Leeja Miller thinks 'Unions Will Save America.'

I told my readers yesterday "I might revisit the SAG-AFTRA strike" today. I'm turning to Leeja Miller for that with her video Unions Will Save America.

Unions will save America. Or at least they might. Let's talk about the WGA SAG-AFTRA strike against the AMPTP, the history of union organizing, the history of union busting, and the current growing labor movement in America. Could it be the answer to all our problems??

This expanded from being a strikeupdate to a history of unionization in advance of Labor Day. It's also a call to action with Miller including the following in the video description.

Here's a script for when you call them:
"Hi! My name is ________ and I live in _____________. I am a constituent of [insert your Congressperson's name] and I am calling to discuss the Protecting the Right to Organize or PRO Act. That's H.R. 20/S.567. I want to indicate my strong support for the passage of this bill and for an increase in labor organizing protection, and I would like to know their stance on the issue.
[insert back and forth about your Congressperson's stance]
Once again I am strongly in favor of the PRO Act and I urge [insert your Congressperson's name] to vote to pass the act. Thank you."

Her link to contact your representative is broken, so here's one that works. Also, here's a link to contact your senator. I'm not worried about either my Representative (Rashida Tlaib, a founding member of The Squad) or my Senators (Gary Peters or Debbie Stabenow) voting for the PRO Act should it reach the House or Senate floor, but pressure on the members of the relevant committee would be helpful. Here's a link to the members page for the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Good luck!

I still plan on resuming my awards show coverage In the meantime, stay tuned for a double celebration of National Roller Coaster Day and National Rum Day tomorrow.

WOOD-TV provides a Michigan perspective on the JBS cyberattack

I concluded Cyberattack on meat processor JBS shows how the food supply is a national security issue by telling my readers "One of those plants is in Michigan, which means I might look at this story from a Michigan perspective next. Stay tuned." WOOD-TV in Grand Rapids has been covering this story closely, so I'm sharing the reports the station uploaded to its YouTube channel beginning with Cyberattack affects JBS meat processing in US, Australia.

Meat processing giant JBS has stopped production at at least one U.S. plant after it announced it was the target of an organized cybersecurity attack. (June 1, 2021)

As the videos I uploaded yesterday reported, six plants closed. The Plainwell, Michigan, plant was not one of them, as WOOD-TV reported in Meat producer JBS says expects most plants working Wednesday.


June 2, 2021
The temporarily closed Green Bay, Wisconsin, plant was among those closed and its sign provided the preview image for Expert: Ag industry not prepared to tackle cyberthreats even though none of the reporting was from there.


Raquel Martin reports from Washington, D.C, on June 2, 2021.
I agree with Susan Duncan of Virginia Tech that the federal government and food processors need to coordinate to protect the food supply. As she said, it's bad enough that there may be food shortages in 30 years because of increased population; we don't need corruption of the technologies used in distribution to make those worse.

President Biden and Press Secretary Jen Psaki weren't the only political figures to comment on the incident. WOOD-TV reported Sen. Peters reacts to recent cyber attacks while the senator was visiting Grand Rapids.


As I pointed out yesterday, this attack shows that the U.S. food system has become a 21st Century crime scene, a national security issue, and part of the nation's infrastructure. It always was, but now it's obvious. Criminals overseas and the governments of the countries they operate in recognize this, so it's time we do, too.

I might have more about this story, but I expect I will have a pandemic update first, as the prediction of 600,000 dead in the U.S. from COVID-19 by June 1, 2021 will likely be only a few days off. I expect the country will pass that grim milestone by the end of today. Stay tuned.

WOOD-TV finds dismantled mail sorting machines in Michigan and Governor Whitmer and Senator Peters react on MSNBC

Since I last looked at the plight of the Postal Service through a comedic lens in Stephen Colbert is 'ha, ha, only serious' about President Trump and Postmaster DeJoy messing with the Post Office to suppress the mail-in vote, it's time for a serious take on the issue. WOOD-TV provided just the opportunity yesterday when they reported Some USPS machines dismantled in Kent Co., including one Wednesday.

The day after the postmaster general said he would hit pause on massive changes within the U.S. Postal Service, News 8 learned a sorting machine was being dismantled in the downtown Grand Rapids post office. (Aug. 19, 2020)

I watched this story blow up on Twitter yesterday, which the WOOD-TV anchor noted. In particular, he mentioned both Michigan's Attorney General and one of Michigan's U.S. Senators retweeting the story. Both elected officials play a part in the next two videos, one off-camera and the other on-camera, from MSNBC. Follow over the jump for the reactions.