EXCLUSIVE: This is What Your Post Office Looks Like Now

Saturday , 8, August 2020 Up North Progressive Election 2020, MAGA, Sad! 4 Comments

Yesterday, August 7, 2020, while the new Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, made radical leadership changes to the United States Post Office, postal workers finished their shifts and went home. Under new rules imposed by DeJoy, any mail undelivered at the end of the shift must wait until the next day. Overtime to finish delivering the mail is no longer allowed. Post offices used to process all mail arriving at their station until all of the mail for that day went out for delivery. Not anymore. People already across the country already notice mail delays are a reality. This means people relying on the USPS to deliver money needed to pay rent, life-saving prescription medication, important documents with a deadline, are waiting days before their mail arrives.

If you’re wondering where your mail is, these pictures will show you. This is the post office delivering mail in northwestern Ohio. In the past workers would arrive to work and their processing stations were empty of mail. This is what they look like now when postal workers come in to work their shift thanks to new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

Before DeJoy abolished over time and multiple deliveries, mail was delivered the day it arrived. Now, workers process yesterday’s mail while today’s mail sits until the next day’s shift. Postal workers can’t finish processing mail before the end of their shift and the mail piles up until the next day. If your postal carrier is out sick, on vacation, or under COVID quarantine, the delay is even longer.

10,000 spoiled ballots failed to arrive on time in Michigan’s primary election on August 4, 2020, despite their postmark.

This is deliberate. Trump appointed generous campaign donor Louis DeJoy to do exactly what is happening to our mail delivery now. How many mail-in ballots will they spoil just by holding up the mail in November? Should I even mention Christmas?

Please, dear readers, share these photos everywhere you can.

The @MIGOP Racism Problem in Michigan is Much Bigger than Tom Eckerle

Friday , 7, August 2020 Up North Progressive COVID_19, MAGA, Trumpenreich Leave a comment

UPDATE! Tom Eckerle will resign his seat to the Leelanua County Road Commission on Monday, August 10, 2020





On Thursday, August 6, 2020, The northern Michigan county of Leelanau found the eyes of the world trained on them as the news broke that two days before, Tom Eckerle of the Leelanau County Road Commission, proudly said a racial slur in front of the other members of the commission before Chair Bob Joyce could call the meeting to order.  Despite calls to resign and condemnation from the community, Mr. Eckerle refuses to step down from the Road Commission.

If you think Tom Eckerle is the lone racist in Michigan, you couldn’t be more wrong. Eckerle is another symptom of the disease festering all over the state called the Republican Party. Toxic conservativeness, which includes misogyny, racism, homophobia, religious bigotry, and economic class warfare are the new ideals of the people who proudly belong to the party of Trump.

From the billboard in Lake County proclaiming Governor Whitmer is “little Hitler” to the signs in people’s yards cheering on their county sheriff for refusing to enforce the governor’s executive orders, so-called patriots flocked to the State Capital in Lansing in April waving confederate flags, carrying signs with swastikas and barged into the capital during legislative sessions armed to the teeth. They screamed for the lynching of the governor on social media and when those groups were removed for inciting violence they created new ones with new branding and circulated petitions lying about what the petitions were for to trick people into signing them.

Jack O’Malley, the state rep whose district includes Leelanau County condemned Tom Eckerle’s name-calling Thursday night by calling Eckerle stupid. O’Malley was behind the sheriffs of the four counties in his district to issue a press release stating they would not enforce Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders. O’Malley insists Governor Whitmer is singlehandedly destroying Michigan’s economy and driving people to commit suicide. O’Malley insists children can’t get COVID-19 so it’s okay to send them back to school this fall and adults are going to get infected with COVID-19 anyway so might as well open the economy back up so everyone in Michigan can get sick together. As long as we get back to work, it’s all good.



Racism is a widespread problem with Michigan’s Republican Party. Tom Eckerle said out loud what the rest of the Michigan GOP is thinking. After months of authority figures and residents refusing to wear a mask, refusing to socially distance in public, refusing to follow executive orders to keep people safe, we finally got to see a glimpse of what motivates these people every day.

Racists like Eckerle emboldened by the current political climate say racist things. Call them out on it and will double down. Eckerle won’t resign. He will say the n-word every time you ask him not to because he like the rest of his kind in Michigan believe they’re the real patriots.

The only way to force Eckerle out office is through a petition drive to recall him. We will have to wait and see what happens next. In the meantime, it’s 88 days until the November election. What can you do right now to make sure the GOP is voted out of office on November 3, 2020?

Michigan’s Primary Election is August 4, 2020, and You Still Have Time to Vote

Sunday , 2, August 2020 Up North Progressive COVID_19, Election 2020 Leave a comment

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The primary election is only two days away.  If you haven’t registered to vote yet or unsure if you’re registered to vote, it’s not too late! You can register to vote and even apply for an absentee ballot right up to election day!

To check if you’re registered to vote, simply click this link and use the form to check your voter registration status. Once you’re verified, you will have the opportunity to look at your ballot as it will appear at the polls on election day. This is also the location to check the status of your absentee ballot if you mailed it back to your local clerk.

On that page, you will see a link for “local clerk”. Click that link and your local clerk’s name, address, contact info, and most importantly, their pre-election weekend hours! will appear. For example, Up North Progressive’s local clerk will be open today, Sunday, August 2, 2020, from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Contact your local clerk, register to vote, and even apply and receive an absentee ballot today.

But DO NOT put that ballot in the mail after you voted at home! You will need to return your absentee ballot in person no later than 8:00 PM on Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Every voting precinct has a drop-off box. Contact your local clerk to find out where that box is located. Even better, once you receive your absentee ballot from the clerk, fill it out right there, and turn it in.

Remember, you will need some form of proof that you live in the voting precinct to receive a ballot. Your local clerk will need to see that proof before they can register you to vote and provide you with a ballot. Your driver’s license or state ID is perfect. 

You still have time to vote, but you need to do it as soon as possible! Absentee voting is easy.  This year it’s the safest way to exercise your right to vote as an American citizen and registered voter.

How to Lose the COVID Culture War by Following Your Own Bad Advice: In Pictures

Thursday , 30, July 2020 Up North Progressive COVID_19 Leave a comment



IN THE LAST 24 HOURS



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When your arguments are killing your people, maybe it’s time to rethink your arguments?

Interesting Drop-Down Menu You Got There Jack

Friday , 24, July 2020 Up North Progressive Election 2020 3 Comments

EDIT: Looks like they fixed it, but you can see what it looked like here!

 

Enbridge Wont Put Their Promise to Cover Losses Caused by Line 5 Tunnel in Writing: The Michigan Department of Natural Resources Politely Insists They Will

Thursday , 23, July 2020 Up North Progressive Enbridge Line 5, Environment Leave a comment

While Enbridge Line 5 is shut down until the state can figure out what exactly is going on, Michigan DNR Director Daniel Eichinger followed up his July 17, 2020 letter to Enbridge with another letter on July 22, 2020. The new letter requested Enbridge’s parent company in Canada to put in writing an agreement to cover the costs of cleaning up the Straits of Mackinac.

Enbridge’s corporate business in Canada doesn’t directly do business in Michigan. They set up several subsidiary companies in the United States to handle their business in Michigan and other states. Enbridge Inc. insists that the American subsidiaries will handle any cleanup costs if a spill would occur. Considering the quality level of work completed for the Kalamazoo River after Enbridge Line 6B, it only seems reasonable that the DNR wants assurance that a spill in the Straits of Mackinac won’t be handled in the same fashion.

“If Enbridge Inc. is really committed to providing financial assurance to the people of Michigan, they’ll enter into a written agreement to that effect. We will continue working around the clock to get these pipelines that transport crude oil out of the Great Lakes as soon as possible. While we continue this work, Enbridge Inc. must provide full financial assurance to the people of Michigan that the company will meet its obligations in the event there is a spill or some other disastrous damage to the Great Lakes.”

In the Enbridge letter to the Michigan DNR dated July 20, 2020, Vice President of US Operations Mike Koby tells Mr. Eichinger that they are following all agreements dated 2018 in regards to the safety and upkeep of Enbridge Line 5. Koby states that $1.878 billion to cover any liability is a generous amount. The US subsidiary companies are “more than sufficient” to handle the costs of any spill in the Straits.

If you don’t remember the details of the aftermath of Enbridge’s US subsidiaries cleaning up Line 6B, it included $177 million in fines and settlements with the feds, buying up 148 homes on the Kalamazoo River, replacing 5 miles of damaged pipeline, spending $1.2 billion cleaning up the river, and after years of dredging there is still oil in the river that requires testing for years to come.

And Enbridge Inc. already wrote off the Straits of Mackinac for $1.878 billion, payable by their US Subsidiaries only.

Michigan needs written assurance from Enbridge the parent company will be responsible for all clean up in the Straits. Daniel Eichinger is doing the right thing insisting they provide in writing they are responsible for the cleanup. Enbridge needs to look at the total value of their company and think hard about whether it’s really worth it.

Questions to Consider Before We Pack the Kids Up For School: COVID-19

Wednesday , 15, July 2020 Up North Progressive COVID_19, Section 16 Leave a comment



These are the tough questions Betsy “Cruella” DeVos or Donald “Dick Cheney Finger Puppet” Trump never considered when making threats to open the schools or the kids get no money. The following is a copy-paste with permission to share as much as possible.



  • If a teacher tests positive for COVID-19 are they required to quarantine for 2-3 weeks? Is their sick leave covered, paid?
  • If that teacher has 5 classes a day with 30 students each, do all 150 of those students need to then stay homes and quarantine for 14 days?
  • Do all 150 of those students now have to get tested? Who pays for those tests? Are they happening at school? How are the parents being notified? Does everyone in each of those kids’ families need to get tested? Who pays for that?
  • What if someone who lives in the same house as a teacher tests positive? Does that teacher now need to take 14 days off of work to quarantine? Is that time off covered? Paid?
  • Where is the district going to find a substitute teacher who will work in a classroom full of exposed, possibly infected students for substitute pay?
  • Substitutes teach in multiple schools. What if they are diagnosed with COVID-19? Do all the kids in each school now quarantine and get teste? Who is going to pay for that?
  • What if a student in your kid’s class tests positive? What if your kid tests positive? Does every other student and teacher have been around quarantine? Do we all get notified who is infected and when? Or because of HIPAA regulations are parents and teachers just going to get mysterious “may have been in contact” emails all year long?
  • What is this stress going to do to our teachers? How does it affect their health and well-being? How does it affect their ability to teach? How does it affect the quality of education they are able to provide? What is it going to do to our kids? What are the long-term effects of consistently being terrified?
  • How will it affect students and faculty when the first teacher in their school dies from this? The first parent of a student who brought it home? The first kid?
  • How many more people are going to die, that otherwise would not have if we had stayed home longer?”




Betsy says it’s time for parents to stop being selfish and think about the economy. Billionaires need us to make the sacrifice for their bottom line. Trump says other countries (unlike the US, actually adopted strict guidelines to bring the virus into check so life could get back to normal) are sending kids back to school so we can too (no, we can’t).



That’s the way, threats always work.

Cases on the rise, masks are mandatory, we’re likely going to be in another lockdown soon.This time there won’t be any trumpbux. That sweet extra $600 per week unemployment payment ends in 9 days.

But sure, let’s send the kids back to school and put people at risk of dying.

Stay Safe Toolkit offered to Michigan Businesses

Monday , 13, July 2020 Up North Progressive COVID_19, Governor Gretchen Whitmer Leave a comment



In Lansing today, the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity and Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration have online resources available for businesses to better follow Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s latest Executive Order. This order requires workers and customers in all businesses open to the public wear a mask while inside or in crowded spaces. Anyone who fails to comply must be refused service. Anyone violating the executive order is guilty of a misdemeanor and could pay a fine up to $500.00.

Businesses now must post signs instructing customers it is now illegal to enter without wearing a face covering. A printable poster is available online along with fact sheets, posters, guidelines, videos, and reopening checklist to keep workers and workspace safe during the pandemic. Jeff Donofrio, Director of LEO stated:

“By requiring everyone in their establishment to mask up, Michigan businesses can help keep their employees, workplaces and customers safe. Employers who violate the Governor’s Executive Orders, CDC guidance and OSHA Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID19 create additional hazards for workers and put the public at risk. We all must do our part to prevent the spread of this virus.”



The effectiveness of face coverings has been proven in studies such as one conducted in Germany during their response to slowing down infection of COVID in their population. The University of Washington provided scientific evidence that if 95% of the population wore masks in public, it could save the lives of 40,000 Americans. Goldman Sachs found that if the US required everyone to wear a mask, it would spare the nation’s GDP by 5 percent.

A list of best practices that employees need to use to protect themselves and their customers include:


  • Wash hands regularly for at least 20 seconds using warm water and soap.
  • Maintain 6 feet of social distancing with others.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently surfaces and tools.
  • If someone or you in your home are sick stay home.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
  • Practice self-screenings to check for any abnormal/new symptoms



For questions about workplace safety contact MIOSHA by calling 855-723-3219. To learn more about protecting Michigan’s workforce during the pandemic or visit Michigan.gov/COVIDWorkplaceSafety. You can find more information on staying safe during the COVID pandemic at Mask Up Michigan.

Information around this outbreak is changing rapidly. The latest information is available at michigan.gov/coronavirus and CDC.gov/Coronavirus.


CDC Urges Parents Get Childrens’ Vaccinations up to date Before School Begins in the Autumn

Thursday , 9, July 2020 Up North Progressive COVID_19, Section 16 Leave a comment

Michigan’s schoolchildren may have missed receiving required vaccinations during the COVID_19 pandemic that forced closing down the state’s schools to keep students and school staff safe. Today the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reminds parents now is the time to vaccinate children before the 2020-2021 school year begins.

It is crucial this school year for any students attending classes in person be up to date on their vaccinations. More Michiganders risk contracting preventable diseases without vaccinations. The CDC published a study in May that provided evidence that COVID_19 has significantly lowered routine vaccinations in the state. A Michigan study shows that less than half of 5-month-olds are up to date. Only half of the children between the ages of 1 to 3 years olds have all of their immunizations.

“It is concerning that so many children are behind on their vaccinations and susceptible to preventable diseases,” said Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS. “Vaccines are essential. It is important for caregivers to contact their healthcare provider and get children caught up on needed vaccines.”

The CDC urges parents to make sure their children’s vaccinations are caught up as soon as possible. With COVID, other seasonal diseases such as the flu will make the usual rounds with colder weather. All medical facilities have maintained the required essential routines for keeping visitors safe when they visit their doctor or other health care provider. Reducing the risk of children getting sick this school year needs to be a top priority for parents as they prepare for the new school year. Khaldun strongly encourages everyone who needs a flu shot this fall get one.

Parents who know their children need immunizations or are not sure should contact their medical clinic as soon as possible.  If a lack of insurance or paying for vaccines is a problem, Michigan Vaccines for Children will immunize children up to 18 years who are eligible for Medicaid, uninsured, under-insured, American Indian, or Alaskan Native.

Parents can also contact their local health department for more information or assistance. Call ahead, as health departments are limiting services due to COVID.

MDHHS and the IVaccinate campaign work together to help parents protect their children from preventable diseases.

4th of July 2020

Saturday , 4, July 2020 Up North Progressive Community Leave a comment