They’re just over-done at every stage for no reason at all. Stupid torx heads, shit that needs allen keys near the brakes of all places, torx bolts in super awkward places where a normal one would be easy to access with a wrench. BMW needing you to have a 16mm wrench for no reason while most wrench kits come in packs which don’t have it. I changed the oil my dad’s 1998 BMW and that thing had a plate which I thought would have a filter on it like my Ninja but instead it still had a canister style filter except it was inside the oil pan and you needed a special, thin-walled metal socket to get to it.

There’s also my friend’s 2018 Jetta where none of the three rotors listed fit and the fourth option, from the previous year, almost did but I had to use those 1/8” thick, strong steel washers to space the caliper out(thank god it was exactly 3/8” off) or we’d have been totally screwed.

Or the dogshit clutch feel, the ultra-long shifter throws, and the awkward ergonomics. My mom’s 2001 Golf had the problem where the climate controls were blocked if you were in third gear. My sister’s 2015 Golf was hugely uncomfortable for longer than a couple hours.

I hate German vehicles so much. They make a lot of power and are cool enough on the face of it but there’s so much stuff that’s just bad. Meanwhile I’m excited to be doing the clutch on my 2015 BRZ tomorrow because it’s going to be wicked easy.

We do have easier access to information. Also, if you’ve ever worked on a German vehicle, you’ll know that they’re not all that.

If you have capitalism that is heavily supported by a non-market system then you don’t really have capitalism. Heck, the big thing about capitalism is that there’s a massive threat of being without which forces people into exploitative situations. The concept of money is not locked to capitalism, despite the beliefs of what seems to be the majority of people, it is simply hyper-prioritized in that system.

Capitalism is where those with the most money have the most power, socialism is where society at large has the most power, etc. Whatever goes in front of the -ism is what gets put first.

Basically, you can 100% have private businesses under an -ism which largely prioritizes people, not capital. A government will operate utilities, education, healthcare, etc., as well as offer basic services like grocery stores and internet, and private business can handle your fancy bakeries, clothing stores, electronics, instruments, and all that stuff.

“I’m hitting the brakes, what more do you want?!?”

“To stop before we die! We still can!”

Exactly. Conservatives are a mostly lost cause who will either figure it out on their own after being beaten by the people they elect themselves or who are so blind they will never see it. Centrists who “aren’t very political” and who “just want everyone to get along” are constantly telling progressives that they’re “too extreme” despite the fact that the entire basis of centrism is being in between two other options, no matter where that actually puts them.

They’re just a bunch of cowards who are heading for a cliff but think that applying the brakes too strongly might be a little uncomfortable so they just do it a little. They’re still going off the cliff, just a little slower.

The people in power are also all the voters who see this behaviour, who see the obvious lies(even for them in their echo chambers it’s hard to miss some of this), and who continue to support not only him, but conservatism in general. It has never worked, yet they keep saying “ok, so once again it is conservatism that has produced this loser but he’s not a real conservative so I’m gunna keep supporting the POS factory.”

We can argue about the racism, the sexism, the classism, and all that for a real long time but ultimately a few evil people won’t last against a population that actually cares and a few caring people won’t last against a population that allows themselves to be duped by obvious racism, sexism, etc.

The GOP, for all their evil and election fraud, still would not win a single election if the people of the US said “no.”

0. Didn’t even pretend to hold a primary and shoved in a lazy replacement.

Bro, the entire country is falling apart at the seams. Is there that little solidarity in the US that “go to the Whitehouse to be disrespected by the president” is seen as a life-or-death command?

Weak.

No. I mean, yes also, but holy fuck what will it take for you losers to finally start holding each other accountable? All they had to do was not go somewhere, it would have been incredibly easy, and the only reward they got from it is a terrible photo with a terrible person which only serves to further validate him and everything he does.

For fuck’s sake, I’m not asking them to shoot him in the back.

At some point you gotta take a stand. People from the US always ready to make excuses why they can’t do something. It’s gotten so bad there, and here in Canada, too, honestly, and it’s like, what the fuck will get people to get off their asses at this point?

Honestly? Don’t care. If you’re agreeing to go there and get photos taken with him I am going to laugh at you when you get the expected treatment.

As someone who rough-houses with their cat: No, dude. No. This is just playtime, a lot of cats love that shit and know that playtime and claws don’t mix, so they don’t do it because even stupid cats aren’t often that dumb. You can also trim their claws normally, like you should be doing anyway.

My cat is fully obsessed with me, is currently asleep on my lap, and when playtime comes around will be basically asking me to do this. He will easily switch back to chill mode after, even if it’s me who decides we’re done, and will be back to normal for bedtime.

You’ve either got no experience with cats or have only interacted with cats you’ve thoroughly pissed off because you can’t read their very clear body language.

“Cars are bigger here!” Is definitely one of the worst ones. Especially when we largely have the same cars and the truly big ones won’t work.

I had a really weird dream lastnight where I almost got a Challenger Hellcat for basically free but I’d have to trade my BRZ for it. I don’t drive much as it is, because I live in a city with transit, but I’m very proud that dream me refused the trade in the end because it would have been a nightmare to find parking. Also they’re automatic, but that is unrelated.

A lot of people in North America see that and have a laundry list of complaints based entirely on their feelings and their inability to think for even a moment.

I dunno, seems kinda like something to pay attention to. Do you guys do anything? Or is sitting on your hands making up reasons to ignore shit like this just more fun than I thought it to be?

Dude, they couldn’t even keep Trump’s second term out of the way. The good ol’ centrist Democrats were even energizing people for a couple months and shut it all down in favour of supporting Israel and having Harris spend more time with Liz Cheney than her own running mate.

You’re spot-on that folks outside the US think the country is an embarrassing failure, though. Just a bunch of toddlers, cowards, and sychohants.

Boris Johnson’s look is/was apparently designed to make him seem likeable to stupid people. They see someone who has a decent fitting suit and think “fuck that elitist bastard” because that’s the level we’re operating on.

To be honest, I get how it has an effect but this is just insanity. The level of fuckery we permit based on the dumbest shit is just insane.

You mean that thing they’ve done for decades that their base wants? Look at how they acted with Good and Pretti, they’re not even trying to make white people comfortable anymore*; the gloves are off. They know that anyone who hates them will hate them and anyone who loves them will let them get away with pretty much anything.

*In the past they’d at least try to make white people comfortable so that said group could ignore major issues. Now they’re shooting them, too.

They can make the robots do the expensive jobs and throw the human meat at labour tasks. And we just let it happen.

Right now, billionaires are generally a bunch of human losers propper up by other human losers. And we’re letting them run away with it to where, in a few decades or less, they’ll have a more genuine capacity for violence by controlling machines to the enforcement for them. It seems like no amount of media showing how this always goes will be enough to get people to stop powering up their own demise.

What I’m driving at is that he might wear suits that fit but it’s important to still see that he still supports 90% of the things Trump does. Things like his Davos speech or what he eventually says in response to things like the US’s attacks are not worth defending because their purpose is entirely to make people feel as if there’s just enough stability to go back to ignoring politics again.

Carney is still a conservative’s wet dream, it’s just that people are so attached to their tribalism that voters aren’t paying attention. The MPs are, though, since we’re seeing so many cross over to be Liberals.