10 days to mail a ballot is not enough even now when mail is taking 2-3 weeks within the same city, and by October, Trump/DeJoy will likely have ordered a halt to delivery of mail ballots. In fact, Trump’s aides are exploring “possible executive actions he could take to curb mail-in voting — everything from directing the postal service to not deliver certain ballots to stopping local officials from counting them after Election Day.” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/08/trump-wants-to-cut-mail-in-voting-the-republican-machine-is-helping-him-392428.
There is no question he's going to try to stop the counting of mail ballots. “The only way to prevent this scenario, or at least rob it of the oxygen it needs to burn, is to deliver an election night lead to Biden. This means voting in person.” How to Foil Trump’s Election Night Strategy, Jamelle Bouie, NYT (Aug. 11, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/opinion/trump-election-day.html.
People should contact their local election office to find out their options, what safety measures can be taken, etc., and NOT reflexively vote by mail or trust USPS with anything.
Amy Baron-Evans, I have applied for an absentee ballot. I voted by absentee in our state primary, but can't find confirmation it was received. Therefore I decided in the General to vote in person. Michigan is a battleground state I am not f--king around.
Many polling places have drop off boxes; use those if available, and try to get them implemented if not your area doesn't have them yet. Drop off is safer and avoids USPS
I agree: Vote in person if at all possible. There is too much on the line to take any chances on mailing ballots through the disabled USPS. Get votes irrefutably counted for Biden-Harris and Democrats in Congress. Then our institutions will be restored.
My state has neither drop boxes nor will an absentee ballot be accepted at a polling location, so it is imperative to find out what your state permits BEFORE voting by mail. Also in my state, once you’ve been issued a ballot to mail, you can’t vote in person either. (Can you tell I’m in a ruby red southern state?)
In your state, can you just walk into your election office with your ballot? This lady, who lives in South Carolina where there is currently no early voting and VBM only for people 65 or older and has no drop boxes, says: “In order to make sure my ballot is received in time to be counted, I’m going to do two things. First, if my absentee ballot doesn’t arrive in early October as expected, I’m going to keep calling the elections office until it arrives. Second, once my absentee ballot arrives, I’m going to complete it, drive to the elections office, put on a mask, go inside, and hand-deliver it to the elections clerk.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/13/vote-like-miss-sylvia-hand-deliver-your-mail-in-or-absentee-ballot/
Marcy Meldahl, I am going to confirm I have that option. I think Michiganders have the option of voting in person even if they received an absentee ballot.
We do in Texas. If you asked for a mail in ballot but go to the polls, we just call in to see if they’ve received your ballot. Voting in person was very safe! And working polls was a very positive experience! Plus I bused the money to buy school supplies for a foster child.
In Ohio, if one is issued an absentee ballot and then later decides to vote in person, one is forced to vote a provisional ballot that will not be counted until 11 days after the election.
I think the problem is many who already vote by mail are elderly or disabled and with the added risk of COVID just can’t take the risk of going in person even with PPE on.
Yes! I'm sure that's true. Those people could, however, drop off their ballots rather than mail them or have someone else drop them off. Most (but not all) states allow a third party to drop off ballots, but the rules are different as to who that person can be.
I'm worried about the idea that the only way to vote for everyone is by mail, regardless of their situation and other available options.
I love the USPS for many reasons. It hired my 55 year old husband who’d been axed by IBM. Decent wage. Union protection (unlike IBM - the “lifetime” employer who broke his heart). This gave me a 10 year insiders view into the unbelievably hard work behind our miraculous mail system. A package delivery to the Tonga island of Vava’u? No problem! ❤️🤍💙
This has now become, with Trump's statements today, the most significant election in the history of the country, far moreso than 1860 or 1864, the two elections that people have previously considered the most significant. This isn't about dividing the country, it's now about destroying the country.
Trump and all his fellow conspirators to overthrow the government MUST be prosecuted and imprisoned, if it means jailing every elected Republican in the country. That party is now The Party of Treason.
It doesn't apply in Ivanka's case because she's white. It's only black and brown non-citizens whose children aren't citizens even if they are born here. That is Trump's actual logic.
But their father is a US citizen. In Kamala's case neither of her parents were citizens. Still, according to the 14th, being born on US soil automatically makes you a citizen. “All person born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Thank you again for digesting the over abundance of headline worthy events for us.
Since it is questionable if the Senate will act to resolve the destruction of USPS before it is too severely gutted to handle election mail, who else can sue on behalf of the people? Since this is a federal agency do state attorneys general have the right to sue on behalf of the population of their states? Or do the local election boards have this right? What other avenues are available? Calling all of our various representatives won't resolve anything if McConnell won't release legislation from the graveyard on his desk obviously. Would it be legal for National Guard or someone to help USPS workers process the mail if necessary at the last minute if sorting machines cannot be returned to service?
Since not prosecuting a sitting president is policy but not law, is it possible for state or federal to ignore this policy since 45 openly admitted he is interfering with USPS to block mail in voting which appears to be voter tampering (or is it election tampering?) or for any one of the many other potentially illegal things he appears to have done?
I admit today felt pretty overwhelming with his blatant effort to destroy our democracy.
BTW, is the Israel-UAE deal just a newly offered version of Jared's earlier one that will fall apart due to Palestinian not being included? It sounded so similar to that earlier announcement ages ago that my instant gut reaction was "what did he promise them to get them to say this at least until the election is over?" given his similar behaviors elsewhere.
The Israel-UAE deal looks real to me, although all the credit given to Jared and Donald is difficult to believe. The two countries have been working with each other quietly for years, having a common interest in not being destroyed by Iran. My guess is that Donald promised financial support to get the announcement done before the election and to give him all that credit for it.
Secretaries of State from several states have set up a meeting with the current appointed head of the P.O. Keep track of that, those who are able, and let us know!
I’m only surprised that he didn’t say, "Everything I’ve done has been for the American people blah blah, I’m the greatest president in American history blah Biden blah blah Russiagate blah I’m a victim of blah blah I’m better than blah blah". Basically doing what he’s been doing for the last 3 years and almost 8 months. This guy has ceased to amaze me. The man has no moral compass whatsoever. There’s no sewer he won’t slither through or line he’s unwilling to cross in order to avoid the legal problems he’ll have to endure simply because he won an election he thought (and hoped privately) that he’d lose. Then he fell for his own bullshit and doubled down on fooling us one more time. And it probably would’ve worked, if it weren’t for that pesky pandemic (which he sadly bet on fading in time, and thus beating the libtard Dems and their terrorist anti fascist dark people army). If only he’d lost that election, he coulda been the new Rush Limbaugh on steroids, and have the sort of ratings that he desperately desires. He’s a pathetic sociopath with a finger on the nuclear trigger. The fact that he’s still in the race at all, means that this country has seriously lost the plot, if not their collective minds. I only hope we don’t all lose our lives because he makes some incredibly stupid foreign/military move to gin up the vote for a wartime president, or end up starting a civil war if he loses only after the mail in ballots are counted. This is the most exciting time in centuries, and I can’t wait for whatever wacky shit is left to come. An alien (outer space variety) intervention? The second, and/or 3rd coming? Maybe the rapture even? I have lost the ability to be surprised.
I've struggled for years with an old, cynical maxim from Simon Cameron, Secretary of War under Lincoln: "An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." At first glance, the line seems like a rim-shot in a stand-up routine, but it has remarkably complex hidden implications. The more I observe the life and work of political figures, the more sympathy I have for their constraints - ethical, financial, and social.
For one thing, politicians have to become "bought" in order to do their job. The resources to get them elected have to come from other groups and people, and the cooperation of other groups and people are necessary to accomplish anything in whatever arena the politician works - Congress, a school board, city council, or a multi-departmental White House. If you neither give nor receive favors, neither support nor decry other politicians, you are just the noisy dog in the corner. So, politicians have to continually look for someone to buy with whatever coin works - money, promises of support, or favors of almost unlimited kind. They also have to reciprocally look for someone to sell themselves to, using the same coin.
Loyalty, even in situations the politician finds personally repugnant, is an essential part of the deal. In order to operate in that environment, an effective politician has to get bought, and stay bought, even when having to follow his "purchasers" through a moral swamp. It's important to note that the people who buy politicians are doing so for their own benefit, not the public's; the struggle for the honest politician is to direct the self-interest of their "buyers" into something resembling the public good.
So, where do ethics enter into this situation, where part of the job description is to support people and positions the politician finds personally repellent, simply because they promised that support in exchange for past favors? As I see it, the only value-based choice politicians have to make is when they decide to whom they wish to sell themselves. They have to "sell their souls," it's part of the job. So, who's the buyer? Is the buyer someone you can live with, long-term? That's the only value-laden choice they have to make, and it's probably made early in their careers, when their "marketability" is low and their choices limited. Even if they start as honest, well-meaning public servants, they can only hope that they haven't sold themselves to devils who will demand that they do evil. Living with that initial decision probably means continually redefining their definition of evil so they can continue living with themselves while they do it.
Now, enter Trump. He's not really a politician. Instead, he's one of those who buy politicians, and he also represent all those like him, the oligarchs, who only benefit the public incidentally, as a by-product of achieving their own self-interests. Like many of the rest of his class, Trump never even tried to work for the public good, but merely for his own. He hijacked a web of loyalties that had been forged over decades and is using it to aggrandize himself. He openly uses his official powers for his personal benefit because he knows that the web of loyalties he's seized can be a net to drag those caught in it directly into Hell, and he knows that the politicians caught in the web owe each other just as deeply as they owe whoever is at the top. Public approval doesn't matter, so long as he has control of the web of obligations.
In this sense, the Republicans are "honest politicians." They are willing to stay bought, even when their ownership has been transferred to a petty Devil. With Trump's naked evisceration of the Postal Service to ensure his retention of Presidential power,, he's demanding that the Republicans transfer their oaths directly to himself.
Because for all of his bluster and glitz, I've never gotten the impression that Trump is a very powerful oligarch. He's rich, sure, but he's not in the same league as the Koch Brothers, Buffett, Bezos, Gates, or Soros. And certainly not in the same league as the Russian oligarchs, who seem to have such a deep entrenchment that is looks virtually feudal. Trump is the "stand-in" oligarch, willing to be the public autocrat, and set up to take the fall, while letting the real oligarchs who can then operate without hindrance and with impunity.
It's quite now become clear to whom the Republicans have sold themselves. They are owned not just by Trump, but by all the oligarchs basking in the dark shadows behind Trump's throne. But the question remains, who owns the Democrats, and how honest are they?
Dan, thanks for this helpful broad frame -- hope you will put your observations out there on the web to reach beyond the limited audience of HCR's comment feed.
That's high praise, indeed. Frankly, I was hesitant to post that comment, since the observation seemed obvious and the whole thing had the tone of a lecture. Besides, where else would I post such musings, besides the fabulously limited and intelligent audience of Dr. Richardson?
It sounds very much like the "rotten borough" system in pre-1832 England where no or just a very few dependent local voters affirmed the wishes of the rich land owner in whose gift was the seat and the candidate voted only to defend the interests of the "oligarch" when in the House <of Commons. It is time that we got back to outlawing corporate political spending either directly to the candidate or through PACs etc. Obama showed the way to financing with small individual contributions! Thereafter it's time to limit total campaign spending to remove the blight of political advertizing and the power of the Koch's etc.
I heartily agree, even to the extent of wishing that all campaign funding and publicity could be restricted to public allotments and dedicated media channels, like C-Span. Of course, there would be quite a bit of Constitutional law to reinterpret. I think that money does qualify as a form of "speech," but holdings that a corporation is a "person" with First Amendment rights for the purpose of political speech, and that political donations can be secret, are unnecessary, destructive and absurd.
This is a useful analogy, but dark. The only coin “the people” have is their vote. That coin has been rendered obsolete by Citizens United and it’s slight of hand turning of corporate gollum’s into actual voices via dollars. Our only hope, Obi Wan, is to make sure real persons regain their sovereignty. That is really all we have to buy these guys with. How many years have the Republicans been working on controlling votes? Since Newt was in the House?
Hmm, I'm not quite sure what you are suggesting with your hope that "real persons regain their sovereignty." Do you mean simply to legislatively overturn Citizens United, or something else?
And frankly, your analysis is even darker than the one you're responding to. If the individual's vote is so unimportant, why to the candidates, parties, and PAC's spend so much money and effort trying to influence and suppress it?
Yes, we are in trouble, no messin'. But we, the Body Public, are still a player, and we can change our fates if we vote, no matter how many acres of broken glass we have to crawl across, and then continue to pay attention to the rascals, calling them, badgering them, insisting that they explain their legislative votes, and never letting them rest easy in power. (That's one thing I liked about Justin Amash, he explained every vote he made, in detail, on his website.)
There is still good reason to hope. We'll know that hope is lost when the bastards stop buying air time and no longer even care how we vote.
My thinking was only that so many are overwhelmed already by the “darkness” of these hooligans. I agree that we must keep going, but I wanted to emphasize to readers that this was a long-term operation and needs to be responded to as such. I completely agree that there is still reason to hope, but I also believe we need to hope with eyes completely open to what we are facing. Regaining the real person’s sovereignty over the corporate straw man will not be an easy battle, but a worthy one. B. Franklin was on to something when he cautioned against approving corporate structure in the U.S. there had already been ruinous bubbles in Europe because of these structures. To give the voice of a legal fiction the same voice as a living person was, in my opinion, a travesty. Please accept my apologies for not adequately presenting my argument earlier. Thank you.
Well said, and I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your comment. I especially agree with your point that so much of what has transpired is the result of long-term operations on the part of very un-democratic, autocratic-leaning, oligarch-empowering people. Reversing that trend will also require a long-term operation, and patience.
If (when) Biden, Harris, and a Democrat majority come to power next year, a new Sun will not suddenly dawn over America. The new leaders will have to be very judicious about re-taking power from Trump's claque. The first task should be rooting out Trump's appointees and their hires, a task that will have to be carefully done and will be boring for many news cycles. Only then can Biden begin rebuilding trust in our institutions and respect internationally. It won't come quickly.
The worst thing Biden could do would be to, for instance, declare a nation-wide shutdown and mask order. Such a major, possibly illegal, exercise of executive power would only lead to widespread refusal on the part of Republican governors and mayors, and lack of enforcement on the part of local police.
No, Biden will have to be very cagey and subtle, using force only when he can be sure of victory. We will have to be very patient and vigilant. Real change will take months, and should.
You helpfully remind us that the USPS is established by the Constitution. Please tell us more about the remedies available if a scofflaw administration and a compliant Senate choose to sabotage or eliminate it. Surely we're not reduced to simply watching in horror as it burns to the ground, are we?
You must be envisioning the courts rescuing us. Elections are chaotic as it is, and courts are slow, unreliable and weak because they have no agents to enforce their rulings (while Trump has Barr to do his bidding). We're dealing with lawless people. The best thing to do is protect yourself by the way you vote - in person if you can. If you VBM, avoid the mail if you can.
Many polling places have drop off boxes; use those if available, and try to get them implemented if not your area doesn't have them yet. Drop off is safer and avoids USPS
Srsly, this above all his other disgusting attacks on America is the most upsetting because it is so open and obvious and the Repugnant Party is obviously complicit with it. At least seeing that I am not alone in my outrage is cathartic, if not helpful.
Well, he said the bad thing out loud. And yet his enablers in the Senate twiddle their thumbs. As to name calling and trying to discredit Senator Harris, she is made of sterner stuff. She knew what she would face and is more than a match for them. (Roll tape of Brett Kavanaugh crying.)
Regarding what Ted Lieu, U.S. House candidate, CA-33 said in his Tweet: "The stark reality is the House cannot adequately fund USPS without the consent of Trump."
The Impoundment Control Act of 1974: What Is It? Why Does It Matter?
What is the Impoundment Control Act?
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) reasserted Congress’ power of the purse. Specifically, Title X of the Act – “Impoundment Control” – established procedures to prevent the President and other government officials from unilaterally substituting their own funding decisions for those of the Congress. The Act also created the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office.
Why was the ICA necessary?
Congress passed the ICA in response to President Nixon’s executive overreach – his Administration refused to release Congressionally appropriated funds for certain programs he opposed. While the U.S. Constitution broadly grants Congress the power of the purse, the President – through the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and executive agencies – is responsible for the actual spending of funds. The ICA created a process the President must follow if he or she seeks to delay or cancel funding that Congress has provided.
What does it mean to ‘impound’ funds?
An “impoundment” is any action – or inaction – by an officer or employee of the federal government that precludes federal funds from being obligated[1] or spent, either temporarily or permanently.
How does the ICA work?
The ICA lays out procedures the President must follow to reduce, delay, or eliminate funding in an account. The Act divides impoundments into two categories: rescissions and deferrals.
Rescissions
Put simply, if the President wants to spend less money than Congress provided for a particular purpose, he or she must first secure a law providing Congressional approval to rescind the funding in question. The ICA requires that the President send a special message to Congress identifying the amount of the proposed rescission; the reasons for it; and the budgetary, economic, and programmatic effects of the rescission. Upon transmission of such special message, the President may withhold certain funding in the affected accounts for up to 45 legislative session days. If a law approving the rescission is not enacted within the 45 days, any withheld funds must be made available for obligation.
A 2018 Government Accountability Office legal opinion holds that if the President proposes a rescission, he or she must make the affected funds available to be prudently obligated before the funds expire, even if the 45-day clock is still running. This means, for example, that the President cannot strategically time a rescission request for late in the fiscal year and withhold the funding until it expires, thus achieving a rescission without Congressional approval.
Deferrals
The ICA defines a “deferral” as withholding, delaying, or – through other Executive action or inaction – effectively precluding funding from being obligated or spent. The ICA prescribes three narrow circumstances in which the President may propose to defer funding for a program: (1) providing for contingencies; (2) achieving budgetary savings made possible through improved operational efficiency; and (3) as specifically provided by law.
The ICA requires that the President send a special message to Congress identifying the amount of the proposed deferral; the reasons for it; and the period of the proposed deferral. Upon transmission of such special message, the funds may be deferred without further action by Congress; however, the deferral cannot extend beyond the end of the fiscal year in which the special message is sent. The ICA language on deferrals is long-standing budget law that allows the Executive branch to delay the obligation or expenditure of funding only for the specified reasons rather than policy reasons.
Why is the ICA important?
Today, 45 years after the ICA became law, Congress once again confronts a President attempting to push past the long-recognized boundaries of executive budgetary power. This year, for the second straight year, the Trump Administration reportedly considered issuing rescission requests for certain foreign aid and security assistance accounts less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year, when the funds in question would expire. In the closing weeks of fiscal 2019, OMB withheld funding in these accounts in a manner inconsistent with longstanding procedures and policies. The House Budget and Appropriations Committees have serious concerns that President Trump and his administration violated the ICA in withholding these funds. The committees are examining when, why, and how these funds were withheld; and whether these actions prevented agencies from spending the full amount that Congress provided for these activities, thus thwarting the will of Congress. Congress will not bend to executive overreach. It will defend its constitutional power of the purse and the fundamental checks and balances that are critical to our constitutional republic.
[1] To “obligate” funds means to incur a legal obligation to pay, such as by entering into a contract for services.
Additional Resources
House Budget Committee Outlines OMB's Abuse of Apportionment Process
Chairs Yarmuth and Lowey Call on White House to Release Documents on the Withholding of Ukraine, Foreign Aid Funds (Press Statement)
Chairs Yarmuth and Lowey Call on White House to End Blatant Attempts to Undermine Congress’ Power of the Purse (Press Statement)
Top Budget Democrats Yarmuth & Sanders Urge Administration Not to Impound Funding (Press Statement)
A copy to every member of the House might be appropriate as would forwarding to all major newspapers and internet news sources. I'm sure Nancy Pelosi is aware....but just in case!
Congress created the USPS but it is under the Executive branch. The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service is an eleven-seat board comparable to a board of directors of a private corporation, except in service of the United States Postal Service. Nine members are appointed by the president of the United States, subject to confirmation by the Senate (and usually first deliberated in the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs)[1]. The nine presidentially appointed governors choose the postmaster general, who also serves as a member of the board. These ten then choose a deputy postmaster general, who becomes the 11th member of the board. The postmaster general and deputy postmaster general serve at the pleasure of the governors. - wikipedia And, it is valuable. It is always about the money...
“There are two potential rationales for the ongoing attempts to break the agency.
One is that privatization would transfer enormous amounts of value. There are untold billions in real estate, trucks, contracts and intellectual property. There is high marketing value, if harnessed, to tell which people and companies sent letters or packages to any individual.
The other rationale would be to attack what is the third-largest employer in the nation, with more than 600,000 mostly unionized workers, historically allies of Democrats.
Although not considered federal employees, postal workers are eligible for federal health and retirement benefits. Push them into the private sector and suddenly there’s less of a burden on federal taxpayers, but not Americans.
Privatize the postal service and hundreds of thousands of workers would be affected, potentially seeing worse benefits and pay. That’s particularly bad for the African American community, which has historically been heavily represented in the institution.
Hence the necessity to follow suggestions to "ensure" that your vote is COUNTED and not just POSTED by as many people as humanly possible. The best way is always to ensure a massive lead for Biden/Harris "on the night" from "walk-in vote" then the stress over mail delays becomes somewhat superfluous.
Trump already violated the Impoundment Act when he with-held Congressionally appropriated military aid from Ukraine as part of his shakedown scheme to get that government to manufacture slanders against Joe Biden. It got him impeached, sure, but then the Senate gave him a pass. Lesson learned: when you're a star, they let you do anything.
"The ICA created a process the President must follow if he or she seeks to delay or cancel funding that Congress has provided."
Brenda, The way I understand this, (and the entire explanation of the ICA), the funding has to have been voted on and already approved; in the pipeline as it were.
Dana, it would die on Mitch McConnell's desk. >During a television interview, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that 395 bills sitting in the Senate are not going to be passed. "It is true," the senator said. "They've been on full left-wing parade over there, trotting out all of their left-wing solutions that are going to be issues in the fall campaign. They're right. We're not going to pass those.
McConnell explained that the bills would not get passed, because the government is divided. He said that instead they "have to work on things we can agree," listing government spending, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, an infrastructure bill, a parks bill, and some environmental issues as examples of bills that they may be able to agree on.
McConnell's failure to pass many of the bills that are currently in the Senate has been a frequent target for Democrats, earning him the nickname the "Grim Reaper," from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last December. She has said that bills are sitting in a "legislative graveyard," during this cycle.
"We have a second thing we better be working hard on and thinking about, and that is: take back the Senate and put Mitch McConnell out of a job," Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said on the campaign trail Sunday.<
My input is a head shake and “what a way to run a government” it is dysfunctional and a turn-off for younger generations who are as disgusted as I am. My adult children are disgusted with the huge sums of money required to run for even local offices, like the city council. It is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars--unobtanium for most of us
The bipartisan divide stops legislation that would help 99% of the people. Democracy is dying the world over and even youthful Chinese citizens who have equality of opportunity in China will put up with authoritarianism to have a middle-class existence.
The U.S. has no moral high ground to spread democracy when it is killing it here. On NPR's PRI, on August 13th they featured the reporting of Laicie Heeley and national security podcast “Things That Go Boom.” On Wednesday, she looked at the economic competition between the US and China. On Thursday, they look at how that power struggle pits democracy against authoritarianism. And the winner? it is not so obvious.
Thank you Heather. Today, I came close to jumping on and hugging our letter carrier. I was able to rely on my verbal skills only to convey to him how much we are trying to contact our Reps and how we are signing petitions. The stomping out of the USPS is horrific! They are erecting fences in USPS parking lots and stowing the mail in tents where it sits! I have photos. Appalling!!!
Yes. Received a lot of support and received flak from a trump supporter for which I replied in length with facts. You too can do a screen grab and post these photos. Just go to author, Susan Branch twitter (I am not a twitter member) and scroll through Susan's posts. You can do a screen grab, save it as a jpg. picture and then post it on Facebook. You will find it around August 2nd.
I follow Susan Branch on Twitter and she posted her local USPS photos. About two weeks ago, fences started going up, then tents in the enclosed area filled with stacks of cartons of mail. Martha's Vineyard! That's where. Our PA mail has dwindled to some days nothing and other days maybe two pieces of mail.
There are no words to describe his actions. He is doing everything he can to try to sabotage the election and openly admitting it. The news today was horrific.
It gets crazier every day! One of 45's son's tweeted that Kamal Harris is a "whorendous choice" for vp. He's calling Sen. Harris a whore? Wow, such class these tRump's have!
Dems need to wake up and stop promoting VBM as if it were the only option, and stop promoting use of the mail to vote at all.
The rejection rate of mail ballots is high, enough to hand the election to Trump. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/democrats-are-strongly-pushing-mail-voting-its-pitfalls-could-boost-n1235289; https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-mail-in-ballot-rejected-voting-counts/; https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/democrats-are-strongly-pushing-mail-voting-its-pitfalls-could-boost-n1235289; https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/06/mail-in-voting-could-accidentally-disenfranchise-millions-voters/
10 days to mail a ballot is not enough even now when mail is taking 2-3 weeks within the same city, and by October, Trump/DeJoy will likely have ordered a halt to delivery of mail ballots. In fact, Trump’s aides are exploring “possible executive actions he could take to curb mail-in voting — everything from directing the postal service to not deliver certain ballots to stopping local officials from counting them after Election Day.” https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/08/trump-wants-to-cut-mail-in-voting-the-republican-machine-is-helping-him-392428.
There is no question he's going to try to stop the counting of mail ballots. “The only way to prevent this scenario, or at least rob it of the oxygen it needs to burn, is to deliver an election night lead to Biden. This means voting in person.” How to Foil Trump’s Election Night Strategy, Jamelle Bouie, NYT (Aug. 11, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/opinion/trump-election-day.html.
Put on your PPE and vote in person early or on election day (many election offices will ensure polling places large enough for social distancing). If you must VBM, hand deliver your ballot to an approved drop-off location or drop box if available; if not, take it to the election office. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/13/vote-like-miss-sylvia-hand-deliver-your-mail-in-or-absentee-ballot/
People should contact their local election office to find out their options, what safety measures can be taken, etc., and NOT reflexively vote by mail or trust USPS with anything.
To contact your local election office: https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/eoddomestic.htm
Amy Baron-Evans, I have applied for an absentee ballot. I voted by absentee in our state primary, but can't find confirmation it was received. Therefore I decided in the General to vote in person. Michigan is a battleground state I am not f--king around.
Good! Get all your friends on board
Many polling places have drop off boxes; use those if available, and try to get them implemented if not your area doesn't have them yet. Drop off is safer and avoids USPS
I agree: Vote in person if at all possible. There is too much on the line to take any chances on mailing ballots through the disabled USPS. Get votes irrefutably counted for Biden-Harris and Democrats in Congress. Then our institutions will be restored.
My state has neither drop boxes nor will an absentee ballot be accepted at a polling location, so it is imperative to find out what your state permits BEFORE voting by mail. Also in my state, once you’ve been issued a ballot to mail, you can’t vote in person either. (Can you tell I’m in a ruby red southern state?)
Great advice to find out everything first.
In your state, can you just walk into your election office with your ballot? This lady, who lives in South Carolina where there is currently no early voting and VBM only for people 65 or older and has no drop boxes, says: “In order to make sure my ballot is received in time to be counted, I’m going to do two things. First, if my absentee ballot doesn’t arrive in early October as expected, I’m going to keep calling the elections office until it arrives. Second, once my absentee ballot arrives, I’m going to complete it, drive to the elections office, put on a mask, go inside, and hand-deliver it to the elections clerk.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/13/vote-like-miss-sylvia-hand-deliver-your-mail-in-or-absentee-ballot/
Marcy Meldahl, I am going to confirm I have that option. I think Michiganders have the option of voting in person even if they received an absentee ballot.
We do in Texas. If you asked for a mail in ballot but go to the polls, we just call in to see if they’ve received your ballot. Voting in person was very safe! And working polls was a very positive experience! Plus I bused the money to buy school supplies for a foster child.
Denise Huddle, good for you. I looked into working polls this year, however they did the training earlier this year. I going to look into it for 2022.
In Ohio, if one is issued an absentee ballot and then later decides to vote in person, one is forced to vote a provisional ballot that will not be counted until 11 days after the election.
I am going to check that out next.week
https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/eoddomestic.htm
Marcy, can you tell me what state you're in?
I think the problem is many who already vote by mail are elderly or disabled and with the added risk of COVID just can’t take the risk of going in person even with PPE on.
My mother is going to find out if the elections office would be willing to put a ballot drop box somewhere in her elderly housing building.
Yes! I'm sure that's true. Those people could, however, drop off their ballots rather than mail them or have someone else drop them off. Most (but not all) states allow a third party to drop off ballots, but the rules are different as to who that person can be.
I'm worried about the idea that the only way to vote for everyone is by mail, regardless of their situation and other available options.
Some states don’t accept bulk delivered ballots. Be aware there may be rules for folks who hand deliver ballots in groups.
Amy, may I have your permission to copy your post here and re-post it on Facebook? If yes, with what name shall I credit you?
Yes! Thank you. I don't do Facebook.
I love the USPS for many reasons. It hired my 55 year old husband who’d been axed by IBM. Decent wage. Union protection (unlike IBM - the “lifetime” employer who broke his heart). This gave me a 10 year insiders view into the unbelievably hard work behind our miraculous mail system. A package delivery to the Tonga island of Vava’u? No problem! ❤️🤍💙
This has now become, with Trump's statements today, the most significant election in the history of the country, far moreso than 1860 or 1864, the two elections that people have previously considered the most significant. This isn't about dividing the country, it's now about destroying the country.
Trump and all his fellow conspirators to overthrow the government MUST be prosecuted and imprisoned, if it means jailing every elected Republican in the country. That party is now The Party of Treason.
Let’s not forget that Trump’s mother was born in Scotland and emigrated to US at age 18. Maybe a reporter could remind him and us.
And, Ivana didn't get citizenship until after all three kids were born. So, according to Trump's logic, his oldest three aren't citizens. lol
It doesn't apply in Ivanka's case because she's white. It's only black and brown non-citizens whose children aren't citizens even if they are born here. That is Trump's actual logic.
Good point.
But their father is a US citizen. In Kamala's case neither of her parents were citizens. Still, according to the 14th, being born on US soil automatically makes you a citizen. “All person born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Thank you again for digesting the over abundance of headline worthy events for us.
Since it is questionable if the Senate will act to resolve the destruction of USPS before it is too severely gutted to handle election mail, who else can sue on behalf of the people? Since this is a federal agency do state attorneys general have the right to sue on behalf of the population of their states? Or do the local election boards have this right? What other avenues are available? Calling all of our various representatives won't resolve anything if McConnell won't release legislation from the graveyard on his desk obviously. Would it be legal for National Guard or someone to help USPS workers process the mail if necessary at the last minute if sorting machines cannot be returned to service?
Since not prosecuting a sitting president is policy but not law, is it possible for state or federal to ignore this policy since 45 openly admitted he is interfering with USPS to block mail in voting which appears to be voter tampering (or is it election tampering?) or for any one of the many other potentially illegal things he appears to have done?
I admit today felt pretty overwhelming with his blatant effort to destroy our democracy.
BTW, is the Israel-UAE deal just a newly offered version of Jared's earlier one that will fall apart due to Palestinian not being included? It sounded so similar to that earlier announcement ages ago that my instant gut reaction was "what did he promise them to get them to say this at least until the election is over?" given his similar behaviors elsewhere.
The Israel-UAE deal looks real to me, although all the credit given to Jared and Donald is difficult to believe. The two countries have been working with each other quietly for years, having a common interest in not being destroyed by Iran. My guess is that Donald promised financial support to get the announcement done before the election and to give him all that credit for it.
Secretaries of State from several states have set up a meeting with the current appointed head of the P.O. Keep track of that, those who are able, and let us know!
Oh dear God! Did anyone notice how Donald did not answer this question from a reporter this afternoon?
00:37:26. C Span transcript of today's "briefing"
AFTER THREE AND A HALF YEARS, DO YOU REGRET ALL THE LYING, ALL THE DISHONESTY THAT YOU HAVE DONE?
Heather, I hope you have a peaceful evening. I can't imagine how you maintain your sanity on some days. Thank you!
That was spectacular, and it was about time. I was just sorry the next reporter didn't say they would like to hear the answer to the question.
I hope a reporter asks that question every day from here on out.
Daria Wilbert, it was epic.
I’m only surprised that he didn’t say, "Everything I’ve done has been for the American people blah blah, I’m the greatest president in American history blah Biden blah blah Russiagate blah I’m a victim of blah blah I’m better than blah blah". Basically doing what he’s been doing for the last 3 years and almost 8 months. This guy has ceased to amaze me. The man has no moral compass whatsoever. There’s no sewer he won’t slither through or line he’s unwilling to cross in order to avoid the legal problems he’ll have to endure simply because he won an election he thought (and hoped privately) that he’d lose. Then he fell for his own bullshit and doubled down on fooling us one more time. And it probably would’ve worked, if it weren’t for that pesky pandemic (which he sadly bet on fading in time, and thus beating the libtard Dems and their terrorist anti fascist dark people army). If only he’d lost that election, he coulda been the new Rush Limbaugh on steroids, and have the sort of ratings that he desperately desires. He’s a pathetic sociopath with a finger on the nuclear trigger. The fact that he’s still in the race at all, means that this country has seriously lost the plot, if not their collective minds. I only hope we don’t all lose our lives because he makes some incredibly stupid foreign/military move to gin up the vote for a wartime president, or end up starting a civil war if he loses only after the mail in ballots are counted. This is the most exciting time in centuries, and I can’t wait for whatever wacky shit is left to come. An alien (outer space variety) intervention? The second, and/or 3rd coming? Maybe the rapture even? I have lost the ability to be surprised.
I've struggled for years with an old, cynical maxim from Simon Cameron, Secretary of War under Lincoln: "An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought." At first glance, the line seems like a rim-shot in a stand-up routine, but it has remarkably complex hidden implications. The more I observe the life and work of political figures, the more sympathy I have for their constraints - ethical, financial, and social.
For one thing, politicians have to become "bought" in order to do their job. The resources to get them elected have to come from other groups and people, and the cooperation of other groups and people are necessary to accomplish anything in whatever arena the politician works - Congress, a school board, city council, or a multi-departmental White House. If you neither give nor receive favors, neither support nor decry other politicians, you are just the noisy dog in the corner. So, politicians have to continually look for someone to buy with whatever coin works - money, promises of support, or favors of almost unlimited kind. They also have to reciprocally look for someone to sell themselves to, using the same coin.
Loyalty, even in situations the politician finds personally repugnant, is an essential part of the deal. In order to operate in that environment, an effective politician has to get bought, and stay bought, even when having to follow his "purchasers" through a moral swamp. It's important to note that the people who buy politicians are doing so for their own benefit, not the public's; the struggle for the honest politician is to direct the self-interest of their "buyers" into something resembling the public good.
So, where do ethics enter into this situation, where part of the job description is to support people and positions the politician finds personally repellent, simply because they promised that support in exchange for past favors? As I see it, the only value-based choice politicians have to make is when they decide to whom they wish to sell themselves. They have to "sell their souls," it's part of the job. So, who's the buyer? Is the buyer someone you can live with, long-term? That's the only value-laden choice they have to make, and it's probably made early in their careers, when their "marketability" is low and their choices limited. Even if they start as honest, well-meaning public servants, they can only hope that they haven't sold themselves to devils who will demand that they do evil. Living with that initial decision probably means continually redefining their definition of evil so they can continue living with themselves while they do it.
Now, enter Trump. He's not really a politician. Instead, he's one of those who buy politicians, and he also represent all those like him, the oligarchs, who only benefit the public incidentally, as a by-product of achieving their own self-interests. Like many of the rest of his class, Trump never even tried to work for the public good, but merely for his own. He hijacked a web of loyalties that had been forged over decades and is using it to aggrandize himself. He openly uses his official powers for his personal benefit because he knows that the web of loyalties he's seized can be a net to drag those caught in it directly into Hell, and he knows that the politicians caught in the web owe each other just as deeply as they owe whoever is at the top. Public approval doesn't matter, so long as he has control of the web of obligations.
In this sense, the Republicans are "honest politicians." They are willing to stay bought, even when their ownership has been transferred to a petty Devil. With Trump's naked evisceration of the Postal Service to ensure his retention of Presidential power,, he's demanding that the Republicans transfer their oaths directly to himself.
Because for all of his bluster and glitz, I've never gotten the impression that Trump is a very powerful oligarch. He's rich, sure, but he's not in the same league as the Koch Brothers, Buffett, Bezos, Gates, or Soros. And certainly not in the same league as the Russian oligarchs, who seem to have such a deep entrenchment that is looks virtually feudal. Trump is the "stand-in" oligarch, willing to be the public autocrat, and set up to take the fall, while letting the real oligarchs who can then operate without hindrance and with impunity.
It's quite now become clear to whom the Republicans have sold themselves. They are owned not just by Trump, but by all the oligarchs basking in the dark shadows behind Trump's throne. But the question remains, who owns the Democrats, and how honest are they?
Dan, thanks for this helpful broad frame -- hope you will put your observations out there on the web to reach beyond the limited audience of HCR's comment feed.
That's high praise, indeed. Frankly, I was hesitant to post that comment, since the observation seemed obvious and the whole thing had the tone of a lecture. Besides, where else would I post such musings, besides the fabulously limited and intelligent audience of Dr. Richardson?
It sounds very much like the "rotten borough" system in pre-1832 England where no or just a very few dependent local voters affirmed the wishes of the rich land owner in whose gift was the seat and the candidate voted only to defend the interests of the "oligarch" when in the House <of Commons. It is time that we got back to outlawing corporate political spending either directly to the candidate or through PACs etc. Obama showed the way to financing with small individual contributions! Thereafter it's time to limit total campaign spending to remove the blight of political advertizing and the power of the Koch's etc.
I heartily agree, even to the extent of wishing that all campaign funding and publicity could be restricted to public allotments and dedicated media channels, like C-Span. Of course, there would be quite a bit of Constitutional law to reinterpret. I think that money does qualify as a form of "speech," but holdings that a corporation is a "person" with First Amendment rights for the purpose of political speech, and that political donations can be secret, are unnecessary, destructive and absurd.
Exactly!
This is a useful analogy, but dark. The only coin “the people” have is their vote. That coin has been rendered obsolete by Citizens United and it’s slight of hand turning of corporate gollum’s into actual voices via dollars. Our only hope, Obi Wan, is to make sure real persons regain their sovereignty. That is really all we have to buy these guys with. How many years have the Republicans been working on controlling votes? Since Newt was in the House?
Hmm, I'm not quite sure what you are suggesting with your hope that "real persons regain their sovereignty." Do you mean simply to legislatively overturn Citizens United, or something else?
And frankly, your analysis is even darker than the one you're responding to. If the individual's vote is so unimportant, why to the candidates, parties, and PAC's spend so much money and effort trying to influence and suppress it?
Yes, we are in trouble, no messin'. But we, the Body Public, are still a player, and we can change our fates if we vote, no matter how many acres of broken glass we have to crawl across, and then continue to pay attention to the rascals, calling them, badgering them, insisting that they explain their legislative votes, and never letting them rest easy in power. (That's one thing I liked about Justin Amash, he explained every vote he made, in detail, on his website.)
There is still good reason to hope. We'll know that hope is lost when the bastards stop buying air time and no longer even care how we vote.
My thinking was only that so many are overwhelmed already by the “darkness” of these hooligans. I agree that we must keep going, but I wanted to emphasize to readers that this was a long-term operation and needs to be responded to as such. I completely agree that there is still reason to hope, but I also believe we need to hope with eyes completely open to what we are facing. Regaining the real person’s sovereignty over the corporate straw man will not be an easy battle, but a worthy one. B. Franklin was on to something when he cautioned against approving corporate structure in the U.S. there had already been ruinous bubbles in Europe because of these structures. To give the voice of a legal fiction the same voice as a living person was, in my opinion, a travesty. Please accept my apologies for not adequately presenting my argument earlier. Thank you.
Well said, and I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your comment. I especially agree with your point that so much of what has transpired is the result of long-term operations on the part of very un-democratic, autocratic-leaning, oligarch-empowering people. Reversing that trend will also require a long-term operation, and patience.
If (when) Biden, Harris, and a Democrat majority come to power next year, a new Sun will not suddenly dawn over America. The new leaders will have to be very judicious about re-taking power from Trump's claque. The first task should be rooting out Trump's appointees and their hires, a task that will have to be carefully done and will be boring for many news cycles. Only then can Biden begin rebuilding trust in our institutions and respect internationally. It won't come quickly.
The worst thing Biden could do would be to, for instance, declare a nation-wide shutdown and mask order. Such a major, possibly illegal, exercise of executive power would only lead to widespread refusal on the part of Republican governors and mayors, and lack of enforcement on the part of local police.
No, Biden will have to be very cagey and subtle, using force only when he can be sure of victory. We will have to be very patient and vigilant. Real change will take months, and should.
And, I still say that I will accept that a corporation is a person, only when that corporation is arrested and jailed!
Well put.
You helpfully remind us that the USPS is established by the Constitution. Please tell us more about the remedies available if a scofflaw administration and a compliant Senate choose to sabotage or eliminate it. Surely we're not reduced to simply watching in horror as it burns to the ground, are we?
You must be envisioning the courts rescuing us. Elections are chaotic as it is, and courts are slow, unreliable and weak because they have no agents to enforce their rulings (while Trump has Barr to do his bidding). We're dealing with lawless people. The best thing to do is protect yourself by the way you vote - in person if you can. If you VBM, avoid the mail if you can.
Many polling places have drop off boxes; use those if available, and try to get them implemented if not your area doesn't have them yet. Drop off is safer and avoids USPS
Every day I think it can’t get worse - and then I wake up and it is. Thank you for being a bright spot in a world getting darker.
I feel the same way.
I’m trying really hard right now to avoid melting into a puddle resembling Edward Munch’s “The Scream”! I can say no more.
I am right there with you.
Srsly, this above all his other disgusting attacks on America is the most upsetting because it is so open and obvious and the Repugnant Party is obviously complicit with it. At least seeing that I am not alone in my outrage is cathartic, if not helpful.
You are definitely not alone.
If Don Trump thinks people won't go to the polls -- even in a pandemic -- to cast a vote to eject him from office, he is going to be surprised.
You made an early night of it. Good on you!
Well, he said the bad thing out loud. And yet his enablers in the Senate twiddle their thumbs. As to name calling and trying to discredit Senator Harris, she is made of sterner stuff. She knew what she would face and is more than a match for them. (Roll tape of Brett Kavanaugh crying.)
Professor Richardson,
Thank you!
Regarding what Ted Lieu, U.S. House candidate, CA-33 said in his Tweet: "The stark reality is the House cannot adequately fund USPS without the consent of Trump."
Could the House use the Appropriations Committee to challenge this and use the Impoundment Act of 1974 to protect the funding? Just like enforcing subpoenas...are they (leadership) leaving cards on the table? https://budget.house.gov/publications/report/impoundment-control-act-1974-what-it-why-does-it-matter
The Impoundment Control Act of 1974: What Is It? Why Does It Matter?
What is the Impoundment Control Act?
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) reasserted Congress’ power of the purse. Specifically, Title X of the Act – “Impoundment Control” – established procedures to prevent the President and other government officials from unilaterally substituting their own funding decisions for those of the Congress. The Act also created the House and Senate Budget Committees and the Congressional Budget Office.
Why was the ICA necessary?
Congress passed the ICA in response to President Nixon’s executive overreach – his Administration refused to release Congressionally appropriated funds for certain programs he opposed. While the U.S. Constitution broadly grants Congress the power of the purse, the President – through the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and executive agencies – is responsible for the actual spending of funds. The ICA created a process the President must follow if he or she seeks to delay or cancel funding that Congress has provided.
What does it mean to ‘impound’ funds?
An “impoundment” is any action – or inaction – by an officer or employee of the federal government that precludes federal funds from being obligated[1] or spent, either temporarily or permanently.
How does the ICA work?
The ICA lays out procedures the President must follow to reduce, delay, or eliminate funding in an account. The Act divides impoundments into two categories: rescissions and deferrals.
Rescissions
Put simply, if the President wants to spend less money than Congress provided for a particular purpose, he or she must first secure a law providing Congressional approval to rescind the funding in question. The ICA requires that the President send a special message to Congress identifying the amount of the proposed rescission; the reasons for it; and the budgetary, economic, and programmatic effects of the rescission. Upon transmission of such special message, the President may withhold certain funding in the affected accounts for up to 45 legislative session days. If a law approving the rescission is not enacted within the 45 days, any withheld funds must be made available for obligation.
A 2018 Government Accountability Office legal opinion holds that if the President proposes a rescission, he or she must make the affected funds available to be prudently obligated before the funds expire, even if the 45-day clock is still running. This means, for example, that the President cannot strategically time a rescission request for late in the fiscal year and withhold the funding until it expires, thus achieving a rescission without Congressional approval.
Deferrals
The ICA defines a “deferral” as withholding, delaying, or – through other Executive action or inaction – effectively precluding funding from being obligated or spent. The ICA prescribes three narrow circumstances in which the President may propose to defer funding for a program: (1) providing for contingencies; (2) achieving budgetary savings made possible through improved operational efficiency; and (3) as specifically provided by law.
The ICA requires that the President send a special message to Congress identifying the amount of the proposed deferral; the reasons for it; and the period of the proposed deferral. Upon transmission of such special message, the funds may be deferred without further action by Congress; however, the deferral cannot extend beyond the end of the fiscal year in which the special message is sent. The ICA language on deferrals is long-standing budget law that allows the Executive branch to delay the obligation or expenditure of funding only for the specified reasons rather than policy reasons.
Why is the ICA important?
Today, 45 years after the ICA became law, Congress once again confronts a President attempting to push past the long-recognized boundaries of executive budgetary power. This year, for the second straight year, the Trump Administration reportedly considered issuing rescission requests for certain foreign aid and security assistance accounts less than 45 days before the end of the fiscal year, when the funds in question would expire. In the closing weeks of fiscal 2019, OMB withheld funding in these accounts in a manner inconsistent with longstanding procedures and policies. The House Budget and Appropriations Committees have serious concerns that President Trump and his administration violated the ICA in withholding these funds. The committees are examining when, why, and how these funds were withheld; and whether these actions prevented agencies from spending the full amount that Congress provided for these activities, thus thwarting the will of Congress. Congress will not bend to executive overreach. It will defend its constitutional power of the purse and the fundamental checks and balances that are critical to our constitutional republic.
[1] To “obligate” funds means to incur a legal obligation to pay, such as by entering into a contract for services.
Additional Resources
House Budget Committee Outlines OMB's Abuse of Apportionment Process
Chairs Yarmuth and Lowey Call on White House to Release Documents on the Withholding of Ukraine, Foreign Aid Funds (Press Statement)
Chairs Yarmuth and Lowey Call on White House to End Blatant Attempts to Undermine Congress’ Power of the Purse (Press Statement)
Top Budget Democrats Yarmuth & Sanders Urge Administration Not to Impound Funding (Press Statement)
A copy to every member of the House might be appropriate as would forwarding to all major newspapers and internet news sources. I'm sure Nancy Pelosi is aware....but just in case!
Congress created the USPS but it is under the Executive branch. The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service is an eleven-seat board comparable to a board of directors of a private corporation, except in service of the United States Postal Service. Nine members are appointed by the president of the United States, subject to confirmation by the Senate (and usually first deliberated in the Senate's Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs)[1]. The nine presidentially appointed governors choose the postmaster general, who also serves as a member of the board. These ten then choose a deputy postmaster general, who becomes the 11th member of the board. The postmaster general and deputy postmaster general serve at the pleasure of the governors. - wikipedia And, it is valuable. It is always about the money...
“There are two potential rationales for the ongoing attempts to break the agency.
One is that privatization would transfer enormous amounts of value. There are untold billions in real estate, trucks, contracts and intellectual property. There is high marketing value, if harnessed, to tell which people and companies sent letters or packages to any individual.
The other rationale would be to attack what is the third-largest employer in the nation, with more than 600,000 mostly unionized workers, historically allies of Democrats.
Although not considered federal employees, postal workers are eligible for federal health and retirement benefits. Push them into the private sector and suddenly there’s less of a burden on federal taxpayers, but not Americans.
Privatize the postal service and hundreds of thousands of workers would be affected, potentially seeing worse benefits and pay. That’s particularly bad for the African American community, which has historically been heavily represented in the institution.
And by overloading the agency and then sinking it further, denying the pandemic help freely handed out to large corporations, the GOP might get its way.” - https://www.dcreport.org/2020/06/01/inside-the-radical-republican-war-on-the-post-office Very disturbing.
Hence the necessity to follow suggestions to "ensure" that your vote is COUNTED and not just POSTED by as many people as humanly possible. The best way is always to ensure a massive lead for Biden/Harris "on the night" from "walk-in vote" then the stress over mail delays becomes somewhat superfluous.
Trump already violated the Impoundment Act when he with-held Congressionally appropriated military aid from Ukraine as part of his shakedown scheme to get that government to manufacture slanders against Joe Biden. It got him impeached, sure, but then the Senate gave him a pass. Lesson learned: when you're a star, they let you do anything.
"The ICA created a process the President must follow if he or she seeks to delay or cancel funding that Congress has provided."
Brenda, The way I understand this, (and the entire explanation of the ICA), the funding has to have been voted on and already approved; in the pipeline as it were.
Dana, it would die on Mitch McConnell's desk. >During a television interview, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that 395 bills sitting in the Senate are not going to be passed. "It is true," the senator said. "They've been on full left-wing parade over there, trotting out all of their left-wing solutions that are going to be issues in the fall campaign. They're right. We're not going to pass those.
McConnell explained that the bills would not get passed, because the government is divided. He said that instead they "have to work on things we can agree," listing government spending, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, an infrastructure bill, a parks bill, and some environmental issues as examples of bills that they may be able to agree on.
McConnell's failure to pass many of the bills that are currently in the Senate has been a frequent target for Democrats, earning him the nickname the "Grim Reaper," from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last December. She has said that bills are sitting in a "legislative graveyard," during this cycle.
"We have a second thing we better be working hard on and thinking about, and that is: take back the Senate and put Mitch McConnell out of a job," Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said on the campaign trail Sunday.<
My input is a head shake and “what a way to run a government” it is dysfunctional and a turn-off for younger generations who are as disgusted as I am. My adult children are disgusted with the huge sums of money required to run for even local offices, like the city council. It is in the hundreds of thousands of dollars--unobtanium for most of us
https://www.newsweek.com/mitch-mcconnell-grim-reaper-395-house-bills-senate-wont-pass-1487401
The bipartisan divide stops legislation that would help 99% of the people. Democracy is dying the world over and even youthful Chinese citizens who have equality of opportunity in China will put up with authoritarianism to have a middle-class existence.
The U.S. has no moral high ground to spread democracy when it is killing it here. On NPR's PRI, on August 13th they featured the reporting of Laicie Heeley and national security podcast “Things That Go Boom.” On Wednesday, she looked at the economic competition between the US and China. On Thursday, they look at how that power struggle pits democracy against authoritarianism. And the winner? it is not so obvious.
https://www.pri.org/file/2020-08-13/democracy-s-popularity-contest
Thank you Heather. Today, I came close to jumping on and hugging our letter carrier. I was able to rely on my verbal skills only to convey to him how much we are trying to contact our Reps and how we are signing petitions. The stomping out of the USPS is horrific! They are erecting fences in USPS parking lots and stowing the mail in tents where it sits! I have photos. Appalling!!!
Have you posted those photos on Facebook?
Yes. Received a lot of support and received flak from a trump supporter for which I replied in length with facts. You too can do a screen grab and post these photos. Just go to author, Susan Branch twitter (I am not a twitter member) and scroll through Susan's posts. You can do a screen grab, save it as a jpg. picture and then post it on Facebook. You will find it around August 2nd.
Oh my God! Where is this happening?
I follow Susan Branch on Twitter and she posted her local USPS photos. About two weeks ago, fences started going up, then tents in the enclosed area filled with stacks of cartons of mail. Martha's Vineyard! That's where. Our PA mail has dwindled to some days nothing and other days maybe two pieces of mail.
Google "post office tents u delivered mail"
https://mobile.twitter.com/dearsusanbranch/status/1292137206417694720
Undelivered mail
There are no words to describe his actions. He is doing everything he can to try to sabotage the election and openly admitting it. The news today was horrific.
It gets crazier every day! One of 45's son's tweeted that Kamal Harris is a "whorendous choice" for vp. He's calling Sen. Harris a whore? Wow, such class these tRump's have!
Since all the 45 cults' insults are based on projection, what does that say about him?
Are you surprised? These people are trash.
The Turd doesn't fall far from the Asshole.
That was Eric (the smirt one) who said that.