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Yellow vests


Mack

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The downfall of almost every nation - be it Democracy, Republic, monarchy, communist, or other - follows a five step regression:

1. Outrage

2. Civil Disobedience

3. Civil Disorder

4. Armed Rebellion

5. Revolution.

France is the birthplace of modern Republics, but has general fumbled badly in the transitions.

 

Warning: the one entity that universally drops into virtually every power vacuum: Tyrants.

 

This was possibly true in the 1800s. Now, with all of the various interests putting their fingers on the scales, a country can easily stay in political turmoil for decades with no clear "winner"...

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It seems the vest is becoming a symbol of protest of everyday people against large government.

We are looking at massive gun control and tax increases in Illinois. Nothing wrong with peacefully protesting said actions.

 

 

IGOLD... More IGOLD.

And more coverage of IGOLD in the press.

To get the press we'd either need a friendly in the editor's office or have to cause some kind of disruptive scene like the French have done. Since we bill ourselves as keeping the high road and law abiding the case for disruptive conduct is out of the question. It's been a joke around here for a while now though that we'd have to burn a bus to get our pictures in the paper, and then there's no doubt about how counter productive that could be.

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Why wear a vest when you can wear a sidearm?

 

His answer ;)

I would gladly carry my .45 all the time for my protection (despite of the weight) but the fee is €70.000 + 5 years jail.

 

I also asked just what is this about, seems like a bit more then a gas tax.

 

The starting point was the increase of taxes on fuel announced recently. 1 gallon of fuel costs around 6 euros, mostly taxes. The "yellow jackets" action was initiated by an unknown lady on the web. Then the claim spread to the reduction of buying power in general since Macron is president. The most striking example is the abolition of the "ISF" (tax on very rich people) that have been balanced by reducing the retired people's compensation. Almost 10%...

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Why wear a vest when you can wear a sidearm?

 

His answer ;)

I would gladly carry my .45 all the time for my protection (despite of the weight) but the fee is 70.000 + 5 years jail.[/size]

 

I also asked just what is this about, seems like a bit more then a gas tax. [/size]

 

The starting point was the increase of taxes on fuel announced recently. 1 gallon of fuel costs around 6 euros, mostly taxes. The "yellow jackets" action was initiated by an unknown lady on the web. Then the claim spread to the reduction of buying power in general since Macron is president. The most striking example is the abolition of the "ISF" (tax on very rich people) that have been balanced by reducing the retired people's compensation. Almost 10%... [/size]

Cars in Europe are a lot more expensive then in the US due to import tarrifs balancing locally made union labor. A basic hatchback in Europe costs $30k+ USD plus a 20% average vat tax. Plus a yearly road tax. Also year after year your car has to pass a very strict inspection most cars on US roads could never pass.

 

If you're in an income bracket that can afford even the most basic car your paying 30% income tax. If you can afford a new econobox chances are your probably paying a 40% income tax rate.

 

Everyone bought diesel cars because there was a lower tax on diesel.

 

So then Marcon adds the tax back to diesel equivalent to what was already on gasoline and says something along the lines of you should just buy a hybrid, electric, or natural gas powered car. Oh, and we'll be banning your diesel in 10 years so GFY on resale value. But it's to save the environment.

 

Pretty much the automotive equivalent of "let them eat cake". It wasn't the one act that did it, just a final out of touch middle finger to the everyday Frenchmen.

 

Everyone knows modern vehicle emissions have very little effect on the environment, so it's a very regressive tax.

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Baring in mind of course the car owner is not nearly as common as in the US......... my wife, daughter, and I each have our every day drivers and then theres a few vehicles around the farm ......... the average person in France doesnt own 1..... you can walk across the country in 3 days with a good ruck ...

 

Its almost comical to compare our plight with theirs...... we talk (and its always NOTHING more than talk) of having had enough....... these people have asked for .. no begged .... to be put where they are and now they are finally waking up and realizing they have been pushed to the brink

 

The US is 100 years from this kind of thinking... we just take our lumps and say well its better than how bad it could have been.... we have our fighting forces negotiating away rights at every turn for the sake of "it could be worse"

 

These people have reached the end of that rope.... our grandchildren will be the ones who get there in the US.... we will just take our lumps and whine as we negotiate.

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Everyone knows modern vehicle emissions have very little effect on the environment, so it's a very regressive tax.

 

 

I would not say, everyone. I have met several 'electric' and 'hybrid' vehicle zealous individuals and when I tell them that the crew (or them) mowing their lawn once a week likely produce more greenhouse emissions than my average driving each week, they just can't accept that. Most people simply have no idea how clean modern vehicles actually run at highway speeds nowadays.

 

I'm not going to say that every bit doesn't help, but car emissions have been overly demonized for decades when they are just one small part of a much, much, much bigger picture. But, cars along with gas/diesel are easy targets to tax, so the demonization continues.

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Everyone knows modern vehicle emissions have very little effect on the environment, so it's a very regressive tax.

 

I would not say, everyone. I have met several 'electric' and 'hybrid' vehicle zealous individuals and when I tell them that the crew (or them) mowing their lawn once a week likely produce more greenhouse emissions than my average driving each week, they just can't accept that. Most people simply have no idea how clean modern vehicles actually run at highway speeds nowadays.

 

I'm not going to say that every bit doesn't help, but car emissions have been overly demonized for decades when they are just one small part of a much, much, much bigger picture. But, cars along with gas/diesel are easy targets to tax, so the demonization continues.

All the plugin hybrid and electric car owners are blissfully unaware that America generates an overwhelming majority of electricity from hydrocarbons.

 

Thanks to misguided protests preventing modern safe Nuclear reactor development (like molten salt cooled and research into molten salt fueled reactors) the US is way behind France that gets most of their electricity from Nuclear.

 

Add in the environmental damage from mining, manufacturing, then disposing/recycling batteries and the net benefit of hybrids and electric cars becomes even more questionable.

 

The most environmentally sustainable thing you can do is keep a modern car in good running order for a really long time.

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The downfall of almost every nation - be it Democracy, Republic, monarchy, communist, or other - follows a five step regression:

1. Outrage

2. Civil Disobedience

3. Civil Disorder

4. Armed Rebellion

5. Revolution.

France is the birthplace of modern Republics, but has general fumbled badly in the transitions.

Warning: the one entity that universally drops into virtually every power vacuum: Tyrants.

 

This was possibly true in the 1800s. Now, with all of the various interests putting their fingers on the scales, a country can easily stay in political turmoil for decades with no clear "winner"...

Possible, yes, but think of the former Soviet Union's collapse in 1989, the dozens of African countries in the past half century, most of South America, and more than a few European countries. "Staying in political turmoil for decades" is the exception - not the rule.

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All the plugin hybrid and electric car owners are blissfully unaware that America generates an overwhelming majority of electricity from hydrocarbons.

 

Yeah, been over that with a few as well that are totally unaware.

 

 

 

The most environmentally sustainable thing you can do is keep a modern car in good running order for a really long time.

 

That I agree with. I can honestly see biofuels that are mostly backward compatible with existing combustion engines being the more viable alternative for the next 100 years vs electric cars. And domestic biofuel production brings back and creates American jobs vs outsourced foreign mining jobs for the battery components necessary for electric cars. I'm not saying biofuels are the perfect long-term solution, but IMO they are a more viable immediate and short-term transition solution until something new comes along.

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When people stop buying cars and push lyft or whatever and it sends over a driverless car that's been at the charging station, sales will swing a bit more.

Chevy is dropping the volt not the bolt, that surprised me at first but knowing the market for driverless and enviromaniacs, I guess that's right.

 

The answer is fusion and there's recently been a few more breakthroughs... I guessed 20-30 years it may not be that long.

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When people stop buying cars and push lyft or whatever and it sends over a driverless car that's been at the charging station, sales will swing a bit more.

Chevy is dropping the volt not the bolt, that surprised me at first but knowing the market for driverless and enviromaniacs, I guess that's right.

 

The answer is fusion and there's recently been a few more breakthroughs... I guessed 20-30 years it may not be that long.

 

This irritated me as well: I have a Volt (2017 model), and we'll most likely be installing solar panels this upcoming spring to charge it. I bought it not so much because I'm worried about environmentalism as I am sick to death about servicemembers being sent to $DIETY-forsaken hellholes to die because the US is completely incapable of coming up with a rational and sane national energy policy. Instead, we're forced to maintain an interest and presence in the middle east to ensure that the price of oil doesn't double every time the Iranians get frisky, or when Assad finds a new village to gas.

 

For my purposes, the Volt works really well. I assume that Chevy would still be selling them if other people felt the same way I do. Doing the math, I guess this means that not everyone feels the same way I do. That just makes them all wrong. :)

 

Bri

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have little sympathy for coddled French workers with their 35 hour work week, guaranteed one month vacation each summer, and virtual life long employment no matter what pressures the employer is facing. But at least they had the guts to be disruptive as a way of showing that they would not be pitiful peasants following the dictates of the elite globalists running the EU.

 

Here in IL we are decent shape, not outstanding but decent, regarding our 2nd Amendment rights. Of course the reality is that we are only here because of the Federal judiciary, not the actions of our local elected officials. And our gun rights are quite restricted and limited, and expensive. But the status quo is not too bad, and certainly not bad enough to expect strong outrage and demonstrations, let alone street riots. But where is that "red line" for IL gun owners. If the state ends up banning the so-called assault rifles, will the owners comply? If magazines of over 10 rounds were made illegal would gun owners refuse to comply, or meekly give in, thinking that an 8 round 1911 is good enough for self defense? And IGOLD is not very encouraging, as the size of our turnouts is certainly nothing to rival the "Women's March" type turnouts, and not enough to generate widespread media coverage. If the "red line" is crossed, such as an actual ban on all semi auto rifles and handguns, what will gun owners in IL actually do? Have a few thousand hold signs and peacefully parade around in Springfield? Maybe block the streets and overturn police cars in Chicago? Maybe appear in force with open long arms and openly carried handguns, daring the police to try to intervene?

 

The French workers did what they needed to get the government to back off? Do we have the guts and determination to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to force a government, state or Federal, to back away from Australia or UK gun controls, or will we quietly grumble, write posts on our forums, and maybe hide a gun or too in our basements and hope there is no knock on the door at 3AM by jackbooted government agents? We may well be heading for a true reckoning, and each of us will have to decide where we draw our own "red line". Our Founders signed the Declaration of Independence, staking their fortunes, their reputations and their lives on standing up to the British. If push comes to shove do we have the guts of our Founders or not? Time will tell.

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Vito, very good post as usual. IMO, what needs to happen is for SCOTUS to finally and definitively decide that the Second Amendment means exactly what it says. Individual states need to clearly understand that "shall not be infringed" means just that.

 

We all know that the other side considers "common sense gun laws" as total disarmament.

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Illinois voters doubled down on their antigun beliefs last election. We have our work cut out for us. I talk to gun owning fiends who are not active participants in shooting sports and to a person none of them were aware of what may be coming to Illinois. If we could get 1 in 10 foid holders really involved we’d own the discussion. Imagine 200,000 at IGOLD. We need bodies and money to fight this. We keep hoping for court relief but that’s not a given. It take voters who are passionate about this cause and will show up

and vote. It’s hard to rally the uninitiated to the battle to protect a right they really don’t understand. I invite any family friend,who is interested, to go shooting with me. A few take me up, most are just interested in the discussion. We’re all doing what we can but it’s a tough fight.

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