Posts Made By: Rod Kaufman

Originally Posted by Jim Moscheck

I didn't understand it before, but now that I'm paying over a dollar more for a gallon for gas, more for groceries, and way more for my utility bills I feel more patriotic. Thanks for making me understand that President Trump and your enablers in congress and fox news. Funny, didn't ever feel that way when prices were that high under Biden.  

I'm glad you're coming around to recognizing Fox as your news source where you'll find ample evidence of your faith in their reporting such as:

"Trump Proven Right On Iran..."

https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-proven-right-irans-long-range-missile-capability-regime-targets-us-uk-base-experts-say

Then, the thoughtful and reasoned reader comments that follow the article:
 
"Just imagine what this world would be looking like if Trump wasn’t elected president."

"The only way to stop them is to turn them into a parking lot."

"Notice how Dems side with Iran over Trump."

And the ultimate summation and truth: 

"This is what the world looks like when the world leaders respect and fear the American president."

"The Trump administration announced it will pay nearly $1 billion to French energy giant TotalEnergies in exchange for the company abandoning plans to build offshore wind farms in the Atlantic Ocean and instead pursue fossil fuel projects in the US."

"Ted Kelly, clean energy director at the Environmental Defense Fund, said the proposed deals "are an outrageous misuse of taxpayer dollars to prevent Americans from having clean, affordable power exactly when they need it most."

"The current administration has thrown up roadblocks at every turn for offshore wind projects; a type of energy that President Donald Trump has personally reviled for years. After trying and failing to block construction on more mature projects, this announcement is the first sign of a new strategy: The federal government is paying to stop wind farms before they begin."

"The move “will actually cause a further energy deficit in our country and increase the cost of energy certainly along the East Coast,” said Elizabeth Klein, former director of the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management under the Biden administration."

https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/23/climate/trump-totalenergies-offshore-wind-cancellation

https://www.wisn.com/article/trump-pay-french-company-1b-offshore-wind/70823104

Originally Posted by David Cotterell

Drivers license, REAL-ID, not good enough to get a gun.

Have to go in person with Passport and Birth Certificate to register to get a gun.

If your name isn't an exact match on ALL your I.D. (maiden name, middle name, initial) you can't get a gun.

Federal government keeps a National Gun Registry - every state must send the personal data of every gun owner.

Government purges permitted gun owners list regularly due to its large error rate.  

If you are purged in error you have to go back, in person, with all your I.D. and register again.

That ought to keep gun ownership under control...

Oh, wait, the rules above are not for guns, they are for VOTING registration.   My bad.   Carry on.  Nothing to see here.

Dave

Hmm, well, according to gun rights advocates, gun control means "using both hands". That said...

The only real fraud in voter fraud is the idea of voter fraud happening in the first place. 

BUT, we now have the cons on SCOTUS, who have obviously drank the Kool Aid from Faux News about voter fraud being real, are about to strike down  mail-in-voting if it arrives after the post mark of the election day. So much for ballots cast by members of the military that get delayed because of distance, or those of elderly or disabled voters whose ballots are similarly delayed because of infirmities, unforeseen weather conditions, transportation delays, etc etc...

Then there's the Trump and his GOP push to eliminate mail-in voting entirely even though Trump voted by mail-in voting yesterday:   

"Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating,” Trump said in Memphis on Monday, The Washington Post reported. “I call it mail-in cheating, and we’ve got to do something about it all.”

"President Trump, an outspoken critic of voting by mail who called it “mail-in cheating” on Monday, voted by mail ahead of a special election in Florida on Tuesday."

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5797902-trump-votes-mail-florida/

Finally, there's the BS "SAVE ACT" which Trump has openly stated the reason for it is to win the midterms for the GOP. Here's what's in it:

https://apnews.com/article/save-act-documents-requirements-citizenship-voting-congress-dfb43bcdd0255d3665da588a60286b4e

Note the following in the above article:

"While military ID cards are listed as qualifying documents under the act, they will not suffice on their own. The bill says a military ID must be accompanied by a military “record of service” that indicates the person’s birthplace was in the U.S."
"A DD214, the current standard-issue certificate of release or discharge for all military service branches, does not currently fulfill that requirement."

"For most provisions, the SAVE Act contains no phase-in period that would give voters and local election offices time to adjust. If passed by Congress and signed by Trump, its documentary proof-of-citizenship mandate would apply immediately, meaning it would be in place for this year’s midterm elections."

"That could lead to a rush to obtain documents by those who want to register or need to reregister. A 2025 University of Maryland study estimates that 21.3 million Americans who are eligible to vote do not have or have easy access to documents to prove their citizenship, including nearly 10% of Democrats, 7% of Republicans and 14% of people unaffiliated with either major party."

"A passport would most effectively meet the requirement, but only about half of American adults have one, according to the State Department, and the SAVE Act requires the passport to be current. An expired one does not count."

"A birth certificate may be a quicker and cheaper choice for most people, but there are twists.

"The SAVE Act requires a certified birth certificate issued by a state, local government or tribal government. What does not appear to qualify is the certificate signed by the doctor that many new parents are given in the hospital when their child is born. It provides information similar to a certified birth certificate, but would not meet the letter of the federal legislation."

"People whose birth certificates don’t match their current IDs — mostly women who changed their names when they married — would likely need additional documentation to register to vote under the bill. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found about 80% of women in opposite-sex marriages in the U.S. take their husband’s last name."

Originally Posted by James Brown

I love Colorado’s 100% “mail-out then mail in or drop off” voting system.  I post my love for our tried and true system every election year.   The whole nation should model its elections after our efficient system.   You'll have to invest in some drop boxes, but California can add a few cents to the gasoline tax.   You all will never notice.  

We must return the ballot by Election Day, or the vote does not count.   No exceptions.    (Except for overseas military, who get 8 extra days in accordance with federal statutes).   There has to be some deadline.   Why can’t you lazy ass voters in California get your ballots in on time?   I loathe states like yours who delay election results because you allow ballots postmarked by Election Day, and because you are bureaucratically unable to count votes on time.

Your speculation about the Court screwing military voters is baseless.   Active duty military are protected by more than one federal military voting statute duly passed by Congress.   This red herring is good fodder for the outrage machine though. 

On the other hand, I have no idea if the Court will require the lazy regular citizens of California (and other “postmark” states) to vote on time, but I hope they do!  Get Gavin to buy some drop boxes!   Aren’t you the fifth largest economy in the world!

California has had drop off boxes for years, dude.
And it's not CA that's prompting all this fuss in the case before SCOTUS:

"The Supreme Court on Monday appeared ready to overturn a Mississippi law that allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by, and then received within five business days of, Election Day."

"Mississippi passed the law at the center of the case in 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic."

"At Monday’s oral argument, Mississippi Solicitor General Scott Stewart told the justices that states have broad power over elections. Laws like Mississippi’s, he argued, are consistent with federal election laws because voters make their final choices by Election Day."

"But the lawyers and justices sparred over the significance of departures from that tradition during the Civil War, when some Union states allowed soldiers to vote from the battlefields. Clement insisted that proxy voting was the most analogous to today’s absentee ballots. Five states, he said, still required ballots to be submitted and received in a soldier’s home state by Election Day. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, one of the justices who was most sympathetic to Mississippi, responded that two states had allowed officers to collect and mail-in ballots for soldiers."

https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/03/court-appears-ready-to-overturn-state-law-allowing-for-late-arriving-mail-in-ballots/

Originally Posted by James Brown

Thanks again for linking that excellent article from the Scotus blog. I see that it is not a constitutional issue at all. This is the more routine “interpretation of the scope of a federal statute“ issue. The statute is pretty clear that all states must observe a specified federal election day. The Court must interpret what that means in the modern era. KJB is quoted as saying precisely this in the article.  whatever the court decides will not affect the equally valid federal statues giving overseas military extra time to vote.  

In my opinion, no one will be disenfranchised, no matter how this decision goes. It is not too much of a problem for a state like mine to require mailed ballots to be received by election day. As a practical matter, nobody mails them anyway, we all use drop boxes , which I gather is also commonplace in California. 🤔💪

So, this is a relatively minor case of federal statutory interpretation. The context of the case makes it quite suitable for outrage on the right and the left. That is the Holy Grail of issues I guess, something to be outraged about that doesn’t actually matter much.  Do you personally care which side wins this one?  I do not, although I sure long for the good old time when election results were reported the evening of election day.

"In my opinion, no one will be disenfranchised, no matter how this decision goes."

"So, this is a relatively minor case of federal statutory interpretation."

If that was the true, then you wouldn't have Trump and the GOP pushing so hard for SCOTUS to overturn the case, which they will do. 
Afterall, the GOP, in particular, has always been a staunch advocate of states-rights and against any intrusive effort by the federal government to be deemed superior, especially in matters of electing officials to office. Thus, it seems evident the latter is the real motivation driving this case and not some sort of clamor for clarification of a "minor case of federal statutory interpretation." Otherwise, they wouldn't be pushing so hard on this one...

Originally Posted by James Brown

The outcome of this case will make no difference, as we discussed above. You did not answer when I asked whether you personally thought the outcome of this case mattered, one way or the other.

Trump is pushing hard for one reason only… He’s using this case to advance his BS voter fraud narrative. Also, does any Democrat really think that allowing “postmark“ +5 day mail in ballots is necessary to preserve the right to vote for anyone?

I’m going to stand by my opinion that this is a relatively minor case of federal statutory interpretation. That does not mean the parties will not exploit the case to spin up their rabid bases.

"Currently, 14 states and the District of Columbia allow grace periods for late-arriving mail ballots, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. A Votebeat analysis of data from the 2024 election found that at least 750,000 ballots eligible to be counted arrived after Election Day that year. Groups representing military and overseas voters have warned they could be disproportionately affected, and election experts have also said tightening the receipt deadlines could disenfranchise voters affected by slow postal service through no fault of their own."

https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/03/23/supreme-court-late-mail-ballots-election-day-mississippi-2026-midterm-elections/

IMO, anything in this regard that potentially impedes the counting of votes is generally a boon to Trump and his fellow Republicans.

Originally Posted by James Brown

Every now and then I like to remind you I voted for Harris in the last election.   Any break from D party dogma can be interpreted as support for Trump, which is not my intention here.    

I think the SAVE act, as passed by the house is an unconstitutional disaster.   At the same time, I think it is beneficial, and certainly not a big deal, if mailed ballots must be received by election day to count, with appropriate exceptions for military personnel stationed overseas, as already included in other federal laws.

Regardless of my opinion on the matter, I hope you're correct because the argument is really moot since SCOTUS will overturn the states' actions on the matter anyway.

That said, I'm not so sure SCOTUS would consider the SAVE act unconstitutional with the same zeal as you do, should it get that far. I think Clarence and Sammy would be all in on it and perhaps Gorsuch and beerman, too. The wild cards would be Roberts and Barrett. To be clear, I think the SAVE act is, of course, unconstitutional but given the nature of the court, it still stands a chance of prevailing in SCOTUS, if it passes...

Originally Posted by James Brown

Every now and then I like to remind you I voted for Harris in the last election.   Any break from D party dogma can be interpreted as support for Trump, which is not my intention here.    

I think the SAVE act, as passed by the house is an unconstitutional disaster.   At the same time, I think it is beneficial, and certainly not a big deal, if mailed ballots must be received by election day to count, with appropriate exceptions for military personnel stationed overseas, as already included in other federal laws.

We didn't consider the slippery slope:   

"Despite seeming to favor limiting mail-in ballots, several justices seemed concerned about a slippery slope that could impact voters who cast their ballots before Election Day. "   "During Monday’s arguments, Justice Elena Kagan questioned why the RNC does not also take issue with early voting, since its rule seems to say that both casting and receiving votes must occur on Election Day. "

"Paul Clement, a lawyer for the RNC, said that the history surrounding early voting is “different” than that of late-received ballots; the votes just need to be “consummated” by Election Day. Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court that the Trump administration agrees."

"Chief Justice John Roberts, however, seemed unsure of the difference."

“If Election Day is the voting and taking, that has to be that day,” he said. “So maybe I just missed it, but it seems to me maybe you’re not saying anything other than, ‘Well, that’s different,’” he said. "

"In the 2024 presidential election, more than 88 million voters cast their ballots early by mail or in-person, including some 41 percent of registered Democrats and 38 percent of registered Republicans, according to NBC. The 2022 midterms saw more than 47 million voters cast ballots early by mail or in-person, including 45 percent of Democrats and 35 percent of Republicans."

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5804841-supreme-court-mail-in-ballots/

The Dow in freefall:     https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/27/investing/us-stocks-iran

As for Kash:              https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/27/politics/iran-linked-hackers-fbi-director-patel

It should be noted the Kash fired the FBI agents tasked with identifying and preventing cyber attacks from Iran a couple of weeks ago in his continuing campaign to root out the "deep state" in the FBI....

Originally Posted by James Lacey

Loved it~!

Apple TV has a drama called "For All Mankind," which is binge-worthy if you have not seen it. The premise is that the global space race never ended and realistically depicts space travel and colonization. If I recall correctly, it even has at least one malfunctioning space toilet scene. Hahaha. "The Expanse" is also a very good sci-fi show about humankind's colonization of the solar system. It is extremely technically accurate and a compelling story. It's on Prime, I think.

Well, it's fixed!    https://apnews.com/article/nasa-artemis-astronauts-moon-6ef3f195b4d4f8abcbfa908cacea6da6
Glad it's up and flushing, unlike those on the USS Gerald Ford, the giant aircraft carrier that had to depart the hot zone because all of 'em were out!