BruceVC

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/07/politics/trump-warning-gaza-hostages-negotiations-inauguration/index.html Trump said lots of things in his latest media interview yesterday And as usual it was combination of theatre, hyperbole and things he believes and can implement But he stated several times " all hell will break out in the ME if the hostages arent released " by the time he becomes president "“It will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out. I don’t have to say anymore, but that’s what it is,” Trump said in remarks at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Tuesday, adding that “there should have never been” the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel." So this is what I call a Trump deadline commitment and he now has to to deliver on it The question is really what more can the US do to get Hamas to release the hostages, Gaza is already utterly devastated and Irans proxies have been severely eroded and still the hostages havent been released? It would have been better if Trump had said something like " one of my first priorities will be to get the hostages released " but now he has created a deadline that he needs to act on

I completed the main Underrail narrative after about 130 hours As I mentioned in previous posts its an excellent game and well worth playing What stands out as exceptional are these main mechanics and components Combat and how you have to adopt different strategies to win. In most large battles you cannot use the same approach exploration and the vastness of the map and then different places to find how you can use different builds to solve quests, lots of effort was put into this and it works The single hardest battle I had outside of the final battle was with an enemy AI called IRIS, it took me about 12 tries but I finally succeeded by using mines, EMP grenades and my PSI abilities and then I used the side room to control how the Robots could attack me and then I could focus my attacks on a specific area The only real criticism I have is the final Mutagen puzzle was too hard, I have never come across a puzzle that was so difficult to understand. I ended up using guides to finally create Exitus which is a basically a Mutagen and helps in the final battle I find it hard to believe that anyone could solve this puzzle without guides but obviously some people did that. If you a gamer who prides themselves on being good on solving puzzles here is an example of the solution to this. If you havent played Underrail it might not make sense but this link is an example of the complexity of what is expected https://steamcommunity.com/app/250520/discussions/0/412449508288532344/ And now Im playing Expedition and its great fun. I really appreciate how they add components like the NavCom device to help you navigate the map without making it too easy I like the factions and Im aligned with Aegis

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/06/americas/justin-trudeau-set-to-resign-canadian-prime-minister-intl/index.html Trudeau has resigned @Malcador Whats your opinion on this is, is it good or bad? Are you glad he has resigned And what would be the real justification, I see article says " A viral confrontation with a steel worker, who criticized Trudeau for not addressing the high cost of living, captured the growing discontent among Canadians. “You’re not really doing anything for us, Justin,” the worker remarked, highlighting a sentiment that resonated widely. " So is it really about inflation? I can understand that but this is a global reality and every country has suffered from that since the lockdowns ended and people will naturally blame the government but in this case inflation was caused primarily by a global event and no country was spared

I get the criticism, this is not the first time I have heard it before about these types of shows Lost and From is not for everyone because one thing that wont change is you will never know whats really happening until its confirmed in the last season But since you have watched season 3, heres my theory

Yes its very similar to Lost, 2 of the executive producers on From also worked on Lost And its a good formulae if you enjoy that type of design, you not suppose to know whats going on and you end up guessing as the series unfolds. But lots gets revealed @LadyCrimson watch till the end of season 3. I have a very good theory about what the town is about and we can discuss it once you updated to the end of season 3 From has become my favourite supernatural horror series of all time

Yes thats a huge and obvious difference between state sponsored human rights abuses in places like Russia or China and the West or countries like South Africa You can literally find daily protests in the latter group and the media covering both real and exaggerated criticism of the state. For some people its how they earn there money But you wont find that within China, there is no legal recourse for citizens Its definitely not the same

Al-Jazeera has reported consistently and constantly on what China is doing to the Uyghurs and they have an active page dedicated to this ongoing state sponsored abuse of a minority group And they not " Western media " so you should be able to trust them https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/uighur/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/new-orleans-attack-latest-fbi-dhs-warn-copycat/story?id=117290889 Im sure everyone is aware of the ISIS affiliated terrorist attack in New Orleans, terrible event especially during this holiday time Its been a while since the US has had an ISIS domestic attack?

I have some very exciting news I am about to finish Underrail and after all this debate and discussion around W4 I have realized how much I miss the entire Witcher universe I have decided to replay the whole Witcher series, I only played these iconic games once and I didnt mod them This time I will use extensive mods I am looking forward to revisiting the world of Geralt

Melkie I havent played Skyrim yet, I have been preparing to play it and I have been researching the various mod collections I am going to use Wabbajack to automatically install the several thousand mods that will be part of the Wabbajack collection I finally decide to use And it seems to be a choice between Wildlander and Lorerim but I am definitely going to use Requiem as the foundation and all these types of Mod collection do But I highly suggest using Wabbajack, it makes it much easier to see and browse the main Mod collections and all the collections have been tested and they have active Discord and other similar support forums for any issues

I was laughing about this joke about uuuhhi because its funny when I have been accused of being an alt-account its been with people that I have very little in common around our posts So I was sometimes accused of being Obys alt-account Oby was someone who I dont think I ever agreed on one thing he ever raised and thats unusual. I would hope my alt-account had somethings in common with me I do agree on uuuhhii on certain things and I do read his posts and he raises issues that are a concern

Sorry I wasnt suppose to make the post yet and I did leave out the Trans issues that are the reasons for the political attention and the Trans issues become issues for many Conservatives because they are often seen in a negative light that they believe wants to really undermine functional American values and the Trans rights is just an excuse to do this. I dont personally believe this but I can how some Trans rights laws can intentionally undermine some positive values that do work So for many people its not a dislike of Trans people so much as certain realities and state laws that say they about protecting Trans rights but the outcomes influence other things So the main points around this are the whole pronoun debate and also how you now find multiple terms in many forms around your identify reference : seen badly because it overcomplicates normal identification and is used to get attention as opposed to being something that was necessary Trans athletes in sports: I would say its the "biggest " issue because it is seen as a decision that can undermine the fairness of women's events, we do have solutions around this but its an active talking point When young people can or should transition and states have different laws around this but end of the day I believe parents have a right to say no to a school that they dont want there child to transition. California has laws where a child can decide to transition and the schools dont have to notify the parents or get parental permission and this differs from school to school because several schools are challenging this because they have a view that parents must be involved https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/californias-ban-lgbtq-parental-notification-policies-faces-legal/story?id=112038082 I realize the California decision was well meaning because they wanted to address cases of suicides where parents said no to the child transitioning so the legislation is basically about reducing how Transphobic parents could create suicide But its too much to now pass a law around this because the reality now is a child can decide to transition and the parents wont have any influence in this decision but end of day its parents that raise children and its not the schools that end up doing this And also parents can have a myriad of reasons to not support a child from transitioning until 18 and its not because of transphobia The reason for this post was the original and legitimate question around "why is there so much political and media attention on Trans people when they represent such a small group " Because its about the laws and decisions around Trans right that can impact other things outside of the objective of just being about Trans rights

The reasons for all the Trans political and social attention is because of several issues and there significance on broader US Because they a few small community I would say the main issues are and concerns

Just to be clear do you mean Trans people competing in women's events or the expectation of testing of testosterone for Trans people Because there should be no issue if the testosterone is the same because what other approach is there. Because if you say let Trans athletes compete without any testosterone checks you could create real situations has an unfair advantage? @Zoraptor you have interesting views on these topics, whats your opinion and understanding of this debate. Do you think elevated testosterone can give certain performance advantages but then should every Trans athlete be checked or is this unfair? I wonder does having intersex traits always mean elevated testosterone or it does it depend on the intersex trait?

What is your definition of the difference between a man and women, if you disagree its about the obvious birth reality to have children that includes reproductive organ differences that women have and men dont, if someone asks you " what is the difference between a man and woman " how would you describe the difference? And this debate about ensuring all athletes have equal levels of testosterone is for all athletes Its not the fault of Trans athletes that they might have 3-4 times the amount of testosterone but it would be unfair to women in the same event to compete against them. It doesn't need to be complicated or seen as unfair, trans athletes would just confirm they dont have elevated testosterone which can increase a persons performance in many sports events, thats one of the reasons doping is illegal because it can increase testosterone and that makes the overall race unfair. The same principle would apply to Trans athletes, its not suppose to be about targeting Trans athletes. Its about ensuring that sports event are as fair as possible And just for your own reference around this debate, being born with big hands or being taller is not the same debate as the testosterone levels one You can change the levels of testosterone with medication and that change can influence performance but you cant the size of someone's hands I know this point gets raised with the testosterone debate but that not really the same

How many people this year, your wife has a large family? What food will you cook, does everyone just bring something to contribute?

I didnt notice a Christmas thread so here is a belated one I love Christmas, its my best holiday of the year What is everyone doing? What unusual and delicious food will you be eating Im going to one of my brothers places tomorrow and we having gammon and turkey We have some severe flu going around so not everyone will be available but apart from that it should be a good day

It is more serious than maple syrup The Canada border is an entry point of drugs and other illegal goods into the US and vice-versa , its not like the amounts of the Mexican border or US sea- port entry but it is a reality chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/National-Northern-Border-Counter-Narcotics-2022Strategy.pdf " Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) operating on both sides of the United States Canada border (Northern Border) often exploit the international boundary’s vulnerabilities for illegal activities, at times in conjunction with outlaw motorcycle gangs. They smuggle illegal drugs as well as both weapons and the illicit proceeds from drug sales between the two countries. The predominate drugs trafficked across the Northern border are cocaine, which is smuggled into Canada, and MDMA (ecstasy), which is smuggled into the United States.i Though marijuana, heroin, and illicitly manufactured fentanyl are also trafficked across the Northern Border, their volume is substantially less than that which is trafficked across the Southwest Border.ii "

Im watching lots of series both new and older series again like Chicago PD and Law and Order But 3 new series Im watching are Grotesquerie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grotesquerie_(TV_series) A very violent and disturbing police drama about a dysfunctional cop and a serial killer. But there is a strange twist in it after 4-5 episodes that at least clarifies some of the egregious and gratuitous themes, I still have to watch till the end Presumed Innocent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presumed_Innocent_(TV_series) An excellent legal drama about a prosecutor who becomes the suspect in a murder of colleague Landman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landman_(TV_series) A brilliant drama about the reality of the ostensibly unethical business practices of the Texas oil industry. Billy Bob Thornton is one of my favourite actors and as expected he is superlative in this series But the show also highlights how hard it is to work in this industry around how physically demanding and dangerous it is

Im just joking, Canada does have social problems like all countries but its a very good place to live overall and is considered one of the most stable countries in the world When I did some research on " Canada social problems " I found this link and it includes problems that exist in almost every country and there is success around all these points but its ongoing https://www.c2d2.ca/ Current social issues in Canada include: Mental health issues Controversial abortion laws Freedom of speech Gambling Addiction Issues in Canada Family violence Violence against women Prostitution Social policy decisions for drugs and alcohol Racial discrimination and the problem of the first nations Issues regarding the possession of weapons Prohibition on possession of weapons Poverty in Canada The creeping problem of pension benefits Yes, I was just asking because of Trumps sensationalized rant about " Canada protecting the border from drugs " So I imagine most drugs from Canada are smuggled in through the official border crossings but there will be lots of unofficial ways into the US because of the geographical size and reality of the border

True, there is an obvious advantage to having a good neighbor like with Canada And if Canada becomes another US state that could create unforeseen problems that dont exist I was thinking about something else around borders, where you live in Washington state you share a border with Canada There must hundreds of ways a person could cross into Canada through wilderness paths and old trails without going through border control? Is the border between your state and Canada porous like that or am I misunderstanding this reality?

Come on its Christmas and holiday time You can do much better than that, playing the " look how bad the US is because of enhanced interrogation " card is so....so 2010ish I can appreciate the appropriate use of whataboutism but this is not one of those times We talking about the reality of the long list of Russian war crimes in Ukraine and how some of the Russian military have been involved in rape and killing of civilians. Lets stay on point

Sure but its completely unrealistic the idea of leaving the US. Its just populist rhetoric that legally is almost impossible to imagine it could happen, its possible but Constitutionally very hard But joining the US is different, would you like and support the idea of Canada to become part of the US? Remember despite all Canadas social problems its a rich country, 9th largest economy in the world so they wouldnt be an economic burden

Yes its well known and been reported on regularly the Russians systemic practice of rape and killing of civilians Nothing new or surprising

Nice, so are you going to be living and working in Denmark? Or is this just while you look for work in the EU?