As I fell behind this week, here's a brief post (brief for me, anyway) on the race to 1600 Pennsavainya.
-- Kamala is catching the racism and misogyny slings and arrows from Trump and the Right, as all thought she would. She's deftly blocking them, as everyone also expected.
-- The efforts the president is expending to scrunge the election by sabotaging the post office are shocking even by the standards he has established.
"The United States Postal Service is removing mail sorting machines from facilities around the country without any official explanation or reason given...In many cases, these are the same machines that would be tasked with sorting ballots" https://t.co/YeTCPOJgED
— Garance Franke-Ruta (@thegarance) August 13, 2020
NEW: The USPS inspector general is reviewing controversial policy changes imposed under new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy — changes that are disrupting election mail. The IG is also examining DeJoy’s compliance with federal ethics rules. w/ @KristenhCNN https://t.co/tZeRc5xcZh
— Marshall Cohen (@MarshallCohen) August 14, 2020
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has financial interest in USPS contractors that reportedly exceeds $30 million, raising questions of conflicts of interest. And to date, the USPS has not released DeJoy’s ethics agreement. We’ve launched an investigation. https://t.co/5BRV6yvQnY
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 14, 2020
UPDATE: Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. made a criminal referral to the NJ Attorney General, asking him to impanel a grand jury to look at possible breach of state election laws by President Trump, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and others https://t.co/FcB5k71hdX
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 14, 2020
NEW: the top election officials in the country, both D and R, requested a virtual meeting this week with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. His office has not responded yet.https://t.co/4Nnspf7juS
— Miles Parks (@MilesParks) August 14, 2020
Conspiracy theories abound.
Now that Trump has openly told the nation that he is trying to corrupt the election by denying USPS needed funds, read that quote along with this one from two weeks ago, in which he telegraphed the other half of the scheme:https://t.co/OSvXjeYZd9 pic.twitter.com/nN1so32Xa5
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) August 13, 2020
I've read lots of speculating over the past several weeks about 'what if Trump doesn't leave', if/when he loses the election, as I'm sure you have. I personally haven't given it any worry time, as I'm of the opinion that there will be some soldiers who will do the ejecting if it becomes necessary, and that they might have to fight their way through some other soldiers loyal to the incumbent, not to mention a few militias, to do so. All in a day's work for the military.
This is going to be a more salacious development.
Michael Cohen says he was "active and eager participant" in "golden showers" and "tax fraud" in book https://t.co/WkzkZ0S9SP
— Forever in debt to your priceless advice. (@PDiddie) August 15, 2020
"From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump's clandestine lovers, I wasn't just a witness to the president's rise -- I was an active and eager participant ..."
Fun. Here's a few barely-related Tweets from the past week regarding developments that are, shall we say, self-explanatory.
"I have never encountered a public official, a candidate for office, a bureaucrat, a defense lawyer or, frankly, an actual criminal who is as regularly and aggressively dishonest as the current president of the United States." https://t.co/aZEa4GGFx7
— Clay Jones (@claytoonz) August 14, 2020
Trump in Trouble and Biden in Hiding: 2020 Presidential Elections - https://t.co/UPAR8Aqh3I pic.twitter.com/PL2HjifSc2
— SocialistAlternative (@SocialistAlt) August 13, 2020
Biden’s message really coming through pic.twitter.com/3fJ3AdKuQi
— Eric Levitz (@EricLevitz) August 13, 2020
Progressives cool on Biden foreign policy https://t.co/cOrn3K00tn pic.twitter.com/UkiskOIpKv
— The Hill (@thehill) August 14, 2020
"a 60 second pre-recorded message filmed in her home."
— The Bern Identity (@bern_identity) August 13, 2020
So the DNC is giving AOC a TikTok minute while Republican John Kasich gets a whole speaking slot to talk about Monday's theme, "We the People."
The establishment on brand.https://t.co/lCqwhNMP7w
How did the @DNC respond to @ewarren doing this to Bloomberg? They invited him to the convention to speak longer than @AOC. Listen carefully to what she accused him of. Does anything fucking matter anymore? Anything? Some of you stand for nothing. Weak. pic.twitter.com/QiwoZDW239
— Jason Overstreet (@JasonOverstreet) August 13, 2020
I'll have a lot to say about the DNC convention next week. Trust me.
#BREAKING:
— MSDNC - Commentary & Satire (@MSDNCNews) August 14, 2020
Ralph Nader slammed by Democrats after evidence emerges he did not commit war crimes. pic.twitter.com/j5uZLy6vH0
'A big victory would be 5%': Green party's Howie Hawkins eyes progress https://t.co/nOXmRy4tgg OMFG @guardian interviewed @HowieHawkins! @GreenPartyUS @AngelaNWalker @hoffman4US2020 #GreeniesNotMeanies #GreenEnter #M4A #GND #UBI #DefundPOLICE #DefundWAR #AbolishICE #AbolishPrison
— Stuart DefundICEPolicePrisonWAR Chen-Hayes (@SChenHayes) August 14, 2020
-- Libertarian Jo Jorgensen was bitten by a bat in Hattiesburg, MS prior to a rally for inclusion in the presidential debates. She got inoculated for rabies as a result. Politico and The Hill also covered the incident. No word on the condition of the bat.
-- In the only other news I care to mention this week, there were a couple of vice-presidential selection developments in two minor party campaigns. Via Indy Political Report:
Green Party turned Independent candidate Dario Hunter, who will be on the ballot in Colorado under the banner of the Progressive Party, has announced Penobscot Nation activist Dawn Neptune Adams will replace Darlene Elias as his running mate. No reason for the replacement was given.
Independent Candidate Mark Charles released a statement announcing Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry was no longer going to be his running mate. Again, no reason was given for the change.
Kanye West’s campaign missed a filing deadline by 14 seconds and is now waging a legal battle against the state of Wisconsin that hinges on whether or not “the seconds from 5:00:00 to 5:00:59 are inclusive to 5 p.m.” https://t.co/8KVevKFD5j
— Gabe Fleisher (@WakeUp2Politics) August 11, 2020