What, then, are the prerequisites for being a private club, if filling out an application and paying a membership fee are insufficient? That's pretty much all it takes to join private clubs such as the Elks Lodge and similar clubs who operate private bars. Do they no longer qualify, and has anybody informed them of the change in their status?

Strat

Yet, you provide no links to citations.

Auto-correct sucks sometimes. Sorry I did not catch it. Auto-correct insists it's Wiemar. It's not Americans in particular. Thanks for the sweeping generalization, though. Very Progressive of you.

There are more than one group who call themselves Progressives. Why do Europeans fail to realize that their political and ideological groupings and distinctions are not the only ones that exist? It's the same sort of difference that Europeans are so quick to point out between US and European understanding of Left and Right when they claim that Leftists in the US are far to the right of Europeans on the Right.

Here you attempt to define Socialism as those who want to change things "for the better". Better for those in power, perhaps. Better for the common citizen? Hardly. History shows us that socialism assures equal misery for all by setting the "equality" at the lowest common denominator. Socialism and communism have resulted in the largest mass atrocities and acts of genocide the modern world has ever known, far outdoing the Nazis.

The US Progressive movement has no relation to the dictionary definition of progress/progressive that you trotted out.

Here we can mostly agree, although US Progressives themselves scream bloody murder if anyone actually calls them socialists/communists or socialist/communist-like.

*I* am childish and attempt to treat others as inferiors!?!? May I remind you who started the personal attack?

I was not the one who reached for an ad hominem attack in my initial reply and came across as a pseudo-intellectual gasbag with delusions of superiority as you did.

I am done with you, as it's apparent your ego and Euro-superiority complex does not allow you to participate in an honest adult discussion.

Good day, Sir!

Strat

I am a US citizen.

I do not allow nationalistic pride to blind me to reality. The US is well on the way to being a full-blown authoritarian fascist oligarchy.

I am aware. It's no surprise that entrenched interests try to protect their government-enforced monopoly and that the government works to protect it's partners in cronyism. That's pretty much what is happening here in the US regarding Uber/Lyft, nor will it be a surprise when other businesses who depend on government to protect their markets and business models from innovation and competition from newcomers use their partners in government to destroy those who threaten their incestuous relationship.

Strat

It probably won't work, I agree. I was not aware that operating under the existing laws governing private clubs was a "trick". I guess operating within long-established laws is considered a "trick" when it thwarts the Progressive government political agenda. The US government routinely ignores the Rule of Law and does whatever it damned well pleases regardless of laws or the US Constitution that contradict it's position.

The US has for all intents & purposes become the world's largest "banana republic" where the law is whatever those in power say it is on any particular day which suits their current agenda. I guess that's fine if you like living in a banana republic. I do not.

Strat

No, history clearly shows it was the Progressives and their fellow-travelers in the US.

IBM did business with Germany along with others, but "funded Hitler" as in supplying him with large amounts of cash donations as you imply? Fantasy.

The SPD and KPD were socialist and communist political parties respectively, from the former Wiemar Republic.

In the Weimar Republic the left consisted of the Communists (KPD) and the Social Democrats (SPD). The Center consisted of the Democratic party (DDP), the Catholic Center Party (Z) and the Peopleâ(TM)s Party (DVP). The right consisted of the German Nationalist Party (DNVP) and the National Socialist Party (NSDAP-Nazi). Unlike American political parties, German political parties had narrower bases of support generally based on class, occupation and religion. They were therefore less inclined to compromise and more inclined to have programs based on clear sets of ideas (ideologies).

https://www.facinghistory.org/...

They had nothing to do with the US Progressive movement. Unless you're saying US Progressives are actually socialists and communists, which does have more than a grain of truth to it.

That *I* have no idea of!? You spout other people's history-rewriting talking points without any citations and without thinking for yourself.

Go away with your juvenile insults. Adults are talking here.

Strat

You misspelled "Progressives".

It matters not whether there's an (R) or (D) by their name. Progressives believe there is no area of the private sector that could not use more government involvement and control.

Progressives are the reason the US is in the sorry state it is and why individual liberty and private property rights are going the way of the Dodo bird in "the land of the free, home of the brave".

Here's the darling of the Progressive movement, George Bernard Shaw. What he espouses in this video is one of the core beliefs of their ideology. They will deny it as it shows them for who they really are, but this way of thinking is one of the principles at the heart of Progressivism. Progressives cheered for the Nazis and the Italian fascists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Strat

That's the entire point. It would cease to be a company and become a private club.

Again, you would have to redefine words and terms to get around existing laws in order to attack UberClub/LyftClub.

Which you seem to be OK with.

At least, until it affects something negatively that you specifically care about.

Strat

But that's the whole point. It's not available to the general public if you must pay a fee and register as a member.

Unless you want to redefine words and terms specifically for Uber/Lyft?

Which is even more wrong and corrupt.

Uber/Lyft and similar services are a threat to the comfortable little crony relationship between taxi companies and politicians, and a threat to government's desire to regulate, monitor, and control every aspect of society and all social interactions.

This is just another example of the fascist oligarchy at work protecting itself and it's cronies.

Strat

What we *should* be debating is how much tar, feathers, and hanging-rope we need for those in power who pass and use laws in such manner.

Strat

As I said, people who believe assurances of government over the clear track record of history are doomed to repeat that history. That is no straw man, that is historical fact.

Nothing you have said diminishes this. It does not matter how "clear" the law appears. Words will be redefined and reinterpreted to suit government's goals, as history has shown us again and again.

You sticking your fingers in your ears and going "lalalala I can't hear you" and "straw man! straw man!" does not change the clear track record of history on this matter.

Strat

I'm sure we can all agree that these are comparable to someone sharing a song.

You make a good emotional appeal, but the reality is that someone just casually sharing a song isn't likely to be subject to these penalties at all.

Unless you annoy someone in power, hold 'dangerous' or 'inconvenient' political/ideological/religious views, or for whatever reason the government wants to destroy some individual.

History teaches us that whenever government enacts a law for which they claim "it will never be used for 'X'" you can be assured that's precisely what it will be used for eventually.

Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Strat

Ridiculously-broad laws & regulations are ridiculous.

BATFE considers a shoestring a machine gun.

Seriously, no kidding.

The ATF recommends that manufacturers voluntarily submit weapons for case-by-case determination. But those judgments are private and, it turns out, sometimes contradictory. Critics say nearly identical prototypes can be approved for one manufacturer but denied for another.

That process, known as âoeletter rulings,â results in various findings about what makes a weapon. Program critics, including the ATF's former assistant director of criminal investigations, said one determination contended that a shoestring was a machine gun.

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

So basically, an individual can not know precisely what is legal or illegal ahead of time until/unless they are prosecuted, that is, unless they become a licensed firearm maker and submit a prototype for a determination.

But, that does not inform anyone else, as those letters are sent to the specific business involved and are often secret. Letter determinations are not made public.

As far as a solenoid or similar type actuating mechanism that is not a traditional mechanical type, isn't that at the core of so-called "smart gun" designs?

Wouldn't a law that made this armed quad-copter illegal by making the non-manual trigger mechanism illegal run the risk of simultaneously making "smart gun" technology illegal?

It's another of those attempts to make a technology or object illegal instead of making harmful/dangerous acts performed by any means illegal.

I'm certain that, given the amount of laws & regulations concerning firearms already on the books, that there are already laws that would cover any illegal/dangerous acts performed with this technology.

Besides, as has been pointed out elsewhere in the comments, a law won't stop lawbreakers.

Strat

Sorry, you are the one who is badly mistaken.

See, government is good because government provides civilization.

Ergo, people who try to damage government, and by extension civilization, by exposing things the government wishes concealed from the public are evil.

Since these people are evil, any means & methods used to silence them, thwart them, and punish them are justified.

Without the government monitoring, tracking, and controlling everything and everyone, civilization would collapse.

Why do you hate civilization, you barbarian!?

Strat

Which is deceptive and a half-truth as almost nobody actually paid those insane rates because of tax loopholes.

This, you got right.

Here, take a listen to one of the greatest Democratic US Presidents on the subject of taxation:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Strat

This is where people get it wrong.

Iran's leadership is not rational.

They are "13th Imam" religious fanatics that wish to start Armageddon, as they believe that the 13th Imam will only return at that time, and that it is their duty to make sure that occurs as soon as possible.

MAD is meaningless to such fanatics. Treaties are simply a way to deceive and enfeeble their enemies while they keep doing what they are doing. Remember, these fanatics are the same ones, generations later, which Hitler allied with in WW2.

Not much has changed regarding their ultimate goals since the middle ages, and they certainly haven't changed in the scant few decades since WW2.

The only way such fanatics can be dealt with is to kill them and, as much as possible, wipe out any lingering, festering remnants of their culture & beliefs, and maintain a watchful eye to prevent such insanity from gaining traction again.

Strat