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Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Stuff like this is one reason I have no patience with the "why are you even trying, Trump can do whatever he wants, rule of law is dead, etc" nihilists.

The rule of law is under great strain right now, but still matters a lot. But if we abandon it, it dies.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

I believe Judge Sooknanan was woken up at 3am today with an emergency motion in this case, and is still going strong holding the government's feet to the fire. In the middle of a holiday weekend.

I'm sure she's delighted.

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:qrllvid7s54k4hnwtqxwetrf/post/3lxqgan2zik2j

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@errant @Dss @reimar As I noted, state legislatures are free to implement whatever election procedures they wish (within constitutional limits), and several states’ election laws already reflect some or all of Trump’s (supposed) order. Maybe more will as a result of the order. Maybe not. The fact that Trump issued an order is legally immaterial to that.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

@reimar I’m trying to provide context and background about a current event related to my area of expertise.

Take it or leave it.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
SteveBellovin@infosec.exchange ("Steve Bellovin") wrote:

@aarbrk @karlauerbach @mattblaze This is the key point: lack of what are known as "breeder documents"; error handling is the other big point. I outline some of the issues in https://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/papers/age-verify.pdf, with a more complete analysis in Section §V.C of https://scholar.smu.edu/scitech/vol26/iss2/2/. There's a very good analysis of the ID card issue in Crawford v. Marion Count Election Board, 553 U.S. 181 (2008), especially the dissents. For a general discussion of what questions would have to be answered (in the U.S.) by anyone proposing a national ID card before the question could even be discussed intelligently, see the National Academies report "IDs Not Easy", https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/10346/ids-not-that-easy-questions-about-nationwide-identity-systems (I was on the committee). I should add: one of the things I learned while on that committee was that while the US has a pretty good national registry of deaths (the Social Security Administration's Master Death File), birth records are decentralized and are of varying quality and accuracy.

The problem falls disproportionately on certain groups: the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the homeless, etc. Quoting Justice Souter's dissent in _Crawford_: "The need to travel to a BMV branch will affect voters according to their circumstances, with the average person probably viewing it as nothing more than an inconvenience. Poor, old, and disabled voters who do not drive a car, however, may find the trip prohibitive, witness the fact that the BMV has far fewer license branches in
each county than there are voting precincts." Corruption can be a problem—in Hudson County in New Jersey, birth certificates from the county office were not accepted by the state because a scheme to issue fraudulent documents (https://hudsoncountyview.com/after-nearly-two-decades-jersey-city-residents-can-now-obtain-birth-certificates-at-city-hall/). Malice can be an issue: Alabama closed almost half of its motor vehicles offices, mostly in poor, Black counties (https://www.aclu.org/news/voting-rights/alabamas-dmv-shutdown-has-everything-do-race), and I have exactly one guess why.

RealID doesn't solve the problem, it makes it worse: you need more documents to show your identity and address (and if you're poor and unlikely to fly somewhere, you don't actually need it). I just went through this when I went to get a Maryland license after moving: how do I demonstrate that I live where I said? Proving my identity was easy, for me—I have a passport (though only about half of Americans do, and that's up sharply from not long ago; see https://www.apolloacademy.com/48-of-americans-have-a-passport/), NY license, Social Security Card (though it's a replacement I had to get not all that long ago because I thought I'd lost mine), New York City ID card, etc. But my address? For various reasons, I wanted to get my new license very soon after I moved. I hadn't received any bank statements, credit card bills, etc., at my new address yet. Cable TV is included here, so I had no cable bill. I did have an electric bill, and I suppose I could have brought the purchase deed for my condo (though that only shows ownership, not residence). Now translate all of that to someone who's very poor or is living on the streets. Passport? Hah. Electric bill for your park bench or homeless shelter? Etc.

Yes, some of these issues can be worked around, especially in states with good will. In Massachusetts, staff at a homeless shelter can sign affidavits of residence. But a lot does depend on state politics. In Texas, you can vote with a state firearms license—but not with an ID from a public university, even though legally those are government-issued IDs. (Aside: ~20 years ago, I had a Homeland Security ID card for my service on an advisory committee. When I got to the airport the first time after received that ID, I asked the TSA agent if I could use it. "You can, but we won't like it." I took the hint and dug out my driver's license instead…)

I could go on—as you can see, this is an area where I have worked professionally. The bottom line, though, is that while it's not a problem for the majority of Americans (the issues are very different in other countries)—and that likely includes the overwhelming majority of Americans reading this post—for a significant number of people it is quite difficult.

mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Anyway, this thread seems to have enraged some people here, but I stand by it.

I think understanding the details is helpful. YMMV.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

This thread brought to you by someone who researches and teaches election stuff at a still-somewhat-reputable school.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Finally, the federal government has no role in actually running US elections. States do that (usually via counties). So there is no one subject to this order in a position to follow it.

There are plenty of things to worry about with Trump. The legitimate power of the presidency is already vast, and he constantly pushes at its edges to abuse the office further still. But this “order” is just empty blather on his part, not something that he has any ability to actually implement or require.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

It's also worth noting that the measures he calls for - voter ID, no vote-by-mail, etc - are nothing new. He and others have long advocated for them, and some states already implement versions of them. So everything in this "order", which has all the legal force of a "suggestion", is also old news.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Also, “Executive Orders” are not laws. They’re orders to the executive branch of the federal government. If you don’t work for the executive branch of the federal government (say, for example, you’re a state election official), presidential executive orders don’t apply to you.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Now, Congress might well be able to legislate some or all of the things in Trump’s putative elections order. And the current Congress has been generally compliant with Trump’s legislative wishes, so it’s not out of the question that they might advance a bill with provisions along these lines, or that some state legislatures might do the same. But no executive order can require them to do so. It’s meaningless.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

And this is not some borderline edge case. It’s addressed directly in Article I of the Constitution. See https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript for this and other fun facts about how our government is organized.

Boosted by mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze"):
mattblaze@federate.social ("Matt Blaze") wrote:

Just for the record, Trump can’t do this. The Constitution is very clear that the “times, places, and manner“ of elections for federal office are determined by individual states (though can be altered by Congress).

The president simply has no role in US elections (except to sign into law or veto whatever election-related bills that congress might pass).

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

I've lost all confidence in the news, with only a few exceptions.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/09/01/theyre-talking-about-me-2/

aral@mastodon.ar.al ("Aral Balkan") wrote:

Dear fediverse,

I just had a video call over Signal with @joynewacc from Gaza.

Farah, or Joy, as she prefers to be called, is a 22-year-old Palestinian author and poet studying English Literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, which has been bombed by Israel.

She lives with her mother and four siblings in a shelter, trying to survive the genocide being committed by Israel.

Please help her and her family afford food during the famine that Gaza is experiencing. Please donate if you can and/or share this so that it might reach others who might be able to:

https://www.chuffed.org/project/evacuate-joy

Joy used to have an account on BlueSky but they closed it. Please give her a warm welcome to the fediverse and let her know she is welcome here.

If you’d like to read her writings, you can find them at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XMS1kW6EYGnb%5FDF2P4BbRDDMClX9Sahx

#fediverse #Gaza #Palestine #solidarity #FreePalestine

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

a delightful piece

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2025/sep/01/teenage-clicks-stephen-shore-new-york-early-works

jsonstein@masto.deoan.org ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:

an ugly recital of rhetoric vs reality

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/01/labor-day-workers-trump

cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen") wrote:

TZAG, good people of Earth and beyond. Perhaps I can interest you in some Open Reel Ensemble?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaG5tVnpkwc

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

I peeked outside this morning. Monarch populations are booming right now.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/09/01/we-got-your-monarchs-right-here/

Boosted by ChrisWere@toot.wales ("Chris Were ⁂🐧🌱☕"):
Natasha_Jay@tech.lgbt ("Natasha Jay") wrote:

People: are you okay?
Me: yeah ...

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
thisismissem@hachyderm.io ("Emelia 👸🏻") wrote:

Wow, I'm apparently doing 7 figures on Ko-fi (a platform I've discontinued using)

(I still have a fewer people supporting my work that way)

kornel ("Kornel") wrote:

@ivory "Search timeline" is very easy to open but limited, while the full-site search is buried much deeper.

Have you considered connecting these two UIs? e.g. suggest expanding to the big search if nothing is found in the timeline.

Or at least recognize any post URL pasted into the timeline search box to open the post, since that's a weird mastodon thing that shouldn't be so cumbersome.

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële"):
hyde@lazybear.social ("Hyde 📷 🖋 :debian:") wrote:

Today is officially the first day for the #Vim Carnival

September's topic is 'How do you use Vim?'

It's not specific to Vim, if you are interested, you can also write about #Neovim or #vi 😉

#blogging #blog #FLOSS #editors #terminals #carnivals #indieweb

#100DaysToOffload : 88/100

https://lazybea.rs/vim-carnival-sept-2025

Boosted by kornel ("Kornel"):
thejuicemedia wrote:

The Norwegian Government has made a new tourism ad, and it's surprsingly honest and informative! 🇳🇴

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYjooTz%5F1lA

Boosted by adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële"):
rail@flufftech.net ("rail 🦊") wrote:

Longitude and Shortitude

kornel ("Kornel") wrote:

Deep dependency on a technology + lack of agency + disagreement with leadership creates anger.
Great observation by @andrewrk

This explains so well why after being a macOS developer for 20 years, I can't stand Apple right now.

https://andrewkelley.me/post/open-letter-everyone-butted-heads.html

Boosted by jwz:
mcnado@mstdn.social ("McNadoMD") wrote:

Crazy how the guy who owns Home Depot is cool with ICE kidnapping working dads out of the parking lot on the regular, but is being a whiny little twit about tariffs. Guess he shoulda supported the pro-business nazi instead of the insane failed businessman nazi.

Anyway, fuck Home Depot.

Boosted by jwz:
becha@v.st ("Vesna Manojlović") wrote:

HOW TO BE A GARDENER:
- GET A [bachelor] IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
- BURN OUT
- BECOME A GARDENER

aral@mastodon.ar.al ("Aral Balkan") wrote:

Just ran into a basic flaw in the commonmark spec/parser.

https://github.com/commonmark/commonmark-spec/issues/807

Going to try and work around it in Kitten as I’m using Markdown-it, which implements the commonmark spec, and exhibits the same behaviour.

(This is going to delay the next release as I’m considering it a blocker.)

#Markdown #commonMark #parsing #bug

adele@social.pollux.casa ("Adële") wrote:

Excited to announce https://writes.casa/

This is an anonymous, minimalist writing platform!

With:

• weekly themes to inspire short texts of 300–1,000 characters.
• Daily reveals of the previous day's writings that create collective literary moments at 6 UTC.
• No account creation required, just optional signatures.
• multilingual content (EN/FR subdomains, with more to come soon).
• RSS feeds for slow reading
• SmolWeb compatible!!!

#SmolWeb #Writing #Fediverse #Literature #Anonymous #Privacy