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Oct 25, 2023
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Doomer theory: the pro-Palestine business is a non-coordinated effort by American Diaspora Jews to subtly encourage the wiping of Israel from the face of the earth, thus giving them a lever by which to increase their power in America AND sparing them from having to deal with all those alpha-male and red-hot-female IDF types.

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You know, Tolstoy once said that the Russian loves his ignorance, because he truly believes no one can ever know everything about any one thing.

To paraphrase this thought - brother, I truly don't believe anyone has the sort of power/control and intelligence to pull something like that off..

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I've known a lot of American Jews who think the existence of Israel hurts their cause in the USA, for two reasons:

0. They have to defend a fundamentally right-wing ethnostate while demanding that the United States turn into a local garbage dump;

1. The fact that Jews have a place to go makes it easier to ask (or force) them to go there.

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You missed the fundamental reason, they're embarrassed to be Jewish. You do understand that they despise Jews like myself and Derek even more than they look down upon your Ohio neighbors.

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Why would they be embarrassed? Seems like the one group in America that's allowed to be proud of what they are.

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Because they want to be lefties much more than anything else. Israel is the bete noire of the modern left, so being Jewish makes it much harder if not impossible for lefty Jews to be fully accepted by their lefty peers

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You can't be both a faithful Jew AND a leftist at the same time.

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extradition go brrrrrrr

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Derek, boychick, there's always been schisms in the community, going back to the Eruv Rav, Korach and Egel HaZahav. When your great grandparents and other eastern European Jews came to North America they were looked down upon by the establishment which was dominated by the Yekkish Reform movement. Note that HIAS, which was very much established to assimilate those EE Jews as much as it was to help them, stood for Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, it wasn't JIAS.

The Reform movement considered Berlin and Cincinatti to be the new Jerusalem and it was only the events of the 1930s and influence of mostly one man, Stephen Wise, that Reform got Zionist. Even then Wise pitched a fit when Orthodox Rabbis protested FDR's inaction during the Holocaust.

The Zionist movement has also been splintered between socialists, secularists, and religious Zionists. Ben Gurion tried to have Begin killed on the Altalena. The unofficially Labor Zionist day school that I attended never said a good word about Begin or Jabotinsky.

The Federations had to be dragged kicking and screaming into funding day schools and yeshivas because they were in love with the Melting Pot and what Jew would send their kids to a parochial school? Now their grandkids tear down posters of Jewish hostages.

The Jew haters online have recently discovered the Kastner Transport via Abbas's thesis at Patrice Lumumba U in Moscow (I have Ben Hecht's Perfidy on my bookshelf) so they can carry on about Zionist collaboration with the Nazis (should we tell them about the truck deal that fell through too?), but Kastner was assassinated.

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"...what Jew would send their kids to a parochial school?" Ricky Weinstein was a high school classmate at St. Sebastian's Country Day School in the '60s but his mother was Catholic.

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I've never understood how people figure out who has the fastest car independent of the driver.

In any case, I bought (or am in the process of buying) another Miata! I was able to negotiate a grand off the facebook listing price, plus the hardtop and OEM steelies.

i have three now

this is a cry for help

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How is just three Miatas a problem?

Describe the new Miata.

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Impossibly clean for a rust belt car of it's age. No rust anywhere, underside is mint, engine bay is flawless and the factory radio even works. It's really as nice as it can get.

I have no space for it so my two other Miatas are getting sold come spring. Between two Miatas and a hardtop for sale, I might be able to swing 20k out of the whole deal (they go for a lot more up here I notice).

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Keep me in mind when it's time to sell, I am saving up for a Miata springtime-ish.

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I'm in Canada, so it might be a bit of a drive depending on where you live.

But I'll let you know when they come out of storage in Marchish.

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That makes it complicated, I assumed Midwest.

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Yeah, it'd be way easier for you to find a better car for a better price locally to you.

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When he said “rust belt” he actually meant “anywhere except Vancouver”

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Lousy Smarch weather!

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What gens?

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All red, all NA, one is a '91, the other two are '90. All are also Canadian cars, so no airbag for anyone.

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We die like men.

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Yes. It's nice having a better looking wheel and switchgear over a (potentially useless) airbag.

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Because he doesn't have four Miatas?

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YES

I now need a rough Miata so I have something to drive in the winter/modify/race.

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What do you think of the Solstice? I saw one for sale at the side of the road on my way home from buying an amp in A2. Just 10K miles with a 5 spd. I took the number down but I haven't called yet. I can swing a loan but then I'd have to insure it with collision.

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You can LS swap them.

That alone should be enough to convince you.

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If you have an LS, you win.

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Only if you also buy an Equinox for winter duty ;)

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I see what you did there :-)

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I would say part of it depends on how tall you are. I had the recent opportunity to drive a Solstice GXP--and by that I mean go and get gas a half mile away in the city I was in--and aside from nearly being side-swiped by a 3rd gen MDX, there were good and bad impressions. Good: the turbo makes it QUICK, and I was barely on it. No idea what the NA version would be. It's an attractive-enough vehicle, and is an alert city street handler. Ride was composed enough over bad pavement (plenty of cars fail this). Bad/No Thanks: The convertible top is a faff to operate. Low windshield header, but a Miata isn't much better (if you're not 6'5" you'll likely be fine!). Easy enough to get it right, but this is no Miata. Interior design is alright. Feels super wide (3" over a NC Miata). NA versions in my area seem to be priced attractively.

If the looks float your boat, take it for a spin and see what you find. I'd say they're a plenty competent looking and operating car. Personally, I'd prefer its contemporary the NC (3rd gen) Miata or a S2000. I fit the S2000 really well, but it's now incredibly expensive compared to the others, with the Miata around $10k give or take a few grand. If I'm honest, I don't fit in any Miata. Certainly not without seat/seat bracket modification at least--which is to say I bought a 3rd gen Protege with a 2.0 and a 5-speed so I could have the MX-5 experience while having actual tall person comfort, visibility, (barely, lol) increased mileage, and greatly increased practicality for a lot less money and a bit less acceleration. I'll take it.

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I feel like at least one of those Miatas could have been an S550 Mustang convertible. Let me tell you all about them...

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Go on..

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Power, torques, area under the curve, blah blah blah. The puddle lamp illumination are galloping horseys, it's wonderful.

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whee

horseys

im sold

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With 3 Miatas, you have achieved Jinba Ittai: Oneness of Horse and Rider

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i have become horse

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"With 3 Miatas […] Oneness of Horse and Rider"

More like the foursome about which Jack was referring a couple of articles ago

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What help do you think you need here Speed ? .

You didn't say 'the new one has broken AC' so I fail to see any problems .

Please remember that it's an acronym for

Miata

Is

Always

The

Answer .

I can't even fit in one properly (insert crying emoticon here as I had to pass on a FREE one with working AC and a supercharger)

Apparently you have the $ and knowledge to own and enjoy them, NO PROBLEM, in fact I'm jealous

-Nate

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I suppose I should clarify that my problem isn't the number of Miatas, but the fact I don't really have the space or the money to keep all three.

Also why are you jealous? You have old beetles, which are far cooler anyway. If anything, I ought to be the jealous one!

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Well..........

There's always a way and part of why I bought my crappy little termite farm / house in The Ghetto......

My vehicles were and are more important than my ex wife .

Old VW's are _everywhere_, I realize that foolish people have driven the prices crazy (these are the same typ of boobs who used up and destroyed millions of old VW's & didn't care) but if you beat the bushes you'll find one and can fix it with wobbly pliers and a bent screwdriver .

The MIATA is a modern fun to drive comfortable conveyance with ICE COLD AC ! .

Either way is good, I don't think many people get the joy out of driving a rusty death trap as much as I do .

-Nate

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You must live somewhere pretty hot, because I prefer some vehicles to not have AC at all! I had a Jeep TJ for a time with AC and used it once. If it's hot, I figured I could just... take the roof and doors off. Same with the Miata, it's nice having the top down.

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Yeah ;

I now live in Sunny Southern California, land of fruits, nuts and flakes .

I'm Scots/Irish extraction so I don't do sun very well, I go from my normal color to red like an over boiled lobster in 30 minutes or so .

When I was young and skinny I didn't mind the dry heat as long as I had shade .

I recently drove my non AC 1959 VW Bug on a two day 600 + mile road trip slightly East Of Bakersfield, Ca. goddamn it was _hot_ .

I had a ball and sweated like a whore in church, I'm sure that was good for my fat old self .

I love looking at rag tops but not driving with the top down .

-Nate

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Now that makes a lot more sense. So-Cal is hotter than literally everywhere in Canada. At least you don't have snow!

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On Formula 1:

So much for my prediction that Piastri would trouble the podium in either the Sprint or the Grand Prix.

I think that the Red Bull probably remains the best overall car / team package (and certainly driver), especially in light of the strong Hamilton pace being attributable to running the car too low.

On The Free Press (Bari’s, not Detroit’s):

I canceled my subscription after what was until recently a high quality, differentiated news source transformed itself into the internet’s foremost BREAKING NEWS IN THE ARENA OF PERPETUAL JEWISH VICTIMHOOD AND OPPRESSION OLYMPICS CORRESPONDENCE while, like, totally ignoring the hundreds of Palestinians that Israel is murdering every single day.

Alanis:

I guess all of the tweets, posts, and memes about Chili’s weren’t just pretend.

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she really was about that life

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40 seems to be the “sympathy for israel” cutoff. Im right at it and while id say I’m more sympathetic to israel, the amercian temper tantrums in the press are not helping.

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I'm creeping towards 40, so that sounds about right. I have the slightest of sympathies, but that's likely due to absorbing years of Conservative, Inc. propaganda that I'm still purging. The ongoing reflexive support for them in certain political circles is weird and disturbing.

But at the same time the kids can fuck right off with their Palestine/Hamas sympathies. Muslims and lefties who can strongly condemn Hamas without completely couching it in Israeli oppression whataboutism has my respect.

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Are there muslims and lefties condemning hamas without qualifiers?

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I dunno but I'm a die hard Conservative who's been forced to live under the thumb of Jews and muslims at different times, muslims have a long _long_ ways to go before I give a shit about them .

-Nate

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The American educational system has been converged for years. Pro Palestinian demonstrators today barricaded Jewish students in the Cooper-Union library that had to be evacuated by police via tunnels, but I guess that's just more perpetual Jewish victimhood and oppression olympics.

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There are people who hate Jews for no reason. Im sure they exist because ive seen them online but i have never met one. But there are also people who hate Jews because some rich Jew called his rich Jew friend to get some dude making 55k a year fired from his job for being insufficiently “pro israel” because he made a joke on Twitter. is that fair to hate all for the cause of a few? Not really but it is also human nature. Which is obvious watching jews blame Palestinian children for hamas attacks under the exact same logic. It’s a shit show

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Have you ever used the phrase "rich Christian", "rich Muslim", or "rich atheist"? Just asking.

The proper English is "rich Jewish friend." You sound kind of troglodytic. There's a difference between "some motherfucker white guy," and "some white motherfucker".

I'm not going to get that worked up if some entitled asshole at Brown loses out on a six figure gig for celebrating Hamas.

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I’ve never seen some rich Christian, rich Muslim, or rich atheist (lowercase on purpose) get a dude fired on Twitter for disagreeing with them on a conflict 8k miles away. I don’t see Christians calling everyone who disagrees with them “Christian haters”

Ronnie. I’m an accountant. The nuances of the English language are not my strong suit. I do numbers.

“ I'm not going to get that worked up if some entitled asshole at Brown loses out on a six figure gig for celebrating Hamas.”

I’m not either but when that exact same guy was calling for “death to all whites” my priest didn’t get him fired.

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"I’ve never seen some rich Christian, rich Muslim, or rich atheist (lowercase on purpose) get a dude fired on Twitter for disagreeing with them on a conflict 8k miles away. I don’t see Christians calling everyone who disagrees with them “Christian haters”

"Everyone". No stereotyping people there, no, not at all. No trading in stereotypes. Uh huh.

Mere disagreements or endorsing bestial behavior?

"Ronnie. I’m an accountant. The nuances of the English language are not my strong suit. I do numbers."

Bullshit.

I have an idea, how about you send a letter to all of your clients telling them your opinions about some "rich Jew friend" in that very language?

It's not the Jews' fault that your priest tolerates anti-white racism. Maybe you should find another priest.

Oh, wait, I get it now.

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So you loved Bari Weiss until she dared conflict with your precious worldview, got it.

I mean, I could have TOTALLY PREDICTED Bari would have a hard-on for Israel, how the hell did you not?

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No, I don’t love Bari Weiss (or her wife, Nellie) by any stretch.

I don’t generally read NYT op-eds, unless they are the kind that generate a lot of traction, so most of her content that I have consumed has been The Free Press. The Free Press now offers one content vertical, and I’m not willing to pay a nickel to support it.

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I'm a little late to the party here but thought I'd point something out that I see as (emotionally charged) flawed logic. Only picking on you since I saw your comment first, but I see this flaw everywhere in pro-Palestinian rhetoric:

"Murder" is what Hamas assault teams recently did to Israeli civilians. Meaning, the intent was to find unarmed non-combatants and kill them in what would have been an otherwise non-violent setting. What Israel's military is now doing is engaging in low-scale conflict, and Palestinians are suffering military and - important point here - unintentional civilian casualties. This conflict is the predictable, and likely desired, consequence of the Palestinians' political leadership.

It may seem grotesque that I'm asserting semantics in such a sad and bloody situation... people are dying and it's tragic. But if the goal is to see it clearly, then INTENT is critical here. If you were driving your car at night, and suddenly you saw a pedestrian in the road, what would your reaction be? Murder is turning the wheel towards the person and killing them. If you immediately tried to avoid the person, but couldn't and killed them... you're not a murderer. Even if you were speeding, drunk, and hadn't seeviced your brake pads... you might be negligent, or even reckless... but you're not a murderer.

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This is the world’s most ridiculous trolley problem. And it’s far from accurate.

What Israel’s military is now doing is firing rockets into a densely populated strip of land, which is resulting in hundreds of people - including many, many Gazan civilians - perishing every single day.

Israel wants carte blanche to exterminate the pesky Palestinians while whining in the media about how Israel is perpetually victimized.

Would you apply dispassionate semantics to hand-waive away mass civilian casualties if, say, Iran decided to get involved today?

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I try to think about everything dispassionately... I find it serves my conclusions well. What do you mean if Iran got involved? In this situation, is Iran targeting military targets or music festivals?

Did Hamas establish routes out of their intended target areas before they attacked? As Israel did? Did Israel then attack the safe passages knowing that they could "exterminate the pesky Palestinians" massed on the routes?

Again, intent is critical here.

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If you read all of my comments - which is a rigorous, demanding standard, I know! - you will see that I have never defended Hamas or characterized them as virtuous. They are terrorists.

At the moment, the ground war has not yet begun. So your line of rhetorical questioning isn’t relevant yet. But what has been happening - daily - for weeks, is ongoing air strikes in Gaza, which is densely populated.

You cannot genuinely believe that the civilian casualties are “unintentional” or collateral damage; if Israel prioritized the lives of civilians, they wouldn’t be firing rockets into tower blocks.

Let me expand on my Iran comment. What if Iran … or Hezbollah … or fill in the blank (regional entity hostile toward the existence of Israel) decides to get involved and starts hammering Israel, day-in and day-out? Let’s say that Israel suddenly goes from Goliath to David and they’re fighting a war that not even the involuntary largesse of the American taxpayers can ensure they will win. Will you apply the same dispassionate framework to Hezbollah or Iran or whoever, or does Israel merit a more favorable consideration (for whatever reason)?

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No offense, but you're either not seeing the meat of my point, or intentionally dancing around it... "Murder!" is about intent... in reality, and in your hypotheticals (which aren't particularly useful but I don't want to appear like I'm avoiding them), who do we call "Murderers!"... as you did in your first comment?

I never said you called Hamas virtuous. This is the moral relativism of our progressive era, where actions are always framed by whether people are "good" or "bad" (or perhaps "oppressed" or "oppressor").. and it's where your logic is failing. Understanding concepts dispassionately isn't assigning (or stripping) virtue and then trying to fit the actions of people into some more comfortable version of reality... for example:

What does it matter who's David and who's Goliath? Are you saying only Goliath can be a murderer because he's bigger? In your hypothetical, is Israel trying to murder the foreign entities' civilian populations or destroy that entity's capability to threaten Israel's existence? Can you understand the difference?

You said that "the ground war has not yet begun". That's wrong. The ground war started on 7 Oct (l'm curious why you don't see that... is only Israel capable of mounting a "ground war"?) If all Israel wants to do is murder Palestinians, then why are they waiting on their ground offensive? What is it that seems to be holding up their desire to murder in mass?

Are you critical of Israeli military capability to surgically strike and completely avoid all civilian casualties? I mean, that's pretty silly if you understand the realities of military operations... but if you want to argue that, then it's a completely different argument than "Murderers!"...

Murder is about intent. I'm not sure I can more clearly explain this point...

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"What is it that seems to be holding up their desire to murder in mass?" Iran, China, and Russia.

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How is the wanton, indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians in Gaza anything other than … “murder”? The rationalization boggles the mind.

You are right on the ground war having begun on 10/7; I was thinking of subsequent round(s) of the ground war in Gaza.

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As a postscript, maybe this will help: if you had said you unsubscribed to Bari Weiss's page because she wouldn't talk about Israel "killing" Palestinians, I wouldn't have commented...

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There’s zero evidence that Israel is deliberately targeting civilians.

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They sure do have bad aim, then!

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Brad would LIKE us to think it was just a finger he was pushing back on...

So as someone with small stature I've had to deal with working hard to make an initial impression a lot.

When I was in the dealership finance office in 2022, under conditions not too dissimilar for buyers of new PHEV minivans with a second kid on the way, all I had to do was say No! once, and not even pull a Clint Eastwood face.

All you need in civilized company is language to convey you're not into the fingering, often a look suffices.

F1: I think the Red Bull has a peculiar weakness in having to give up a lot of points of aero just to make it over rough surfaces, which won't make a comeback again for the tracks that are left. It remains the class of the field, although by not as much as at the start of the season.

On the AT situation - unless you believe they'll lie through their teeth to have DR's grin sell clothes, the official answer is that his car had issues that prevented it showing its pace. The driver may still not have had it in him, but either way, it couldn't be seen at COTA.

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"So as someone with small stature I've had to deal with working hard to make an initial impression a lot."

Brother Bark, who is a modest five-eight-ish, is the master of this IMO. People are always more scared of me than they are of him.

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While the young lady with the nondescript gray vehicle may be a little, ah, broad in the beam, this is really a classic example of using a cell phone instead of a real camera. The default lens setting is "big-ass wide angle," which is, well, unflattering.

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Oct 25, 2023
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Nah, it's so the computers have max data with which to deepfake you into a felony conviction

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No guys, it's all those things and more!

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By next year, the AI algos will not only make her look as svelte as Diana Rigg, they will make the car look like a '89 Olds Delta 88, just for Klockau.

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I thought it was necessary for use at arm's length. I've done with a dslr.

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🤣

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What, like "rap video" wide angle?

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Whatever it is, every time I happen across a photo of that broad (get it) I have to stop and try and understand what the fuck is going on with her body shape. I do think it is a more entertaining way to spend my time versus reading or watching any of her content.

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Alanis knows exactly what she's doing and she *likes it.*

Also, would.

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Most unjustified Russian penetration since August 20, 1968

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Hahaha, that’s great 😁

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haha! Caveat it with "after five beers"

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RE: new truck shopping, we’re back to deep four figure discounts on Silverados, especially if you don’t mind the 2.7.

Which I would very much in such a vehicle.

But still. ~$43k for a brand new, full-size, crew cab truck is a good deal imo.

Only real issue is gonna be interest rates, where someone like me who is young enough to have only known extremely low rates, do present a real obstacle. Captive finance arms are pressed to do like 6.9%. It’s not great!

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Yeah I'd be VERY cautious about buying a Silverado with the 2.7, but that's just me. I have ZERO interest in a forced-induction gasoline engine in a truck, of any size. Had I bought an F-150 instead of an F-250, I'd have gotten a 5.0.

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I’d be very cautious buying a Silverado at all, simply because I think the interior space is truly terrible in the segment — I no shit would rather have a Titan — but that is a personal opinion of mine. They switched to some shitty, digital rocker shifter in the models with a console post-refresh. Hate them for that dearly.

I know it’s for EPA reasons, but looking at a monroney and seeing the 2.7 get like A Mile Per Gallon better over the 5.3 is so annoying. Just… why fucking bother? There’s a reason they sit on lots forever and are dumb cheap by 2023 standards. No one wants that shit.

If you’re just using it as pure transportation and not towing frequently, I assume it’ll be adequate. They’re torquey as hell, and some cursory reading says they aren’t notably unreliable.

I WOULD rather have the 2.7 in a Silverado than a CT4-V, which while quick, is one of the worst sounding “performance” cars I have ever heard. It’s gross. Just give me the 3.6 back imo.

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The CT4-V was a deeply unimpressive car.

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Do you feel the same way about the Blackwing?

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Nope. That's a brilliant car that just happens to look like dogshit.

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Curious on your opinion of the CT5-V.

Note that your response and my satisfied ownership of the vehicle question will not impact my continued subscription!

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Never drove one!

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My brother is saddled with a 2.7 Silverado fleet truck that replaced a 5.3. That one MPG on the Monroney disappears as soon as it is exposed to the skinny pedal and the grueling paved terrain of Oklahoma and west Texas. He uses it as pure transportation and "adequate" is not a term he has used to describe it. I guess the General needed a modern day Iron Duke.

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! A FOUR CYLINDER FULL SIZE TRUCK !?! .

Even in mostly flat Los Angles this is a foolish idea .

-Nate

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