DL Open Thread: Sunday, August 23, 2020
Trump, Mnuchin, DeJoy Conspired To Weaken Post Office. How they did it, particularly DeJoy, the ‘bull in a china shop’. House passes postal service relief package. 26 R’s vote yes, the consistently strange Tulsi Gabbard goes ‘not voting’.
Trump’s Sister: Trump Has ‘No Principles And ‘You Can’t Trust Him’. Here most notable quotes about him. Guess she’s one Trump who won’t speak at the convention. Trump is bringing in ‘Apprentice’ producers to salvage the convention.
Tennessee Passes Law To Bar Protestors From Voting. Voter suppressors gonna voter suppress.
Trump Accuses ‘Deep State’, AKA The Food & Drug Administration, Of Delaying Clinical Trials For Vaccines. Apparently, they’d rather have people die than help Trump’s reelection.
Climate Change Is Here, And It’s Disastrous. If Biden wins, this cannot wait. Appoint a czar, and make this the top priority. California is burning. Trump blames California. Here is just some of what Biden would need to do, if elected.
What do you want to talk about?
Interesting to note that the Republicans pass unconstitutional laws knowing they will be struck down, even by conservative dominated courts, you cannot contravene the first amendment and think it will stand unchallenged. Yet they do it anyway and soak their state for court costs and all the rest.
With every utterance about the post office and the “rigged election” operation chaos takes a step forward. Trump’s goal isn’t to win, it is to keep Biden from winning a clean election. He’ll thrown his army of fuckwits into the streets and play it day to day.
Privatize Trump not the United States Postal Service
The recent attempts by the Trump administration to interfere with the 2020 elections by falsely demonizing the use of mail-in ballots has led to a more aggressive attempt to dismantle the U.S. Postal Service. Attempts to discredit the U.S. Postal Service have been ongoing as far back as the George W. Bush presidency when the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA) was enacted by the 109th United States Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on December 20, 2006. It reorganized the Postal Rate Commission, compelled the USPS to pay in advance for the health and retirement benefits of all of its employees for at least 50 years, and stipulated that the price of postage could not increase faster than the rate of inflation. The Bush administration threatened to veto the legislation unless the provision regarding funding the employee benefits in advance with the objective of using that money to reduce the federal deficit was included. The results of that legislation was that between 2007 and 2016, the USPS lost $62.4 billion; the inspector general of the USPS estimated that $54.8 billion of that was due to prefunding retiree benefits. According to Bloomberg, prefunding the health benefits of retirees “is a requirement that no other entity, private or public, has to make”. These facts are cited in many places and have had a negative impact on one of the most valuable services that Americans use every day. A service that is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution.
The Trump administration has used this artificially created funding crisis to impugn the reputation of the U.S. Postal Service and hinder its ability to deliver mail on a timely basis at an affordable cost. Trump’s thinly veiled attempt to stop mail-in voting and suppress voting rights has led to new and more prominent displays of animus toward the postal service. All Americans should rise up in unison to challenge and reject such obviously authoritarian attempts to compromise our great democracy and demand that the U.S. Postal Service be appropriately funded and recognized as the valuable asset it is.
On October 8, 2018 I was privileged to join post office workers rallying to oppose Trump’s plan to privatize the United States Postal Service. I was pleased and privileged to join scores of Postal workers at the Newark Post Office located on Ogletown Road for a full display of unity against such a foolhardy move.
Privatization of any government entity has historically resulted in inefficiencies and less services for the people. Privatization allow a third party to profit from the efforts of the workers and inevitably results in less employees and dwindling wages. Further enriching business speculators at the expense of hard-working men and women is a horrible imposition of capitalism that will only benefit the rich while further destroying middle-class America.
John Kowalko
State Representative
25th District
Us Mail Not For Sale
Start: Tuesday, August 25, 2020 11:00 AM
End: Tuesday, August 25, 2020 1:00 PM
Post office (across the street)
147 Quigley Blvd
New Castle, DE 19720
On Tuesday, August 25, thousands of people will take action across America with one clear message – #SaveThePostOffice. Join us!
The movement for our public Postal Service has three immediate demands of our elected officials and of Postmaster General DeJoy:
Provide at least $25 billion in immediate support for the Postal Service
Stop the mail slowdown policies introduced by Postmaster General DeJoy
Ensure public confidence in voting-by-mail by providing all necessary resources for the most timely delivery of election mail possible.
Please note:
– BRING A SIGN with you! Key messages: #SaveThePostOffice; We need $25B for the post office in emergency relief; Stop post office cutbacks; etc!
– Make sure to bring a mask and hand sanitizer. We will all keep our masks on, maintain a social distance, and sanitize our hands as needed to protect our community as we show up.
See you on Tuesday, and invite your friends and family to join. Everything is at stake.