6/15/2022

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            That warm reception you received yesterday at the AFL-CIO event must have felt good. Hearing Pres. Liz Shuler say all those nice things must have warmed your heart. She seemed particularly pleased about your task force on worker unionizing & the effort to ban captive audience meetings where employers try to brainwash folks against the union. The Philly NBC station showed a guy saying you were “truly concerned about workers,” so it seems you got your point across. Unfortunately, the local stations seem to be the only ones covering the event, so only a few folks got the message.

            I hope your celebration of the 10th Anniversary of DACA gets more press. Jean Guerrero, writing in the LAT, suggests that you “organize livestreamed events to amplify the Dreamers’ voices and rally support for them.” She claims that Latinx voters turned out in droves in 2012 because OHB signed the DACA order. She called the Dreamers, “GOP kryptonite.” So amp up the volume on H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act of 2021which passed in March.

            On a different matter, I hope you heard that Tokyo recently announced it will invite 4 Myanmar military officers to attend its National Defense Academy’s training and education program. Please give PM Fumio Kishida (FK) a call & tell him to rescind that invitation. Remind him that the Burmese military committed genocide. The Japanese shouldn’t be teaching them any new tactics.

While you’re at it, encourage FK to shut down the academy. WWII taught the Japanese people that WINTA. Unfortunately, those who experienced the years of suffering caused by it are dying out. Growing up in Hiroshima, FK knows WINTA. Just give him some encouragement to return to his core values.

BYBS,