Good morning everyone! We’re back after being AWOL on Friday due to a move and lack of Internet connection. We blame the monopoly contracts that the titans of communications services end up working out with local governments. That’s an issue for another time, though, so let’s get to the news.
The Postal Service is under siege: no, seriously. Under the watch of Postmaster General and major Trump donor Louis DeJoy, the USPS has drastically reduced services across the country. There are two big problems with that.
The House voted no on AOC’s amendment to ban US military recruiting via Twitch: with over 100 Democrats joining 188 Republicans in voting against it. Remember that this involves targeting recruitment efforts to children as young as 13.
Federal agents were pulled out of Portland and peaceful protests began to resume: wow, it’s almost like sending in the stormtroopers actually makes everything worse!
Can we get some pogchamps in chat? Does that sound right? Are we hip? Ahhh, let’s just break these stories down for ya.
THE POST OFFICE
Is the Post Office Being Dismantled?
Remember a few months ago when alarm bells started ringing about the state of the USPS? Despite being one of the most beloved government services, concerns about the USPS running out of money started to flare up, with Trump being vocal about how he thought it was a poorly run institution that ought to be profitable.
That wasn’t some random flash in the pan, it now seems, as we may be watching the dismantling of the Post Office happen in real time.
The Status
We’re expecting to see a huge demand for mail-in voting services due to the coronavirus pandemic but that doesn’t mean the USPS is ready for it all. In fact, the agency is considering cutting services and even shuttering some locations.
The postmaster general has told postal workers to leave mail behind in the event that it’s slowing down their route. This has caused massive delays around the country, which you may have noticed if you’re involved in any neighborhood Facebook groups where boomers keep demanding to know where their magazines are.
There are also reports that Amazon packages are getting priority over other kinds of mail, including first class mail.
That postmaster general, it’s important to note, is a major Trump donor. Since being appointed in May of this year, Louis DeJoy has begun to drastically cut costs and reduce services under the premise that the USPS is “financially unsustainable.” that’s what TAXES ARE FOR OH MY GOD!!!
The Implications
The way we see it, this is an effort to kill two birds with one massive, conservative stone.
The first effort: to undermine the elections. With enough mail delays, states that are (responsibly) pushing for greater access to mail ballots may end up bungling an entire election.
This is a cause for greater concern when you realize that numerous states don’t accept mail-in ballots after election day. That includes every single swing state aside from North Carolina. That could lead to hundreds of thousands of ballots being rejected, and with coronavirus concerns having become such a partisan issue, that may be enough to turn a swing state completely.
Secondly, it’s part of a greater effort by Republicans to privatize the postal system. Here’s the rundown: Republicans take aim at a government service by breaking the shit out of it and turning public opinion against it, this then opens up enough room for private companies to jump in and offer similar services that are absolutely going to be worse because they operate under the profit motive instead of something sensical (like universal mail services, in the USPS’ case). Many times, Republicans then end up getting a bunch of donors from the new private sector industry they just helped create. Disgusting, right?
Silver lining: Democrats are now including $25 billion in funding for the USPS in their coronavirus bill demands. Let’s hope that’s a hill they’re willing to die on.
Bottom line: Democrats need to quickly wake up to the possibility that Trump is going to undermine this election in whatever way he can just as he did last time. If that includes placing pressures against the USPS, we’ve got to start pressuring local governments to put measures in place to make sure that votes are counted. We’re saying this as leftists who hate Joe Biden. Democracy is still important, folks.
MILITARY RECRUITMENT
House Democrats Vote Against Twitch Military Ban
We should not target children for military recruitment. Whether that’s at a high school college fair or via gaming and the platform that is Twitch, it seems fairly reasonable to say that we should wait until someone is 18 before pressuring them into joining the military. Apparently, many House Democrats disagree.
From Call of Duty to the Marines
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced an amendment that would have prevented federal funds from being used on military recruiting efforts by the US military on the Amazon-owned streaming platform Twitch or via esports.
Her argument is pretty simple: a lot of kids like video games. If you’ve met a child recently, they probably talked about Minecraft, Fortnite, or some other gamer gobbledygook. A lot of those children are now the core audience for Twitch and esports, where watching other people play games is a new form of entertainment. The military is now using this new form of entertainment to recruit the next generation of troops.
As AOC notes, kids as young as 12 and 13 are signing recruitment forms and being contacted by recruiters. Sometimes, there are incentives such as winning gaming consoles. These contests often lack details like when the contest will win or what the odds of winning even are.
AOC also importantly points out the conflation of actual real military service, in which people are shot and killed, and video games that depict fictionalized versions of that like Call of Duty. Strange that it’s all crickets from the “video games lead to gun violence” crowd, no?
Unsurprisingly, warmachine-loving Republicans in the House all voted against the amendment. That said, a loathsome 103 Democrats also voted against it. That includes Progressive Caucus members like Ted Lieu, Tulsi Gabbard, Andy Kim, Peter DeFazio, and Bennie Thompson. Additionally, party leadership like Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn voted against the amendment. Just sayin’.
Part of this may be a fundamental misunderstanding of how a platform like Twitch works, as AOC pointed out the frustration in educating members of Congress on what Twitch is.
Here’s the nugget of good news: Twitch told the Army that it needs to stop those deceptive giveaways mentioned earlier. There has also been a large push to prevent the Army from banning users for mentioning war crimes in Twitch chat which may be considered a violation of free speech rights. All that negative press caused the Army to hop ship from Twitch for the time being and to curtail their esports presence, although other military efforts are still ongoing such as the Navy’s esports team.
Bottom line: gamers are just awful, huh? From dropping n-bombs online to getting SWAT teams sent to the homes of popular streamers with sometimes fatal results, the world of gaming certainly has an abundance of toxicity. Let’s not let some of the most brutal vultures out there prey on a subculture that already has its own mess to sort out, please?
PORTLAND
Feds Finally Evacuate Portland, Peaceful Protests Resume
Federal agents have been withdrawn from Portland. This has caused tensions in the city to drop and peaceful protests have resumed.
A Modest Victory
Last Wednesday, Oregon’s governor Kate Brown sided with the White House in a decision to have state police guard a city courthouse instead of federal agents. In her own words, “Trump’s troops” were acting like an occupying army and provoking much of the unrest we saw.
On Thursday, we saw the results of that decision: state troopers didn’t escalate the situation to violence in the same way federal agents did. When protesters began shaking fences around the courthouse, which caused federal agents to fire teargas and use batons, the state police did not intervene.
That lack of confrontation meant that the tensions didn’t boil over that night, potentially serving as evidence that sending in secret police into Black Lives Matter protests won’t make the situation any better.
While it’s good that the DHS has withdrawn from Portland, there is concern about where they’re headed next.
Bottom line: we’re certainly not sold on the idea that this is the last we’ll hear of the DHS and their reign of terror this year. This is, by any account, some small victory however.
BREADCRUMBS
Where the News Gets “Fun!”
“Trump’s DHS is Treating Journalists Like Terrorists.”The Department of Homeland Security was creating intelligence reports on journalists who reported on leaked Portland protest documents. Terrifying, honestly.
“The Daily Caller is receiving money from Trump and GOP groups while its subsidiary participates in Facebook’s fact-checking program.”Thanks, Tucker Carlson, for your Nazi media legacy. BTW, The Daily Caller’s Wikipedia page says it’s a “minority-owned and -run company,” which is a very funny detail to tack on to a media outlet who serves as a rag for fake news and white supremacy.
“How Kamala Harris Fought to Keep Nonviolent Prisoners Locked Up.”Kamala. Is. A. Cop. No matter how you feel about her!
END OF THE LINE...
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The Bread Line
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