UAW's Biden Endorsement, OPEC Losing Power, Israeli Public vs. Netanyahu & the Criminal Underclass of Speeders (Roundup #4)
Roundup #4
UAW Endorses Biden and Calls Trump a Scab
UAW President Shawn Fain gave a rousing endorsement of Biden, hailing him as the first President ever to walk a picket line while detailing all the times Trump trashed the UAW and the labor movement. He also highlighted how Obama and Biden helped save the US auto industry during the 2008 financial crisis.
Biden should flat-out run on defending abortion rights and union rights. It’s a simple message that captures the broader themes of social and economic equality.
The Problematic Rise of US Oil Power- and the Collapse of OPEC’s Power
The US is producing more oil than any country in history, some 13 million barrels of it per day, plus record production in Brazil and Guyana, meaning OPEC plus its allies now produce less than half the world's oil.
OPEC+ can try to cut production to raise oil prices, but their power is increasingly limited with oil prices continuing to fall in recent months.
Biden overseeing the U.S. being the largest producer of oil in history is nothing for me to cheer for - but I somewhat enjoy pissing off Saudi Arabia et al. And if it puts a crimp in Russian revenues, that’s all to the good for weakening their war effort in Ukraine.
As I noted a couple of weeks ago, will the political press catch up with the business pages to challenge all the Republicans claiming Biden has undermined US oil production. Just this week, Senator Marsha Blackburn blasted Biden for supposedly having “destroyed US energy independence.” Community notes on twitter challenged her but the press is still mostly rolling over for GOP lies on the issue.
How Long Will Netanyahu Be Able to Block Peace?
A new poll shows a small majority of Israelis would “back a US plan for ending the war that would see the release of all remaining hostages, Saudi Arabia agree to normalize relations with Israel, and…agree to the eventual establishment of a demilitarized Palestinian state.”
Netanyahu has rejected similar proposals and the question is how long Israelis will put up with him blocking any serious agreement to move towards peace in the region.
The irony of course is that Rep. Rashid Tlaib was censured for calling for freedom for Palestinians from the "river to the sea" while many of the same politicians will likely praise Netanyahu for demanding Israeli dominance over the "river to the sea."
Why Aren’t Lawbreaking Car Drivers Attacked by the “Law and Order” Crowd?
More people are killed by cars than due to homicide. That is a core reality that the law and order, war-on-crime folks largely ignore.
New York City’s Comptroller Brad Lander did an audit of speed cameras in the City and found that literally millions of lawbreaking speeders are escaping punishment by illegally obscuring their license plates, doubling down on their crimes, and making it clear it’s premeditated. And it’s costing the City $100 million in lost fines, highlighting how high the financial burden is for the City, aside from the lost lives and financial destruction manslaughter-by-vehicle causes to its victims.
The tragedy is that the speed cameras are working to deter speeding among the vast majority of drivers: Lander found that 65% of those who have received a ticket have largely stopped speeding and received no more than two tickets since the speed program started.
But the use of obscured or no license plates by the criminal underclass of speeders to escape ticketing has been skyrocketing in recent years.
But Mayor Adams would rather spend hundreds of millions of dollars to have cops scrolling on their phones ticketing fare jumpers - who don’t endanger any lives - than go after this criminal scourge.