After public outrage, Postmaster General DeJoy claimed he will stop his plans to remove Postal Service machinery. However, he has said multiple times he has no intention of replacing machines or mail collection boxes that have already been removed.
Some reports have stated that machines were not merely being removed, but destroyed upon disposal. Others are missing critical parts, left outside to be damaged by the weather, or even being sold for scrap metal. This means they cannot simply be plugged in again now that the public has taken notice. Despite DeJoy's orders that the machines not be reinstalled, some post offices have courageously defied these orders and tried to reinstall the machines, with only partial success.
Postal Service internal documents contradict DeJoy's claim that the mail is not being delayed due to the changes. Furthermore, multiple major post offices are reporting mail volume is so backed up that there is over three times more mail than at Christmas, and there is physically so much mail piled up that it is difficult for workers to walk through the office.
The damage is done--Trump and DeJoy must believe they have gotten away with destroying enough Postal Service infrastructure to have some effect on the election and no longer have the need to continue their planned destruction.
Indeed:
"The potential effectiveness of an order issued Sunday to stop the removal of United States Postal Service sorting machines is now in question.
Internal USPS planning documents obtained by CNN indicate nearly 95% of the mail sorting machines that had been set for removal during the last few months were already scheduled to be taken out of service by now."
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/16/politics/usps-documents-sorting-machine-removal-order/index.html
***
On August 18, Nancy Pelosi issued a statement, which read in part:
"Postmaster General DeJoy’s announcement of what may be a temporary pause in operational changes delaying the mail is a necessary but insufficient first step in ending the President’s election sabotage campaign. This pause only halts a limited number of the Postmaster’s changes, does not reverse damage already done, and alone is not enough to ensure voters will not be disenfranchised by the President this fall."
On August 19, Pelosi said DeJoy told her he would not be replacing machines that were already removed.
On August 24, DeJoy testified before the House. He repeated that he would not replace machines which were already removed. According to documents obtained by CNN, over 95% of the machines planned to be removed have already been removed. The damage has been done--"halting" changes now is meaningless. Nothing DeJoy said at the hearing alleviated fears regarding the sabotage of mail-in voting.
Jim Cooper kept the pressure up on DeJoy. Tired of non-answers, he directly asked him if his backup plan was to be pardoned like Roger Stone.
On August 31, Representative Carolyn Maloney, chair of the House Oversight Committee, said she was planning to subpoena DeJoy to obtain documents related to his communication with the Trump campaign and related to mail delays. Congress has been seeking these documents for months and should have subpoenaed DeJoy earlier.
***
It was recently noted that the chairman of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, Robert Duncan, is a director of a superPAC aligned with Senator Mitch McConnell. The Board of Governors is the body overseeing the Postal Service and selects the Postmaster General.
This is yet another reason why McConnell must be jailed for his role in all this corruption, if justice is to ever be done.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who previously defied a congressional subpoenas by refusing to hand over Trump's tax returns, was also a key figure in sabotaging the Postal Service:
"After it went years without a voting quorum, Trump was able to reshape the traditionally nonpartisan postal board in three years to set his priorities in motion. When his administration took office in 2017, the nine-member board was empty. Trump tasked Mnuchin with filling it with a majority of appointees designated to the party in the White House.
“Everything was set up to make it seem like it wasn’t driven by the whole Amazon thing,” said a person familiar with Mnuchin’s efforts. “He would come back from meetings at the White House [and] wanted to know where things stood and where appointees to the board stood.”
Mnuchin made clear he wanted to push out Brennan, a letter carrier who rose through the ranks to eventually lead the agency, the person said. He urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to vet potential nominees through his caucus.
The nominees had ties to Republican causes. Robert M. Duncan, a former Republican National Committee chairman and close ally of McConnell who became chairman in 2018, met with Mnuchin, the person said, and the secretary made clear his plan to oust Brennan. Duncan was hesitant, the person said, but not opposed.
“He wanted backup,” the person said. And Mnuchin continued to seek out new governors.
David Williams, the former Postal Service inspector general and the board’s vice chairman until his resignation in protest in April against Mnuchin’s involvement, told House Democrats on Thursday that Mnuchin demanded that new governors “come to his office to kiss the ring and receive his blessing before confirmation.”"
***
Some additional articles on the ongoing debacle.
"The carriers are the beloved face of the Postal Service, as they should be, and an icon of our proud history. But as a mechanic working to keep them on their routes, in August I witnessed a scene I never could have imagined. My co-workers on another shift began dismantling at least three mail processing machines. They didn't want to do this, they told me; they just had to follow orders.
While there is less mail being delivered this year, those machines process over a million pieces of mail a day at my post office alone and were always in use. When I asked them what they were doing, they told me that the area was going to be rearranged. I later found the machines behind the processing plant, dismantled,in a huge scrap metal dumpster — uncovered in the rain. Later, Postal Service leaders said they paused these changes, but I don't expect the machines to ever come back. That’s a hard thing for a mechanic, or any caring person, to see."
"In Chicago, postal employees say backlogged mail is stacked so high in some facilities that workers barely have space to walk by. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, mail handlers tell NBC News first class and priority mail is still running several days a week behind schedule on average.
And in Tacoma, Washington, multiple postal workers said new mandates mean many mail trucks per week are being ordered to set out on their routes five minutes early — often entirely empty.
...“Some stations have so much mail backed up, it’s three times more than the volume you would see at Christmas,” Richardson said, noting Chicago’s International Military Service Center and Henry McGee Postal Station are particularly overwhelmed. “You can’t even walk down the aisles. It’s a wonder carriers can get in and out.”
...“You have customers used to getting letters six days a week getting only one delivery a week now,” Richardson said, adding customers served by Chicago’s Robert Leflore station are experiencing some of the city’s worst delays.
In Albuquerque, Ramona Chavez, vice president of the American Postal Workers Union, Local 331, reports similar problems.
“We have more packages in our facility right now than we do at the holidays,” she said, noting even priority mail packages are being delivered several days late. “We have a mail handler group on Facebook and we’re all reporting the same thing. We’re all understaffed. Everybody’s just doing everything they possibly can. Delays are our new normal.”
...Edra Haecherl, an assistant supervisor tractor trailer operator for the Postal Service based in Tacoma, said she has seen the empty trailers firsthand. “Seven tractor trailers come back empty each day” when usually they would have been carrying mail, she said. “This is not normal.”"
"An order from U.S. Postal Service headquarters hasn’t stopped some mail-processing plants in Washington state from hooking up their high-speed letter-sorting machines again.
Despite a national order not to reinstall letter-sorting machines that had been dismantled over the past month, the Postal Service plants in Tacoma and Wenatchee have done just that, according to workers there.
Forty percent of the letter-sorting machines in the Seattle-Tacoma area had been disconnected by Tuesday, when the Postal Service announced a halt to a nationwide machinery purge until after the November election."
..."Workers at Washington’s biggest mail-processing plant, just south of Seattle in Tukwila, say there are no plans to reinstall any machines.
Nine sorting and postmarking machines there have been disconnected.
“At least three of the machines have been completely dismantled,” Postal Service electronics technician Matt Olmsted said. “It would take a lot to get those back together.”
Olmsted said past attempts at downsizing and the current reorganization have generated mistrust between local post office staff and those at headquarters.
“It was to the point where our managers had to take pictures of the actual power cables lying on the floor to verify that they had been disconnected,” Olmsted said.
Internal documents obtained by KUOW show that the Postal Service, even before DeJoy took the helm in June, was planning to remove 969 mail-sorting and postage-canceling machines, one-fifth of the national total."
"Postmaster General Louis DeJoy may have suspended changes to postal service operations, but it doesn’t necessarily mean machines that had been removed will be put back in use, according to an email obtained by CNN.
The email, sent hours after DeJoy’s public suspension of changes on Tuesday, instructs postal workers not to reconnect any mail sorting machines that have previously been disconnected.
“Please message out to your respective Maintenance Managers tonight,” wrote Kevin Couch, a director of maintenance operations. “They are not to reconnect/reinstall machines that have been previously disconnected without approval from HQ Maintenance, no matter what direction they are getting from their plant manager.”"
..."Yared Wonde, the president of the American Postal Workers Union’s Dallas Area Local, said management at the Dallas processing and distribution center, which serves nearly all of Dallas, unsuccessfully tried to put back four delivery bar code sorter machines.
DBCS machines make up the bulk of the mail sorting operation across USPS, handling envelopes which includes ballots heading to voters.
The machines, which Wonde says were removed in July, cannot be put back into service because they are missing pieces. Wonde said it was unclear what moved management at the Dallas facility to attempt to reassemble the DBCS machines."
https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2020/08/21/official-email-usps-reconnect-sorting-machines/
Actually, it is clear why the management in Dallas tried to reinstall the machines. They understood that the machines are necessary to be able to process the mail and that intentionally delaying the mail is a federal crime--not to mention the blatant election sabotage of removing the machines on the eve of an election. It is unfortunate, however, that the managers did not refuse the order to remove the machines from the very beginning.
At this point, many of the machines cannot be installed, because not only are many missing parts (as mentioned in the above articles), but were outright destroyed upon disposal...
"Multiple sources within the postal service told Motherboard they have personally witnessed the machines, which cost millions of dollars, being destroyed or thrown in the dumpster. USPS did not respond to a request for comment.
...In May, the USPS planned to remove a total of 969 sorting machines out of the 4,926 it had in operation as of February for all types of letters and flat mail. The vast majority of them—746 out of 3,765 in use—were delivery bar code sorters (DBCS), the type that sort letters, postcards, ballots, marketing mail and other similarly sized pieces. But a subsequent document distributed to union officials in mid-June said 502 of those machines would be removed from facilities."
"You’re not just imagining it: The mail really is experiencing widespread delays, according to new internal United States Postal Service documents.
The documents were published by Rep. Carolyn Maloney ahead of a Monday hearing with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. Motherboard previously reported that a mix of the coronavirus pandemic, more restrictive overtime policies, and a restriction on the amount of time that mail can be sorted and loaded onto mail trucks before they go out has led to delays in mail delivery. Maloney said that "these new documents show that the delays are far worse than we were told” by DeJoy.
The new documents, a Postmaster General “Service Performance Measurement” briefing prepared for DeJoy on August 12, seemingly show the actual impact of those policies. Across the board, “on-time” scores have fallen sharply since early July. Presorted first-class mail is getting delivered late 8.1 percent more often than baseline, marketing mail (8.42 percent), periodicals (9.57 percent), and even Priority Mail (7.97 percent) have seen similar drops."
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/k7qyyv/usps-delays-far-worse-than-we-were-told-internal-docs-show
"Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are continuing to call for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to either be fired or resign amid the continuing controversy over mail-in voting.
...In a series of other tweets, Warren accused DeJoy of having "flat-out lied" to the Senate about the changes he implemented and "rejected the idea of fixing his damage."
"Enough is enough: the Board of Governors must remove DeJoy & reverse his acts of sabotage," she added."
https://www.newsweek.com/usps-warren-sanders-1526914
"“It’s disturbing to see the machinery taken out,” said Scott Hoffman, APWU Boston Local 100 president. Hoffman said nine machines have been removed from Boston’s Dorchester Avenue post office located downtown.
...Bill Thomas, another Boston union officer and postal clerk said he believes the changes are a deliberate attempt to undermine the postal service.
“It’s intentionally delaying the mail,” Thomas said in an interview with WGBH News.
The new directives include tamping down overtime and leaving mail behind at processing plants when sorting runs late.
"Before, the truck would wait for the mail from the plant to bring to the stations,” Thomas said referring to large delivery trucks that bring mail from processing centers.
“Now, if the mail is running late on the machine, the truck leaves, that mail's not getting out for the day."
...Hoffman, a 32-year veteran of the postal service, told WGBH News he views the changes as an “all-out attack” on the postal service by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a donor turned Trump-appointee who took the helm of the postal service in June.
“With an edict from up top, they've changed it all. They haven't changed the statutes. They haven't changed the rules and regulations. The only difference is a new postmaster with a new set of edicts,” Hoffman said."
"Michigan union leaders within the U.S. Postal Service are sounding alarms about policy changes that one official describes as a "conscious decision to delay mail" as a political showdown brews in Washington, D.C.
The removal of at least eight mail sorting machines in Detroit, Pontiac and Grand Rapids facilities are causing the loss of sorting more than 270,000 pieces of mail per hour, according to union officials from around the state. The planned removal of another seven machines in West Michigan and Pontiac would reduce mail sorting capability by another 200,000 or more pieces of mail per hour, union officials said.
...Prior to the suspension, two delivery bar code sorting machines — which combined can sift through 60,000 pieces of mail per hour — were removed from a large Pontiac distribution center, Roscoe Woods Jr., president of Southeast Michigan's American Postal Workers Union Local 480-481, told The Detroit News on Monday.
...In an unprecedented move, four sorting machines were removed from a Detroit facility, said Keith Combs, president of the APWU’s Detroit District Area Local. Each machine could sort 35,000 pieces of mail per hour, he said.
The removal of machines from the George W. Young Post Office in downtown Detroit occurred 30 to 40 days ago, said Combs, who also expressed concern about work rule changes described as cost-saving measures.
“That’s a huge number to take out right before an election, an election that may require” significant vote-by-mail due to the pandemic, he said.
..."They've made a conscious decision to delay the mail under the guise of reducing overtime," he said. In light of DeJoy's latest suspension of changes, Woods said he would like the Postal Service to go further and restore removed machinery.
After DeJoy took office, policies were implemented to reduce overtime and mandate carriers leave for their routes at certain times, causing delays in mail deliveries, said Michael Mize, president of the Michigan Postal Workers Union.
"What we’re seeing right now is a direct attack on the Postal Service and what we do," said Mize, who's worked for the service for more than two decades.
...Tlaib took aim at Trump's relationship with DeJoy, saying: "The billionaire mega-donor he appointed ... is doing everything he can to prevent postal workers from processing mail, sorting ballots and delivering life-saving medications to our seniors and loved ones.""
***
Once again, a reminder that by intentionally delaying the mail DeJoy is committing a federal crime.
18 U.S. Code § 1703. Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers:
(a) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1703
***
***
Last, but not least, Trump is beginning a new wave of accusations on coup attempts, election rigging, and consideration of illegally extending his term in office.
Trump is, of course, attempting to distract from the ongoing coup he and the Republican party have been engaged in. Even if Trump loses the election and steps down from the presidency, the Republican coup has succeeded in the Senate, Judicial branch, and countless Executive branch positions. Unless there is a thorough cleaning and radical restructuring of the government to undo all the damage that has been done by Trump and his cronies, this usurping of the government will remain once Trump is out of office. If the Biden administration turns a blind eye to this or is not thorough enough in cleaning up the damage, it will demonstrate the leadership of the Democratic party is complicit in the coup.
Trump seems to be getting desperate and realizes the likelihood that he will lose. However, we must not get complacent. Afterall, few people thought he would win in 2016 (including his own campaign officials). Nor did we expect each day of his presidency to reach a new low.
"With the political world focused on the Democratic convention Monday night, President Trump looked to steal some of the limelight by saying that he will seek a third term if he wins re-election.
During a rally in Wisconsin, the president lied to a cheering crowd, telling them that he deserves eight additional years in office because, he falsely claimed, his campaign was spied on in 2016 — an assertion his own FBI refuted in a detailed report.
“We are going to win four more years,” Trump said. “And then after that, we’ll go for another four years because they spied on my campaign. We should get a redo of four years.”"
“We have to win the election. We can’t play games. Go out and vote. Do those beautiful absentee ballots, or just make sure your vote gets counted. Make sure because the only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged, Remember that. It’s the only way we’re going to lose this election, so we have to be very careful.” -Donald Trump, August 17, 2020.
https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1295496980408524804
Projections show that, due to mail-in votes taking days to count, the immediate tally on election day may show Trump winning, but could flip to Biden once all the mail-in votes are counted.
"A top Democratic data and analytics firm told "Axios on HBO" it's highly likely that President Trump will appear to have won — potentially in a landslide — on election night, even if he ultimately loses when all the votes are counted.
Why this matters: Way more Democrats will vote by mail than Republicans, due to fears of the coronavirus, and it will take days if not weeks to tally these. This means Trump, thanks to Republicans doing almost all of their voting in person, could hold big electoral college and popular vote leads on election night.
Imagine America, with its polarization and misinformation, if the vote tally swings wildly toward Joe Biden and Trump loses days later as the mail ballots are counted.
...Between the lines: Hawkfish is not just trying to educate the public about the possibility that Trump could prematurely declare victory, or try to delegitimize a Biden victory if it took days or weeks to determine.
The group is also trying to sensitize state and county elections officials, news and social media organizations, and the courts to the perils of premature results — and to the possibility of Trump and his team applying challenges and political pressure to reject a high share of mailed-in ballots counted after election day.
And the group is warning voters that rejection rates for mail ballots are higher than in-person voting.
To avoid having their votes thrown out, Hawkfish is advising voters to be extra careful about voting early enough and following all the instructions to the letter — or, potentially, putting on masks and gloves and going early either to safely vote in person or return the mail ballot in person."
So, by sabotaging the Postal Service, this gives Trump (or Russia) (1) more time to sabotage Biden votes from being counted to potentially prevent him from winning the final vote tally, (2) the ability to continue the narrative that votes for his opponent are somehow illegitimate and that he is the "real" winner, and (3) using this narrative, incite his supporters to violence should he choose. Let's hope it doesn't come to that, but if Trump loses the election, he will have 2.5 months to cause as much chaos as possible.
For the sake of our nation, we must ensure Trump loses in the largest landslide in US history.
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