BruceVC

https://edition.cnn.com/world/live-news/lebanon-pagers-attack-hezbollah/index.html Very sophisticated Mossad attack on Hezbollah, James Bond type strategy that rigged pagers Hezbollah operatives are using

Sometimes yes, it depends how its used But in this case its something that is getting raised on the likes of CNN which is a centralist media house with more left leanings but they try to be in the middle of the political US spectrum. And they raising " tone down the rhetoric from both sides " I do agree that the words " but both sides are doing it" can be counterproductive and is abused, its about the context

Ostensibly that might not be a controversial statement based on the examples you have given. You make some valid points here But I am assuming you dont think he should be assassinated because of what he has said or done? Do you think Trump getting killed would somehow be better for US Democracy? Some people do believe that but they would never act on it Because thats the point Im making, when presidential candidates publicly say those things that can influence mentally unbalanced people in a country where gun violence and mass shootings are common Its fine if you and I say that on the Internet because we dont have any real influence I just think both candidates need to tone down the rhetoric

It doesnt really require much effort or mental gymnastics when " both sides " are guilty of something. But they not always doing the same thing so you need to look at each allegation or concern separately and be specific So in this case its easy to understand and see where both candidates are exaggerating to gain votes and support around what the other candidate wants to achieve and what will happen to the US if the candidate wins. And they basically saying this Harris : Trump will destroy US democracy, he is the greatest threat to our Democracy and freedoms we have ever seen Trump: Harris is a Communist\Socialist. She will destroy our country with her liberal and progressive policies

No it doesnt get tiresome when we talking about a reality in the US You not going to solve gun violence in US during this election period but both candidates can control what they say and how they say it knowing there could be consequence around mass shootings caused by mental illness

Unfortunately both sides are guilty of this. And even though I support the idea of " deescalating the rhetoric " that ship sailed a long time ago and its now part of the established campaigning and slogans from both candidates But I dont find it funny because the US has a reality with gun violence, access to guns and untreated mental illness And you can find numerous examples of a small number of mentally unbalanced people believing " candidate x is going to destroy the US if they win" and then they act on it and often with tragic consequence

But its a precursor to the original 1982 Thing, its about the Norwegian team so its a different narrative?

Apparently Badlands is going to be set in the future, Im very excited

I finally got round to watching Prey and Dune 2 ( the second part of the latest remake ) Prey: I really enjoyed it and I consider it a worthy part of the overall Predator franchise. I always ignore criticism around any book, movie or game until I have experienced it myself and Prey had lots of negative opinions about it being woke and the most exasperating part of this criticism was this was before the movie had been released But I found Naru to be a very believable character and how she adopted a combat strategy, yes there were some unrealistic scenes but within the boundaries of artistic license. She used the environment, her agility and the Predators own tools to defeat it. Basically brain over brawn I loved the whole French trappers battle scene and how the Predator used his shield and speed to defeat the larger force Very entertaining movie and recommended, I see Hulu should be making the next one set in modern times with Arnold coming back Dune 2 : Absolutely brilliant and better than the original, not much to say apart from that and I see they making a third part

And I appreciate you engaging and sharing your opinion It wouldn't be a debate if we didnt have different opinions

https://euromaidanpress.com/2024/09/14/frontline-report-russian-forces-finally-sacrifice-pokrovsk-offensive-to-defend-kursk/ If true this is another and clear reason why the Kursk offensive was implemented and it made sense Its now taking Russians off the frontline

A really strange Russian army recruitment advert, strange for a country that discriminates against LGBT to recognize it as a reality within Russia

Its common in most Democracies to find celebrities endorsing a candidate or a celebrity saying who they will vote for In South Africa its common to find artists saying who they like, I dont have an issue with that because I see it as freedom of speech But I find it very strange that anyone should be influenced to vote for any candidate because a celebrity is voting for them This is an example of the unhealthy celebrity worship culture You should vote for a candidate because of what you believe around policies, not what someone else believes

Im not sure I understand your point. If it was Ukrainians operating the missiles then its not act of war? Iran and NK are supplying missiles to Russia which are being used to attack Ukraine sovereign territory but these missiles are operated by Russians and Ukraine has not said "we now at war with Iran and NK" So that logic would apply to Ukraine, NATO could supply long range missiles to Ukraine but if they operate them then its just part of the normal war between Russia and Ukraine? Another inconsistency exposed with Russian propaganda that Vatniks have peddled since the war started is "Russia is actually at war with NATO " but Putin is only now suggesting NATO would be at war with Russia if it gives permission. Of course no serious analyst would ever suggest this war is anything but a war between Russia and Ukraine with various countries supplying military aid to both sides https://www.cbsnews.com/news/putin-nato-ukraine-war-us-long-range-missiles/ " Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that a decision by the U.S. or its NATO allies to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia would be viewed as NATO's direct participation in the war, which he said would significantly change "the very nature of the conflict."

I doubt that would be the definition of victory? I have no doubt NATO would defeat the Russian military but forcing Putin to somehow step down is unlikely

What do you think the NATO military objective would be in a war with Russia?

Its been sensationalized a little IMO, we know all about Russian red lines But what Putin did say was "Russia would be forced to take what Putin called "appropriate decisions" based on the new threats. " Thats vague and typical Russian. If he wanted war with NATO then he should be unequivocal and say " Russia will declare war on NATO " or something similar

https://www.yahoo.com/news/russia-spend-over-half-billion-123000075.html Russia to be implementing more measures to control and block what Russian citizens can view on the Internet. Copying a page from China and its repressive control of information " In 2019, Russia introduced legislation that permits the country to totally disconnect from the internet in what it calls a "campaign to preserve digital sovereignty". Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin reportedly banned some foreign social media and internet corporations, however many sites are still accessible via virtual private networks, or VPNs. By upgrading the technology, Russian authorities will be able to better block access to VPNs. As traffic volumes increased, new equipment was purchased on a yearly basis beginning in 2020. "

Sure but perceptions are reality and sometimes perceptions dont align with the reality So if you take the perceptions of the US economy and this particular voting issue most Americans think Trump can do better job at handling the economy than Biden. This poll is few months old and might have changed now that Biden is gone but its one reason why people would vote for Trump. Harris might not changes these views https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/50051-trump-biden-americans-perceptions-who-would-better-handle-biggest-problems-inflation-corruption-poll "A new survey finds that the problem that Americans are most likely to consider a very serious problem in 2024 is inflation — and they’re more likely to approve of Donald Trump’s handling of the issue than Joe Biden’s handling of it. Other problems that a majority of Americans consider very serious, including corruption and drug abuse, also are ones that they feel Trump has done a better job handling than Biden. The poll was conducted after Donald Trump's conviction on 34 felony charges, and before the first presidential debate." And I agree about the GOP destroying the border deal because Trump wanted to make this a political issue so I dont consider Trump serious about dealing with the border either but the argument to this is " the Dems had years to take the border seriously and only in the last 12 months did they act ". Its not a convincing justification to torpedoing the border deal because this should have been a bipartisan objective But let me ask you a question, you said you would never vote for Trump. Can you share 2-3 reasons why you would never vote for him I realize these are legitimate considerations for you but I am interested in what they are And I ask this because it goes back to your original question, undecided voters are undecided for different reasons to you but it doesnt make them stupid

The reality of the important undecided voters is unique around its influence in the USA and how they can swing elections, I say unique because of the size. They make up anything from 10-15% of registered voters and they literally make up there mind within the last few days before the election. Thats one of the main reasons why USA midterm and presidential polls have often been wrong because polling data almost never includes this group, how could it if they dont know who they going to vote for? And then you ask " why do they even exist? How can anyone be undecided between Trump or Harris " But thats easy to answer, they not influenced and they dont follow the SM drama, media and hyperbole around politics. They vote on outcomes and its easy to identify 3-4 key realities\perceptions that are ostensibly worse in the US and have not improved under the Dems and Biden. And these could be crime border and illegal migration economy and inflation Harris was part of the same government that contributed towards these things as VP so there is legitimate GOP argument to say " if you want to see change in the US how can you vote for the same person that has failed to address these problems over the last few years " But then Trump was also part of the same government 4 years ago so its a similar criticism So in summary, they going to vote on policies and problems that resonate with them and which candidate they believe is better to address those things. They not influenced by subjective views similar to " OMG, you cant vote for Trump because he is racist" Which is why these presidential debates matter to them, its interesting because I was watching an interview with a group of undecided voters on CNN after this debate and several of them are still saying " we not sure who we going to vote for. We not convinced by either candidate yet "

I think overall Harris had a much better debate than Trump Trump did well in the first 20 minutes and then he got triggered by her and couldnt stay on point about what he should have been focusing on You can see she is an intelligent and formidable debater who had done her homework and preparation around how to debate Trump and what to focus on Much better outcome for the Dems than the last one

The presidential debate is tonight, Harris vs Trump Its significant for the Dems considering the outcome of the disastrous last one with Biden I also think this debate will matter to undecided voters. I will end up watching highlights because its going to be at 3am local time

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/one-of-the-most-strange-and-cruel-survival-sandboxes-ive-played-has-sold-23-million-copies/ Because Im about to play Kenshi I found this interesting sales update It reached 2.3 million sales by April, great success for a small company

I have watched many excellent series lately but these 2 I must recommend if you like horror and supernatural From : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_(TV_series) Best way to describe it is its like Lost but with much more horror and supernatural themes. Absolutely enthralling and S3 is about to be released Servant : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_(TV_series) Basically its an excellent and completely unexpected story that you think is a drama but turns out to be much more than that. 4 seasons in the entire completed story but each episode is only 30 minutes so its quick viewing

I have read Fire and Blood and GOT and I loved both of them but preferred GOT because its a story as opposed to the historical account from different people around how F&B is written And F&B also has a much longer history and different characters that aren't in TV series But my biggest " criticism " with F&B is trying to remember all the names of characters and who they are because they seem to reuse names or have similar names GOT was much easier to follow because its the same characters in the same time period, Jon Snow is Jon Snow throughout the narrative