EDITED VERSION:
BROADCAST VERSION
Beginning on June 2nd, Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) moved to Wednesdays at 11AM on KPFT HD2, Houston’s Community Station. You can also hear the show:
- Live online at KPFT.org
- Podcast on your phone’s Podcast App
- Visiting Archive.KPFT.ORG
Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig on 90.1 KPFT- HD2, Where we discuss local, state, national, and international stories.
My co-host and show editor is Andrew Ferguson.
Listen live on the radio, or on the internet from anywhere in the world! Please take a moment to visit Pledge.KPFT.org and choose THINKWING RADIO from the drop-down list when you donate.
For the purposes of this show, I operate on two mottoes:
- An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.
- You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
“There’s a reason why you separate military and police. One fights the enemy of the State. The other serves and protects the People. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the State tend t become the People.” ~ Commander Adama, “Battlestar Galactica” (“WATER”, Season 1 episode 2, at the 28 minute mark.)
POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; ; Why does Jeff Bezos’s rocket look like that? An inquiry; Here’s how to store your COVID-19 vaccination card on your smartphone; All individuals should wear masks in K-12 schools, including those who are fully vaccinated; Houston mask mandate might violate Texas governor’s order; City, county attorneys believe new City of Houston employee mask mandate is legal; Greg Abbott is a threat to students and teachers; Federal judge temporarily blocks Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to pull over vehicles with migrants, which drew racial profiling concerns; The Downfall of NYS Gov. Andrew Cuomo; Bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect; Biden Has Blunt Words for Republican Governors on Vaccines: ‘Get Out of the Way’; Amazon violated labor law in Alabama union election, labor official finds; DHL Express buys electric cargo planes for U.S. package delivery from start-up Eviation; More.
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- Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter InformationTEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
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- Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2021
- Fort bend County Elections/Voter Registration Machine takes you to the proper link
- GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
- Liberty County Elections (Liberty County, TX) <– UPDATED LINK
- Montgomery County (TX) Elections
- Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
- Waller County (TX) Elections
- Chambers County (TX) Elections
- For personalized, nonpartisan voter guides and information, Consider visiting Vote.ORG. Ballotpedia.com and Texas League of Women Voters are also good places to get election info.
- If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
- HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting CentersHARRIS COUNTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
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- Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
- A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
- Current utility bill
- Bank statement
- Government check
- Paycheck
- A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
- You may vote early by-mail if:You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
- Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
- Sick or disabled;
- 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
- Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
- Make sure you are registered:
- Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
- CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
- CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
- Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
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- FYI: There are no elections coming up right now in Harris County, but do make sure your registered to vote! Now is a great time! Just go to VOTETEXAS.GOV – Texas Voter Information for information/instructions.
- Just wanted to talk about this story before it gets too old: Why does Jeff Bezos’s rocket look like that? An inquiry; Experts weigh in on the ‘anthropomorphic’ design of New Shepard, the Amazon CEO’s Blue Origin rocket. By Matthew Cantor @CantorMatthew | theguardian.com | Tue 20 Jul 2021 21.11 EDT, Last modified on Wed 21 Jul 2021 02.37 EDT
- Jeff Bezos’s 11-minute trip aboard a Blue Origin rocket to the edge of space on Tuesday left the world’s richest man feeling “unbelievably good” and his crew “very happy”. But afterwards, as he wondered aloud how fast he could refuel, the rest of the world was left pondering just why the New Shepard rocket had such a distinctive shape. …
- “They went through a lot of iterations coming up with the perfect shape to give them the most volume, the best windows, and [a design that] wouldn’t kill anyone onboard,” said … astrophysicist Scott Manley in a private video shared with the Guardian. “And this is the shape they came up with, this dome shape.” …
- All this adds up to some particularly memorable optics. Was there any subtle aesthetic messaging involved? “I don’t know if I would have made the design this way, but I’m sure it was driven entirely by physics” as well as cost savings, said [Laura Forczyk, the owner of Astralytical, a space analytics company].
- Still, “they can’t not have noticed,” [said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics]. “You’ve got to imagine there was a meeting where someone went, ‘Do you really want to fly looking like this?’ But I’m guessing an engineer got up and said, ‘This is what the math says. This is the optimum configuration. So this is what we’re gonna fly.’”
- “Jeff Bezos on “the most interesting thing” he observed in space”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE7f-I16u5A
- TALKING: Billionaires in space. The value of private exploitation of space access.
- NOW, TO OUR NORMAL NEWS LINE-UP:
- Need to share proof of vaccine? Here’s how to store your COVID-19 vaccination card on your smartphone; Brett Molina | USA TODAY | 2021 AUG 02
- MIKE: I’m not going into the details of the article now, but you can visit THINGWINGRADIO.COM and go to today’s show post to click on the Article link.
- NEW CDC GUIDANCE: All individuals should wear masks in K-12 schools, including those who are fully vaccinated; By Claire Shoop | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:01 PM Jul 27, 2021 CDT | Updated 4:05 PM Jul 27, 2021 CDT
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending all individuals—including fully vaccinated individuals—wear masks in K-12 schools. …
- CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced the new masking recommendations during a July 27 press conference. …
- Walensky said the change in guidance was prompted by recent data that shows fully vaccinated people infected with the delta variant—now the dominant variant in the U.S.—may be contagious and spread the virus to others. Still, Walensky said vaccinated individuals are responsible for a “very small” amount of transmission in the country, with most transmission occurring among unvaccinated individuals.
- Because a COVID-19 vaccine is not available for children age 11 and younger and there is a 30% vaccination rate among children ages 12-17, Walensky said the CDC is recommending all individuals regardless of vaccination status wear masks in K-12 schools.
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has previously prohibited school districts and other governmental entities from imposing a mask mandate. However, several Texas House Democrats sent a letter to Abbott July 23 asking him to reconsider the ban on mask mandates and allow local districts to offer virtual learning. …
- Walensky said masking is a personal choice, but that it is a temporary measure that can help drive down transmission rates. Updating the CDC’s mask guidelines was not a decision she or the organization made lightly, Walensky said. …
- Houston mask mandate might violate Texas governor’s order; JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press via CHRON.COM | Aug. 3, 2021Updated: Aug. 3, 2021 3:35 p.m.
- Houston city workers are being told they must resume wearing masks while on the job, a requirement that could go against Gov. Greg Abbott’s most recent executive order banning such mandates.
- Mayor Sylvester Turner issued the mask mandate on Monday due to a “recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in our community and in our workplace linked to the new delta variant.” …
- Last month, Abbott repeated his executive order banning mask mandates by any state, county or local government entity.
- Abbott has previously said that local governments attempting to impose mask mandates could be fined up to $1,000.
- Similar local mask mandates that appeared to be in conflict with state orders have faced legal action by the Texas Attorney General’s Office. …
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ANDREW: A thousand dollars? I’m so scared. Of course, it’s ridiculous that the Republican state government is effectively charging local governments for the privilege of trying to keep their residents safe. But the penalty is so laughable, it might as well not exist.
- ANDREW: The City of Houston is correct here. Just by plain common sense and concern for community welfare. Whatever legal juggling they have to do to make sure this mandate goes into effect, I’m behind 100%.
- ‘The governor’s power is just not absolute’ | City, county attorneys believe new City of Houston employee mask mandate is legal; Mayor Sylvester Turner sent a memo to all city employees Monday about the mandate. By Adam Bennett | KHOU.COM | Published: 6:11 PM CDT August 3, 2021, Updated: 7:20 PM CDT August 3, 2021
- Starting Wednesday, City of Houston employees will have to wear masks in many situations.
- Mayor Sylvester Turner sent a memo to all city employees Monday about the mandate, which requires masks on city premises where social distancing isn’t possible for employees “able to medically tolerate” a face covering.
- It comes less than a week after an executive order from Gov. Greg Abbott banning mask mandates by cities, counties, and school districts.
- City of Houston Attorney Arturo Michel released the following statement:
- “The Governor’s order exceeds his limited authority under the Texas Disaster Act in a variety of ways. In particular, the Governor has no authority to suspend the disaster authority of local governments that the Legislature has expressly given them. The City also interprets the Governor’s order to limit the City’s ability to regulate the general public during a declared disaster, not to encompass or limit the City’s rights as an employer to establish reasonable and necessary workplace safety rules for its employees.
- The mask requirement is consistent with CDC guidance, provides a safe workplace for City employees, including first responders, and will, therefore, minimize the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace and other adverse effects the City and its employees have experienced during this pandemic.”
- Christian D. Menefee, Harris County attorney, tweeted his support for Mayor Turner’s decision on Monday. …
- KHOU reached out to Gov. Abbott’s office Tuesday afternoon about whether the mayor’s mask mandate violates the recent executive order, as well as whether the state will challenge the new rule in court, but has not heard back.
- Greg Abbott is a threat to students and teachers; by Charles Kuffner | COM | Aug 3rd, 2021
- QUOTED FROM THE TEXAS TRIBUNE (“With school openings near, parents and teachers say state leaders have stripped them of weapons against COVID-19”, July 30, 2021)
- : Parents who are concerned by the lack of mask mandates are left with few options this school year. While Texas provided funds for remote learning during the start of the pandemic, a bill that would have funded it for this year died in the Texas Legislature after the House Democrats broke quorum. Another bill that did pass made it impossible for the TEA to use the same emergency powers to fund remote learning this year, according to an agency spokesperson.
- Although some school districts, including Austin and Pflugerville ISDs, have announced online options, several others canceled their virtual learning plans for the upcoming school year. …
- … [P]hysicians, health experts, teachers and advocates [are] pleading with the governor to allow school districts to require masks, one of the most consistent viable tools against the spread of the coronavirus, and for parents to have their kids wear them even if there isn’t a mandate.
- This fall’s hoped-for, easier return to school, with lowered spread of COVID-19 and more of the population vaccinated, has disappeared with the emergence of the more-contagious delta variant of the virus, which experts say is fueling the surge and likely spreading rampantly among the unvaccinated.
- Kuffner says in part in his comments: “Do everything you can to vote Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, Ken Paxton, and every pro-COVID Republican out of office in 2022. I mean, do I even have to explain this? There are plenty of consequences on us right now. There have to be some consequences for them. If there aren’t, we’ll never get past where we are now.”
- MIKE: All of this reminded of a famous moment in the US House by Alan Grayson: “The Republican Health Plan” on Wed September 30, 2009, [VIDEO] – 1) Don’t get sick. 2) If you get sick, die quickly.
- And nothing has really changed. Republicans seem more than willing to kill us in the name of a vibrant economy and profits for some.
- ANDREW: This is interesting: it’s the first time I’ve heard of a real consequence of the State Lege Democrats’ gambit to block those new voting restrictions. The killing of remote learning. Of course, if the Republicans cared about the lives of anyone but themselves, they would have renewed remote learning funds on their own.
- Federal judge temporarily blocks Gov. Greg Abbott’s order to pull over vehicles with migrants, which drew racial profiling concerns; The U.S. Justice Department sued Abbott and Texas after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the order “dangerous and unlawful.” by Reese Oxner | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Aug. 3, 2021, Updated: 5 hours ago
- A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Gov. Greg Abbott and the state of Texas from ordering state troopers to pull over drivers transporting migrants “who pose a risk of carrying COVID-19.”
- S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted a temporary restraining order against Abbott’s move … while the case continues to unfold. The U.S. Justice Department sued Abbott and Texas on Friday, a day after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland threatened to take legal action if Abbott didn’t rescind his order, calling it “dangerous and unlawful.” …
- Cardone still must decide whether Texas’ move is constitutional.
- ANDREW: This is inhumane. It’s a state targeting a population it deems disposable and harassing and arresting them to do God knows what with them. It’s the kind of thing you might expect from an authoritarian regime, and perhaps the fact that yes, it can happen here, says something about how free our society actually is. I’ll admit, there’s hope of the state sending another part of the state to stop itself, but I don’t believe we can rely on that. Even with people watching, the US has given itself a pass on heinous behavior before.
- The Downfall of NYS Gov. Andrew Cuomo
- Cuomo is currently serving his 3rd term as NYS Governor. There are currently numerous calls for his resignation after a sexual harassment investigation by the NYS AG. If Cuomo resigns, or is impeached and removed, then what?
- Gubernatorial lines of succession in the United States – NYS – Wikipedia: Lt Governor succeeds Governor.
- The current NYS Lt. Gov Kathy Hochul – Ballotpedia
- Hochul [is a Democrat who has also run] as an Independence Party, Working Families Party, and Women’s Equality Party fusion ticket candidate.
- What to Know About Cuomo’s Potential Successor, Kathy Hochul; By Chas Danner | NYMAG.COM/INTELLIGENCER | Updated Aug. 3, 2021
- Should Cuomo ultimately step down or be forced out before his third term ends next year, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul would take over and become the first female governor in the history of the state. …
- Before running for lieutenant governor, Hochul had a reputation as a moderate Democrat — which was arguably a political necessity where she had run for office upstate. …
- As with other upstate Democrats, like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Hochul’s politics have shifted in statewide office. She reversed her position on driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants and backed the SAFE Act, which is one the toughest gun control laws in the country, for instance, and has been in ideological lockstep with the Cuomo administration ever since she joined it. Hochul has described her evolution, and past positions, as a matter of trying to best represent her constituents and their views.
- Former Erie County Democratic chair Len Lenihan told the Associated Press he calls her “a Joe Biden Democrat,” and that she “appeals to the base Democratic voter, but also has the ability to go beyond that.”
- ALSO: Kathleen Courtney Hochul (/ˈhoʊkəl/ HOH-kull; born August 27, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as Lieutenant Governor of New York since 2015. — Wikipedia
- Bacon may disappear in California as pig rules take effect; By SCOTT McFETRIDGE | APNEWS.COM | July 31, 2021
- MIKE: This isn’t just about bacon. It’s a macro economics and food supply story.
- At the beginning of next year, California will begin enforcing an animal welfare proposition approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 that requires more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens, and veal calves. National veal and egg producers are optimistic they can meet the new standards, but only 4% of hog operations now comply with the new rules. Unless the courts intervene or the state temporarily allows non-compliant meat to be sold in the state, California will lose almost all of its pork supply, much of which comes from Iowa, and pork producers will face higher costs to regain a key market.
- Animal welfare organizations for years have been pushing for more humane treatment of farm animals, but the California rules could be a rare case of consumers clearly paying a price for their beliefs. …
- MIKE: I think we need to discuss that statement of “a rare case”, although “clearly” may be the key word. How much of a price increase qualifies as “clearly”? Is it more a case of the cost increase being buried in a more complex system, making it hard to see the increase overall? Emission control systems in cars, trucks and other systems are examples of products we buy that bury the costs of environment enhancements in the overall price of what we consume.
- The National Pork Producers Council has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for federal aid to help pay for retrofitting hog facilities around the nation to fill the gap. Hog farmers said they haven’t complied because of the cost and because California hasn’t yet issued formal regulations on how the new standards will be administered and enforced.
- Barry Goodwin, an economist at North Carolina State University, estimated the extra costs at 15% more per animal for a farm with 1,000 breeding pigs. …
- At one typical hog farm in Iowa, sows are kept in open-air crates measuring 14-square-feet when they join a herd, and then for a week as part of the insemination process before moving to larger, roughly 20-square foot group pens with other hogs. Both are less than the 24 square feet required by the California law to give breeding pigs enough room to turn around and to extend their limbs. Other operations keep sows in the crates nearly all of the time so also wouldn’t be in compliance.
- The California Department of Food and Agriculture said that although the detailed regulations aren’t finished, the key rules about space have been known for years. …
- The pork industry has filed lawsuits but so far courts have supported the California law. The National Pork Producers Council and a coalition of California restaurants and business groups have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to delay the new requirements. …
- “Why are pork producers constantly trying to overturn laws relating to cruelty to animals?” [asked Josh Balk, who leads farm animal protection efforts at the Humane Society of the United States]. “It says something about the pork industry when it seems its business operandi is to lose at the ballot when they try to defend the practices and then when animal cruelty laws are passed, to try to overturn them.” …
- The California rules also create a challenge for slaughterhouses, which now may send different cuts of a single hog to locations around the nation and to other countries. Processors will need to design new systems to track California-compliant hogs and separate those premium cuts from standard pork that can serve the rest of the country.
- At least initially, analysts predict that even as California pork prices soar, customers elsewhere in the country will see little difference. Eventually, California’s new rules could become a national standard because processors can’t afford to ignore the market in such a large state. …
- MIKE: So the question here is, how much are we willing to pay to treat our food animals a little better while they live? But what about consumers who can barely afford meat now, or already can’t afford it at all?
- ANDREW: I’m not opposed to eating meat, but I do think we need to do a lot more to make sure we’re eating meat ethically. That starts with making sure that meat producers are keeping their animals in conditions that won’t harm their wellbeing. As with any big change, there will be knock-on effects, but they’ll stabilize over time, and government programs can help people endure them. Perhaps SNAP or a similar food stamp program should cover more meat products or increase people’s allowances to help lower-income people weather the change in meat prices that could come from this.
- Biden Has Blunt Words for Republican Governors on Vaccines: ‘Get Out of the Way’; President Biden signaled a new level of frustration with Republican leaders in states where the highly contagious Delta variant is surging. By Katie Rogers | NYTIMES.COM | Aug. 3, 2021
- President Biden signaled a new level of frustration on Tuesday with Republican leaders in states where the highly contagious Delta variant is surging, telling governors in Texas and Florida to help fight the pandemic or “get out of the way.” … Mr. Biden singled out Florida and Texas, where cases have risen sharply, for criticism. As cases rise, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida has signed an executive order allowing children to attend school without a mask, and Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas has barred mask and vaccination mandates. …
- In his speech, Mr. Biden emphasized that the people who got sickest from the Delta variant were unvaccinated, and that his administration was working to make vaccines available to every person who needed one. Fully vaccinated people are well protected against the worst outcomes of Covid-19 caused by the Delta variant. …
- Biden reiterated his earlier announcement that federal workers must be vaccinated or subject to strict requirements. … “Even Fox has vaccination requirements,” Mr. Biden said.
- ANDREW: This is the kind of attitude that is necessary with conservatives in power. They have every intention to do whatever they want, and the only thing that can stop them is having the same determination to do what you want, and more power than or an advantage over them so you can actually put it in practice. The Democrats seem reluctant to learn this lesson, but actions like this suggest that maybe, just maybe, there’s hope.
- Amazon violated labor law in Alabama union election, labor official finds; Workers at a warehouse in Bessemer voted against joining a union in April, but union officials immediately claimed the company had illegally meddled in the voting process. By April Glaser and Ezra Kaplan | NBCNEWS.COM | Aug. 2, 2021, 7:05 PM CDT / Updated Aug. 2, 2021, 7:33 PM CDT
- The National Labor Relations Board has determined that Amazon violated labor law after workers at its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse tried to join a union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Workers Union said Monday.
- Workers at the Alabama warehouse voted against forming a union in April. Representatives of the union immediately challenged the outcome on the grounds that Amazon engaged in illegal interference with employees’ votes to discourage them from unionizing. …
- … The union accused Amazon of creating an “atmosphere of confusion, coercion and fear of reprisals” among workers at the facility.
- The director who presided over the NLRB hearing will recommend whether a new election is conducted, the union said in a statement, but the final decision whether workers will be allowed to cast new ballots and form a union ultimately lies with the director of the regional NLRB office based in Atlanta. …
- Some workers at the warehouse in Bessemer alleged that Amazon went to great lengths to discourage them from voting for the union, including hanging signs over toilets in bathroom stalls, conducting mandatory meetings about the downsides of joining a union and hiring people to walk around the warehouse to talk to workers about why they should not join a union …
- A core accusation by the union is that Amazon illegally arranged for a U.S. Postal Service mailbox to be installed in the fulfillment center parking lot during the election. The union alleged that it gave the impression that Amazon might have had access to the secret ballots cast by workers or that workers might be under surveillance as they cast their votes. Amazon is alleged to have moved forward with installing the mailbox even after the NLRB denied its request to place ballot drop boxes onsite. …
- The Bessemer union vote partly set the stage for nationwide organizing at the retail giant. On June 24, the Teamsters announced a unionizing campaign called the “Amazon Project.” The union committed to spend whatever money was necessary to make the campaign successful.
- For a grassroots campaign to organize workers at the Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, the NLRB decision was welcome news.
- “It’s definitely exciting news. It is going to encourage workers that this process can be productive,” said Chris Smalls, whom Amazon fired after he organized a walkout protest over lack of Covid protections in March 2020. He said the group of workers there is close to filing with the NLRB for its own elections.
- “The same type of union-busting tactics that were happening in Bessemer happened up here in Staten Island,” Smalls said. “To see the NLRB intervene down there gives us confidence to keep working to organize up here.”
- Many of the Amazon workers who spoke out against the lack of safety at work during the pandemic and tried to organize their colleagues to push for stronger health protections claimed that they were retaliated against, according to an investigation by NBC News in March. The reporting found that the number of charges filed with the NLRB accusing Amazon of interfering with workers’ rights to organize more than tripled during the pandemic.
- Amazon union election results should be scrapped over improprieties, NLRB officer recommends; The union that lost the initial vote said the recommendation comes from a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer who wrote that Amazon’s tactics improperly skewed union election results. By Jay Greene | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | Aug 2, 2021 at 8:39 p.m. EDT
- Amazon improperly pressured Alabama warehouse workers to vote against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and should hold a new union election, according to recommendations from a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer.
- The NLRB had not released the filing , but the union and Amazon put out statements confirming the recommendation. The NLRB will likely make the hearing officer’s report public Tuesday, after redacting some details it believes should remain private.
- The recommendation stems from the fiercely contested election at a warehouse that ended in April with a resounding defeat for the union. Workers rejected unionization by a more than 2-to-1 margin, a loss for the RWDSU and labor groups broadly. During the nearly two-month mail-in balloting, the union drew support from leaders at the AFL-CIO as well as liberal politicians nationally, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams.
- The recommendation will now move to the NLRB’s regional director in Atlanta, which oversaw the election, to issue a ruling. That decision could take several weeks, the agency has said. If the regional director upholds the recommendations, the earlier election results would be set aside and a new election would be called.
- “Throughout the NLRB hearing, we heard compelling evidence how Amazon tried to illegally interfere with and intimidate workers as they sought to exercise their right to form a union,” union president Stuart Appelbaum said in a statement. “We support the hearing officer’s recommendation that the NLRB set aside the election results and direct a new election.” …
- At the center of claims about the vote is a U.S. Postal Service mailbox that popped up in front of the warehouse just after voting started. The union alleged the mailbox could have led workers to think Amazon had a role in collecting and counting ballots, potentially influencing their votes. In its case, the union cited emails that show Amazon pressing the Postal Service to install a mailbox urgently just as the seven-week mail-in balloting began.
- An Amazon executive testified that the company pressed the Postal Service to install the mailbox as a way to make it easy for workers to cast ballots and denied any attempt to influence voting with its location.
- DHL Express buys electric cargo planes for U.S. package delivery from start-up Eviation; By Frank Holland @FrankCNBC@in/frank-holland-b9657883/ | CNBC | Published Tue, Aug 3 2021 6:02 AM EDT, Updated Tue, Aug 3 2021 7:09 AM EDTShare
- KEY POINTS:
- The 12 electric planes will be used for middle-mile transporting packages from major air hubs to smaller markets
- The Eviation Alice can carry up to 2,500 pounds at a top speed of 250 mph and can go 500 miles on a single charge.
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig 
Pingback: Weds, August 4, 2021, 11 AM (CT). TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV — Voter Information; Why does Jeff Bezos’s rocket look like that? An inquiry; Here’s how to store your COVID-19 vaccination card on your smartphone; All individuals should wear masks in K-12 sc