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vandro Shop Owner from The little shop that wasn't Since: Jul, 2009
Shop Owner
#100226: Sep 8th 2015 at 10:53:57 PM

Isn't motorvoter the federal law that makes the DMV required to offer voting registration? Or am I mistaken?

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#100227: Sep 8th 2015 at 10:57:56 PM

John McAfee reportedly running for president in a to be announced unnamed third party.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
shimaspawn from Here and Now Since: May, 2010 Relationship Status: In your bunk
#100228: Sep 8th 2015 at 11:01:15 PM

It is. That is why they have been closing DM Vs at such a rapid rate in the wake of Motorvoter. It's having a side effect of making I Ds harder to get.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Skycobra51 A suitable case for treatment from The US of A Since: Nov, 2013 Relationship Status: Only knew I loved her when I let her go
A suitable case for treatment
#100229: Sep 8th 2015 at 11:05:28 PM

I've never liked the DMV, especially the one I went to in Maryland. The people working there were very unpleasant, more so if you were white.

Though this might be an isolated incident.

[up][up] Good luck with that. Third Parties are ultimately meaningless in a two party system.

edited 8th Sep '15 11:25:25 PM by Skycobra51

Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#100230: Sep 8th 2015 at 11:53:06 PM

Then again it could be worse. Over here the Government closed all our equivalent of DMV (DVLA) offices. Everything is being moved online or to Post Officesnote .

edited 8th Sep '15 11:54:13 PM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#100231: Sep 9th 2015 at 12:04:00 AM

I will now endorse the racist republicans over the otherwise sensible liberals and progressives, becuase any citizen documentation is better than what you have.
You're endorsing the party that wants to PREVENT minorities from getting official identification? WTF, dude.
the logistics would probably be nightmarish to the bureaucrats
Not really. If you go into the DMV with everything you need, fill out the forms correctly, you'll have a new license in 2-3 hours tops, IMX. Less than that if you schedule an appointment so they are expecting you. Registering a vehicle takes much longer than just getting an ID card. And if it was mandatory, maybe states/localities would hire more people to do it.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#100232: Sep 9th 2015 at 12:45:28 AM

Eh, I've been to the DMV a couple times here in Texas, and aside from the hellishly long wait the employees there were polite and helpful. It's one of those things where it varies, really.

The thing is that they really ought to NOT close down DM Vs or cut back their hours because they offer vital services. And frankly I'd say keep them open after the regular business hours, perhaps by cutting down on morning hours or just plain hiring more people. Also, making it so you can get ID at colleges. Because if gun licenses can count as valid ID then sure as fuck an college ID ought to be able to as well.

DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#100233: Sep 9th 2015 at 3:22:14 AM

Because "fweedum".
Genuine question: Can we consider "freedom" a buzzword these days, at least in the US context? Because I get the feeling it's being used a justification for about everything.tongue

"Why did the chicken cross the road? Because FREEDOM!"

edited 9th Sep '15 3:24:23 AM by DrunkenNordmann

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
Iaculus Pronounced YAK-you-luss from England Since: May, 2010
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
#100234: Sep 9th 2015 at 4:37:48 AM

From a Kim Davis protest, americanright.jpg.

What's precedent ever done for us?
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#100235: Sep 9th 2015 at 5:00:55 AM

[up][up] More or less. It's a form of ad hominem — you don't support [conservative talking point]? You are against Freedom.

edited 9th Sep '15 6:29:41 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#100236: Sep 9th 2015 at 5:47:22 AM

National mood getting worse due to Trump the election campaigning.

Warning: This presidential campaign may be harmful to your emotional well-being. Seriously, there is some evidence that just as the country was starting to feel good about itself, the presidential campaign, while drawing intense interest, is turning into the year's biggest buzz killer.

Last September, 50% of people responding to a CNN/ORC International poll said they believed that "things are going" either "very well" or "fairly well" in the country. It was the first time that at least half of the poll respondents felt that good about the state of the nation since April, 2013, and only the sixth time that measure, which is asked every few months, cracked the 50% mark since August, 2006. It was not a fluke. Two months later, 52% of people said things were going "very well" or "fairly well" in the country. And in March of this year, 53% of people polled said they felt that way.

But then, this summer the presidential campaign heated up, and the country's mood went south. In May, the percentage of people who felt things were going relatively well dropped six points to 47%, and last month that number came in at 48%. Keep in mind, this more pessimistic turn occurred at a time of an improving economy, falling unemployment, tumbling gas prices, low inflation, rising housing prices and no terrorist attack that caused mass casualties.

What turned our blue skies gray? There are probably a number of reasons. Or maybe just one: a presidential campaign. More specifically a presidential campaign dominated by Donald Trump and others who are pounding out a message that things are just terrible.

Take, for example, what Trump said at a recent press conference on Thursday. "Our country could be doing much better," he told reporters and supporters in a typical riff. "We have deficits that are enormous. We have all bad trade agreements. We have an army that the head says is not prepared. We have a military that needs help, especially in these times. We have nuclear weapons that — you look at '60 Minutes' — that don't even work; if anybody saw that report. The phones don't work. They're 40-years-old. They have wires that don't work. "Nothing works. Our country doesn't work. Everybody wins except us."

"When so much of the attention is going to a candidate or candidates whose sole role is to say that the country is going to hell in a handbasket and only I can make it better, that can have an impact on the public mood," says Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. To be sure, the country still faces major problems. Wages remain stagnant. ISIS continues its brutality in the Middle East and threatens attacks on the homeland. College and health care costs remain obscenely high.

But with the possible exception of violent crime — an important exception indeed — it is hard to argue that any of these problem have gotten significantly worse in the year since Americans began to express relative happiness in the country's state of affairs. The images of undocumented children swarming across the border have faded. The Ebola scare has come and gone. No American has been beheaded by ISIS in nearly a year.

It is, of course, not surprising for candidates in the party out of the White House to paint a picture using the colors of impending doom. "It is certainly the case that one of the effects of a presidential campaign is that one side will be raising criticism of the incumbent administration and the job it is doing," says Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School Poll. "So it is not unreasonable to think that when voters hear messages from their candidate we would expect them to become more negative about the state of the country."

And as Republican candidates, especially Trump, keep up a constant drumbeat on how terrible things are, their loyalists' moods followed suit. Indeed the biggest slump in the country's mood occurred in Republicans. In March, 33% of Republicans told CNN that things were going "very" or "pretty well" in the country. By August that figure had dropped to 21%. Notably, the biggest falloff is seen in men, people making less than $50,000 a year and those who have not attended college — the core of Trump's support.

Could it be that candidates like Trump are not just tapping into the voters' anger, but also fomenting it? "There is this subset that is unhappy culturally, economically, internationally," says Christine Matthews, president of Bellwether Research, a Republican polling firm. "He is sort of exacerbating this alienation and anger and bringing it out."

Democrats also have to take some blame for the country's increasingly dour mood. Without an incumbent running for re-election, or a vice president running to replace his boss — at least not yet — there is no one giving a full-throated defense of the status quo. Hillary Clinton comes the closest, but she has been careful not to suggest things are just fine. And the most energy on the Democratic side is being generated by Bernie Sanders, who doesn't let a day go by without reminding everyone how the middle class is being screwed.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#100237: Sep 9th 2015 at 6:21:44 AM

Well, they aren't wrong. Trump isn't even wrong on many of those talking points. Is it bad juju to tell the truth in politics?

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Skycobra51 A suitable case for treatment from The US of A Since: Nov, 2013 Relationship Status: Only knew I loved her when I let her go
A suitable case for treatment
#100238: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:08:00 AM

[up]Pretty much in this day and age.

Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.
Kayeka (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#100239: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:20:11 AM

[up][up]Not so much bad juju, but mostly because fixing a lot of those things would require money, which requires higher taxes. Nobody is going to make promises that might involve raising taxes.

edited 9th Sep '15 7:20:26 AM by Kayeka

Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#100240: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:21:53 AM

Well the Democrats only want to raise taxes on the rich.

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#100241: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:40:37 AM

So I have a question about an earlier discussion. When the chat was about white working voters and stuff. What...how...how did you people get this info? I assume it is post-election surveys? The U.S does not keep track of who votes for whom to the level of being able to tell what race and socioeconomic class of people voted for whom, right?

...

Right? Those were all after surveys?

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#100242: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:41:25 AM

Almost all demographic information used in the current political environment is based on surveys of one sort or another, including the parties' internal registration data.

edited 9th Sep '15 7:41:33 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#100243: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:41:52 AM

They generally have people at the polls that ask you who you voted for and what your ethnic and economic background is.

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#100244: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:42:42 AM

But. Like. They are non government official surveys, right?

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#100245: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:45:14 AM

Correct. The government is forbidden by law from associating votes with personally identifiable information.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#100246: Sep 9th 2015 at 7:46:13 AM

Oh. Ok. Good. Got me scared for a bit was like "Dayum, U.S. You got orwellian and I did not even notice good fucking job"

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#100247: Sep 9th 2015 at 8:08:25 AM

They're usually done by news organizations. CNN had some interesting statistics during the 2012 election.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#100248: Sep 9th 2015 at 8:32:51 AM

Political parties will often also do it themselves, so that they've got some idea of if the number of people saying "yeah I'm gonna go vote for you just after I've had lunch" is the same as the number actually turning up and voting for them.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
BonsaiForest Since: Jan, 2001
#100249: Sep 9th 2015 at 9:12:00 AM

Although my child doesn't have autism, his abilities are constrained by congenital hydrocephalus, a traumatic brain injury at the age of 5, developmental disabilities, and seizures. Although financial provisions are in place for the remainder of his days, the source of his long-term care and living arrangements remains a constant worry for me and his mother. The services provided by governmental agencies are constrained by their budgets — and the likelihood that in this political and anti-tax environment tthose budgets will improve is virtually nil.

And now there is a concerted effort by the government to de-fund his (and all) sheltered workplaces — with no alternatives other than "enhanced placement services" to "mainstream" him and many others in the "community at large". It is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to rid the government of providing needed care and services for the developmentally and physically disabled. These individuals will never find employment capable of providing a living wage — if they can find employment at all.

The same "enhanced services" were promised for the mentally disabled when the government chose to close sponsored facilities for their care. We know how that turned out. Now the mentally disabled roam the streets, homeless and uncared for except when jailed for acting out. Our society (and out politicians in particular) are turning their backs on the disabled.

From the comments of this article. While there's a lot of talk of racial minorities, there are other minorities who are ignored and neglected, who can end up costing a lot of money to warehouse (keep in jail) or take care of. This is something I don't see politicians talking about at all.

Skycobra51 A suitable case for treatment from The US of A Since: Nov, 2013 Relationship Status: Only knew I loved her when I let her go
A suitable case for treatment
#100250: Sep 9th 2015 at 9:32:21 AM

"The same "enhanced services" were promised for the mentally disabled when the government chose to close sponsored facilities for their care. We know how that turned out."

There's a reason we got rid of Insane Assylums. The conditions were apalling and patients were often mistreated.

edited 9th Sep '15 9:37:27 AM by Skycobra51

Look upon my privilege ye mighty and despair.

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