Lawmakers Warn Onerous New USPS Loan Terms Could Spur Demise; Slashed Hrs, Disrupt Vote- By- Mail

[appalachiablue]

Lawmakers Warn 'Onerous' New USPS Loan Terms Imposed by Mnuchin 'Could Accelerate Demise of Postal Service.' "Mnuchin & the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service appear to be exploiting public health pandemic to hold it to unreasonable loan terms without even consulting Congress." Common Dreams, 7/30/20. - Selected Excerpts, Ed.:

..Leading congressional Democrats are warning that an emergency loan agreement announced Wednesday by Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—a major donor to President Donald Trump and the GOP—could "accelerate the demise of the Postal Service" by giving the administration unprecedented access to the popular agency's internal operations.

"Secretary Mnuchin and the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service appear to be exploiting this public health pandemic to hold the Postal Service to unreasonable loan terms without even consulting Congress," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) in a joint statement Wednesday evening.

Motherboard reported Monday that "post offices around the country are slashing their hours—including during the busiest times of day—with little notice as yet another abrupt cost-saving measure" implemented by DeJoy, previously the CEO of New Breed Logistics, a private firm with a history of union-busting activity.

In addition to harming the credibility of the USPS—which ranks as the most popular government agency in the U.S. - DeJoy's cost-cutting measures also threaten to disrupt upcoming elections as a record number of Americans turn to vote-by-mail as the safest way to cast their ballots amid the pandemic. "The Trump administration's attempts to politicize, privatize, & gut USPS in the middle of a pandemic & unprecedented vote-by-mail is one of the biggest scandals in American politics right now," Mother Jones reporter Ari Berman tweeted Wednesday...

Full article,
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/30/lawmakers-warn-onerous-new-usps-loan-terms-imposed-mnuchin-could-accelerate-demise

[qazplm135]

1. Maybe we need to start considering

Pushing in person voting over vote by mail.

I get it, pandemic, but if Trump wins again because mail in voting gets fucked it's going to be worse than risking COVID by voting in person IMO.

[appalachiablue]

2. Possibly, let's see the ideas & response from this new action.

And it seems like the USPS new cost cutting 'slow down of mail' order was just announced a couple weeks ago.

Already people are noting delays in USPS deliveries, as seen in his long thread here yesterday:

- POST 8/29/20:

- Mail carriers have been told to "slow down", "Trump’s newly appointed postmaster general Louis DeJoy is deliberately slowing down the mail service months before Americans will need to vote by mail. For context: He has donated millions to Trump and Republicans, and held millions in USPS competitors."

"Trump's new postmaster general could corrupt a key institution ahead of Election Day
We can't let Trump get away with his attacks on the Postal Service — and our electoral system."
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-2020-usps-appointment-could-corrupt-key-institution-ahead-ncna1234125
-------------
- REPLIES:

* My Local mailmen confirmed they have all officially been told to "SLOW THE MAIL DOWN," per trump's Postmaster General.
So, for mail-in ballots:
SEND THEM 21 DAYS EARLY.
Mail on Oct. 13th. Do not wait.
--------------
I posted a few days ago that Costco mail order pharmacy told me that for the past month, they have been having problems getting medications delivered to their customers.

They use UPS to have the medications picked up and then delivered to the USPS. My medication moved quite quickly while it was in the hands of UPS. The minute it hit the post office it came to a dead halt. It sat in a post office two hours from my house for three days.

I had to contact Costco, who then contacted the post office, and then it finally started to move. Took three weeks to get a medication that should have taken a week at the most to receive.

Gentleman at Costco mail order told me this has been going on for a month. Their customers are extremely frustrated. The employees at Costco mail order spend all day on the phone dealing with upset customers and tracking their orders.

I'm quite sure the guy at Costco knew why it was happening. We both danced around the 'why,' but I'm quite sure he knew it was because of Trump.

What better way to get people mad at the USPS, than to delay their medications. A lot of these people won't take the time to find out why it's happening. They will just listen to Trump saying 'the post office is horrible, we need to get rid of it.' And the sheep will fall for it.
------------------
More, https://democraticunderground.com/100213827193

[qazplm135]

3. My concern isn't delay

My concern is that most Trump voters vote in person while a large chunk of Biden voters vote by mail.

Almost all the in person votes get counted while a large chunk (say 25 percent) of Biden mail in votes do not, leading to a close Trump win in key states.

We know mail in ballots are rejected at a fairly high rate compared to in person ballots.

[appalachiablue]

4. Yes, mail in votes often disappear and more. There a a number

of recent threads, esp, in this section by aware people who plan to drop their ballot off at the registrar's office as usual. There's various means and plans to deal with voting this time, obviously.

At this point, I'm watching to see what other mean arise given the week to week wacko news.

[appalachiablue]

5. The latest, today's front page if you haven't seen it. Wild.

Trump floats delaying the 2020 election 'until people can properly, securely and safely vote'
Source: Raw Story, July 30

https://democraticunderground.com/10142549475

[lark]

6. He was installed to destroy the post office so mail in ballots aren't delivered.

That is his one and only order from drumpf/PUtin.

[appalachiablue]

7. It seems that way, creating more confusion and mayhem