Thread by @doctorow

You've probably noticed that there's a lot of bad stuff going on with the US Postal Service, the most popular US government agency (91% favorable rating!). Trump has definitely been menacing them and talking a lot of nonsense about postal voting.

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USPS has been nearly bankrupt since the start of the crisis. Its emergency is wholly artificial, the creation of a bipartisan coalition of asshole lawmakers who insisted that the Post Office fully fund its next 75 years' worth pension obligations.

pluralistic.net/2020/04/13/con…

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We don't just need the USPS to run the postal voting that will be the only safe way to hold this November's election: the postal service is also the cornerstone of all of America's emergency recovery programs.

pluralistic.net/2020/03/25/nat…

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And despite the Trump rhetoric, every lawmaker, GOP or Democrat, is relying on postal voting this year. Indeed, GOP lawmakers are freaking out that postal votes are now a culture war issue and their voters are refusing to vote this year as a result.

pluralistic.net/2020/05/13/mal…

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Writing in @voxdotcom, @adamclarkestes provides an excellent overview of the challenges currently facing the postal service, including some pretty grim facts about the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy.

vox.com/recode/2020/8/…

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DeJoy has sabotaged the postal service we pay him to run. As America has become more dependent than ever on postal delivery, as increasing numbers of postal workers have taken sick leave after contracting coronavirus, DeJoy has ended the overtime needed to meet the demand.

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That's why regular mail is delayed on average by 2 days, why, for the first time in history, Express Priority Mail is not going out on time. (Postal sources told Estes that Amazon parcels are getting priority though).

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To make things worse, DeJoy has fired and sidelined the country's most knowledgeable and experienced postal execs, annihilating a source of absolutely essential knowledge and expertise.

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Some facts about DeJoy:

* he and his family have $30-75m invested in USPS competitors

* he has donated over $1.5m to Trump campaigns

* his wife is teed up to be Trump's ambassador to Canada

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The USPS is normally profitable, an entirely self-funded org that provides universal service to every place in America, no matter how rural, as is mandated in the US Constitution. But today, thanks to the pension-fund sabotage and the pandemic, it needs a LOT of money.

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Fedex and UPS have been lobbying hard to kill the postal service for decades. Congress - both sides the aisle - have participated in shameless fuckery to hasten that day. Today, the legitimacy of the American democratic system hinges on the postal service's survival.

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92% of Americans support a bailout for the postal service.

govexec.com/management/202…

Image:
An Errant Knight (modified)
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USPS…

CC BY-SA
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa…

eof/