Most of the "red" states require photo ID to vote.
ballotpedia.org/Voter_identification_laws_by_state

I wouldn't mind states requiring photo ID if it wasn't such a hassle to get. But states don't give them freely, and the SCOTUS has ruled that poll taxes are unconstitutional. Requiring a paid ID is a form of poll tax. States should just make it easier to get official identification. Short of that, they could start using biometrics, where voters could identify by a fingerprint or iris scan. Of course, that'd freak out the privacy activists.

By some accounts, it's already WW3. Russia has brought Belarus and North Korea into the conflict. Many other countries side with Ukraine. And while Trump claims to want to end it, he's not really helping. Trump should know that Ukraine needs security guarantees, but doesn't offer any beyond his own belief that Russia will not try anything while Trump is in office. Never mind that Russia started planning to invade Ukraine while Trump was in office last time, and without guarantees, there's nothing stopping Putin from doing it again, even while Trump is in office. And what do you think Russia could get up to in 3½ years?

I never said having government ID is racist.

Requiring particular government ID just to vote is disenfranchising voters because those ID cards aren't free to the public. They cost money just to apply, and require specific documentation that may not be available, and cost more money to produce. It looks like you've never had to request a certified copy of your birth certificate. Also, government offices where those IDs are issued are often under-staffed and crowded, and going to get that card can take all day or several days. If you're working a full-time job, it may not be practical to take one or more days off just to put that together.

All for your statistically insignificant vote.

The solution is to get security guarantees. All Trump could give was "Well, Putin didn't break any promises with me."

You say the bank is closed, but it's not up to you. There are other European countries that know they're next, once Putin is done in Ukraine, so the EU is gathering to put up a permanent security force in Ukraine, on top of any cease fire that Putin can promise, since Putin's reneged on his Ukraine peace agreements dozens of times.



Since Trump is taking Putin's side--preaching Kremlin talking points, it's unlikely that Ukraine will work with Trump, and will be taking cover from the EU. Trump's made the economic deal with the US impossible, so France, UK and Germany will increase their cooperation. France suggested sending troops to Ukraine, even before Trump's meltdown, last week. Now that the minerals deal is off, and Trump's losing his mind, it's pretty clear that Europe are on their own for a while.


What goodness do you see in Putin? The guy invaded Ukraine, and his country's combat losses are estimated to exceed a million soldiers, not to mention equipment. It's not just the economics of the Ukrainian people, but Putin invaded, killing hundreds of thousands and actually kidnapping tens of thousands of children off to Russia. Now, what "path to peace" do you think Russia could agree to, beyond total capitulation from Ukraine?

Republicans are in charge, all right, so now they'll have no excuse as the economy collapses. Watch inflation hit double digits and see if anybody believes it's Biden's fault, this time.

You understand that they're fighting in Ukraine, right? This isn't up to Zelensky to stop fighting. They have to get Russia to stop fighting. And it's not that Putin says he wants peace, but what are they going to do about guarantees about peace? Ukraine could agree to a cease fire tonight, but that wouldn't stop Putin from invading in another few months or years. Russia and the US agreed to guarantee Ukraine's security back in 1994 when Ukraine gave up their nukes. Then in 2014, Putin annexed Crimea. How's that for peace?

Mail-in voting isn't an answer to the cost and trouble of obtaining certain government-issued identification. Mail-in voting is just a better alternative to waiting in line to vote. In some places in the US, people have to wait hours in line to vote, because voting machines and poling places are poorly distributed.

Voter ID laws are just stupid all on their own. The government doesn't need to see our ID card. They know who we are from the place we live, the bills we pay and the people we know. Those laws are just a way to disenfranchise voters who certain politicians don't like. Republicans do better in elections where fewer voters vote.

No chance illegal immigrants can register to vote in California. Without their birth records in the databases, they instantly get flagged as ineligible. While they could go to polling stations and cast provisional ballots, those ballots wouldn't pass validation or get counted, and casting those votes is a crime, so they'd be putting themselves at further legal risk for a statistically insignificant vote.

Not only in America. I'm sure other countries have similarly advanced computer networks, like in Germany and Japan.

Yes, the West is supporting Ukraine, but for more than just weakening Russia. It's supporting a democracy in a region where there are too many authoritarians and socialist states. Supporting Ukraine leads China to believe that the West could support Taiwan in a military conflict. Also the West gets valuable military intelligence on weapons development and Russia (and China)'s military capabilities. We see how good Iran's drones and North Korea's artillery are, too. We assess their communications and tactics. In short, they're awful, and we can see that.

But this is not simply a proxy war, and we'd all like to see it ended soon, but good luck getting Putin to stop with anything less than all that he has taken so far, and not have to pay any reparations.

Not at all what happened. Back in February '22, before Russia invaded, Zelensky worked to negotiate security agreements from Russia and NATO countries, while Russia was insisting that they weren't going to invade (pay no attention to their forces gathering near the borders) and Biden flat-out exposed everything to make it clear Russia was going to invade.

There was no pressure from the West for Ukraine to fight Russia. Back then, everybody assumed Russia would roll over Ukrainian forces and take the entire country in a few days. The West famously offered to get Zelensky out of there--a flight out of the country, and he said "I need ammunition, not a ride!"
edition.cnn.com/2022/02/26/europe/ukraine-zelensky-evacuation-intl/index.html

Voter ID laws sound like a good idea, but they're not really necessary, considering all the information the government already collects on everybody. Without looking at your driver's license, they already know your name, age, address, recent purchases, payment history, and your signature is digitized in their databases. I can look up my ballot receipt by giving the number of my address (leaving out the street name) and the day of birth (no month) plus my zip code. requiring government ID cards is redundant and just keeps legal citizens from voting.

It's fake news. Obviously, dead people don't vote. Their living relatives could possibly vote in their names, but more likely, it's people reading voter rolls and matching names of living people to their list of dead people. You may be confusing dead people not-yet removed from voter rolls, which could be in the millions, but any of those having votes turned in is very rare.
ballotpedia.org/Votes_cast_in_the_names_of_deceased_people

It is impossible, however, that anybody aged 360 collecting Social Security. Especially considering that Social Security hasn't been around for 100 years. You may have heard that 150-year-olds are collecting SS, but that's also wrong. Don't believe Trump or Elon Musk on the subject.
www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-doge-social-security-150-year-old-benefits/

Here in the US, many school children start school around 8:00 AM, and in in the winter, in Northern US states, sunrise doesn't happen until after that. Especially if you consider places where kids leave home 30-60 minutes before school starts.

Not sure if you're being facetious, like I'm ignoring that schools could just start classes later in the morning or whatever. I'm not. I'm actually in favor of getting rid of Daylight Savings Time, and let schools adjust their schedules as needed in their areas.

I grew up in California (not so far North) and because I had to be at school by 7:15 for orchestra practice, I often walked to school before dawn, but I don't remember it being bad.

I don't know about any singing, but Trump and Musk are doing plenty on their own to turn the public against them. The Trump/Musk Administration are breaking laws left & right, firing the federal workers who prevent epidemics and nuclear & aviation accidents and it's happening so fast, Trump cannot keep up.
apnews.com/article/doge-firings-layoffs-federal-government-workers-musk-d33cdd7872d64d2bdd8fe70c28652654

apnews.com/article/nuclear-doge-firings-trump-federal-916e6819104f04f44c345b7dde4904d5

One of the great things about California is the size and variety of everything in it. Driving from the top to the bottom is at least a two-day drive. It has lots of coastline. Mountains. Deserts. lakes. If some other state has something, California probably has it, too, except for the crummy weather and certain critters unique to other places. Go ahead and gripe about the Liberal politics, but California has some conservative areas, too, like the Central Valley, & the rural area East of LA.


No, but I wish. Universal healthcare and the higher quality of life would be a nice addition. Selling off parts of the US would take an act of Congress, and it's unlikely the rest of the US would be happy to give up 20% of the national economy.

Right. We should listen to the guy making $8 million per day from government contracts over people concerned about Medicare and Social Security. Without those cuts, how will they be able to pay for billionaires' $trillions in tax cuts?

Big deal. Everybody knows LA is crowded, expensive and the traffic is awful. Still an amazing place to be. Even in that article, they managed to slip that in:

It's not just about Hollywood. CAA represents authors and politicians, too. Former presidents regularly speak at events, and hiring a talent agency just makes it easier to arrange things like speaking engagements or interviews for publication. This doesn't mean that Joe Biden will start appearing in television advertisements or movies.

OK, I guess you don't know what "chain of command" means. The US military doesn't just do what any politician says. When I joined the Army, it was taught and enforced to know the chain of command, where the top is the POTUS, the Secretary of Defense, Army Chief of Staff, and on down to the bottom is our squad leader, and nowhere in between were any Senators or Representatives. Not even the House Speaker. Pelosi could've phoned to request military help from the President, or maybe the state governor. It's no surprise that Trump is lying about Jan 6.

From the article:

Wrong. The Speaker of the House, is not in the chain of command, has no authority to federalize National Guard soldiers. I know this because I was in the US military for over 24 years. Deploying the Guardsmen is up to the president or the state governor. Blaming Capitol security on Pelosi is a long-debunked lie.
newbedfordlight.org/trumps-claim-that-pelosi-turned-down-national-guard-help-on-jan-6-is-just-fantasy/