Postmaster General DeJoy suspends changes to Postal Service to avoid any impact on election mail
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
"In the meantime, there are some longstanding operational initiatives — efforts that predate my arrival at the Postal Service — that have been raised as areas of concern as the nation prepares to hold an election in the midst of a devastating pandemic," he said. "To avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending these initiatives until after the election is concluded."
DeJoy said the hours of post offices would not change, mail processing equipment and blue mailboxes would not be removed, all mail processing facilities would remain open and the Postal Service would again allow overtime to be "approved as needed."
The announcement included DeJoy's intention to expand the agency's leadership task force on election mail to include members of postal unions and management associations.
DeJoy, a former logistics executive, faced intense scrutiny for nationwide shipping delays after he made a number of policy changes that included eliminating overtime and restricting postal carriers from taking on additional routes to deliver mail on time.
Questions also rose over the removal of blue Postal Service mailboxes, as well as the decommissioning of 671 letter-sorting machines at Postal Service facilities, removals that predated DeJoy's appointment.
Nevertheless, the delays and the optics have roiled Democrats who accused DeJoy and Trump of hamstringing the agency to undermine mail-in voting. Postal workers across the country added their voices, asserting that the policies adopted by DeJoy — which he said are intended to cut costs and increase efficiency — have caused the holdup in deliveries, including prescription drugs, Social Security checks and other pieces of essential mail.
Trump denied intentionally slowing the Postal Service, telling reporters Monday that he "encouraged everybody to speed up the mail, not slow the mail."
DeJoy is set to testify before Congress this week.
Concerns over the Postal Service's ability to handle election mail grew when numerous states received letters from the Postal Service last week that warned that the agency would not be able to fulfill requests for mail-in ballots.
The potential delays are a significant concern for many, as millions of Americans are expected to send in their votes through the Postal Service this year because of concerns over the coronavirus.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy suspends delay-causing policy changes
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, both Democrats, shared their intention to file lawsuits against the postmaster general over his policy changes. At least 18 states are involved in the lawsuits.
When asked by reporters about DeJoy's announcement, both men laughed and said their lawsuits would proceed.
"I'll believe it when I see it," Shapiro said. "Hopefully the American people can breathe a sigh of relief, but I will not let my foot off the gas so long as the postal officials continue to violate the law through their procedural steps."
Tags
Who is online
180 visitors
Can anyone think of any reason why we should trust this guy? He has shown his desire to subvert USPS. Now, suddenly, he's not in any hurry?
If you believe that... I have this really nice bridge in Brooklyn...
He said in another article I read that he would suspend 'some' of the changes. Don't trust this tRumpster one bit.
bwah ha ha, another business conflicted millionaire folds up like a deck chair when he realizes how long the pardon list is getting.
Did you hear who he recently pardoned......Susan B. Anthony.
nothing more than political theater and transparent patronizing.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CEKMrEUFKbF/?igshid=1n1jui7g06n9h
Suspend.... good.
Return to previous operational and manning levels..... better.
Augment to secure and maximize timely deliveries of all mail in ballots..... what is expected.
If you believed this guy then I have a bridge to sell you and will throw in the swamp for half price. Here (CA), sorting machines have been removed and destroyed. Mailboxes have been removed and probably will be destroyed also.
Anyone who believes that the SOB won't still sabotage the vote in some way could only possibly be a person who trusts the POS POTUS.
Please explain the relevance of an undated YouTube by the Postmaster General who served from 2010 to 2015.
BTW, I still get Saturday delivery...every Saturday.
"Please explain the relevance of an undated YouTube by the Postmaster General who served from 2010 to 2015."
That's all he has, irrelevance.
Plus I get mail every Saturday also.
No Saturday delivery would not bother nor impact my life in the least.
In 2019 one of the recommendations to help stem the losses of the PO was to discontinue Saturday delivery. Congress would not go for it. Mark Meadows was one that voiced his opposition to discontinuing Saturday delivery.
"No Saturday delivery would not bother nor impact my life in the least."
Yes, and? How about those waiting on a check or medications?
I was only referring to me, not to have Saturday delivery stopped. Of course it would totally suck if people could not get checks or meds. I really thought you knew me better than that.
Remember......
Follow the Science!!!
He says he'll be voting in person in November.
That is a LIE.
You know that how? How about we see how he voted the day after the polls close.
I presume you meant that for sixpick.
If he said "that is a lie" then yes. Apologies for any confusion.
That is a LIE.
Now come on. He may as well have said it.
Fauci Won’t Endorse Mail-In Voting: That’s ‘Going To Be Used As A Sound Bite’
Aug 7, 2020, 12:05pm EDT
TOPLINE
Dr. Anthony Fauci refrained from a chance to break with President Trump on the contentious issue of mail-in voting on Thursday, refusing to endorse the practice in an interview with the Washington Post out of fear his answer would be used as a “sound bite.”
KEY FACTS
When asked whether mail-in voting is safer during the pandemic, Fauci declined to answer “because that almost certainly is going to be used as a sound bite.”
Fauci said Americans could go to voting booths in November if they’re careful, and recommended polling locations operate like grocery stores and shops.
“I don’t see any reason why, if people maintain that type of physical distancing, wearing a mask and washing hands—why you cannot, at least where I vote , go to a place and vote,” Fauci said.
Fauci’s comments come as Trump continues to rail against mail-in voting, claiming— without evidence— the practice will lead to widespread fraud and abuse.
After weeks of launching an all-out campaign against the practice, Trump pivoted slightly this week when he said he approved of mail-in voting in Florida because the state’s election systems are “safe and secure.”
Hours later, however, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit seeking to block mail-in voting in Nevada.
Key background
During the pandemic, several states have moved to offer mail-in voting as an alternative to voting in groups of people at polling centers, where the virus could spread. Trump has latched on to the practice, and said it is different than absentee voting, which he once called “good.” In practice, “mail-in voting” and “absentee voting” are used interchangeably, though many states have loosened rules surrounding submitting ballots by mail this year. Although voting fraud does occur, there is no evidence that mail-in voting or more lax restrictions surrounding absentee voting will lead to widespread abuse. A recent analysis conducted by the Washington Post found “only 372 cases of potential fraud out of roughly 14.6 million ballots cast by mail in 2016 and 2018.”
May as well have said it?
LOL!
Yet he DIDN'T, did he?
Hence, your comment is a LIE and no amount of equivocation will change that.
Here is what Fauci said in YOUR linked video:
Note also that Fauci stated criteria for voting to be done safely and mask wearing and social distancing were paramount. Here is a link to just how well states are doing:
Who here thinks that those numbers won't show that states will become MORE lax by November?
Unfortunately, the YouTube video does not support what you typed.
He does refuse to endorse mail in voting for political reasons
It never does.
Unfortunately, I doubt that he cares.
I thought you would have picked up on that, SP.
Oh come on FW, is it a promise that he will vote in person?
Not in contract law.
He is 79 years old and automatically gets a request for a mail in ballot which he refuses to discuss.
But by all means, inflate the fonts and use red to not make a point.
Up until this election the bride and I are usually the first to make it to the polling place its a competition with a local farmer, lol.
It's small and if social distancing is put in place it will reduce the amount of voting machines and increase the lines beyond the tolerance of how long our old hips and knees can wait outside.
If all goes well, we will get our ballots and see where we can drop them off rather than mail them.
Failing that we will rent a wheel chair and take lots of tea and snacks...
Don't be so serious SP. Hey, I've been picturing you as a female. Well, I guess you never know, do you?
Anyway, you can click on that video with no date in the upper left hand side and it will carry you to YouTube where you will see it came out February 2013, not 2019.
Patrick Donahoe was the Postmaster General from December 6, 2010 until February 1, 2015.
They had been pushing the ideas in the video, but it never came to pass, as we all know, but, they've been removing PO Boxes for years, long before Trump was elected President.
Where have all the blue boxes gone?
I guess we're dealing with two subjects here, one about PO Boxes and another about Fauci. I don't care whether Fauci votes in person or not. The point is he said it is safe if you do what all of us who have worked every day since the pandemic started does. After all, the social distancing is the most important thing to practice. Keeping the virus out of the mask is like keeping mosquitoes out of the yard with a chain length fence. I still wear it, though. There's no mask going to protect you from the virus if you are confined in a closed area or too close to a super spreader.
I doubt Fauci goes to the poll station to vote. He has become too political and will probably do the same thing you're going to do. I will go to my location and vote early. I like to put it in the machine myself. Wouldn't want this lady to be responsible.
I could show you many more, but who cares. I want to make my choices at the voting machine.
In a certain civilized country (which will remain nameless) voting is always on Sunday... always for one single election...
The most people I've ever seen "in line" is five or six. Wait time is maybe two minutes, usually zero. Ballots are paper. National results are announced within minutes of closing time.
How can this be so difficult in less civilized countries?
Repeating the same thing and in large type doesn't make it so.
Also, 'may as well have said it'
LOL!
Although I got a vote by mail application from the Chicago Election Commission a couple weeks ago, I had laid it on a table and didnt even open the envelope until yesterday. I opened it and saw 4 pages of instruction as to how to apply for a mail in vote. Good thing I am going to vote in person or I would have to read all that stuff !
The polling place I go to in order to vote in person is a little less than a quarter mile from my house, in a Chicago Park District field house in Kennedy Park. The polling place has been in that location for 7 or 8 years since they moved it from the school down the street, and I have never had to wait more than 2 or 3 minutes to vote. Most precincts in Chicago do not have long lines for voting. I think that is because we always have a sufficient number of polling places.
I have seen on the news, more and more over the past 10-15 years or so, scenes of people in other states waiting for hours to vote. It is absurd in my opinion, and I can see why people in those states would want to vote by mail, covid or no covid. If I thought I would have to stand in line for an hour to vote, I would definitely strongly consider vote by mail.
The damage is done. I hope any Veteran or elderly person who is affected negatively joins a lawsuit to go after this stupid stunt and the man behind it.
And if any Veteran dies without medication I hope their families sue this administration and those complicit in these actions.
Where are all the "tea party" nut jobs who support the Constitution and rallying behind a service to the American people which employs thousand of American Veterans? Ben Franklin was the first Postmaster. Isn't the Post Office a prime example of American JOBS? These are American jobs, I thought right wing nuts supported our troops, supported our Constitution, supported the Founding Fathers.
Where is the support "tea party"? Where are the right wing protests with guns trying to save the Post Office and American Jobs?
pffft, the Constitution goes out the f'n window when the tea party straps on their trump knee pads.
No shit, where is the Tea Party and all the other "true American patriots?"It seems they don't care about the Vets, the disabled or elderly only themselves. In the military such people were known as "Buddy Fu**ers." In the infantry we hated them no matter what rank they were.
More like teabaggers. That's the name the morons gave themselves at the beginning of their astroturf 'movement'
No, no it isn't. They never referred to themselves as teabaggers. I am sure you are familiar with the meaning of that term are you not?
Yes, yes it is.
I see you never rebutted your rebuttal, see post 9
I see that only took you and hour. Thanks for the ancient history. [eleted]
We had a BF in one of my units. That is where I learned what the term Code Red meant.
Careful Kathleen..... you're dating those of us that know who she is.....
maxie oyster.....?
Good.... that puts you back at the realistic age of 29!
"No, no it isn't. They never referred to themselves as teabaggers. I am sure you are familiar with the meaning of that term are you not?"
I proved you wrong.
You're welcome.
They look like the morons that they are.
I loved Minnie Pearl's act, especially her hat.
Actually they did in the beginning. Until they found out the other definition. They changed it real quick! But I absolutely remember when they scrambled to change that nickname.
Both this useless teat of a man and his orange god need to be charged with tampering with the US Mail which is a federal offense.
The USPS system still delivers approximately 1.5 Billion holiday cards every December, even cards to the North Pole...
Surely even if every single voter voted by mail, USPS should be able to handle 153 million ballots...
smh.
The evolution of the word 'tea bagger'
Was President Obama speaking derogatively when he referred to the Tea Party as "tea baggers"? That's the topic of some debate after a review of Jonathan Alter's book, The Promise: President Obama, Year One , revealed that Obama used the term in November 2009 . The grassroots movement didn't always consider "tea bagger" a slur: Early Tea Partiers innocently embraced the term until they discovered its vulgar connotations (see also the 1998 John Waters movie Pecker ). In a twist, some conservatives have recently advocated that the word be reclaimed. Here's a look at the evolution of the insult:
Feb. 27, 2009
At the first anti-stimulus "New American Tea Party" rally in Washington D.C., a protestor carries a sign reading "Tea Bag the Liberal Dems before they Tea Bag You!!" The Washington Independent 's David Weigel calls it "the best sign I saw."
March 2
Americans for Prosperity, an anti-tax group, is one of the first Tea Party organizations to advocate sending tea bags to elected officials to protest the stimulus package. Several other lobby groups follow suit.
April 1
Several Tea Party protest sites encourage readers to "Tea bag the fools in DC." Jay Nordlinger at National Review Online later admits: "Conservatives started [using the term]... but others ran and ran with it."
April 9
Rachel Maddow is the first to mock the Tea Party's use of the phrase on her left-leaning MSNBC show. "Even Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina is getting in on the hot tea-bagging action," she says , stifling laughter. ( Watch Rachel Maddow joke about the "tea baggers" )
April 13
David Shuster, filling in for liberal commentator Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, also makes fun of the phrase. "While the parties are officially toothless, the tea-baggers are full-throated about their goals," he says. Jeff Poor at the Business and Media Insitute says that the MSNBC comments are "lost in juvenile criticism and ignoring the reason there is discontent from the conservative base"
April 14
Anderson Cooper, on his avowedly non-partisan CNN show, makes a similar crack , but later back-pedals, calling his remark a "stupid, silly, one-line aside" that was not meant to "disparage legitimate protests."
September 10
Badges with the message "Proud to be a Tea Bagger" are still on sale at Tea Party events, according to an article written later in the year .
November 10
A report in The New York Times claims the President called Tea Partiers "the teabag, anti-government people" prompting the blog Redstate to respond : "Sexual innuendo is inappropriate in political discourse. The Left and their media tools need a soap bar sandwich to clean up their act."
December 7
In an article for National Review Online , Jay Nordlinger notes that the word is being used so regularly, it is beginning to lose its pejorative association. "'Tory' and 'Whig' were put-downs when they originated," he notes, and "'Yankee Doodle' was none too nice." However, he suggests conservatives should continue to oppose the "lowdown term."
April 14, 2010
Prominent conservative Andrew Breitbart posts a video on the site Big Government in an attempt to reclaim the term. "I'm Proud to be a Tea Bagger" currently has over 90,000 views.
May 4
In his book, Alter quotes Obama saying that GOP opposition to the stimulus package "helped to create the tea-baggers." Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform group, compares it to the pejorative use of the N-word.
Thanks! I saw them try to pretend they never used the term 'teabagger' and guess I shouldn't be surprised they are trying to deny it.
America (and Canada) lost some of its best aspects when they started closing the village post offices. Please beam me back to the early 50s, Scotty, before the days of computers and internet, when kids played outside together from dawn to dusk without having to be watched, when people didn't have to lock their doors.....
Amen to that, Buzz!
I hear that Buzz. When I was 4 (1956), a neighborhood father used to take us kids for ice cream. This was when as you stated, people didn't lock doors. One night after my folks went to bed, I got out and climbed into the backseat of the neighbor's car hoping he would take me and fell asleep. The next morning, he was going to work (an hour away) and I woke up half way there. The next thing this poor man knew, he had a screaming child in his back seat. He took me home and as it was very early, my folks didn't even know I was gone. It was all cleared up and no harm done. These days, he would have been arrested and interrogated about his "intent". The town we lived in was very small and my folks became the first to lock their doors after that.
They probably locked their doors to lock you in rather than to lock others out. LOL
Exactly.
If USPS could just deliver the mail and quit trying to be politically correct, worry about diversity and EEOC the mail would go through better
I am not sure where your going with this.
As a work force with about 20% military veterans due to preferential treatment, one could assume they would represent and respect the diversity of the work force in the Postal System, but the reverse seems to be true.
There are many links indicating that the USPS investigates hundreds of EEOC case per year at a cost of 4 billion and settelments of $5 billion in different years.
I would suggest tossing the terrible 1970 Postal reorganization which made the service, a semi corporation
and returning it to a Cabinet level organization subject to the rules of the NFFE or AFGE just like the IRS.
Including Temps and contractors the USPS employs more people than any other private corporation except Walmart.
The IRS cannot by law contact a taxpayer by phone or email.
They are required by law to use USPS only.
Think about that. The current Administration wants to slow down it's number one source of income tax collection.
smh
You're assuming that collecting taxes is an Administration objective. Perhaps they'd prefer to not collect them: the biggest taxpayers are corporate political donors.
So... stifling USPS... and slowing tax-collection... is a good thing! A twofer!
Maybe a threefer, since this will also be grounds for an attack on the IRS for not doing its job of collecting taxes.
I agree the Post Office should go back to way it was before 1970 and be a cabinet level department
This guy owns stock in the USPS and should never have been appointed to run it as it is a conflict of interest. Shareholders have a board and that board should remove this turd with a No Confidence vote.
Jeez, Paula!
If "conflict of interest" was grounds for removing someone... there'd be no one left on Pennsylvania Avenue!
No President, no Cabinet, ...
In addition (and forgive me if someone mentioned this upthread
,) but Dejoy has donated over $2 million dollars to the Trump campaign. his wife was nominated as Ambassador to Canada.
I could vomit just thinking about the blatant conflicts of interest.
source
C'mon Sis! Can you imagine the Trump Administration if all the conflicts of interest were ejected?
Maybe Pence would still be there. Maybe.
Amen sister, amen.
"If USPS could just deliver the mail"
That's what they were doing before tRump and Dejoy 'kneecapped' the USPS.
What do you have against diversity and equal opportunity?
getting the job done right and efficiently is more important than forcing side social engineering
Well then I presume that you have some data that proves that diversity and equal opportunity somehow precludes that.
Any review of America's rate of worker productivity. which has grown every year, despite the institution of those policies, refutes that concept.
automation and reducing number of workers is what raises productivity number
... on the condition that production is maintained...
That is apparently... uncertain...
That is a totally unfounded statement.
The BLS measures labor productivity and those are the statistics I cited. If you are actually curious [which i doubt] about the FACTS of how they collect the data, go to the BLS website and READ.
"automation and reducing number of workers is what raises productivity number"
What nonsense. Unbelievable that Dejoy who knows absolutely nothing about the USPS and its' workings was appointed the head. Although that is par for the course. Folks appointed set to destroy the agency that they were appointed to (or bought their position).
Also he's not putting back the mailboxes that were removed or the sorting apparatus.
They're running out the clock.
Was he going to replace the equipment and mailboxes and ballot boxes he's already removed? Was he going to demand that Trump and the Republican party agree WITHOUT CONDITIONS to fund the USPS with what it requires to properly and timely process the expected mailed ballot response?
No to both of your questions Buzz.
That's what I thought. So now what's going to happen?
Well since they have dismantled and sold some of the machines for scrap, it's pretty obvious that many of them can't be reinstalled.
Trump says that large scale mail in ballots can't be done, the POG says, 'no worries'.
Trump says without additional funding the PO can't manage the volume, the POG says he doesn't need more funding.
One has to wonder if they have each other's phone numbers...
The best thing we can do is get our ballots and mail them in immediately and make sure that all ballots post marked by election day are counted.
The question is whether a slowdown will effect when the ballots are post marked. Drop off to the county clerk becomes the best bet the closer to the election we get.
Send it by certified mail. That way you know it got there.
We can check that online.