Matthew Lewis -- living in the era of cults and consequences

LOL car culture is the closest thing to socialism most Americans will experience in their entire lives

oh don't apologize! i know we're aligned. i'm being nitpicky about language on account of, that's what i do

yeah i agree with it right up to the point it felt, to me, like there is no accountability to assign to many of the "victims" -- which I think you agree with, I just felt like making it more explicit.

It could very well be that Americans never reckon with how badly the lives of their families, their friends, and themselves have been harmed by government driving mandates.

But you can be very sure the reckoning will never happen as long as many drivers passionately defend those same mandates.

That is to say, a lot of people who "suffer" from government driving and car ownership mandates still refuse to look at their own agency in perpetuating the problem.

And the politicians who perpetuate driving mandates are deferring to *exactly the people who refuse to acknowledge their agency.*

I agree with everything in this thread except the framing.

Placing blame on a disembodied "system" denies agency to people who want to do something about it.

American car culture wasn't created by cars. It was created by Americans, it's defended by Americans, and must be defeated by Americans.

well technically i never need to ride more than ~ 5-10 miles a day, so, probably more accurate to say 10 miles per taco? though honestly if i fill up at a premium taco stand I can get at least 30 miles per taco

ooohh always wanted to ride a turbo!!

related

Apropos of the orange satan driving oil up to $108 a barrel, my bicycle still gets 75 miles per burrito.

I have no idea what gasoline costs, don't care.

The social media platform wars are uniquely weird for people who prefer to live our lives outside of cars, because no matter where we turn, everyone thinks they have the legal right to kill us, and remind us of this constantly.

If you're worried about Bluesky being an echo chamber, just say a driver nearly killed you while you were cycling on road & wait for several people to pitch up to tell you that it's your fault, that you were probably mowing down pedestrians at the time, & that they're only sorry the driver missed.

Electrification of transportation is a national security and economic resilience strategy, which would work well for this exact scenario we are in right now.

Trump should pull of the diplomatic/economic/political coup of the century and let BYD open showrooms across the US with no domestic parts requirements

US Senate vote fails to rein in Trump war powers on Iran The measure, passed largely along party lines, would halt US military action until approved by Congress.

i suppose the only way for Americans to learn how the United States Senate works was to watch Republicans who have a structural vice lock on the chamber destroy the planet

anyway, lesson learned i guess? you can have freedom and democracy, or a US Senate, but not both www.bbc.com/news/article...

draw circle, make radius longer or shorter based on population density

repeat

It is at this point far safer to assume that Christofascists are, themselves, the monsters they keep warning us about.

I can't think of a single example to the contrary.

Republicans control the Congress and can stop any of this on any day of the week.

They don't do that though, because Trump is the apotheosis of modern Republicanism.

Dawg it really feels like baby boomers are metaphorically locking us in the house with them, burning down the house, and shooting at the fire fighters

Quantifying the Cost of Sprawl In infrastructure, service delivery and tax receipts.

ICYMI: Suburban development costs 38% more in upfront public costs & 10% more in ongoing costs than compact development, PLUS has only 1/10th the tax revenue per acre, confirms report summarizing 17 studies. Via @smartgrowthusa.bsky.social

The blunt truth? Sprawl is heavily subsidized by ALL of us.

I still don't think people have grokked that 77% of Republican voters is enough to control 100% of vote outcomes in the United States Senate.

"More than three-quarters of Republican respondents, 77%, approved of the attack on Iran; 83% of Republicans said Trump has a clear plan for handling the attacks on Iran."

They not like us. They not like us. They not like us.

YouTube video by Not Just Bikes Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07]

WATCH: If you STILL don’t understand how car-dependent suburbia is HEAVILY SUBSIDIZED by downtown and all the urban parts of your city, watch this EXCELLENT video by #NotJustBikes with #Urban3 & @strongtowns.bsky.social. And PLEASE SHARE it as much as possible.

I’ve sent it to a LOT of politicians.

A Bonanza of School Streets Resources for you to use! — Streetfilms As you know we are big on wanting school streets in every city, all over the world. We have also done the most ambitious documenting with many popular films that are used worldwide to advocate for the...

School streets need to be a major initiative in the @mayor.nyc.gov Mamdani Administration. @nyc-dot.bsky.social

So my latest blog post has for the very 1st time EVERY Streetfilm on school streets embedded in one place! PLUS: bonus photos. It's a great resource.

www.streetfilms.org/featured/sch...

Pretty wild that US automakers effectively derailed electric cars so they could keep churning out gas-guzzling trucks/SUVs just in time for the Administration they backed to the hilt to launch an illegal war that will radically drive up oil/gasoline prices.

We live in exceptionally stupid times.

Shocked, shocked! to find that when drivers are asked to pay the cost of driving, they stop driving.

Congestion charges have been enacted in quite small cities in the UK, notably Durham (population 50,000) and Oxford (population 165,000). The assumption that congestion charges are only for cities on a New York / San Francisco / Philadelphia scale is not necessarily correct.

Bill seeks to cut $25 million from Safe Routes and bike path program to balance ODOT budget Taking from safety near schools and off-street paths to pay for highway maintenance. Ouch.

The bill, SB 1601 (-3), has passed committee 9-0. It reallocates funding from popular ODOT programs to backfill ODOT operations and maintenance budget.

Here's more background
bikeportland.org/2026/03/02/b...

cults and consequences

ugh