"The August 2020 US Politics Thread is highly thought of, but nobody likes me. It can only be my personality. That's all."

xxxpost

the thing that annoys tf out of me with the alarmism amongst my voters in my county is that they have always had a confirmation system where you could verify receipt and acceptance of your ballot. i.e., not just that they got it, but that it was valid/accepted.

if it's not, for some reason, you are able to go to your polling place, indicate what happened, and vote in person. I've invalidated mail-in votes before because I've lost them and just gone and voted in person anyway.

now....I recognize not all places operate like that, but the people whining are THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN MY COUNTY WHO HAVE PRESUMABLY VOTED BY MAIL BEFORE.

Look, I get that it isn't always helpful or productive to be alarmist and outraged, but at the same time seeing how easily Trump completely dismantled and destroyed the USPS is pretty fucking alarming and outrageous!

these people are not competent enough to steal a national election

Fortunately, there is no national election. There are 50-53 state/territory elections.

good grief

remember this guy

We need more people to speak up. pic.twitter.com/1ZL7mkJ3WQ

— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) August 14, 2020

Sorry guys, caek says it's no big deal at all and we should all just chill. There are, like, norms and rules and shit, so this is all no big deal and everything is absolutely going to work out just fine as long as we keep condescending to people who might feel a little alarmed.

Sorry guys, caek says it's no big deal at all and we should all just chill. There are, like, norms and rules and shit, so this is all no big deal and everything is absolutely going to work out just fine as long as we keep condescending to people who might feel a little alarmed.

Are you sure that's what he said?

i
can't help wonder why
all the flowers had to die
i think about you

and now
summer's come and gone
and the nights they seem so long

come on over tonight
come on over

jon, i get where you're coming from, and i'm scared too, but this is what the "trump's gonna win" containment thread is for

i'm worried trump might win. i'm not super worried he's going to win *because* of whatever he thinks he's doing to the USPS. i think that's at least as likely to hurt him, both in terms of its effect on voting in states like florida, and the politics of *messing with the USPS*. i also think it hurts people who depend on the USPS, so i hope he stops doing it.

outrage that implies "your vote won't count, it's over" (which granted is not what's happening, unless you follow like seth abramson or something, or jon gets a primetime tv show) is not helpful. and as for "are you worried about the other things that might happen"? i guess? depends what they are.

what if the votes become self-aware

and change themselves

Not that I've been entirely in the "justified" lane this afternoon myself, but I think there's room for some justified fear and outrage in this thread too! Or there very well should be. It just feels really complacent in here at times and that frustrates me.

Dems should pull a Benghazi on Trump and Republicans over this USPS voter suppression fiasco and hit them with hearings.

OOOOOH. Whoa. HEARINGS you say? I am sure they're quaking over the thought of hearings they will refuse to attend, questions they will refuse to answer, and subpoenas they will ignore. Yippee!

there is a vast space between complacency and assuming we're all doomed

this thread is a fart

be

OOOOOH. Whoa. HEARINGS you say? I am sure they're quaking over the thought of hearings they will refuse to attend, questions they will refuse to answer, and subpoenas they will ignore. Yippee!

the goal is not to fix this USPS. it's to win the election. benghazi hearings worked by that definition.

Democratic bills to reestablish the WPA, CCC and double the budget and workforce of the USPS, then have whichever team did the new Markey ad start publicizing them.

but in Florida, if you're a teacher, despite having a union, if you strike, they can instantly fire you and take your teaching license, as well as your Florida pension.

xpost - There sure is. And believe me, I'm not proud of feeling so doomed this afternoon, I get it. But this isn't the first time folks in these politics threads have been shamed for playing out their worst case fears and anxieties. There's a lot of just "calm down, things will be fine" going on when, clearly, re: USPS, not everything is going to be fine. At least not today, not tomorrow, not in the near future.

have you considered not "playing out your worst fears and anxieties" on this thread?

There's a lot of just "calm down, things will be fine" going on when, clearly, re: USPS, not everything is going to be fine. At least not today, not tomorrow, not in the near future.

this is not what's happening.

good piece about the markey ad https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/08/ed-markeys-incomprehensibly-thrilling-2020-election-ad.html.

feel like they could sell biden like that (it would be a lie, but fine).

Don't worry caek, your condescending attitude is doing a great job of chasing me away from these threads. I forgot about the rolling Trump containment thread and shouldn't have posted here, gotta make sure I toe the line in the appropriate thread.

i don't think it's a good idea to "play out your worst fears and anxieties" in any thread fwiw.

jon, it's not a matter of toeing the line, and your fears are justified imo - it's just that the containment thread is a better place for freaking the fuck out, vs talking here in an at-least-barely sub-panic tone

(don't worry, there's still plenty of policing over there, with ppl yelling at those freaking out for freaking out in the "freak out here" thread)

xp

There’s no such thing as posting right.

Literally no one itt is like 'calm down, everything will be fine' btw.

If Biden wins every swing state with a Democratic Secretary of State (i.e. where Democrats are running the election) he'll win handily

How this is being reported in Montana

Here’s the final product that hit the 5pm news tonight. Thanks to all of you for helping share this today! #mtnews #mtpol #USPS pic.twitter.com/SZYuODzYwY

— Maritsa Georgiou (@MaritsaNBCMT) August 14, 2020

I don't think this is going away, tbh. It stinks to high heaven and I doubt that it's going to just slide into obscurity

I wonder what percentage of bills are still paid by check via post office rather than online.

A lot.

Though this was interesting to me:
https://www.efile.com/efile-tax-return-direct-deposit-statistics/

Large. Anecdotal, but my parents refuse to do anything financial online.

I'm shocked the efile numbers are that high.

Right? I was too!

Also glad we can be arguing on one thread and marvelling at stats together on another,.just saying.

(I'm not arguing with you on the other thread tbh.)

gotta say, I really don't understand the "oh, the USPS thing will backfire on trump when everyone gets mad about their slow mail"; most likely they'll just blame the post office workers, and then use the delays as "proof" that USPS needs to be defunded

There’s plenty of that from the usual tribe but since everyone’s mail was fine through the height of shutdowns I do think it’s more obvious to people that this is abnormal fuckery.

So 40% of the country will die on the defund hill (possibly quite literally, given the need to deliver blood pressure drugs), 50% recognize what’s going on and cross your fingers for the last 10%.

xxp I wonder about that too. My friends in NY have been telling me for years that they hate their postal service, with lines at the post office, packages not delivered, notices not left

But now there are records of machines and drop boxes being taken away/destroyed, Trump literally saying this has to do with the election etc.

my own post office is split into two parts, a place to send mail/packages and a receiving facility where I can pick them up. I have gotten to know employees at both locations and have been impressed by them, and will be very angry if all of that goes away

It’s already backfiring on Trump and it will continue to do so. Everyone here with actual voting representation in the lower and upper houses of the federal legislature should be in contact with their elected officials to press the issue.

It’s already backfiring on Trump

They have already reduced the capacity of mail sorting by 21,400,000 pieces per hour, and reports are that the machines have been rendered incapable of reinstallation.

They have already gerrymandered the location of mail box removal.

The USPS had already warned that 46 states and DC were in danger of disenfranchisement with pandemic-based increase in mail-in voting, before DeJoy was even appointed to sabotage the service.

https://usmailnotforsale.org/save/

I filled that out. What else can be done?

gotta say, I really don't understand the "oh, the USPS thing will backfire on trump when everyone gets mad about their slow mail"; most likely they'll just blame the post office workers, and then use the delays as "proof" that USPS needs to be defunded