BruceVC

You make me laugh but I understand what you mean But then who do you want to win in the election? It is looking positive for Biden and he basically will represent the Obama legacy and moderate Democratic views which is a good thing. But I am not convinced he has the same effective political message Trump has.....how do you truly undermine the Trump campaign when the USA economy is so strong and this current strength has to be contributed towards Trump and his successful economic policies. But Trump always wants to create his own unnecessary reality, he says in public " I saved the USA economy " now that is demonstrably untrue. Obama was the president that ensured the USA and the world survived the 2008 financial crisis. When Trump became president the USA was the worlds strongest economy and the USA financial system was stable and regulated but Trump did make it even stronger ...this is also true

Gorthfuscious this is exactly my concern in both a real and figurative way I dont believe or support any modern conspiracy theory for several reasons , they all attempt to obfuscate the truth or create distractions of peoples attention. So for example I would honesty hate the thought of you spending even 1 hour but imagine 5 days researching and possibly believing the classic " 9/11 was performed by the USA and or Jews " conspiracy theory Someone could say " but why would you hate the thought of Gorth choosing to research his own views on 9/11 and even have a different opinion on this topic. He can believe what he wants ....isnt this freedom of speech " ......of course he can in most topics and views but this is one of those conspiracy theories that has been so heavily rejected and refuted it cannot be reasonable or rational for anyone who has been following any general ME news and updates over the last 20 years to believe this There are always anti-Bank conspiracy theories that exist and thrive and people who sometimes target banks through cyber-piracy endeavors like Ransomware and advanced hacking techniques like phishing. But there are many ways to target or attempt to target corporations in the modern world using the Internet as we all know Now you can literally find examples where people seem to support " Communist\Socialist ideas " over your normal hard working bank that has always existed and supported the city where we live. It seems ........unfair and biased or rather very selective on our criticism

Yes but this is exactly the Trump strategy and this will become intensified if he wins....and also be prepared for those irritating political communist adverts But its design is targeted to create annoyance and frustration and add to the real and perceived political friction. They will also hope to weaken Sanders support by positioning Sanders in an extreme way However Trump may be the architect of his own doom, there is a real view that Bernie supporters will ignore any anti-Bernie views especially nowadays when you have to face Trump as this is to be expected from the Trump propaganda .....Trump has written the book in this so I doubt many Bernie supporters will be moved So in summary the normal Trump media attacks will be irrelevant to the Bernie success. And I tend to agree with this

But also I must be clear, I am not suggesting Sanders represents old school Communism and his old pro-communist comments are not relevant. He represents what is called Social Democrats ....is this really something that can be implemented in the USA? Apparently this is linked to how Sweden is governed, if this is true then surly that must mean high taxes? Anyway the reality is it confusing to understand how he will achieve his political goals but maybe we need to wait . But then someone said to me " why do you think Bernie will implement his perceived anti-capitalist policies " ....which is also true and I could be jumping the gun Also Trump wants Bernie to win over Biden, certain Republican strategists really believe Bernie will be the easier candidate to beat, this worries me because Trump normally has these views because he has an advantage in some way

I imagine it must be frustrating, but you also not helping because you allowing yourself to buy into the chaos and general political bedlam , its not like there is real persecution of Communism This is just questioning of the policies that seem difficult to understand how they will be funded and or implemented. And remember this will strengthen the Sanders campaign because this is nothing compared to Trumps media onslaught if Bernie wins ....which is why I question his candidacy against such political tactics of Trump

Shady what does your wife feel about Communism...I imagine coming from Baltic states she must be very concerned ?

Volo since when do you support Sanders ?

This article summarizes the underlying problem with some young people and possibly many of Sanders supporters They dont understand or dont care about the true insidious nature of Communism. They have created there own definition of Communism, if they had any real inclination they really could even rent an historical movie to see the true nature of Communism.....the real problem with this view is you will start being blocked by normal financial regulations and Constitutional laws if you go too extreme to the left But I just dont see how Bernie will beat Trump, I feel Trump will manipulate him into some crisis

I have always supported Biden as the best candidate to defeat Trump because he supports a moderate view of politics and is aligned to the Obama legacy But I am not sure he is the right candidate as he does seem a little ....dazed at times but lets see

I am watching Van Helsing and Narcos Mexico .....both new seasons and both very good Oh and next season of American Gods my favorite, the characters are complex and leave an indelible impression

Ironically both you guys supporting Sanders concerns me the most about where his base come from and what would they expect from him if he somehow did win. And I am not criticizing you guys because you can support anyone you want if you have a valid reason for what changes you believe they can implement and what happens if somehow Sanders cannot deliver on something like " I want to breakup the banks from 2008 " ....I think he has dropped this thankfully. So if he cannot deliver on him promises how would you feel considering it has been raised by many people he has created very populist policies that normally dont get implemented in countries that are like the USA And I know you guys from this forum so I have come to understand your views on the USA which have always surprised me as they came across as unnecessarily negative about the good the USA has done and also guys how many people are desperate to immigrate to the USA for a better life despite the rhetoric about how terrible the USA is under Trump ....the reality being people outside the USA see things very differently. Sanders to me has created this list of " I am going to address this problem in the USA that has only been a problem since I have identified it as target of populist rhetoric who blame it for inequality " ....I am joking but his list is things like cancelling student debt, why cant students pay back any debt if they took a loan?Each case should be identified separately but we see this in SA in our universities where students are seem to think they can just make demands about not paying historical debt because.....they dont have money But he has a good website of what his policies are going to be, https://berniesanders.com/issues/ As I always mention I like Bernie personally and dont like Trump personally yet I truly believe Trump must beat Sanders because his policies can potentially cause real harm to the US economy which impacts everyone. Finally the large number of populist views from Democratic candidates are being spawned by the Trump vitriol and perceived rejection so you can argue that Trump has created these Democrat policies because he has caused such anger ....so maybe Trump knows he will destroy Bernie exactly because he is so extreme. We must ask who is the best candidate to defeat Trump.....lets at least vote for that person?

What do you think is strange about my view, it is true around these negotiations but I am not explaining it properly....but what is your opinion on troops in Afghanistan and the future of the USA involvement. But just to set some context which I assume we would agree on, the invasion of Afghanistan was 100 % legitimate and had to happen because the Taliban were sheltering AQ and refused to hand Bin Laden over. So its important this truth because it can change how we think about Iraq and Afghanistan. So basically now there is a real question about how much longer the USA needs to be in Afghanistan, because there is real and progressive society changes in Kabul only but not in the wilderness I am always concerned if anyone who has served there country in the military disagrees with me around the ME because you actually went there on the ground....now this doesn't mean you are authoritative about the current war in Afghanistan and how to end it The reason I have to ask this is sometimes historically comments on this forum and outside only seem to care about any deaths the USA may cause in some campaign and how the USA is " slaughtering civilians " yet when we see countless civilian deaths by ISIS or the Russians bombed hospitals and Aleppo to the dark ages we hardly heard any concern? Guys the reality is we dont need to entertain the false narrative that says " The USA must leave the ME and stop interfering in the affairs of ME countries ...also the USA must stop involving itself where its not wanted ....by 2010 I believed this and was very supportive of how Obama was getting troops out of the USA." I was very glad this was happening because I was very jaded at the time and was tired of the constant criticism and endless repetition of how people always ignored the sectarian violence in Iraq but considered the USA the enemy The USA did leave Iraq but came back years later because Netanyahu played Trump like a master.....so the USA now is back in the ME and is preparing or planning some Iran invasion but there are serious calculations before anyone takes a military decision So in closing, I believe the USA should leave Afghanistan because the realistic mission is done....but lets see what happens

It is unlikely this going to lead to any lasting peace from the Taliban, they dont understand progression and sustainable, happy citizens with governments that deliver services and real quality of life. Like the Gulf States in the ME The Taliban hopefully should mess this up and force the USA to stay for a while longer but they have to leave at some time. Bin Laden is dead and the Taliban hide in the Western areas of Pakistan in villagers that are hostile to foreign interlopers so its difficult to defeat them militarily I just dont believe the Afghan army will be able to defeat the Taliban on there own if the Coalition leaves Afghanistan

I am very concerned with the support Bernie has been gaining, I cannot see how he is the right Democratic candidate if you serious about beating Trump I am really starting to like Bloomberg but he been labelled by the " we dont want another Billionaire as a president " brush so him winning once you face this type of general public sentiment is unlikely

I have been working on a project the last 4 weeks that involved lots of inter-city travelling, it was important but tiresome Anyway I got back on Friday and its been great relaxing this weekend and doing some socializing

I am fully immersed in RDR2, I am loving the game so far and the Western narrative makes a refreshing change I have spent about 100 hours so far in the game and look forward to another 100 hours

Narco's Mexico and Van Helsing....both good shows Oh and Vikings, amazing as usual

People dont need to hate Marxism. You can see how it has failed to become a relevant alternative to Capitalism or the free market., you can see how the genesis of Communism was created by people who had real criticism for there government....but there is the problem. Russia had an appalling government, the Russian monarchy wasn't competent on a number of levels and fundamentally failed to transform the lives of there citizens... Tzar Nicholos was a terrible leader and wasted millions of Russian lives in the First World War So the Communist manifesto was ostensibly about a better way of government but it was a comparison to a flawed and corrupt monarchy .....so Communism was always going to fail because of what Lenin thought was the normal way of government

Sorry, its just I have never got to set games like GTA4 on maximum graphic settings so its great being able to do it now

RDR2 on PC, I have just started it and Im loving it so far. I am running the game on Ultra settings with my Geforce RTX 2080 which just adds to the overall excellent gaming experience

Back at work this week Monday after an excellent end of year holiday 2020 is going to be a good year, I have to study a different cloud based technology but its the future so Im very excited and Im back at gym this week after 1 month laziness\break Gail force winds in Cape Town at the moment , apparently this is unprecedented for this time of the year https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/watch-windy-weekend-weather-has-capetonians-defying-gravity-40836417

Fair enough, I understand this argument and it is reasonable. Its not about unnecessary bashing of wealthy people which seems counterproductive But just to add something else strange about the 1 % statement. Its suppose to represent a good news story about the achieved wealth and journey of certain successful Americans Yet it can become a negative story and people make real and unfair comparisons to financial challengers in there own personal life, so just see it as a positive and legitimate reality of the USA

I hear you, that was my general view of him from what regular members thought about him. One of the things I was confronted with growing up at the end of Apartheid and voting at the age of 18 in the new South Africa is sometimes you will be confronted by people who automatically dislike you or have a negative view of you because of your race and historical events like Apartheid, they assume all white people in South Africa are responsible ...you dont take it personally because its based on real events in our history and you never encounter it from people in RL But in SA people at least give you a reason, for example people who want land reform/expropriation assume all white people stole the land but in SA only 8 % of white people are farmers... But Ktchong wasn't subjected to Apartheid laws and denied an education or a limited one so I would be very surprised if he cant support China based on what he believes. Thats what a debate is, we present our views and people can decide for themselves. I loved debating at school....I was useless at sport so these types of subjects gave me an identity which is important for young people

I am hoping he will respond to this question, for me its not unusual to encounter anti-white sentiment sometimes. Its something I just ignore as it normally lacks historical accuracy and tends be about sweeping generalizations that are impossible to justify But I still would believe ktchong can explain his China view, that should be simple if he is being sincere is his misplaced belief ?