1. Forum
  2. Usenet
  3. SOC.CULTURE.CHINA

  • =?UTF-8?B?576O5Zu95rCR5Li7?=

    From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Fri Aug 23 21:17:29 2024
    “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

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Tue Aug 27 13:00:11 2024
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Wed Aug 28 12:28:59 2024
    "在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。美國斷掏空「一個中國政策，美台實際上正在朝著沒有外交承的實質外交關係方向發
    。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
    國的一個險步驟，就是採取實質性舉措，呼應台勢力的訴求，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。
    果美國默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
    聯大2758號決議「僅處理中國代表權問題，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
    的活動。其三，美方邀請台灣參加多邊話，提台灣的曝光度。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
    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
    取舉措幫助台灣維護其「邦交國。其五，通過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
    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「一個中國政策變、支持台的立場。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、利用台勢力牽制中國的崛起，又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。如果是中國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，早就改變了支持台的公開立場。過來，一旦美國公開拋棄「一個中國政策，貿然支持台，那麼就預示著中美戰略攤牌的到來。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）"

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Wed Aug 28 12:25:39 2024
    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?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Sat Sep 7 17:44:39 2024
    "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/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Mon Sep 23 11:55:55 2024
    "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/

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 26 21:51:01 2024
    "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

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Howard S. Hong@21:1/5 to All on Thu Sep 26 20:37:41 2024
    You want to play "Call of Duty Mobile" on phone? I will add you as a friend.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Howard S. Hong@21:1/5 to Howard S. Hong on Fri Sep 27 13:46:04 2024
    On 9/26/2024 8:37 PM, Howard S. Hong wrote:


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


    Did you get an account yet?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From ltlee1@21:1/5 to All on Mon Oct 14 11:56:18 2024
    "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

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)