I half-joked about starting this thread yesterday. But the reality is this USPS business is more than unnerving to me. It's withering. Since Trump was elected we have seen plenty of evidence that the US was moving away from being governed by laws and institutions, and toward being governed by people, who were mostly just cronies and crooks. And, yet, until recently the mail was still delivered and fair elections still occurred. The USPS has roots older than the United States. Mail delivery is one of the most fundamental functions of the American government. Another is holding fair elections. And today those two functions are intertwined in the basic structure of American government. Today, we're watching the basic structure of American government coming undone, not because of neglect, not because of stupidity, but by the design of cronies and crooks. It is absolute confirmation that fascism has arrived. And that confirmation is withering. The votes don't matter if they aren't counted. The institutions don't matter if they don't operate. All that matters are the cronies and crooks in charge. It has happened here. This is no longer about electing Biden and Harris to stop our slide toward fascism. It's about electing Biden and Harris to reclaim our country from fascism.
Absolutely correct, Knave! Outside the courthouse where I live, there's a drop box. President Jerkwad says ballots without post marks should not be counted. Oh, really? I think our County Clerk might have something to say about that, and she's a Republican. I might go into her office to get a clarification on that. Otherwise, I may just say 'screw the mail-in ballot' and go vote in person on the 3rd if my polling station is open--Illinois had trouble finding election judges for the primary election in March during the early days of COVID 19). If this election is going to be rigged, you know it's going to be tilted toward Republicans, and if that's the case, I'd be all in for torching the Republican National Headquarters in DC or Virginia, or wherever it's located. It probably won't happen, but Trump could be in line for the 'Ceaucescu Treatment' if he's not careful. How much more crap will military leaders take from him? They've certainly been more patient with him than a lot of us here have been.
This machine kills fascism.#SaveThePostOffice pic.twitter.com/aXCvDozyLT— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) August 15, 2020 Not if nobody operates the machine ...
For those who still need help. That's Woody Guthrie https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woody_Guthrie His son is a famous folk singer too, but he's old now so you don't care.
In Spring 2006 I took a unique class called Political Sociology. The professor was a liberal woman. She accused the FDA of not approving a safe birth control drug because the FDA was against birth control. She gave an example of how pro-Democratic Source X was reliable and pro-Republican Source Y wasn't. I don't remember everything from back then, but her political views were obvious. The reason I'm bring her up is that in addition to non-fiction, we read The Postman by David Brin, which also has a movie. The novel is set in Oregon after a nuclear war destroyed communications. At the beginning, the protagonist finds a mail truck, delivers the letters on foot, and makes up a lie that there is a "restored United States" in D.C. trying to rebuild the country. He tries to convince people that. Early in the book, his notebook is stolen. Later he is caught by the Holnists, who are followers of Nathan Holn. They have his notebook, so he knows they know that he made up the restored United States. Mail delivery is used as a symbol that the country was functioning. It was an unhappy book, and I'm not recommending it, but it's appropriate to discuss here. Mail can travel thousands of miles, but I didn't have to travel to that class because I had consecutive classes in the same room.
Will Bunch gets it: Trump’s coup-by-mail is underway. America can’t wait until November to fight back | Will Bunch https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/co...0200816.html?scrolla=5eb6d68b7fedc32c19ef33b4
Meanwhile, half a world away...Belarus 'gets it'. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53795871 If worst comes to worst, this really could be a 'November to Remember' if there are numerous election irregularities here.
I'm still stunned when I see ********ups like that, esp. since that isn't from a fly-by-night source. Says a lot about how newsrooms have changed in this century, that's for sure.
No kidding! It bothers me to no end to see occasional typos crop up on bottom-of-the-screen crawls for news and sports stories or severe weather information. Proofreaders must be in short supply!
I don’t know if anyone has considered this yet. I was in Afghanistan for 2014 elections. DOS considers 3-5% differences in polling to actual votes an “irregularity” It wouldn’t shock me if this is leveraged here in the US...we are in for a real [emoji90] show
Interesting idea: National Guard are in all 50 states. Governors can call up the National Guard to deliver the mail on election week. Most guard have contingency plans to do this work. Only hitch, state’s must pay. A small price to preserve democracy!— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) August 17, 2020
Just need certain key states. Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin all have Democratic governors.
Then they came for me, but I could not speak up because my letters and postcards to Congress got permanently stuck in Philadelphia.