Funny how powerful language can be. When I first read 1984 in my late teens/early 20s, I always thought that big chunk of the novel where Orwell discusses the use of language as a means of control was dry, boring and unrealistic.
It has become clear to me since, that it very well may have been his most prescient point.
Raise minimum wage? No, tax cuts for only certain low wage jobs instead. What are you gonna do, vote for the other parties we’ve forced off the ballots?
What a nothing story. Pretty much reads as, “we asked, they said we can’t talk about it but if anything happened we’re looking into it.”
Lonnie sucks. It’s too bad I’m not an incredibly rich asshole who can break laws regarding financial stuff, slander, and stochastic terrorism while getting away with it.
I opened the article. I didn’t read it. I think I might need another break from being online. It’s a difficult time to do that, as we’re about to travel to visit family. Being in airports, catching connecting flights, taking rideshares to hotels… without being online? I know we used to do this with books and music. I might be facing a trial from hell.
Will someone inform me why Americans have such a hard time acquiring ID and Passports? Why can’t they do it the way we do it over in Europe?
Show up at police station and identify yourself though various means.
Tell them if you want a passport or national ID. 3. Have your photo taken by a camera literally at the counter and make sure your information is correct.
Wait a couple of weeks.
Return to police station, pay the fee, and pick up your brand new ID or passport.
We don’t have a national ID, which is part of the issue. As a result, regular identification is by state depts (motor vehicles).
It also means for passports, you need to either fill out the form and mail it in, or visit a State Dept office for some expedited options (requires specific reasons to do so, requires an appointment).
In recent years, the Postmaster General has royally screwed the post office (that’s a whole separate thing, so I won’t go into that here. Short answer, Trump). So it runs pretty inefficiently, and that’s the main way that people are getting passports.
You forgot the primary reason is Republicans voting against anything that encourages budget increases or improves efficient processes for government agencies.
It was similar to that when I got my new passport early this year. Filled out a form online, printed it off, went to the post office, got my Pic taken there, gave them a check and two weeks later my new passport was mailed to me.
That’s how it has been in the US. Now, though, if you already have a passport, you can renew online and take the picture yourself, and get it mailed directly to you.
The thing that makes getting a passport slightly tricky to begin with in some circumstances is needing proper ID. In the US, there’s no generalized law saying that you have to have certain forms of ID. Most people use drivers licenses as ID, but obviously not everyone has one (by choice or as a consequence of drunk driving). There are a lot of people without ID, and there are ways to get ID, but they can be difficult for people without resources. A birth certificate is hard to get if you don’t have one already, especially if you don’t know where you were born.
Most states (maybe even all of them by now) offer a non-driver ID, which has just as much validity as ID as a drivers license, but isn’t valid for driving.
All that ID does is prove residence, though, it doesn’t prove citizenship. Most first-time applicants will also have to submit a birth certificate or other document proving citizenship. The USA has no other national document that proves citizenship. This service is for passport renewals, presumably the first time you apply for a passport you will still need to show up in person, with your documents.
It can be hit or miss with some particularly stupid government workers, but Passport Cards are very much a thing and qualify as Real ID Compliant.
As a passport it is only valid for like Canada and Mexico but it is well worth the extra 20 or 30 bucks when you get a passport. On travel it is a nice ID that you don’t REALLY care if it gets stolen (since your Driver’s License is back at the hotel). Also incredibly useful when you need multiple forms of ID for something.
But also would not be a horrible choice as a non-driver ID. Just a hassle to get one without a Driver’s License because 'murica.
which has just as much validity as ID as a drivers license
Only as valid as the government worker thinks it is. I had one of those and the passport office wouldn’t accept it as proof of identity. I wound up having to get a parent with a driver’s license to vouch for me, in addition to providing a ton of extra id like library card, school ids, etc.
I mean… that IS how you get a passport. Just replace “police station” with “post office”.
The issue is that the US is comparable in size to the EU. Even excluding the flyover states, people can spend an entire lifetime just going on domestic trips for holidays and the like.
So the vast majority of Americans see no need for a passport until they have booked their dream trip and realize that France is a different country. Hence the mad rush and expedited processing and so forth.
I personally make life more inconvenient for myself because I refuse to deal with booking time for photos at a post office or pay a pharmacy to do it for me so I end up spending ten minutes in gimp formatting things every N years. But that is very much a stupid me thing.
A spokesperson for MrBeast told the Times that the shoot was “unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues” and that a formal review of the show had started.
Yes. You put people in the hospital because of what happened with CrowdStrike.
Jesus Fucking Christ, this guy is awful. I hate philanthropy pornographers.
This might be the dumbest thing a candidate in this race has said and that bar is pretty high considering Trump might think political asylum and insane asylums are the same thing.
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