@raphjd said in UK Supreme Court rules on passport sex:

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that UK passports MUST include sex.

According to the ruling, there is no human right, under common law or statute, to NOT have your sex listed. This also includes there being no right to have one of the countless made up genders on your passport.

I don't know if the ruling also includes "other official documents" (see next paragraph), but from the articles and videos I have seen, seems to say that it will be due to the previous ruling on the topic.

This has nothing to do with transgenderism since they already ruled on that saying that trans people have the right to change their sex on their passports and other official documents. This was settled decades ago. I believe it was in the 1970s.

Just trying to clarify here, but according to this ruling:

• You can be listed as Male, Female, or maybe even something different (maybe T for trans? I don't know - that's not my point)
• BUT, you cannot leave the "sex" (which should be gender, but that's another topic entirely) BLANK

There is a very small section of society - specifically, the intersex community - that will object to this...

But essentially, they're saying you MUST CHOOSE when creating your passport - "none" is not an option!

Honestly, this is such an easy question for over 98% of us, but such a HARD one for that remaining nearly 2%... my question is: why do we (the 98%) fear and loath the 2%? Why can't we be more tolerant?

I mean we, as homosexuals, claim "it's not a choice! It's the way God made me, and I'm beautiful just the way He made me! Accept me for who I am and how I was created!" But, along comes an intersex person - who has an even MORE compelling argument for "God made me this way", and we (the Gay Community) are like: no, you have to be like one of us... choose: Gay or Straight!

Please, however, do not conflate intersex (who are born gender-ambiguous) with trans (who may or may not also be inter-sex at birth)...

Interestingly, Google states that the percentage of intersex people in the population is about the same as the percentage with red hair! Statistics!

@raphjd said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

@bi4smooth said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

The Government shouldn't be able to force everyone to get a vaccine, but your employer should have that right - even if your employer is the Government!

And you want us to believe that you don't believe that businesses have more "human rights" than people.

Dude, you've continuously suggested that businesses should be treated like governments - and when I say otherwise, you (as is your most common tactic) jump to this absurd statement that businesses have more rights than people... and this all ties back to your being butt-hurt because Facebook edited (or even censored - did your facebook get banned?) you, which you claim is a violation of your 1st Amendment Rights!

Again: NO - as has been discussed recently: the 1st Amendment has nothing to do with individuals, groups, businesses, or corporations limiting your speech... it SOLELY protects you from the Government limiting your speech... and Facebook IS NOT the Government!

Every time you say something about businesses, I just envision every dystopian movie/book/video game.

Yes, I agree - you are myopic when it comes to a business (like Facebook or Twitter) limiting your speech... but, as I've noted on here before:

• YOU are the Administrator here! Have you not EVER taken action against someone here because of something that they have posted?
• You represent the business of GT.ru, and when you take "editorial" action - whether in the Forum, or with regard to a torrent - you are doing so with the exact same rights as Facebook is when they alter or remove your posts (or Twitter, for that matter)!
• That you and Facebook and Twitter have different "trigger points" as to what you find objectionable on your platform is immaterial!

Just be honest, you believe that businesses should own us like chattel slavery. You're the modern-day Anthony Johnson.

Get hyperbolic much? I'm guessing this absurd jump is tied to my assertion that businesses DO have the right to require things like vaccinations or masks for their employees.

You CONTINUALLY suggest that YOUR FREEDOMS supersede the freedoms of others! But dude, it's a balance - and that's been a HUGE MAJORITY of what our COURTS have been asked to decide since the beginning!

• it is unreasonable for you to brandish a weapon (gun or otherwise) when my dog wanders into your yard to relieve itself?
• What if I led the don onto your property - knowing we (me and the dog) were unwanted?
• What if there were signs warning of dire consequences?
• What if...???
  And that's JUST the animal control courts!

But what makes US (Western Democracies) different is that we believe the Governments rule by consent of the governed... and we have put CONSTRAINTS on what the Government can and cannot do!

There are, of course, constraints on what PEOPLE (individuals, groups, businesses, etc) can do as well - but those are DIFFERENT! People have MORE RIGHTS than the Government!

If you don't like that, you can try living somewhere like N Korea - where the Government has no limits, and the leader is revered and considered infallible!

NOTE 1: Anthony Johnson was the black former indentured servant who refused to let one of his indentured servants go and the resulting court case gave the US (pre US actually) chattel slavery. At the time of the court case, Johnson had 4 white indentured servants and 1 black indentured servant. Casor became the first chattel slave in what was to become the US.

NOTE 2: John Punch was the 1st lifetime slave, as ordered by the court because he fled his IS master. His case is different because he illegally tried to break his IS contract. Also, in the court case, only he was a lifetime slave. Any spouse or offspring he may have had or later gotten would not be slaves, as well, as opposed to the Casor case. Punch's legal status was that of a lifetime IS, as opposed to Casor who was legal property. Punch retained some of his rights, Casor did not.

Thanks for the history lesson, but slavery pre-dates the discovery of America - by thousands of years (even the discovery by "native" tribes, much less by Whites) - and is mentioned (even "accepted") by the Jewish Torah, Christian Bible, and Islam's Koran... the idea that "slavery" is a "moral abomination" is relatively NEW in human history, and runs counter to religious dogma that was in place for millennia before...

NO! That is not a pro-slavery argument! That is a recognition that we HUMANS are constantly trying to improve ourselves... sometimes we make "progress", and sometimes not so much... but from that societal perspective, would we believe the same if the South had won the US Civil War and there was still a Confederacy?

@raphjd said in NYC Dem councilwoman is racist against latinos:

@bi4smooth

But, you voted for Biden and support every CCP/DNC policy.

You are NOT a Reagan Repub. You are the complete opposite.

The only Repubs you like are Pelosi's whores.

@raphjd the mind reader strikes again... oops, forgot a word in there...

@raphjd the mind reader strikes out again...

I actually campaigned for Reagan in 1980 and 1984! Someplace in my garage, I still have much of that campaign stiuff: buttons, stickers, a scarf, maybe a hat...

I supported Bush in 88, but didn't campaign for him - I was too busy working!

But of course, @raphjd knows that better than me! he's had me under surveillance since 1980!

Yeah! That's the ticket!

@raphjd said in UK liberal media reporting on health issues:

I don't know - "too much freedom" can be daunting. In the 1970's and 1980's there were a number of Soviet dissidents that made it to the US as political refugees.... they were unable to function in a simple grocery store. How do you choose between 50 different kinds of toilet paper, when you've only known ONE? Or breakfast cereals?

The point here isn't that freedom is bad - only that it can be overwhelming... and stressful!

I have seen this in some of my own children when they first move away from home. They thought they were prepared, but then they have to remember to pay the rent, the power, the water, the insurance, the garbage, the cable, the Internet, the credit cards... ALL THOSE BILLS! Then you also have to make your own Dr & dentist appointments, AND schedule the time off from work, AND convince your boss you're not "playing hookie" AND deal with / plan for the reduction of income because you're not working all of your regular shifts... and and and!

It's overwhelming at first... but you adjust (I refer to it as "Adulting 101")

But adding stress DOES often result in cardiac issues... but that doesn't mean all stress is bad!

Suicide rates SKYROCKET around the holidays... but that doesn't mean we cancel Christmas!

@geobear40 said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

@bi4smooth
Being straight or gay is not a "lifestyle" and if you think that you are still pretending to be something and not being yourself.

Your vocabulary is insufficient here... perhaps you're confusing "lifestyle" with "orientation" or "desire"??? I don't know - but:

A "lifestyle" is how you choose to live... and that means it's a way of BEHAVING. I am trying to live a more active lifestyle as part of my "healthy living" initiative... that means I choose to do more active things: like walking and riding my new bicycle!

When I have been in relationships (including a 15-year marriage to one) with women, I have chosen to only have sex with them! That's a monogamous, straight, lifestyle! Straight in that I only had sex with women, or more grammatically correct: a woman! THAT woman! It does NOT mean I lost my attraction to men - or other women, for that matter - only that I choose to not act on those desires while I'm in a relationship!

Likewise, when I have been (as I am currently) in a relationship with a man, I chose (and currently choose) to only have sex with him! That's a monogamous, gay, lifestyle! Gay in that I only had (have) sex with men (him)! It doesn't mean I have lost my attraction to women - or to other men, for that matter - only that I choose to not act on those desires while I'm in this relationship!

There have been other times in my life that I've chosen to be monogamous... as well as times I have chosen NOT to be... But never - since the age of 12, and I first came to terms with the fact that I was neither gay nor straight - have I deluded myself into thinking my attraction to other people could be controlled or changed. This is the way "my wiring" works, and I'm fine with it.

My sexual desires (fantasies) do not change when I'm in a relationship - only my chosen behavior does! If you behave the same in a relationship as you did before the relationship, then that's you - and you should be you. But I'm glad I AM NOT dating you!

Or, perhaps you are of the misguided belief that my ex-wife didn't know I was pan-sexual? Before we even dated, much less had sex, got married, had kids, adopted more kids, and later got divorced!

Or, perhaps you thought I somehow hid my NINE CHILDREN and their mother from my former fiance? Or even my current boyfriend?

Or, maybe you, as so many others - ESPECIALLY GAY MEN, in my personal experience - want to force my sexual orientation into one of your neat & tidy little labels.

Mind you - I'm not saying I can (or do) choose to be straight or gay... it's not a "binary" equation!

I AM pansexual: my physical attraction goes either way, and my emotional attraction to someone does not depend on their sexual equipment! I have no difficulty being satisfied - sexually and emotionally - by a woman (as evidenced by a 15-year faithful marriage to one!); nor do I have any difficulty doing the same with a man (as evidenced by the 5-year relationship with a man - one that ended in tragedy, not divorce).

But more importantly, I am describing ME, and ONLY ME!

I do not have the HUBRIS (or gall!) to tell others what THEY should do! While I may be perfectly fine spending 15 years with a woman, and forsaking all others - including (especially?) men - while I was in that marriage; that doesn't mean YOU would (or should) be!
I might be equally fine trading in a wife for a husband... but that doesn't mean YOU should (or could) be!
I might be fine living monogamously when I'm in a relationship! But, that doesn't mean YOU should (or have to) be!

Maybe that is why you think of the government as your parent telling you how you should live your life.

You've got the wrong straw-man, my friend... I am no friend of big-government! As I've stated in another thread, I'm just as much against the NY Governor mandating masks in her State as I am against the FL Governor prohibiting mask requirements in his State! The pandemic's effects are not evenly distributed - and the best place to make decisions like that is in the LOCAL governments!

If NYC (or Jackonville, FL) is having a COVID-19 outbreak, they should be allowed to enact a local mask mandate, and to lift it when the danger passes. But the folks in Lake Placid (or Lake Panasoffkee) shouldn't have to mask up because there is an outbreak hundreds of miles away!

Now, if your stance is that we shouldn't have any kind of public-health response to COVID-19 - just let people do what they want to do - well, that's just anarchy... and I'm not an anarchist. We DO need SOME rules, otherwise society breaks down.

Again, my personally: I'd rather local mask mandates on an as-needed basis than a national (or state) wide vaccine mandate! But the vaccine question takes us back to the "your private employer is not the same as the government" argument.

The Government shouldn't be able to force everyone to get a vaccine, but your employer should have that right - even if your employer is the Government!

Want simpler answers? Go back to 2nd Grade! This is real-world stuff... this shit gets complicated FAST!

To hear some folks on this forum describe things, elections workers are some of the dumbest, most east to fool people on the planet!

Why, just steal a bunch of ballots, or print your own, stick them in the mail, and Bob's Your Uncle, you've swayed the election!

Truth be told, these folks are a lot smarter than you think... to wit:

• 3 nit-wits in Florida have been arrested in recent weeks for vote fraud (source)
• One of them voted in Fla and also in NY; another in Fla and in MI (news flash: even though they're independent, the elections offices in the different states share voter info!) - SLAM! Felony! (2020 will be the LAST election they vote in for a while: in Fla, felons cannot vote!)
• One of them voted in person AND by absentee ballot (news flash: the ballots are coded! When you vote in person, the ballot they give you is recorded. When they mail you a ballot, the ballot they give you is recorded! They get two from you, and - SLAM! Felony!

All 3 appear to have been Trump supporters (2 are registered Republicans, the 3rd is registered with no party affiliation)

The problem here is, when you have the President of the US telling you HOW EASY it is to commit vote fraud, you get folks like these who hear that crap and believe it (i.e. don't see it as political posturing, but as reality!) Then - of course, since it's so easy - they decide to help out their candidate as best they can! By doing that easy thing: voting multiple times.

Except those claims that vote fraud is easy are LIES!

The people who run our elections are professionals who don't just do this once every 4 years! They run elections (state and local offices - my area even votes for who gets to run the volunteer fire department!) multiple times, in multiple jurisdictions, every year! The Presidential ones just have more press (and more people who participate!)

These 3 people are NOT a statistical anomaly - there is some level of attempted fraud every election! The point is, our professional Supervisors of Elections have policies and procedures in place that CATCH them! EVEN when multiple States are involved!

And because they get caught so often, the numbers of people ATTEMPTING to defraud the system gets lower and lower most elections...

Long story short: our elections are run by seasoned professionals, and the results are accurate. Trump really did lose - legitimately!

Oh! And one more thing: vote fraud is non-partisan! Just as many fraudulent attempts to vote happen in support of Dem candidates as Republican ones! So you liberal nannies (ninnies) out there who want to "make hay" about the fact that these 3 happened to support Trump? Be careful throwing stones! There are Democrats who are this DUMB too!

@geobear40 said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

@bi4smooth
No not at all. Does Bi 4 smooth mean you are a married man who like boys?

I used the name bi4smooth because:

• throughout my life, I have been self-described as bisexual, omnisexual, and pansexual... in 2008, when I created this account, I guess I was in a "bi" phase...
• The reality of my sexual proclivities... is none of your damned business?!?!
• I have been married once (to a woman) and engaged one other time (to a man)... in a cruel twist of fate, my ex-wife survives to this day, while my ex-fiance was taken from me before our marriage (by a medical mis-diagnosis)...

Since you are so intensely interested in my sex life, let me add:

• when I was married (to a woman), I led a "straight" lifestyle... as-in, I did not cheat on my wife (except in my fantasies)
• when I was engaged (to a man) I led a "gay" lifestyle.... as-in, I did not cheat on my man (except in my fantasies)
• 2 years ago, as I was single, I was open to dating men or women
• as-of a little over a year ago, I've been dating a man. Even though we're not "committed", I am currently monogamous with him (except in my fantasies)

@eobox91103 said in USA! USA! #1 USA!:

@bi4smooth I do indeed get the joke...but it would have been just the same if the caption had read "chemistry team" instead of "math team." This makes one wonder why someone would put on an erroneous caption, when the real one would work just fine. It reminds us to check the veracity of graffiti on the electronic superhighway.

Maybe - just maybe - they didn't know where the pic came from originally? I mean, if you have the idea for the "meme", you generally just look thru pics to find the right one! Or, it works the other way - you see the pic and the meme/caption just comes to you!

Still over-thinking this!!

Talk about over-cooking the soup!

The original post was supposed to be a joke - an attempt to create an Internet Meme!

The validity of the picture or the caption isn't at issue... it's supposed to be funny that America beat the Chinese, but "had to use Chinese immigrants" to do it!

HARDY HAR HAR HAR!

OK, so the racist humor was lost on you... but at least recognize that it was never intended to be more than a joke?

@geobear40 said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

@bi4smooth
Well then Lord Bi4smooth has spoken. Science is settled until his Royal highness Fauci who is science changes again.

Thanks for the title, but I must refuse... the US doesn't recognize peerage, except when traveling to foreign countries where it is practiced.

(Sarcasm alert!)

If the ability to apply critical thinking to random posts that clearly are false and/or misleading is threatening to you, well I'm sorry...

@geobear40 said in NYC Dem councilwoman is racist against latinos:

@bi4smooth
You have drink the Kool-Aid.

I bet you are a RINO.

Yeah, I've been faking being a registered Republican since 1980, when I first voted for Reagan... been faking it in every election (presidential or otherwise), voting Republican probably 80-90% of the time? since then...

That sure sounds like a RINO to me!

(Sarcasm alert!)

@boltvolts said in Racism of Low Expectations:

I lived in Oregon for 20 years before coming to Italy. The mentality of Oregonians is interesting. Hyper-right-wing groups exist in most of the geography of the state, but population centers in Eugene, Salem, and Portland along with some low-population coastal centers swing politics hard left.

Eugene was the destination of Haight-Ashbury hippie culture, ported there by the Green Tortoise bus line from Lowell, just outside Eugene. I had a home in Lowell overlooking the lake and the old Green Tortoise bus depot.

San Francisco pressured hippies out, and there was a steady stream of buses going from SF to Eugene. The Grateful Dead and abundant marijuana culture, tie-dye, and the rest came along for the ride. Funny... those hippies are now the white-collar group, and advancing "norms" that take one back to the 60's in the need to fight the "establishment".

Along comes our lesbian friend and governor, but since her governership took hold in Oregon, both sides of the fence are universally lamenting the extent of absence of presence in decision making from Salem ever since. Nothing much there makes sense.

Oregon is not that different, then, than - for example - Florida: if you're within 20-30 miles of the coast, you're most-likely a centrist or democrat. However, once you get into the interior, the Republicans rule with an iron-fist!

There are some exceptions: Miami-Dade is relatively even, thanks to the Cuban-Americans who favor Republican politics in general.

@boltvolts said in NYC Dem councilwoman is racist against latinos:

@bi4smooth Again, your utter disrespect with a hair trigger is worse than absurd, but self revealing, and knows no bounds. The Latin legal concept of "is repsa loquitor" has never been more appropriate.

The term conspiracy theory is excessively utilized, becoming not only cliché but annoying. One can easily dismiss any sort of opposing viewpoint as conspiracy theory, straight out of propagandist's playbooks.

Had the labor revolution where worker rights became protected by unions needed at the time were attempted today, mistreatment of workers would be conspiracy theory.

I'm sorry, but the idea that some secret cabal is secretly monopolizing and controlling the world from behind-the-scenes because they're obscenely rich is, to my mind, a text-book case of a conspiracy theory!

I understand your point... if you don't accept the premise of an underlying argument, almost any opposing viewpoint can be considered a conspiracy theory... but I didn't use that term "loosely"....

For example, I don't consider the "Trump lost because of vote fraud" to be a "conspiracy theory" - it's just a lie! They proposed an idea and suggested that they had proof... and that proof never materialized! Some (like Pillow-Man) continue to claim that they have NEW information that confirms "the Big Steal" - but it never materializes, and it's not a conspiracy - because they're not proposing that "it's secret" and "there's nothing you can DO about it" - they're using it to advertise their "traveling show" of ultra-right-wing propaganda tours... it's a LIE not a conspiracy theory!

@subhypnopup said in Can't seed anymore! uTorrent says offline timed out for each torrent I was seeding!:

I'm not seeing an offline/timeout, but I recently joined and downloaded two torrents, and neither of them appear to be seeding at all. There are peers connected but nothing is being uploaded even though I am trying to seed and have a better ratio. Am able to see the backend linked above, so that does not appear to be part of the problem. Help?

So there are multiple connections going on here:

• your client has to successfully register to the tracker (that's the connection I think you're seeing)
• the tracker then has to provide your information to leechers (your IP address and port - where you TOLD the tracker you were...)
• some leecher has to actually GET that info from the tracker
• some leecher then has to connect to you!

It is a common misconception that all connections go through the tracker... they do not.

It is a common misconception that the ability to register with the tracker = the ability to seed content... it does not!

If I have read your statement correctly, you can register your seeding torrent with the tracker, but no one is ever leeching from you... in which case, I would check your connectivity... you have to be reachable (by others) at the IP address and port number you provided to the tracker...

In the "old days" that always meant getting/setting the port number in the client, opening the firewall on your system for that port, and then configuring a port forward in your router to "static nat" port-forward that port on your router to your system.

Modern routers and modern torrent clients have a way to manage that automagically - and if you use a VPN (like NordVPN), the VPN client can often do that too...

@boltvolts said in NYC Dem councilwoman is racist against latinos:

@geobear40 This has happened in other states, where postal workers admitted to collecting unclaimed ballots from mailboxes where obviously no one was collecting their mail (moved, vacant or otherwise).

Again, you make the ABSURD assumption that being in possession of a ballot makes that ballot valid!

During the 2020 election cycle, my daughter attended college in NC, moved to a new apartment (back in Fla) upon graduation, then moved again when her new roommates were "incompatible" with her... she had ballots (from Florida) mailed to her college mail address (because she forgot to change her address with the SoE), then requested a ballot be sent to her first apartment's address, then requested another ballot be sent to her eventual address... that's THREE ballots that the SoE has on record as having been sent to her...

But only 1 can be used to vote, and it has to have her signature on the back of the sealed envelope that it must be returned in....

• Returned in a different envelope invalidates the ballot
• Returned with no signature, or one that doesn't match, invalidates the ballot
• Returning multiples, in their proper envelopes, and with a valid signature is VOTE FRAUD, which is a felony in Fla.

These loose guns can swing any election. At the base of all election and voting are myriads of opportunity for fraud and manipulation.

Again, you assume that our election system is run by Elementary School dropouts who wouldn't know a case of voter fraud from a case of the measles!

I'll leave it to the reader as to WHO (the professional elections supervisors, or the gt.ru mouth-breather) is the "Elementary School dropout"...

The vote has become high theater. A distraction for we the masses while they negotiate back-room deals between the world's privileged and powerful... Bilderberger, G Summits, the Bohemian Grove. All seems to be a joke to them how they can celebrate the "abandonment of care" in strange rituals while deciding the fate of the world until the next gathering. Elections? Wow. If only they really worked the world could be a better place.

Conspiracy theorize much? You should consider joining the Church of Scientology! You'll love learning about Xenu!

@geobear40 said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

@bi4smooth
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/47-studies-confirm-inefectiveness-of-masks-for-covid-and-32-more-confirm-their-negative-health-effects/

https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/article/mandatory-masking-of-school-children-is-a-bad-idea/

So my statements are not false at best the science is not settled.

Again you put way to much trust in the Government and Lord Fauci

The CONSENSUS of Scientists is that the Earth is round and orbits the Sun... however, there are SOME SCIENTISTS who insist that the Earth is flat and that the Sun circles (not orbits) the Earth...

The CONSENSUS of Scientists is that masks DO WORK to slow the spread of aerated, respiratory viruses - like COVID-19. The permeability of the mask is of little consequence, as the point (work) of the mask isn't to block the virus itself, but to block the aeration/air flow and the water droplets that CARRY the virus.

I consider the flat-earth question settled, but admit that there are some that will never - EVER - be convinced.

I consider the mask issue settled, but admit that there are some (like yourself) that will never - EVER - be convinced.

@geobear40 said in NYC Dem councilwoman is racist against latinos:

Not in CA where non-citizens can receive a Drivers License. When applying for said document at a computer terminal you only need to type yes to registration and you are set. There is no review or oversite.

I believe you have this wrong. It may well be that it's as easy as a check-box IF you have otherwise proven your ID (here in Fla, you have to produce ID to get your first DL - birth certificate, SS card, and proof of residency)... if you've already provided that info, it is just a checkbox - but if you haven't provided that documentation, the checkbox isn't there for you...

I'm not in CA, but I have a hard time believing they're letting just anyone vote, state-wide (I know San Francisco allows all residents - regardless of legality or citizenship - to
vote in municipal elections, but they're a bunch of fruits and nuts in SF already, so where's the surprise? They still have to limit voting to citizens for state and federal elections.

Not that it really matters in CA we are a one party state.

That is a ridiculous statement: we have 11 Republican MoC from CA! Maybe statewide the Dems have a significant majority, but the Republican Party is not without strengths in that state!

You also give the government bureaucracy more credit then they are do DUE. They use outdated computer systems manned by party flunkies who don't really follow the rule if it hurts their chosen candidate. There are over 3000 counties in the US each with their own little dictator to determine how the votes are counted. Where could it possibility go wrong.

Where you see a weakness (3000 different voting systems), I see a strength - you cannot "hack" 3000 unique voting systems! Yes, there are isolated issues - and there would be as well if every single one used the same equipment and the same rules!

The Carter-Baker report was also skeptical toward voting by mail. “While vote by mail appears to increase turnout for federal elections, there is no evidence that it significantly expands participation in federal elections,” the report stated. “Moreover, it raises concerns about privacy, as citizens voting at home may come under pressure to vote for certain candidates, and it increases the risk of fraud.” It noted that Oregon “appears to have avoided significant fraud” with measures like signature verification. “Vote by mail is, however, likely to increase the risks of fraud and of contested elections in other states, where the population is more mobile, where there is some history of troubled elections, or where the safeguards of ballot integrity are weaker.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/161666/carter-baker-commission-report-republican-attacks-election-reform

Who said anything about mail-in-ballots supposing to increase turnout? The rise in mail-in-ballots was primarily due to the fucking pandemic! You remember that, right? The 800,000 US residents who got together to prank Trump and his followers by diving head-first into gravesites?

The difference between a Trump win was 43,000 vote in three states. The popular vote mean nothing, we have the Electoral College so that a minority a states can't decide for the majority.

Yes, yes, you can cherry-pick votes to make it seem like Trump was "this close" to a victory - the Dems did that for 4 years about Hillary's loss in 2016... what did it get them? 4 years of Trump as President! What does it give Trump supporters now? Likely 4 years of Biden in the White House... but potentially WORSE: some of that time, HARRIS could be President! (Now for someone like me, THAT is TRULY scary!)

@corbyn4life said in illegal file:

only way be sure is no allow ameater content

I'm sorry - but the only way to be sure you're not watching under-age porn is to not watch porn at all, and if that's your take, then kindly turn-in your membership to this site at the desk...

IMHO, efforts DO NEED to be taken - and they are here - but you don't slaughter the herd to avoid one black sheep!

@geobear40 said in NYC Dem councilwoman is racist against latinos:

@bi4smooth

Well here in Hellifornia (California) they mail every registered voter a ballot. So the state is awash with them. They allow illegals drivers licenses with motor voter laws and a corrupt DMV who really knows who is registered.

Your hyperbolic reaction to California's voter system is un-helpful. Florida has a "motor-voter law" too, but:

• Just because you can register to vote at the same time you renew your DL, doesn't mean you don't have to still prove your citizenship - in exactly the same way you would at the voter registration office - and actually fill out the EXACT SAME forms! What's different? The office you're in... that's it!!
• Your assumption/assertion that a mailed OUT ballot is untraceable and could be used by virtually anyone to actually vote is laughably false - even absurd. Here in Fla, they PUBLISH the ACTUAL BALLOT IMAGES - in the newspapers, and on their websites! You can print your own! BUT - You cannot actually VOTE with your own printed ballot (or the one from the paper) - the ones that are actually counted have to have been printed - with a serial number that is traceable to who it was sent to - by the elections office.

YES! There are voters who screw up and mail in invalid ballots - and those are thrown out. There are also idiots who vote in person and either under-vote or over-vote!
As they say: You can make a thing fool-proof, but you cannot make them damned-fool-proof - because damned-fools are just too ingenious! (Reference the annual Darwin awards).

Still, I find it incredulous that people just assume that mail-in balloting is somehow inherently insecure! Or that the people in the elections offices are totally clueless as to how the systems - that they've spent decades designing to be safe, secure, and easy - are so easily fooled!

Vote-by-mail has been in use in different parts of the country since the origins of the Republican Party! (History lesson: mail-in-ballots started in the Civil War!) Oregon has done EVERY election - SOLELY by mail-in-balloting - since 1998! The point is: we've had time to work out the kinks, and it's every bit as reliable as in-person voting!

The ONLY thing different in 2020 was that more people voted that way (because of the pandemic, maybe?) and Trump lost

Mind you, he lost the popular vote in 2016 too! The biggest difference between 2020 and 2016 was that in 2020 he (Trump) got 46.9% of the overall vote - pretty close to the 46.1% he got in 2016, but his opponent in 2020 got more than 50% of the vote! (IMHO: 2016 was a banner year for 3rd party candidates because MOST PEOPLE thought both major party candidates were untenable. As a result, the "also-rans" garnered an unusually large 5.7% of the overall vote (its usually closer to the 2-3% we saw in 2020!)

I'm sorry for the Trumpites - you lost, and lost by a reasonably wide margin. But I'm a life-long Republican - and WE WON in the down-ballot spaces in historical fashion! For an election where we LOST the top of the ticket, we did AMAZINGLY WELL in Congress, and even better in state-wide elections across the country!

If you claim Trump's loss was due to advanced election cheating, why do you presume that whomever accomplished this amazing feat, stopped at the top of the ticket? I mean, if these amazingly smart Dems (an oxymoron if I've ever seen one) could get ME (that's Maine, not me) to vote for Biden by altering the results, why couldn't they ALSO have replaced Sullivan in the Senate? If they were rigging the results, why didn't Jones get re-elected in AL? People believed it the FIRST time he was elected, why not a 2nd? While we're at it, if you're rigging the results for Biden in NH & VT, why would you allow Republicans to win those Governor's races? And WTF with NC? You rigged it so Trump wins for President there, but a Dem wins the Governor's mansion? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING

I'm sorry - but this whole "stolen election" think is sour-grapes from a sore-loser... because the excuses just don't add up!

@geobear40 said in Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rules Mask Mandate For School Children Is Illegal:

@bi4smooth
You are not following the science.

Children have a zero percent chance of dying from Covid 19.

FALSE

The studies that prove anything less then a N95 mask does nothing to stop the virus.

FALSE

The socialization and mental health harm to children forced to wear masks.

NOT SHOWN (I can't say FALSE here, because there haven't been any real studies... what HAS been shown is that the remote-learning experiment of 2020 was a colossal failure - few children were able to learn much of anything over zoom classrooms, and the vast majority essentially lost the year.)

IMHO, if the local area is in a COVID outbreak / hotzone, the local schools and/or school board should be allowed to require students and staff to wear masks.

The point of agreement here is that STATE-WIDE mandates - EITHER WAY : either requiring masks or not allowing masks - is state government overreach, and NATIONAL mask mandates are overreach by an order of magnitude worse!