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silentsod's avatar

MotoGP at Philip Island, Australia:

Bez continues his tear with incredible pace and slots 2nd in qualifying.

Fermin Aldeguer tumbles from the heights of victory down to a third row start.

TWO Yamahas in the top three with Quartararo on pole and Miller in 3rd.

Raul Fernandez begins in 4th.

Acosta starts 5th.

In the sprint Quartararo faded off the line and Bez bolted to the front where he would put on a show with a wing and a prayer stuck in his front fairing. He struck a bird on the warm up lap, but this didn't affect his ride and he would go on to finish 3s ahead of 2nd place. Raul Fernandez gave Aprilia their first (I think) sprint 1-2 finish as the only rider who could nearly keep up with Bez. Pedro Acosta finished well behind but put up an incredible defense to keep Miller and Digiantonnio just behind him in order to complete the podium.

In the race proper Bezzecchi served a double long lap penalty and didn't manage to work his way through traffic for another victory. Instead, he would settle for 3rd after working his way through traffic. Raul Fernandez earned his first win in MotoGP and kept Aprilia as top dog this weekend. A well deserved win especially considering his soft rear tire gamble and uncertainty that it would go the distance. Martin made a similar gamble two years ago in Mandalika and went from a commanding lead to finishing off the podium. Fabio Digiantonnio displayed impressive race pace and finished 2nd.

Pecco Bagnaia continues to be plagued with inconsistency and he finished nearly last in the sprint and crashed out of the race late. He is out of second place in the championship with Bez now 8 points up on the struggling competitor.

Alex Marquez managed not to lose too many points to Bezzecchi and looks likely to hold on to 2nd place in the championship.

They race at Sepang in Malaysia this weekend.

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Jeff H's avatar

Hey, I love these updates. I've caught the occasional MotoGP race on TV, and it's excellent racing...

What's the best way to follow MotoGP? I don't have cable TV, streaming services, or social media... so does that mean I'm out?

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dejal's avatar

USGP adjacent. F1 in the US on Apple TV in 2026. For another discussion. Maybe the next one.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

I didn't want to talk about it because it's so depressing.

a) I will have to get Apple TV to watch the races

b) there will be whores watching the races as well, and not the fun Monaco kind.

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Harry's avatar

Is F1 Live not going to be an option? I have watched every GP broadcast in the US since I learned to program a VCR, but I truly despise Apple.

I don't know if my love of F1 is greater than that hate.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

The F1TV subscription will supposedly be discontinued. I don't know what other options will persist.

On the positive side, you'll be able to see "The Morning Show!"

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Scott A's avatar

Its $10 a month or something. I watch on hulu live tv now which is all sorts of disney gay. And the espn broadcast is crap. So… meh

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Adrian Clarke's avatar

You’ll also be able to watch For All Mankind, Silo and Slow Horses (which is good but not as much as it’s hyped up to be). Apparently Severance is good as well but I haven’t watched that.

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Stan Galat's avatar

To say nothing of Severance, which has been outstanding. I agree regarding Slow Horses, but it's still far better than the average Disney dreck, and most of what's on Netflix.

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Stan Galat's avatar

I OTOH, am ecstatic. I already subscribe to Apple TV, so it is like getting something very, very valuable to me for free.

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dejal's avatar

WIndows should work with a Chromium based browser. Possibly FireFox also.

I am more concerned with DVR capability. If live or nothing or a day later probably a big NOPE from me. I rarely watch the grid walk pre race, so I come into the race a few minutes in. Considering there's a good chance of a pile up and red flag in the first couple of laps, coming in late lets me catch up and bypass the sitting in the pits. Also being 10-15 minutes behind isn't a big deal.

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Jay's avatar

The drug situation makes the case for the harshest immigration policy and - perhaps some day? - a border to speak of, but not for stealing another country's oil and installing a puppet regime (likely hand-picked by USAID).

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Jack Baruth's avatar

In the GWB era, we'd have made the argument that it's Venezuela's problem to fix but that failure to fix it would come with "Coalition Of The Willing" style penalties.

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BKbroiler's avatar

What's USAID...?

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Jay's avatar

the uniparty's slush fund for installing puppet regimes and subverting societies abroad

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Henry C.'s avatar

And at home.

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BKbroiler's avatar

It's 404 now lol... it was a joke!

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Henry C.'s avatar

For now. I think that hydra has a few more heads and others that may grow back if allowed.

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Ice Age's avatar

"Jesus Frank, that's classified!"

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bb's avatar

What about dirthammer?

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Jack Baruth's avatar

er, what about them?

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Todd Zuercher's avatar

A hearty amen to the last 5 paragraphs of this tome.

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Steve Ward's avatar

"anyone who could sell an 11-second 2+2 for $29,999 in either country is gonna clean up"

hey GM, why don't you put a roadster body on the Bolt platform??? (oh and don't f' it up like you did with the Fiero and Solstice)

hey Ford, why don't you put a 2+2 coupe/roadster body on the Mach-E platform??? (though maybe that platform needs to go on a diet plan)

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Jay's avatar

I seriously doubt it. Would you buy it? A sports car that's always on "Empty?" I'd rather drive a Plymouth Turismo.

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Steve Ward's avatar

Given sufficient garage space, yes would consider it.

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BKbroiler's avatar

A PHEV Diet Bronco would make Ford's money machine go brrrrrrrr...

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Steve Ward's avatar

I wanted exactly that a few years ago. Ended up with a PHEV Jeep GC. Now with all the Ford "quality" issues I wouldn't consider a Ford.

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BKbroiler's avatar

PHEV Dodge Hornet to the rescue!

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Andrew White's avatar

Easy button: Mazda stretches the Miata to include a rear seat, keeps a drop top on it, and ups it to a v6 (with SkyActivia) and 6 speed.

Hard button: GM takes the Bolt and puts the aging v8 alu block du jour and a manual transmission to make a "driver's car" for 30 large.

*I realize they need to crash validate and all that, but it's very easy for me to make pronouncements that will never come to pass...*

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Speed's avatar

"Mazda stretches the Miata to include a rear seat"

NO

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Andrew White's avatar

In addition to the 2 seater still being offered.

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Speed's avatar

why not just call it something else like the cosmo or 626

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Andrew White's avatar

Nameplate recognition and rage baiting "miata is the answer" Tylenol nerds.

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Speed's avatar

how do you feel about the mustang mach e then

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Ataraxis's avatar

I’ve was always disappointed that Mazda never made a hard top Miata coupe. I’m not counting the rare JDM model.

But you are on to something with the Cosmo comparison.

The original Cosmo was 9” longer than the Miata, but the wheelbase was 7” shorter. The Cosmo was a 2 seater, too, so a Miata based coupe with a Cosmo length and keeping it as a 2 seater would be pretty cool.

Looking at the Simpson Design Miata based designs shows that the possibilities for the Miata platform are endless. https://www.simpsondesign.net/

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Steve Ward's avatar

oh come on, someday soon you will have kids and need room for car seats.

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Speed's avatar

yeah

thats the point of getting a second car (probably a gc impreza)

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Thomas Hank's avatar

An 11 sec Rx8 that doesn’t suck? I think that’s what you were trying to say.

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Speed's avatar

so yeah not a miata

i do kinda like rx8s though

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Ataraxis's avatar

The 3rd gen FD RX7 is the one that does it for me. But I never wanted a rotary even though the car was gorgeous.

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Speed's avatar

rotaries are great and awful for different reasons but i still kinda want one even thought it wouldnt be painless

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Andrew White's avatar

That'd work, but not angering the Miata bois is a missed opportunity.

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Clint Johansen's avatar

I’ve always wanted just that a fun to drive convertible that could fit three kids in the back, might just settle for a NC and make the kids take turns riding…hey let’s go for ice cream 3 times. Can’t think of any 5 seaters except the wrangler but I’m not into collecting ducks waving at everyone and all that goes with the jeep thing

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Steve Ward's avatar

Mustang?

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BKbroiler's avatar

I feel like this is the ONE non-edgelord reply I've ever seen from you lol

I can't recall... you have an NB or NC?

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Jay's avatar

Aston's lineup, like Ferrari's and McLaren's, has become confusing to anyone not deeply immersed into that particular brand. I entirely stopped caring a while ago (admittedly, design played a role, too).

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Erik's avatar

Yes, when they Reichmaned the design of Aston’s a decade ago, the last reason for buying one disappeared. Now they make a stupid mans Jensen Interceptor, lacking both the cool name, and the inexpensive to run and dead reliable American V8. Ask your Mercedes parts department, what the unrepairable AMG v8 under the hood costs to replace.

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Jay's avatar

well put. They leave me ice cold.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

I'm also not a fan, although if I had infinite money I could see driving one.

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Ataraxis's avatar
1hEdited

Agreed. The various green paints they offer are some of the best I have ever seen. I would choose which green paint first, then which Aston car second.

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Steve Ward's avatar

re Aston, this abomination https://www.astonmartin.com/en-us/models/dbx707 should not exist.

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Speed's avatar

yeah what the hell is that

why is that even

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Ice Age's avatar

Seconded.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

Yeah, I've driven one of those. They suck balls.

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Andrew White's avatar

Gross.

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Speed's avatar

"Yet here we are with just thirty-four points between Oscar and Max."

i am so fuckin hyped for this season and that max will win in the end

"most races without a Grand Prix podium"

i wonder how his legacy would have looked had he not tried to pretend he could make it in another car that wasnt the all conquering mercedes and simply retired after the 7th (6th if that old f1 fiasco is solved) wdc so everyone wouldnt see how slow he actually is

"African-Americans are now most at risk. So this is also now an issue of racial justice."

if blacks werent dying but only whites in the midwest would anyone in power care? anyway more aim9s on drugboats please or maybe just gun down the drivers so the coke can be kept out of the ocean kthx

"The fact that Canada can’t find funding to make this pipe-dream stupidity happen is further proof that the EV wave has stalled on arrival"

its also proof that even though we are hemorrhaging money on purely retarded ideas we cant afford to do every bad idea that the liberals come up with which is the slightest silver lining

" consider asking “What do you believe to be true, in the greater sense, about this issue?” You might be surprised."

will do that then

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Steve Ward's avatar

go Max!

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Steve Ward's avatar

re drug interdiction, maybe we should be sinking the Chinese cargo ships bringing the fentanyl precursor chemicals into Mexico.

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Jay's avatar

How is that our problem? Oh wait, we don't have a border.

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Speed's avatar

good plan

get it from the source

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Ice Age's avatar

I'm been curious for some time as to what an ADCAP would do to a Panamax.

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Matthew Horgan's avatar

I lost one of my closest friends to Fentanyl; most of us at this point know someone who died of it. Drone ‘Em All

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Speed's avatar

sidewinders for everybody

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sgeffe's avatar

In a launcher under my bumper! One flash of the headlights, and if you don’t get your self-righteous ass out of the way of me and the line of drivers behind me, you won’t know what hit ya!

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Jay's avatar
3hEdited

We need to figure out whether we need fentanyl in the medical field or not. If we don't, let's have a border? If we do, let's also have a border and have proper protocol for distribution - and maybe make it ourselves instead of importing it? And let's not use the tragedy of drug addiction as a pretense for Soros-type globalist interventionism

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Jack Baruth's avatar

Medical fentanyl is produced in the United States by multiple providers. The Actiq lollipop, which was Israeli, I believe to be discontinued at the request of the FDA.

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Scott A's avatar

Same

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Jason Kodat's avatar

Anyone who has seen how easily drugs enter a prison--probably the most controlled piece of territory in the United States, outside certain secret government facilities--should realize that securing 6k miles of land border and another 12k miles of coastline is a pipe dream, and trying to affect the supply of something so easily concealed (e.g. in condoms in your stomach as you fly back from wherever) is far more difficult than affecting the demand....

(Or better yet, just sell it at the state store. People know how much they need to get high and don't really intend to waste it; the vast majority of opioid deaths are because you no longer know whether what you're shooting up is just the right amount or 10x as much. Plus you'd have one less reason for gangs to shoot at each other; Seagrams and Smirnoff are no longer knocking each other off on street corners the way they did during Prohibition.)

People do have more in common with each other politically than the online discourse would suggest. Remember that only about 7% of people vote in primaries, and since the districts are largely written to basically deliver a victory to one party or the other, it's only natural that the parties would increasingly look less like "all of us" and more like "the ones who care enough to show up," making the 1980's Democrats look like Nazis and the 1980's Republicans look like socialists....

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Speed's avatar

i get where youre coming from but shouldnt there still be a concerted effort to keep as much of it out of the country as possible?

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Erik's avatar

The legalization of drugs has worked just great everywhere it’s been tried.

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Speed's avatar

yeah just look at bc

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Scott A's avatar

Im 99% sure that’s sarcasm

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Gianni's avatar

But Reason Magazine told me that drug legalization wasn’t the cause of Oregon turning into a shithole.

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Ice Age's avatar

Fine. Sure. As long as the taxpayers aren't on the hook for the inevitable medical bills.

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silentsod's avatar

Friction works, and publicly displaying a government blowing people up is essentially demoralization propaganda specifically designed to dissuade some people. Reducing the number of people willing to bring drugs to the US and reducing the number of drugs entering the US are better than doing nothing even if it is unfortunate that people are killed either way.

Legalization of something so mild as weed has had horrid knock on effects, and legalizing harder drugs a la Portland is outright disastrous: say no to legalizing.

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Speed's avatar

hell look at canada

legalizing pot was a horrible idea

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Sir Morris Leyland's avatar

Unless the goal was to pacify the masses who are funding their own dispossession 🤔 POSIWID

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Scott A's avatar

The few times i have partaked in pot i felt like a zombie and people smoke this shit all day everyday. At least i dont have a drink till 6pm. Except mimosa sundays

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Henry C.'s avatar

More people than you think light up as soon as they wake up and stay baked until they go to sleep.

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Scott A's avatar

I smell pot every day walking the oldest to school. At this point im convinced its almost all of them. At least i limit my day drinking to vacations

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Tom Klockau's avatar

I hate it. I used to hate cigarette smoke but it's freaking Chanel #5 next to that reek. Commonly coming from a Kia parked in the fire lane in front of Dollar Tree. I've learned to hold my breath when I approach a likely double-parked clunker...

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Ataraxis's avatar
1hEdited

Notice how that magically, the phrase “second-hand smoke” has disappeared from the public lexicon now that it’s weed smoke and not tobacco.

I was in a Puma outlet store recently, and a young couple came in with their 2 young daughters and were trying on shoes next to me. They absolutely reeked of weed, like they had been smoking it seconds before.

They were a nice looking family, too. Driving to the outlet mall and getting high with 2 kids around the age of 5 is effed up, to say the least.

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Clint Johansen's avatar

My buddy and I were discussion the job cuts at Coors in the news this week..and his response was yeah gen x is the last drinking generation and all the younger gen’s prefer weed…not my choice but pick your poison. Seems to be the trend these days ☹️

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Scott A's avatar

Millennials, at least the elder ones, drink

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BKbroiler's avatar

I'm more of a decriminalization mindset than a legalization one.

The former limits some of justice system abuse while still maintaining the public and community posture that "x" is "bad."

I don't want some idiot non-violent teen to go to Rikers for a dime bag, but I DEFINITELY don't want a $200M weed startup backed by PE to be advertising on every interstate in my county.

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Randodmv's avatar

People don’t really go to jail for possession. They get charged for a bunch of other things and take a plea for possession.

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BKbroiler's avatar

That was definitively NOT the case in NYC.

It was pervasive enough that the NYPD wouldn't publicly release stats to support this thesis.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

"Anyone who has seen how easily drugs enter a prison"

That would be *me*, actually. In the Midwest they have a better handle on it than they do on the coasts.

'and trying to affect the supply of something so easily concealed (e.g. in condoms in your stomach as you fly back from wherever) is far more difficult than affecting the demand....'

Try getting drugs in Singapore, which is surrounded by a literal jungle. The difference is how they treat traffickers.

"Or better yet, just sell it at the state store. People know how much they need to get high and don't really intend to waste it;"

In my youth I firmly believed this. Seeing what legal weed has done to behavior on the road, and in the workplace, has removed a lot of my sanguinity on the subject. If we distributed fent the way we distribute weed, I think we would have a national collapse. The only thing that saves us WRT weed is that it's not physically addictive for most people.

"Remember that only about 7% of people vote in primaries,"

This should be on billboards.

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BKbroiler's avatar

With fentanyl in particular, you need so little of it, thinking that we can keep it out is just illogical.

IIRC, the total amount that has killed Americans to-date would basically fill only 2-3 tractor trailers.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

You can make it harder to get, which reduces the amount available. Cutting the supply by 10 percent would save thousands of lives.

Also, we are all perfectly aware of how to stop it. You have the death penalty for anyone carrying it, administered with minimal judicial overhead. Which is repugnant to anyone raised on traditional American principles of justice and due process... but in 40 years the percentage of people living here who were taught that stuff will be a decided minority, so who cares?

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BKbroiler's avatar

I know little about about how intertwined US intelligence dollars are in the upper echelons of trafficking... but the little I do know tells me there are reasons that, say, the top financiers and money managers in that space mysteriously travel very freely and have no sanctions.

TBH, the MAIN foreign policy reason I'd want to limit US car production in MX is because of the money laundering opps within being a sub or supplier.

Clearly, First Brands Group didn't hire the right bankers because the right MX tie up would've solved their capital calls right quick lol

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snavehtrebor's avatar

I don’t pretend to understand the finances of Aston Martin, but it seems like they are propping up a brand that died precisely when they started using turbo AMG engines instead of N/A V-12s and V8s. They are still capable of producing a handsome coupe occasionally but I can’t get over the “slightly less negatively profitable than Ford’s Electric truck effort” business model.

All that said, the Valkyrie sounded like pure heaven at Petit LeMans.

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Erik's avatar

I’d go back even further. To me, Aston died with the V550/V600. The Vanquish was a pretty terrible driving car, with that totally awful automated manual transmission.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

Yeah, but it looked the business! And it was driven by such legendary poontang slayers as, uh, hold on, let me search... "Matt Farah"

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Andrew White's avatar

lmao

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Speed's avatar

the v550

because one supercharger literally isnt enough

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Andrew White's avatar

Perhaps they and TVR died in the same time period?

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Erik's avatar

Yes. Pretty well. Furreigners stepping in and running the companies into the ground.

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Ice Age's avatar

It's really quite simply.

The foreigners smuggling drugs into America KNOW Americans will die consuming their product, AND THEY DON'T CARE. That's depraved indifference, at the very least. Accomplice to mass murder, arguably. These are hostile foreigners, and The State and its military exist to protect the citizens from hostile foreigners.

We are absolutely justified in using our military to stop these people, using every method available, up to and including lethal force. We're absolutely well within our rights to lock down and militarize our southern border. No one goes in or out between San Diego and Brownsville. Turn the airspace over the eastern Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico into free-fire zones. Any moving object on radar not carrying a transponder is presumed to be hostile.

That's DEFENSE. If they don't get the message, we do OFFENSE.

It's really quite simple.

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Erik's avatar

Well said.

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Henry C.'s avatar

I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill 'em all.

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John Marks's avatar

Dear Jack,

The US has 14-26% of the world economy (depending on how you measure it).

But, the US consumes 60-90% of the illegal drugs.

That is not a Political Issue; it is a Spiritual issue.

We (as a culture) are wedded to our vulgar amusements, so that we can forget our emptiness.

Heaven help us all.

sj

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Speed's avatar

okay cool

lets prevent those drugs from ever getting here in the first place

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Scott A's avatar

Mandatory mass!

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Henry C.'s avatar

In Latin!

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Jack Baruth's avatar

With the priest facing God the way Miles Davis used to!

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Ataraxis's avatar

That’s the Orthodox priests.

I went to an Orthodox funeral service for an aunt, and it was the most primal religious experience I’ve ever had. It made the Catholic services I grew up with look like a flight attendant explaining how to use the seat belts and what to do in case of a water landing.

I genuinely thought during this ancient service that my aunt’s soul was going to heaven directly from this Orthodox Church while I was there.

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dejal's avatar

What laws do other countries have concerning the flow of drugs entering and penalties for people using? BTW, not saying you are not correct.

The US has money to burn more than many countries. If you have a product and can make more money selling it in the USA as opposed to Luxemburg, why bother with Luxemburg?

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Steve Ward's avatar

well Singapore will cane you to death.

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Jack Baruth's avatar

'The US has 14-26% of the world economy (depending on how you measure it).

But, the US consumes 60-90% of the illegal drugs.

That is not a Political Issue; it is a Spiritual issue.'

It's an economic issue.

Most countries can't afford to get high. I'm dead serious about this.

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Ataraxis's avatar

Many of those countries still embrace the practice of public shame.

Unfortunately, we in the US are shameless.

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