Trump Administration thinks that poor people eat too much
After slashing taxes on the ruling elites by $1.5 Trillion, The Donald has decided that poor people need to skip some meals "to restore their dignity" and "be respectful of the taxpayers".
“Americans are generous people who believe it is their responsibility to help their fellow citizens when they encounter a difficult stretch. That’s the commitment behind SNAP, but, like other welfare programs, it was never intended to be a way of life.”
He's right. Food stamps were never meant to be a way of life, but that's what happens when jobs don't pay a living wage.
So we are just going to make these poor working people go hungry. That'll fix it.
Speaking as a lifelong taxpayer, I have no problem with poor people getting enough to eat. I've never met a working class person who's felt otherwise. It's only the wealthy elite that thinks poor people going hungry is a good plan.
The USDA said that this was an extension of President Donald Trump’s April 2018 executive order, called “Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility,” that aimed to create more work programs and limit public assistance.
Because the easiest way to reduce poverty is to make people go hungry, amirite?
The USDA said that 688,000 people would lose access to food stamps, but a study from the Urban Institute says that only scratches the surface.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed changes that, if they’d been implemented last year, would mean 3.7 million fewer people and 2.1 million fewer households would have received help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in an average month, according to a new study from the not-for-profit Urban Institute.An estimated 3.1 million others would receive about $37 less a month in benefits, according to the study.
Changes could also mean that nearly a million students lose their automatic eligibility for free school lunches. A USDA analysis released in October found that as many as 982,000 children could be affected by the change.
"Are there no prisons? And the Union workhouses, are they still in operation?"
What's another million hungry children?
I'm sure the proper lesson that they will learn from having hunger pains is to blame themselves for their misery and to work harder.
All those poor people living high on the hog while collecting their $200 a month for food. Shoot. You could retire in luxury on $200 a month, since no one in this country has to pay for their housing or health care, right?
Speaking of health care, poor people don't deserve that either.
According to a report from the New York Times, more than 1 million kids are no longer receiving Medicaid or coverage through the Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as CHIP.This is in large part because of the Trump administration’s push to stop fraud in the system. That push has led states to require families to prove their financial eligibility multiple times a year, rather than once annually. And given that a lot of Medicaid recipients are transient, they miss critical communications to keep up do date with those requests, ultimately losing coverage, according to the Times.
...
Sogol Pahlavan, a pediatrician in Houston, told the Times she’s seen the insured rate among her patients decline, and that it could have a negative impact on the community.“It’s definitely going to affect the community, because somebody ultimately has to bear that cost,” Pahlavan told the outlet. “These kids are still here; their chronic disease isn’t going away just because they’re losing health coverage.”
This past spring Trump proposed to cut federal Medicaid spending by $1.5 trillion over the next ten years, a 27% cut, and called it “Empowers States and Consumers to Reform Healthcare.”
Comments
"Are there no prisons?"
Don't give them any ideas. The cruelty and inhumanity behind this bill is beyond comprehension. But that's par for the course with people who have no problem locking up kids after taking them from their parents. Good thing we fought against Hitler's ideas.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
And I thought Trump was violating "historic norms."
I guess not. There's nothing more normal in America than making children go hungry because they didn't have the sense to be born to the right parents.
"The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum." --Noam Chomsky
Trump is only leading the way
Republicans in state governments are the one's implementing these rules/laws that deny food and medical care to millions of children.
I'll dig a little deeper
to help the local food banks this christmas.
I ask everybody to look at what they can do to help the less fortunate.
Where there's a will, there's a way.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
By their logic
Food banks should be illegal because they subvert the government’s right to punish I mean motivate the poor. So give while you still can.
We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg
Only death can stop me.
I ask all to do the same.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
In case anyone might be looking for a way to contribute ...
https://www.feedingamerica.org
Here is a guide to 'intelligent giving' reviewing this organisation ...
https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=5271
Thank you.
There are so many ways to give even if you think you are unable.
The most important is to give from the heart.
Thanks again.
Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.
"Man does not live by bread alone --"
and in this case free torches and pitchforks would be nice.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
maybe ; )
Restoring dignity....
A child tries to comprehend school work without a decent breakfast. How dignified is that?
Ye gods!! These people are off-the-charts awful.
Reminds me of a certain DePiffle 'government' over the pond.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Maybe the idea
is that the hunger pains will balance out any untreated illnesses from the lack of health care.
It's the Republican way of creating a new, more compliant peasant class.
It's all scientifiky.
"Scientifiky"
The Republican version of Science. Yours, for a donation of just $399.99 to your local, gerrymandered candidate.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
Historically, a hungry peasant class leads to violent revolution. The aristos are surely aware of that, and are counting on their militarized police to keep the groundlings under control. You have to wonder if their grand plan to address climate catastrophe is a serious population reduction.
cake
"Let them eat cake!" -- Attributed to Marie Antoinette
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I agree
But it will lead to more crime first when people are left with no alternative but to rob and steal to eat. The thing is most of the robbing and stealing wont be in the poor areas since there is nothing there to begin with it will be in the middle to upscale areas. So we'll see how the people that support these cuts in social programs react when it comes to their neighborhood. I guess that brings us back to militarized police and prisons, A win win for the ptb in the short term but eventually sheer numbers will overwhelm the system.
Bet on it
"You have to wonder if their grand plan to address climate catastrophe is a serious population reduction."
Bet on it. The Georgia Guidestones recommend a population of not more than 500 million. Supposedly that's a repopulation limit after some kind of cataclysm - supposedly.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
he'll win anyway
Chump blathers off like this because he knows -- repeat, knows -- that he will win a second term in 2020.
Impeachment will be a non-starter, and is pure kabuki theater anyway.
The Dems won't allow the only ticket with a real world chance of victory in 2020 -- Sanders/Gabbard -- anywhere near the levers of power.
And the GOP is well acquainted with all these facts. And the GOP knows them to be the facts they are.
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
As bad as this is
if the democrats regain power in the future, I doubt they'll make the effort to undo this. They'll be busy compromising with the republicans on what social programs to cut to bring down the deficit, and make the world safe for banks and Wall St.
No doubt about that
Remember it was Bill Clinton who passed welfare reform and the crime bill put lots of restrictions on who could qualify for all social programs. During the two years democrats held everything they didn't do squat for adding funds to them and then Obama cut $5 billion out of SNAP. And they are trying to do a massive assault on all safety programs except social security, but even Clinton and Obama tried to cut it. Nope. No doubt whatsoever. And this is just the first step Trump is taking on SNAP. He has more things coming. But I'm seeing lots of people being okay with this. And that's why Trump is going after the able bodied first. This is how every thing congress does starts. The FDR social safety net has been whittled away little by little since it was passed. They are very patient.
The ACA was supposed to be a stepping stone to single payer remember? Have the democrats done one thing to advance it to that?
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
I'm 69 & have been on & off food stamps since Clinton
and the only thing different with tRump and his predecessors is that he puts no makeup on his cuts to food stamps. No lipstick on the pig.
Like others on SNAP I personally felt the cuts under Obama more, with Nancy 'we suck less' Pelosi joining Obama in praising the "bipartisan legislation" (a bad sign) while being told the cuts were far less than what Republicans wanted.
The food bank lines just got longer then and haven't gotten any better since. I know well because I skipped the food bank today because the lineup was a block long (only two people do the processing) and my $96.00 monthly food credits came on the first of the month, so I can skip today.
But where I live has a very good food bank, meaning it isn't just dented cans,white bread and every other symbol of food of no real quality, but in my experience that is uncommon.
However that is just a small part of the story because the reason I will go again this Friday is because others will have received their SNAP benefits by then (some get them on third of the month) and the line will be shorter but will get longer afterwards week by week.
So the thing to do is to hit the food bank early in the month,thereby saving food stamps that would have been used up on basics,eggs, milk, bread, produce, bakery. etc for later in the month when the lines are so long and the best of anything has already been grabbed.
That is the only way to make the food stamps last the month, if at all, but that isn't what bothers me the most, not even close.
Why? Because I live alone and unlike many others I see in the lineup I don't have children with me to care for and it does hurt to see a mother with several kids in the line knowing that cuts to their food stamp benefits are really cruel.
I'm old and don't eat very much, or as often as those growing children being deprived of food they need so much, and I see it as nothing but cruelty. The kids may be having fun playing around in line but the parent is not happy knowing this is all about depending on the charity of others which is something for which a lot of people are to embarrassed to admit.
Others may not know, or remember, that when food stamps, really were food coupons that you tore out of a something like a checkbook of varying denominations like money and the way to have money to buy other necessities like toothpaste, toilet paper, hygiene products etc.(other than stealing them) was to buy something like a candy bar, or pack of gum with a one dollar 'stamp' so you could get real currency in change. For example a twenty five cent candy bar got you seventy-five cents in return, do that a few times and you have the money for a few items that aren't covered by food stamps.I never knew anyone that didn't do that, that's how I sometimes could buy a gallon or two of gas for my car to go to day labor and a few times to the 'blood bank'.
My rant is too long so I'll stop there but my point is that tRump is just doing what Obama, Shrub, and Clinton did, only without the proverbial lipstick.
No lipstick on the pig
Yep. Trump has just taken the mask off the heinous policies that both parties want passed. The article I read said that democrats are going to sue Trump over this, but aren't there other things that they can do to stop it from going into effect? Like shut down congress by not showing up on days congress is in open? I read that this was one way democrats could obstruct the republicans.
I remember that fight. The GOP wanted to cut them much more than democrats wanted, but that is just more kabuki theater IMO. "Hey guys, the republicans wanted to cut them by $10 billion, but we got it down to only $5 billion." Yippee. But they were still cut by a large amount weren't they?
Many people stretch their amount by buying cheaper food that isn't healthy for them. This raises obesity rates which costs medical treatment which congress then cuts funding for. Someone wrote that this is population control. How can it not be? Add in the rising costs of drugs that people need to live. Let people live on the streets and contact diseases. SLC has figured out that it's much cheaper to put people into homes than it is to spend money on health care. Give people a chance to turn their lives around and they become productive again and add to tax revenue. Think congress doesn't know that?
And have to deal with being shamed by the cashier and people in line. One lady at the store I shop at likes to get little digs in at me. Meat was on sale for a great price so I bought some. "You sure are going to have a great meal." And other digs. F you lady. Spend a day in my body and see what I'm dealing with.
Yep. Great rant. Charlie went back to bed when I read the article this morning. I have to say fushia or she thinks I'm mad at her.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
Why?
I'm sorry aliasalias for your situation, and that we even have to ask that question with regard to simple human dignity.
I probably wrote about hunger before,
but it bears repeating.
My Dad dropped out of school in 8th grade to hobo, jump trains. He was 12 at the time. It was during the Depression.
He joined the Army at age 15 because they actually fed soldiers. First time he remembered being "full".
His 8 fucking bullets he got on his 13th day after the D-Day landing, bullets burned him as they entered his body from hips to collarbone.
To his dying day, he said those bullet wounds did not hurt as much as being hungry.
Anecdotal. I know. A story.
And I saw him give food from our harvest to the poor.
I handed food my Mom cooked to prisoners in our local jail.
And absolutely nobody in my family of 4 ate some feast without going down the dirt road to give our black neighbors and poor white neighbors a fair share.
No way. My Dad would not stand for that.
Mom was right there with her man.
That's how we rolled.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
nihil umquam in oblivione est
formatting mine
Nihil umquam in oblivione est. (Nothing is ever forgotten.)
You were raised right!
And Chump obviously wasn't.
edit: I copied most of your text, on the cusp, for two reasons: (1) any commentary wouldn't make sense without it; and (2) that story's so nice it should be printed twice!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I'm glad your father was a real man.
Not a Scrooge McDuck
My father-in-law was riding the rails at that time too. Never asked how old he was, but I think he was out of high school.
My father was working in paper box factories on the South side of Chicago. Dangerous work and he gave up an appointment to West point because he was the only one in the family with a job. The whole family lived in one tenement. Probably very different from your family, but just as poor. Chicago inner city vs Texas country (???)
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
No jobs at all in Baytown, Texas.
Not then.
Dad sent money to his Mom to help with his 5 siblings still at home.
He was just a kid! He never really got into it, the hobo camps, just the soup pot, and the fire that kept them warm. I have always believed he was robbed, possibly sexually assaulted, or at least, had to escape being sexually assaulted.
ANYBODY who looked at me wrong, or touched me or my brother, got a death threat from Dad.
He could not eat soup. In my life, we(Mom, my brother, and I) ate soup once or twice a year, he ate a steak. He raised the steer, he was entitled. We ate beef 2 or 3 times a day.
We had anywhere from 50 to 200 cattle at any one time. Maybe more. I would have to ask my brother, as both he and I worked the cattle, roped and rode, but he was the better roper, I was better at getting ahead and turning the herd. Hell for leather cowboys. Ancient history.
And absolutely EVERYONE who lived near us, or who Dad knew about on his 150 mile mail route, or anyone who helped us with round up got a package of beef from the locker plant, according to their need.
He was fanatic about it, and thus, so am I.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
I understand the risks he took
My father-in-law was a big Norwegian/Swede and a good boxer. I'm sure that made a difference. He learned to cook in the hobo jungles too. But he did make soups and stews in his later years. A good cook. Well, I taught him to make spaghetti sauce (my Mom taught me), but he taught me tricks to make tough meat tender. We Italians mostly just grind it for sausage and meatballs and the like. One bad dish was pork spareribs. He would boil them, Scandinavian style. When I was a newlywed, I was going to buy some ribs. My wife said, "Yuck! I hate ribs!" I was astonished, then I found out how Bill made them. I told her "No, you roast them! Preferably over coals with barbecue sauce." Sure enough, she did like them that way. I always add some green peppers and fresh onions. Just a little Italian touch.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
bad cannibal joke
That reminds me of a bad joke:
One cannibal went across the local ridge to visit his cousin, another cannibal. Said the visited cousin: "Cuz, I'm sorry you came all this way to find us all sick. Ever since those fucking Franciscan missionaries showed up, we get sick all the time. We boil 'em, we roast 'em, we bake 'em, same story." To which the traveler cousin answered: "I know what's wrong! You're cooking them wrong! Franciscans are friars! (fryers)
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Dystopian reality
"Suffering is good for the soul."
That's got to be behind this. It's the primary belief joining Antonin Scalia and Mother Teresa, and I bet you don't even need to be Catholic to believe it.
“One of the things I love about the American people is that we can hold many thoughts at once” - Kamala Harris
Cruel it is, but also political
Trump is using the agencies (USDA now) to enforce Republican agenda, since SNAP reductions didn't fly in Congress.
It's not just the elites' wish to kill off the poor.
Sonny Purdue understands (political) retribution and Trump wants to reap the political benefits of going after the poor. If the poor vote, they don't tend Republican, do they?
Some figures from the Urban Institute study to illustrate my point:
In 13 states the new rules will throw 15% or more of current beneficiaries off SNAP: 3 of those states (MI, PA, WI) went for Trump in 2016; the other 10 voted Democratic. The 7 states that will see the smallest reductions in the number of SNAP recipients--throwing 2% or less of current beneficiaries off the SNAP rolls-- all voted Trump 2016.
7 states will see increases (very small ones) in federal SNAP $ allocations; all but one of the 7 (VA) voted for Trump 2016.
The 6 states that will see the most drastic reductions in federal SNAP $ allocations are scheduled to get really hurt, with VT losing 28% of its SNAP funds. NY comes out "best" in this group, losing over 17%. Of these 6 states, all but one (PA) voted democratic in 2016.
So in case Bernie thinks he can have any success mobilizing the poor and disaffected to enter the political process, Trump and Sonny Purdue have other ideas.
The best way to keep poor people out of the political process is to tighten the collars. It's how the rich stay rich. It's always worked before, right?
Many people like these policies because they think
It will only affect everyone but them. "Those ...guys are lazy and are taking my money while they lay around all day while I'm working."
This is such a good point.
Same with cops patrolling in low income neighborhoods and writing tickets that many can't afford. "Can't pay your fine? Tuff we'll add high interest to it." How many of them had to take time off work to deal with it? Another thing. Keeping wages low that people have to work more than one job is a way to keep people too busy to pay attention to what the government is doing.
Some states are saying that they will sue Trump over this or they will provide funds, but that money will have to come from their funding and if people's taxes go up that will cause more people to look down on the poor.
Boy that video gjohnsit posted is a must watch. GFM is full of people who are desperate for help when it should be our government that provides it. Walmart is doing food banks for their employees instead of you know paying them a f'cking living wage!
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
France is rising up
Huge strike happening soon because Macron is gutting pensions and bringing other austerity policies. This country is being smart by going after the undesirables first. But the war on the working class is eventually going to effect every person here.
More on the France strikes.
They are out of gas.
“When out of fear you twist the lesser evil into the lie that it is something good, you eventually rob people of the capacity to distinguish between good and evil.”
~ Hannah Arendt
They voted him in.
It isn't like they weren't warned.
The whole world is turning Right.
I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.
As the country is further consumed by the corporations...
we have lost our humanity, and become soulless...spreading violence and chaos domestically and globally. The poor are the easiest target.
Better start planning your garden.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
It's not right... but it's legal
So you know... you can't complain...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qys2zJCwHs]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
It only gets worse
It's just UFB
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/12/04/george-zimmerman-s...
George Zimmerman sues Trayvon Martin family, lawyer Ben Crump for $100 million
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
So let's see...
Man with gun stalks teen. Teen defends himself without a gun. Man shoots kid. Man successfully uses "stand your ground" defense. (I always wondered why Trevon's lawyer didn't use the stand your ground defense too.) Now man sues family for his PTSD? Now that's a reach. No telling how our injustice system will rule on it though.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Hopefully this action makes a countersuit possible
It would be great to see some justice come out of the case.
another zombie
That keeps popping back up in the news every couple of years. No justice, no peace.
This shit is bananas.