美国民主

[ltlee1]

“On a single night in 2020, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing
homelessness in the United
States.”
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2020-AHAR-Part-1.pdf

“On a single night in 2023, roughly 653,100 people – or about 20 of
every 10,000 people in the United States
– were experiencing homelessness.”
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2023-AHAR-Part-1.pdf

[ltlee1]

Loading Image...

[ltlee1]

Of course, liberal cartoonist could also draw a similar picture with a
large "Trump and Vance-- MAGA" placard .

The question: To what degree is American democracy with ritualistic
voting as its salient feature helping, in this case, the homeless
people?

[ltlee1]

"在對華戰略競爭的大背景下，美國將台灣作為牽制中國大陸的棋子，「以台制華」的意圖更趨明顯。美國不斷掏空「一個中國」政策，美台實際上正在朝著沒有外交承認的實質外交關係方向發展。美國打著「一個中國」政策的幌子，發展與台灣的實質關係，正好與民進黨當局尋求「穩健深化台美實質夥伴關係」完全吻合。美台勾連日益加深，雙邊關係的官方色彩越來越濃厚。近年來美國的一個危險步驟，就是採取實質性舉措，呼應台獨勢力的訴求，支持台灣拓展國際空間，導致台灣問題國際化趨勢日趨凸顯。

美國持續推動台灣問題國際化的行動主要包括：其一，美方和民進黨當局沆瀣一氣，故意歪曲聯合國2758號決議，為台灣拓展國際空間開路，也為未來美國進一步干預台灣事務做法律上的鋪墊。如果美國默認台灣是中國的一部分、台灣是中國的內政，那麼一旦中國大陸對台動武，那麼美國及其盟國要插手介入就會面臨國際法層面的困境。美國國會正在醞釀的《台灣國際團結法》，就認定聯大2758號決議「僅處理中國代表權問題，不涉及台灣」。其二，美國公開支持台灣加入聯合國框架下的國際組織，比如「有意義地參與」世界衛生組織、國際民航組織、國際刑警組織等國際機構的活動。其三，美方邀請台灣參加多邊對話，提升台灣的曝光度。這包括參加所謂的全球民主峰會和全球抗疫峰會。其四，採取多種舉措公開幫助台灣維持與相關國家的外交關係，干預和阻攔相關國家轉而同中國大陸建交。自2016年民進黨執政以來，台灣已經丟掉了10個「邦交國」，目前僅剩12個。2019年美國國會通過並生效的《台灣友邦國際保護及加強倡議法案》就明確要求美國政府採取舉措幫助台灣維護其「邦交國」。其五，通過不同方式挑唆和鼓動盟友和夥伴在台灣問題上表態，公開插手台灣問題，以造成既成事實，形成「多米諾效應」，旨在迫使中方疲於應付，消耗大量資源，從而達到牽制中國、強加中國國家統一的成本。

當下「台灣未定論」沉渣泛起，美國推進「一中一台」「一邊一國」的手法日趨表面化。美國一方面公開表示其「一個中國政策」不變、不支持台獨的立場。另一方面，美國又在持續武裝台灣，試圖幫助台灣拓展所謂的國際空間，持續推動台灣問題國際化。這種自相矛盾的立場，在很大程度上展現了美國既想阻撓兩岸統一進程、利用台獨勢力牽制中國的崛起，又不想直接陷入和中國的正面碰撞。畢竟，美國非常清楚、也頗為忌憚中國人民捍衛國家主權和領土完整的堅強決心、堅定意志和強大能力。如果不是中國不惜一戰維護國家主權和領土完整的堅強決心，美國早就拋棄了「一個中國政策」，早就改變了不支持台獨的公開立場。反過來，一旦美國公開拋棄「一個中國政策」，貿然支持台獨，那麼就預示著中美戰略攤牌的到來。對此，各方都心知肚明。（作者為中國社會科學院美國研究所研究員）

（本文來源《海外看世界》，授權中時新聞網刊登）"

[ltlee1]

"Who’s Responsible for the Housing Crisis?
Jerusalem Demsas

Americans love local government. In a December 2023 Pew Research Center
survey, 61 percent of respondents had a favorable view of their local
government, whereas 77 percent had an unfavorable view of the federal
government.

But behind this veneer of goodwill is a disturbing truth: Local
government is driving a housing crisis that is raising rents, lowering
economic mobility and productivity, and negatively impacting wages.

Today’s episode of Good on Paper is a little different from others. It
features two guests, and it coincides with the release of On the Housing
Crisis: Land, Development, Democracy, a collection of my reporting for
The Atlantic chronicling the causes of the housing crisis and
identifying the structural problems in local democracy at its root.

I’m joined by the Atlantic deputy executive editor Yoni Appelbaum and
the Yale Law professor David Schleicher to discuss how American housing
markets broke.

“The problem internal to local government is that we have very little
capacity to control local government, particularly as local governments
are bigger than the neighborhood or town size,” Schleicher explains.
“And the basic reason is that we don’t know anything about it. If you
ask yourself, dear listener, who serves on your county commission or who
the local comptroller is, odds are, unless you’re a weirdo—possibly a
weirdo who listens to this podcast—you have no idea.”"

https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/archive/2024/09/housing-crisis-local-government/679670/

[ltlee1]

"Earlier this year, the Pentagon swooped in to give Katie Hobbs,
Arizona’s Democratic governor, the perfect reason to veto a valuable
bill. The proposed Arizona Starter Homes Act sought to legalize smaller
dwellings to address the affordability crisis straining the fast-growing
state. After the state legislature had already passed the bill, a
regional Navy official wrote a letter to Hobbs opposing it. The
intervention seemed bizarre, as I noted in an article at the time. But
now we know what happened: The U.S. military was doing a favor for a
NIMBY local government—in this case, the city of Glendale, a Phoenix
suburb that is also home to Luke Air Force Base.

The episode reveals something important about how the nation’s current
housing crisis came about: The shortage of homes is the result of
thousands of decisions that barely anyone is paying attention to—and
that in many cases happen outside public view.
..
The bare facts here are infuriating: The democratically elected
representatives of the people of Arizona were able to come together with
a commonsense solution to the nation’s most pressing economic problem,
and a staff member at a mid-size city was able to call in the military
to provide the governor cover to veto? Without so much as a public vote?

Garcia surmised that what the Department of Defense did is part of a
larger pattern. “My guess is, for far too long, large organizations like
DOD have engaged in these types of efforts—sometimes public and other
times maybe not,” he told me. “And folks never really find out about
it.”"

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/09/how-glendale-arizona-used-pentagon/679980/

[ltlee1]

"How Climate Disasters and a Housing Crisis Are Shattering Lives
Millions of Americans, many poor and vulnerable, live in mobile homes.
When catastrophe strikes, they’re often on their own."

By the time the murky brown water in the house reached his chest, Joe
Rogers realized it was too late to leave safely. Then, in an instant,
his mobile home shifted violently, creating a wave that swept up
furniture and trapped his wife, Sandra, in their bedroom.

Mr. Rogers pleaded with his wife to leave, but she was stuck. He said he
would break the bedroom window from the outside. He went to his front
door, grabbed a rope thrown by a neighbor, and pulled himself to the
nearest perch, pausing to catch his breath.

Before he could return to the trailer, it broke loose from its
foundation and was pulled into the adjacent Pigeon River, churning with
rain from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. He watched his home smash
into a bridge, his wife still inside.

Her body was recovered days later, 16 miles from where they had lived in
Clyde, N.C."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/14/climate/mobile-homes-hurricanes.html

[ltlee1]

"Homeless Population Grows, Putting U.S. on Track for Another Record"

"The number of homeless people in the U.S. continues to grow, putting
the country on pace to hit yet another record high this year.

Counts from encampments, streets, and shelters are largely higher than
they were in 2023, according to preliminary data collected and reviewed
by The Wall Street Journal.

The numbers come from more than 250 homeless-service organizations
covering cities, metro areas and vast rural areas. They are meant to
reflect homelessness as it existed on a single night early this year.
The Journal’s count includes about 550,000 homeless people so far, up
about 10% from what these places reported last year.


The trend thus far means the U.S. is likely to top the roughly 653,000
homeless people estimated in 2023—the highest number since the
government started reporting comparable data in 2007."

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/homeless-population-grows-putting-u-s-on-track-for-another-record-19ea8fb4

[Howard S. Hong]

You want to play "Call of Duty Mobile" on phone? I will add you as a friend.

[Howard S. Hong]

Post by Howard S. Hong
You want to play "Call of Duty Mobile" on phone? I will add you as a friend.

Did you get an account yet?