Mastodawn

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.

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Steve Bellovin 1d ago

@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…

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Matt Blaze

@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.