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.

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

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 @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…

@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!

@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 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 @LeslieBurns Do I need to repost the link to my Alice's Restaurant photo tour?

@SteveBellovin @mattblaze @LeslieBurns yes

@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?

@noplasticshower @mattblaze @LeslieBurns You got it! The Alice's Restaurant Photo Tour: https://urbandinosaurs.org/blog/2024-12/2024-12-07.html

@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…

@noplasticshower @mattblaze @LeslieBurns You got it! The Alice's Restaurant Photo Tour: https://urbandinosaurs.org/blog/2024-12/2024-12-07.html

@noplasticshower @mattblaze @LeslieBurns You got it! The Alice's Restaurant Photo Tour: https://urbandinosaurs.org/blog/2024-12/2024-12-07.html

@noplasticshower @mattblaze @LeslieBurns (I should post a link every Thanksgiving…)

@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.