Nonsense. We can always test new drugs on creatures that absolutely no one cares about.

Lawyers.

Given that the Middle East has been having problems with religious violence since roughly forever, no, it's not surprising that there are conflicts between various religious groups, especially regarding one group proselytizing on another group's patch, as it were.

It's also hardly limited to the Middle East, for that matter. Europe had the 30 Years' War, the Albigensian Crusade, the Spanish Inquisition....

However, modern day, at least here in the States, it's just a bit different. Our streets are not exactly running red with the blood of one religious group killing members of another religious group. And most religious groups here in the States aren't hiding their religious texts behind the concept of trade secrets.

Scientology is. The Catholic church isn't sending out DMCA lawsuits every time someone posts a copy of a papal bull, for instance. Protestants don't necessarily like the Pope, but they're not claiming that Catholics have no right to practice Christianity outside of the Protestant faith. Scientology insists that only in the Church of Scientology can you practice Scientology. Okay, sure, they have no actual legal force to stop the Free Zoners from practicing Scientology, but it doesn't stop them from harassing them in other ways.

Like trying to discredit critics by getting them blamed for bomb threats? (Operation Freakout)

Like infiltrating government organizations and agencies in order to find out what materials those organizations have on the CoS? (Operation Snow White)

Do they (Druze or Alawite) claim copyright violations if you post their beliefs in a public forum? Do they claim them as trade secrets.

There is a bit of a difference in "We don't publicly spread our beliefs to those not of our faith" and "We will initiate a lawsuit against people who post our beliefs."

Do Buddhists or Mormons say that if you learn these secret things without proper instruction, you could be harmed or die? Because, that's pretty much what the CoS says about the OT docs.

The difference is, when you've been a faithful Catholic for 20 years, and tithed the whole time and whatever else, they don't take you aside one day and say "Hey, here's the super-duper secret Bible that almost no one gets to look at. You're going to love the chapter where after Jesus' resurrection, grey aliens from Proxima 9 took him on a 2-millienium mission to the stars."

Scientology does just that. If you have no idea, going in, about what thetans are, or where they come from, you don't find out about them until you're so invested in Scientology that it's very difficult to break away from it. "It has to be true, look how much time and money I've invested in it."

And that's another thing.

Let's say, for whatever reason, that I want to study up on Christianity. Well, one option that a lot of churches have are discussion groups/classes on it, especially for people who are converting to that church.

A lot of those classes are pretty cheap, if not outright free, and here's the important bit. You don't actually have to take them. I could, right now, walk into practically any church in the country and join, for free.

In Scientology, if you want to learn more (or are peer-pressured to do so), every class costs money. The higher you go, the pricier the classes. Oh, but you can get around some of the costs by signing a billion-year contract.

Yeah, that's all completely normal and above board.

Didn't some place in Florida just get busted for basically operating like a club, but saying they were a religion?

And don't forget, some of those beliefs are "trade secrets".

Show me another religion that hides their religious texts behind the concept of "trade secrets".

I mean, I can go to pretty much any church and read a Bible. Heck, I can buy a copy at practically any bookstore. Same with the Qur'an. Or the Torah.

I can have religious discussions with Christians (of varying denominations) or Muslims or Jews and find out pretty much anything I want to know about their religion and it doesn't cost me anything other than time.

You want to officially learn about Scientology? Start forking over the cash. (Yes, officially. According to the Church of Scientology, practicing Scientology outside of the auspices of the CoS is bad, mmkay? Not even the Pope tries to insist that you can't be a real Christian unless you're Catholic.)

A lot of that stuff that we know about the Church of Scientology... like Xenu, and the Galactic Confederation, and all that (from the OT III docs)? We're not supposed to know that. We only know about it because of civil trials involving the CoS, and they tried to suppress that stuff under the concept of it being trade secrets.

So yeah, show me another religion that has trade secrets. Where's that other major religion that you don't learn the 'true faith' until and unless you've invested a substantial whack of cash?

NCIS also, rather infamously, had an episode where they were the ones being hacked, and two characters were using the same keyboard at the same time to try and stop the hack.

In 1986, three years before your "recent history" cutoff point, Reagan lowered the top income tax rate from 50% to 28%, which then made it the lowest it had been since 1916.

And the silly thing is supposed to apply to seasonal workers as well, so 3-4 months of employment creates an 18-month non-compete clause?

Yeah, not only should this not be enforceable, but whoever at Amazon thought this was a good idea should have their head removed from their arse.

No, but the path of least resistance for increased costs is "shovel it off on the customers". Hell, remember the CEO of Papa John's saying that because of the ACA, he was going to have to raise pizza prices (by a whole $0.25)?

To be completely safe from any unwanted software on the laptop, strike the laptop repeatedly with a 10-pound sledgehammer.

Once the laptop has been reduced to a pile of plastic and metal shards, it is now safe to use. (Provided you wear safety gloves when handling the shards.)

I'm curious how the Albigensian Crusade was against a Muslim war of conquest.

Also, consider this. When the Muslims invaded and largely controlled the Iberian peninsula, they still allowed Christians and Jews to keep their faith (they were not required to convert). They did have to pay an additional tax if they did not convert.

After the Reconquista (when the various Spanish kings kicked the Muslims armies out of the Iberian peninsula), Muslims and Jews were given the "choice" of convert or be expelled. I mean, you could argue that for the Muslims who had moved in, it was somewhat to be expected, but for the Jews?

Oh, and of course, the Reconquista also led to the Spanish Inquisition, but that hardly matters, right?