colonel_korn posted:

1

colonel_korn posted:

5 (though the labels are really unnecessary)

colonel_korn posted:

6 MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

colonel_korn posted:

7

Gabriel Pope posted:

Iconic features of elephants:
-Tapered, triangular snout
-Short, fin-like ears
-Small, uniform, pointy teeth
-Long, flexible fingers

Nailed it!

alnilam posted:

Isn't Payne bankrolled by the auto industry? Shouldn't he be a huge fan of the bailout?

Gabriel Pope posted:

Iconic features of elephants:
-Tapered, triangular snout
-Short, fin-like ears
-Small, uniform, pointy teeth
-Long, flexible fingers

Nailed it!

colonel_korn posted:

colonel_korn posted:

Monaghan posted:

So former senator Who was in the KKK in the forties and deeply regretted is is the same as I guy who was a guest of honour for a notorious hate group ten years ago is the same. got it.

Monkey Fracas posted:

They will never stop reminding us that Southern Democrats were A Thing and acting like it's still happening or happened recently.

alnilam posted:

Isn't Payne bankrolled by the auto industry? Shouldn't he be a huge fan of the bailout?

e: and of hybrids, which believe it or not, car companies really want people to buy?

Henry Payne posted:

After a week with the superstar, supercar BMW i8 (stay tuned for my review next Thursday), I am in withdrawal. Despondent. Needy. What can fill the void of a hybrid luxury sports car with 357 horsepower, 420 pound-feet of torque, and a body that would make Kate Upton jealous?

May I recommend the Volkswagen Golf GTI?

Not that the German hot hatch will make you forget the i8. It won’t. But the VW will remind you that you don’t have to spend $140,000 to get a thrill. At $30 grand – the average price of a new car – this fun-box will give a pricier BMW 3-series sedan fits.

Sure, the GTI doesn’t have the celebrity status of the i8, but it’s plenty sexy with its signature, 18-inch wheels. And as any tabloid star will tell you, celebrity can be exhausting. You can’t hide in an i8. Muscle cars wanted to challenge me. SUVs full of picture-snapping families sidled next to me. Street gawkers wanted to know its every detail.

Like beautiful people, beautiful cars come with paparazzi.

But they are often, like the i8, short on practical amenities like headroom, legroom, luggage room. Heck, the backseat inspiration of the i8 seemed to be my college clothes trunk. Purses have more room than the rear luggage compartment. The beauty of the GTI is that you can comfortably accommodate three friends and their baggage for a weekend Up North – and have a blast getting there on twisty Route 66.

Since the GTI washed up on our shores in 1983, it has inspired a whole segment of pocket rockets including the Ford Focus ST and Subaru WRX. GTI accounts for a whopping 50 percent of Golf sales and debuted its seventh generation this year – a spicy bratwurst I reviewed for you in June.

Not content with that firecracker, VW this fall added a performance package option — 10 more horsepower, more stopping power, more cornering power (and if that isn’t enough spice to curl your taste buds, the speed nerds at APR will sell you an engine chip upgrade worth another 100 ponies).

So I dragged my sullen, post-i8 depression into this randy rocket – and perked right up. Mrs. Payne thanks you, VW.

The GTI fits like a glove. Sure, the bolstered seats aren’t made from organic unicorn hide like the i8 — but they are leather nonetheless. The Autobahn-trim cabin comes with lux-like amenities — heated seats, leather steering wheel, voice-command audio – plus features the i8 lacks: A proper touch screen and 6 cup holders (proof that not all German makers are numb to the needs of car-dwelling Americans).

Stomp on the gas and . . . a twinge of i8 nostalgia returns. The 220 horsepower, 2.0-liter four banger hesitates before the turbo awakes. The i8′s 227 horse, 1.5-liter twin-turbo three would do the same were it not for its complimentary electric motor. Sigh, I do miss that instant, hybrid torque . . . but then the turbo cavalry arrives and the GTI explodes down the road like a bullet out of a rifle.

Approach a sharp bend and the big, fire-engine red, GTI –monogrammed brakes stick like glue. Electric steering is perfectly weighted. The short wheelbase rotates on a dime. This is front wheel drive? Where’s the push? Exit the corner. Back on the juice. Glorious.

And all this for just $34,000. Ditch the lighting package and opt for a stick (the only way to fly) and you’re under $30 grand. I could buy everyone in my family of four one for the price of an i8 – and have enough left over to buy a used ’13 for my sister for Christmas.

But aren’t steroid-fed athletes a maintenance nightmare? Actually, the quality experts at JD Power give it a Performance Award.

Except, ahem, for the water pump.

Every Golf owner knows their water pump is cursed. It’s the GTI’s Achilles Heel. My son drove his 2013 GTI to California this summer. Flattened the back seats. Got all his stuff in the hatch. The perfect cross-country car. His water pump failed on arrival in San Francisco (at least it has the courtesy of not failing in the middle of Death Valley).

So save for a water pump. And $1500 for the performance package. Or you can save another $10 grand for the next GTI upgrade: The Golf R400. Which VW will tease at the Los Angeles Auto Show next week. Which has all-wheel-drive. And (ahem) 394 horsepower. And a 3.9 second zero-60 time. That’s right. A 2.0-liter turbo V-dub with the same acceleration as a 6.2-liter Corvette C7.

Do I miss the BMW i8? The what?

Apple Pie Hubbub posted:

11

Erenthal posted:

This is a Dees comic, only without the rampant anti-semitism.

NoEyedSquareGuy posted:

NoEyedSquareGuy posted:

NoEyedSquareGuy posted:

colonel_korn posted:

7

Wales Grey posted:

I'm fairly certain Ramirez has never drawn a Martin B-12 for a political cartoon. In the cartoon you're thinking of, Ramirez drew a Boeing B-29 in exacting detail, even getting the arrangement of the glass panels on the nose correct. B-29s are what dropped the atomic bombs, B-10/12/13/14 is only really noteworthy for being the first mass-produced bomber the USAF used that was faster than contemporary USAF fighters. It didn't do much before being displaced by the B-17 and B-18, however.

I will agree that Ramirez is has a modicum of talent in rendering mechanical things, but his skills are overshadowed by his repugnant caricatures and repulsive politics.

colonel_korn posted:

One more hot off the presses:

1

Ralepozozaxe posted:

I'll just leave this here.

zoux posted:

Bad Reporter: Worst art

Hitler B. Natural posted:

Oh, and here's an article Ted Rall wrote for tomorrow's LA Times on the massacre. "Political cartooning is almost worth dying for."

Hitler B. Natural posted:

Oh, and here's an article Ted Rall wrote for tomorrow's LA Times on the massacre. "Political cartooning is almost worth dying for."

achillesforever6 posted:

When was Byrd apart of the KKK while being a Democrat? I bet it was the 50s and 60s!!!!

frajaq posted:

I'm kinda curious why you're acting like a little poo poo like that

Rorus Raz posted:

Payne is a manbaby fan of cars. Like I say in the index, he has space on his blog for reviewing cars, and I guess he's something of a purist and wants BIG SPEEDY MUSCLE CARS and not hybrid cars for hippy girls.

Like this is stuff he posts

Kakairo posted:

Holy poo poo, that is the worst car review drivel I have ever read, and I've been reading car magazines since I was 7.

zoux posted:

I know that Gary Larson has asked us politely not to post his cartoons on the internet but I think an exception can be made here. Does anyone know when this cartoon was published and if it caused any kind of controversy?

Hitler B. Natural posted:

It's the NYPD flag.

Sandpuppy posted:

Depending on who you ask, the green is either a "sentimental police color" or honors the NYPD's Irish heritage in its formative years (Tammany Hall!)

loquacius posted:

Didn't bother reading it until this post, but

The goddamn Oatmeal's Tesla review was better than this, and that poo poo was awful too

Rorus Raz posted:

South Park had an episode featuring Mohammed and nobody gave a poo poo.

JT Jag posted:

Comedy Central's offices received bomb threats and the episode has been censored ever since. Ironically, as the episode was about how censorship is dumb.

Rorus Raz posted:

Payne is a manbaby fan of cars. Like I say in the index, he has space on his blog for reviewing cars, and I guess he's something of a purist and wants BIG SPEEDY MUSCLE CARS and not hybrid cars for hippy girls.

Like this is stuff he posts

JT Jag posted:

Comedy Central's offices received bomb threats and the episode has been censored ever since. Ironically, as the episode was about how censorship is dumb.

Gravel Gravy posted:

Think he was referring to the one where Muhammed was part of a superhero team. Or was that one about censorship too? I thought it was about David Blaine starting a cult?

That was in the late 90s. But yeah post 9/11 I don't think they've aired it again have they?

Madmarker posted:

I believe he's referring to the Super Best Friends episode, where Muhammad, Jesus, Buddha and Seaman (he he he), were super heroes on a team together.

Not the family guy episode you are referencing.