I’m back in the USA to say that the American policy debate should probably focus more on the fact that we are constantly dying. https://t.co/92djCTYsaQ pic.twitter.com/8IbbP7ezX0
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 26, 2022
"Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity." - Marshall McLuhan
How can you ask for what you want, much less get it, if you don't know the words?
I’m back in the USA to say that the American policy debate should probably focus more on the fact that we are constantly dying. https://t.co/92djCTYsaQ pic.twitter.com/8IbbP7ezX0
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 26, 2022
(c) by Mark Dempsey
After a family member returned from Korea, he marveled at the Koreans' public realm. They have wonderful parks, concerts and art exhibits, all free, and low-cost, effective, usable bus and train transit. He asked me why Americans are content with their comparatively meager public amenities. The following is my answer to the question "Why do Americans have low expectations about their public spaces and places?"
Besides the observation that Koreans remember what it's like to be poor (and so provide amenities to all that the poor can enjoy), the simple answer is the population is content with less because of American's exposure to pervasive propaganda.
The narrative by which Americans guide their lives is carefully shaped
by the media dominated by a wealthy oligarchy. Modest expectations are part
of that narrative, and no one must mention the wealthy committed crimes to get or stay ahead.
Ukrainian government sources initially stated that 13 border guards, representing the entirety of the Ukrainian military presence on the island, were killed after refusing to surrender.[28][29] Zelenskyy announced that the border guards would be posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine.[16]
Russian defense media presented an alternative version of events, claiming that 82 Ukrainian soldiers had been taken prisoner after surrendering voluntarily,[19] and had been taken to Sevastopol.[30] Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed that the prisoners had been signing pledges promising not to continue military action against Russia, and would be released soon.[31]
The State Border Guard Service of Ukraine later announced that the guards might instead have been captured,[32] based on the Russian reports that they were being held as prisoners of war.[33] On 26 February 2022 it issued a statement saying that they believed "that all Ukrainian defenders of Snake Island may be alive".[34] On 28 February 2022, the Ukrainian Navy posted on its Facebook page that all the border guards of the island were alive and detained by the Russian Navy.[35][36]
(c) by Mark Dempsey
A recent discussion with an environmentalist friend reminded me that the current system formulating the public policy guiding city design is designed to fail, and works as designed. Cities are very profitable to build, but always not for the public.
I've said this before (in 1993), and Jane Jacobs, author of The Life and Death of the Great American City agrees: "The pseudoscience of planning seems almost neurotic in its determination to imitate empiric failure and ignore empiric success. [Sprawl planners] are all in the same stage of elaborately learned superstition as medical science was...when physicians put their faith in bloodletting."
A recent Sacramento Bee report lamented people "stubbornly persisting" in buying gas, even at inflated prices. However, after decades of building a city requiring every significant trip be in an auto, one can hardly be surprised that people stubbornly persist in going to the grocery store, work, or school the only way possible--in a car.
Sprawl also sabotages any alternative to driving. Often no sidewalk connects the bus or tram stop to the neighborhood, and the neighborhood is not compact, so not enough customers for transit or neighborhood commerce are within a walk, even if they could walk to the stop. Disconnected sidewalks are common in sprawl.
In sprawl, autos dominate streets, too. The quarter-circle at corners (the "curb radius") is gigantic, ensuring pedestrians have a long way to go when they cross at the street corner, and cars don't have to slow down to take the turn. It's dangerous to be a pedestrian.
Sprawl also requires everyone of driving age own a car--one of the most regressive "taxes" in existence. Sprawl builds the walk out of neighborhoods, and the lack of exercise shows up in record rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.
In sprawl, people too young or too old to drive are out of luck. Little Johnny often can't even walk to the park, and rather than aging in place, grandma has to go to that lovely "warehouse" (retirement home) to make a whole new set of neighbors' acquaintance.
Pedestrian-friendly streets--Traditional neighborhoods have streets with set-back sidewalks, even on-street parking to shield pedestrians from fast-flowing traffic. The curb radius is small enough that cars have to slow down to turn. Lighting is on 10' - 14' poles (sprawl's are much taller) and would be easy on the eyes. Take a walk after dark in sprawl if you want to see light appropriate for police interrogation.
Mixed-Income Neighborhoods--This means multifamily and single-family residences coexist. It also provides affordable housing and reminds the rich and poor that they live not behind locked gates, but in society together. Compact neighborhoods also provide enough customers for transit or neighborhood commerce and infrastructure that's half as expensive to maintain.
Mixed-Use Neighborhoods--Mixing uses--residences, commerce, offices, even light industry--means that pedestrians can walk to useful destinations. It also means transit can provide multiple destinations for those who want to shop or work. This can occur at very low densities (as around McKinley Park in Sacramento), or even in a metropolis--Union Square in San Francisco has multi-story residences, offices, and commerce in one compact area.
You may hear builders are simply supplying what people want in sprawl, but if that were true, then buyers would pay more to live there. Exactly the opposite is true. People pay premiums to live in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. Per square foot, the most valuable real estate in the region is around McKinley Park.
Unsurprisingly, people drive less in those "traditional" neighborhoods. Reductions in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) average half of what one might expect in sprawl. People could actually, as they do in San Francisco, have no car!
The good news is that the State of California has mandated pedestrian-friendly ("Complete") streets, and reductions of VMT be part of any new development's design. The bad news, according to my environmentalist friend, is that developers are saying they comply with these requirements when they clearly do not. It may take a lawsuit to wake them up.... We'll see.
--
Mark Dempsey sat on a Sacramento County Planning Advisory Council for nearly a decade.
I find the best way to understand what happened in Xinjiang is to contrast it with Afghanistan.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Why? Because they're neighboring regions that faced very similar problems to which very different solutions were applied, with ultimately very different outcomes. pic.twitter.com/uf5mg9p7Zb
And like Afghanistan, Xinjiang faced big terrorism issues, which likely were inspired by the methods and tactics of their Afghan neighbors.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Starting from around 2007, the province descended into chaos with dozens of terrorist attacks, many of which were extremely deadly.
Afghanistan had Al Qaeda and the Talibans, Xinjiang had ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement).
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
ETIM wasn't only in Xinjiang but in Afghanistan too: they were a designated "terrorist organization" and the US regularly bombed them alongside Talibans 👇https://t.co/Fvjx0HaaOo pic.twitter.com/F20a8PW4HG
This was for the similarities: two neighboring regions with big radical Islam terror problems.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Now for the solutions. I'm not going to expand too much on what Americans did in Afghanistan as it is well known.
The typical American answer to problems: bombs and bullets.
The question was: what do you do with folks who've been radicalized or are on a path to be?
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
a) Kill them?
b) Deradicalize them and teach them practical skills so they can go on a different life path?
(As an aside, which one is characterized by Western media as "genocide"? 🤔)
The results speak for themselves.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Again, everyone knows what happened to Afghanistan: the extremists won.
Weirdly enough it turns out that you strengthen people's will when you commit mass murders against their brothers and friends. How unexpected...
Not only did the terrorists win but after 20 years of US occupation Afghanistan is the poorest country in Asia with a GDP per capita of $509, even poorer than North Korea or Syria.
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
Worse still, since the US froze their central bank reserves Afghans now face a terrible famine. pic.twitter.com/DSWHBk5QPL
How does Xinjiang compare?
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
GDP per capita now reaches RMB55k, which corresponds to roughly $9,000 or 18 times higher than Afghanistan's!
This is higher than the GDP per capita of countries like Thailand, the Maldives or Sri Lanka. pic.twitter.com/gIyyd3viZo
But, wait, the Uygurs, the genocide?
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) December 1, 2021
The Uygurs are very much still there and their culture as well. What do you think all those tourists come see?
In fact according to official census data from 2010 to 2020 the Uygur population in Xinjiang grew by 1.62 million, or up 16%.
one of the most disturbing demographic data trends you’ve ever seen.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) July 2, 2022
the united states—pre-pandemic, mind you—vastly underperforming the g7 in life expectancy pic.twitter.com/wIoOWhKJJW
Meanwhile...
What the hell happened around 1949 in China that started such a dramatic increase in life expectancy? 😉 pic.twitter.com/wIrzdNjVU9
— Arnaud Bertrand (@RnaudBertrand) July 3, 2022