It looks like we are breaking the internet up along the lines of political boundaries. The US will have one internet, the EU another, China yet another... Hopefully the pendulum will swing back in the other direction soon...
Trump's USPS' Postmaster General replacement, along with who recently fired 23 USPS executives:
"Lawmakers Demand Removal of Postmaster General DeJoy Over 'Nefarious' Efforts to Destroy the Postal Service and 'Aid Trump Reelection'" - https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/i71z41/lawmakers_...
1. Check your voter registration.
2. Register to vote if you need to and it's still open for registration in your state.
3. VOTE as soon as you can. If you're voting absentee then drop off your ballot early if possible. If you're voting in-person then look into early voting to avoid lines and keep everyone safe.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielcassady/2020/08/06/postma...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/07/postal-se...
The issue here is that the current Postmaster General fired the administrators who were pushing back against the "optimizations" he is making and wants to make to USPS policies. The final goal is to privatize USPS, which has been a Republican dream since the Reagan era.
However, I'm simply looking for a direct, factual claim that supports that these firings were directly intended to slow down mail delivery so as to cause problems during the forthcoming election. So far all the claims I've seen are indirect; further, the PG has explicitly said they are prepared to handle mail-in votes during the upcoming election.
It's entirely unclear whether firing administrators (rather than mail carriers and postal office workers, etc) has a direct effect on mail delivery rates and accuracy in the short-term.
You realize that this is an absolutely inane thing to ask right? The direct implication is that Trump is slowing down the USPS in order the guarantee his re-election - are you looking for a quote from Trump himself that he's doing this, because I doubt we will ever see one until it's too late.
1: May 6th, Trump appointee Louis DeJoy confirmed as Postmaster General and CEO.
2: June 30, Trump suggests that mail-in voting is fraudulent and suggests delaying the election because of it https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/12888181603895582...
3: July 15, DeJoy starts cutting costs and overtime during one of the most trying times the USPS has ever seen, resulting in delays: https://apnews.com/59c25efd4d325c4895f8ba85517f9bfd
4: August 7, DeJoy fires or reassigns 23 top executives, dramatically changing the existing power structure and centralizing decision making at the top. https://www.fastcompany.com/90538378/whats-happening-with-th...
No, those executives don't deliver mail. They did make all the decisions about how mail is delivered, who does it, and when. By centralizing the power structure DeJoy has put himself in the position of being able to make arbitrary decisions about postal delivery with very little immediate oversight.
The USPS is playing an unusually large role in this election and Trump (and, let's not forget, state-level actors that continue to take active measures in US elections) has indicated that he's open to messing with mail delivery to win.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/12/postal-se...
That seems the more pertinent question.
I just prefer to be vote by mail so I can fill it out at home without being rushed.
"Lawmakers Demand Removal of Postmaster General DeJoy Over 'Nefarious' Efforts to Destroy the Postal Service and 'Aid Trump Reelection'" - https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/i71z41/lawmakers_....
> Chinese invented their great firewall for trump, that your logic?
That's a completely needless swipe.
gp edited his/her comment after mine
It will be interesting to see how EU/China/Russia/USA spheres of influence will develop. With the pandemic, a lot of "unthinkable" things have happened (travel prohibition from US to EU etc), so I think the various factions are emboldened to double down on
- keeping their data in their sphere - improve surveillance of own citizenry
* China of course has been pretty much on this track for years.
* EU is using privacy as the good cause to sell this
* US is now doing the same with national security as excuse.
I don't see the big picture changing just because the president and administration change (if they do).
At least to me it sounds like an announcement that they plan to "cut the lines" to countries that don't adhere to the standards of the current American administration.
A new protocol won't allow you to communicate with people in the United States if you're on a "blacklisted" comms company's network.
It sounds like "clean" American ISP's won't be allowed to peer with arbitrarily "unclean" service providers of any kind or else risk losing their "cleanliness" designation.
The only force I know of that has been able to moderate that feedback loop is organization. By very definition, what the elite few who consolidate power don't have is numbers. They are massively outnumbered, which is why they are constantly sowing discord (like fomenting racism). Because they know the only thing keeping them in power is the disorganization of the masses.
Narrator: "It didn't."
Yuck. I read HN to avoid these kind of low effort canned responses.
If you want people to act a certain way, you incentivize that thing, not punish the opposite of the thing.
You want people to stop doing drugs? Make programs designed to support them during the withdrawal process, provide counseling and other necessary supports, and make it free. You want people off of welfare? Provide career training and education, and assistance in the job search process, and make it free.
Punishment doesn't give you what you want, it gives you the appearance of getting what you want, while the people you punish spend their time trying to figure out how to lie their way around you.
> Generally the better educated are more prone to irrational political opinions and political hysteria than the worse educated far from power. Why? In the field of political opinion they are more driven by fashion, a gang mentality, and the desire to pose about moral and political questions all of which exacerbate cognitive biases, encourage groupthink, and reduce accuracy. Those on average incomes are less likely to express political views to send signals; political views are much less important for signalling to one’s immediate in-group when you are on 20k a year.
https://dominiccummings.com/2017/01/09/on-the-referendum-21-...
What is important is a well-rounded secondary education and/or liberal arts post-secondary education.
In seriousness, you do both.