Mediaboss Marketing

Dear Zoomers,

You were raised to believe that you could change the world. You were told by older generations that you would fix the problems they created: climate change, wars, gun violence, inequality, racism, sexism, homophobia. No one can say you didnt try.

Growing up, you saw the racist murders of Trayvon Martin in 2012 and Michael Brown in 2014, sparking protests across the country. Though you were only children when it happened, some of you took to the streets. And you watched in horror when, after months of protest, their murderers walked free.

Six years later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, over four hundred fifty major protests kicked off around the country in response to the police murder of George Floyd. With an estimated 15 to 25 million participants, the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprising was the largest protest movement in American history.

Yet the Democrats nominated two champions of mass incarceration and neoliberal austerity for their presidential ticket, while congressional Democrats just kneeled symbolically. Two of the countrys largest protest movements, six years apart, called attention to the same problem on which no progress seemed to have been made.

In between these bookends, you took part in other important movements. Bernie Sanderss presidential campaigns introduced a new generation to democratic socialism but were crushed by the Democratic establishment. National walkouts during March for Our Lives called to end mass shootings and gun violence, the 2019 Climate Strike shouted for climate action around the world. And still, you were ignored by the politicians and the capitalists who funded them.

All this has made many of you cynical. You might feel that all hope is gone, that climate disaster is coming for us all, and nothing we can do will save us. You dont want to be jaded, but you cant help it.

Its an understandable feeling. But were here to tell you that its wrong. Thats because the world is changing in our favor and you have a crucial role to play in pushing that change further.

These movements failure to win their demands is not for lack of effort. Economic and political elites are incredibly powerful, and to beat them, we need to build power of our own. Right now, the labor movement is showing us how its done.

When hundreds of thousands of teachers went on strike in states like West Virginia and Arizona starting in 2018, we saw what can happen when ordinary people fight back with the power of organized labor they win. Many of you walked out with your teachers, fighting for the public education that you deserve. Not only did your teachers win higher wages, better funding, and more respect. They also reintroduced the idea of the strike and the union to American society.

Now your generation is at the forefront of another breakthrough. Against all odds, exploited and mistreated workers in Staten Island, New York won the first ever union election at Amazon. These eight thousand warehouse workers, many of them young and pissed off just like you, beat a multimillion-dollar anti-union campaign by one of the most powerful companies in world history.

Meanwhile, workers at two hundred Starbucks locations have announced their goal of unionizing with Starbucks Workers United (SWU), winning at eighteen stores so far. SWU is beating one of the biggest restaurant chains in the world, with over 9,000 locations in the US. And theyre proving its possible to organize the food service sector, where almost 10 million people worked by 2020 but few are unionized.

These two companies set standards for key parts of the economy. If workers win unions, better wages, and better working conditions at Starbucks and Amazon, they will advance the cause of the whole working class and inspire millions of workers at other companies to organize, too.

Young people are at the heart of recent Starbucks and Amazon wins. An Amazon Labor Union (ALU) leader told Jacobin that the average age of ALU organizers was twenty-six. Another leader proclaimed, The youth made a statement. Laila Dalton, a union activist recently fired for organizing her Arizona Starbucks, is only nineteen.

At both Starbucks and Amazon, workers your age are leading the charge to revitalize the labor movement and change history.

You might not have planned to become a labor activist, or become an activist at all. But a revitalized labor movement will be central to winning much more than just better wages and conditions and you (yes, you) can play a key role in those wins.

Unions are central in the fights against sexism, homophobia, racism, war, and climate disaster. This is because society doesnt function if workers stop working.

The labor movement at its best has been central to fighting racism, on and off the job. Women have always organized at work to fight sexual harrassment. Unions have substantially reduced wage inequality between black and white workers, and between men and women.

We need strong unions to win better public schools, tuition-free college, student debt forgiveness, and universal health care and childcare all of which would dramatically reduce racial and gender inequality.

Massive labor struggles won the New Deal in the 1930s. Without the leverage of a strong labor movement now, climate activists will have to rely on the goodwill of politicians and their billionaire donors two groups whose interests directly clash with a real climate solution. Only an organized working class can save us from climate disaster.

Today you are protesting police violence, climate disaster, war, homophobic and transphobic laws, and abortion bans across the country. Progressive candidates, many of them young activists like you, are challenging business as usual. These movements are incredibly important, and have inspired workers at Amazon, Starbucks, and elsewhere to organize at work.

There is now an opening for you to join those workplace fights and rebuild union power.

The world often doesnt change bit by bit. Long periods of quiet submission by average people are followed by earthquakes revolts and revolutions by people who just a few years or even weeks earlier seemed resigned to accept their oppression forever.

Whenever this transformation has happened in modern history, young people like you have played central roles.

This was true of the Civil Rights Movement that ended Jim Crow segregation, and the movements in both the United States and Vietnam that stopped the Vietnam War. It is also true of the upsurge that built the modern labor movement in the 1930s.

In the roaring 1920s, capitalism was ascendant, and the labor movement was weaker than ever. Even once the Great Depression struck in 1929, throwing a quarter of US workers out of work, resistance was muted. Companies crushed union after union. As labor historian Irving Bernstein writes in The Lean Years, Workers on the way down were in no mood to improve, far less to reorganize, society.

But in 1934, their mood changed a lot. Three massive strikes in 1934 shook the working class from its cynicism.

First, in Toledo, Ohio, where workers at the Auto-Lite car parts company sick of dangerous conditions, low wages, and job insecurity went on strike for union recognition, supported by thousands of unemployed workers organized by a socialist organization, the American Workers Party.

On Wednesday, May 23, in front of a pro-union crowd of ten thousand, police arrested strike leaders and beat an elderly man. The crowd exploded. With their bare fists and rocks, writes Art Preis in Labors Giant Step, the workers fought a six-day pitched battle with the National Guard. Toledo strikers won the sympathy of the community, with forty thousand people rallying in the city center and forcing the withdrawal of troops. The company gave up. Auto-Lite workers won a union and a raise.

At almost the same time, massive showdowns kicked off between striking workers and company-friendly police in Minneapolis, led by truck drivers, and in San Francisco, by longshore workers. Yet again, workers showed their power.

The most important things these strikes won was not higher wages or union recognition, but a new consciousness among American workers. By the end of the decade, millions of workers carried out their own strikes and joined unions.

Terrified of the emboldened workers and the growing popularity of radical ideas, elites knew that workers were now in the mood to reorganize society. As one Congressperson fretted in 1934, You have seen strikes in Toledo, you have seen Minneapolis, you have seen San Francisco . . . but . . . you have not yet seen the gates of hell opened, and that is what is going to happen from now on. Politicians, desperate to avoid more unrest, promoted the progressive legislation of the New Deal to try to placate workers.

Many of the young people on the front lines were children of immigrants who believed in the American Dream. Instead, they faced the nightmare of American capitalism: poverty wages and dangerous conditions for workers, misery and homelessness for millions of unemployed. These young workers refused to accept the status quo, and they changed the world. You can, too.

There are many ways you can join this fight. If you have a job that you know needs a union now, you can build one. Established unions and organizations like the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) can help you figure out how to do that.

You can get a job at Amazon or Starbucks and organize with your coworkers, where recent victories will likely inspire them to join the movement. Or you can get a job in a sector that is already unionized, like public education, health care, public transit, or construction, or work at important unionized companies like UPS.

Young radicals today can help to transform the labor movement from the bottom up put the movement back in the labor movement, as the labor organization Labor Notes slogan goes by getting a job and organizing at work. This rank-and-file strategy was key to the upsurge in the 1930s, and something socialists are pursuing again today. You can meet and learn from thousands of other labor activists at the Labor Notes conference this summer.

From the auto workers of the 1930s to Starbucks and Amazon workers today, young people like you have shown they have the power to shake the earth. So we ask you: Are you ready to rebuild the labor movement and make history?

Read the rest here:
Dear Gen Z: Now Is the Time to Join the Labor Movement and Change the World - Jacobin magazine

Breadcrumb Trail Links

Publishing date:

KILLER FEESWhen will our provincial politicians understand it is not the actual price per kilowatt of energy, or the price per kilojoule of natural gas that is killing consumers? It is all the add on fees like administration levies and distribution fees; (plus) more that makes gas and electricity so expensive for every homeowner. Then there is GST and carbon tax, or tax on a tax, to make things worse. The UCP will enact a rebate, next winter, should the prices go over a pre-determined price. Again, the base price is not the root of the problem. If gas and electricity was free and consumers had to just pay for all the add ons, heating and lighting a home would still be very pricey. And then there is idiot Justin Trudeau. He only believes the CT is only found at the gas pumps when filling, or on the natural gas bill. He clearly does not understand how the CT can be found and is attached onto every item associated with everyday life. Why? Because Trudeau has not paid for anything out of his own pocket since 2015. And before that is questionable as well. Canadian taxpayers are filling his pantry and fridge, as well as heating and lighting Rideau Cottage. So Trudeau is completely unaware and oblivious to what is going on within Canada. This can be said for a lot of issues, but inflation and cost of living do not exist within the Trudeau household.ROLLY KLAEPATZ(This inflation is making it harder for every Canadian living from paycheque to paycheque, and even worse for those deeper in need.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

AN HONEST DOLLARS.I. Petersen makes a good point. If we want an effective economic system, we need to ensure that it incentivizes good behaviour. If the tax code is set up to encourage laziness by rewarding people who accrue passive income through capital gains, instead of rewarding people who have to work a full week to earn the same income, then it is punishing people who have to work for a living. Its not a lot of effort to invest in a solid index fund that gives good returns, you simply put your money in and you get free money as return on interest for doing literally nothing. This system also creates income inequality because the amount of passive income one gets is proportional to their wealth. People become more wealthy by being wealthy, in a vicious cycle. Meanwhile, a single worker is only able to work for 16 waking hours a day, and their paycheque then gets eaten up by the rising cost of living combined with stagnant wages. Maybe we should adjust capital gains tax to be as high as income taxes, so that the economy supports people who contribute instead of wealthy freeloaders.KEVIN WEBSTER(But it wont go anywhere insinuating people are wealthy freeloaders.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

SOCIALISM FAILSRe: ITS ABOUT CARING, letter, April 10. Thats all fine and dandy, but reality paints a different picture. In fact, communist socialism as defined by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels has never prevailed over the ages. The United Socialist Soviet Republic, or U.S.S.R., is the classic example. When it imploded under Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 the United States of America under Ronald Reagan celebrated the largest victory of the 20th century for capitalism, by winning the Cold War. It was the ultimate showdown between communism and capitalism a.k.a. the free market economy. Socialist communism will never prevail in the long run, as it requires totalitarian dictatorships where their own people are fighting this political system from within, and economic ambitions and personal incentives no longer exist. It is quite possible that the present Russian socialist communism under Vladimir Putin may fail again, as he has too many opponents within his Russia. North Korea, Venezuela and even China will eventually fail because of their socialist communist ambitions.CASPAR PFENNINGER(Just say no to socialism.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

BAD MOVE, WILLJust a comment from an old story now. The academy suspends Will Smith for 10 years and his reputation takes a big dive. He not only embarrasses himself as well as his family but pretty much any of his homies for slapping Chris Rock with a girly man slap and not even get a stagger or head shake from the comedian, who is quite smaller than Smith. Chris Rock showed a great deal of self control and class by brushing off the incident with great professional behaviour and in doing so made Will Smith a real small man in the eyes of Hollywood, but more importantly his friends who may chicken at his slap on Mr. Rock, that will do more damage to his ego than any suspension from Hollywood ever will.KEN UHREN(He really hurt his brand with that behaviour.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

DITCH THE FLUORIDESo Ottawa is going to spend billions on a national dental-care program, specifically aimed at low- and medium-income Canadians. The program is supposed to be up and running by the end of the year for children under 12, by the end of next year for those under 18, seniors and those with disabilities, and fully implemented by 2025. So why is Calgary still moving forward on a multi-million dollar fluoridation program aimed at low- and middle-income residents, when the federal program is supposed to cover everyones needs from cradle to grave? Is this what they call a two-tier health care? Spend millions promising to eradicate cavities at a local level, but just in case that doesnt work out, spend billions more nationally to make sure local failures dont become national failures. Just another example of fiscally responsible local leadership and why your taxes keep climbing.PAUL BAUMBERG(One is purely preventative so you dont need the other so much, no?)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

GO AWAY, GREENIESReally? Groovy Steve Guilbeault, the Green Jesus of Montreal? Quite the promotion for an attention desperate roof-stomper looking to scare the wits out of Colleen Klein. As usual, the save the world pose was just that. No resemblance to the Yeshua I know who was emphatically not about crucifying His neighbours. As long as Greenpeace is ruling the country, Jason Nixons civil disobedience within Confederation action-plan has great merit. In fact, its my kinda war. Where do I sign up? Nobody asked for these tree-humping bozos to shove their religion down our throats. In fact, if were so cranked about getting rid of the premier that got us through a uniquely-terrible situation with at least a few freedoms intact, why arent we getting behind Jason Nixon? Forget the bottom-feeders and swine in the pines.GUY PLECASH(OK.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

SORRY CHARESTSo, Jean Charest says that Pierre Poilievre should resign from the Conservative leadership race. He said Pierre supported the truck convoy, so he is not fit to run. Well, I dont know what show Charest was watching because I saw it differently. Pierre supported the democratic freedom of peaceful assembly. There wasnt any violence in the Ottawa protest. It might have caused disruption but there wasnt any violence. Secondly, wasnt it nice to have someone take the time to go down to the people and see what was happening? Charest should look in his closet. Was he not working for Huawei while our two Michaels were incarcerated in China? Now that looks more of a reason for Charest to resign. Maybe he could simply come up with some unique ideas to boost his popularity rather than hooking on to a very controversial subject. Hes also got that university student protest in Quebec that doesnt look too good on him. So, Ill stand by Pierre and his values. Hes standing by his objectives and values and giving the Canadian people some hope for a better future! We dont need a liberal at the head of the Conservative party. Its time for a change and Jean Charest is not the answer!DIANE BEILNER(Is Canada excited for yesterdays man? Likely not.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

CARBON NIGHTMARERegarding Brian Lilleys article about how Justin Trudeau is a climate hypocrite, it is actually much worse than indicated in the article. In the article, an online carbon calculator is used to determine Trudeaus flying carbon footprint. The online carbon calculators are based on commercial airliners flying at around 95% capacity. Thus for example, if a Boeing 737 MAX were flying from Ottawa to Calgary with 95 passengers (assuming maximum passenger load of 100) the carbon calculator would provide a good value of the carbon emissions of each passenger on that flight. But if the plane was only carrying 30 passengers, then the carbon emissions for each passenger would be about triple and this is generally not reflected in online carbon calculators. Since Trudeau doesnt fly commercially, but instead on government jets, and rarely with 100 people on a plane, Trudeaus carbon footprint is much worse than noted in Brian Lilleys article. The fact that Trudeau is such a blatant climate hypocrite has been previously discussed by engineers in August of 2021. Trudeau truly is the Prince of Privilege in all things that he does, while ordinary Canadians must suffer his follies.S. ALLAN SHELLEY(Yep, a gem.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

RIP VAN CHARESTAfter a 10-year hibernation from Canadian politics, this adept political opportunist has shockingly awoken from a deep sleep. Jean Charest has a checkered history in politics, including a forced resignation after attempting to interfere in the affairs of a Quebec Superior Court judge. He is also a political chameleon, morphing his political colours from a Progressive Conservative cabinet post to a lengthy stint as the provincial leader of the Liberal Party of Quebec. His appalling, unprovoked and unwarranted attack on Pierre Poilievre displays a wanton lack of moral fibre while satiating his voracious appetite for political stardom. Albertans should bear in mind that Jean was an early mover in the fledgling environmental movement years ago, while now professing loudly that he stands firmly on the side of Western Canadian interests. Jean, we did not ask for you, do not want or need you and politely, but firmly, ask that you return to the perpetual slumber from whence you came.DAVID HUGHES(Another career politician who thinks he knows whats best for Canadians.)

This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

The next issue of Calgary Sun Headline News will soon be in your inbox.

We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try again

Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notificationsyou will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.

Read more:
Letters, April 17: 'The energy add-ons are putting us in the poorhouse' - Calgary Sun

JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania When Ken Miller changed his party registration from Democrat to Republican in September 2020, he said he wasnt doing it for Donald Trump. He had not voted for Trump nor Hillary Clinton in 2016. Rather, he said, he was doing it for himself and his community after watching Democrats govern during the pandemic.

I am tired of what I am seeing, he said. Democrats appeared to ignore people like Miller, viewing his vote as replaceable by someone in their theoretical ascendant Democratic coalition of young people, women, intellectuals and nonwhite voters. But the thinkers in Washington may have been too clever by half.

Without working-class voters white, black and Hispanic one cannot form a coalition to win elections. This applies not just to the White House but also to congressional and state-level races. In fact, if Democrats abandon workers for the professional class, they wont even be able to hold school boards and county row offices in many places.

In September 2020, Cambria County Democrats became a minority party without much fanfare. The Pennsylvania Department of State registration numbers showed Republicans with 37,951 registrations and Democrats with just 37,826. Since that milestone, the bleeding has continued, with Democrats decreasing by nearly 3,000 voters to 35,037, while Republicans have risen to 41,128.

Just 14 years ago, Barack Obama won this county over John McCain. Four years later, Mitt Romney absolutely walloped Obama by 18 points, but the reality was that the Obama Democrats lost the county more than Romney won it. A major contributor was the escalating Democratic cry of racist! as a replacement for making reasoned arguments about policy something that took off in earnest around 2010. This was one of the factors prompting many 2008 Obama voters here, even those with familial Democratic pedigree going back to President Franklin Roosevelt, to switch sides. In both the 2020 and 2021 statewide elections, voters overwhelmingly favored Republicans in down-ballot races.

What are Democrats to do? They can always turn back to Obama, who once united them. But his effectiveness as a campaigner was never really transferable to other Democrats, as they discovered to their regret during Democratic losses in 2009, 2010 and 2014. His latest failure as a surrogate came in Virginia last fall, where even under better circumstances he failed to put former Gov. Terry McAuliffe over the top. Before that, in 2020, Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder raised more than $50 million in an effort to win back state legislatures, including in Pennsylvania. Instead, Democrats lost legislative seats, both in Pennsylvania and nationally, instead of gaining them, despite Joe Bidens up-ticket victory.

The biggest problem is that both Washington Democrats and the press seem to have no idea who comprises the Democrats base anymore. Some base Democrats see Obama as too conservative, and the working-class Democrats see him as too liberal, one Democratic strategist remarked. The appeal he would have would be with suburban-mom voters, but even thats a stretch given how they feel about education.

In short, Obama is probably not going to save Democrats in places like Johnstown, which until now have been key to statewide Democratic victories. And Keystone State Democrats certainly arent helped by Biden nor by Gov. Tom Wolf, given that both Democrats are polling very poorly in the state. Wolf was just handed a slap in the face by voters last May, when they voted to strip him of some of his executive powers.

They are on the wrong side with voters who would traditionally consider them for a state legislative race, U.S. Senate race or congressional race. Voters are angry at Democrats about inflation; gas prices; the border and how the problem eventually hits their neighborhoods and suburbs in the form of fentanyl and methamphetamine addictions; the out-of-control crime; education control and the lingering impressions after the chaotic and deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Yet to this day, their messages are about climate change and Trump. Its as though they have never left Washington to see what is really upsetting voters.

Cambria County isnt the only Pennsylvania county where Republicans are gaining registered voters. All across the state, including in suburban Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Republicans are signing up former Democratic voters like Miller at four times the rate Democrats are making the reverse conversion.

Former Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason said when he took over the state party in 2006 that Democrats had a huge registration advantage and had just swept Republicans out of office in Congress and in the state Legislature.

They had a 1.5 million registration advantage when I started to run the party, he said. Today, that number is down to half a million.

Winning and losing in politics is generally about one thing: overreach.

When the Democrats took power in January of 2021, they believed they had won because everyone loved them again. They took this as a license to do whatever they wanted, and they behaved that way with everything they did. They put climate change into everything, racialized every issue they possibly could, and strove for a fundamental transformation of the country. When it came to such concerns as the southern border and Afghanistan, their answer was to ignore the problem.

This delusion is hurtling Democrats toward a painful defeat. But any Republican victory will be short-lived in places like Cambria County if they win and then make the same mistake.

q q q

Salena Zito is a CNN political analyst, and a staff reporter and columnist for the Washington Examiner. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through shoe-leather journalism, traveling from Main Street to the beltway and all places in between.

Read the original:
Pennsylvania's shift rightward is a warning sign for both parties about overreach - The Courier-Express

Latest updates: Man initially named 'person of interest' in Brooklyn subway shooting is now a suspect, mayor says

NEW YORK Police are searching for a "person of interest" in the chaoticattack on a Brooklyn subway during rush hour Tuesday morning, a man they say posted violent ramblings online.

But authorities stopped short of saying the man they identified,Frank James, 62, was considered a suspect.Police said he was not in custody as of Tuesday night and no charges were filed.

No one died but the attack left at least 29 injured,New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at an evening news conference. James has ties to both Wisconsin and Philadelphia, authorities said.

The attacker, wearing a gas mask,set off twosmoke grenades before shooting. He fled the Brooklyn platform in the panic,leaving a subway carfilled with screaming commuters andbleeding victims. At least 10 people were shot andat least 19 others weretaken to hospitals for injuries ranging from smoke inhalation toshrapnel wounds.

Authorities say the gunman fired 33 times with a Glock 17 9mm semi-handgun, which was found in the subway. Searching the subway car, investigators also found two non-detonated smoke grenades, a hatchet, gasoline, fireworks and a key to a U-Haul van.

The key led police toJames, who they said is believed to have rented it in Philadelphia. Authorities found the van in Brooklyn near a subway station whereinvestigators determined the gunman entered the train system,Chief of Detectives James Essigsaid.

Inside the attack: How the Brooklyn subway shooting unfolded

Sewell noted investigators were poring over social media posts appearing to come fromJames where he mentioned homelessness and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. She said the mayor's security detail would be tightened out of an "abundance of caution."

"We are truly fortunate that this was not significantly worse than it is,"Sewell said.

Authorities were reviewing several social media pages, including YouTube videos appearing to feature James discussing a variety of issues from Black rights and slavery to the recent mass shooting in Sacramento and the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, according toa law enforcement official who was not authorized to comment publicly.

The accountsfeature dozens of videos that include ramblings of violent threats and black superiority, along with beliefs that Black violence was the outcome of systemic racism that prevented minorities from being successful.

In one of the videos, posted the day before the subway attack, a man detailsthat he'd been through a lot and wanted to harm people. But he said he did not want to be jailed.

I can say I wanted to kill people. I wanted to watch people die," the man says in the footage.

Another video being reviewed by police, posted in Februaryshow a16-minute black-and-white clip of the 1967 movie "The Incident." Based on a play called "Ride With Terror," the clip shows two street hoods who lock 14 passengers inside a New York City subway car and terrorize them; the footage posted in the YouTube video shows a Black couple being racially harassed by one of the bigoted white aggressors on the train.

A Feb. 20 video says the mayor and governors plan to improve safety in New York Citys subway system is doomed for failure and refers to himself as a victim of the mayors mental health program. A Jan. 25 video called Dear Mr. Mayor is somewhat critical of Adamsplan to end gun violence, which has become an early focus of the Democrat's first term in office.

Throughout the day, police helicopters hoveredabove theManhattan-bound N train in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood as authorities investigated the scene.

WHAT WE KNOW: 'We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized'

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced last fall that it had put security cameras in all 472 subway stations citywide, saying they would put criminals on an express track to justice. But police said cameras were not working in at least three subway stations and were investigating the issues.

Investigators believe the gunman's weapon jammed, preventing the gunmanfrom continuing to fire, the officials said. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives completed an urgent trace to identify the guns manufacturer, seller and initial owner.

The attack unnerved a cityon guardabout a rise in gun violenceand the threat of terrorism. It left some New Yorkers jittery about riding the nations busiest subway system and prompted officials to increase policing at transportation hubs from Philadelphia to San Francisco.

The shooting occurred before 8:30 a.m. on a Manhattan-bound N train in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at anews conference.

The train was waiting to enter the36th Street station when the man put on the gas mask andset off two smoke grenades. The train filled with smoke as the man fired,Sewell said. The shooter, whomSewell described as a Black male with a heavy build, wore a green construction vest and a gray sweatshirt, she said.

New York City Fire Department First Deputy Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said 10 people were shot.Sewell said none of the injuries waslife-threatening.

Firefighters responded to a call about smoke at the subway station at36th Street and 4th Avenue. Crews found the shooting victims and several "undetonated devices," according to a New York City Fire Department statement.

Sewell said Tuesday afternoon there were no known explosive devices on the train. The incident was not being investigated as an act of terrorism "at this time,"but she asked for the public's assistance with any photos, videos or information about the incident and shooter.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said New Yorkers' "sense of tranquility and normalness was disrupted brutally by an individual so cold-hearted and depraved of heart that they had no caring about the individuals that they assaulted."

President Joe Biden offered his prayers for the victims of the subway shooting and praised those who quickly sprang into action.

Were grateful for all the first responders who jumped into action, including civilians who didn't hesitate to help their fellow passengers and try to shield them, he said during a trip to an Iowaprocessing plant that produces ethanol.

In addition to the gunshot victims, other people suffered from smoke inhalation, shrapnel wounds and injuries related to the panic after the shooting,Kavanagh said.

Twenty-one people were taken toNYU Langone Hospital in Brooklynafter the attack. Ten were released by Tuesday afternoon. The 11 remaining patients were treated for injuries including gunshot wounds and smoke inhalation. They were all in stable condition,spokeswoman Lacy Scarmana said.New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital said three patients injured in the attack were treated. One was shot, another had a fractured bone, and the third was not trauma-related. All three were in stable condition.

Five people were treated atMaimonides Medical Center, spokeswoman Suzanne Tammaro said. Three were treated for smoke inhalation and released. The other two had been shot, though the injuries weren'tlife-threatening.

Avellana De La Cruz, 25, was texting her boss that she would be late to work while waiting for the subway when dozens of people, some with bloodstains, started running out of the station.De La Cruzsaid people were crying and shoutingwhile others called the police or recorded with their phones.

Confused, De La Cruz remained at the station until an announcement told riders to evacuate. As De La Cruz exited the station, a womancovered in blood with a wound across her faceasked for help finding police. Together, they left the subway and found an ambulance.

"One minute I was on my phone, and the next everyone was running and crying," De La Cruzsaid."It was chaos in there and hard to focus on whether the attack was really over."

TimODonnell, 31, who regularly commutes into Manhattan on the N train, said he had headphones on when he heard a conductor tell riders to board an R train across the platform. Then he heard the loudspeaker announcement to evacuate.

On the way out, ODonnell said, hesaw a man with his pant leg rolled up and what appeared to be a bloody gash on his leg. O'Donnell said he thought the man might have fallen on the steps in the drizzling rain, but he received texts about the shooting as he headedhome.

Photos on social media showed multiple people bleeding on a smoky subway platform shortly after reports of the shooting.The subway station serves the D, N and R lines, which all run into Manhattan. Services on the lines in Brooklyn and some Manhattan stations were suspended, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Rogelio Miranda, a cashier at a nearby supermarket, said he was working an early shift when a woman came inside,screamed, "There's blood all over the station" and ran into the restroom. The store stayed open, and people came inside to wait for cabs and Ubers, Miranda said.

"Violence on the subway isn't new to our area, but seeing so many people so terrified and so many people saying they saw people covered in blood, it's crazy," Miranda said.

John Chiu, who works in salesaround the corner from thesubway station, said that about 10 minutes after he arrived at his office, he heard police sirens blaring.

I thought it was just another accident because …honestly,its an everyday occurrence, said Chiu, who normally drives to work from his Flatbush home.

Within a few minutes, Chiuknew it was something more. He checked to see whether everyone who normally takes the subway had arrived at work. They all had. "It was a relief," he said.

Adams, who cleared his schedule of in-person public events after testing positive for the coronavirus,received continuous briefings, spokesman Fabien Levy tweeted.

"We will not allow New Yorkers to be terrorized, even by a single individual," Adams said in a brief video.

Crime in the city's sprawling subway system has ticked up.Transit crime has increased 68%compared with 2021, NYPD statistics show.

Adams released a safety planthis yearas part of efforts to lower crime on the subway.

The subway system has been the target of several mass attacks. In December 2017, a homemade bomb detonated in a pedestrian tunnel that links two train lines to a bus terminal in midtown Manhattan. No one was killed, but three people suffered minor injuries. Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant, was convicted on terrorism charges for carrying out the attack on behalf of the Islamic State.

Dozens of riders were injured in December 1994 when two homemade gasoline bombs exploded in a crowded downtown No. 4 train that was stopped in the Fulton Street station beneath the Manhattan financial district. Edward Leary, a New Jersey computer analyst enraged by the loss of his job, was found guilty in 1996.

Najibullah Zazi, a legal permanent resident of the USA from Afghanistan, acquired bombmaking components and drove them to New York, intending a series of strikes in September 2009.

When he learnedauthorities were investigating the plot, he discarded the explosives and drove back to Denver, where he was arrested.Then-Attorney General Eric Holder described the plot as "one of the most serious terrorist threats to our nation since Sept. 11, 2001."

"It could have been devastating," Holder said.

Contributing: Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

Read more:
Person of interest identified in Brooklyn subway train attack that injured about 2 dozen people - USA TODAY

Mr. Musk has objected when politicians have tried to characterize his views as in sync with their own, insisting that he would rather leave politics to others, despite ample evidence on Twitter to the contrary. When Mr. Abbott last year defended a strict anti-abortion law that made the procedure virtually illegal in Texas by citing Mr. Musks support Elon consistently tells me that he likes the social policies in the state of Texas, the governor said Mr. Musk pushed back.

In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people, and, when doing so, should aspire to maximize their cumulative happiness, he responded on Twitter. That said, I would prefer to stay out of politics.

If thats the case, he often cant seem to help himself. He heckles political figures who have taken a position he disagrees with or who have seemingly slighted him. Mr. Musks response to Senator Elizabeth Warren after she said that he should pay more in income taxes was, Please dont call the manager on me, Senator Karen.

After one of Mr. Musks Twitter fans pointed out that President Biden had not congratulated SpaceX for the successful completion of a private spaceflight last fall, Mr. Musk hit back with a jab reminiscent of Mr. Trumps derisive nickname Sleepy Joe.

Hes still sleeping, he replied. Several days later, he criticized the Biden administration as not the friendliest and accused it of being controlled by labor unions. These comments came just a few weeks after his insistence that he preferred to stay out of politics.

Few issues have raised his ire as much as the coronavirus restrictions, which impeded Teslas manufacturing operations in California and nudged him closer to his decision last year to move the companys headquarters to Texas. That move, however, was very much symbolic since Tesla still has its main manufacturing plant in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Fremont, Calif., and a large office in Palo Alto.

Over the course of the pandemic, Mr. Musks outbursts flared dramatically as he lashed out at state and local governments over stay-at-home orders. He initially defied local regulations that shut down his Tesla factory in Fremont. He described the lockdowns as forcibly imprisoning people in their homes and posted a libertarian-tinged rallying cry to Twitter: FREE AMERICA NOW. He threatened to sue Alameda County for the shutdowns before relenting.

See the rest here:
The Elusive Politics of Elon Musk - The New York Times