steeler wrote: 
+1

Who was that masked man?
And he wore that mask. We never saw him without it. At a time when masks were associated with bad guys who robbed banks and stage coaches, his mask filled villains with dread and good-hearted citizens with hope. Wearing that mask, Clayton Moore became one of the most recognizable characters on the planet. Until the end of his life, he wore it with honor. If he were alive today, I bet he’d be wearing not one but two masks — both designed to save lives and help others.

Think of the covid-19 delta strain as a drone circling over your village.

 Coaxial wrote: 

Sometimes going outside and getting some fresh air is good for the soul. Opening a window and crying out I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore is too but I digress.

 black321 wrote:
"Thank you for your service"

I can feel my BP rise just typing it.

It's not because it's not appropriate...it is.  The members of our military deserve our respect and support for doing a job most of us would prefer not to be done by our own family.

My disdain for the phrase is that it's used as some sort of patriotic shield.  Virtue signaling on the left....well church and military support are the virtue signals for the right.  We've collectively made ourselves feel better about our lack of citizen participation and responsibility by "showing" we support our troops.  It's not a free pass...you still have to support the rights and freedoms.

Support the troops...and support taking a knee...and defend the Constitution against an insurrection....and support voting rights for every eligible adult.  Thank you for your service from most mouths is about as meaningful as an ecard on your birthday...do what's expected, but nothing more.

 black321 wrote:

That logic was tried on some billboards around here with a "do it for them" showing a WWII veteran in a retirement home; they were roundly scorned in local chat pages.

 sirdroseph wrote:

Voting has always had some oversight, though, and it's pretty successful. Chicago's "vote early and often" notoriety is the exception and that is such an outlier that it's still the only example most of us can think of—and that joke is 100 years old. 

Fishing is (ideally) done alone where no one is watching.

Side note: Americans' compliance with the IRS is something that amazes most other countries. Just the fact of having our name attached to the action makes us less likely to cheat, I guess. Side side note: When I go to the polls, the people at the table for my precinct are people that I know. THAT is voter security, no ID system can match that. San Francisco's precincts are tiny, and polling places in peoples' garages, schools etc and the people working there were (ideally) from that precinct. It was pretty cool and I'm sure it was expensive, but the time I worked the polls, we didn't have anyone trying to game the system. We did have some poll watchers checking up on us. One guy came in and pointed to some signs on street lamps outside and said there weren't supposed to be any electioneering materials so close to the polling place. We were in a garage in a house so I looked around and pointed to the homeowners' ladder and offered to help him take them down. He allowed as how maybe that wasn't the best use of our time.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote:

Individual rights, property rights...is what made this a great country.
Yet, have we moved so far, been warped by these rights? 
What I mean is, a large % weren't even willing to make a minor sacrifice like wear a mask, or get a vaccine...or at least complained mightly about it. 
At that same time i have difficulty reconciling this inability to make a minor sacrifice among certain people, who at the same time are the first to rise and salute a soldier who is willing to sacrifice life and limb, at the whim of a politician? (to be clear, i am not condescending the salute of soldiers, just confused by the dissonance). 

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
If you are right then requiring voting ID is more important than ever.

 sirdroseph wrote:

I'd say we can't have nice things anymore because if we give us an inch, we take a mile. Your fishing license example: we have daily limits and laws against using dynamite or corn etc. because someone thought catching all the fish and screw the next guy was a good idea.

 black321 wrote: 
The problem is people of all political persuasions only want these conditions if it is expedient to their side and that can change depending on circumstance, timing and geography.  In other words it is a bi partisan issue either way depending on who you ask, where and when.  Same thing can be said about use of the word freedom; again completely bi partisan depending on the circumstance of whether it supports the tribe or team which is everything.  I consider myself a libertarian, but not so hard core as to think that drivers licenses; ids for purchasing alcohol and other age dependent products including firearms and supplying id to further basic election integrity is hardly the path to facism.  All of those who are suddenly libertarian and suspicious of the state requiring ids will surely bring the same mindset into requiring vaccination proof to take part in society which imo is an egregious imposition of the state and our civil rights and is a pathway to facism..right......right?  I know lazy is a devout libertarian so I give him the benefit of the doubt being wary of all state ids. I also know some people who call themselves sovereign citizens and feel that fishing licenses are akin to facism so I know they are out there, but there are too many that can vacillate freely between hardcore sovereign citizen to full on socialist at the drop of the hat if expedient for their respective tribe.  For myself especially given the brave new world of skyrocketing absentee mail in ballots, I do not think it is unreasonable to make such a basic already implemented in most states accommodation to secure our elections.  I am with you should be a no brainer, but we can't have nice things anymore cause......politics.

 black321 wrote:

This supposes that the system we have now is not secure. Fraud is not rampant and would have to be massive to have anywhere near the impact that human interference has, whether legal or thru bungling. 

In Wyoming, the party with the most members is always listed first on ballots. This is a practical thing; California ballots attempt to be randomized so they may have to print several iterations of the same ballot for each precinct so that no one candidate has the advantage of being listed first. But it is an advantage. They could have said that each race would be listed according to a coin toss, but they weren't going to give away any votes. So if there are 5 people who vote fraudulently each cycle (here they vote Republican so hey), those votes are far outweighed by the votes that go to the top candidate listed for no other reason than that they're the top candidate listed.