*** Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail - House Oversight Hearing - Thread 2***

[Mersky]

Thread #1: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213960983

[Mersky]

1. Rep Sarbanes is still questioning

[samnsara]

2. i have to mute it when the Gs come on cuz they start right off kissing butt...

...but how do y'all think hes handling it? and JUST WAIT til Katie gets a hold of him heehee

[Mersky]

4. Disgraceful C.Y.A lackeys

Just going for broke and not giving a flip about what they’re doing to this country as they lie, lie, lie....

[crickets]

6. When they aren't kissing butt, they're furthering the 'mail-in voting fraud' meme or

:drumroll: blaming it on Obama/Biden. It's just sad.

Where is Katie Porter? Are they saving her for last?

[Mersky]

3. "The letter that went out to the states wasn't a warning."

We just added content about the election.

[crickets]

5. "to educate"

DeJoy is a terrible businessman and a worse liar.

[Mersky]

7. mumble, mumble, integrate, uh and expedite

leave on time... bleh, is mealy-mouthed and gross

[Mersky]

8. Rep Welch - questioning him about his giving $3.2 million to republicans over the years

And dejoy is clearly proud of being a republican.

He’s all leaning at the mic with a ‘whatcha gonna do about it?‘ posture.

[ananda]

9. Exactly. I mean once this is over and he leaves the chamber..

.. will anything actually change ????

[crickets]

13. That's a huge conflict of interest. Someone who's given that much money

is obviously partisan, and the USPS is supposed to be nonpartisan and apolitical.

[Mersky]

10. He turns all apoplectic: trucks on time

Uh, cuz trucks on time...

(but if the trucks are half empty - you’re not moving the mail on time, are ya? Are ya?!!!!! Flarge!)

[Mersky]

11. Okay, so keller (R-Idiocracy) thinks states like his (PA) should move their deadlines to accommodate

The screwed up postal service (that was doing fine before dejoy took over)!

[Mersky]

12. Jackie Spier!!!

[oasis]

14. Jackie Speier on his case. Busted him on his answer about attending

aTrump dinner.

[Mersky]

15. So, duncan is chairman of american crossroads

That is seriously f’cked up.

[blogslut]

16. Our Dems are peeling this guy like a grape

I'm so impressed with all of them.

[Mersky]

17. Sold his Amazon on June 22; bought options on Amazon on June 23

Eta: I am adding this coverage for further context:

Financial disclosures reveal postmaster general's business entanglements and likely conflicts of interest, experts say
Marshall Cohen
CNN)Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continues to hold a multimillion-dollar stake in his former company XPO Logistics, a United States Postal Service contractor, likely creating a major conflict of interest, according to newly obtained financial disclosures and ethics experts.

Outside experts who spoke to CNN were shocked that ethics officials at the postal service approved this arrangement, which allows DeJoy to keep at least $30 million in XPO holdings.
DeJoy and USPS have said he fully complied with the regulations.
Raising further alarms, on the same day in June that DeJoy divested large amounts of Amazon shares, he purchased stock options giving him the right to buy new shares of Amazon at a price much lower than their current market price, according to the disclosures.

-snip-

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/12/politics/postal-service-dejoy-conflicts-amazon-trades-xpo-stake/index.html

[oasis]

21. Dejoy scolded Rep. Jackie Speier when she touched on this subject. nt

[crickets]

23. Sold Amazon stocks, purchased Amazon options- seems a clear conflict of interest.

She asked if he checked with the Govt Office of Ethics to see if that was appropriate. He says they're not options but "covered calls" and that he lost money on them (makes you wonder why he bought them) then insulted Speier about her supposed lack of understanding of the difference.

Could any DUers who are familiar with this weigh in, please?

[Mersky]

120. It means he has sh*t for brains

And his ethics are none better.

Covered calls are when you buy an opposing option contract to mitigate potential losses on future gains when you go to sell stocks.

And, I don’t care if he did an iron condor banana split salad play on his Amazon stock some reasonable time before he took the position on June 15th (the day after tRump’s birthday, btw).

What is unacceptable is that made those trades a WEEK AFTER taking the job June 22-24. He got to poke around at USPS and basically place those trades with some powerful insider information.

He hasn’t lost any freakin’ money - those options don’t expire until Oct 16 and means he can retroactively purchase the shares for $1, 960. Amazon was trading above $3,300 today! He could exercise that contract anytime and be up nearly 70%! That is insane.

He has very recent financial incentive to degrade the USPS. He deserves to be turned upside down and shaken by investigators.

From the CNN article up above:

On June 24, DeJoy divested those shares, but the same day he bought a new financial interest in the company, purchasing between $50,000 and $100,000 in stock options for Amazon. The stock options, which expire on October 16, give DeJoy the right to buy shares of Amazon at a price of $1,960 per share. Shares in Amazon are currently trading at more than $3,100.
"It's another conflict. He's got the option to buy. That means he's gambling that Amazon's value is going to go up," said Marcus Owens, a former top IRS official with decades of experience dealing with federal ethics rules. "Why is he investing in a competitor to the enterprise that he's supposed to be managing? This is a classic case for investigation by an inspector general."

[crickets]

122. Thank you! That information makes much more sense that his doublespeak.

In other words, he was basically lying again (or at the very least being very misleading) and he had the nerve to cap that lie with an undeserved insult. Scummy.

I had to leave halfway through and missed Katie Porter. Off to look for video.

[Mersky]

123. You asked a fantastic question

Because I was reeling just from the dates alone. And that he shook off those trades with his smug, no one’s gonna catch the covered calls bit.

Am so glad you captured his comments in that section - definitely needs more discussion and coverage. People have gone to prison for lesser insider trading.


___
Was good to see you in here, Crickets

And I’ve gotta go rewatch Porter, too. I was mildly interrupted during the start of her section.

[crickets]

18. Talking to Duncan about how the USPS had over 200 recommendations

for candidates for USPMG, paid a search firm to vet them, they whittled it down to 14 candidates and DeJoy was not one of them. Where did DeJoy's nomination come from? From Duncan.

[oasis]

19. W.V. Deplorable Rep. Carol Miller must've had her college educated

staff write her questions for her.

[Mersky]

20. Rep Kelly (D-IL) has the mic

[PaDemocrat]

22. Who's this smuck?

Blaming the Dems for attack on the USPS cause of their attack on Trump.

[ariadne0614]

25. He's a Gym Jordan wannabe.

They both excel at chest thumping, feces flinging, and general baboonery. They think it’s very effective

[crickets]

26. It's a pattern as each Repub speaks: apologize for the treatment he's getting from Dems,

put forward the fears of fraudulent mail-in voting, blame Obama/Biden. It's as though someone gave them all a script. Hmmm...

Welcome to DU, PaDemocrat!

[Mersky]

24. Lol, I wonder how many times this one practiced in the mirror?

Didn’t catch his name, but whichever R, it takes extra practice to shirk so much responsibility with an air of confidence.

Must have taken a remote learning class on teleprompter reading, aka, DIY republicanning.

[Mersky]

27. Rep Lawerence!!! Bringing lengthy career experience at the USPS!

[IcyPeas]

30. she understands how it works literally from the bottom up.

she brings valuable knowledge and experience

[Mersky]

33. Omg. She's wonderful.

Why in crying out loud would you do that?

Really great voice she has in this - wish she had more time!

[stillcool]

28. I just got to do a K&R here..

and a thanks to all

[Mersky]

29. Expedited to street initiative

Explains that it reduces the time to sort before leaving the facility. Rep Lawrence asks if dejoy knows what that means.

[Mersky]

32. dejoy claims that he stopped that pilot program

And Rep Lawrence is not letting him fake like that program would have had any other effect than delaying the inevitable, otherwise known as mail.

[PaDemocrat]

31. What does K&R mean?

Sorry newb question..

[CottonBear]

35. Kick and recommend!

Kick (like a Democratic Donkey!) by replying to the OP to make the original post have more replies and thus stay “on top“, and maybe go to the Greatest Page.

Recommend means to press the DUrec button in the bottom left corner of the OP (original post.)

[Efilroft Sul]

36. Kick (the thread back to the top of the thread list) and recommend

Welcome, PaDemocrat!

[AmyStrange]

63. Welcome to DU and also check out my DU (Unofficial) Glossary:

-

It's old, but has a lot of stuff about acronyms and other historical shit.

http://dug.amystrange.org/

I made it back in the really early days of DU.
=============

[Mersky]

34. Recess for 5 minutes

[crickets]

37. Kelly D-IL talking about losses suffered by small businesses due to USPS problems.

Was any impact analysis performed beforehand? No. He had a team looking into the rollout, but the stammering answer is no. She calls him out for making decisions without taking into account the impact on businesses. She points out that the feedback she's getting now re USPS was not received when Obama was in office.

What are you going to do about it? His answer is "we're working on it."

She asks for something in writing from him about what he's doing, not just promises. YES.

[blogslut]

38. Brenda Lawrence, with her 30 year experience as a postal employee

made mincemeat of Dejoy's "trucks on time" bullshit.

[ariadne0614]

42. She was very effective.

[Mersky]

39. Is reconvening

[ariadne0614]

40. Recess is over. n/t

[Mersky]

41. Rep Plaskett (D-VI) has the mic

[ariadne0614]

45. I hereby declare that she is a rising star. n/t

[Mersky]

43. "You took credit for the transformative initiative having unintended consequences..." - Plaskett

dejoy starts talking about only two changes (earlier he claimed no changes).

Then Plaskett showed a graph with the performance of delivery times dropping off a cliff in July 2020.

[backtoblue]

44. Trying to catch up.

Thanks all for the play by play!!!

[Mersky]

46. 39 U.S.C, Section 3661(b)

“When the Postal Service determines that there should be a change in the nature of the postal services which generally affect service on a nationwide or substantially nationwide basis, it shall submit a proposal, within a reasonable time prior to the effective date of such proposal, to the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) requesting an advisory opinion on the change.”

[Mersky]

47. Gomez (D-CA) is drilling down to when and why the changes were acted on

[PaDemocrat]

48. Gomez is destroying him..

[backtoblue]

49. Gomez "I now think it's time for you to resign"

[Mersky]

50. Do you commit providing the analysis that shows that the delivery times will be restored?

Is a reiteration of what he was asked in the Senate. dejoy won’t agree to anything (and is just looking for an opportunity to talk about trucks leaving on time — I am just sure of it).

[Kali]

51. wooo!!!

[backtoblue]

52. AOC up.

I really like her tone and style of questioning.

[Mersky]

53. Rep Ocasio-Cortez is up

AOC!

[Mersky]

54. Is going over the New Breed and XPO merger

[backtoblue]

55. AOC - provide your calendar.

DeJoy is not wanting to cough it up

[Mersky]

57. He said he would set a precedent

referring to talking to his council.

[malaise]

61. She asked great questions

Loved that she said subpoena if he doesn't hand it over

[backtoblue]

62. He sounds like Elmer Fudd

Glad AOC recommended a subpeona should he not provide it this week.

[Mersky]

56. Have you taken any meetings with XPO? Former companies

He said no meetings, but he knows a lot of people at the companies, soooo

[backtoblue]

58. Pressley up

[Mersky]

59. AOC recommending a subpoena if he doesn't cough 'em up!

Yes.

[blogslut]

60. AOC, getting Dejoy to turn over his USPS calendar

by subpoena if neccessary

[Mersky]

64. Yes, or no at your request managers are subject to a hiring freeze?

Dejoy answered yes

[Mersky]

65. Pressley is asking rapid questions and getting some answers

Am struggling to keep up, but this is good stuff!

[backtoblue]

70. Gonna have to rewatch Pressley's questioning

It went pretty fast and I'm slow to comprehend today.

[blogslut]

66. Ayanna Presley pressing Dejoy to turn over COVID-19 data on postal workers

Dems pressing for a lotta paper from this guy

[Mersky]

67. She asked about how they are approaching the coronavirus for USPS employees

dejoy said, mumble mumble there’s task force for that

[Mersky]

68. Oooo going over lawsuits against work environment at dejoy's former companies

[blogslut]

69. Yes, Rep Presley brought up Dejoy's company's terrible employment record

And zapping the USPS board guy for crappy vetting of their unanimously approved postmaster general

[Mersky]

71. armstrong is being loyal to his party

and betraying his country as he spins away the destruction of timely mail delivery since dejoy took over at the Postal Service.

[IcyPeas]

72. "working for the impeached president" LOL

[Mersky]

75. Ha, yeah, that was awesome!

[Mersky]

73. Rep Tlaib has the mic

[ariadne0614]

76. It only took 2 seconds for her to be amazing! n/t

[IcyPeas]

78. "you're not in good company"

[Karma13612]

74. While armstrong

Is questioning, someone is intermittently holding up a Carolyn Maloney for Congress poster.

Is that a Hatch Act violation? Was she aware that was going on? It was below her on a lower level directly behind Armstrong. So it was out of her view, but directly visible by the camera.

🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬

[Mersky]

82. Easy does it - that doesn't even make sense

I will review that afterwards

[Karma13612]

91. Thanks!

It was a screen shot blown up to a large poster size visual.
It was held up by a gentleman standing directly behind Armstrong while he was speaking to LeJoy.

The screen shot was a visual of a Maloney for Congress Online fund raising page With various choices of how much to donate.

I know, it does seem odd.
I will admit I was not fully aware of what Armstrong was saying at the time. I would be surprised if he was making some sort of point pertaining to Maloney.

Curious to see what you think!

[Kali]

100. repukes trying to show Dem "hypocrisy"

by campaigning on PO issues - it was a repuke poster

[Karma13612]

108. It was featuring the (D) chairwomen's own

Campaign fundraising.

That was certainly offensive!
The guy holding the poster kept looking up at her, almost making sure she wasn’t seeing what was going on.

That is low.

[Mersky]

121. Is some sort of stunt, aka

ratf’cking by the republicons. The doughey, plaid tie wearing aide/staffer? holding the sign has questions to answer.

Maloney wouldn’t architect any such thing, and is just bizarre.

[Karma13612]

124. Thank goodness you

Were able to see the same thing I did.

I knew Maloney would not have done it, but it was a stunt that made her look bad.

Wonder when someone finally told her about it.

The repugs are just...so...REPUGNANT!!!!

[backtoblue]

77. Tlaib - "divest from Amazon or resign"

Impeached president....

[backtoblue]

79. Porter is asking questions he should know.....

He doesnt know how much it costs to mail a postcard.....

[IcyPeas]

81. these guys have probably never stepped foot in a post office

they have "underlings" who do that kind of thing. he is clueless. he has no qualifications.

Resign!

[backtoblue]

83. "Will you commit to reverse these changes?"

Dejoy "No"

[blogslut]

80. Katie Porter: "Mr Dejoy, I'm glad you know the price of a stamp, but..."

[blogslut]

84. Porter is trying to get Dejoy to clarify who told him to make the changes

Wants him to commit to reverse the changes, Dejoy says no

[jayfish]

88. He Doesn't Know Who Did It...

and he isn't going to fix it. POS!

[Mersky]

85. "Will you commit to reversing these changes?"

dejoy - no.

[blogslut]

86. Ha!

I love that Porter's video feed froze with her rolling her eyes!

[Mersky]

87. Do you any financial interest in Amazon?

dejoy - I do not.

Ugh. Five mins isn’t enough.

[blogslut]

89. Mike Quigley is the last up

[backtoblue]

90. Quigley pressing on overtime cuts

[Mersky]

92. "The only time I discussed anything with the tRump administration was with mnuchin, when

we were negotiating the $10 billion dollar loan.”

Oh, yeah? Then lets see that calendar of yours.

[backtoblue]

93. Awkward silence waiting for tech issues, remote questioning

[IcyPeas]

94. standby - technical difficulties LOL

[Mossfern]

95. Waiting for Congresswoman Adams?

Seems to be as tech challenged as I am!

[Mersky]

96. Adams (D-NC) is joining remotely

Or trying to anyways

[oasis]

97. Dejoy's gonna need every bottle of Excedrin he can get his hands on. nt

[Mossfern]

98. Heh - trying to remember the answer he gave

Not the truth!

[Mersky]

99. Asshole from putin's peanut gallery

Bleh. Why dontcha hire...computer guy?!

[blogslut]

101. James Comer is a snide little man

[Mersky]

102. Adams (D-NC) is now up

Says she’s received 5,000 calls about the trouble at the Postal Service

[Mersky]

103. Lol. "Bless your heart, are you getting your mail on time?"

dejoy answers that he doesn’t know!

[CottonBear]

113. That was awesome! N/T

[IcyPeas]

104. Adams asked if he is getting his mail on time and he doesn't know.

[Mersky]

105. She inquired if he knew anything about trash bags over mail drops in her district.

Duhjoy doesn’t know anything about that or the seven machines taken out of service in her area.

[Mossfern]

106. He's filibustering

using up time

[Mersky]

107. Is the initiative different than the task force you created on June 18th?

dejoy gave a fairly mushy yeah, no answer.

[Mersky]

109. Maloney: will provide a complete list of who you have consulted with

dj: Ma’am, I will tell you I talked to who I needed to blah blah talk trucks on schedule.

She would like it in writing, dammit. Good insistence by Maloney

[Mossfern]

110. Comer

Democrats politically motivated.
He's more political than all of them put together.

on edit: this is so weird because he's now claiming that Dems are in collusion with Russians and Chinese!

[IcyPeas]

111. dejoy closing his binder, putting his pen in his pocket

he has things to do, places to be. he can't be bothered with this hearing.

[Mersky]

112. Asking duncan for transcripts and minutes from closed meetings

duncan would love to comply with anything their counsel is fine with sharing.

Maloney asked if a friendly subpoena would help!

duncan replied they could probably work something out with regard to the minutes

[CottonBear]

114. Friendly subpoena! Ha! N/T

[Mersky]

115. comer final remarks are a lengthy description

of how he’s shoved his head up....

[Mossfern]

116. Adjourned

[IcyPeas]

117. I'm picturing DeJoy leaving and high fiving jim jordan

[IcyPeas]

118. Thanks for the threads Mersky

[Mersky]

119. Thank you for being in here!

You and everyone contributing during these frustrating hearings is what makes these threads work.