I was writing a fantasy story with a Cree friend of mine that included realistic representation of Native American culture. We did extensive research to incorporate elements of the Cree, Haudenoshone, and Tlingit mythology and culture derived specifically from non-white sources. I don’t have a doctorate or anything, but I know what I’m talking about.

Ownership is probably the wrong word, but you can’t overstate the importance of a horse to a Native American. “He took my horse so I stabbed him” would get a bunch of approving nods.

I still have burn scars on my knuckles from working at a bagel restaurant that used one of those when I was a teenager.

They still had private property. You try to take a man’s only horse and you think he is going to be okay with it?

BMW driver’s can’t even change a tire in my experience.

I’ve said it before. If a leftist candidate can’t beat a liberal, how they hell do you expect them to beat a conservative?

We aren’t copying the Nazis. The Nazis were copying us.

Kids of MAGA parents out there, remember to take your parent’s ID the day before election day.

They do other things besides just rule on Trump. There are a lot of crimes and lawsuits that need judges. Without that the whole justice system collapses.

Besides that, quite a few of these judged have decided against Trump. Just last Wednesday a Trump appointed judge blocked an attempt from Trump to get Michigan’s voter rolls. Once they have their sweet lifetime appointments, a Trump has nothing to offer them.

If there are not enough judges, do you think the government will stop arresting people? No, the judicial system will just grind to a halt which will make it even easier for Trump to break the law.

I’ve definitely seen a couple places here in Chicago with $11 milkshakes. Jojo’s Shake Bar comes to mind.

There’s no pleasing you, is there?

One would think, but a lot of people are miseducated as to the cause and effect of these things (to put it as politely as I can).

The United States works a lot more like the EU than any individual country. Each state has its own politics and leadership. Some states try to make things easier, some try to make things harder, and it can all flip from one election to another. It makes it very hard to make any kind of progress. A passport would work as ID just about anywhere, but less than half of Americans have one. I don’t (and I’ve been out of the country a couple times).

It prompted me to make an account and that’s when it asked for credit card info. Apparently the sync requires purchase, but it looks like it can be used without that functionality.

I love it when they ask for a credit card first thing to create an account.

I live in an area of the country that was explored by the French, so the names of many towns, rivers, etc are French. Locals seem to delight in butchering the French pronunciations as much as possible. Not a single one is pronounced anywhere close to correct. There is definitely an element of brotherly teasing to it.

If you are the type of person who cares about the government knowing you have a gun, you will certainly acquire it through a transaction between private parties.

That the thing, and ID requirement sounds reasonable but it really isn’t in the US.

First, there is no national ID. The closest we have is out Social Security Card, but that’s just a number. There is no photo or other identifying information. Every state issues drivers licenses, but those can vary widely.

For example, Arizona drivers licenses don’t expire until the person is 65 which makes them terrible for identification purposes. Imagine looking at a driver’s license photo taken at age 16 and trying to figure out if that is the same 60 year old person standing in front of you.

There are birth certificates, but those alone aren’t positive identification either. There is no federal requirement to have one, though most people do. Still, there are about 60,000 babies born outside hospitals who may or may not ever get a birth certificate. These parents are often antigovernment and think they are doing their kids a favor by hiding them from the feds.

Then there is the issue of ID requiring a permanent address. Native American reservations do not get federal mail service, so they don’t have addresses. They use post office boxes to get mail, bit those aren’t valid for ID purposes. There are also people who live out of cars, RVs, or a simply homeless who nonetheless are citizens with a right to vote.

My partner had all their IDs lost in a fire., so I’ve gone through the process of getting a new ones and it is a nightmare. First, you need a copy of your birth certificate. But they won’t give that without some sort of proof of identity. That means we had to go to my partners gynecologist (the only doctor they had been to in this state) and get a letter swearing their identity and to their bank for proof of address. Then we could order a copy (plus fees) from their home state which we had to wait for a physical copy to be mailed.

Once that arrived, we were able to fill out the forms to get a temporary social security card (have to wait for the real one to come in the mail). After that we went to the Department of Motor Vehicles (which always has a huge wait) to present all the previous forms to get a state ID (a driver’s license would have required a written test, an eye test, and a driving test as well).

This all took us a couple hours a day for more than a week of going to various offices, being told we needed other forms, getting those forms, coming back, and so forth. Imagine trying to do that with a car, or in a rural location where offices could be an hour drive apart, or trying to do that while holding down two jobs.

The general point I am making here is that if you are poor, a minority, rurally located, or simply someone who falls outside the average, getting an ID can be a significant hurdle to the basic democratic right to vote.

Crash the economy, which makes people afraid. Scared people are more likely to vote for a strongman.