BruceVC

So you talking about crack cocaine being free then people wouldnt commit crimes to feed there habit? There is an argument to that logic

Whats UFD, Universal Free Drugs?

Yes, you make some good points here and my research and every interview I have ever listened to reveals the same outcome. Defund the police was never implemented properly or it has been abandoned but there is reason it has been abandoned It created real problems with police budgets being cut and police were retrenched in certain Democratic controlled cities. For some advocates of Defund the police I believe they were genuinely well meaning with the objective that budgets cut could be allocated to other city projects that could help with crime prevention But that wasnt the outcome and crime increased in the US in most of these cities that tried to implement these changes so irrespective of the reasons it failed because citizens felt less unsafe. So its not just politicians saying " defund the police is bad " it had real consequence on levels of crime that were attributed towards it Here is a last link about this, it highlights many of the systemic failures with the overall program https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/07/20/democratic-mayors-defunded-their-police-while-spending-millions-on-their-own-police-protection/?sh=4fd3018d86b4 And I know we wont agree on this but its unfair to call the US police a paramilitary force. But I am not suggesting that police shouldn't be held accountable around there actions and illegal police activity must obviously be prosecuted

Have you researched how many states in the US have successfully implemented defund the police? We know it was an objective in many Democrat states and cities but its not a raised or primary objective anymore Why do you think that is? I appreciate that link but its from May 2021. But now in the year 2023 how successful was that objective?

Yes but I have acknowledged that right-wing extremism is more established and has more resources But thats no reason to ignore left-wing extremism like Antifa or think the radical left dont exist. We should be concerned with both types of extremism. And its not BS to point out the reality of any group on the left or right that believes violence is acceptable

Isnt that already happening in China where certain websites and views are blocked within the country?

Lets try to keep this debate about facts and historical realities and not big words like " overton window " that just add degrees of unnecessary confusion There are historical and current examples of left-wing extremist groups but they were more prevalent in the Cold War and they include communism/socialism/Marxism groups and anarchist groups This link discusses this in the US @Lexx you will find this link relevant to understand what are examples of left wing extremism https://www.counterextremism.com/content/far-left-extremist-groups-united-states Antifa is also considered a left-wing extremist group because they believe violence is acceptable But the radical left that I often mention is not necessarily an example of left-wing extremism but they espouse radical left leanings views like defund the police and revisionist and selective history like " take down Winston Churchill's statue in the UK because he was racist " But I do agree there is a current and obvious difference between right-wing extremism and left-wing extremism. The former is more violent and organised in the sense there are militia groups in the US that are aligned to right-wing extremism like KKK or Neo-Nazi But that doesnt mean the radical left doesnt exist and it does have a pernicious and insidious influence within our various countries

Yes but we have discussed this, what should I refer to them as? The left ....but they not the left because they have extreme left views

Thats not the problem, its that the description gets overused by certain liberals and the radical left whenever someone disagrees with there particular political and or ideological views. And I say certain because not all liberals do but a vociferous minority with media attention are guilty of this And what ends up happening is exactly the reality now in the US and other countries, like SA, where people dont take it seriously anymore because " everyone becomes a Nazi" Let me give you 2 examples of this, Jordan Peterson was accused of being a Nazi because of his views on pronoun usage. And if you ever watch his videos you will see he is not anything like someone who believes in Nazi ideology which is a type of white supremacy IMO And then the Canadian truckers protest, people were calling them Nazi when in fact most truckers were not Nazi at all but they were involved in an illegal, ill-conceived and pointless protest. But that doesnt mean they Nazi Thats what I mean by abuse of the word Nazi

I dont know who he is but here is another link on this topic, its originally from Bloomberg https://www.sharesbazaar.com/news-article/RT248ZDWRGG001

Absolutely but this forum is minor compared to other places and forums where certain people on the left and right have completely abused the definition of words like Nazi or Socialist. Its got to the point where people throw these words around when someone simply disagrees with you or supports a different political party. It does make me laugh depending on what forum I notice it I remember the first time I noticed how for some people they have lost the ability to disagree or engage in a constructive way and they dont engage in good faith It was on CNN in 2016 when Trump won the election and there was still shock from the Democrats. The CNN news anchor interviewed 2 people, a young black women Democrat who was from Africa but obviously American now and a white man, maybe 60+ or so, and a Trump supporter And the anchor asked " is Trump racist " and this is how the conversation went ( Im summarizing it ) Democrat : Yes he is Republican: No he is not Democrat : You have no right to comment on racism, you dont understand lived experience Republican : Oh, so now I cant comment on racism because Im white Now both of them were wrong and didnt debate very well. Firstly anyone can have empathy and comment on any type of bigotry, for example you dont need to be gay to believe homophobia is wrong. So of course a white person can comment on racism, its just got to be honest. So she was wrong to say that But the Republican ended up playing the victim card and saying " oh so now I cant comment on racism" . He should have just ignored what she said and kept his composure and he should have stuck to his views. So he was wrong in how he responded But the point is the entire exchange between them became this cringe invective and if you were watching you didnt gain anything from it

Pidesco aren't you generalizing now? In life you shouldn't label everyone with the same brush...thats EXACTLY what the radical left does

Geez GD, you cant use Fox News links on this forum. You will be called a Neo-Nazi or fascist

I doubt it, ideological statements are not the same as data and economic realities https://dailyhodl.com/2023/04/16/us-dollar-death-shark-tanks-kevin-oleary-says-people-should-get-over-de-dollarization-fears-heres-why/

I think the West\US will continue to support Ukraine for several reasons but support in the US will continue as long as internal political support continues. MAGA Republicans are more critical of support but even they just talk about " more scrutiny around spending " and not dropping Ukraine. But as @Gfted1 mentioned this is not Afghanistan, there are no body-bags and no direct " boots on the ground " and that makes a difference. This war has completely changed Russia's role in the world and weakened it immensely on numerous fronts so it makes geopolitical policy sense for the US to continue to support Ukraine for as long as Ukraine wants to continue fighting But end of the day this is not a war the US is directly involved in despite the rhetoric from some so why not continue to support Ukraine? The amount of aid Ukraine is getting is small compared to US budget and certain US industries are making money from increased sales And another consideration is the Russian sanctions\disinvestment will continue long after the war is over as long as Putins nationalism continues And then there is lots of economic grandstanding about " the $ being replaced" ... but what currency will replace it as the worlds reserve currency?The Yuan is only 6% of foreign reserves with currencies like the euro, Yen and Pound being more used as foreign reserves than the Yuan Because most of the calls to replace the $ are from Vatniks and anti-Western ideologues and they mention the Yuan but why would anyone realistically believe you can trust China more than the US to maintain the world's reserve currency? This is the same country that implemented " zero-Covid " and then dropped it suddenly. But in closing Ukraine will decide if it wants to end the war and I dont see Western support ending around military aid

I finished IWD2 after 100 hours, its a great game and scores a 70/100 on the globally respected " BruceVC game rating system " I had one of the hardest battles I have ever had in any RPG with Iyachtu Xvim, I only defeated him on the 9-10th time and what made it so difficult is his natural resistances to certain magic, how only bludgeoning\crushing is effective and his AOE spells. So I adopted a strategy start the initial battle with my 2 x tanks and 1-2 summons then run away with any of my party members and let the summons do the fighting to get Xvim to use his AOE spells use more summons to get him to use spells use ranged weapons like sling and +5 bullets Engage him with my full party once the summons are dead And it was still very hard, I lost 1 party member and I had exhausted most of my offensive and healing spells but I had 3 x Lighting Bolts left and I used that to finally kill him And then the battle with the twins was fun but strategically easier because I just killed the wizards first and quickly and then focused on the twins Great game and definitely worth playing if you enjoy D&D ruleset and an overall action RPG design

@majestic good news, he is not part of the radical left but is apparently linked to right-wing extremist ideology He is clearly naughty

I meant to comment on this earlier but I have had work pressures I respect the fact that you have been able to change your initial and more sympathetic views towards Putin and the direction he is taking Russia. Because I do remember the original reasons you had sympathy for Putin and it made sense as he prevented Russia becoming a Communist country again or failed state under Yeltzin and I understand that Its sometimes difficult to change our views on these types of realities but it demonstrates integrity and ideological consistency to be able to do that

They need to throw the book at him and I hope he spends at least 20 years in jail This cavalier attitude towards national security from people responsible for protecting that national security needs to end

Nice and it makes sense, once the war is over some of the $300 billion of frozen Russian foreign reserve can be used to help rebuild Ukraine especially considering how the Ruskies have deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure

What I also found interesting is the $500 billion of Yuan assets Russia bought but they couldnt recognize this into liquidity when needed. I wonder what he was referring to?

I watched the Peter Zeihan video, interesting insights and he makes several points I agree with like how this invasion is about one thing only, an attempt to recreate the old Soviet borders. Not a very positive view of future of Russia, interesting prediction about it breaking up into smaller states and how Putin is responsible for pruning capable leadership

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/8/ukraine-children-returned-from-russia-after-alleged-deportation Russia has started returning some of the Ukrainian stolen children, amazing how quick ICC war crimes charges can change Russian attitudes

And what would your idea be of a reset in 2023?

Sure and I agree Western governments should be consistent with real human rights abuses. But you need to adopt things like quiet diplomacy when it comes to certain criticisms of different world leaders Biden made several public statements about the killing of Khashoggi that included saying " we would assess the Saudi relationship " and " several senior Saudi's would be punished" but he was killed in 2018 when Trump was president so Biden was also playing politics and grandstanding And now people are surprised that MbS doenst care what Biden thinks and wont increase oil supply when asked