Over the past several days a number of people have begun to ask how, exactly, it was possible that the US Postal Service’s bipartisan Board of Governors could be stacked full of partisan appointees that Senator McConnell recommended to the President and then approved once the President nominated them. Such as one of Senator McConnell’s long time catspaws, who now chairs that board, and appointed Republican fundraiser Louis DeJoy Postmaster General. Appointees whose intention is to destroy the US Postal Service, which is a long standing Republican and conservative goal.
I don't think this insane conflict of interest has been reported…
Robert M. Duncan, Chairman of @USPS Board of Governors, was listed as Director of American Crossroads in paperwork filed 3/19/2020 –– a PAC that's spent $1.9 million to re-elect Trump.https://t.co/4Gg5KOHj0v pic.twitter.com/ZQouocHdom
— Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) August 15, 2020
4/30/20 – Vice Chair of @USPS Board of Governors resigns due to political pressure.
5/6/20 – Duncan announces Trump megadonor Louis Dejoy as next Postmaster General
5/11/20 – Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman, in charge of mail-in voting, is forced out. pic.twitter.com/OySpSmvpSx
— Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) August 15, 2020
Former Bernie Sanders for president 2020 senior campaign official David Sirota expressed his concerns about this yesterday as well:
In the months before the 2020 election, Donald Trump and Washington lawmakers put the postal service under the control of a former Republican National Committee chairman who has also led the Senate GOP’s major super PAC, according to federal and state documents reviewed by TMI.
In the lead up to those developments, Trump nominee Mike Duncan was appointed to the USPS’s board of governors in 2018, and he was unanimously confirmed by the Senate in December 2019 to a full seven-year term. Duncan currently chairs the board.
There’s a simple explanation for how this happened because we have a historical record of how and why these nomination were not filled during the Obama administration. One man, a single US senator, was concerned during the Obama administration that President Obama’s appointees to the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors would cut services and take actions that hurt postal workers. That one man, that one US senator placed a hold on the nominations, nominations which would have left no vacancies on the board for Senator McConnell to manipulate to partisan advantage like he has every other vacancy that he was able to find a way to keep President Obama from filling, to create leverage to ensure that services would not be cut and postal workers not hurt by the actions of the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors. That man, that US senator has a name: Bernie Sanders. (emphasis mine)
And then, there were none.
Not a single member remains of the Postal Board of Governors. The board, which is supposed to have 11 members – nine appointed by the president and approved by Congress, as well as the Postmaster General and Deputy Postmaster General – lost its final outside member, James Bilbray, when his term expired at midnight on Dec. 8.
The governors, who advise the Postal Service on management, approve price changes and can fire the Postmaster General, serve staggered 9-year terms, so one member’s term expires each year on Dec. 8. If no replacement is approved, the law permits a governor to serve for an additional year. The board must have six members to achieve quorum.
President Obama has nominated five people to serve on the board – three Democrats and two Republicans. The Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over the Postal Service, has approved all five. But the full Senate has not taken up the matter because a senator – believed to be Bernie Sanders – has placed a hold on their nominations.
Sanders is said to have placed the holds at the request of postal unions, who particularly object to former Postal Board Chairmen Mickey Cochrane and James C. Miller.
Senator Sanders appears to have been acting with the best of intentions. He was leveraging the power he has as a senator to try to extract the assurances and promises that would ensure that postal services would not be cut and actions would bot be taken to harm postal workers. The problem, of course, is that Senator Sanders made two strategic miscalculations. The first is that President Obama would be succeeded in office by another Democratic president, maybe even by Sanders himself, so it wasn’t a really big deal if the nominees to fill the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors got held up a couple of more months until a new administration came into office in January 2017. The second was failing to notice a pattern of behavior, rooted in a long term strategy, by Senator McConnell. The United States government has a lot of independent or semi-independent boards of governors or directors or commissioners. These boards and commissions, such as the Federal Election Commission (FEC), are considered to be bipartisan. Either the president makes nominations with inputs from the majority and minority leaders of both parties in Congress or the positions are filled by nominations made by the president as well as nominations made by the majority and minority leaders of each party in the Senate. Senator McConnell does not like a lot of these boards and commissions, especially when they have oversight, investigatory, regulatory, and/or enforcement powers over whatever it is that Senator McConnell is trying to achieve. The Federal Election Commission is one of these, the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors is another.
In the case of the former, Senator McConnell appointed his long time catspaw, white shoe Republican law firm partner Don McGahn, to serve on the Federal Election Commission. McGahn’s job – not the official one he was supposed to do as an FEC commissioner, but the one that McConnell actually sent him there to do – was to blow up the FEC and make it impossible to function. McGahn, leading McConnell’s other appointees and working with and through them, accomplished this assignment and the FEC has been somewhere between dysfunctional and non-functional ever since. McGahn did not wind up as the President’s 2016 campaign counsel and then White House Counsel by accident, he was placed there by Senator McConnell based on his successes doing McConnell’s bidding in previous assignments, such as his service on the FEC. McGahn never really worked for the President – not his campaign, not his administration – because he works for McConnell. McGahn’s insertion into the President’s 2016 campaign and then the White House was McConnell’s way of exerting power within both and ensuring that McConnell’s objectives would be achieved. Unlike Speaker Ryan, Senator McConnell was, and still is, actually effective at utilizing the official power he has and the unofficial powers he’s accumulated by manipulating the Senate’s and the US government’s rules and norms. It is why Senator McConnell is the Senate Majority leader and achieving his strategic objectives and goals and Paul Ryan is out of the game after being a spectacular failure as the Speaker of the House, though raking in a lot of money on NewsCorp’s board.
Senator Sanders made two strategic miscalculations. The first was incorrectly assuming how the future would play out, the second was not realizing that the reason that Senator McConnell, as the Senate Majority Leader, was actually recognizing and allowing Senator Sanders’ holds on President Obama’s nominees to the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors because those holds suited McConell’s objectives, not Sanders’. Senator Sanders placed the holds on these nominations at a time when Senator McConnell was refusing to recognize holds and blue slip responses on nominees by Democratic senators. The fact that McConnell was willing to recognize the holds that Sanders had placed, should have clued Senator Sanders into the fact that something strange was going on. Apparently this recognition by Senator Sanders or his senior staff did not happen. To the point that the holds were STILL NOT LIFTED even after the President managed to eke out a narrow Electoral College victory to succeed President Obama in office. The date on the article I quoted from above is from 20 December 2016. That last member of the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors term ended by statute on 8 December 2016. Given that the reality of who would be president come 20 January 2017 was very clear by December of 2016, the holds should have been dropped at that point, which would have been strategically smart as it would have prevented the incoming president, guided by Senator McConnell’s recommendations, from filling a majority of the open seats on the US Postal Service Board of Governors. We do not have to conduct a mental exercise and create a counterfactual, we know just how bad the President’s appointments to the US Postal Service’s Board of Governors are and just how damaging they are to both the US Postal Service – a long standing Republican and conservative goal – and to actual Americans. And this all could have been prevented if one man was a better strategist. had better senior advisors and staffers, and was better at his job.
Open thread!
What We Can Do: 80 Days, 77 Things + Indivisible
PsiFighter37
Bernie’s a lazy idiot who does not think strategically whatsoever. There’s a reason his ‘revolution’ has been as unsuccessful electorally as it has been.
RinaX
Well, damn.
dr. bloor
This is what happens when you actually believe the bullshit about Dems and Republicans being just the same. Senator Sanders is a grandstanding idiot who can go shit in his hat.
Just Chuck
Obama accomplished more in two years as a senator than Wilmer has in his entire career. All Wilmer knows how to do is shout and throw bombs.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
When this story first bubbled up a couple of days ago, even I Sanders-hater extraordinaire was willing to give him a pass on the “no one saw this coming not even trump” rule, but you raise an interesting further point:
one of the most obnoxious things about Bernie and his “movement” is their stubborn, dare one say “infantile”, refusal to acknowledge the existence of the US Senate in general and Mitch McConnell in particular. “Look out the window, Mitch” ought to be counted among the stupidest things ever uttered by an American politician, and The High Sparrow has ever articulated a more coherent legislative strategy for his ‘revolution’, I missed it.
germy
@dr. bloor:
Is is possible Sanders was influenced by this?
SiubhanDuinne
JFC. What a dog’s breakfast.
gwangung
@germy: I can imagine the whining when this is pointed out…
But, yeah, gaming this stuff out is not a strength of the progressive wing of the party.
Adam L Silverman
@gwangung: Seeing someone reference Sirota writing his piece without any reference to this is what inspired me to do the piece.
debbie
Has BS made himself for interviews about this issue? ? ?
errg
Jeffro
This is ridiculous…being able to put “holds” on nominations, filibuster legislation, etc etc etc.
Abolish the Senate unless it goes to straight up-or-down votes on a) legislation that the House passes and b) executive branch/judicial nominees.
Sab
If Kentucky voters knew that Mitch McConnell deliberately broke the Post Office would it make a difference in how they vote?
geg6
I read about this yesterday (or maybe Friday). I was so pissed I couldn’t finish the article. He’s as toxic as any GOPer and just as useless.
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
I would say that Sirota is intellectually dishonest.
Just Chuck
@Sab:
Forget it, it’s Kentucky. Pigeons, curtain rods, etc.
ruemara
When I say Sanders really ain’t shit and definitely isn’t the person his fans believe he is. A savvy man would have considered why he was getting his holds when no other Democrats were. The low fucking bar for being considered a brilliant leftist.
Sab
@errg: Bernie is not a Democrat.
Adam L Silverman
@Sab: No.
gwangung
@Adam L Silverman:
@germy:
Yeah, that whole thing that purposefully conflated industry with employees is dishonest in the extreme. Plenty of acolytes tried that bullshit on me, and just convinced me they had no idea what they’re talking about.
germy
In other election interference news:
Jess
Somehow, I’m astonished but not surprised. I’m so, so glad BS didn’t end up as the nominee. What a disaster he would have been. He would have set the progressive movement back another generation at least.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: That’s just SCIENCE!
In this case though, it is also possible, in this case, that Sirota simply didn’t know about the holds. He didn’t work for Sanders’ Senate staff/office and this didn’t get a lot of coverage at the time.
germy
@Adam L Silverman: I always assume he knows more than he admits, but I’m probably giving him too much credit.
Has anyone pointed out to him what Sanders did, and if so, did he respond?
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Yep. She’s also been very publicly trying to get someone from the RNC’s attention so she can speak at the nomination convention.
ruemara
@germy: Reade needs to face charges for lying on the stand & forging her credentials.
Geminid
Thank-you for the post. Darn! Sanders appeared on three Sunday news
shows today, calling out trump on the Postal Service, and also talking up Biden, complimenting Kamala Harris. I was going to try to like him. Some.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: I have no idea. I basically ignore him.
Jess
@Adam L Silverman: Maybe she can join Kanye’s ticket.
Edit: from my mouth to the devil’s ears…
dr. bloor
@germy: Preventing appointments by the party you caucus with because you think the law is shit might be even more infantile and oblivious to the facts on the ground.
Wag
@Sab:
Only if they’re allowed to vote
Adam L Silverman
@Geminid: Right now, we need him in the tent, not outside of it.
ruemara
@Geminid: He called her aggressive & articulate. That’s not complimentary.
germy
Adam L Silverman
Maloney is moving quickly!
That is the question…
germy
germy
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Congresswoman Maloney has also scheduled the oversight hearing for 24 August. The entire House doesn’t need to be in session fo that. The question is what the House does when DeJoy doesn’t show up. Especially since we know that the Acting US Attorney for DC, who is one of AG Barr’s catspaws, will not act on a contempt referral from the House.
Geminid
@Adam L Silverman: I’m a big tent Democrat, and my understanding is that Sanders is a team player in the Senate, even has some sort of sub whip position with the Democratic caucus. My problems are more with some of his followers, but I think Sanders is doing his level best to bring in those that can be brought in.
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Ooh, I love easy answers!: Yes, of course.
dmsilev
@Adam L Silverman: That’s good to hear.
I get the sense DeJoy was planning on doing all of his sabotage without the bright glare of publicity on him and it. Congressional hearings are so often just theater and not much use, but this is one time when the theater in and of itself might be worthwhile.
debbie
@germy:
What movie is that from?
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Not going to happen. Most simply because it is unworkable. The House’s Sergeant at Arms has neither the personnel, nor the firepower to win a standoff with Postmaster General DeJoy’s security detail of Federal law enforcement officers if they try to arrest him and he tells them to fuck off. The only thing worse than having power you are unwilling to use is using power you have when you know it is insufficient to achieve your objectives.
germy
@debbie:
Lincoln directed by Spielberg. It’s a good movie!
Kent
“Good Intentions?”
That assumes a lot of facts not in evidence.
raven
@debbie: Lincoln I think.
Adam L Silverman
@Geminid: He’s in the tent and a team player when he wants to be. He’s largely ineffective. Schumer put him in charge of something that is largely symbolic and the DNC put him in charge of youth outreach. Angus King is a team player and is effective. That’s the real point of comparison.
Adam L Silverman
@dmsilev: If I’m recalling correctly, Congresswomen Porter, Ocasio-Cortez, and Pressley are all on this committee. And they are all very effective questioners.
PsiFighter37
@germy: She should really just give it the fuck up. The media investigated this and basically came to the conclusion that she’s a fucking liar…trying to connect Biden to Epstein, when the former was taking Amtrak between Delaware and DC? Give me a break.
That woman needs help, because she is going to get the hammer dropped on her when things get back to normal and she’s asked about giving witness testimony while lying about her credentials.
John Revolta
I guess I’m not sufficiently caffeinated yet. Can someone ‘splain to me why we couldn’t stop McConnell’s appointments the same way Sanders stopped Obama’s?
Adam L Silverman
Someone needs to arrange a bilat between the President and Orban ASAP!
germy
@raven:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qjtugr2618
RL
Sanders hosted a town hall event in Kentucky with McGrath’s former challenger, Booker, yesterday.
Adam L Silverman
@John Revolta: McConnell stopped recognizing holds and blue slips on nominations by Democratic senators when he became majority leader in January 2015. That’s why.
MP
@Adam L Silverman:
So assuming he refuses to testify and the Dems don’t pursue enforcement of inherent contempt, what do they do at that point?
Renie
2 things. My Bernie fan son tells me President Obama wanted to appoint people who wanted to privatize the Post Office and the unions were against it and that’s why Sanders did it
If trump kept his big mouth shut about mail in voting a lot of people probably would not know what DeJoy is doing. He really is a stupid person.
debbie
@germy:
Aw, jeez. I looked so quickly, I thought it had to be Ben Stiller!
gwangung
@Renie: So instead he allowed Trump to appoint people who definitely wanted to privatize the post office.
A lot of his more fervant acolytes are ill informed and not very bright.
Adam L Silverman
@MP: They can either file suit to compel his testimony or make a contempt referral for enforcement to the US Attorney for DC. The first one won’t finish being litigated until after the election and the second won’t be acted on. When everyone screams “why doesn’t Pelosi and the Democrats in the House do something”, this is what the reality is. They control 1/2 of one branch of the Federal government. The President, Mitch McConnell, AG Barr, other presidential appointees control the rest. Including all the enforcement mechanisms. As long as McConnell and Barr don’t care that the administration is blowing off oversight and ignoring clear constitutional and Federal law, there is nothing the House can do. Even impeachment does nothing but eat up time because McConnell will never allow a real trial in the Senate, let alone a conviction.
debbie
@germy:
Wow! I can’t wait to try out “Buzzard’s guts!” on my co-workers.
zhena gogolia
Ugh, this is a depressing post. I didn’t think I could hate Sanders any more than I already do.
Adam L Silverman
@zhena gogolia: Have you read his erotic fiction?
Paul W.
I’m livid. This is what I hate about purity politics – the worst outcome is not Obama being a “moderate” it is Donald Trump and McConnell swooping in after and installing toadies who DONT respond to public pressure or internal politics of the Dem coalition.
John Revolta
@Adam L Silverman: Gotcha, thanks. I didn’t get that he could do that.
“Oh, we’ll fill ’em”. I’m starting to get the impression that Yertle might not have the grand traditions of Fair Play and Reciprocity at heart.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: meanwhile Ryan Grim, Chief Tara Reade Correspondent for the Intercept, has appointed himself the Morse Avenger! He’s gonna nail the college kid who is an agent of the DNC (dramatic squirrel here)! or something.
JPL
@zhena gogolia: Wait until you read the post that Adam writes about VOA..
Adam L Silverman
@John Revolta: The majority leader controls the rules in the committee that are traditions and norms, but not actually in the rules. So the rules say that members can place holds on nominations and legislation and that home state senators have the right to submit blue slips assenting to or dissenting from the appointment of either nominees from their states or who will be serving in positions that directly impact their states. The rules do not state that those holds or blue slips have to be recognized or honored.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Huh? Context? Link?
Adam L Silverman
@JPL: I’m pissed as hell about that one.
germy
Humdog
Not a Bernie fan but I despise this type of emphasis. The problem is the evil of McConnell. You are taking the abusers route of emphasizing that one of the victims of McConnell’s evil plans did not foresee a step they could have taken to stop one of the avenues McConnell took to fulfill his evil plans. It cannot be the job of the good guys to be responsible to always stay a step ahead of evil. The good guys try, and Will often fail, but the evil is only down to the actions of the bad guy. Centering Bernie here is wrong and useless bashing of one of the good guys. Stop.
James E Powell
@Sab:
LOL. Not the white ones.
MP
@Adam L Silverman: So the legal path is fruitless, but I assume there is still a great deal they can do to keep the issue in the news and there are others who would appear who would testify to what is actually being done.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
When demonstrators showed up at Chad Wolf’s house, the neighbors brought them snacks and lemonade. I’m sure Louie and his would-be ambassador wife didn’t think this would happen when they went title hunting
Betty
@Adam L Silverman: Orban did meet Trump at the White House on May 14th. Here’s hoping the magic still works.
debbie
@germy:
Colbert highlighted this exchange last week. BOOM!
gwangung
@Humdog: No, I don’t quite agree.
Given the ruthlessness of McConnell and other Senate Republicans, this sort of outcome SHOULD have been easily predictable.
Sanders’ obtuseness about this and his plans to “pressure” McConnell deserve ridicule and critiques. The failure to game out basic “what ifs” is always subject to criticism.
Brachiator
It also looks as though the postal unions hurt themselves.
Did they expect to get a better deal from a president Hillary Clinton?
John Revolta
@Adam L Silverman: That is some weak shit right there. A lot of stuff needs changing, next time we get in.
mrmoshpotato
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Wait. Wilmer wasn’t going to be able to shout and finger-wag free healthcare and free college into existence?
Wanna see my shocked face?
germy
@debbie:
More projection. Trump is not even a smart person, he just goes out and yaps. But he doesn’t even have a good line of stuff (unless he’s snorting it)
trollhattan
@ruemara:
During the Readestorm several of her various fraud targets networked, swapped stories and discovered they number many. Have to believe that should she attempt a high-profile attack on Biden’s campaign they won’t sit idly and watch.
germy
@Brachiator: I would have been surprised if Sanders didn’t listen to the postal workers’ union.
Kent
Power of the majority. If you want to stop McConnell, you need a majority in the Senate. McConnell could have blocked all of Obama’s appointments himself had he wanted to. Sanders did his dirty work for him.
trollhattan
@germy:
Trump lost before he even hit the send button. She’s got game, period. He never did.
joel hanes
Open thread with an OP about election security? Good.
The ES&S-manufactured machines used for voting in a dozen states have been found to have an internal wireless modem that has not been tested for security. They do not comply with the federal rules for voting machine certification, and are not certified.
HAND-MARKED PAPER BALLOTS
HAND-DELIVERED
link
ruemara
@John Revolta: The line where Adam writes, “those were the only holds McConnell allowed”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Adam L Silverman: I’ve only seen it on twitter, mostly through the prism of profoundly unsympathetic accounts, but Grim and the Intercept have gone deep accusing a chapter of the College Democrats of plotting against Morse. Grim and Katie Halper were also quick to say that Shahid Buttar’s accusers were unreliable. They might be right on both counts, I just find his conduct with Reade outrageous (along with Chris Hayes and Rebecca Traister).
Adam L Silverman
@Humdog: Two points:
Adam L Silverman
@MP: Yep, that’s pretty much it, which is what they have been doing.
zhena gogolia
@Adam L Silverman:
No. That is something I will never do.
Adam L Silverman
@Brachiator: I expect the conversation was such that they expected to get a better deal from a President Bernie Sanders.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Do it anyway. The worst that can happen is that the Beltway media bury it after half of a news cycle. But given that the MSM seem to be a little more willing to do their damn jobs these days — and especially when they’re finally noticing that the Murderer-in-Chief is trying to destroy the USPS (and Social Security and Medicare and voting access etc etc) — issuing a subpoena or 10 might get a little more attention. Plus, it puts the onus on The Traitor Barr (among others) to justify the maladministration’s lawlessness.
zhena gogolia
@Humdog:
Christ. You don’t expect a U.S. Senator to figure out what the consequences of his actions are going to be?
lowtechcyclist
@Adam L Silverman:
I must respectfully disagree with you here, Adam.
To the extent that the success of the hearings depends on Executive Branch testimony, you’re absolutely right. But there are often plenty of other people whose testimony would be valuable, especially in the absence of any rebuttal from the Administration.
I think this is one of those times. There are people who witnessed the disappearing mail-sorting machines and USPS drop boxes. There are people whose medicines arrived weeks late or not at all. Hell, my wife has a story to tell that I’d really need to save for a comment that’s just about that.
The objectives here are twofold:
1) Discourage the Administration from further pursuing its attacks on the USPS, and
2) Make sure the voting public knows who’s fighting to save it, and who’s fighting to destroy it.
I don’t know how much any amount of sunlight can affect #1 (though maybe it already is), but hearings should be able to help on #2.
Congress *has* time, and eating up the Senate’s time while Mitch is in control is never a bad thing.
But again, what would be the objective of impeachment? To make each Congressperson in each house of Congress vote for or against DeJoy’s efforts to destroy the USPS.
Mitch realized long ago that when Congresspersons don’t have to vote on an issue, there’s nothing to hold them responsible for. Impeachment is practically the only way of forcing Senators to vote on something they’d rather duck. Their votes would justify ads saying that Congresman/Senator Soandso voted to support the Trump Administration’s destruction of the USPS. And that’s why it would not be a bad use of the House’s time to impeach DeJoy.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Now I’m tracking. I saw it reported somewhere else as well. And I’ve seen the emails from the college Democrats. This one is solid.
Patricia Kayden
trollhattan
O/T This fuckin’ guy.
Repeated for dreary emphasis: Sheriff Jones remains a staunch Trumper.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: I’m not saying they shouldn’t do either, I’m just explaining what will happen when they do so.
Adam L Silverman
@lowtechcyclist: I think you missed my point, which was an answer to a specific question. I am not arguing against holding hearings, bringing in anyone and everyone who should and is willing to testify, issuing subpoenas, and then filing suits for enforcement and making contempt referrals to the DOJ. I am explaining why the latter will be ineffective.
Calouste
@trollhattan: Another improvement to make in the future: get rid of elected sheriffs. They should just report up to
State Patrol.
mrmoshpotato
@Adam L Silverman:
Ugh. This is a serious question.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
this is interesting, and encouraging. Some people on MSNBC have been trying to gin up the idea that Biden is snubbing Hispanic voters at the convention (Castro not speaking, AOC (!) not having a big enough role, etc)
MisterForkbeard
@PsiFighter37: I have acquaintances from high school who’ve been sexually assaulted, hate Trump but don’t think Democrats are much better, and gush about how we need to believe Reade and Democrats are giant hypocrites and awful, etc. They’re the type of people Reade and the Republicans (Russians too) want to reach: People who they can get to uncritically believe her and drive down any kind of enthusiasm about Democrats.
I’ve also seen a resurgence of articles about Reade in the past week or so. The guardian ran a piece about how conflicted Democrats must be and how Kamala has to address this, etc.
I think they’re definitely gearing up for something. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Reade try to make a big ‘announcement’ during the convention.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
When your focus is on the second part of that, as it was, then the first part sort of gets lost.
J R in WV
@Humdog
And when did you succumb to the delusion that “Bernie” is “one of the good guys” ?
Sanders spent a lot of time in the summer of 2016 beating on Secretary Clinton, when if he had worked in her support we may not have had “president” Trump for the past 3.8 years.
In no currently operative universe is Senator Sanders (I) VT a good guy.
Adam L Silverman
@lowtechcyclist:
Conducting an impeachment doesn’t eat up the Senate’s time. How many judges did McConnell confirm when the House was impeaching the President?
I know he confirmed 5 more last week while not doing anything regarding COVID-19 relief and then taking the Senate into it’s August recess.
JPL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I can stream both CNN and MSNBC but recently CNN has been my choice. just sayin
lowtechcyclist
@Adam L Silverman: Then I did indeed miss your point, and I apologize.
Brachiator
@Humdog:
People need to stop applying the metaphor of abusive relationships to everything.
It’s the job of good guys to be able to get things done, not just preen in their goodness.
Politics is a tough business. McConnell will always try to get what he wants. Some Democrats don’t seem to realize that.
germy
Tara Reade retweeted this
an attempt to align herself with Farrow, who wanted nothing to do with her story.
The Moar You Know
@Humdog: whose fucking job is it, then? Superman’s? I swear this is the dumbest fucking thing I’ve ever read posted here. If the good guys don’t stay ahead of the evil, the evil guys always win. It absolutely is always the sole job of good folks to stay ahead of the bad folks and make goddamn sure they never get the power or the means to hurt the innocent. If you’re not doing that, you’re not a good person; you’re just an apologist for either your own laziness or cowardice.
lowtechcyclist
@Adam L Silverman: OK, but the House has acres of time they’re not using. If they have to spend fewer days in recess (I think they’re only supposed to be in session for ~14 days [ETA: 21 actually] between here and the election), then that’s OK. It’s not like they can be holding the usual sorts of campaign events in their districts anyway.
Adam L Silverman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Everyone but the keynote speakers get 1 minute. Bernie is a keynote speaker as he was the runner up. AOC is a first term member of Congress with a bright future if she can survive her nutso fan base. So she gets a minute. Just like all the other folks who aren’t giving keynote addresses.
Kent
@Adam L Silverman: Am I reading the schedule correctly? It seems there is a separate keynote speaker every day. Is one of them the actual main keynote speaker?
lowtechcyclist
@Brachiator:
This. And when Mitch McConnell gives you something, you’d damn well better look that gift horse in the mouth. It might be the Trojan kind.
trollhattan
Sunday grammar quiz: see if you can find the unnecessary comma in this headline:
Adam L Silverman
@lowtechcyclist: No need to apologize. It happens to all of us.
Adam L Silverman
@lowtechcyclist: The House should max out their time on this. But the House doing so has no effect whatsoever on what the Senate does or does not do.
raven
@JPL: I really starting to dislike Mika. I turned on CNN the other morning for the first time since we watched Imus!
Adam L Silverman
@Kent: Correct, each day has a different keynote speaker. If you had to pick one to be the keynote of keynote speakers, it would be Biden on the final night when he accepts the nomination.
joel hanes
Pennsylvania judge orders GOP to produce evidence for claims of voter fraud on which their vote-restriction lawsuits depend
lowtechcyclist
@Adam L Silverman: Tru dat. But my point was that there really is no time issue to begin with. The House has time to spare, and it doesn’t matter whether or not a hypothetical DeJoy impeachment would burn a nontrivial amount of Senate time. The goal is getting Representatives and Senators on record for/against DeJoy’s machinations.
rikyrah
This is what happens with this purity politics bullshyt that Bernie and his acolytes follow
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the rather belabored attempt at humor aside, is Chuck Schumer calling for Impeachment? or is this a typo where he meant to say “must resign”?
germy
Now there’s a campaign slogan!
Baud
@germy: Anyone who would listen to that advice would only improve Democrat cities by their leaving them.
MisterForkbeard
@germy: So.. “leave all cities”, basically?
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
At some point, Democrats need to learn to stand up for themselves the way Republicans do, and it has to start with the rank and file.
mrmoshpotato
@raven:
Just now? The verbal handjobs she and Joey Joe Joe Scarborough would give Dump over the phone back in 2016 didn’t fill you with disgust?
Brachiator
@MisterForkbeard:
People say this about any number of things, and never make a good case for their assertions.
Also, I can understand why some people may conclude that they cannot support Biden. But that cannot affect my view that Trump must be defeated.
I don’t have to believe anyone automatically. But I will do anything I can to make sure that everyone gets a chance to have their complaints investigated fairly.
The elephant in the room is that Trump is on record as saying that he “knows that Epstein likes them young.”
Trump can be seen time and time again partying with Epstein. Surely, this should be investigated more thoroughly.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: You are in a safe democratic district, but 41 house democratic freshmen flipped Republican districts and are working very hard to defend those seats, pandemic or not. They’ll come back to D.C. if there is anything they can do that Maloney’s commitee can’t. In the meantime I think they would do best to follow Joe Manchin’s example and barnstorm their local post offices.
trollhattan
@mrmoshpotato:
Giggling like a damn schoolgirl. “Oh Donny, he’s so dreamy!”
germy
Safer on a boat
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
There’s an enormous gulf between listen and believe.
raven
@mrmoshpotato: Yea but I really like the way they turned on him and antagonize the shit out of him. I like Geist and Gene Robinson too.
mrmoshpotato
@joel hanes: Silly judge. Here’s your proof!
Freemark
Here is a list of groups that requested that those nominees not be approved. And a link to the letter they wrote as to why they wanted those nominees blocked. It really looks like the Democratic base wanted them blocked.
https://web.archive.org/web/20160531072106/http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/Leadership-Conference-Letter-Postal-Board-Nominees.pdf
Wade Henderson
President & CEO
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Lee Saunders
President
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
Richard Trumka
President
American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Mark Dimondstein
President
American Postal Workers’ Union (APWU)
Lisa Donner
Executive Director
Americans for Financial Reform
Hilary Shelton
NAACP Washington Bureau Director &
Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy
Janet Murgía
President & CEO
National Council of La Raza
Mary Kay Henry
President
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Mike Calhoun
President
Center for Responsible Lending
Melanie Campbell
President & CEO
National Coalition on Black Civic Participation
Marc Morial
President
National Urban League
MisterForkbeard
@Adam L Silverman: Is that to say Grim et all may actually have a point for once?
I’m basically unwilling to read them.
patroclus
Well, kos is pushing this too and it’s clear that Wilmer shouldn’t have placed the holds at all. But humdog is correct in his assignation of blame here – it’s on McConnell much more so than on Sanders. A “hold” is a notification to the Majority Leader that a Senator intends to object to any unanimous consent request to bring something onto the Senate calendar for consideration and debate. That is, first, the Majority Leader must want to bring something to the Floor, then a Senator may object. The “hold” merely shortcuts that so that the Leader does not routinely attempt to bring up matters for consideration to which there will be an objection; thereby wasting time.
Sanders actually placed a “hold” on the nominations of the 2 Republicans who Obama had nominated – it says so clearly on the document in kos’ thread – not the 3 Democrats who Obama had nominated. That is, Obama had attempted to cut a deal whereby he would appoint 5 commissioners; including 2 Republicans. Probably because of the requirement for bipartisanship but also to grease the wheels for ultimate confirmation of all nominees. The problem, however, is that the Senate usually does all this en bloc, that is, moves all nominations in one fell swoop quickly and with little fanfare. McConnell could have separated all 5 nominations or he could have done them all at once. Sanders’ “hold” applied to the Republican nominees.
But McConnell did neither – he never advanced any of the nominees while Obama was still in office. So Sanders’ hold was really never all that relevant. McConnell – as leader – holds all the cards when it comes to what is placed on the calendar; not Sanders (or any other Senator). A “hold” merely stops (perhaps only temporarily) something going onto the calendar that McConnell wants on the calendar. He first has to want it there. He didn’t. McConnell deserves most of the blame here. As he does with the confirmation (or lack thereof) of all appointments since he became Leader.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@raven: that’s kind of how I feel about Ari Melber. He has good guests but the host annoys the hell out of me. You never know when he’s going to derail an interesting discussion by taking a rambling walk to get to some smirking rap reference, then a smirking faux-apology for said reference, than “we’re up against a hard break”
MisterForkbeard
@trollhattan: I’ve tried making this point repeatedly. You believe that they might be telling the truth and take them seriously. You investigate their claims appropriately and with an eye to the idea that powerful men may have help ‘cleaning up’ after themselves.
And then you look at Reade’s claim, which were thoroughly investigated and remain not only unsubstantiated, but in many cases the proof she cites doesn’t exist. And she has huge credibility claims: a record of fraud and lying under oath, etc.
piratedan
@gwangung: quite agree, considering how McConnell pursued the people’s business after he became Senate Majority leader should have been pretty apparent when 44 had to legislate as much as he was forced to via EO.
Mo Salad
@Adam L Silverman: and Cheryl: I thought that the surnames in Russia and other nearby countries ended in “o” for males and “a” for females. Until this week’s elections and uprising, I had always seen it as Lukashenko.
Is “Lukashenka” a little bit of sexist mocking? Is virility so valued in Belarus that once you pass a certain age, you lose your “o”?
Baud
@MisterForkbeard:
Reason never trumps desire. People believe what they want to believe.
NotMax
@Mo Salad
*cough* Mikhail Glinka *cough*
;)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Traditionally, the keynote speaker was an up and comer in the party. In 1988* it was the Governor of Arkansas who gave a very long speech whose greatest applause line was when he said “In conclusion…”. In 2004, it was a guy running for US Senate in Illinois.
*While Bill Clinton did speak at the 1988 DNC, he was not the keynote speaker, that was Ann Richards.
zhena gogolia
@Mo Salad:
Russian names rarely end in “o.” Lukashenko is the Russian spelling and Lukashenka is the Belarusian spelling. Ukrainian names often end in -enko. I don’t know enough about Belarusian to know why the Russians spell it with an “o,” other than to surmise than it’s by analogy with Ukrainian.
Cheryl Rofer
@Mo Salad: Not at all. Russian, Belarusian, and Ukrainian are closely related languages, all written in Cyrillic letters.
The “o” ending is Russian, “a” is Belarusian and Ukrainian. So it’s respecting the local custom to write Lukashenka.
The difference between male and female endings to names is a bit more complicated. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the probable winner in the Belarusian presidential election, is married to Siarhei Tsikhanouski. There are other Russian/Belarusian orthographic differences in those names. That’s not the only difference in male/female name endings, though.
For some reason, American newspapers like the Russian variant, so you will mostly see “Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.”
ruemara
@Adam L Silverman: they don’t want to understand that it will be ineffective. It won’t fix it and
I got no idea on who it will move the needle from Trump to Biden.
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: A lot of those people need to calm down and realize that Castro & AOC are not, repeate NOT, icons to Latinos the way they think.
PPCLI
@Adam L Silverman:
Agreed. Subpoena DeJoy? Absolutely. Take it as given he won’t come.
Then set up a hearing with lots of people whose medicine didn’t arrive (choose the ones whose story will make the best ad material), business people whose packages are arriving to customers weeks after they were promised, etc.
When DeJoy refuses to show up, as he absolutely 100% certainly will, hold the hearing, with the overarching theme “listen to how people are hurting, and the Postmaster General can’t even bother to hear them. Where is he? Has he forgotten that he serves we the people??? [Etc.]”
(I would concentrate on the late arriving medicines, etc. That will hit the Trump campaign with older voters, rural voters, etc.)
Yutsano
I’mma let y’all finish, but it’s Auntie Maxine’s birthday today!
Bill Arnold
@germy:
Looks like a grifter duck.
Swims like a grifter duck.
Quacks like a grifter duck.
Nice duck tweet:
Cacti
Bernie makes everything worse.
Kropacetic
The city next to me currently has my former showboating Republican State Rep as mayor.
ruemara
@MisterForkbeard: Ok, hand them these factoids.
The accusations depend on the credibility of Reade vs Biden:
Reade says he wanted her to serve drinks because she had great legs. Biden doesn’t drink & numerous staffers said he didn’t want staffers working parties.
She says the assault happened in a corridor. That corridor is heavily trafficked and has cameras. She can’t provide a date, a month, a year so it can be verified.
She says she was bringing Biden his gym bag so he could workout. Biden had a reputation for going home because he was a widower.
We’re supposed to believe that accusers should be heard and their claims listened to. We’re not supposed to uncritically believe their claims even when we don’t have proof.
Martin
@patroclus: My objection to Sanders and lots of segments of Democrats is that they are vastly more motivated by words than by deeds. It doesn’t matter if I agree with Bernie or not, I want it done. Show me how to get it done, and then do it.
Blocking the nominations didn’t get better people into those positions – because they never did the followup work to achieve that. Blocking is easy, but working with the WH or the Senate or whoever to get the right names forward that can be confirmed is really damn hard, and they never do that work.
‘Kill the bill’ was so easy. 3 words, yelled as loud as you want. But we needed a bill and they weren’t willing to write a better one and then get all the buy-in from House and Senate to get it passed.
My goal isn’t a better imaginary world for my kids, but a better actual one, and most ideologues don’t get that. I don’t care if we win, I don’t care if we convince everyone our ideas are better – I only care about the results.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@ruemara: because I am always fair, I’ve been trying to remember if Castro had any particular reputation for being “progressive” before he, like so many others, misread the party and thought that was the best way to take out Uncle Joe
lowtechcyclist
Manchin: “Any way you can get rid of him, please do so.” Sounds like an invitation.
Sab
Adam, thanks for this thread. It has been very informative.
trollhattan
@Bill Arnold:
Heh, convenience store ducks FTW. What’s duck for “Hey, buy that loaf of bread and then give it to us, buddy. Unwrapped, please.”
Yutsano
Steve Bannon. That’s it. That’s the post.
karensky
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I totally agree. Thinking strategically means knowing you opposition and thinking beyond the end of your nose.
Also, David Sirota is a toxic mf and it is funny that he sounds like Susan Collins in this piece.
James E Powell
@Mo Salad:
ETA: What Cheryl said.
Baud
@karensky:
I have to admit, Bernie’s senior staff kind of makes Bernie look better by comparison. Except he chose his senior staff, so there’s that.
patroclus
@Martin: I agree with you – that’s the basis of my objections to Sanders and other purity ponies as well.
But in this instance, kos’ and adam’s highlighting of Bernie’s actions is placing the blame on Sanders and not McConnell, who really bears most of the blame. Obama’s postal nominations were not confirmed because McConnell never brought them to the Floor. Sanders placed a “hold” (i.e., notified that he would object to a unanimous consent request) on the Republican nominees (2 of the 5 that Obama had nominated), but McConnell never brought any of them to the Floor. Sanders’ “hold” might have helped McConnell reach that decision, but my guess is that McConnell never had any desire to move the nominations whatsoever.
The bottom line is that Sanders basically put a “hold” on something that was never going anywhere in the first place. And never did. Because of McConnell.
Kropacetic
I don’t think that’s it precisely. It’s which deeds matter. Being an effective legislator takes a back seat to things like how someone finances their campaign.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy:
aren’t most of the properties he actually owns (as far as we know) in cities with D mayors and voters? NYC, Chicago, Vegas and LA?
James E Powell
@patroclus:
Agree completely. And I wish everyone could set aside their animus toward Sanders – and believe me I’ve got mine, too – unless and until he does something we need to comment on. Stuff that happened before This American Nightmare can await our exegesis.
Sister Golden Bear
@Bill Arnold: When I was in Thailand, a fair number of 7-11s had a dog or two who’d strategically park themselves just outside the doors to catch the AC when they opened. Think I had to actually step over one once.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@patroclus: While the blame falls to McConnell, Bernie gave him a good excuse.
Bill Arnold
Adam (or Cheryl), any comment about this bellingcat piece? It’s engaging. (Don’t know how seriously to take it; don’t know the subject well enough to spot flaws.)
Putin Chef’s Kisses of Death: Russia’s Shadow Army’s State-Run Structure Exposed (August 14, 2020)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Bernie Sanders owes the entire country a resignation and an explanation going out the door.
At the same time, voting should have consequences. Vets, rural and olds should get EXACTLY what they voted for for a period of time.
SiubhanDuinne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
A few nights later, as a guest on The Tonight Show:
Carson: That wasn’t exactly your finest hour.
Clinton: It wasn’t even my finest two hours.
:-)
Mo Salad
@Cheryl Rofer: Thank you all. I knew I was missing something on that…
NotMax
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Hey now, just a goldurn minute!
patroclus
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Fair enough. But my guess is that, had McConnell attempted to move the confirmation of the 2 Republican Obama appointees, Schumer, Durbin or Murray would have objected to the unanimous consent request anyway regardless of whether it was Sanders who placed the “hold.” So in this instance, the blame placed on Sanders appears to be a bit misplaced. McConnell (and the Republican majority) deserves the blame.
Sister Golden Bear
Meanwhile here in the Bay Area, between not getting much sleep last night thanks to the hours-long thunderstorms and lightning strikes, today’s 100-degree temperatures and 84% humidity (with only a single-room portable AC), and the tropical air mass plus wildfire smoke sending my allergies into overdrive, cranky SGB is cranky.
Whoever’s playing Jumanji 2020 and rolled heat wave, windstorm, thunderstorm, and firenado, can you knock that shit off.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yutsano:
Jesus, not to be all lookist, but Bannon has really gone to seed in four years, hasn’t he?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Humdog:
Fuck Bernie. He isn’t a good guy, and has done zero to improve my life. He owes us a resignation at least, and I’d argue that a nationally televised seppuku would be in order.
WaterGirl
@patroclus: It seems to me that the hold from Sanders gave McConnell cover for doing nothing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Sister Golden Bear: I’d love to see some thunder storms in our local deserts, I got a trigger for my camera that’s activated by lightning and I’ve been wanting to try that out. Just hot as hell here in the Southland.
mrmoshpotato
WaterGirl
Every day we spend talking about Bernie is a day we’re not talking about our candidates and what we can do for the country.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
1) I guess the plague and consequent depression are over, cause POTUS has time to watch TeeVee and tweet out TeeVee criticism
2) I kinda love that he’s going to war with the Murdochs, though I imagine Rupert just belches and goes back to sleep when whichever son he still talks to shows him this shit.
Mallard Filmore
@Sister Golden Bear:
Those 7-11s were a delight to enter since the AC was set on COLD.
patroclus
@WaterGirl: I think you’re right, but McConnell was already sleeping fine in his do nothing bed and having cover merely made him more comfortable and cozy.
NotMax
@Jim, Foolish Literalist
Taking the time necessary to recuperate from not throwing out that baseball pitch.
Sister Golden Bear
@?BillinGlendaleCA: There have been some amazing shots post on my FB feed of lightning over SF/Golden Gate Bridge/Emperor Norton Bay Bridge.
Kent
Right. But in past conventions there is typically a main keynote speaker who is in contrast to the actual nominee. Like Obama was famously the keynote in 2004. Barbara Jordan was the keynote in 1992. Mario Cuomo gave the keynote in 1984. And so forth.
This year they don’t seem to have one main keynote speaker. There is a different one every day. Unless I just don’t understand the schedule.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’d be more willing to forgive Sanders for the past if there were any evidence that he and his stans had learned from it
BernieCare lost, I believe, 48 primaries, or was it 49?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@ruemara:
#believeallwomen was a crock of shit.
Listen, yes, but not uncritically.
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax: Goldblum minute?
Here you go!
WARNING: Jeff Goldblum and dinosaurs
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Why does Nina Turner get a vote? Isn’t she forming her own political party?
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne:
I would say it’s “lookist.”. It’s more like “Shit. You feeling ok, man?”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Are Congresscritters still superdelegates and get to vote on the platform? Or have these Congresscritters edged out regular party folk to become regular delegates?
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He won NH and NV, and came a very close second in IA. Then donuts.
ETA: actually, he might have won a territorial primary or two.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@mrmoshpotato: Not looking at the photo, but he looked like he lived on skid row in 2016, it’s gotten worse?
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
She’s not a Congresscritter.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I wasn’t referring to former State Senator Turner, I was referring to Rep. Ro Khanna.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
“Is there anything I can do to make it worse?”
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
That I don’t know.
prostratedragon
@ruemara: I be really late, but is it remotely possible that no one in the Senate pointed this out to him?
Mary G
I know nobody will probably read this, but I’ve been thinking a lot lately about a sort of related thing. Both Democratic Party voters and officeholders magically think that once an election is won, the battle is won. This happened after Obama got elected; people stopped paying attention because he’d “got this.”
Republicans, on the other hand, will fight to the last man standing long after the war is technically over. The Confederacy is one of the finest examples of this. Even here in blue California, with its Dem supermajority, the Republicans managed to finagle the system to gain control of the supposedly nonpartisan Air Quality Management Board, who promptly decided that industry was being stifled and eased restriction on emissions so we have more smog again now.
So I worry that there will be a massive blue wave in November, the voters will tune out, the politicians will not think strategically, and the Republicans will resume picking at every weak point like Sanders from day one, and eventually take over again.
I have no idea how people who barely know who’s running for president can be convinced to pay attention, but we need to start advocating for it and calling out the procedural crap Republicans use like a fucking Trojan Horse to get past the gates of the polity.
Feathers
@Kent: There has been a dilution of the term “keynote.” My old boss would get invitations to a conference to give a keynote. When we looked at the schedule there were morning and afternoon keynote speeches every day. I don’t know if there is a new name for the main keynote. I think there are lots of speakers who all see themselves as “keynote only,” so the solution was just to make all the speech slots keynotes.
Feathers
Late to the thread, but I wish there were more emphasis on the fact that this is just flat out illegal, beyond being an attempt at election tampering.
The hearings really should go into the fact that they aren’t just slowing things doing, they are destroying multimillion dollar machines which will have to be replaced once this is over.
Also, I read somewhere that part of Trump’s post election legal strategy is to have ballots which aren’t postmarked declared invalid. So that would mean all the ballots dropped off in dropboxes would get wiped out. Any one else hear about this? I hope that there is some sort of marking and timestamping of ballots as they are collected from the dropboxes.
mrmoshpotato
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I’d say he looks worse.
Chief Oshkosh
@ruemara:
I’m not so sure. BS is aggressive and his followers like that (I think). I know “articulate” rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Not me. I wish every Democrat was as “articulate” as Harris…and AOC…and Warren…and Abrams…and Whitmer…and, dare I say it?…Hillary.
Bill Arnold
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
He’s been feeding his “mind” with regular meals of OANN, hasn’t he? That means his political intuitions will be (have been) even more delusional that they have been in previous years. Good, good.
debbie
@Mary G:
I think there will be a sustained fight. The Dems won’t fold the way Gore did in 2000. Too much has been learned since them.
If Republicans think they can bully their way to victory, they haven’t been paying attention.
japa21
@Feathers: Wouldn’t work. That is a decision at the state level.
Another Scott
@Feathers: Don’t panic.
I’m sure the various states have considered all these issues. E.g. Virginia – https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title24.2/chapter7/section24.2-707/
There’s a continuing lawsuit about whether the witness requirement should be enforced (it was not during the primaries, but the GOP is fighting that during the November election.)
https://bluevirginia.us/2020/08/important-information-on-voting-in-virginia-from-york-county-registrar-walt-latham
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
evodevo
@mrmoshpotato: That was GOLDURN, dagnabit…
catclub
@Another Scott: My wife’s experience counting mailed in ballots in mississippi: A majority of these ballots were disqualified due to missing signature on out side envelope,..wrong this, wrong that, . etc etc. Of course Mississippi is the home of discouraging voting by any means (and the average voter is not terribly good at reading and following instructions, too, also). I am not sure if you need a notary, but would not be surprised.
J R in WV
@mrmoshpotato:
He looks terrible, like the homeless guys downtown hustling for a 40 oz bottle of beer before bedtime.
I’m glad for him!
Brachiator
@Adam L Silverman:
Talk about miscalculation. The American Postal Workers Union backed Sanders in 2016 and 2020.
ruemara
@Baud: She’s a superdelegate. Yes. Of course. The hypocrisy.
ruemara
@Chief Oshkosh: Honey, just listen to the black woman on this one. Feeds into a trope, ok? It may be meant as a compliment (seriously, stop calling black people fucking articulate), but the phrasing is a lot of tropes. She is a fighter who speaks to the heart of issues. See how you say aggressive & articulate without playing a trope?
satby
@Humdog: He kept it up after the election in 2016, knowing Trump was President elect. Sanders gets as much blame as McTurtle. Had Sanders dropped his hold and McTurtle still would not allow a vote on the nominees, then Sanders might have at least mitigated some of his culpability. But he didn’t, so he gets equal blame. He was a millstone around Obama’s neck way too often. Fuck him.
Dennis
So typical. Let’s blame Bernie Sanders because he wouldn’t allow Obama to appoint Governors who wanted to privatize the postal service–something that Obama was officially opposed to but, gosh, I guess actions speak louder than words.
This is completely on Obama. You’ll have to explain to me how his pro-privatization picks would have been better than Trump’s pro-privatization picks.
Geeno
@patroclus: You’ve never argued with a right winger, have you?
“Well it was Bernie who stopped them, not McConnell so what’s your point?”
satby
@mrmoshpotato: I miss living in a state and county where they want high voter participation.
elm
@Dennis:
“This is completely on Obama. You’ll have to explain to me how his pro-privatization picks would have been better than Trump’s pro-privatization picks.”
The easy answer would be because Obama made two compromise/bad picks rather than Trump’s six bad picks.
Having three OK folks on the board of governors seems better than zero.
Dennis
@elm: The point is they’re not ok. And neither party can have more than 5 of the 9. There are currently 4 GOP and 2 Dem, all named by Trump.
But, you’ve yet to tell me how his pro-privatization Dems are worse than Obama’s pro-privatization Dems.
elm
@Dennis: Feel free to build your case and support your claims in any detail.
I’m not going to assume an equivalence between Obama and Trump into existence on your behalf.
Ruckus
@lowtechcyclist:
It
might beIS the Trojan kind.fixed it for you.
WarMunchkin
Hey, this post is completely false on many counts, not least of which is the simple fact that Mitch McConnell was never going to let this come to a vote. Bernie put a hold on these individuals, but your insinuation that it was this action (or that this action give “cover” to McConnell, who literally obstructed a Supreme Court justice for no good reason) that resulted in the present situation is not supported by the structural power analysis or contemporaneous reporting. There was no action that supports an analysis of a strategic error here.
Secondly – and this is important for the present predicament – even if Obama got every single one of his nominees into office, Trump would still have the majority by now. That’s because all of the previous appointees would have expired their terms.
Third – the power of recess appointment was available for these positions.
There was a time to appoint new people to the board through the Senate, but that was in 2014, when Harry Reid was still Senate Majority Leader and he had gotten rid of the 50 vote requirement for confirmations using the so-called “nuclear option”. The Obama Administration had multiple vacancies available to fill at the time – it slipped.
@elm:
2014 Reporting by David Dayen shows that the vacancies from the Obama Administration were actually left unfilled for the first six years of the Administration. (That was before the issue raised by Adam in this post) Back then, the issue, as you might or might not remember, was allowing banking services by the post office. You should read that article, as it’s quite detailed with respect to the structure of the USPS and appointments.
Lastly, there’s the allegation by kos that Bernie was blocking a black man at the time. That’s not the case either. The staffer who placed the hold posted an e-mail of the hold request itself, along with a letter from the NAACP and the AFL-CIO objecting to specifically the Republican appointments, as well as their sworn testimony of their intent to privatize the post office. There’s nothing particularly unusual about this given that Republicans get appointees by law and that Republicans are asshats. But the insinuation that this was racially motivated is also complete clearly false.
I don’t really hang out on this blog anymore because, well, The Big Schism and all. I’m sad about it, sometimes. I don’t really know what to say other than I hope we can get back to a shared reality one day.
Ruckus
@mrmoshpotato:
Actually there is proof. The on site ballots and the mail in ballots are checked for signatures every time and place I’ve voted for 50 yrs as well as if you are registered. Each state does this themselves. So yes a few might get through if it was all done by the federal government. Also in the case of someone like shitforbrains there would be no counter check and do you think he wouldn’t lie about being elected? Yeah I didn’t think so. Which is what I think the shitheads are trying to do now is make federal race elections be run by the executive branch by yelling at the top of their lungs about voter fraud. Talk about your conflict of interest. Because the only ones they can come close to fixing now are the gop controlled states. They know they are unpopular and that they are losing all control by saying the quiet parts out loud and by destroying even any and all appearances of non-partisan governing.
ChristianPinko
Look. I know that hating Bernie is a favorite pastime of Jackals, but can we just not? Bernie was taking his cue from the Postal Workers Union, and in my book it’s a good thing to support what unions want (cop unions excepted). This Daily Kos story has the details. I hate to see liberals and leftists engage in intra-left squabbling instead of uniting against Republicans.
Ruckus
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I’m an old vet and I voted for Hillary. So I agree I should have gotten who I voted for. Now if you mean I have to suffer because I’m an old vet, I’m not going to take that all that well.
Ian
@John Revolta:
It was McConnell stopping them all along, Sander’s is merely a useful idiot who did something McConnell wanted so McConnell wouldn’t have to get his fingerprints on it. Largely theater for medium info voters.
elm
@ChristianPinko: “I hate to see liberals and leftists engage in intra-left squabbling instead of uniting against Republicans.”
Sure thing, lemme just check Jacobin and The Intercept front pages to compare and contrast.
Oh dear, it seems like the intra-left squabbling is much worse elsewhere.