People, the draft is NOT back (yet). Males have had to register for the SSS for a long time now and the change is that instead of them doing it themselves, the government is automatically registering them. That's all (again, for now).

Now, I think that is itself a bad thing, but saying that the draft is back is not at all accurate.

We have enough scary shit out there, don't make it worse.

@LeslieBurns It certainly might make one wonder why we can’t be automatically registered to vote
@hydropsyche Exactly. I've seen some people raising this issue.

@hydropsyche @LeslieBurns

Quite a few states have automatic voter registration (AVR). My state, Oregon, has AVR.

It's often called "motor voter" because it started at the DMV (dept of motor vehicles) Some states are looking beyond the DMV to get more people automatically registered to vote.

https://www.findlaw.com/voting/my-voting-guide/what-is-automatic-voter-registration.html

And then there's North Dakota which doesn't even require registration!

Sorry if this is too rambling, voting issues are interesting to me.

What Is Automatic Voter Registration? - FindLaw

What is automatic voter registration? Go to FindLaw to learn about automatic registration and how it works.

FindLaw

@ahimsa_pdx @LeslieBurns Motor Voter was signed into federal law by Bill Clinton. All states are required to ask people if they'd like to register to vote when they get their driver's license/state ID.

Automatic voter registration would be simpler--you turn 18 and you're registered to vote. No need to do anything else. (It should also mean no voter purges due to inactivity and other shenanigans, but obviously none of that will change without a new Voting Rights Act)

@LeslieBurns
C’mon. Making scary shit worse is social media’s bread & butter. Or avocado toast, whatever.

@LeslieBurns On the other hand many of us are, without knowing it, part of the "militia of the United States"....

(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.

(b) The classes of the militia are—

(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and

(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/10/246

10 U.S. Code § 246 - Militia: composition and classes

LII / Legal Information Institute

@LeslieBurns

My point was entirely focused on the fact that "men" were specifically mentioned

What with Pete #KineticStrike #Hegseth being who he is and all, that specific declaration carries a lot of weight with me

IOW: no women need apply, and no women will even be "selected"

There will be no girls in Hegseth's #MansArmy

And there's the issue of exactly what dataset / database is the source here

The IRS was it? A specific subset culled by #Musk's little #DOGE #Shitlords?

@LeslieBurns I wonder who's inflaming this situation? I filled out the card.

I also did drag from time to time for a little while when that was a disqualifying factor, just in case.

@LeslieBurns @mattblaze Who wants to bet that the automatic registration will be facilitated by some half-baked AI though?

@MisuseCase @LeslieBurns No doubt they will make errors. Which raises a question. Failure to register currently has significant consequences: possible criminal prosecution, and, unless you can show the failure wasn't willful, lifetime debarment from certain federal benefits, including employment.

With automatic registration, will those who aren't auto-registered (through no fault of their own) be entitled to a presumption that their failure wasn't willful? Or is the burden on you to check?

@mattblaze @LeslieBurns I know the answer to that one too. One can’t expect any kind of reasonableness from the people currently in charge.

@mattblaze @MisuseCase @LeslieBurns

I doubt it, even if we get a sorta honest administration again someday.

And I suspect you are still liable if they make a mistake, either in registering you, or in updating your address. In the past, failing to update your address was just as great a crime as not registering.

Not being sufficiently diligent in making sure they got your new address and updated their records correctly was *also* the same crime.

@LeslieBurns @mattblaze Back when the world was young and the Vietnam War was raging, there was a lottery based on birthday during some year, assigning each person a number. There was a cut-off number for the year, and if you were eligible for the draft even one day during the year but your number was too high, you were effectively exempt. I lucked out with a high number, and so on December 31 of the appropriate year, I was on line at the main post office in Manhattan to send a certified letter to my draft board surrendering my student deferment. The clerk asked me why so many people were sending certified letters to their draft boards that day…
@SteveBellovin @LeslieBurns And you didn't even have bone spurs!
@mattblaze @LeslieBurns Student deferments were arguably even more unfair, since they applied primarily to college students—predominantly white, at least middle class, etc. Earlier, I had sent a letter to my draft board saying that I didn't know if I could take part in a war I considered morally unjust, and I spent a lot of time wondering what I would do if I received that dreaded letter, but it never happened. (Aside: by that point, other than college students, student deferments were available to seminary students—so seminaries therefore saw quite an enrollment jump, with lots of DD degrees awarded.)
@SteveBellovin @LeslieBurns I understand that the preferred strategy was to get yourself arrested for littering....
@mattblaze @SteveBellovin @LeslieBurns That only got you some extra time on the group W bench during your pre draft physical. I can verify that a pending hitch hiking ticket (got it a few days before my physical and hadn't yet paid the fine) also got you a seat on the bench.
@marchyman @SteveBellovin @LeslieBurns Had you rehabilitated yourself, though?

@SteveBellovin @mattblaze @LeslieBurns

Agree, 60s student draft deferment program was rigged for white middle class males. My best friend and I went down to the local draft board office for a chat in 1966. We wanted all the information from them about the process beyond a deferment(we thought they were blatantly unfair). All old white guys there. At the office we both decided to 'volunteer' to be drafted immediately, agreeing if assigned to Vietnam we would not go. We both made it.....

@SteveBellovin @mattblaze @LeslieBurns I bet you now wish you'd run off to Canada instead.
@oclsc @mattblaze @LeslieBurns Why, so I can get drafted at my age to fight off Trump’s next invasion?
@SteveBellovin @mattblaze @LeslieBurns No conscription here since WW II, and even should it return I doubt those of your age (or mine) would be drafted, though you'd be welcome to volunteer.
@SteveBellovin @mattblaze @LeslieBurns Also, of course, had you moved to Canada back then you'd probably be healthier now. No, I don't mean universal health care; I mean lower blood pressure from having less-loony government, certain provincial leaders notwithstanding.

@oclsc @SteveBellovin @mattblaze @LeslieBurns

As a teenager in Montreal in the 60s and into the 70s, I was lucky enough to meet some very fine Americans, not much older than me. I met a girl when traveling in the States, whose brother was shot down (and survived). She said it was family that kept him from moving up here. So many lives changed.

One of the finer gentlemen who came was a beautiful soul, Jesse Winchester. He made an impression while he was here.

https://youtu.be/2s_RsqEGHRs

Yankee Lady

YouTube
@SteveBellovin @LeslieBurns The current system is much more convenient. Selective Service now lets you download and print your draft card in case you need to burn one.

@SteveBellovin @LeslieBurns @mattblaze I had a low draft number - and mine came up. I had a minor transient, but grounds for exemption, medical condition - so I went to the UCLA medical library and learned how to make it worse, much much worse. I had the full Alice's Restaurant draft physical experience - my ears still are ringing from when the goons screamed into my face that I was lying when I could not read the lines on the eye chart. But my medical "learning" paid off when I got inspected by a doctor who did not want to be there and knew that I did not want to be there.

On the way out some guy in a uniform gave me condolences saying "now you'll never be able to join the military".

I think I went to Pinks Hot Dogs in Hollywood to celebrate.