BruceVC

Its an interesting view to have that the Trump victory was caused by the failure of Obama, I am interested in what you define by that statement if you dont mind going into more details with examples so I understand what you mean For example yes there some things Obama did or tried to implement that became the foundation of some of Trumps rhetoric and were the political target of some of his policies but I would argue other historical and societal realities that existed in the USA played a much more relevant part in the Trump victory. I could if required give you examples of where Obama succeeded or what he did was well meaning and positive but it wasnt appreciated or was just done in the wrong way but its hard to believe anyone being objective would consider the Obama presidency as a failure ....considering the numerous examples of failed states that do exist due to bad leadership decisions like Venezuela and Cuba ? I never really understood any valid criticism towards Obama until Trump won and I spent 4-6 months trying to understand how so many people had assumed Trump would lose. The good news is I now understand how some people like myself had become blinded to certain developments in the USA and the free world and how some parts of the normal SJ narrative had become corrupted and we were unintentionally just believing certain things instead of engaging in debate and seeing some things as complex and unhelpful to label them in a pejorative way. For example attempts to implement gun control I no longer support because a lot of the push back is from reasonable people who have equally important reasons to be against reform but not because they not aware of the scourge of mass shootings but rather they see this as a slippery slope and in some cases this is how the Federal government starts to force changes to culture and or tries to erode the independence of the individual states and Constitutional rights that matter to many Americans I still truly believe in most SJ objectives but for me there is often nuance and certain realities that need to be understood before we expect people to just agree, for example I always initially supported Merkels offer to integrate 1.5 million Syrians but as time went on it was wrong to tell all countries in the EU they had to accept large numbers of refugees. This should have been optional and not mandatory....however we learn from our mistakes I now also understand Trump and how he engages and what he believes. Interestingly enough once you accept how Trump is it is much easier to see his successes and failures. If you are someone who wants Trump to be defeated in 2020 then this is critical because if you just see Trump in his normal either controversial or offensive mannerisms you could easily see Trump in a one dimensional way, for example some people will understandably say " Trump is racist and or sexist " and this becomes what people assume all he represents. But then to defeat him politically you could focus on the wrong things and that would be to his advantage as right now I see the Democrats as having the more extreme candidates who may hold some common and supported social and political policies but if somehow Warren gets the nomination once she goes one on one with Trump I believe her views will be easily undermined by even moderate Republican commentators. Ironically the rise of Warren and her IMO well meaning but unrealistic policies are mostly an outcome of Trumps perceived divisive presidency .....its a weird political reality but that is where we are. In the unlikely event Warren becomes president what do you guys think will be the consequence for the USA ? For me it will be much worse but in a different way. But in closing I would prefer if Trump didnt win in 2020 because I do believe his 2016 victory lessons have been learnt and another 4-5 years of Trump would be unnecessary but I am not convinced there are any ideal Democratic candidates with Biden still being my best candidate considering the history of the last 20 years or so I am also very interested in all comments, but especially our US members , around these 2 questions How do you see the overall outcomes of the Trump presidency, ideally we must be fair as there are some positives Do you think Trump heralds the beginning of how politics is going to be, I dont at all. Trump is more of an anomoly to me and I doubt we will see anyone quite like him again.

I have good friends of mine from JHB coming to Cape Town for about 10 days and they staying with me this weekend which Im really excited about I have several things planned and will also see what they feel like but definitely tomorrow morning Im taking them to an artisan farmers market. My friend and his wife enjoy drinking and eating out so I expect much revelry and boisterousness awaits us 🍻 https://www.capetown.travel/the-oranjezicht-city-farm-market-at-granger-bay/

Sounds horrendous Barti, you lucky to be alive

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