Tag: The Poor

Oh SNAP!

AS of Saturday there should be no funding for the SNAP…..but a couple of judges has told Donny to find the funds….

Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Trump’s administration must to continue to fund SNAP, the nation’s biggest food aid program, during the government shutdown, per the AP. The rulings came a day before the US Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown.

The administration has said it wasn’t allowed to use a contingency fund with about $5 billion in it for the program, but the judges rejected that. A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the program must be funded using at least the contingency funds—and asked for an update on progress by Monday. A Massachusetts-based judge also gave the administration until Monday to say whether it would partially pay for the benefits for November with contingency money or fund them fully with additional funds.

We await Donny’s to respond.

In a disturbing move the USDA(Trump Administration) has cautioned grocery stores on trying to help people…..

As the Trump administration continued its illegal freeze on food assistance, the US Department of Agriculture sent a warning to grocery stores not to provide discounts to the more than 42 million Americans affected.

Several grocery chains and food delivery apps have announced in recent days that they would provide substantial discounts to those whose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits have been delayed. More than 1 in 8 Americans rely on the program, and 39% of them are children.

But on Sunday, Catherine Rampell, a reporter at the Washington Postpublished an email from the USDA that was sent to grocery stores around the country, telling them they were prohibited from offering special discounts to those at greater risk of food insecurity due to the cuts.

“You must offer eligible foods at the same prices and on the same terms and conditions to SNAP-EBT customers as other customers, except that sales tax cannot be charged on SNAP purchases,” the email said. “You cannot treat SNAP-EBT customers differently from any other customer. Offering discounts or services only to SNAP-eligible customers is a SNAP violation unless you have a SNAP equal treatment waiver.”

The email referred to SNAP’s “Equal Treatment Rule,” which prohibits stores from discriminating against SNAP recipients by charging them higher prices or treating them more favorably than other customers by offering them specialized sales or incentives.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/usda-tells-grocery-stores-they-can-t-give-discounts-to-people-hit-by-trump-s-food-stamp-freeze

Just how bad does the Donny regime hate people?

A disgusting move from a disgusting pack of animals.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Criminalizing Homelessness

We have officially joined the bandwagon.

Mississippi has joined the list of states that are doing their level best to make homelessness illegal.

There is just such a bill making its way through the legislature…..

Two pieces of legislation aiming to limit where homeless people can sleep and where they can solicit donations from the public have advanced in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

On Tuesday, the House Judiciary A Committee passed two bills, House Bill 1197 and 1203, respectively. Combined, they would require any person soliciting for money or anything of value in a roadway to acquire a permit with a local police department and also prohibit them from “camping on public property.”

“It’s a safety issue,” said Rep. Shanda Yates, I-Jackson. “We limit (HB 1197) to just roadways. We’re not talking about sidewalks or any other areas with that. It’s literally just the roadways and the median. It is a public safety issue.”

…

HB 1197 states: “‘Solicitation or solicit’ means to request money or anything of value as a donation or contribution while standing, sitting or positioned in any manner on any road, street, highway median, traffic island or highway intersection; or to request any other thing of value in exchange for any goods, wares, merchandise or thing of value while standing, sitting or positioned in any manner on any road, street, highway median, traffic island or highway intersection.”

(clarionledger.com)

To help understand….what is homelessness?

In a nutshell:

  • A homeless person is one who is without a home, often one who is living on the streets. The term “homeless” and “homelessness” are most commonly used in lay terms and by government agencies.
  • An unhoused or houseless person is one who has no physical address, whether they live on the streets, in a tent or have temporary lodging at a shelter or other location.
  • An unsheltered person is one who is without shelter, for instance a tent or other place to get out of the elements.
  • Housing insecurity happens when a person does not have stable or adequate housing, including those who are being evicted or regularly come up short when paying their monthly bills.

Here are the stats on the Mississippi homeless…..if anyone cares….

https://www.wjtv.com/news/state/mississippi-has-lowest-rate-of-homelessness-in-us/

Where did all this recent hatred of the homeless originate…..

In June 2024, the US Supreme Court made this promise much easier to keep by overturning a lower court’s decision on criminalizing homelessness. Grants Pass, Oregon, where the case originated, had been punishing the unhoused with fines ranging from $295 to $1,250 and 30 days in jail. Ed Johnson was the initial lawyer who successfully argued this practice was unconstitutional. But after the Supreme Court weighed in, Grants Pass now was able to resume this practice. Other cities are likely to do the same.

Trump has promised to get the homeless off the streets…..and so it begins….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

US Homelessness Up 18%

Our employment is setting records….markets are doing good (for the most part) and all is well with the world.

Not exactly.

There is one sector of this nation that is growing….homelessness.

The US saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness this year, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country, federal officials said Friday. The Department of Housing and Urban Development said federally required counts taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless. That tally misses some people and does not include those staying with friends or family because they do not have a place of their own, the AP reports.

The increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. The 2023 increase also was driven by people experiencing homelessness for the first time. The numbers overall represent 23 of every 10,000 people in the nation, with Black people being overrepresented among the homeless population. Adrianne Todman of HUD said in a statement that the focus should remain on “evidence-based efforts to prevent and end homelessness.” Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness—one of the areas most affected by the arrival of migrants in big cities.

Family homelessness more than doubled in 13 communities impacted by migrants including Denver, Chicago, and New York City, according to HUD, while it rose less than 8% in the remaining 373 communities. Nearly 150,000 children experienced homelessness on a single night in 2024, reflecting a 33% jump from last year. Disasters also played a part in the rise in the count, especially the Maui wildfire, per the AP. Several large cities had success bringing down their homeless numbers. Dallas, which worked to overhaul its homeless system, saw a 16% drop in its numbers between 2022 to 2024. Los Angeles, which increased housing for the homeless, saw a drop of 5% in unsheltered homelessness since 2023.

This is a situation that most Americans choose to ignore or make lame ass excuses for why this problem persists.

This needs attention and jail time for those homeless is not the answer…..only a quick fix to look like someone actually cares.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Poor Will Be Poor

This is a re-post from my secondary blog….I am trying to do this from my phone so things may not work out….

If you have been following politics for any length of time you have heard the tired meme about the poor….”pull themselves up by their own boot straps”….in other words  the poor are blamed for their poverty.
 
The facts do not hold this BS as accurate.
 
https://gulfsouthfreepress.wordpress.com/2024/04/19/by-your-bootstraps
 
Hopefully my new PC will appear and I can have it up and running in a day or so.
 
Thanx for bearing with me through this situation….I appreciate your time.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Poverty–Oh SNAP!

There are a few programs that try to help the poor with their struggle with hunger….one of those programs is the SNAP.

SNAP provides nutrition benefits to supplement the food budget of needy families so they can purchase healthy food and move towards self-sufficiency.

Now that the Repubs are in control of most state houses there is a movement to end this program….

Republicans in the Iowa House introduced legislation this month that would impose a slew of fresh restrictions on the kinds of food people can purchase using SNAP benefits, sparking outrage among local groups who say the measure would exacerbate hunger in the GOP-dominated state.

The Des Moines Area Religious Council (DMARC), an interfaith group that operates the largest food pantry network in Iowa, noted in a statement earlier this week that if the bill passes, “Iowans could no longer use their SNAP benefits to purchase meat, nuts, and seeds; flour, butter, cooking oil, soup, canned fruits, and vegetables; frozen prepared foods, snack foods, herbs, spices—not even salt or pepper.”

“This is a punitive policy that will do nothing to improve the health and nutrition of Iowans, but rather be a detriment,” the group said.

The Iowa Hunger Coalition (IHC) also condemned the bill, voicing opposition to its proposed food restrictions as well as new asset limits that would make it more difficult for families to qualify for SNAP, a program funded by the federal government and administered by states.

According to Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., roughly 229,500 people—including 80,160 children—are facing food insecurity in Iowa.

The details of the new legislation—which is sponsored by 39 Iowa House Republicans, including Speaker Pat Grassley—were met with national anger.

“This is so profoundly cruel and petty,” said Leah Greenberg, co-executive director of the progressive advocacy group Indivisible.

Sarah Bowen, a sociologist who studies food and inequality, noted in a tweet on Thursday that “Republicans have tried to destroy SNAP for years,” animated by the lie that “SNAP recipients are all stocking up on lobster and steak.”

“This is the most ridiculous proposal I’ve seen though,” Bowen added. “No chicken or ground beef. No chili beans. No American cheese?!”

SNAP recipients are already limited in what they can purchase at the grocery store using their benefits, but Iowa Republicans are seeking to dramatically expand those restrictions.

As Todd Dorman of the Iowa Gazetteexplained in a column on Thursday, the legislation “would require the Department of Health and Human Services to seek a federal waiver allowing Iowa to scrap an already restrictive federal list of approved foods and replace it with a list of food available to recipients of aid to Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC.”

“The bill would also, for the first time, create an asset test, limiting household assets to $2,750 or $4,250 if one member of the household is over 60. It exempts just one vehicle, potentially making households with two cars ineligible,” Dorman wrote. “Beyond all of that draconian wisdom, the bill would force recipients to jump through far more regulatory hoops to become eligible and stay on SNAP, wrapping recipients tightly in red tape and likely costing the state millions more to administer the program.”

“Only two groups support the bill,” Dorman added. “One is the Florida-based Opportunity Solutions Project, which sends its minions across the country to cut holes in the social safety net and oppose policies such as Medicaid expansion. The group is part of a web of conservative think tanks and bill mills bankrolled by rich donors who think if you just make poor people hungry and sick enough, they’ll utilize their bootstraps.”

(commondreams.org.

Read on….https://www.businessinsider.com/iowa-republicans-bill-ban-snap-recipients-meat-sliced-cheese-2023-1

How long will it be before this kind of cruelty expands into other red controlled Houses?

And yet they get votes from the very people they are screwing….where’s the logic in that?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Nothing For Child Poverty

I go and on about the amount of taxpayer dollars being thrown at Ukraine when that cash is needed here and now.

The Congress has authorized almost a trillion dollars (that is a “T”) for the Pentagon but when a bill to help fight child poverty….and it failed.

Congressional Republicans happily teamed up with Democrats this month to authorize $858 billion in military spending for the next fiscal year, but the GOP is refusing to even consider proposals to revive the Child Tax Credit expansion that lifted millions of kids out of poverty last year—even though bringing the program back would cost a fraction of the Pentagon outlay.

A spokesperson for Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told HuffPost earlier this week that Republicans have thus far been unwilling to negotiate over the Child Tax Credit (CTC) boost, which they unanimously opposed when it was enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan last year.

“Republicans have refused to engage at all on the Child Tax Credit,” said Ashley Schapitl. “In fact they made clear they would not negotiate on any deal that includes the child tax credit.”

Leading Republicans readily confirmed their refusal to consider the CTC boost as part of an end-of-year tax package. With the 60-vote Senate filibuster intact, Democrats need the support of at least 10 Republicans to revive the expanded CTC in some form.

“As of right now there’s no support for that on the Republican side,” Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, told HuffPost.

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), one of the 176 House Republicans who voted in favor of the $858 billion National Defense Authorization Act last week, declared that “the country frankly doesn’t have the time or the money for the partisan, expensive provisions such as [the] Child Tax Credit.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022/12/17/congress-just-passed-858-billion-military-budget-gop-blocking-12-billion-fight-child

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), one of just 11 senators to vote against the NDAA, lamented that the bill provides the military with “many billions more than Congress has invested in addressing many of the biggest security concerns facing the American people—such as climate change, the opioid epidemic, poverty, hunger, and disease.”

“Instead, it doubles down on the failed approach of pouring money into a bloated, inefficient, and sometimes counterproductive national security machine underwritten by an army of lobbyists and gold-plated contractors that fails to deliver on the needs of the American people,” Markey added. “I simply cannot support it.”

I just wish that the American people cared more about their neighbors than some made up BS that needs our money thrown at it…..while that cheer for military victories they allow children to go hungry…..very disturbing at the lack of empathy.

This is so sad.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Poverty–What’s It Good for?

I do hope that everyone had a great day on Thanksgiving…I did….and since viewership is down on this Black Friday I will only post one  today so my readers do not miss any of my sterling observations.

A growing problem in this country is that of the state known as poverty….of course these days someone is going to blame inflation as the culprit…..but sadly the problem is much older than that.

I have been writing about this situation for decades……some of my thoughts are posted here…..

https://lobotero.com/why-poverty/
 
The promises the Founders promised in the original documents of this nation have failed and failed badly.
 
The old pieces of manure that are the political leaders do not want to change the status quo….they need poverty so the institution continues with little action to achieve the promises of the past.
 
One party is capitalizing on poverty and it’s darker side…..crime…..

The Republican Party is running a huge scam right now, similar to the one they ran in 1992 when President George HW Bush was setting up phony cocaine busts across the street from the White House and running his infamous Willie Horton ad.

Here’s the essential formula:

  • Increase levels of inequality in the country to the point where poverty and homelessness are a crisis.
  • Do this with huge, trillion-dollar tax cuts for rich people so they get massively richer, while gutting social-safety-net programs and supports for working class people like unions.
  • Poverty and homelessness increase which produces an increase in crime, and that freaks out middle-class people — the majority of voters.
  • Then build your political identity and campaign around being “tough on crime” while completely ignoring the fact that the poverty you helped create is largely responsible for much of that crime.
  • Blame the poverty-driven crime, instead, on “welfare” programs Democrats have put into place to try to soften the blow of the poverty caused by Republican policies.

This is not a new idea. Around 170 A.D. Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “Poverty is the mother of crime,” although he was actually trying to reduce both in the wake of others who’d made poverty and thus crime worse.

And then there’s inequality, which it turns out is at least as consequential as poverty as a driver of criminal behavior.

Years of research done by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett of the Equality Trust in the UK found that as inequality goes up, so does crime particularly violent crime.

https://www.opednews.com/articles/2/The-Ugly-Truth-Republican-by-Thom-Hartmann-Crime_Crime-Rates_Homelessness_Inequality-210527-448.html

There is an easy fix to this problem….it may not eliminate all the inequalities but it will lessen the problem somewhat….

Here is a novel idea…..wage war on poverty not the poor!

Try Waging War on Poverty Instead of the Poor

The demonization of the poor continues today….these unfortunate Americans are blamed for everything from low tax revenues to crumbling infrastructure….not a word about the tax cuts that also cut revenue for the nation….if blame needs to be assigned then look NO further than the GOP.

Again…wage war on poverty not the poor.

Educate….Organize….Act

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

What About Child Poverty?

I have waited a few days to see what the MSM would say about this… but sadly Ukraine situation became hot and truckers were preparing to try and shutdown DC….so this report was of NO importance.

With the rise of inflation this problem will get worse.

The rise in child poverty is just not that worthy of a report….a problem that could have been resolved with needed funds given freely to a corrupt government to fight a war……

The number of children in America living in poverty jumped dramatically after just one month without the expanded child tax credit payments, according to a new study. Advocates fear the lapse in payments could unravel what they say were landmark achievements in poverty reduction, the AP reports. Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimates 3.7 million more children were living in poverty by January—a 41% increase from December, when families received their last check. The federal aid started last July but ended after President Biden’s Build Back Better bill stalled in Congress. Payments of up to $300 per child were delivered directly to bank accounts monthly.

The Columbia study, which combines annual US Census data with information from the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey bulletins, found that the monthly child poverty rate increased from 12.1% in December to 17% in January. That’s the highest level since December 2020, when the US was grappling with high unemployment and a resurgence of COVID-19. Black and Latino children experienced the highest percentage point increases in poverty—5.9% and 7.1% respectively. Last week marked the second missed deposit of the year.

Megan Curran of the Center on Poverty and Social Policy said the sudden spike shows how quickly the payments became core to financial stability for millions of families. “It really had a huge impact right off the bat,” Curran said. “We saw food insecurity drop almost immediately as soon as the payments started … all of that progress that we made could now be lost.” Curran said the increase in children living in poverty could also partially reflect rising prices. The original goal of the child tax credit program was to cut nationwide child poverty in half.

The Pentagon budget is around $750 billion and little opposition politically….so that tells me that children and poverty in this country means NOTHING to the slugs in DC

For that matters means little to the American people….and that is the saddest part of this.

But let’s be honest….Russia, Ukraine and China are not the real problem they made out to be….but rather the rise in poverty here in this country….

Mainstream US media continues to celebrate the supposed strength of the US economy. Almost daily, headlines speak of hopeful numbers, sustainable growth, positive trends and constant gains. The reality on the ground, however, tells of something entirely different, which raises the questions: Are Americans being lied to? And for what purpose?

“US Economy Grew 1.7% in Fourth Quarter, Capping a Strong Year,” The New York Times reported. “US Economy Grew 5.7% in 2021, Fastest Full-Year Clip,” The Washington Post added. Reuters, Voice of America, The Financial Times, CNN, Market Watch and many others all concurred. But if that is the case, why then is US President Joe Biden’s approval rating at an all time low? And why are many Americans literally going hungry?

…

Here are some sobering numbers: 56% of all Americans cannot produce a meager $1,000 as an emergency expense from their existing savings, CNBC reported; 1 in 10 US adults have gone hungry last December as a result of poverty, Forbes.com reported; Columbia University Center on Poverty and Social Policy revealed that child poverty rate in the US stands at 17%, “one of the highest among developed countries”.

If American workers are studied separately from the larger population, the numbers are even more grim: three quarters of American workers said that “it was very or somewhat difficult to make ends meet,” according to a study conducted by Shift Project, and reported in NBC News online, 40% of the polled workers said that they are not able to come up with $400 in emergency money. But the most shocking of all, according to the same study, is that “around 20% said that they went hungry because they couldn’t afford enough to eat”.

Biden’s Real Challenge is Not Russia or China, but Poverty in America

If the MSM were truly the bringer of news then the focus should be on what is happening in our country….but then since corporate America owns the news….truth and accuracy is not their intent.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Let The Peasants Starve!

Peasants?

Why peasants?

A member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture.

These days it is referring to most of the working class according to Conservative thinking….

This became a way of thinking with 1980 and the election of Reagan and his liberal use of the term “welfare queen’….a stereotyping of anyone that gets assistance from the government…..a hated sector of American society…..

Now it is all those “lay abouts on unemployment”……and the Trump GOP has come up with a new assault on anyone that is poor or unemployed…..

GOP states have moved to end all support for those unemployed by the pandemic…..

Millions of jobless workers in Republican-led states across the U.S. are growing increasingly worried that they soon won’t be able to afford rent, medicine, and other basic necessities as GOP governors rush to cut off pandemic-related unemployment benefits, a widely condemned attack on struggling people that the Biden administration insists it is powerless to stop.

As of this writing, 22 Republican governors have moved to withdraw from a federal program that boosted regular unemployment checks by $300 per week to help jobless people weather the ongoing economic crisis.

Of those Republican-led states, 19 are also ending their participation in Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)—federal initiatives that provide an extension for people who have exhausted their state-level benefits and offer aid to gig workers and others who are typically ineligible.

To justify stripping a crucial lifeline from the jobless, the Republican leaders of Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, South Dakota, and other states have falsely claimed that the federal unemployment programs are so generous they are dissuading people from rejoining the workforce—a narrative that ignores a slew of other relevant factors, from the low wages on offer to lack of child care to health concerns.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/21/attempting-starve-people-back-work-anger-grows-gop-governors-cut-jobless-benefits

Then the corporations whine about the lack of interest in their slave wages….

Everyone knows American corporations from McDonalds to Walmart pay starvation wages. So now so-called leaders like Montana governor Greg “Punch a Journalist” Gianforte won’t distribute federal benefits, because people live better on those than on wages. Well, raise the wretched wages. They’re pitifully low. Or, as senator Bernie Sanders’ staff director Warren Gunnels put it: “Raise your wages and benefits or flip your own damn burgers and sweep your own damn floors.”

Just think, we live in a country where $300 per week is beyond the average American worker’s wildest dreams. What were they earning before? $200? $100? With pay like that, the U.S. really is what used to be called a Third World nation, and it’s organizations like the Chamber of Commerce that want to keep it that way. Back in early May, the Chamber, you may recall, blamed April’s lackluster employment expansion on the $300 weekly jobless benefit, “and began urging lawmakers to eliminate the federally enhanced unemployment payments,” as Truthout reported.

Companies Paying Starvation Wages Whine That Workers Aren’t Interested

Seriously?

The GOP and their masters thinking here reminds me of something from history attributed to Marie-Antoinette  “let them eat cake”!

Here is a goddamn idea…..why not up the minimum wage to $15 an hour and all those people would rush to fill vacancies in employment…..

It is not rocket science!

Well maybe it is….after all we are talking about Republicans here…..and most people know they are not the sharpest pencils in the box….just the most hateful.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–13Apr20

My state is getting hit hard by this Covid-19……not only are our elderly in danger but a side effect of this disease is hunger…..

A report by the The Guardian shine light on the problems this virus is creating for the state of Mississippi….

On the cracked country roads of Lexington, deep in the Mississippi delta, an empty yellow school bus drives slowly, making life-sustaining drop offs on the way.

Here, in the poorest county, in America’s poorest state, the coronavirus has yet to ravage the jurisdiction with infection. There has been one recorded Covid-19 death in the county, Clinton Cobbins, Lexington’s first African American mayor. But even now the coronavirus still poses a serious threat to life.

In Holmes county consolidated – the school district to which Lexington belongs – every single child qualifies for free school meals, a marker of pervasive poverty. For many, said superintendent Dr James L Henderson, breakfast and lunch at school are the only nutritious meals a student will eat in a day. For a few, they are the only meals.

When the coronavirus pandemic led to statewide school closures, Henderson, who was born in the county, left for most of his adult life, but returned in 2018 to assume his position, was left with a significant dilemma: how to feed the 3,000 children under his authority.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/in-the-poorest-county-in-americas-poorest-state-a-virus-hits-home-hunger-is-rampant

Just another story that grows around the pandemic and the anemic response we have had so far…..

Sorry to say but I feel it will get worse for Mississippians before it get better……

Why?

Some Mississippians are not taking this thing seriously…..many with no mask and many not adhering to the 6 foot rule…just to mention a few of the stupid things they are doing….keep in mind…”You cannot fix stupid”!

Watch This Blog!

Be Calm…….Avoid Crowds…..Wash Hands Often…..Stay Prepared For The Long Haul……

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”