Racist terror in NYC

link to photo on Twitter

More than 60 percent of people arrested for fare evasion in the second quarter of the year were black or African-American, according to the most recent fare evasion data published by the NYPD. Another 25 percent were listed as “Hispanic.”
https://queenseagle.com/all/people-of-color-account-for-85-percent-of-fare-evasion-arrests 

Piñera suspends the rise in the price of the subway and the Army decrees curfew for Santiago

The president of Chile recalls after an unprecedented wave of violence in the capital and the rest of the country. The Army has decreed curfew for the Chilean capital...

...The military that took control of Santiago de Chile this morning has failed to stop the violent protests in different areas of the city, which over time have spread to different regions of the country. Twenty-one hours after decreeing the state of emergency for the capital, which restricts citizens the freedom of transfer and assembly for 15 days...

Look. See how important this is to the elites? They need us to buy and burn oil. They can't stand it when we use public transportation. This is because banks are leveraged out too far on oil. They want to raise fares -- -NOT TO GET MONEY --- but to reduce ridership and get more people driving.


Link to story: https://elpais.com/internacional/2019/10/19/actualidad/1571506476_320721.amp.html?

Oil and debt

Why has Chile declared a state of emergency to enforce a fare hike?

In 2005, conventional [easy-to-get] oil peaked. Every day the world's massive oil-dependent, fixed-asset, infrastructure depends more on difficult oil, expensive oil.

This infrastructure: highways, refineries, pipelines, suburbs, shipping, etc., is resting on huge amounts of debt that was created with the idea that oil would always be cheap.

Now the end of cheap oil has created a cul-de-sac. Oil price is too low for producers, but too high for consumers. But the oil-dependent infrastructure, if not fed, will bleed money.

They need people to use cars more and public transport less. So they raise fares.

They are literally beating up school girls to save the banking system.

Fare-free #publictransit would solve the problem of racist fare enforcement

It may sound strange, but the esoteric topic of fare collection has become one of the most polarizing in public transportation. And it’s likely to get worse—unless we start rethinking the idea of transit fares entirely. ...

...According to the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, 91 percent of summons for fare evasion in the District between January 2016 and February 2018 were issued to African-Americans.

https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2019/02/washington-fare-evasion-free-public-transport-train-ticket/582160/ 

What is fascism like?

The brutality of the Assad regime’s detention practices is not new. Forced disappearances, torture in detention, and extrajudicial killings were integral to Hafez al-Assad’s control over the country and his son has adopted a similar modus operandi. Since Syrians peacefully took to the streets to demand freedom in March 2011, tens of thousands of Syrians have been arrested and tortured; thousands reportedly have died in custody. Most of those arrested are “forcibly disappeared” — cut off from their families and loved ones, their locations and fate unknown. The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimates that 95,056 individuals remain forcibly disappeared today.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/418826-syrias-execution-of-us-citizen-shows-need-for-accountability? 

Why MbS will stay in power

A lot of people are engaging in wishful thinking. They are hoping that cutting up one's critics while still alive would cross a line that even the world's elites would not tolerate.

The opposite is true. This is just what they want. They love thugs. Then they can be "horrified" but benefit from the terror that the common people will suffer.

There is at least 50 trillion in cash and 150 trillion in debt.

Except for Kirkuk and what remains in KSA, cheap oil is gone. This cuts profits. So wealth is stored in cash and bonds. But debt just takes money out of what's left of productive economy and hastens the advent of default.

Hence the furious gas and oil wars. Well, not so much wars as civilian massacres. Because nations aren't fighting nations, it's the world elites, and the ten percent of people using 50% of resources, together against the worlds lower classes.

To keep their educated support in line, fascism is required. This is why MbS will remain.

Why Russia and Saudi Arabia get away with murder

#BREAKING #SHAFAH  #EUPHRATES

More footage shows local support for #IS at the Euphrates town Al-Shafah, never seen so many #IS fighters on bikes before. pic.twitter.com/YXHHoKt7Vx

— TheMoroccanArab (@MoroccanArab_) October 13, 2018

All projections for oil supply include a big boost from Iraq's Kirkuk field. However, in spite of incessant bombing, the area is not secure. The above film is shows the Islamic State is alive and well.

This means that oil shortage is a constant threat. This is what makes Russia and Saudi Arabia so powerful. They can destroy the US economy with the turn of a valve.

The US has trillions of dollars in liquid-fuel infrastructure. These are hard, fixed, assets. Roads, highways, bridges, suburbs, pipelines, tanker trucks, ports, ocean tankers, refineries, gas stations, parking lots, bureaucracy, car debt, car insurance, and on and on.

The US dependency on cars and sprawl is deep, wide, subsidized, and expensive. Above all, it is unsustainable. Unsustainable means: Can. Not. Continue.

What's different about Syria?

For a period longer than World War II, the government of Syria has been bombing and torturing its own people.

The capitalist system has created a monster. Seven billion people, with 10% living a wasteful existence that uses 150% of the worlds resources every year.

This system is unsustainable. The only solution is to deflate it, default the debt, and reduce the waste.

They can't do this because the system is one of competition, and if anyone drops out, his place is immediately filled by a competitor.

In Syria, we have the flash point of this war. A war between the energy haves and have-nots. Syria is strategically placed for fossil fuel sources and routes. Regional 'stability' will be maintained, no matter who has to die.

World capitalism against the energy have-nots

Ten percent of the world uses fifty percent of the energy and resources.

Capitalism must have a large pool of unemployed to keep wages down. To maintain such a pool requires that there be about 5 or 6 poor family members for every unemployed potential worker.

Now capitalism has reached the end of cheap oil. There are no profits, only rent.

All major governments are controlled by capitalist groups of bankers and billionaires. These are now all aligned against the poor people in Idlib, Syria.

They intend a massacre. As was the case with the atomic bombings of Japan, the purpose is to tell the poor and middle classes not to fight back.

Where is the front line in the fight against fascism? [hint: not on CNN]

Here is an example of a local fight for public transit. This is the most important fight.

www.idahopress I often hear people complain that Nampa has lousy public transit. The buses aren’t frequent enough, don't come close enough to my neighborhood to even be a reasonable option and really...who wants to stand in the cold or the blazing sun waiting for a bus?

You need to realize that this is NOT the fault of Valley Regional Transit. Funding for VRT comes from many sources, including support from each city they service. Caldwell, Boise, Meridian, BSU, CWI all "get it" and have voted to fund VRT at the level needed for the next year.

Instead, Nampa's council chose to cut funding and demand more service from VRT. This follows multiple presentations from VRT showing them the facts; recent surveys where Nampans indicated public transit should be improved; and a city health assessment revealing that transportation was one of four issues due to the large number of people who cannot afford a private vehicle.

Our council's plan for transportation is to simply spend millions of dollars for more roads, lanes, signals. In light of current and future growth, this single-minded approach is shortsighted and irresponsible.

US fascism will come from the center, not the right

The US billionaire elites are using their corporate media (including entertainment) to whip up division and distrust.

Through propaganda and distraction, the American people are prevented from drawing the connection between car-dependent culture and economic collapse. They cannot figure out that the source of the problem is also what they desire the most, the peaceful leafy suburb.

When it is needed, full suspension of "rights" will come with a liberal-center flavor. It will discipline the annoying "right wing," but it will implement a Syria-like regime.

Billionaire elites using time-tested strategy with Trump

They have done it many times throughout history. Ruling elites hire a thug, outside of their circle. He then deceives the people in this way: He rants and raves against his employers, and stirs the anger of the oppressed people.

Then he conflates the injustice of the elites with some oppressed minority, thereby diverting the anger of the people. In the meantime he commits all sorts of atrocities that need doing by the elites.

Then when he is done, they dispose of him in whatever way appropriate and take credit for undoing the monster [that they hired.]

What the end of cheap oil means for capitalism

Cheap oil allowed:

• fast population rise
• extensive liquid fuel infrastructure
• economic growth
• global warming blanket of carbon

Cheap oil is over. Now what? 

• no more profits
• mass unemployment
• consolidation of power and wealth
• end of human rights

Americans do not have the understanding needed to prevent fascism

People are noticing that the conditions in the US are drifting to fascism, and are asking how to stop it.

A lot of people think that as long as the middle class has some rights there is hope to turn things around.

But very few understand that the US is locked in to a liquid fuel system. The economics of unwinding trillions of dollars worth of fixed, hard, autosprawl assets do not compute. Even a financial crash would not be enough.

This is the power behind the racism and inequality. As long as a significant number of people see the leafy suburb as a goal. There will be no relief. 

#crisisactors, racism, #autosprawl meltdown

The US empire is in decline. There is no money to pay for the upkeep of all the highways, bridges, and cul-de-sacs.

A recent uptick in oil price caused a sudden correction in the stock market, while borrowed billions are spent on wars to keep the oil coming.

The staged school "shootings" are designed to ramp up racism and division. The elites want to divide us into "liberals" who call for more government control, and "conservatives" who want more guns for racist reasons.

They are working hard at dividing and distracting us. They will need us fighting each other when unemployment is suddenly 30 percent.

Americans: How we can support democracy in Egypt

By the end of World War II, it was clear that control of oil was critical to geopolitical power. The major powers vied for influence in the Middle East. The U.S. made a deal with the Saudi government to keep them in power in return for oil. The Saudis used extremist religion to enforce their rule. This extremism was, and still is fine with the U.S. government which over time has come more and more under the control of the oil industry.
This ample supply of oil enabled the U.S. to develop the auto and sprawl -- autosprawl. Autosprawl is extremely wasteful in many ways. The costs of autosprawl have been kept off the balance sheets of the oil companies (externalized), and passed on the the taxpayer, the environment, and future generations.
Propping up the Saudi government has been difficult and the U.S. has hedged its bets by backing other brutal regimes in the vicinity. Even resorting to outright invasion.
Egypt has played a key role for U.S. interests. But the regime has been so corrupt and brutal that people have finally had enough and have risen up. Our suburbs were built on their suffering. We must help them. Here is how.

1. Fight for free public transit: when transit is fare-free, ridership will go up, and more people will demand better service.
2. Oppose autosprawl subsidies. There are many. We detail them whenever we can. This is a good way to expose the fake "conservatives" who are all for cutting pensions, social security, and health-care coverage, but won't even mention oil subsidies, sprawl subsidies, or the highway lobby.
3. If you cannot do the first two. Then try to go car-free or at least ride public transit more.

Join us. Together we can make a difference for the heroes of the democracy struggle, in Egypt, and everywhere.