BruceVC

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

I know very few credible experts who have predicted Putin's political demise because he is an autocrat and there are no free and fair elections in Russia and he controls the courts so he has ensured his control is insurmountable? The only way he could be removed is through some sort of military coup like the Wagner insurrection but thats unlikely. No dictators or autocrats ever step down. They rule for decades until they die or are forced to be removed. But the US is a Democracy and you see leadership change all the time and politicians can be charged in courts if there is evidence, so Trumps demise would be ending up in jail? But I doubt that is going to happen before the 2024 election

But it hasnt been a while since you whined about the rules based order

But dont you think if you admittedly don't know much about a part of history you shouldn't make comparisons or statements until you have educated yourself about that history? I appreciate your honesty but it also highlights one of main reasons for this modern day reality of inconsistent and selective outrage around a range of topics and opinions. Many people who have an opinion dont understand their own argument or they dont understand the real history of that opinion. And yet the history is well documented and available for anyone with a interest For example take some of the outrage around slavery, there are many people who think only Europeans committed African slavery. They literally aren't aware that Arabs and numerous black tribes were involved in the slave trade and white people were also enslaved throughout history. In fact its hard to think of a single ancient civilisations that wasn't part of the slave trade And this truth about slavery is well documented. And what does this tell us? It tells us that for many people the facts and truth about history is not as important as the ideological or political views that people have and the bias around these views

Thats fine, remember I learn from you guys about liberal values. Im not an expert If its okay to celebrate people's deaths Im fine with that

Oh no, Im going to be very happy when he dies. Its not about change, we cant predict political change in Russia Its about justice for the blood on his hands. He is primarily responsible for the war in Ukraine and the long list of atrocities we have seen It will be definitely be a good day for me

I dont know, people who generally happy that someone died doesn't seem very....liberal to me? But I suppose imagine the party we going to have when Putin croaks

Good to hear, are you not going to share?

I loved that game, I thought the way the RNG was designed was great fun I remember going on these long voyages and desperate to get back to a port with cargo and Im on my last health and food and having to resort to cannibalism to survive And the absolute adulation of sailing into a port ..and surviving

Its early days for my first POE experience, I am about 3 hours into the game and its fun so far Its taking time because the ruleset is different to what Im use to with D&D but Im learning it and enjoying the lore and how the narrative is presented. But of course I dont know anything about the lore so that will take time to understand the history of the game universe Its unusual but expected to play a game outside of the Forgotten Realms with all this new IP but I want to understand it so I'm reading and absorbing everything because it also makes sense for future games

That is a valid question, what do countries do about persistent illegal immigration? It depends on the type of illegal immigration. If people are fleeing active wars then you can create refugee camps funded by the UN. Thats common in Africa and the ME. Sometimes people live in them for years and they absolutely not considered concentration camps https://www.unrefugees.org/news/refugee-camps-explained/ If they economic refugees you can deport them which is fairly common, SA has started doing that. But its not a great reality to deal with. The long-term solution is finding ways that governments are stable and people dont want to leave but this applies to economic refugees And then you look at each country on a per case basis to understand why the governments are failing and who takes responsibility for that. I just know the solution cant be " countries must just accept all illegal immigrants " ...thats not sustainable and eventually leads to massive pushback from most citizens