Of the countries that don't have a total ban on alcohol, such as the Islamic countries, the US has the highest drinking age I have ever heard of, and it was only imposed nation-wide here in the 1980s. For tobacco, this rule is even more recent. As to what you say about weed, I dunno. By the time I was 21, I had smoked about 95% of all the weed I was ever gonna smoke!

In NYC, until you're 21: No weed, no spray paint, no vaping, no large magic markers, no whipped cream propellant, no alcohol, no tobacco... I don't know of any other country that has laws like this, and many of these things are even legal in the US before you are 21, as long as you're not in NYC.

In 2014, Obama became the first president to ever cut the budget for food stamps.

On a picket line at the Michael Quill Bus Depot, I met a mechanic who told me he had stood on picket lines during visits to Paris and London, and that it was extremely educational.

The number of Americans who come to NYC and then sing the praises of its 1940s-era subway system on this subreddit is truly stunning, and says way more about the state of American infrastructure than it does about New York.

Yeah, the text of the NYPost article is just the usual crime-and-punishment stuff, but the video for it, which gets blasted at you as soon as you go to the article, does indeed focus on her sex life. Take my word for it - or go watch the video yourself if you must, but I don't recommend it.

The Grayzone does investigative journalism. Among people who are interested in that sort of thing, it is pretty well known.

Comparing it isn't even comparable? Um, OK, if you say so, but the Post's focus on the sex life of Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend does call for some sort of antidote, given the importance of this case in terms of the billions of dollars stolen, and more significantly, in terms of where that money went.

NYPost: "Let's cover a really important story, but do it in the stupidest way imaginable!"

For more thoughtful reporting, see this article.

Some sections of the Northeast Corridor are also shared with commuter rail - both Metro North and New Jersey Transit, and probably other lines as well, but these two are the only ones with which I have personal experience of delays related to track sharing.

Some parts of Amtrak?? No, pretty much all of it! Or at least that's what an off-duty Amtrak driver told me while he was on his way home. He said the only track actually owned by Amtrak is a few hundred miles somewhere in Michigan, so delays are frequent nation-wide. It was during one of these delays that he and I got into a conversation. He also told me that the number of crew members on all US trains has been massively reduced since the 1970s, with just one or two guys now doing what used to be considered a job for five.

At a political trial I once went to watch, I saw a cop lie on the witness stand, after having also lied on a police report. He lied very blatantly, over and over again, and experienced no repercussions, though the judge did start to seem mildly annoyed after a while. Later I met up with a defense attorney I have known since childhood, and told him I had seen a cop lie on the witness stand. He told me that around here that is pretty much standard procedure.

A similar program exists in Chicago. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/24/chicago-police-detain-americans-black-site

Padlocked dumpsters are an essential part of the war on the poor!