comment: >
  
  Oh gosh.. That's awful, I'm so sorry. I hope you kick it's ass.
context: Does the GOP sit around and come up with the most vindictive terrible ideas or what? >
  
  They do. And when you start asking questions that point out how ridiculous their suggestions are they will grouse and say "it was just a suggestion" >
  
  “Never believe that ~~anti-Semites~~ Republicans are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The ~~anti-Semites~~ Republicans have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”
  Quote by Jean-Paul Sartre
  Edit by me. >
  
  FYI You didn’t need to cross out the “anti semite”. It belongs there. >
  
  Could have also replaced it with fascist and conservative. Yes, conservative belongs on the list. The whole premise of the “ideology” is to uphold status quos so that inequality in wealth and power can remain. At least initially. Now it’s all about returning to past status quos so that inequality can return to those levels. >
  
  yes. i try and explain to conservatives that the whole point of their ideology is to actively stand in the way of progress. social, economic, scientific, all forms of progress. your duty as a conservative is to prevent people from having new ideas. that is disgusting and inexcusable in my eyes. >
  
  The problem is that they want to have their cake and eat it too. They are fine with any progress that makes their lives easier (cars and modern medicine, for example) but they love obstructing only the stuff that they don't like. If they like conserving the status quo from the past they should have their cars replaced with horses and be directed to the local alchemist the next time they need something medicinal. >
  
  They want to live in the stone age while using iPhones. >
  
  Wrong.  They want YOU to live in the stone age, while THEY are using iPhones. >
  
  I wonder what portion of these SNAP recipients are GOP votes. >
  
  They also dont care because GOP has been successful in stoking up fear for Democrats.
  I showed my GOP family members videos of them talking about cutting SS and Medical and their response is its "fake".
  These people are reliant on SS, disability and Medicaid.
  When I point this out they say well they cant vote for Democrats because they will install socialism.
  At that point I'm just besides myself with trying to break through. >
  
  Ask them to define the socialism they are so scared of. 99.9% chance they will not be able to >
  
  They can't since they don't even understand they are reliant on the socialism we do have lol. >
  
  The famous 'keep the gubmint out of MY medicare' constituency. >
  
  I needed my bio father to give his tax info so I could fill out my FAFSA paperwork a couple years ago so I could go to college (ftr he wouldn't have paid anything, it was just to determine how much aid I was eligible for) and the fucker said no, because he didn't want the government to have his social security number.
  He didn't want the GOVERNMENT to know his SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
  He's allowed to vote. >
  
  That’s really sad.  Just asking, but is there any chance he is an illegal alien?  Or possibly some other shenanigans like has been on the run from the law and has been using a fake ssn?  Or like you inferred, just an idiot? >
  
  Nope, he was retired Navy and worked a job with security clearance, no way it was something illegal, etc.. He's just an idiot.
  I also think he did the FAFSA paperwork for his other two sons (and I'm really not being maudlin here, it's a point of fact) that he loves more than me. I grew up in foster care but he had them the whole time, it's a long story but he sees them more as his kids than he does me. >
  
  I’m so sorry for the start you were given in life. :(
  I was never in foster care, but when I was little my parents were foster parents to teens (1 living with us full time at most, but we did also have kids come for weekends sometimes, like a pair of sisters). >
  
  Jesus:  Hands out loaves and fishes to the poor and hungry:
  Republicans:  No fresh meat for you.  And no rice and no …. We hate poor people. >
  
  GOP Jesus: I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. And behold, now I'm all lazy and entitled, you shouldn't have done that. >
  
  When I was on food stamps years ago I remember store clerks glaring at me whenever I bought London broil — which I did when it was crazy cheap on sale. Would feed me for a week and cost less and had more protein than a similar amount of bologna, but apparently people on food stamps aren’t allowed to eat steak and should suffer even when inferior food costs more. >
  
  I've been in retail for over 20 years.  I don't know about anyone else, but I honestly couldn't care less how someone chooses to pay for their items.  I also don't care if your card has been declined for "insufficient funds" and you have to use a different card.  People might think we're judging them - I promise that I, at least, just want my shift to be over so I can go home.
  I will say that paying via SNAP is much, MUCH easier now that the program uses an actual card as opposed to literal paper coupons.  It's possible that the cashiers weren't "glaring" at you because they were judging you for what you bought - but because ringing someone out using those dumb paper food stamps was annoying and a pain.
  And it's also possible that your cashier's feet were aching and that's why they had a sour look on their face.  They may not have been thinking about you at all. >
  
  I still remember the incident decades later. She picked up the steak to ring it up with an audible sound of disgust. My other items — probably white bread, tuna and canned vegetables — got past her just fine. >
  
  If she was still ringing out your items, how did she know you were paying with food stamps?  At least where I work, we ring stuff out, and then ask for the method of payment when we're done.  And memory is a tricky thing - even events that we swear happened didn't happen exactly as we thought they did.
  My point is that while maybe she was judging you, it's also possible that you were feeling a little... exposed for using food stamps (even though you shouldn't - food stamps exist for a reason, and if you needed help, you needed help), and perhaps you were sensing a slight where none was intended?
  Maybe she was judging you, or maybe she just didn't like handling raw meat.  (Where I work the red meat packages usually leak, and it's gross AF.)  You can't read her mind, so you don't actually know what she was thinking. >
  
  You are really going all out to defend someone who went out of her way to make a young woman trying to feed herself feel shame. Not sure why. The food stamps were probably in my hand and anyway, I would have had to separate items that food stamps couldn’t be used to buy, so they could be rung up separately. I was young and naive and didn’t feel anything at all about using the help I thought all Americans were entitled to until that minute, which is why it is so burned into my memory. Later I did start to notice the face just about all of them made when I pulled out food stamps to pay. >
  
  
  You are really going all out to defend someone who went out of her way to make a young woman trying to feed herself feel shame. Not sure why.
  
  Because I have a habit of trying to "mind-read" those around me, and my therapist is trying to teach me that the only thing I know for certain is what I am thinking.  Not what other people are thinking.
  And now that she's brought that up, I see other people doing the exact same thing, and I never realized how... unfair it is.  You're projecting the worst possible motive on that cashier.  But you have no way of knowing what was actually going through the person's head.
  Why do you think the worst motive is more likely than something more innocuous?  I understand that interaction deeply affected you.  I've had interactions that have been burned into my brain as well.  But there are events that I can choose to reframe in my head, where I can give a memory the benefit of reinterpretation.
  I choose to believe that people are basically decent.  If there's a circumstance where I'm scared someone is judging me for being "less than" or whatever, I remind myself that I am not a mind reader.  Expressions are not proof.  People have their own internal monologue that usually has nothing to do with us.  Most of the time, no one cares what we're doing.
  Anyway.  You just reminded me of myself a bit, that's all. >
  
  Because I don’t have that problem. If anything, I move through life oblivious to what other people think of me. Try using food stamps or an EBT card for a while. You will not have to mind read what people who should be minding their own business think of you. Now that I’m going down memory lane, I recall a big percentage of the grocery store checkers made actual comments, along with the faces. But at least the others were about having and using food stamps, not buying meat. >
  
  So when they were campaigning last year saying “dems are gunna take yer meat!!1!1!1!!” It was just more GOP projection. Nice >
  
  Always has been >
  
  That's nice, Conservative, Christian, Republicans, using a Federally funded food assistance program, to engage in bigoted, racist, hate filled, behavior! Why? Because it's what Jesus would do! Why am I not a Christian nor a Republican? Because I don't want to be a bigoted, racist, asshole like these Conservative, Christian, Republicans are. >
  
  no hate like christian love >
  
  Goddamn, when are people going to realize that the GOP is a fucking terrorist organization and actually stand up to this shit and vote?
  What will it take? >
  
  i’m honestly afraid we americans are too far gone at this point. we don’t have the luxury of having a history of profound revolution the same way that a country like france does. and with the war on education going the way that it is, americans are getting stupider by the day. at this point we may not have the cognitive capacity for revolution, peaceful or otherwise. >
  
  Soon to be followed by all the other Republican controlled states trying to outcompete each other in how restrictive their SNAP laws are. >
  
  Greg Abbott just one-upped it to SNAP recipients get jail time for even looking at an ad for food and then Ron DeSantis one-upped that to SNAP recipients can be shot on sight for stopping to smell any food outside of any local restaurant. >
  
  Followed by people astrotufing the comment sections to be like "Well I don't see how anything they or the right wing are doing could be considered cruel or harmful, but if I pretend it's both sides so the left also looks bad......." >
  
  "But what about Michael Bloomberg?" Probably. >
  
  This is just a distraction from their school voucher program.  
  The vouchers in question take money from public schools, redirect them to private schools, but don't cover the full cost, meaning that only wealthy families will be able to afford the tuition and transport costs since almost half of Iowas 99 counties lack a private school in the first place.  The private schools also aren't required to accept everyone and do not have testing and performance controls/reporting.  The end result will be public schools left with poor and kids needing more help, with less money, will then be categorized as under performing which gives the excuse to cut more funding. >
  
  This is unnecessarily cruel and extremely short-sighted. >
  
  In other words, perfectly in line with the GQP MO.
  Kinda like their 30% national sales tax proposal—which would disproportionately impact poor people, of course. >
  
  This is not even cost effective.
  I do not want my tax money being limited on what the disadvantaged can purchase.
  Fresh meat is cheaper than processed or canned meat. >
  
  The Federal SNAP program does not allow states to exclude items on the Federal approved food list.  Period.  Other states have tried to exclude certain food items and their efforts have ALWAYS failed. >
  
  That’s brilliant! >
  
  So taking away cheaper items and forcing people on SNAP to purchase more expensive items, under the guise of “it’s healthier” is just another way to hurt poor people unless they now plan on upping the $$ amount for recipients of SNAP, which I’m guessing they’re not. >
  
  Exactly what I was thinking. The brown rice is more expensive and doesn’t stay fresh as long. >
  
  I think we need to clarify the intentions here. It's not that the foods on the approved list are bad - they're in fact healthier than white carbs, snacks, etc. Fresh meat is a weird one because it's preferable to canned meat. But the point isn't to feed them bad food.
  The point is to make the allowance stretch less, since some of these foods are more expensive than the alternative.
  The point is to make SNAP unusable in areas which don't have proper grocery stores and instead rely on convenience store, which are not going to stock wild rice and other fancy kinds instead of basic white rice.
  The point is to make SNAP unusable for people who have certain food allergies or intolerances.
  And lastly, the point is to put off people who may rely on certain cultural staples and may not be used to eating canned tuna and brown rice.
  Ironically, they've gone nuts every time Democrats suggested healthier school meals, cutting down on meats and processed foods, eating more veggies, etc. You've heard it before: I ain't no goddamn rabbit and such. >
  
  How is white rice bad??? It's super cheap, high in calories, stores forever, easy to cook. Of all the foods to make difficult to obtain, white rice should not be it. These jagoff GQP assholes just want to kill people. >
  
  I know! The rice in particular makes me sad- for some people, whole grain can be very hard to digest, like if your in chemo😔