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What Did You Expect?

Drive Time

Car&Driver magazine took the hotter-than-fire Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio for an extended 40,000-mile test, and it broke their tiny little hearts.

Why so?  Well, to anyone who’s ever owned or driven an Alfa Romeo for any length of time, it’s quite simple, really:

Of course  the electricals were going to fail — and of course  the hoses weren’t going to be properly clamped, and of course  the indicator lever was going to snap in your hand like a piece of raw spaghetti, and of course  the door-handles  and gear knob were going to come off in your hand — wait, the last three didn’t happen?

Actually, by normal Alfa Romeo standards then, the little Giulia QF is quite reliable.

Here’s the thing:  the more complicated cars become, the greater the chance that things will go wrong.  (Hell, my rock-solid-reliable VW Tiguan has a faulty tire-pressure sensor, and a dicky coolant sensor needs replacing as well — granted, these after 85,000 miles, but still.)

Now add that greater complication to an Italian  car — especially  any Alfa Romeo — and the chance of things breaking will increase exponentially.  All those electrical- and electronic doodads are simply begging to fail, and the more of them there are… well, clearly Car&Driver  didn’t get the memo.

Read the linked article for the testers’ comments, which are priceless.  My favorite:

Just a prediction:  Nobody is going to buy this car when we are done with it.

Wrong.  Serious Alfa Romeo fans will read the critique and see that in just over a year, the car was in the shop for a total of three months.  Then they’ll shrug and say, “I wonder if I can get it in green?”  (Answer:  no.)

Silly rabbits.

No It Isn’t, And Yes It Is

Food & Drink

Question asked:

“Is it just me? Or is raw onion in salad the work of the devil?”

Then follows hundreds of words of unnecessary justification.

I’ve heard of people who can eat an onion like one eats an apple, and I’m glad they’re identified so I can avoid them.  It’s akin to munching on cloves of raw garlic:  anti-social and disgusting.

Raw onion is foul — it smells like unwashed armpits, and it has no place in a mixed salad.  Period, end of statement.

The Revolution Eats Itself

Freaks & Loonies, Funny Stuff

…as evidenced by the headline for this article,  discussing a little hissy-fit at the big Fag Fest LGBTOSTFU celebration in NYFC:

Tensions between trans women and gay men boil over at Stonewall anniversary

Lipstick at fifteen paces, ladies gurrls semi-femmes, whatever.

The scene at New York City’s Stonewall Inn on Saturday, as reported by multiple witnesses on social media, showed how long-simmering tensions between transgender women of color and white gay men have boiled over during the celebration of World Pride and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

As for me:

Then, And Now

Travels

It would appear as though Miami Beach is no longer the “in-place” for the glitterati, because of rowdy behavior:

South Beach is losing its appeal with some buyers “because of how loud it can be, how dangerous it can be,” said Antonio del Rosario, a New York real-estate agent who also works in Miami. “Many of my clients don’t want to be there.”

Let me tell it like it is.  I used to work for a South Florida-based company, spent a week a month down there for nearly four years, and South Beach was always a scummy area.  So no matter how trendy the place, or how highly it was regarded by “celebrities”, I never felt safe there and couldn’t wait to leave.

I mean, Madonna  supposedly owns a condo there, which should tell you all you need to know.

Quote Of The Day

Elections, QOTD

From Bearing Arms, after the first round of Great Clown Car Debates:

“Pro tip to Democrats: If Elizabeth Freaking Warren sounds like the voice of reason, it might be time to reevaluate your life choices.”

This after she was slammed for not embracing “Australia”-type gun control.

Robbing Peter To Pay Someone Else (TBD)

Elections, Lies and Untruths, Marxists, Politics

Now that the dust has settled from the first of the Clown Car Debates featuring the complete (so far) slate of Socialist presidential candidates for 2020, one fact has emerged:  the Socialists want to give everything away:  education, health care, cash, transport, forty acres and a mule… I think I got it all.

To which everyone with an IQ higher than the average refrigerator setting will be asking, “But how are they going to pay for all this free stuff?”

As always, one looks across the Pond for inspiration because the entrenched socialists Over There are full of “new” ideas.  Here’s one:

The Shadow Chancellor said he was interested in replacing the current levy with a ‘lifetime gifts tax’ on cash or homes given to children.
He claimed the plan, which the Tories say would affect 10 million households, could ensure ‘wealth is more fairly distributed’. At present, the inheritance tax threshold is £475,000, or £950,000 for couples. Only 640,000 households end up paying the tax each year.
But a lifetime gifts tax (LGT) would see each child paying tax on everything their parents gave them – either during their lives or after their deaths – above £125,000. The two children in a typical family would, therefore, only be able to inherit an estate worth £250,000 tax-free.
Once an individual exceeds the threshold, any further gifts would be taxed annually at income tax rates.

And if you think our home-grown Marxists wouldn’t consider a scheme like this, think again.

And as Thomas Sowell (PBUH) just turned 89 over the past weekend, what better reason to post this:

When non-sequiturs become policy, you’ll find a Marxist.