Nation
Postal Service Weighs Closing Offices, Cutting Services Ahead of 2020 Election
The U.S. Postal Service may be closing a number of offices and cutting services ahead of the 2020 election, according to reports. The mail service is running out of funds as the country positions itself for sweeping mail-in elections in November.
According to MarketWatch, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is positioning USPS “to eliminate overtime for hundreds of thousands of postal workers, potentially causing a delay in mail deliveries.”
Additionally, The Associated Press recently obtained memos from the Postal Service describing the need for an “operational pivot” to compensate for the losses suffered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s just asinine to think that you can shut something down or throttle it back in terms of the pandemic when basically the lifeline for voting and democracy is going to be in the hands of the Postal Service,” Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, who has received a number of complaints about USPS cutting offices, told reporters Wednesday, according to MarketWatch.
A USPS spokesperson told MarketWatch that the Postal Service “has experienced over a decade of financial losses, with no end in sight, and we face an impending liquidity crisis,” adding that “it is critical that the Postal Service take a fresh look at our operations and make necessary adjustments.”
Manchin, along with his Democratic colleagues in Congress, have expressed grave concerns over the financial cuts. Moreover, they’ve pushed to include extra funding for USPS in the coronavirus financial relief bills.
The bill passed in March allows the Treasury Department to lend $10 billion to the Postal Service.
Former President Donald Trump stated bluntly on Truth Social, “FIRST COME THE TANKS, THEN COME THE NUKES. Get this crazy war ended, NOW. So easy to do!”
Trump was referring to the escalation of war in Ukraine. He, like many other commentators and lawmakers, are warning that the decision to continue sending weapons – and now tanks – could potentially lead to the use of “nuclear weapons.”
It’s mission creep and it’s dangerous, they say.
Why? Because Russian President Valdimir Putin has indicated in two different speeches that he would use nuclear weapons to defend Russia, if needed. Those warnings are not just bluster but a very real possibility.
And the escalation of war is visible.
Russia launched 55 missiles strikes across Ukraine Thursday, leaving 11 dead. The strikes come one day after the United States and Germany agreed to send tanks to Ukraine in an effort to aide the country. 47 of the 55 missiles were shot down according to Ukraine’s Air Force command.
Eleven lives were lost and another 11 were injured additionally leaving 35 buildings damaged in the wake of the attacks. According to The New York Times, Denys Shmyhal, said in a post on Telegram. “The main goal is energy facilities, providing Ukrainians with light and heat,” he said.
Ukraine is now demanding that they need F-16 fighter jets. In a post on twitter Ukrainian lawmaker, Oleksiy Goncharenko said, “Missiles again over Ukraine. We need F16.”
Morning. Missiles again over Ukraine. We need F16.
— Oleksiy Goncharenko (@GoncharenkoUa) January 26, 2023
The US has abstained from sending advanced jets in the chances that a volatile decision could foster more dangerous attacks like former President Trump’s post on Truth referred to. If the US did authorize the decision to lend Ukraine the F-16 jets Netherlands’ foreign minister, Wopke Hoekstra, would be willing to supply them. According to The New York Times, Hoekstra told Dutch lawmakers, “We are open-minded… There are no taboos.”
F-16 fighter jets are complex to work on, they are not the average aircraft that can be learned in a matter of weeks. It can take months for pilots to learn how to fly these birds. European and US officials have the concern that Ukrainian forces could potentially use the jets to fly into Russian airspace and launch attacks on Russian soil.
Western allies are trying to avoid such a provocation, because that could lead to nuclear warfare in reference to what Putin has said he would do to defend his country.
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