John Stossel may be a cunt.

Listen to Citations Needed history of him...It's pretty good...

https://citationsneeded.libsyn.com/episode-72-john-stossel-libertarian-billionaires-inside-man

While I agree about Stossel, this time I think he's right.
By the standards described, my parents would still be in prison for egregious lack of supervision.
If police think a park full of kids and parents isn't a safe place for a child, that's their failure to make the community safe, not some fault by the parents. Police overreaction based on their irrational fear of the worst possible, however unlikely, scenario should be disincentivised.

Fair point. Hard to argue against not abducting children

@newtboy I wonder If this is a rampant problem, or is this story being pushed for a larger ideological objective? Mostly I just don't like his 1970s porn mustache

No kidding right. When I was that age it was go outside and play (no supervision) just be home by dark lol. I'd sometimes be miles away from home... Yet here I am...

The only abduction was by the state.

Is the world that much worse today then we were kids?

The mother did what she could do. There should be no repercussions.


Overreach by the state was the only crime.

The Sift is populated heavily by Gen X Latchkey Kids, and I believe the collective response here is: FFS!!!

Just a anecdotal based response: Left my 3 year old, who was asleep buckled in his seat (which he cannot undo), in the car on an overcast day, 68 degrees out, doors locked. I left a second cell phone on monitor, so I could hear him if he woke up. Went in to a strip mall store 50 yards away from the car.
I hear him wake up, so I come out to check on him, and there's some man, apparently having banged on the window to wake him up, looking at me like I was trying to kill him. Apparently took my license plat and called child services, who eventually called me, my wife, my parents, and did a full investigation. I had almost the same experience, but I'm white and privileged so did not get arrested or have my children removed. I'm confident it could have been a lot worse if I was near the poverty line. I also received a similar lecture:
"We recognize that temperature and weather were ok, but do you recognize how unsafe it was to leave him unsupervised?"
"No, I don't. What could have happened? He was secure and unable to come out of the chair, the doors were locked, and he was monitored"
"Well some one could have smashed the window and taken him"
"Really? A stranger abduction, from a locked car, in broad daylight?"
"Well, what about if the police were called, and you were arrested in front of him. Wouldn't that be traumatic?"

And there they are right. And there you have it - the real danger is not any ACTUAL danger, it's our own fear. FDR had it right.

That was basically my childhood. Everyone in the neighborhood knew each other. I would go out and play with friends all day, even at night. We used to ride our bikes miles to go to the pool or the store.

I rarely see kids in my neighborhood riding bikes, and if they are, they're only allowed to ride up and down the street right in front of the house.

I feel sorry for kids today having parents that constantly watch them. They're growing up conditioned to always being watched with no freedom.