Ultra-orthodox anything is going to be filled with nutjobs like this. They feel anything that slightly inconveniences their chosen brand of religion is an attack on religion itself. They want to have their stupidly large families but don't want to pay for it themselves, either through work to wash dishes or through the tiny tax on their plastic forks. Same shit happens with Christians here in the US.

I grew up in the suburbs of a midwestern city, where we could run into the woods to play army or ride bikes in a closed neighborhood (not gated, just no through traffic) or walk from yard to yard with no fences except for houses with pools or walk to the next neighborhood over. We were free to explore as long as we didn't cross certain streets and came home by dark. We walked to the bus stop to go to school.

Contrast that to where I live now in a major metropolitan city where kids never see "the woods", can't safely ride bikes anywhere but bike paths, have tall privacy fences blocking both socializing but also blocking multi-yard sports areas, have no "neighborhoods," and have to be driven by parents in a car directly to school (where they have to wait in a line of 100 cars to pick up kids everyday). How can kids ever become self sufficient? They have to be parented every minute of their lives until they are 16. It's wild.

But that is in the US. When I visit Europe there are kids by themselves on the subway going wherever a 10 year old needs to go.

Congrats on missing the point completely.

This story is a hit piece to make Iran look bad. You think it's a human interest piece to make people feel sad for an awful thing that happened to a young girl. It's not. It's about making Islamic countries look bad for attacking a poor white girl who was just trying to get healthy. It conveniently ignores where and why Iran attacked and what Israel has been doing to get attacked. It completely ignores all relevant context behind the story. It completely ignores the dozens of kids that are getting killed by Israel on a daily basis. THAT is why people are bringing it up.

And two things in response to this particular post by you: 1) Nobody is blaming this kid. Do you not understand written English? Not one single person said it was the kid's fault for dying. 2) Nobody would bring up Gaza in a story about a school bus in China because China isn't out there murdering dozens of Gazans on a daily basis. This is a story about Israel being attacked, so it is relevant to bring up how Israel is attacking multiple countries.

We all feel sad that a little girl died. But this story was a political story masquerading as something else. You fell for it.

What the fuck are you smoking?

One person said a Ukrainian kid dying is just as sad as a Palestinian kid dying, and you think that is a sick and vile thing to say? How incredibly racist are you?

Dear Diary, I'm hungry.

Signed, me.

There are so many excellent reasons to visit the US... just not necessarily right now.

Our cities are fun to explore and have great restaurants and museums. Most need a car to explore, unfortunately, but some don't. Our nature is honestly amazing. From forests to deserts to mountains to beaches to lakes and rivers. Yes, other places have some of those, but not many countries have all of those.

Italy is even worse than France for this kind of thing. More than a few times I've found myself on streets that DEFINITELY were not car streets, but Google maps sent me there. Florence was the worst for this. I've also found myself on streets in Italy that only very very narrow cars could fit down because of Google maps. I had to reverse down a long alley because it kept narrowing and narrowing until even with the mirrors pulled back it was narrower than my rental car (with a small car in front of me pissed off because I was blocking her).

Germany also has a lot of pedestrian/restaurant squares that do allow cars but only early in the morning or late at night, but there are no signs saying WHEN those times are. And I needed to drive through those squares to get to my hotels, so that was interesting a couple times.

I work with the Space Force, and we were all having a good laugh at the AI generated image of the F35.

Travel was much different for your parents. European travel was actually much more expensive for them, adjusted for inflation. Back then, only rich people casually traveled to Europe (or young kids who stayed in hostels backpacking around). My first trip to Europe was when I was 30, and the cities I visited on that trip are FAR more crowded with tourists now than back then. When I was in college I took a trip to India with a friend who lived there, staying with his family for free and eating cheaply when not at their houses. That flight to India costs the same now as it did 20 years ago, not adjusted for inflation (meaning it is actually much cheaper now).

Going to Europe now is so commonplace for normal people that quaint little towns are overrun with tourists. I have seen flights from LA to Europe for cheaper than flights from LA to Indianapolis.

Conversely, for your parents travel within the US and to Mexico was cheaper then. You could get a flight from Indianapolis to Cancun for $150, with hotels being dirt cheap. Flights to Florida were $100, and nice hotels were $100/night. Nowadays, those flights are 3 times more expensive and the hotels are 5 times more expensive. When I was fresh out of college and middle class, I could travel around the US and to Mexico and Costa Rica pretty cheaply. Nowadays, I can go to Europe for about the same price as going to New York.

Finally, back then people had vacation savings accounts to pay for travel. They would save up all year to take vacations. They would save their Christmas bonuses (which aren't a thing anymore). They didn't have cell phones and rationed out long-distance phone calls. They might only have one car instead of three. They didn't pay for internet. They paid for basic cable, not 5 streaming packages. Their house cost a tenth of what houses cost now. They didn't buy as many new clothes as people do now.

No.

These are at normal ride-share hours throughout the city in all conditions. I've been in one during the day going through LA traffic and one at night with no traffic up to around 45 mph. They are allowed to drive on LA's 405 freeway, which has a speed limit of 65mph, but I haven't done that yet.

He's lying through his teeth when he says it will ONLY cost $125 billion and take 3 years. It will likely take $500 billion and take 10 years if it even survives the budget of the next president. This is going to be such a massive, massive waste of time and money that the US will be actually vulnerable to the perceived enemies that we aren't vulnerable to now. He's going to kill useful programs in order to pay for this thing that will never work.

The US needs this kind of law. With multiple people switching from Dem to Rep after elections are done, it really undermines the will of the people. Most of them didn't vote for that specific person because they love that specific person. They voted for someone who represents their ideal government. So when that person does a 180, it should open them up to being kicked out by the party or put up for a special election.