The head of the Iowa Postal Workers Union alleged Tuesday that mail sorting machines are “being removed” from Post Offices in her state due to new policies imposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major GOP donor to President Donald Trump whose operational changes have resulted in dramatic mail slowdowns across the nation.
Asked by NPR’s Noel King whether she has felt the impact of DeJoy’s changes, Iowa Postal Workers Union President Kimberly Karol—a 30-year Postal Service veteran—answered in the affirmative, saying “mail is beginning to pile up in our offices, and we’re seeing equipment being removed.”
Karol went on to specify that “equipment that we use to process mail for delivery"—including sorting machines—is being removed from Postal Service facilities in Iowa as DeJoy rushes ahead with policies that, according to critics, are sabotaging the Postal Service’s day-to-day operations less than 90 days before an election that could hinge on mail-in ballots.
“In Iowa, we are losing machines. And they already in Waterloo were losing one of those machines. So that also hinders our ability to process mail in the way that we had in the past,” added Karol, who said she is “not a fan” of the postmaster general. Washington state election officials have also raised concerns about the removal of mail sorting machines.
“I grew up in a culture of service, where every piece was to be delivered every day. And his policies, although they’ve only been in place for a few weeks, are now affecting the way that we do business and not allowing us to deliver every piece every day, as we’ve done in the past,” said Karol. “I don’t see this as cost-saving measures. I see this as a way to undermine the public confidence in the mail service. It’s not saving costs. We’re spending more time trying to implement these policy changes. And it’s, in our offices, costing more over time.”
Observers reacted with alarm to Karol’s comments, viewing them as further confirmation that DeJoy is deliberately attempting to damage the Postal Service with the goal of helping Trump win reelection in November.
“It’s a conspiracy to steal the election, folks,” tweeted The Week’s political columnist Ryan Cooper.
Freelance journalist Erin Biba said there’s “absolutely no way to see” the removal of mail sorting machines from Post Offices as anything other than “sabotage” of the most popular government institution in the U.S.
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The death toll from the coronavirus across many Russian regions could be many times higher than official statistics show, analysis of new data by The Moscow Times suggests.
Experts pointed to systemic underreporting of deaths, and highlighted a complex incentive structure and political relationship between the Kremlin and Russia’s governors in the regions.
They believe that by discouraging regions from reporting bad news, insisting they keep the virus under control and providing loose guidelines on how to count deaths, Russia has opened the door for regions to falsify, manipulate and delay accurate reporting of the spread of the virus.
Figures published by Russia’s statistics agency Rosstat last week show Russia recorded more than three times as many excess fatalities in May and June than the daily Covid-19 death counts published by Russia’s pandemic task force and used by politicians and media outlets to assess the spread of the virus.
Across many of Russia’s 85 regions, the discrepancy is even wider.
Dozens reported their most deadly May and June — the most recent months for which detailed fatality data is available — in a decade, registering hundreds of unexplained excess fatalities.
The new information raises fresh questions about how seriously swathes of the country have been affected by the pandemic, and the impact insufficient data could have had on Russia’s response.
Counting fatalities
Russia’s coronavirus statistics have come under scrutiny since the beginning of the outbreak, when officials heralded a robust testing regime as the reason for the country’s curiously low death rate.
Like other countries, Russia publishes a daily tally of new infections and deaths from the virus. The numbers are compiled by local authorities and both a national and regional count are published every morning.
“In many regions, the statistics have nothing to do with reality at all,” said Tatiana Mikhailova, a statistician who has been tracking the virus outbreak since the beginning and regularly raises concerns about data.
As the only official source of real-time information on the virus, the daily numbers are nevertheless widely reported on and carry serious weight in assessing the spread of the virus, managing the response and comparing Russia to other countries.
(via shad0ww0rdpain)
Los Angeles police officer accused in lawsuit of fondling dead woman's body -
The family of a woman who died in October is suing a Los Angeles police officer accused of fondling her body and sharing camera footage with others.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Officer David Rojas sexually molested Elizabeth Baggett. The lawsuit also alleges invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, mishandling of human remains and other offenses.
Gloria Allred, the attorney representing the Baggett family, called Rojas’ alleged behavior “mean, vile, base and contemptible.”
“The unexpected loss of Elizabeth has been devastating for this family, and learning that she and her remains have been so disrespected and violated has compounded the loss and inflicted horrific pain and suffering on her loved ones,” Allred said in a statement. “So many women are sexually abused during their lifetime, and now we learn that some are even sexually victimized after their deaths.”
Baggett was 34 at the time of her death and had one son, according to an online obituary.
Rojas remains employed by the Los Angeles Police Department but is not on active duty, a spokesman said. His lawyer, Robert Ernenwein, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Baggett’s family filed the lawsuit against the city, Rojas and several unnamed parties. They are seeking unspecified damages and a jury trial.
The lawsuit does not name the Los Angeles Police Department as a defendant.
“Shock and disgust does not even come close to describing the horror of hearing this news,” the woman’s mother, Janet Baggett, said in a statement Tuesday. “We, her family, have sleepless nights, if we are able to sleep. I personally wake in sweats from the nightmares that haunt me about the events of Elizabeth’s death. Days are not much better.”
Rojas allegedly touched Baggett while he was alone with her corpse on Oct. 20 after he and his partner responded to the home where she died.
Her manner of death was ruled an accidental overdose, according to the medical examiner’s office.
After Rojas and his partner determined the woman was dead, the partner left the room and Rojas turned off his body-worn camera, but the camera caught the alleged fondling in the moments before the officer turned it back on because the devices have two-minute buffering periods to capture what happens right before they are activated, The Associated Press has previously reported.
(via shad0ww0rdpain)
Mail sorting equipment being “removed” from post offices, leaving mail to “pile up”: union leader -
Mail sorting equipment is being removed from U.S. Postal Service (USPS) offices amid a slew of operational changes implemented by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, according to the head of the Iowa Postal Workers Union.
Numerous reports have detailed how changes made by DeJoy, a top donor to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, have cut overtime and changed policies, which have slowed down mail delivery across the country. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said last week that DeJoy had “confirmed that contrary to prior denials and statements minimizing these changes, the Postal Service recently instituted operational changes” shortly after he assumed office.
“We believe these changes, made during the middle of a once-in-a-century pandemic, now threaten the timely delivery of mail — including medicines for seniors, paychecks for workers, and absentee ballots for voters — that is essential to millions of Americans,” they wrote in a letter to DeJoy, calling the cost-cutting measures “counterproductive and unacceptable.”
The USPS, which underwent a controversial staff shake-up after DeJoy took over, recently advanced a proposal that would nearly triple states’ postage costs for mail-in ballots and is also reportedly planning service cuts. But Kimberly Karol, the head of the Iowa Postal Workers Union, told NPR that there have been even more changes than previously reported.
“We are beginning to see those changes and how it is impacting the mail. Mail is beginning to pile up in our offices, and we’re seeing equipment being removed,” she said on Tuesday. “So we are beginning to see the impact of those changes.”
“Curious,” exclaimed host Noel King, “I hadn’t heard about this one. Equipment being removed. What equipment?”
“The sorting equipment that we use to process mail for delivery,” said Karol, who is also a postal clerk. “In Iowa, we are losing machines … so that also hinders our ability to process mail in the way that we had in the past.”
USPS spokesman David Partenheimer told Salon that the equipment removal was among actions the agency was taking “focused on increasing operational efficiency.”
DeJoy, who took over the cash-strapped agency in June, said the USPS was “vigorously focusing on the ingrained inefficiencies in our operations” in a Friday statement.
(via shad0ww0rdpain)
‘This is no longer a debate’: Florida sheriff bans deputies, visitors from wearing masks -
In an email to the sheriff’s department shared with The Washington Post, Woods disputed the idea that masks are a consensus approach to battling the pandemic.
“We can debate and argue all day of why and why not. The fact is, the amount of professionals that give the reason why we should, I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say why we shouldn’t,” Woods wrote in the email, which was first reported by the Ocala Star-Banner.
A majority of epidemiologists and other health experts say face masks and social distancing are key to slowing the spread of the novel coronavirus, which has ravaged Florida. The state, which has recorded more than 542,000 cases and more than 8,600 deaths, added 277 more deaths on Tuesday; Marion County also set a record for daily deaths on Tuesday, with 13.
Police nationwide have faced scrutiny over inconsistent use of masks by officers, even in large cities like New York and Philadelphia where face coverings are mandatory. Many large departments only suggest officers wear masks, ABC News recently found, while those that require them, including the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, make exceptions for incidents where masks might impede officers in the line of duty.
Woods is among the first law enforcement officials to outright ban masks for his deputies, though.
He issued the order as Marion County and its largest city, Ocala, are mired in a politically charged debate over a mandatory mask rule. The Ocala City Council passed an emergency mask order last week, but Mayor Kent Guinn ® vetoed it, citing in part a refusal by Ocala Police Chief Greg Graham to enforce the rule.
“My chief and I have talked about it. We will never write a fine. We’re just not going to do it,” Guinn told the Sky 97.3 FM on Monday.
The city council plans to meet Wednesday to consider overriding the veto, the Star-Banner reported.
Woods, meanwhile, told his deputies on Tuesday to stop wearing masks in most cases. While officers can still mask up in areas including the courthouse and county jail, they must immediately take off the face coverings afterward. Deputies working special events are also forbidden from wearing masks, Woods said.
All visitors to sheriff’s department buildings will be asked to take off their masks in the lobby, Woods said, linking that rule to the ongoing protests against police brutality.
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Frostbiter: Wrath of the Wendigo | 1995
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