The Daily Valet. - 8/10/20, Monday

✔️ What's Up With That?

August 10, 2020

Monday, August 10th Edition

Cory Ohlendorf, Editor in Chief of Valet.

I think I’m ready for a road trip, like the one down below.

Cory Ohlendorf , Editor ⋯ @coryohlendorf

Today's edition is presented by

Today’s Big Story

What’s Up With the Mail?

A USPS crisis that could interfere with the election

The United States Postal Service is dealing with crippling backlogs of letters and packages, reports Recode. And despite a surge in package delivery during the pandemic, postal workers are no longer able to work overtime, and fewer mail trucks are on the road.

If you’ve noticed, like I have, that the mail has been delayed now and then, just know it’s not a one-off problem. Service has been disrupted lately due to the pandemic.

The self-funded Postal Service has been seeking billions in aid from Congress—an effort that’s been hampered by the president, who has long pushed to privatize it, while criticizing the legitimacy of mail-in voting.

Meanwhile, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s mail service, which will further slow progress during the pandemic. According to a reorganization memo released Friday, the USPS will implement a hiring freeze and request voluntary early retirements.

Experts are predicting the surge of mail-in voting could mean a final winner in this year’s presidential race won’t be known for days—or even weeks. Democrats are pushing for $25 billion for the mail in the next coronavirus recovery bill to help address those concerns, but it remains a source of disagreement with Republicans.

“It seems like they’re just trying to turn customers away from the post office,” Jim Sizemore, president of Cincinnati’s American Postal Workers Union told the Associated Press. He said his offices are behind on deliveries because of new rules specifying when mail can go out.

↦ Fact Check: Trump says he can use executive authority on mail voting. Can he? NBC News investigates.

What to Make of Trump’s Executive Orders

The details on unemployment and evictions are not as generous as he made them sound

President Trump took the unusual—and highly controversial—step Saturday of attempting to provide additional economic relief to millions of Americans on his own, without the approval of Congress.

At his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump announced he was postponing payroll taxes through the end of the year, extending the unemployment “bonus” at $400 a week (down from $600), helping people “stay in their homes” and waiving student debt payments through the end of 2020, reports the Washington Post.

The details, however, are not as generous as he made them sound. Funding will be contingent on a contribution agreement from state officials—who are already struggling amid budget shortfalls caused by the economic crisis—and the siphoning of aid from a federal fund for natural disaster relief in the middle of what is expected to be an active hurricane season.

And it's likely the President will face a legal challenge over these actions. The Constitution gives Congress the power of the purse. Any changes to taxes or spending should (and normally do) come from Congress.

↦ FYI: The one thing missing from today’s executive orders? A second stimulus check.

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Can We Get This Under Control?

On our way to 300,000 deaths by December

As schools struggle to safely reopen with nearly 100,000 new student coronavirus cases in the last two weeks of July, the number of overall U.S. invections passed the five million mark on Sunday. What's more, according to a Washington Post analysis, America reached the five million threshold just 17 days after passing four million cases.

The U.S. leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases, accounting for nearly a quarter of the 19.7 million known cases worldwide. As of Sunday, Brazil was second with just over 3 million cases, followed by India at 2.1 million.

According to NPR, researchers believe case counts may have peaked in many of the hardest-hit states, but they're still projecting that the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. could hit 300,000 by December.

Meanwhile, New Zealand has now gone 100 days with no detected community spread of COVID-19, reports Axios.

↦ FYI: Antarctica is the last continent without COVID-19. And scientists have to keep it that way.

Rivian Sent Its Electric Pickup Prototypes on a 13,000-Mile Road Trip

The EVs follow Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on their motorcycle travel show

If you're a fan of road trips, adventure, motorcycles—or just watching two buds have a blast traveling—you've seen the Long Way Round and Long Way Down series.

If not, actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman hop on motorcycles and ride to the edges of the earth. They laugh, they crash, they curse and, like all road trips, eat bad food. It's a lot better than your average reality TV.

The next season, Long Way Up, is due to premiere on Apple TV on September 18th, follows the duo on a pair of Harley-Davidson LiveWire electric motorcycles through a 13,000-mile trip from Patagonia to Los Angeles, reports The Drive.

According to Car and Driver, they wanted to go fully electric, including their “chase vehicles.” So upstart Rivian was tasked with getting two R1Ts and a charging infrastructure in place for the big trip. In total, the company put in about 240 Level 2 chargers at roughly 140 locations. Of course, how much of the Rivians we'll see in the final show remains to be seen.

↦ Dig Deeper: Check out all the specs on the R1T, including its ability to wade through three feet of water.

In Other News

Other Things We’re Talking About Today

The country’s best cities

This personal air conditioner

Why cologne is so expensive

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