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posted by martyb on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:14PM   Printer-friendly
from the everybody-should-pay-their-fair-share dept.

On Saturday, November 16th, around 282,000 people blocked roads and highways all over France. The protesters, nicknamed the gillets jaunes after the yellow warning vests they wore, had organized through Facebook. Their beef: the increase in environmental taxes on gasoline, on top of a number of other tax increases.

We don't disagree with having to pay more to help act for the environment and fight climate change, was the general opinion, but why should it be only the little folks who have to pay while the elite can easily grin and bear it -- why not tax also all that heavy fuel burned by aeroplanes and tanker ships?

The action, which persisted throughout the day, resulted in over 100 wounded and one tragic death when a mother driving her child to hospital panicked.

The protesters do have a point. While media and politics rightly, if very, very much belatedly, are warning about climate change, the alternatives proposed clearly are not to be taken seriously.

The hard choices we need to face apparently come down to cities investing in smart cameras to fine visitors based on production year and type of their automobile. Public transport investing will come, but not to the countryside where car/ride sharing, Uber and similar services simply are not viable; Tesla and relatives are on another price planet for ordinary people.

As to the EU's emission trading system (ETS) that should drive industry to climate change action: news broke on the same day as the gillets jaunes actions that Britain -- on the verge of leaving the EU -- is one of the biggest net exporters of such credits: Britain had 900 million of these credits too much, for the years 2013-2015 alone.


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  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:03PM (5 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:03PM (#763561) Journal

    I wouldn't worry much about it. The French are always on the lookout for a good revolution. This is hardly worthy of notice, unless and until they get the old guillotines polished up.

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  • (Score: 2, Disagree) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:39PM (4 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:39PM (#763573) Homepage Journal

    Well of course they are. The only ones the French can beat in a war are the French, so they're not exactly swimming in options.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @10:21PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @10:21PM (#763638)

      Ah yes, hating on the oldest ally of the US in order to feel a semblance of superiority. Hmm, that tactic seems oddly familiar.

      • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday November 18 2018, @10:33PM (2 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday November 18 2018, @10:33PM (#763647) Homepage Journal

        Mocking a has-been world power that hasn't even been able to whip a third world country in a hundred years or contributed anything significant scientifically or artistically in recent memory but still acts as if they were the pinnacle of human evolution and everyone else is uncultured scum? Yup. All week long and twice on Sunday.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 19 2018, @04:26AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 19 2018, @04:26AM (#763791)

          Really surprised to see you having a go at France, I'll bet you have a lot in common with the French,
              http://fishinglicence.eu/france [fishinglicence.eu]

          France offers a wide range of fishing opportunities. You can fish for 83 different fish species in more than 500,000 km of brooks, 15,000 km rivers and hundreds of ponds and lakes in 94 French departments of the 96 departments in metropolitan France. Furthermore sea fishing at the Atlantic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea adds to the diverse fishing facilities. Kayak sea fishing in the Bretagne has become popular in recent years, but also sea bass fishing along the entire Atlantic coast can be great fun.

          You do need either a fishing rod licence or a permit for legal freshwater fishing in France.

                  For public waters a fishing rod licence (“carte de pêche”) and
                  for private fisheries a fishing permit from the landowner is required.

          However, a fishing licence or permit for sea fishing is not required in France!

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday November 21 2018, @11:00AM

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Wednesday November 21 2018, @11:00AM (#764651) Homepage Journal

            Nobody's all good or all bad. Texas has some amazing fishing even if they do get their asses whooped most every year by OU. Just make sure you remember "striper" has only one 'p' in it for record keeping. Stripper fishing, while it sounds potentially interesting, would be something entirely other.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.