Figured I'd start a new thread. Not really an issue that it's dominating the voting rights & suppression thread, but it's kind of a disservice to only focus on how the fuckery at the post office is likely to cause problems with the vote this fall, even though voting is very importing. Thing is people also rely on the mail for other critical things outside of voting and some of that stuff is year round. There are people relying on the post office to gets basic supplies like food and clothing because they are in a rural area or want to minimize their risk of getting covid. Then there is the shear number of people that are reliant on the mail to delivery critical medications and this is the big reason why I'm starting this thread. I mentioned I the voter rights thread that this shit was likely to get people killed because of delayed medications, but it slipped my mind that there are also, who might not die, but will suffer. They aren't getting their medications to treat a whole host of conditions that negatively impact their lives.
For example.
Tom Perriello's mother, who is 78 hasn't gotten her eyedrops, to protect against low pressure glaucoma, for 23 days. I also doubt she is the only individual that is dealing with this BS and there are probably hundreds.
A quick rundown of what's going on. Republicans in power are idiots that dislike anything that isn't lining their pockets the expense of the poor. This pretty much explains why they've been trying to kill the USPS despite a number of their constituents having no issues with it. Granted since they are idiots they don't get that the USPS exists because the services it offers are things that private business won't just pick up. There are a ton of places far removed form urbanization where it's not profitable to run delivery to on a affordable price tag. If private business did try to pick up things they'd jack up the price to a point where people wouldn't be able to afford it and BTW this is just dealing with trying to have reasonable profits, so it'll be worse with asshole douchebag moneybags gets involved and feels he's entitled to gangbuster profits every quarter. Anyways, this is why they did the ran of BS of requiring the USPS to fund pensions 75 years out, pretty much their is someone that hasn't been conceived yet, whose parents probably haven't even met, that will decide the want to work for the USPS someday even though they don't exist yet and will probably then live about two decades before deciding to work for the USPS. It' pretty fucking absurd, this is also probably an attempt to make pension look like a bad idea, even though no one requires pension prefunding for that long. Recently, the USPS has gotten a board of governors, appointed by Trump, that seems mostly interested in killing the USPS. They then selected some jackass mega donor for the GOP named Louis DeJoy as the USPS Postmaster General.
DeJoy is also an asshole that doesn't give a shit about serving the people and probably shouldn't have been allowed to fill the post given that he has a conflict of interest because of his financial ties to various competitors of the USPS. The asshole things he is being smart with the sabotage because a number of things going on would seem legitimated, except for the fact that a smart business person wouldn't likely do them during the election cycle, that happens to coincide with a worldwide pandemic. Then there are other areas where the handling is incompetent. Point in case, removing sorting machines, which would seem legitimate because they can't handle all the packages coming in, since they were made for sorting letters. Problem is, again the timing, election season during a pandemic, then there is also the fact that they don't seem to have the new sorting machines on hand for sorting packages. Proper business approach would be to minimize disruptions, which this isn't doing.
Plus, we seem to have had some illegal action taken. This was the removal of USPS mailboxes. Problem is there is a whole process they have to. Give advance noticed and allow public input, this didn't happen. They've ceased the removal of said mailboxes now that people have called them out on this shit. There are calls for a DoJ probe into the current activities. Also there is cases of post offices putting up notices saying they will be closing; however, much like the mailbox thing, they can't do without going through a formal process.
One such incident has managed to catch Senator Warner's attention, when he wrote the USPS Postmaster General, asking what's going on. Fun, fact if you read the letter the Senator's office did contact them before Warner sent this message and were told those postings were in error. Now given the fiasco with the unannounced removal of USPS mailboxes, the cynic in me believes they likely would have closed those locations without following the letter of the law, but backed the fuck out when a sitting US Senator's office called up and was like "you're doing what now?"
Anyways, since I'm making a thread about the USPS, might as well also mention that Biden would like to expand their services to include basic banking services. So some positive news to talk about, in light of all the bullshit going on involving the service.
On topic:
The obvious fuckery with the USPS. This is includes election stuff, unless the mods want it elsewhere. Also includes the problems it causes for people that use it to get medicine and other items delivered to them.
Also includes democratic plans to expands their services to cover some basic banking services. I mean, if we have a thread for the USPS, might as well cover that stuff to. If Biden wins and the democrats take the Senate and retain the House, we'll probably be talking about it anyways.
I hope things are resolved in a way that allows me to change the thread title to "USPS, Nothing Stops the Mail, Not Even Fascists, They Tried & Failed."
Posts
What do they think is going to happen when UPS and FedEx can't use USPS for local deliveries?
...for that matter, has UPS or FedEx said anything about the escalated meddling with USPS?
Is my favorite cause of USPS expanding to do check cashing and small banking services on topic, or are we just dealing with the current round of fuckery?
Cause either way works.
Edit - nm, apparently my favorite cause is on topic. Kill check cashing and money orders by having the post office take it over.
Our insurance also requires use of ExpressScripts. A lot of insurances require mail order pharmacies. The two biggest prescription drug providers in the US are mail order, and multiple major insulin and diabetic suppliers are mail order.
The short version: this will have a body count, likely starting within the next week.
Joe Manchin is also pissed on the Senate side. Though Warren (of course) was the one who triggered the IG investigation.
EDIT: Something approaching leadership also on it:
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197970666737/
I’m willing to bet that probably 99% of people didn’t have the faintest clue about this. I had no idea until I saw this earlier.
My father worked for the USPS for decades and I didn’t know this.
I do a lot of business through eBay one of the postal clerks told me.
This is how. "The House demands answers" is basically what they can do. Launch investigations and hearings and shit.
Just think about how many pieces of mail, especially junk mail, most people get each day versus how many packages they receive.
ruining Christmas comes after the election.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoL8g0W9gAQ
Which amounts to nothing essentially. There are two ways to remove a Postmaster General - through the Board of Governors or impeachment/removal in the House/Senate. The Board of Governors is supposed to be 9 governors with 7 year terms appointed by the President, mo more than 5 of which can be of a political party plus the Ppstmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General, named by the Board.
Holds were put on all of Obama's appointees from a Senator on the left because a minority were Republican (as the statute requires and as a GOP Senate would certainly require) and some were perceived to be insufficiently hostile to somerhing resembling privatization (such as having a counter in the non-union store Staples that could sell stamps and mail packages). "Better no board than a bad board" was the sentiment.
So now we have a bad board named entirely by Trump that will control the USPS barring legislation until at least 2022.
So we can potentially politically damage Trump but legally Democrats don't have the power to do anything except maybe hold the Postmaster General in contempt of Congress
QEDMF xbl: PantsB G+
You hate government doing things and/or you look at government doing things and think it would be better if you were doing those things so you could be a middle-man and make a bunch of money doing it instead.
Also you’re constantly beaming garbage into your face holes that turn your brains into worms
Is it deeply stupid if it works? The GOP damaging the country to benefit the party has been the play for years now. And while it will surely hurt some GOP voters (as all previous vote rigging measures the GOP have taken do to an extent) surveys have shown a pretty big partisan split favoring democratic use of mail-in ballots this year. Honestly I hope people aren't expecting this to be the worst of it -- this is just the beginning.
When it's not being fucked with, the USPS is one of the examples of Government working correctly. As a party who's modus operandi is that the government can't accomplish anything and everything should be done by private businesses, a successful USPS exists as a giant example of how you're completely wrong.
Still, even all online students need the books the instructor requested, as well as physical access cards for online material because that's a thing.
The majority of these are getting shipped, and the majority of those are being shipped via UPS Surepost, which basically means UPS takes the packages to the post office closest to the delivery address and USPS takes over for the last mile. And classes start this week.
I'm starting to dread how many people are going to be calling because their material isn't there for the first day of class, as "because Trump doesn't want you to vote via mail" doesn't really cut it for someone who's looking at the prospect of having to drop a class they spent money or jumped through hoops to secure aid for.
It's liable to piss off a ton of republicans, even if they buy Trump's horseshit on absentee voting. Thing is there are a ton of citizens and residents that use the mail for more than just sending in an absentee ballot. I imagine even a super rightwing troll, will be pissed at the GOP when his favorite gran-gran ends up in the hospital because she didn't get her medication in time; especially, if she was getting it through the mail for some time without issue. Hell, DeJoy's rule on overtime and how undelivered mail is probably going to fuck over more republicans in the sticks than it fucks democratic voters in the city.
The fuckery with the vote is getting the most attention right now, but that's probably going to change when undelivered medications result in a body count and hospitalizations. This is probably going to be the thing, if anything, that forces the GOP to stop the fuckery.
I fucking love DC so much. I thought it'd be Baltimore or New York but DC is the absolute best.
So they are working on it.
I'm guessing those got dropped off there to be staged and picked up by someone else later.
E: ok in the replies there is another picture and there are bolted in place, so that theory's out.
There are also people saying that this was a pre-existing practice (locked after-hours) for these boxes which have been subject to vandalism. 🤷♀️
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
Wait, he was a finance Chairman for the RNC? Did he work with Cohen?
Now what he says and what the result is, that's up in the air. I have no reason to believe him though.
Checked the Twitter feeds for all 3 companies, and didn't see anything obvious.
Former star college basketball player turned accidental social media influencer
Can't make a definitive confirmation, but there are multiple people on Twitter sharing similar, but different, photos:
Part of me is terrified this is just a distraction, or not but our counter ends up being futile.
I'm really feeling Cassandra-ish but I'm not gonna begin to relax until 12:01 on 1/20/21. At the earliest.
What the FUCK.