Just pulled this flyer out of my mailbox. WTF???

[beastie boy]

It was an unsigned, undated, unmailed and otherwise unidentified sheet of paper printed in plain text and just stuffed in my mailbox by hand. First, excerpts from the content:

Hi neighbor,

I write this note regarding the upcoming New York democratic primary.

Like many of you, I've been closely watching the primary unfold. In particular, I've been paying attention to Joe Biden's public appearances for the past six months or so. And what I see brings me an acute sense of worry.

I'll never forget when my grandmother first started showing symptoms of Alzheimers. Small details of memory loss were brushed aside at first: forgetting what she had done the day before, taking longer than usual to recall my name, etc. It wasn't until several months later when symptoms worsened that we realized that these instances were the early signs of a deeper, more tragic problem.

It brings me no joy to say that I intuitively recognize these symptoms in Joe Biden.

snip...

I am not a doctor, but I know what it is that I see in Joe.

Many of us know and love people with Alzheimers/dementia.It's a brutal, unforgiving and tragic illness. From the bottom of my heart I hope Joe receives the treatment he needs. But I can't sit back and watch a candidate with symptoms that are all too familiar to me to become the guy we pitch up against Trump. Trump will be, and has already shown himself to be, merciless and offensive about Biden's increasingly apparent memory issues. The Joe Biden of 4 years ago could trounce Trump. But running the current Joe Biden against Trump would be handing easy prey to a bully.

I simply ask that you consider the risk of not only Joe's electability, but his overall ability.

Now, the WTF part: This shit is so patently provocative, it could only be the product of a troll farm. I live in Max Rose's district, the part of it that is made up of a quirky mix of staunch conservatives, liberal old-timers and lots of young people moving in. My first impulse, given the author's references to the Democratic primary and author's grandmother, was to attribute this pamphlet to a young supporter(s) of a certain Democratic candidate whose campaign is in a slump. Then I thought, nah. This shit is too stupid to take at face value. So I am not discounting the possibility of a Repub troll farm trying to undermine Biden and make it appear like Bernie deserves credit for it.

Has anyone in Brooklyn received anything that resembles this shit?

[delisen]

1. Really disgusting.

[getagrip_already]

13. that's true....

Bernie looks terrible in his speech. He is hunched over, grasping the podium, finger pointing with a shaking hand, and just reading a speech.

Joe was sharp, vibrant, and dynamic.

[showblue22]

23. Thank you .

Yes! I see what Bernie's campaign staff was tweeting last week. This falls into right what they were saying.

[musette_sf]

14. Seeing as the report is from South Brooklyn,

I'd say it's from the Rump camp, and not from Sen Sanders' followers. It's really, really rumpy in Bay Ridge. Been an R stronghold for many, many eyars.

[Aquaria]

49. I wouldn't be so sure of that.

There’s about a 50/50 chance of it being a MAGAt. The other 50% is that it is a BS supporter.

Some of the wording reflects what the loonier fringes of BS supporters have been spewing at BS-favoring sites like Raw Story.

And don’t say they aren’t BS partisans over there. They’ve purged nearly all of the commenters who were the strongest BS critics. Every article there is overrun with Bernbros, who aren’t a myth, no matter what some partisan hack claims.

[Turin_C3PO]

15. I doubt it.

It stinks of Republican bullshit to me.

[SamKnause]

22. Can you prove the statement you just made ???

Show me the proof it is from the Bernie campaign.

[showblue22]

25. They peddled this stuff all last week.

[SamKnause]

26. Show me the proof.

[showblue22]

28. Look at the account Briahnna retweeted. Also Bernie on fox

talking about Biden's 7 minute campaign event

Link to tweet

[SamKnause]

30. You have zero proof that anyone from Bernie's campaign put that in anyone's mailbox.

I watched Bernie on Fox.

He didn't mention anything about Joe having dementia.

He mentioned his 7 minute speech and that was all.

He didn't badmouth Joe.

I don't give a damn about what someone tweets.

Can you prove Briahna Joy Gray put it in anyone's mailbox ???

Prove that anyone from Bernie's campaign put that in someone's mailbox.

[showblue22]

32. She's tweeting it putting it to his supporters to do whatever...

They are THAT foul. The Tweet proves they're capable. It's a repulsive campaign and that is why he lost.

[showblue22]

29. That' right! They are that foul

and repulsive and it's why Bernie lost. She was called out about this and never deleted it. So spare me the excuses you want to give.

[stopdiggin]

34. not making excuses for Sanders supporters

(they deserve none)
But I'll strongly assert that you don't have any proof that THIS piece of work came from the campaign, or the Sanders camp. The Republicans (and whatever foreign allies) are perfectly capable of exploiting this kind of issue and division. In fact .. it's been a proven M.O.

So .. unless you saw somebody printing up these fliers ... The other side of the aisle is just as valid (perhaps more) as suspects.

[handmade34]

3. report it to USPS

it is illegal to do that!!

[dewsgirl]

5. Indeed it is.

[hlthe2b]

10. Yes. This!

[2naSalit]

18. +1

[SergeStorms]

27. If there's no stamp or cancellation....

on it, it's illegal. There must be a return address as well.

[Aquaria]

38. Uh, not quite.

There doesn’t have to be a return address. Heck, there doesn’t have to be a clear mailing address for the USPS to deliver something. Every postal station can regale you with a tale about getting a letter delivered with no return address and a mailing address that reads, “the yellow house with the white picket fence by the fire hydrant.”

Because we delivered letters like that, more times than you can imagine.

It’s the POSTAGE that matters. You have that, or your mail piece gets booted, either back to you for returned postage, or to the dreaded dead letter facility.

[Aquaria]

39. Also...

The postage doesn’t need to be cancelled, either. Saw lots of mail get through to customers uncancelled. The carriers and machines don’t catch everything.

[SergeStorms]

50. From the USPS website:

Write or print your return address and the address you're mailing to clearly in the correct spots to make sure your mail is delivered on time.

Calculate and apply postage.

Yes, the USPS will deliver letters that morons send to, “the yellow house with the white picket fence by the fire hydrant.” They don't have to, though.

My mistake was saying "illegal", instead of recommended. Have a nice day.

[DonaldsRump]

4. Donald Segretti did this kinda' shite in 1972

Sending letters to D voters to say that D presidential candidates had mental problems, drinking problems, marital problems etc.

Don went to jail. Hopefully, folks disseminating this kind of sick stuff will too.

"Russia: if you're listening, I guess your psy ops on Facebook etc may not work as well in 2020 so perhaps you're now resorting to paper? Most folks have figured out how stupid your dictator for life's puppet is, so thank you so much for picking someone who exposes everything you do!"

[Sloumeau]

6. Chris Cillizza on CNN.com today writes about how Trump

and his surrogates are pushing the "Demented Joe" nonsense:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/12/politics/donald-trump-joe-biden-mental-fitness/index.html]

The Trump team is now working overtime to question Joe Biden's mental fitness

Witness Trump campaign spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany reacting to the news earlier this week that Biden had canceled a planned rally in Florida due to coronavirus fears:

"They're saying they're canceling these rallies because of the coronavirus. No, they're desperate to get Joe Biden off the campaign trail. They would only let him speak for seven minutes last night. So they're trying to get him off. What better way to do that by saying, 'We're going to sidestep these rallies and public appearances. We don't want an audience to watch the debate with Joe because we know Joe is going to fall apart, an audience makes that harder as they laugh and snicker and whatnot.'"

(Worth noting: Within 48 hours of McEnany's comments, Trump events in Nevada, Colorado and Wisconsin were all canceled due to coronavirus spread concerns.)

McEnany will say anything to pump up Trump and hurt any of his perceived enemies.

[SCantiGOP]

20. Let's put Joe and Don through a series of tests

mental, physical, and designed to test basic intelligence and knowledge.
I have absolutely no doubt who would win, and it wouldn't be close.

[Aquaria]

31. I like to remind the traitor party putzes

That Biden could jog around the White House when he was 71 years old:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/feb/28/barack-obama-joe-biden-run-jog-white-house-video

Meanwhile, Hair Furor at that same age couldn’t haul his fat ass 700 yards and instead used a golf cart to lug his blubber butt across it while European leaders took it on with ease:

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/g7-leaders-take-a-stroll-but-trump-takes-a-golf-cart-hhprv8r7b

So I’ll pit Handsome Joe’s fitness against the Fast Food Fatass, any fricking day, anytime.

[SCantiGOP]

46. Damn, that's harsh

'blubber butt,' 'fast food fatass'

I love it. I bet the bastard would be in negative numbers on middle school Jeopardy.

[Jeebo]

7. I think that person was violating federal law.

I think it's a felony to put anything other than U.S. mail into a mailbox.

-- Ron

[PatSeg]

11. Yes it is

[Aquaria]

35. This former postal worker can assure you that it is indeed against federal law.

Your mailbox is technically USPS property that only the USPS and you, as the mailbox HOLDER, are allowed to access. No one else is supposed put anything inside a mailbox, and even then it’s supposed to be mail being sent or delivered, or communication between you and the USPS.

Nothing else.

The penalties/fines can run pretty steep if the USPS decides to make a case of any unauthorized use of their mailboxes. We had a local HOA get into big trouble over putting notices in mailboxes without postage.

For some reason, that made a bunch of us postal workers very happy.

Can’t imagine why...

[zackymilly]

37. Sounds like a Bernie Bro. Now they want free mail. lol. n/t

[jberryhill]

8. Someone committed a federal crime

[PatSeg]

9. Sounds like something Karl Rove would do

Maybe even worse. I wonder how many of those got mailed out. That is really disturbing.

[Kahuna7]

12. Yep. Or even trump or other Russian stooges. nt

[beastie boy]

17. The weird thing is, mine wasn't mailed out. It was just stuffed in the mailbox, no envelope or

anything that could identify its origin.

[Green Line]

19. Federal crime

[Aquaria]

36. Report it to your local Postal Station.

They don’t mess around with nonsense like that. Postal inspectors can be scary good at tracking down those who misuse postal resources. But they can’t help if you don’t let them know there’s a problem.

[marybourg]

40. Yes. Send to the Postsl Inspectors via your post office

manager (in a sealed envelope)

[Aquaria]

43. Going in person will work better.

Ask to speak to the station manager, but settle for a supervisor, if you have no other choice.

My experience as a postal worker saw how showing up in person always got better results. It’s a lot harder to ignore the person standing in front of them than a scrap of paper over the transom, so to speak.

I worked at 7 stations over the course of my career. Not once did I see a mailed in or phoned in problem get addressed with the same care and diligence that an in-person complaint did.

Report it in person, if you possibly can. Phone is second best.

[PatSeg]

42. I realized that after I commented

As others have said, that really is a violation of federal law. Would love to know who is doing it.

[badhair77]

16. Infuriating.

Are there security cameras? Was it mailed or just stuffed in mailboxes by someone who is not a postal worker? I agree with those who recommended reporting it.

[irisblue]

21. So, did you call the Dem Party/your reps to tell them about this?

[beastie boy]

24. I think this should be my next step. They can handle it far better than I could

[Cha]

48. Great idea, irisblue!

[Cha]

33. How Dispicable to get Anonymous Propaganda

in your mailbox, Beastie.

[Hekate]

41. If you have a local Nextdoor Neighborhood app to your email, you might address it there...

Ours has a smattering of everything from lost cats to strange people in the neighborhood, to house painters to the local health dept's bulletins on the coronavirus.

People worry about strangers. You might start by addressing this flyer as something that was stuffed into your US Post box illegally -- by someone who was too cowardly to sign their own name to a slander. Be on the lookout for a stranger messing with your mailbox!

[Aquaria]

45. This is okay as far as improving awareness

But not enough.

Anytime someone accesses your mailbox without USPS or mailbox holder permission, your #1 response should be to notify the USPS. If it’s happened to your neighbors, too, have them report as well.

Let the USPS and their postal inspectors handle it from there. They are not only trained in how to track down jerks like this, but also the inspectors get paid to put themselves at risk to do it.

Be more aware of what’s going on in your neighborhood and look out for each other, sure, but know, too, when to call in the pros.

[Hekate]

47. Yep. There are things the recipient can do. I only mentioned one.

[BlueIdaho]

44. Rat Fucking worthy of Lee Atwater.

[Hassler]

51. Putin's propaganda is starting early this year. It took until August for the "Hillary's sick" lie

to start. Sadly, a pro-Sanders letter in my local paper this week used that exact language.