Re: Independence Day

D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

1.  How come you don't have a phone, and how do you overcome the
difficulties that creates?

I do have a phone.  It's a landline.  I've had the same physical phone
and the same phone number since the '70s.  (It started as C&P, then
Bell Atlantic, then Verizon, and is now MagicJack, a VOIP, over Cox
cable.)  I removed the bell decades ago because I was being driven
insane by telemarketers and scammers.  But callers can leave a message.
Or, better yet, just email me.

Digression:  One of the president's official duties is to ensure that
federal laws are enforced.  If either major-party candidate were to
say that they're ordering the FTC and the FCC to make enforcing the
do-not-call list their top priority, and if the volume of illegal
calls doesn't drop by a factor of 2 within 6 months and by a factor of
4 within a year, that they will fire everyone in both agencies that
they have the power to fire, I believe that candidate will win a few
million more votes, which is probably enough to make a difference in
who wins.

Unsolicited phone calls aren't the worst federal crimes but they are
by far the most common.  Everyone is a victim multiple times per day
unless they greatly rearrange their life to avoid it.  I know someone
who had to quit a lucrative job because it required them to answer
their phone at all hours.  They were unable to get eight consecutive
hours of sleep thanks to scammers.

I read a recent case in which an enormously expensive mountain rescue
expedition was mounted.  It turned out the climber was fine; he just
wasn't answering his cell phone as he didn't recognize the number so
he figured it was yet another crook.

I don't have a smart phone but I do have a regular phone and it does
create problems for me.  I either suffer through it, or find someone
with a smart phone who can help me.

I've never had a cell phone.  Those things are expensive to buy,
expensive to buy service for, fragile, and quickly go obsolete,
requiring purchase of a new one.  They are tracking devices which can
put me near a crime scene but which can't put me far away from a crime
scene since I could have loaned it to a friend.

I seldom travel.  So far in 2024 I've been away from home only three
times, not counting short trips on foot.  When I am on foot I'm always
at risk of being caught in a downpour, which might ruin a cell phone.

My main complaint about my return was my not being allowed in Union
Station, as I urgently needed to use a toilet.  A cell phone wouldn't
have helped.

2.  Do you always read the print newspaper?

My brother subscribes to the Washington Post, so I read it too.

3.  How do you live without an ID?

Not by choice.  Like millions of Americans, I don't have the papers to
get the papers.  When Virginia was debating requiring ID for voting,
the Washington Post estimated that that would disenfranchise half a
million Virginians.

Ten years ago I moved out of the increasingly expensive, run down, and
hostile apartment I had live in for 35 years.  I rented a room from a
friend.  One year ago I moved again, moving in with my with brother.
So for the past ten years my living situation has been too informal
for me to have the required "primary proof of Virginia residency."

The word "undocumented" has been redefined as a synonym for what
we're no longer allowed to call "illegal aliens," thus defining the
far greater number of undocumented US citizens out of existence.
Similarly, the replacement of "ex-convict" with "ex-offender" has
defined the falsely convicted out of existence.  How am I supposed
to honestly answer the question as to whether I'm an ex-offender?

They've been gradually requiring ID for more and more things while
simultaneously making it more and more difficult to get.

In the news recently, David O'Connor, a Tennessee man, a veteran and a
trucker, attempted to renew his license as a new "Real ID."  (Previous
licenses were fake IDs?)  He was told he didn't qualify, as his birth
certificate was from Canada, and that's not in the short official
list, even though people born in Canada of US parents, as he was, and
as Ted Cruz was, are US citizens and always have been.  So he was
stripped of his license and his ID.

We live in interesting times.

As for the guard I suspect there is nothing legal you can do.  But
if you have the time and energy I guess you could always write a
complaint to the station and ask that they teach their guards to
be more civilized.  In my opinion, people who are drawn to that
profession enjoy bullying people, so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

I have no idea whether the guard was breaking the rules.  If not, it
is the rules that should change.  It's called "Union" Station because
it's for users of *all* railroads.  Yes, even Metrorail passengers
like me.  Especially if we're in the midst of a mostly-Amtrak trip.

Coincidentally, a couple days ago Union Station increased security
because of nearby anti-Israel demonstrators, who were causing lots
of vandalism.  Lots of passengers missed their trains.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.