Sarex

The car issue is simple enough. They don't have their hand on the pulse anymore. The cheap stuff, other companies are building cheaper and with more options, and the expensive stuff is not good enough to get anyone exited. Porsche is the only one who is doing well, but the luxury market is never going to drive the economy. The big money was always in the "cheap"/mass market car segment. edit: Also as far as car manufacturing the EU and US function the same, if you build the cars in the EU they will not be subjected to tariffs, a lot of the Japanese and Korean brands have factories across the EU and manufacture the cars they sell there. Also something like 90% of the components also need to be manufactured in the EU for the rule to apply.

Or maybe they don't want to talk about their actual reason because they don't want to get in to it with you. Here in Serbia for the longest time the "right" was a silent majority. When you talked with the fiery left about voting they always were confused about not know anyone who voted for the right. Well yeah, because people don't care about you enough to get in to a discussion, especially when they see you are looking for a fight. The real reasons people are voting for a different option are obvious enough, the migrants and the economy. There isn't a year that goes by that you don't hear about someone driving a vehicle through a crowd of people or something similar. The economy is down in the dumps without any outlook for improvement. Euribor is sky high, the sanctions on Russia are hurting the EU more then they are the Russians. People want to be secure and well fed, that's always been the main voting motivator.

Oh now that would be a good one. Well aware that things are not as simple as that, but on the other hand the EU is defending its jobs from Chinese auto manufacturing by imposing even worse tariffs, even though everyone apart from Porsche is in freefall. Another thing to consider is for how long the far east market is going to remain open, things there are far from certain and everything done so far to curtail China's rise has been ineffective. The next logical step for cheap/slave labor would be Africa, go figure, but China seems to have been ahead of the game there. Which leaves South America and that will be a though nut to crack considering the history with the west. Point being that it may not be a bad idea to have a self sufficient economy in the near future, question is if it's too late. As I said, I find it amusing how unabashed folks seem to be regarding what constitutes as world changing. I mean if you guys actually thought the US somehow cares for you apart from caring about what benefits they can get from you, then you brought this upon yourself. They stole tech from their allies, they spy on their allies, they coerce their allies to join wars. From the outside looking in to us it always seemed like the US allies are just vassals, the treatment you would get only depends on the power you hold. I won't pretend to know why he did it or if it was even a good idea, but I guess we will find out how it plays out. People here are pissed off that Trump is going to build a hotel on the site of the ruins of our Military headquarters that were bombed in 99. That's a slap in the face if there ever was one, so it's not like I care for him much either. But a slap is better than a bomb I guess.

As far back as I remember Americans have been complaining that jobs are being moved outside the US, now they get the opportunity to move them back. I find it amusing that tariffs are somehow terrible on the scale of what a president can do, considering how many wars were started or facilitated by the previous presidents.

You are really out of touch if you think that's why people are voting for the right.

Probably someone somewhere wrote C needs to get big tariffs again and someone assumed it was Canada. Abbreviations cause trouble I tell you... Either way I don't see how more conflicts is exactly a change in the foreign policy of the US, or why these tariffs are world ending as was stated. I would much rather trade actual wars for economics war, but I guess we will see how that pans out.

@Malcador

Was wondering what Anno was doing next. Seems to be a Space Battleship Yamato movie.

The state electric company puts in new digital meters, but these fuses they don't touch. And it's not like they are unsafe per say, it's just that people change them out of convenience. The issue is that they tend to blow pretty often because electricians don't tend to balance out the load over each phase (three phase is the norm here), so people change the control wire, in the fuse that melts, to something thicker themselves and they don't put the sand back in it, which is not that big of a deal but it does make them less safe.

Figured as much, over here it's mostly in old buildings. Even when you renovate and put automatic breakers and fid switches, what's outside next to the meter are these old style fuses.

@PK htiw klaw eriF on the same topic, do you guys (US) use ceramic spiral fuses? If you are familiar with them, how hot would it be too hot for one of them to get, or does it depend on the amperage?

It wasn't my intention to compare them, I just find it funny that he pardoned his whole family. The joke was he forgot to pardon the family dog. They are both just as ridiculous and the fact is telling how much corruption there is on both sides. I also have to share this gem 😂

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-01-20/biden-issues-pardons-to-protect-milley-fauci-others-from-trump-retaliation-statement-says He forgot to pardon the dog...

They did enough **** to contribute that's for sure. Yeah, I think a lot of people are in for a surprise and not a good one, my country included...

Hey, I'd settle for less conflicts abroad.

My condolences @PK htiw klaw eriF.

I had that movie on my watch list. Will give it a go.

Heroes is the perfect example of power creep. They wrote themselves in to a corner.

Haven't seen any yet so far, knock on wood. But there was a month where youtube went aggressive on add blockers and it was a pain in the ass.

Wallace goes hard...

You never know, he may still celebrate it on the 7th. Not really sure how popular that decision was with Ukrainians as the Julian calendar isn't really connected to Russia. Most Orthodox countries celebrate it according to Julian calendar.

If I can spot the 5070ti for under 1k, I may very well get it. I am currently a sad potato playing Pacific Drive with the 970.

I was laughing my ass off seeing all the news articles regarding China's 6th gen prototype flying, especially because not long before people were saying it was just a ground model that was for show. Either way it seems that the future may not be so bright for the production of the F-35 jet.

Merry Christmas everyone.

I mean historically protest and civil movements have not gone well in China and caused pretty high death tolls, or to put it a bit differently "protests hit different in China". I think China is very careful not to allow history to repeat itself. Also culturally they are just different, the people have a different mentality. As to the rights in the US/Canada, I do not see what you are talking about. In the US the jails have become a business and it's been documented multiple times that judges willing help fill them. If anything the difference between the rich and poor is huge, in their standard of living and their treatment in court. As for the indigenous people, I really don't know what else to say other then you are wrong. They have been ethnically cleansed and marginalized to the point where giving them any rights/allowances is laughable at this point. Again, for the 10th time, I am not saying the West is evil, but what I am saying is that people tend to have different rules for China and other countries which are not considered allies. Shouldn't China be given the same opportunity to better itself socially as the west was given. People forget how recently China was in the depths of poverty, their focus now is economy and the security of it's borders. Once they get to the same level as the US, where the economy is no longer in question as it's too big to fail, I'm sure the people will start focusing on social well being and improvements. edit: Also let's not forget Guantanamo bay and what happens to Muslims there.