"To Put Down Roots and Then Oppose New Development"

"Glaeser and Gyourko go one step further. They hypothesize that as Sun Belt cities have become more affluent and highly educated, their residents have become more willing and able to use existing laws and regulations to block new development. They point to two main pieces of evidence. First, for a given city, the slowdown in new housing development strongly correlates with a rising share of college-educated residents. Second, within cities, the neighborhoods where housing production has slowed the most are lower-density, affluent suburbs populated with relatively well-off, highly educated professionals. In other words, anti-growth NIMBYism might be a perverse but natural consequence of growth: As demand to live in a place increases, it attracts the kind of people who are more likely to oppose new development, and who have the time and resources to do so. 'We used to think that people in Miami, Dallas, Phoenix behaved differently than people in Boston and San Francisco,' Gyourko told me. 'That clearly isn't the case.'"

Rogé Karma at The Atlantic writes that "[t]he Sun Belt, in short, is subject to the same antidevelopment forces as the coasts; it just took longer to trigger them.

"If the Forces of Science and Health Are to Stage a Comeback, It's Important to Understand Why Those Forces Have Gone into Eclipse"

"We live in an impersonal universe, indifferent to our hopes and wishes, subject to extreme randomness. We don't like this at all. We crave satisfying explanations. We want to believe that somebody is in control, even if it's somebody we don't like. At least that way, we can blame bad events on bad people. This is the eternal appeal of conspiracy theories. How did this happen? Somebody must have done it—but who? And why?"

David Frum at The Atlantic explains "Why the Covid Deniers Won."

And he adds that "[t]o rename the Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of America' is to reconceptualize the United States not as a sending point, but as a receiving point; no longer a country that stamps itself upon history, but a country upon which history is stamped."

"The Idea of the Caucasian Race as a 'Haunting'"

"When Lewis traveled to the Caucasus in 2019, hardly anyone she met knew that 'Caucasian' could be a synonym for 'racially white.' Only the handful of Caucasians she met who had traveled to the United States understood their unintended recruitment into whiteness, and they learned of their status almost accidentally—filling out an immigration form, or in a chance encounter with a white supremacist who treated the visiting Caucasian 'like a god.' Lewis sees the idea of the Caucasian race as a 'haunting' that still manages to convince some Americans that there is some scientific validity to the idea of a unified white race. Her book aims to put that idea finally to rest."

Erin L. Thompson at The Nation reviews Sarah Lewis's The Unseen Truth: When Race Changed Sight in America.

"'Let Me Make the Songs of a Nation, and I Care Not Who Makes Its Laws'"

"The reasons for these disparities go beyond modern policy differences and extend back to events that predate not only the American party system but the advent of shotguns, revolvers, ammunition cartridges, breach-loaded rifles and the American republic itself. The geography of gun violence—and public and elite ideas about how it should be addressed—is the result of differences at once regional, cultural and historical. Once you understand how the country was colonized—and by whom—a number of insights into the problem are revealed."

At Politico, Colin Woodard writes that "Gun Violence Is Actually Worse in Red States."

Place not Race

"The flaws in this approach are obvious: (1) race-based policies are almost always unconstitutional—the government can't set out to help one group or hurt another based on their race, sex, religion, or national origin; and (2) race-based policies are disastrous politically driving wedges between different groups of working-class people that inhibit majority action on important economic changes and fuel backlash politics that leave everyone worse off."

John Halpin at The Liberal Patriot argues that "[i]f we want to move forward as one nation, we need a common program and politics that brings people together around ideas to help less fortunate Americans in all places, rather than a race-based one that drives working people apart while producing limited success and inviting constant legal challenge."

And Ruy Teixeira says that "[a]t the very moment when neoliberalism has been comprehensively discredited, the left has become more and more associated with unpopular sociocultural issues and less and less with solving the problems of working class people."

"Nine of the 10 American Cities with the Largest Black Populations Saw Steep Declines Among African Americans Over the Two Previous Decades"

"This includes cities long considered 'Black Meccas,' places where African Americans profoundly shaped American politics, policy and culture: Chicago, New York and Washington. Other places like Philadelphia and New Orleans are also seeing Black population dips."

Brakkton Booker at Politico unveils a new series "The Next Great Migration."

"What Rural Voters Want is a Glimmer of Hope That Things Will Change"

"It was not for a lack of effort that the Biden campaign was unable to connect with rural voters this year. In May, Biden convened a virtual 'rural roundtable' in western Wisconsin to show the candidate listening to stakeholders about rural economic development, health care and the crisis in Wisconsin's dairy industry, brought on by chronically low milk prices. Nor was it for a lack of policy proposals: The Biden campaign released an exhaustive 'rural plan' for anyone to read. All of these political gestures, however, are filtered through the lens of what political scientist Katherine Cramer calls 'rural consciousness'—including a perception that cities are where decisions are made, culture happens and resources flow, and that rural communities are not in control of their own futures. Even as a kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Biden was seen as a creature of an establishment that has marginalized rural communities for decades." 

Bill Hogseth at Politico writes that "many rural people have lost trust in the Democratic Party."

"Some Specific Suggestions"

"Elections, like military service—each is an example of duty, honor, and service to country—should be publicly funded. Can you imagine if we needed to rely on wealthy donors to fund the military? I know there are those who genuinely believe in privatizing everything. They are called profiteers."

John Dingell at The Atlantic tells readers how to improve government.

"No System Can Remain if It Does Not Integrate the Majority of Its Poorest Citizens"

"The change is not down to a conspiracy, a wish to cast aside the poor, but to a model where employment is increasingly polarised. This comes with a new social geography: employment and wealth have become more and more concentrated in the big cities. The deindustrialised regions, rural areas, small and medium-size towns are less and less dynamic. But it is in these places–in 'peripheral France' (one could also talk of peripheral America or peripheral Britain)–that many working-class people live. Thus, for the first time, 'workers' no longer live in areas where employment is created, giving rise to a social and cultural shock."

Christophe Guilluy at The Guardian explains the rise of the gilets jaunes movement in France.

Palms Court

"'What LA adds to that, which no city, no people had ever thought to do before, and maybe for good reason, is to plant palms systematically as street trees,' says Farmer. The young city, wanting to attract people to a world of sunshine and cars, planted tens of thousands of palm trees. And they weren't just on big boulevards: Los Angeles planted them everywhere. Tiny residential streets, parks, anywhere. Places designed for tourists—boardwalks, beaches, wealthy hills, even sports arenas like Staples Center, where the Lakers and Clippers basketball teams play—were especially tended to. And they made sure the palms were watered."

Dan Nosowitz at Atlas Obscura explains why Los Angeles has so many palm trees.

"We've Been Here Before"

"The horror with which many citizens regard the Trump presidency is premised, in part, on the notion that its challenges are unprecedented and its morality antithetical to long-standing national values. So 'normalizing' President Trump has become a mortal sin, and 'that's not who we are' a rallying cry for those who view today's anti-democratic and nativist compulsions as aberrations along that long arc toward justice.
"Except this is normal. And it is who we are."

Carlos Lozada at The Washington Post reviews Jon Meacham's The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels and James Fallows and Deborah Fallows's Our Town: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.

"The Window Into the Past That These Children Provide Is Priceless"

"By analyzing the older infant's genome, Potter and his colleagues, including José Víctor Moreno Mayar and Lasse Vinner, have shown that she belonged to a previously unknown group of ancient people, who are distinct from all known Native Americans, past and present. The team have dubbed them the Ancient Beringians.
"'We'd always suspected that these early genomes would have important stories to tell us about the past, and they certainly didn't disappoint,' says Jennifer Raff from the University of Kansas, who was not involved in the study.'"

Ed Yong at The Atlantic writes about new "clues about when and how the first peoples came to the Americas."

"There's a Lot That Philip Alston Can Say About Basic Inequality That Goes to the Heart of the Rights That He Is Reviewing"

"Martha Davis, a law professor specializing in US human rights at Northeastern University, said that such vast regional variations present the UN monitor with a huge opportunity. Unlike other international officials, he has the ability to move freely at both federal and state levels–and be equally critical of both."

Ed Pilkington at The Guardian reports on the beginning of a national tour by the United Nations "special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights."

"We Were More Together Than We Are Now"

"The color line was guarded by the gatekeepers of real estate agents and police officers who held the border against black residents foolish enough to rent a house, order a vodka tonic or cruise down a traffic circle in the wrong neighborhood.
"By necessity, the segregated Santa Ana neighborhood became the cultural hub for black Orange County residents, bound together by churches, clubs, barbershops, beauty salons, and barbecue restaurants with the smoky tang of Texas--the home state for many black migrants."

In a 1994 Los Angeles Times article, Doreen Carvajal discusses the fading of what was Orange County's most prominent black neighborhood.

"Americans Live on Haunted Land Because We Have No Other Choice"

"The narrative of the haunted Indian burial ground hides a certain anxiety about the land on which Americans—specifically white, middle-class Americans—live. Embedded deep in the idea of home ownership—the Holy Grail of American middle-class life—is the idea that we don't, in fact, own the land we've just bought. Time and time again in these stories, perfectly average, innocent American families are confronted by ghosts who have persevered for centuries, who remain vengeful for the damage done. Facing these ghosts and expelling them, in many of these horror stories, becomes a means of re-fighting the Indian Wars of past centuries."

The New Republic provides an excerpt from Colin Dickey's Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places.

"Electorally Speaking, Vice Presidential Candidates Seem to Matter at the Margins"

"If Clinton and Trump are wise, it will be those candidates who populate their shortlists–rather than gimmicks and 'game changers.'"

Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times interviews Christopher Devine and Kyle Kopko, authors of The VP Advantage: How Running Mates Influence Home State Voting in Presidential Elections.

"Instead, Consider Anchorage. Or Even, Perhaps, Detroit"

"'The answer is the Pacific Northwest, and probably especially west of the Cascades,' said Ben Strauss, vice president for climate impacts and director of the program on sea level rise at Climate Central, a research collaboration of scientists and journalists. 'Actually, the strip of coastal land running from Canada down to the Bay Area is probably the best,' he added. 'You see a lot less extreme heat; it's the one place in the West where there's no real expectation of major water stress, and while sea level will rise there as everywhere, the land rises steeply out of the ocean, so it's a relatively small factor.'"


Jennifer A. Kingston in The New York Times looks at which American cities will suffer least following climate change.

"Contrary to What Is Often Said, the 'Original Sin' of the South Is Not Slavery, or Even Racism. It Is Cheap, Powerless Labor"

"Northernomics is the high-road strategy of building a flourishing national economy by means of government-business cooperation and government investment in R&D, infrastructure and education. Although this program of Hamiltonianism (named after Washington’s first Treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton) has been championed by maverick Southerners as prominent as George Washington, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln (born in Kentucky to a Southern family), the building of a modern, high-tech, high-wage economy has been supported chiefly by political parties based in New England and the Midwest, from the Federalists and the Whigs through the Lincoln Republicans and today’s Northern Democrats.
"Southernomics is radically different. The purpose of the age-old economic development strategy of the Southern states has never been to allow them to compete with other states or countries on the basis of superior innovation or living standards. Instead, for generations Southern economic policymakers have sought to secure a lucrative second-tier role for the South in the national and world economies, as a supplier of commodities like cotton and oil and gas and a source of cheap labor for footloose corporations. This strategy of specializing in commodities and cheap labor is intended to enrich the Southern oligarchy. It doesn’t enrich the majority of Southerners, white, black or brown, but it is not intended to."

Michael Lind in Salon contrasts regional economics.

"It Had Patches on It Like a Hand-Me-Down"

"White made the map and other drawings when he travelled to Roanoke Island in 1585 on an expedition commanded by Sir Ralph Lane. In 1587, a second colony of 116 English settlers landed on Roanoke Island, led by White. He left the island for England for more supplies but couldn't return again until 1590 because of the war between England and Spain.
"When he came back, the colony was gone. White knew the majority had planned to move '50 miles into the marine,' as he wrote, referring to the mainland. The only clue he found about the fate of the other two dozen was the word 'CROATOAN' carved into a post, leading historians to believe they moved south to live with American Indians on what's now Hatteras Island."

The Telegraph reports on an old map that may provide a clue to the fate of the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

Two States!

"'This is really a tale of two economies,' said Stephen Levy, the director of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. 'The coastal areas are either booming or at least doing well, and the areas that were devastated still have a long way to go. The places that existed just for housing are not going to come back anytime soon.'"

Jennifer Medina in The New York Times explains the east-west division in California's economy.