You don’t see neighborhoods like this anymore because most young parents don’t own homes. Less than 5% of mortgage holders are under 30 in major metros, and the average homeowner is over 50.
That’s why most neighborhoods or suburbs feel empty, they’re owned by older people whose kids are grown, while younger families are renting apartments & priced out of the communities.
After their bankruptcy and closure of every store, like most Americans, we thought Bed, Bath & Beyond no longer existed.
We wish them well in their efforts to become relevant again as they try to open a 2nd store.
“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in three kilos of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ I’m a humanitarian aid worker. Why would there even be a limit on food? I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate. I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening. And I say this as a pediatric ICU doctor who sees children die as part of my work. Among our own staff we have doctors and nurses who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted. They’re living in tents. Some of them have lost fifteen, twenty members of their families. In the hospital there are kids maimed by airstrikes: missing arms, missing legs, third degree burns. Often there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!” I hate to only focus on the kids, because nobody should be starving. But the kids, it just haunts you in a different way. When my two months were finished, I didn’t want to leave. It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in nearly twenty years of humanitarian assignments. But I felt ashamed. Ashamed to leave my Palestinian colleagues, who were some of the most beautiful and compassionate people that I’ve ever met. I was ashamed as an American, as a human being, that we’ve been unable to stop something that is so clearly a genocide. I remember when our bus pulled out of the buffer zone. Out the window on one side I could see Rafah, which was nothing but rubble. On the other side was lush, green Israel. When we exited the gate, the first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers, sitting at a table, eating lunch. I’ve never felt so nauseous seeing a table full of food.”
-------------------------------------------------------
Aqsa Durrani is a pediatric doctor and board member of Doctors Without Borders USA, with nearly twenty years of experience in humanitarian projects. During our interview Aqsa repeatedly expressed a desire to center the voices of her Palestinian colleagues. To this end I’ve spent the past week collecting stories from the Palestinian staff of Doctors Without Borders in Gaza. I will be sharing these stories over the next several days. I’m so grateful for the time that these people gave me; they were sleepless, hungry, traumatized, and often working 24-hour shifts. Because of the unreliable internet connection their images are sometimes grainy. Their words, however, will be crystal clear.
Sucking up to the President should not be a requirement for him to do the right thing for the American people.
These are families who’ve lost their homes, their belongings — the irreplaceable pieces of a life built over decades, reduced to ash.
Only a truly disturbed person would threaten to withhold aid from victims because they don’t like someone.
1. I don’t mean to be *that guy*, but someone has to. Someone has to say things are not getting better, no matter how low Donald Trump’s polling numbers go, no matter how stupid his birthday parade was, no matter how many people (4-6 million) protested him last weekend.
Post a picture of your favorite sign from today's protests.
I will go first.
I have no clue what city this was taken in, but it made me laugh.
How about you? Show me your favorite sign.