3423

So this was the guy that ended the telework program before Covid-19 happened.

Well, I am glad to see him go. Hopefully my new boss will be a better person.

Attempted termination of SSA telecommuting program
During his fourth month in office Saul attempted to end the 6-year telecommuting program for nearly 12,000 employees overnight. It was effectively for naught as the COVID-19 pandemic forced the return and expansion of the program for nearly the entirety of the SSA in March 2020.

3424

Tell that to the Supreme Court about two weeks ago.

3425

Right, I thought that was settled when Trump fired the CFPB chief.

3426

And Louis DeJoy bides his time on his Manila throne.

3427

USPS chief is a bit different

If DeJoy served at the pleasure of the president, Biden surely would’ve fired him on Day One. But he doesn’t. The problem, ironically, originates from Congress’ desire to insulate USPS from politics. For most of American history, the Postal Service played an integral role in the spoils system, and postmaster general was a plum post for an ally of the president. In 1970, Congress overhauled the structure of the Postal Service to end this sordid tradition of patronage by giving the agency substantial independence. To oversee USPS’s activities, Congress established a nine-member board of governors who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. No more than five members of the board may belong to the same political party. Once confirmed to the board, governors can only be removed by the president “for cause”; that means their jobs are safe unless the president can show that they engaged in malfeasance or extreme neglect of duty. The board of governors, in turn, selects the postmaster general, who is not subject to Senate approval. And once appointed, the postmaster general can only be removed by the board, though it need not justify its decision.

3428

Some context missing there is that the McConnell Senate held up 5 Obama appointments to the Board, meaning that the Board didn’t even have a quorum in the last years of the Obama presidency. By the end of 2016, there was not a single appointed member still on the Board. So Trump was a able to appoint enough Board members to form a quorum, who in turn hired DeJoy. The Board today consists of DeJoy and his deputy plus 6 appointed members, 5 of whom are Republicans. There are 4 open board seats that Biden has not yet filled.

3429

I believe that Biden has now filled the USPS Board of Governors.

3430

Ah, missed that. Maybe they ought to update their web page? They list only 6 members, all appointed by Trump.

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3431

I know it doesn’t work like that, but hiring DeJoy should count as malfeasance.

3432

This doesn’t really have much to do with Joe Biden, except for it’s a feel good political story. 75th anniversary, just amazing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/luminaries-and-regular-folks-help-the-carters-celebrate-a-big-milestone-in-their-small-town/2021/07/10/4e7ea36a-e197-11eb-ae31-6b7c5c34f0d6_story.html

3433

I think this is good news for Biden, esp if it can keep going

3434

The only problem is that the other 40% of Americans have now become racist nazis.

3435

Just keep turning the rest of America against them, that’s all we can do. We need to really do some scaremongering of these folks, basically use the Republican playbook of the 80s against them.

3436

The upside is that unlike the Republicans, it would all be true.

The downside is that the Democrats as a whole can’t do urgency, even if it’s literally their lives on the line.

3437

To be fair, they only became Nazis because we made them be Nazis. Sorry ‘bout that.

3438

I think some of the racist Nazis are feeling pretty optimistic about the future too.

3439
3440

If only we didn’t ask them why they were racists, they wouldn’t have been racists, right?

It’s totally understandable.

3441

Election rights speech going on.

3442

I still wish we had someone who spoke with a little more… oomph.