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[Oddball]

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Mail theft in the United States has been increasing, with the Postal Service reporting a rise in both letter carrier robberies and high-volume mail theft:

• Letter carrier robberies
  In the 2022 fiscal year, 412 letter carriers were robbed while on duty. In the first half of the 2023 fiscal year, 305 letter carriers were robbed.
  
  
  
• High-volume mail theft
  In the 2022 fiscal year, there were 38,500 incidents of high-volume mail theft. In the first half of the 2023 fiscal year, there were more than 25,000 incidents.
  
  
  
• Mail theft complaints
  In 2021, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service reported roughly 300,000 complaints about mail theft, which was more than double the previous year.

Some reasons for the increase in mail theft include:

• Stolen checks: Thieves target checks, including personal checks, business checks, and government assistance checks.
  
  
  
• Stolen keys: Criminals steal mail carriers' keys or buy and sell stolen keys.
  
  
  
• Mailbox fishing: Criminals use glue traps and other methods to gain access to mailboxes.
  
  
  
• Fingerprint and ink removal: Criminals use chemicals to wipe off fingerprints and handwritten ink.

The Postal Service is working to address the increase in mail theft with initiatives such as Project Safe Delivery. These initiatives include releasing "high security" boxes in high-risk areas and replacing arrow keys with electronic alternatives.

Why Mail Theft Is On the Rise

Mail theft is booming, but experts disagree about the reasons.

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As though the people expecting their voter cards wouldn't miss them.

Just stop it.

 

[Foxfyre]

"Real ID" is the defacto national ID, that people used to be stridently against when they had sense in their heads.

Not really as it is issued by the state, not the federal government. My real ID says that I am a citizen and at least at the time I got the ID lived at the address where I lived. It says I am using my legal name. It can give me all sorts of protections and also assure those who do business with me that I am who I say I am.

To get my real ID, which is also my driver's license, I had to produce a certified birth certificate, my marriage license (to explain change of name), and proof of residency. Once that was done my real ID is sufficient to renew my license and it is accepted everywhere. And it should be acceptable to use, along with current proof of residency, to register to vote.

 

[progressive hunter]

As though the people expecting their voter cards wouldn't miss them.

Just stop it.

I just use the ID I have been carrying the last 45 yrs like everyone else

 

[Oddball]

I just use the ID I have been carrying the last 45 yrs like everyone else

OK fine....How is that supposed to be relevant to anything?

 

[Oddball]

Not really as it is issued by the state, not the federal government. My real ID says that I am a citizen and at least at the time I got the ID lived at the address where I lived. It says I am using my legal name. It can give me all sorts of protections and also assure those who do business with me that I am who I say I am.

To get my real ID which is also my driver's license I had to produce a certified birth certificate, my marriage license (to explain change of name), and proof of residency. Once that was done my real ID is sufficient to renew my license and it is accepted everywhere. And it should be acceptable to use, along with current proof of residency, to register to vote.

"Issued by the state" to federally mandated standards, including the required inclusion of the Slave Surveillance Number.

It's a federal ID, once removed.

 

[Foxfyre]

"Issued by the state" to federally mandated standards, including the required inclusion of the Slave Surveillance Number.

It's a federal ID, once removed.

Still issued by the state and there is no mandate a person has to get one. The only numbers on mine are my driver's license number, date issued and expiration date, the numbers on my street address, weight, height, and birthdate.

My aunt who will be 98 this month will not renew her driver's license as she has sold her car and does not intend to drive again. But she will be issued instead a real ID that will allow her to use public transportation, do banking and such.

I do not feel that any of this is an invasion of my privacy because I see it as all necessary in order to maintain law, order, and a decent civil society. I am very much opposed to UNNECESSARY government meddling and control, but being a country of necessary laws I see as social contract. I just can't be any kind of anarchist.

 

[Oddball]

Still issued by the state and there is no mandate a person has to get one. The only numbers on mine are my driver's license number, date issued and expiration date, the numbers on my street address, weight, height, and birthdate.

A distinction without a difference.

My aunt who will be 98 this month will not renew her driver's license as she has sold her car and does not intend to drive again. But she will be issued instead a real ID that will allow her to use public transportation, do banking and such.

Irrelevant.

I do not feel that any of this is an invasion of my privacy because I see it as all necessary in order to maintain law, order, and a decent civil society. I am very much opposed to UNNECESSARY government meddling and control, but being a country of necessary laws I see as social contract. I just can't be any kind of anarchist.

Just because you don't "feel" that it isn't an intrusion doesn't mean that it isn't.

The entire police/surveillance shit show foisted upon us after 911™, including Real ID, is entirely unnecessary.

 

[Foxfyre]

A distinction without a difference.

Irrelevant.

Just because you don't "feel" that it isn't an intrusion doesn't mean that it isn't.

The entire police/surveillance shit show foisted upon us after 911™, including Real ID, is entirely unnecessary.

Well--remember I am very fond of you --could we as easily conclude that your opinion that it is an intrusion doesn't mean that it is?

And 9/11 was such a shock to us all that I have mixed emotions about precautions taken in the wake of that to ensure the security of the American people. Where they went overboard was in treating citizens the same as non citizens who were potentially bad actors. I think in retrospect they might rethink that. Certainly a real ID can separate the U.S. citizen from the terrorist who most likely won't be a U.S. citizen.

And since 9/11 that was 23 years ago, we now have tens of millions of potential non-citizen bad actors loose in our country, probably most having arrived in the last 3-1/2 years. And even though we have much better vetting methods to use now, almost none of those have been vetted. Even the government admits the terror threat is the highest it has ever been.

I do appreciate how you feel about all this. But I do feel better knowing that it is far more unlikely I'm on an airplane with somebody intending to blow it up than the likelihood that I am.

 

[Oddball]

Well--remember I am very fond of you --could we as easily conclude that your opinion that it is an intrusion doesn't mean that it is?

And 9/11 was such a shock to us all that I have mixed emotions about precautions taken in the wake of that to ensure the security of the American people. Where they went overboard was in treating citizens the same as non citizens who were potentially bad actors. I think in retrospect they might rethink that. Certainly a real ID can separate the U.S. citizen from the terrorist who most likely won't be a U.S. citizen.

And since 9/11 that was 23 years ago, we now have tens of millions of potential non-citizen bad actors loose in our country, probably most having arrived in the last 3-1/2 years. And even though we have much better vetting methods to use now, almost none of those have been vetted. Even the government admits the terror threat is the highest it has ever been.

I do appreciate how you feel about all this. But I do feel better knowing that it is far more unlikely I'm not on an airplane with somebody intending to blow it up than the likelihood that I am.

You're connecting two events that are entirely unrelated.

911™ ended up being the greatest gubmint bloating scam of the century...The State is the biggest terrorist we have to worry about,...If the abuses of the Patriot Act, FISA, the FBI/NSA/CIA and the rest of the spook state doesn't clearly demonstrate that, what would?

 

[Foxfyre]

You're connecting two events that are entirely unrelated.

911™ ended up being the greatest gubmint bloating scam of the century...The State is the biggest terrorist we have to worry about,...If the abuses of the Patriot Act, FISA, the FBI/NSA/CIA and the rest of the spook state doesn't clearly demonstrate that, what would?

I would be the first to join with you in loud protest of government overreach, government corruption, government weaponized against its citizens rather than those who intend to harm us or do harm to us. And I am the first to admit there are bad laws that should never have been passed and should quickly be repealed.

At the same time I see it as a function of government to look out for the general welfare of all the people meaning it sees as its responsibility to do what is reasonable to do to help the people not be blown up in their homes, offices, on busses, trains, planes etc. when the citizens have no reasonable ability to prevent that themselves. Somewhere in there is middle ground that allows both the Founders intent of liberty and promote the general welfare.

 

[Foxfyre]

Interesting. We are now well into the third hour since the poll was posted, and only one person who doesn't want to deport illegal migrants and who doesn't want voter ID has had the courage of his/her convictions to say so.

 

[JoeB131]

Were your father or your wife illegal immigrants or did they go through the process of applying and being accepted for immigration? I have several members of my family who are immigrants too, but they all came here legally and were quite documented. So any who come you want to be able to stay unless they are convicted of criminal acts?

Or after a proper vetting, we discover they committed criminal acts in their own country. As for "process", the problem is the process is currently broken. My wife originally came here on a tourist visa, then applied for asylum on the completely reasonable fear that members of the church she belonged to were being arrested in China. Even though the law says that she was entitled to a hearing within 180 days, she was still waiting 7 years later when we married. We then switched to a relative sponsorship. But that required me to submit 200 pages of documentation and spend $4000 in application and legal fees.

So I can't get worked up if someone just sneaks under a fence.

How do you justify allowing people who came across the southern border without permission to stay while many many who have applied to immigrate to the USA are waiting patiently in line for their turn to be admitted?

Simple. We never should have let our system get so broken people had to wait years to get in.

And whether or not there is illegal voting--there are many who would argue with you about that including me--why would you object to photo ID to vote to help those who do not trust the process to have more confidence that elections are honest and fair? How does producing a photo ID suppress the legal vote in any way?

Because, again, we have a long history of such laws being used to suppress people of color from voting. Just like when a certain someone "cleaned up" the voter rolls in Florida, they purged thousands of eligible voters.

Simply put, I don't trust the other side to play fair.

 

[Road Runner]

I got a better idea. How about we use the delivery system? Courtesy of air mail.

 

[Foxfyre]

Or after a proper vetting, we discover they committed criminal acts in their own country. As for "process", the problem is the process is currently broken. My wife originally came here on a tourist visa, then applied for asylum on the completely reasonable fear that members of the church she belonged to were being arrested in China. Even though the law says that she was entitled to a hearing within 180 days, she was still waiting 7 years later when we married. We then switched to a relative sponsorship. But that required me to submit 200 pages of documentation and spend $4000 in application and legal fees.

So I can't get worked up if someone just sneaks under a fence.



Simple. We never should have let our system get so broken people had to wait years to get in.



Because, again, we have a long history of such laws being used to suppress people of color from voting. Just like when a certain someone "cleaned up" the voter rolls in Florida, they purged thousands of eligible voters.

Simply put, I don't trust the other side to play fair.

Somewhere between eight and twenty MILLION someones sneaking under a fence. We know there are more than a million 'gottaways', i.e. we don't know who the hell they are, where they come from, what they're up to.

They're only slightly more concern than those who give names and places of origin that may or may not be who they are or where they come from. Tens of thousands of single military men have come across, at least 27,000 from China alone, and they disappear into our society. For what purpose are they here?

 

[JoeB131]

Somewhere between eight and twenty MILLION someones sneaking under a fence. We know there are more than a million 'gottaways', i.e. we don't know who the hell they are, where they come from, what they're up to.

First, if you can get me a more firm number than eight to twenty, I'd be more impressed with your argument.

The accepted figure is 10 million plust 2 million "gotaways" over the last four years. 60% of the ones we did catch have been sent back. Most of the rest are having their asylum cases considered. Would be nice if the asylum courts were sufficiently staffed so it doesn't take 4 years to get a hearing.

So I'll repeat it here for the class.

You want to fix illegal immigration.

1) Establish a guest worker program with limited time periods to meet our labor needs.
2) Establish a national ID card program so that honest employers can get instant verification of who they are hiring.
3) Focus ICE on going after the dishonest employers, with heavy fines for scowflaws.
4) Sufficiently staff asylum courts so that cases are heard within the mandated 180 days.
5) Work with the countries that are the main sources of immigration to fix the economic or political problems that cause people to leave to start with.

A solution to Illegal immigration- A modest proposal.

First and foremost, we need to stop foolishly talking about walls, fences, and alligators in a moat. If someone has traveled 2000 miles over deserts and mountains to get here, something built by man isn't going to stop them. Our main problem is that they have a manpower surplus and we have...

www.usmessageboard.com

 

[Foxfyre]

First, if you can get me a more firm number than eight to twenty, I'd be more impressed with your argument.

The accepted figure is 10 million plust 2 million "gotaways" over the last four years. 60% of the ones we did catch have been sent back. Most of the rest are having their asylum cases considered. Would be nice if the asylum courts were sufficiently staffed so it doesn't take 4 years to get a hearing.

So I'll repeat it here for the class.

You want to fix illegal immigration.

1) Establish a guest worker program with limited time periods to meet our labor needs.
2) Establish a national ID card program so that honest employers can get instant verification of who they are hiring.
3) Focus ICE on going after the dishonest employers, with heavy fines for scowflaws.
4) Sufficiently staff asylum courts so that cases are heard within the mandated 180 days.
5) Work with the countries that are the main sources of immigration to fix the economic or political problems that cause people to leave to start with.

A solution to Illegal immigration- A modest proposal.

First and foremost, we need to stop foolishly talking about walls, fences, and alligators in a moat. If someone has traveled 2000 miles over deserts and mountains to get here, something built by man isn't going to stop them. Our main problem is that they have a manpower surplus and we have...

www.usmessageboard.com

I haven't trusted government numbers for quite some time now. But if you don't want to send anybody home but the known criminals, why bother with all that other stuff?

 

[Rawley]

No, it's not....One card per registered voter at each address....Pretty hard to jack with that.

You assume voter registration is clean and up to date. I'm still getting ballots for folks that haven't loved at my address in close to decade.

 

[Dante]

I "can think of actual issues outside the framework of political parties or personalities." But I don't see them listed.

 

[JoeB131]

I haven't trusted government numbers for quite some time now. But if you don't want to send anybody home but the known criminals, why bother with all that other stuff?

Understanding the scope of a problem is the first step towards fixing it.

but if you go through life thinking government is fake news, the media is fake news, only what Cheeto Hitler says is true, even when he's caught lying on national TV about people cooking cats, I'm not sure there's much of a conversation to be had.

 

[Foxfyre]

Understanding the scope of a problem is the first step towards fixing it.

but if you go through life thinking government is fake news, the media is fake news, only what Cheeto Hitler says is true, even when he's caught lying on national TV about people cooking cats, I'm not sure there's much of a conversation to be had.

I have lived a long and active life. Long enough to know a lie when I see one. Long enough to be able to add and subtract. Long enough to know when my own eyes and checking account or other experience informs me I am being lied to. Long enough to read and understand blatant bias when I see it.

And I will not defend a lie just because I hate another political party or person.