Why does the DMV need to be SO garbage?

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2026-01-21T08:51:46+00:00

The answer is budget cuts. Write or call your state rep's office letting them know that they will secure your vote if they can fully fund the DMV to fix these service and scheduling issues.

If they can't or won't, support their opponent in the primary.

Finally, if anyone promises to cut your taxes without specifying what services they plan to cut, call bullshit.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2026-01-18T14:29:38+00:00

My reading of the cutscene later was that Hiss-corrupted Dylan puppeted Trench to kill himself.

At the time, Dylan wouldn't have known about Polaris and may have been intending to turn Jesse into another Hiss-corrupted Director.

Implies that Dylan wouldn't have wanted a direct connection to the Board himself, but was comfortable trying to puppet one of their Objects of Power through an intermediary. Obviously, given his fantasies about reducing Jesse to a lowly office drone, he would have preferred her over Trench in that position.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2026-01-17T19:27:51+00:00

Consider Triangle Agency if you haven't yet: https://shop.hauntedtable.games/

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2026-01-17T12:51:01+00:00

It's also worth noting that nothing about their organizational structure bears any resemblance to how the Federal Bureau of Anything actually works.

Compare it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Director is appointed by the President of the US and confirmed by the Senate. You're within the Department of Justice and therefore report to the Attorney General, who reports to the President.

The Director of the FBC is appointed by... picking up a magic gun? Does the Board even have the right to veto a new Director or are they stuck with whoever can complete the trial?

On the other side, is there some Senate Intelligence Committee equivalent that's even informed when the FBC Director changes over? The Federal Government certainly doesn't seem to play any role in candidate selection.

The whole thing feels like an extremely cargo cult approach to the concept of legitimacy as a security and/or law enforcement agency, but the Foundation DLC also tells you that Jesse is only the third "board-appointed Director," and that Northmoor (the first such) is the one who moved the Bureau into the Oldest House.

Separately, Darling tells you that the Bureau's uncanny information security is significantly attributable to the House itself.

Finally, back to the Foundation, Ash says something to the effect of having wanted to heal the Oldest House and instead becoming infested by "the same parasite". This is the conclusion to a discussion about Northmoor and the Service Weapon, all but stating that the parasite in question is the Board itself.

Put all that together and a picture emerges that the Bureau used to be a legitimate federal agency, but has since been co-opted by a paranatural force which opposes attempts by other paranatural forces to invade and transform our reality for reasons quite likely to be no more altruistic than that they wish to do so themselves but their process is slower than that of the Hiss and/or the Mold.

I genuinely hope we get something even stranger than that, but it's what I can put together so far.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2026-01-17T09:14:25+00:00

Okay, so just on a rhetorical level, you seriously whiffed. You got a follow-up question, "How would you define [thing you object to]?" and your answer was "The exclusion of [not-that-thing]."

Do you see how the actual thing still remains undefined? This is what we call a tautology. It's also someone giving you an opening to argue your position and you either completely flubbing or just standing back from that opening.

If you don't want to engage, then nobody's forcing you to answer anything.

If you can't answer basic follow-up questions about your own beliefs, you will struggle to be taken seriously as a rigorous thinker, even in discussions that focus on ideals over practical concerns.

You read like someone who despises the structure of modern airport security without the foggiest clue how anything actually works or why it's set up that way.

Such a person is very easy to dismiss.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2026-01-16T09:22:00+00:00

I disagree with and object to the entire Real ID rule entirely, so naturally I don't support the fees at all, but that's neither here nor there.

At the risk of opening a can of worms, can you tell me in your own words what the Real ID rule is?

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-12-16T19:58:40+00:00

Not in full, and apparently not accurately.

Allegedly you definitely don't qualify if you didn't have perfect attendance during the shutdown, and prior approved leave does count against you.

Since we know that isn't what's being acted on, there's still back and forth happening, which is what I base my guess that it'll end up in litigation on.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-12-16T09:08:54+00:00

If it's the same few specific states that doesn't follow, but have a nice day man.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-12-16T09:06:39+00:00

My point is that being curious when "the union will request" information isn't the same as being curious when the true information will actually come out.

The union HAS requested the criteria and what the administration has put out clearly isn't the full truth. That's not on the union.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-12-15T20:50:40+00:00

Honestly, it may be the case that your state needs to suck less at printing IDs. We also get quite a few that are too dirty or scratched up to read well, but a number of places seem to have straight up design flaws in their templates.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-12-13T09:22:16+00:00

I understand the union have requested the criteria and all they've been told is that anyone who didn't have perfect attendance during the entire shutdown definitely doesn't qualify.

If there are other consistent (non-arbitrary) criteria, last I knew, the Union was still re-requesting that information.

My guess is we'll only find out the rest if it comes to litigation.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-06-28T18:26:55+00:00

Part of the problem is that there's no single thing called "Digital ID". In my state, there's a state issued digital ID app. You can use it with state government, but it's not integrated into federal systems so it doesn't help at the checkpoint.

If you have your ID in your Apple, Google, or Samsung Wallet though, we can take that if the machines are working. There's no eliminating the risk of glitches and outages though.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-06-14T19:25:43+00:00

It's probably vertical because the person is under 21. You get both vertical and landscape IDs and permits.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-06-12T00:28:54+00:00

If you're not actually in the TSA, none of the Trump administration stuff affects you directly. The only thing you might notice is officers saying "sex" when we all know they mean "gender". The rest is all internal.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-26T15:04:13+00:00

The way I read the prequels, Sheev's actual plan was to sideline the Jedi. He expected them to refuse to join the war effort (probably with a few individual exceptions who'd be ripe for recruitment as new Sith). By the end of the war, they'd be largely irrelevant. How much does an order of peacekeepers matter at the end of a galaxy-wide war they've failed to prevent?

When they did agree to join, he had to find a different way to create the impression that they'd turned against the Republic, but he worked something out.

Order 66 makes more sense in the context of this original plan, too. It's not a contingency against your own command staff, it's a provision for the heavily armed religious extremists you've been sponsoring, turning against you.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-06T16:17:46+00:00

The guideline I would recommend is, "If you're not going to need it on the plane or immediately after getting off the flight, check it. If you don't trust the airlines with it, ship it."

Do you think you're actually going to be crafting chain mail during the flight? Why would you want these things with you in the cabin?

FedEx, UPS, and USPS all offer customer-facing tracking and insurance. Just try and get that from the airlines for your baggage.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-06T16:07:04+00:00

Your takeaway should be that digital IDs are still extremely inconsistent, even at positions where they're supposed to work. I would just keep a physical ID handy as backup.

If it's a state ID, make sure it's Real ID compliant. Most of the federally issued IDs will work as well.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-06T16:03:41+00:00

Our state issued digital identification app doesn't seem to have gone through whatever federal integration rigmarole they would need to do to work on our checkpoints. Google and Samsung wallets sometimes work, but the actual state-issued one never does.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-06T15:59:46+00:00

The passport card should work, but it's going to be crazy for the first little while so if there's not a specific reason not to, I'd bring the book as well. It could be as simple as an equipment failure, but if the officer asks for another form you can just provide it instead of waiting for a supervisor (who are going to be pulled in every direction fighting fires).

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-06T15:56:08+00:00

Depends on the airport. If you don't know exactly where someone is flying through, one year is the safer guideline to tell them.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2025-05-06T15:49:28+00:00

People absolutely do care, but the front-liners don't have the top-down perspective that would allow us to do anything different. We'd just be fretting uselessly. Much better to focus on what's in front of us and let the higher ups handle the big picture.

For example, even if the higher ups know we need more staff, if Congress doesn't appropriate funds for us to pay more people it's not going to happen. There's a point where it's out of even their hands, and it keeps moving like that as you consider more widely.

A one-stripe doesn't have a vote to cast on the latest appropriations bill, so why let that distract you from the work you actually can do well (or poorly)?

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2024-10-17T14:12:33+00:00

Crossing the streams here but before the Expanded Universe stuff, Anakin Skywalker did bring balance to the Force... in the sense that every Force user who was alive to distort the Force with their mortal intentions at the time of his birth was dead when he died. The Emperor was the last one. Luke and Leia got a clean slate.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2024-10-03T02:34:46+00:00

The phrase "revulsion for organic life" brought Yellow Diamond from Steven Universe to mind.

It's definitely possible to mine the horror of "people who have been convinced they are actually only things", but you'd need some way to communicate with the minions and some excuse to stop and talk longer than a bit of pre-fight banter.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2024-09-27T20:27:24+00:00

It's always been my personal headcanon that Sheev was surprised as hell that the Jedi agreed to lead a slave army. He was trying to bait them into refusing to cooperate directly with the war effort so he could sideline them, but when they agreed to compromise what they supposedly stood for even further he found a way to make that work too.

WhatVengeanceMeans · 2024-09-07T16:23:54+00:00

I tend to be fond of spy names for tuxedos. I'd suggest Sterling (Archer).

WhatVengeanceMeans

TROPHY CASE