Then why do I willingly pay for both Netflix and Prime? Those services are extremely convenient, but the selection is not always there. Usenet/torrent are good fill-ins for those services, and probably will be until these knuckleheads realize that their government-enabled monopoly isn't really very enforceable anymore.

You can't reason your way into religion, it has to touch you personally. Someone in 1700 Europe would not be able to reason his way into belief that such things as elephants existed. He's have had to visit Asia or Africa to believe.

God is only invisible to those who choose to ignore him.

I agree it is all taxes. But my point was that requiring the attendant to pump your gas doesn't actually cost anything. In fact it is cheaper, whatever the "real" reason. Gas buyers are better off in Jersey than in us neighboring states.

Right, but the product shipped FROM my state (Pennsylvania). The Kentucky detour is what made it "bizarro".

Right, but Nissan could stop Leaf production tomorrow and be just fine. Not so with the Model S.

Since Tesla only sells EVs, it is correct to say "every Tesla". I understand that the government is not picking a company, but it doesn't make Tesla any less dependent on federal aid.

They approached existing dealers first. Only if existing dealers refused to build a dedicated facility would they offer up the territory to a new dealer. I'm sure you could find Saturn dealers who owned no other GM franchises, but I am under the impression that this was rare. I do know one Chevy/Cadillac/Oldsmobile/Pontiac/GMAC dealer who told them to go pound sand.

And GM had the advantage of using their existing dealers. They leaned on them to build new showrooms, but most were existing dealers. It really and truly was just a re-branding effort. The new relationship with labor was interesting, but never really produced an exceptional car.

Not just loans - every Tesla car is "subsidized" by thousands of dollars via a tax write-off for the buyer.

And yet the gas is cheaper than in next-door PA, where you have to get out in the cold. If you end up in NJ frequently, you even time your gas purchases for when you are on the Jersey side.

Well there's still ads. He didn't say anything about blocking ads, just tracking and content. Of course, I'm not sure why you'd want to do that.

Unfortunately there's no simple, black-and-white answer to this question.

Ideally, in a good democratic society, people would decide democratically what the minimum "bar" is, and anything below that is considered neglect. We already do this to an extent in the US, with "CPS" in many states taking kids away if they're found to be abused or neglected. Usually, though, CPS is criticized for allowing too much abuse before they intervene (or just being plain incompetent, or overworked/understaffed, etc.), rather than being too heavy-handed (though this happens too occasionally). Societies do have a right to decide on minimum levels of acceptable conduct, and punish people who don't conform ("disturbing the peace" laws are an example of this). The main problem we have is our democracy isn't very good (too much corruption, bad voting systems), so the actions of the government can't really be assumed to accurately reflect the will of the people.

How about denying medical insurance coverage to those that fail to get vaccinated, unless they can demonstrate that they are a member of a recognized religious congregation that specifically is against vaccination as a part of church dogma?

No. I'm sorry, I don't see this as a valid excuse. Freedom of religion has gone too far; if you can't properly take care of your kids, they should be taken away from you.

I'm one of the users seeing this. The ads are still obvious to me - I assumed that they did it to make the site more mobile-friendly, but it could be a downward slide down your slope.