles strikes that kill Hamas and civilians. Thats why I have mentioned they should be using ground troops only at this stage of the offensive

I was just teasing you, there are lots of legitimate reasons to object to digital IDs and most of them are around what the definition of personal freedom means and why must you have one just to function in a society It reminds me of something in SA, my bank has an app and you cannot get a new card without your cell phone because you need to accept the SMS. But what if you dont want a cell phone and even if you go to the bank with your ID they cant give you any new credit or debit cards without you accepting the automated SMS There is something wrong when you as person or your ID arent as credible for security than an app

Yes the main issue with anonymous sources is how we selectively believe them when they suit our ideological views or biases Its the same as the media, when they post articles we like then we believe them and use them as confirmation of the "truth" . On Codex there are people who posted the Washington Post article as "evidence " of Ukraine being responsible but on any other issue or story the WP is considered deep state\CIA\Jewish propaganda and you cant believe "anything they say "

Well its assumed that Palestinians will return to northern Gaza once the war is over but not until its rebuilt. There are several things that the Israelis haven't thought about or didnt care about . I mentioned this before but they should have used a bombing campaign only in the beginning and then used ground troops only. This would have vastly reduced civilian deaths and damage to infrastructure. I realize they want to avoid unnecessary IDF deaths but in this type of urban warfare you need to consider the consequence of targeting Hamas when they embedded within civilians Because even though the global PR outcomes dont necessarily change military decisions in wars, look at Russia in Ukraine, it does matter in this war because you seeing both anti-semitic and Islamophobia on the increase in many countries. And most of us dont want to be dragged into that because of a war in the ME where leadership on both sides are intransigent and refuse to compromise

Keyrock dont be a luddite, technology is designed to help you. How is government supposed to effectively track you if you dont have an updated digital ID?

Hamas does use hospitals and other civilian structures as operating bases. And this is denied or ignored by many people so thats the purpose of this type of article Israel will generally always lose the PR war or at least the war of Internet "outrage " But they will win the main war and Hamas will no longer be able to operate in Gaza The real questions are going to be " who will manage Gaza once Hamas is gone " and " who is going rebuild Gaza "

Yes, they do matter because I do still place significance in overall gamers feedback and reviews from certain gaming journalists But not with every game and my personal views are the most important. For example I didnt enjoy Disco Elysium despite being highly rated by many But I have certain rules, for example I never play Bethesda games until 6-9 months irrespective of any initial positive reviews

I really recommend everyone watches this, its powerful and evocative and its not Israeli propaganda. He specifically mentions Israel has a moral responsibility around how it responds but he correctly explains how the Holocaust has a huge influence on how Israel responds to conflict @xzar_monty @Gorth @Lexx I think you will find this particularly interesting

I loved it and its definitely not the type of series you can watch right at the end because its about a story he tells Your wife doesn't get annoyed when you do this or is she use to it?

Good to see BG3 scooping so many awards

https://www.businessinsider.com/speaker-johnson-ukraine-aid-seized-russian-assets-2023-11 An excellent idea to fund Ukraine, use the Ruskie frozen $ assets Some banking complications but Im sure the US can make a plan

But dont you love how the ICC suddenly becomes credible and important when another country is committing war crimes https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/arab-and-muslim-leaders-demand-immediate-end-to-gaza-war/articleshow/105160746.cms and to quote from this link " The extraordinary joint Islamic-Arab summit in Riyadh urged the International Criminal Court to investigate "war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is committing" in the Palestinian territories, according to a final communique " Saudi Arabia and Iran were responsible for prolonging the Yemen war, I dont remember much ICC intervention from the ME during that conflict ? The constand and expected selective global outrage because of war crimes never ceases to surprise me

I am busy with KOTOR as my next game as I mentioned, I have never played any of the Star Wars games but I love the movie franchise and I grew up as huge fan of the SW universe. I installed some recommended mods like Restored Content and some graphic updates. Anyway Im 20 hours in and Im loving it. Its classic Bioware fun with interesting companions, hilarious dialogue options especially when you decide to be rude, very flexible ways to complete quest orders and significant combat skills that really make a difference in battle. And Im seeing the importance of Jedi Powers in combat, I fought some really hard Mandalorians on Kashyyyk and my Jedi powers made the difference in ensuring victory. I am also enjoying the Dark vs Light choices , Im following the Light so far unless my intended Romance hottie Bastila becomes Dark.... " the heart wants what it wants " I also see where Bioware and others got the ideas of using a spaceship for further engagement with companions like we saw in ME which is similar design but more advanced. But great game so far, further updates to follow

No its not a US military wankfest, its about recognizing the ultimate sacrifice that thousands of UK people made in defense of their country that ironically gives people the right to protest And they could have arranged the protest on any other day

I dont remember Alex joining me in , I had Ian, Dogmeat and Katya And Ian can join you right in the beginning in Shady Sands

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/10/pro-palestine-march-will-be-one-of-uks-biggest-ever-protests-organisers-predict I sincerely hope the Palestinian march in London today is peaceful but I doubt it. Rishi Sunak was right when said its provocative and disrespectful because today is Armistice Day. Why not arrange the protest tomorrow, why must it be today?

Sorry to hear, I didnt even know about this disease but I looked it up. What are your symptoms, apparently these can appear months or years after getting the disease? https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lyme-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20374651

There is concern that woke influence is going to erode much of what makes GTA games fun but Im not convinced I will wait and see when I finally get to play GTA6 before commenting on what is different, I cant wait for this game. I love the GTA franchise

Wormie !!! Stop being naughty, you know the rule. You cant expect people to watch a 80 minute video If you could summarize the key points and the overall opinion that would be appreciated

But thats a good observation and accurate, Im only a few years younger than you so we went to school in the same time period more or less. I was at high school from 1988-1992 And we didnt have a single pregnancy, we had almost no sex education and Apartheid was a very parochial and conservative system around sex education. So it raises an important consideration, why do we see such high levels of teenage pregnancy in the USA and SA? It gets raised in SA all the time and the general consensus is there is a breakdown of family values and modern liberal views means you cant discipline your kids anymore. Often on talk-shows when these topics are discussed black callers will phone in and say things like " young people dont have to listen or respect parents anymore and we cant even discipline them anymore " or something similar or they will say " kids dont respect teachers anymore because teachers are powerless to discipline kids like in our day ". In SA many parents actually want more discipline and they think corporal punishment should be returned as a solution to whats happening. But this doesn't happen at every public sector school and some schools have almost no teenage pregnancies and discipline is fine ? But if the problem is modern day liberal values why dont we see this in places like the Nordic countries? I dont think they have a problem with large numbers of teenage pregnancies I am not sure where the problem lies but I do think respect for parents and respect for teachers must be part of it?

No offense Monty but suggesting that the Obama presidency was rhetorical and did nothing tells me you dont know much about the Obama presidency. He was elected just as the 2008 financial crisis started and the decisions he made helped steer the world from a complete economic collapse. He also got the US out of Iraq which was very different to the Cheney " we could be in Iraq forever ". He achieved the Iranian nuclear deal which at the time was the best solution even though the Iranian hardliners didnt honor the spirit of the deal and continued to destabilize parts of the ME Here is a list of some of his achievements, of course some of his policies failed and he could have done certain things better like all presidents. But for me the main metric if he was good president was his approval rating which is what Americans think at the end, that should always be used as the most important factor. And he achieved a 63% in a retrospective poll which is done a few years after a presidency. https://www.tdjakes.com/posts/10-remarkable-achievements-of-barack-obama-s-presidency https://news.gallup.com/poll/226994/obama-first-retrospective-job-approval-rating.aspx

Are you going to go back to FO1&2 or just stick with Wasteland?

No, its not the same as ending hunger or world peace because there are already institutions like Planned Parenting that are established and provide abortion services and counseling. We have similar ones in SA So we have solutions in countries that allow abortions unlike achieving world peace which is unlikely in our lifetimes And I doubt Planned Parenting would suggest a " cheap supermarket pill " without counseling but @Hurlshort can comment