Someone Is Blind With Something.

 

From the Washington Post, a headline (Capitals removed)

Postal Service warns 42 states their voters could be disenfranchised by delayed mail in ballots

The resultant dialogue with D, the poster:

D:  This alone should say at all.

Me:  Yes, it says the Trump administration is working to sabotage the election in a move to destroy democracy in America.

D: Rreally?  You're smarter than that

Me:  Confiscated mail sorting machines, confiscated mailboxes, slashing the budget, forbidding overtime, for bidding extra deliveries, the post office run by a man who has over $100 million invested in companies which compete with the post office. Sounds perfectly normal to me.😏

D: the USPS just put out information about the "confiscated" machines that indicate why they were removed.  Has absolutely nothing to do with this administration.   Geesh

Me :  For over 100 years mail in ballot and was completely successful and no one doubt it. Suddenly this year and this year alone it is happened. Reality is real.

D:  we have mail in ballots here in Washington and there are still races that are not settled.  Plus...we got two EXTRA ballots sent to us for this Primary.   It's just a bit Lucy goosy for my taste

Me: It has worked since Lincoln was reelected during the Civil War. It is strange that it suddenly doesn’t work in the year when Donald Trump fears it might cost him reelection. Of course it could just be an amazing coincidence. But I doubt it

D: I shared with you my personal experience with mail in voting, and you are so blinded by hate that you're telling me my multiple ballots and waiting for results  are Trumps fault?   Or are you just calling me a liar?

Me:   Why are you so bitterly angry? I’m not upset at all by our conversation. You think I’m calling you a liar? What?

What exactly is it that you think I hate?

Calm down. Just because we disagree is no reason to be rude or insulting.

D: I'm not angry at all.  Just questioning your responses.   You said you doubted that it was problematic...after I told you the problems.  Simple

Bty, do you choose your retirement check be mailed to you or direct deposit?  Kind of the same reasoning, yes?

Me:  You as one single individual had problems and therefor you conclude that the entire system is totally failing? That’s like your car not working, therefore assuming the cars are not valuable and should be abandoned.

And suggesting I’m calling you a liar and telling me I’m blinded by hate do not sound like you’re just having a calm discussion.

Again, USPS has done an admirable job. If a check is mailed me I have it go to the bank. Of course I do direct deposit. It’s easier. But the USPS has been the most popular and most successful branch of government (It’s also a private business, since it’s hard to serve two masters, this messes things up) until Republicans begin interfering with its operations back in the Bush era by requiring them to fully fund their retirement system for 75 years ahead. Meaning they had to set aside funds for the retirement of postman who hadn’t even been born yet. The Trump administration has savagely attacked the post office service. Of course it’s not functioning right now. It’s like someone saying that your car isn’t working after I took a sledgehammer to the engine. That doesn’t mean the car is unreliable.

D:  Or...as one single individual that has experienced problems, can you imagine it on a larger scale?  Perception is everything, wouldn't you agree?  Gotta take grandkids for haircuts

Me:  be careful out there. The world isn’t a safe as it used to be.

America the Divided

From a response to Bobby:

The level of partisanship in this country has become toxic.  It is impossible for otherwise pleasant people to simply discuss the issues of the day without rancor and accusations.  Especially on the Right, disagreement is labelled socialism or even treason.  Quoting, or even showing an unedited video of, a Republican's comments is regularly declared to be "unfair" or "gotcha journalism".  So what happened?

Two problems contribute to the situation. Number one: people do not care about facts -- they care about emotions. It is difficult and hard to think. It is so easy just to feel angry and bitter. This is why propaganda has always been so effective throughout the ages. If you've never actually watched the Pox Propaganda Channel, you should!. The entire message, all day long, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is 1, be afraid and 2. be angry. There is no other message. 

In other words, your comment about people not wanting facts and only caring about emotional nonsense is accurate. 

The other problem began, of course, under Ronald Reagan, like so many of America's problems do. He began the process of deregulation. Among the things he deregulated was control of the public airways. In days past, once a year, everyone who broadcast on the public airways, and please note those airways belong to you and me, not to the big businesses that now dominate them, every broadcaster was required to prove to the FCC that they were providing good balanced programming, "in the public interest". This programming had special categories for news, children, and other public matters. Agreed, children's cartoon programs were often presented as  "educational". But at least there was a system and it was given more than mere lip service. 

Today, of course, the businesses own the airways. At least they do according to themselves and Congress and the FCC. It's as if corporations moved into your yard and began erecting advertisements and painting them all over your house. It's actually your property but they're using it the way they want. And if you're touchy about that, saying that your home is private property,  let's say that they are moving in and putting advertisements on every piece of public property, every park, every school -- and the principal of the school has no control whatsoever over what the corporations put on the walls of his school. I will repeat, those airways belong to the American public! They are not the private property of corporations. 

Finally, let me point out that while the Pox Propaganda Channel is obviously nothing but propaganda with not merely a disregard for, but an absolute hatred of facts, the so-called liberal media are terrified of being called liberal . Therefore they are, in fact, deeply prejudiced toward the Conservatives and against facts. It is a remarkable victory for an extremely corrupt system. 

Consider this response from Fox to the killing of Trayvon Martin.  "It took Fox News a while to get onto this story, but when it did, it identified the real victim – the National Rifle Association". The editorial (from the NY Times) goes on to report that Fox feels the NRA is suffering from being blamed for the obvious impact of the stand your ground laws which have caused a 300% increase in "self defense" killings.  An innocent 17 year old is dead, but Fox feels sorry for the real victim, the NRA!  Worse, you can bet that Fox viewers, as always, will believe what they are told to believe.

http://loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/20/shoot-first-claim-self-defense-later/

Hope lies in the American people.  It seems they are finally fed up and that the 99% movement will succeed. By the way, I'm fairly confident that it will. If Obama will not stand up and be the new FDR, someone else will