Not long ago I was staying in the center of Baltimore, and someone had posted a scathing review on Google Maps of the nearby gourmet grocery store because they wouldn’t accept EBT for sushi. SUSHI. Some entitled layabout wants my tax money to buy him SUSHI. 😡
I guess it's sort of a luxury food, but I LOVE sushi, and more than any other food, it absolutely must be prepared to the highest standards. Fishy-smelling fried fish is one thing, but smelly raw fish ..... WHEW!
So tell me, what's wrong with sushi? I'm totally in favor of prohibiting use of food stamps for soda pop, candy and other junk food, but why sushi? According to the rules I found, SNAP benefits can be used to purchase most food items you would typically buy at a grocery store, including fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, and even cold prepared foods like sushi -- provided it is not for immediate consumption. How a grocery store would enforce the latter part is a great mystery, though. What's the grocer going to do when he notices the SNAP customer opening the sushi box while leaving his store?
As to who is an entitled layabout -- that may well be true of a lot of food stamps recipients, but it seems your prejudice is showing!
Sushi is a luxury item. Uber Eats drivers hang out near sushi restaurants because people who can afford sushi can afford to tip big. If you’re living on my dime, you can get by with basic living staples while you strive to get back to work.
Ted, you are over the target! Sushi is a luxury food. EDT/food stamps are for basic nutrition to keep people alive, just like my college cafeteria! Food stamps are not for non nutritional foods like soda, chips and hostess cakes.
You mean they SHOULD NOT be for such things, but the reality is, they are. And in truth, that should not strike us as strange because thanks to the American food processing industry, a lot of people have come to think of sugary junk as normal food, and getting it is a civil right.
Completely agree. I get mad every time I see “EBT Accepted” signs on sushi counters and fast food restaurants. We need to go back to basics while using taxpayer dollars. Want sushi? Or expensive fast food? Get a damn job. (Or get a better one.) I can’t afford sushi very often and I sure as hell don’t want to pay for those “layabouts” sushi!
Oh come on now, food stamps are there to provide basic nutrition support, not an entire food budget. The program started as a moral attempt to help people struggling. It is now far more than that. There has to be limits or it becomes an entitlement and destroys personal initiative. If people want sushi or lobster, let them go fishing.
I agree, years ago, late 60’s, due to circumstances beyond my control, at the age of 16 I found myself living in the slums of Portland Or (little Italy behind the Deep Throat theater) trying to finish high school and working 3 hours after school at a TV repair shop. I needed help with groceries. There wasn’t food stamps at the time but there was a food bank where you could acquire bulk items, 10 lb block of velveta, 20 lb bag of rice, potatoes ect. You would not starve. I learned how to make some pretty interesting dishes. It made one realize if you wanted a 6 pack of coke or a stake you were going to have to improve your lot in life, that this was going to be a temporary situation. I think we should have never got away from that. Also charity needs to be a locale thing, not some federally funded bureaucracy. I left Portland Oregon in the late 70’s and never looked back. I’m guessing all of Portland is pretty much a slum at this juncture.
I agree in part, but most welfarians won't buy high end food if they can stuff their pie hole with garbage. If.00001% of snap gets spent on expensive but nutritional stuff, that's a win in my book.
It's part of today's commercial life; and I speak from personal experience. And the recipients of reviews from malcontents should feel free to stick them where ...
What would be the difference between opening the bait err sushi vs opening the bag of Cheetos? They will sell you all the crap from PepsiCo in a heartbeat.
I'm not a fan of sushi, but plenty of people do love it. I'm in agreement with you.
On a side note, since sushi became popular, I've noticed a lot of kids with what appear to be fish hook sticking out of their lips. Coincidence?
Maybe they discovered a way to save money on perforation services down at the tattoo artist's place. As to the purpose of this particular phenomenon, could it be a modern way for girls to get boys hooked on them, or vice-versa? and impressing on them that a separation would be too painful for both parties? The mind boggles.
Why personal responsibility is the best way for our citizens to move forward. There are few issues in our society that aren’t decreased or removed by citizens being personally responsible.
Hey, we wouldn't want these SNAP recipients to get some good exercise by walking more than four blocks and back to get their Doritos and Coke. It might make them healthy enough to get a job or something.
Yeah, just another mindless name tag to show that your tax dollars are working for you. Food desert and 1/4 mile! Good lord, we have become a country of the lazy.
As published in the NY Post, walking even a few blocks on NYC sidewalks can be hazardous to your health, given the frequency of black hoodlums sucker-punching elderly ladies carrying their groceries home.
Agree , who in their right mind would put a new grocery store in downtown Baltimore ? They need to clean up their community . The culture is the reason it's a " food desert " .
I was a commercial photographer for the last half of my working life. My best client was a regional grocery chain who, at one point, wanted environmental portraits of all their department managers in their respective departments. The stores are beautifully designed, well stocked and have excellent produce, deli, fresh meat and bakery departments. Most have a pharmacy as well. We've shopped at the same one for over thirty years.
They had two stores in Chicago and flew me there to cover those stores. The first was in South Chicago which was about a 20 minute drive from my hotel. As I was getting closer, the neighborhoods were urban, older, and clearly had seen better times, and I began to think I must be lost as it seemed like an unlikely location for a large supermarket, but as I turned down the street of their address, there it was on one side of the street, plus a Home Depot, opposite. I was delighted to see this neighborhood so well served by both outlets. The store was as large and nice as any of their stores, and the employees were welcoming and enthusiastic. They obviously took great pride in this store.
About three years later I was having lunch with the corporate art director who hired me, and I mentioned the Chicago store. He shook his head and said it had closed, as had the Home Depot. Continuous theft, vandalism, robberies, assaults and carjackings in the parking lot had made it impossible to operate safely or profitably.
That was tragic and frustrating, but I think of that every time some government official laments the existence of food deserts, because the implication is usually that they are simply a manifestation of racism. My experience demonstrated to me that it is not so simple.
Glad all went well for you, Don. Enjoy your newly-refreshed peepers.
Precisely! Just look at CA today! Now that looting has virtually become legal hundreds of stores in all areas of all cities have shut down and moved out.
Areas that are considered food deserts are that way because of out of control theft and crime. I know, I have lived and worked in those areas. Owning one of these quick Mart‘s or convenient stores is risking life and limb.
I remember watching the series The Wire and thinking that possibly illuminating how real the problems were might make some change to at the least Baltimore. Instead, it served as a training manual. It also appears to have been the same for.House of Cards.
The convenience stores have become dangerous in some areas for sure. Can’t remember where I read it but there was an article about a convenience store in the midwest that had been robbed several times and the owners finally started carrying firearms. There was a sign posted to that effect. Robberies stopped. People have more options than they realize.
It wouldn't work in states and cities where the "gun control" laws prevent residents and store employees from carrying arms (mainly sidearms). These areas usually have leftist DA's who will give violent residents "slaps on the wrists" and release them without bond within hours after their arrests.
In 1961 I was 16 years old and working my first job in a local grocery store. Even then food stamp recipients could buy candy with them. The mothers would send children back to the candy section to use up the last penny there was left.
Re food deserts in the inner city: There are logical reasons why the grocery stores do not go there....insurance rates because of theft and vandalism. Perhaps there would be better behavior if the residents ate better food but good luck with that.
I still laugh at the women on HGTV looking at houses which their husbands have already said that MAYBE they could squeeze it in....they want a big kitchen...my God...why? Do they cook? Probably not. And that goes for the inner city people. If you do not know how to cook, what good does it do to sell nutritious food which is not packaged if you do not know what to do with the raw ingredients.
Instead of teaching marxism in school, perhaps the schools need to go back to teaching not just how to read, write, do math, and think (for oneself) but also teach life skills....like cooking.
A few years ago, my very much grown son watched me make breakfast. I cook from scratch. He ate that way growing up. He said to me "I watched you take a bunch of stuff and make a meal out of it." My response: "Yeah...it's called cooking." His wife, offspring of the 60/70s femlib movement, does not cook.
If the people do not know what to do with the basic ingredients and are too lazy to use their handheld computers to look up what to do with those ingredients, what is the point of it all? You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
Excellent post. Public schools should all be focussing on important life skills instead of BS cultural nonsense such as CRT and gender crap. Public education, seemingly, has lost its way as to their primary mission. Not sure if they still have shop and home economics classes anymore like they did when I was in high school, but they should.
I learned to cook from my mom and grandmother as I was growing up (I'm a "boomer"). I buy fresh food (vegetables, fruit, dairy, poultry, meat, and fish) and make my own meals and lunches to take to work - "fast food" has become so expensive.
I do love America, but personal observations have convinced me that by and large, European educational systems are far superior to the American way (Widely and regularly published results confirm that opinion, BTW.)
First of all, what we call "school choice" has long been widespread over there. In Holland, for instance, instead of pushing everybody into one gigantic high school, there are many alternative, smaller schools that have curricula designed for a wide variety of careers, from people wanting to teach the classics to those who want to do office work to those to aspire to a technical trade -- and it's all publicly funded. That's how my father, as a mere teenager, was qualified to work in a machine shop, and I attended a high school called Gymnasium, which is heavy on languages, modern as well as classical. I should mention that there was also a "housekeeping" school, attended by girls whose only aspiration was to get married. We derided it as the "pudding school", but it served a purpose -- like learning to cook.
Later on my dad was part of a group of parents who wanted to start a Christian school; the way that works over there is that a group of parents of any persuasion -- socialist, protestant, catholic, Montessori, Muslim -- can obtain a building from the local city government, and the national government is obligated to fund its operation. There are, of course, requirements, including sound financial management, at which the Muslim schools have often failed, but that has not invalidated the system, which has been around for well over a century.
I remember, but I never bothered taking such blow off classes. I had learned to clean and cook from my very talented and efficient mother who grew up in a farm. She was one of 7 children graduating from high school just after WWII ended. She left the farm and never looked back. She moved to the city (San Antonio, Tx) where she enrolled in Secretarial school. She worked pretty much from 17 til she was 72. I went to college because both of my parents could not. I went to work for a Wall Street Firm in Dallas in the early 80’s. All I ever wanted was to be a stay at home mom. Really, all I ever wanted was for MY mom to be a stay at home mom in the 1960’s.
My kids think I wasted my life. See how things evolve. I cooked, I baked bread and cooked, had the kids friends over, kept house, ferried them around and made sure they went to the best private schools. My daughter is very over educated and won’t speak to me. Barely cooks. Lives in Manhattan—Upper West Side. My son plays poker for a living despite his Finance degree from Baylor! He loves sushi and all kinds of expensive delicacies!
Not mentioned in the article is the main cause of “food deserts” and that factor is theft. Perhaps if the stores only stocked fresh vegetables, healthy grains and lean meats the theft would stop.
There is a hint of paternalism here that doesn’t sit well with American beliefs. If we’re going to ration junk food for the poor, then why not just get rid of junk food altogether? Not by prohibiting it, but by upgrading standards for ingredients.
IMO, paternalism is when Mayor of NYC tries to ban Big Gulps for everyone.
Paternalism is *not* when you take govt assistance and then want to complain about what it does *not* include.
I agree that soda is basically poison, as does RFKJr. But as he has pledged, he's not banning it for everyone; he just wants to include more disclosure to consumers what's in it.
But if you want to buy it with funds supplied for the purpose of you not starving, then strings are very justified to be attached.
The idea is to not allow the purchase junk foods in absolute, the idea is that handout money shouldn't be used to 'buy' junk foods. If you earn the money yourself then buy what you want but if you are given money and you accept it then you also should accept the terms that go with the program. It is exactly like a bank lending you money for a house. They don't allow you to buy a cruise around the world in 80 days instead and say thanks.
Nah - that doesn’t follow at all. Welfare should not be designed to provide anything and all of anything someone wants. Welfare should be designed to provide “needs” so that the individual is able to recover from calamity and move on his own to “ wants.”
i don't necessarily believe that it's any of my business if people want to eat junk food...as long as i don't have to pay for the food. your money, your food.
it's the same with abortion. i don't support the killing of the unborn but i realize that's not going to be changing much so at the least i shouldn't have to pay for the killing.
You’ll pay for it anyway in your insurance premiums to offset the cost of treating all of the obese diabetics with heart disease who live on junk food and go to the ER at the first sign of a sniffle.
no question about it but the in your face cost of welfare (ebt cards) is offensive just as planned parenthood being funded by taxpayers for abortion. why does it seem that we are always paying for women when they are supposed to be so powerful brave smart and independent? at least that's what the general narrative is. so either that's not the case or men are being played.
Well, just pair your observation with a criticism also of the MEN who father all those children and abandon the women. If the men stepped up to provide for them the taxpayers wouldn't need to.
nope. women chose who they sleep with not men. for men that's called rape. there are seventten forms of birth control that women could use if they were chose to. also, women initiate 80% of divorces. also, single motherhood is a business...BIG business. a trillion dollar business. a generational business. also, women get 90% of custody and over 90% of all child support. you've been misinformed tpg.
$40K is more than enough to bribe a politician. Remember, the only thing that matters -- to these poor excuses that call themselves public "servants" -- is getting reelected. The health and welfare of their constituents is the last thing on their mind.
Whenever anyone even comes within shooting range of touching any welfare program the uprising is deafening!
Their institution has created a perpetual underclass in the country who have come to believe it is the government’s responsibility to care for them from cradle to grave, and for everything in between. And there is not a single politician who would ever dare to so much as mention reducing their proliferation much less ending them, or there’d be pitchforks, torches, and rioting in the streets.
Trump’s efforts to expand manufacturing and bringing more jobs back to the country will have an impact on reducing poverty levels over time, but we’ll probably never rid ourselves of these programs altogether.
They are truly the third rail in politics even moreso than Social Security, which is a “paid into” insurance of sorts.
Once upon a time there was a sort of shame attached to being on government assistance. Now it’s practically become an art form in learning how to game the system. There are hundreds of NGO’s and organizations whose whole modus operandi is teaching people, especially of late, illegal immigrants, how to apply for every government program under the sin. It’s become a literal industry.
It would necessitate a monumental (and I’d say miraculous), cultural shift in mindset to even begin to think about minimizing them, much less ever doing away with them entirely.
One of the implied arguments against restricting the purchase of soda and chips was that it might cause embarrassment or feeling “less than”. Instead we have recipients who never think about the people who are supplying those funds - and I’m not talking about the government — and consider it a right with nary a hint of gratitude.
Why do the poorest households have the highest rates of child obesity? Same reason they have the highest rates of criminal conduct, drug use and pretty much every other social pathology you can think of. The illegitimate spawn have no parental influence. The fathers aren't there (not that most of these sperm donors would exert a positive influence regardless) and the mothers (who fit only the purely bilogical definition of this term) don't care. We have created this destructive cohort by supporting and reinforcing its behaviors with welfare benefits of every kind. The pattern shows no signs of diminishing. Of course, it remains true that this behavior will continue until it can't, by which I mean to say that only the financial ruin of our country will end it. Regrettably, this will have an equally devastating impact on the rest of us, but such is the fate of every society. Sir John Bagot Glubb outlined it a century ago: The Age of Pioneers (Outburst); The Age of Conquests; The Age of Commerce; The Age of Affluence; The Age of Intellect; The Age of Decadence; The Age of Decline & Collapse. We are currently swirling the around in the toilet of decline, soon to be flushed into the sewer pipe of collapse.
It’s no different than virtually every federal program or department where the name of it is always the opposite of its outcomes. The Department of Education educates nobody, the Department of Energy produces no energy, on and on. Everything in the federal government is fake, gay, and usually cover for a grift.
Not long ago I was staying in the center of Baltimore, and someone had posted a scathing review on Google Maps of the nearby gourmet grocery store because they wouldn’t accept EBT for sushi. SUSHI. Some entitled layabout wants my tax money to buy him SUSHI. 😡
Sushi is more nutritious than many things available, but I see your point.
Well, I guess many “baits” would be then, eh?
Fresh, non-GMO what's not to like?
Eww
I love California rolls--no raw fish.
Californians get rolled every election because of the rampant fraud but you love it. Nothing fishy I'm sure.
I'm hurt.
Don't you remember that mind-blowing tv expose segment of that 'surfer dude' in CA BRAGGING that he used his SNAP card to buy LOBSTER!?!
Here it is (there were many links that came up when I searched) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2428597/This-way-I-want-live-I-don-t-really-changing-unemployed-beach-bum-uses-food-stamps-buy-lobster-sushi--plans-getting-job.html
You want sushi? Try a bait store. Sushi is just live bait.
I guess it's sort of a luxury food, but I LOVE sushi, and more than any other food, it absolutely must be prepared to the highest standards. Fishy-smelling fried fish is one thing, but smelly raw fish ..... WHEW!
It's pretty good for chumming but otherwise useless ; won't stay on the hook 😁
So tell me, what's wrong with sushi? I'm totally in favor of prohibiting use of food stamps for soda pop, candy and other junk food, but why sushi? According to the rules I found, SNAP benefits can be used to purchase most food items you would typically buy at a grocery store, including fruits, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, and even cold prepared foods like sushi -- provided it is not for immediate consumption. How a grocery store would enforce the latter part is a great mystery, though. What's the grocer going to do when he notices the SNAP customer opening the sushi box while leaving his store?
As to who is an entitled layabout -- that may well be true of a lot of food stamps recipients, but it seems your prejudice is showing!
Sushi is a luxury item. Uber Eats drivers hang out near sushi restaurants because people who can afford sushi can afford to tip big. If you’re living on my dime, you can get by with basic living staples while you strive to get back to work.
Ted, you are over the target! Sushi is a luxury food. EDT/food stamps are for basic nutrition to keep people alive, just like my college cafeteria! Food stamps are not for non nutritional foods like soda, chips and hostess cakes.
No, no, my friend. Sushi is bait.
You mean they SHOULD NOT be for such things, but the reality is, they are. And in truth, that should not strike us as strange because thanks to the American food processing industry, a lot of people have come to think of sugary junk as normal food, and getting it is a civil right.
Larry , I am in complete agreement but you might get an argument on the basic nutrition / college cafeteria item .
I went to school in the 70's when a fake Big Mac was a big deal.
Completely agree. I get mad every time I see “EBT Accepted” signs on sushi counters and fast food restaurants. We need to go back to basics while using taxpayer dollars. Want sushi? Or expensive fast food? Get a damn job. (Or get a better one.) I can’t afford sushi very often and I sure as hell don’t want to pay for those “layabouts” sushi!
A California roll--no raw fish--costs $6.49 at Fred Meyer. I buy it for $5 on a sale day.
Oh come on now, food stamps are there to provide basic nutrition support, not an entire food budget. The program started as a moral attempt to help people struggling. It is now far more than that. There has to be limits or it becomes an entitlement and destroys personal initiative. If people want sushi or lobster, let them go fishing.
I agree, years ago, late 60’s, due to circumstances beyond my control, at the age of 16 I found myself living in the slums of Portland Or (little Italy behind the Deep Throat theater) trying to finish high school and working 3 hours after school at a TV repair shop. I needed help with groceries. There wasn’t food stamps at the time but there was a food bank where you could acquire bulk items, 10 lb block of velveta, 20 lb bag of rice, potatoes ect. You would not starve. I learned how to make some pretty interesting dishes. It made one realize if you wanted a 6 pack of coke or a stake you were going to have to improve your lot in life, that this was going to be a temporary situation. I think we should have never got away from that. Also charity needs to be a locale thing, not some federally funded bureaucracy. I left Portland Oregon in the late 70’s and never looked back. I’m guessing all of Portland is pretty much a slum at this juncture.
Yep , go back to commodities instead of food stamps / SNAP cards . Everybody needs to be able to cook for themselves .
Interestingly, once the Israelites reached Canaan (the promised land) manna and the quails falling from the sky stopped.
All were responsible to work for their own keep.
I'd call that the OEM instructions for humans, from the Creator God.
An interesting and accurate observation. I do believe that Paul noted " if they won't work, don't feed them.
I agree in part, but most welfarians won't buy high end food if they can stuff their pie hole with garbage. If.00001% of snap gets spent on expensive but nutritional stuff, that's a win in my book.
I also don’t appreciate in the least that this entitled layabout was willing to trash someone’s business online and bring down their Google rating.
I’m still wondering if the EBT cards can’t be used for sushi or if the gourmet store just chose not to allow it. Either way, I share your viewpoint.
It's part of today's commercial life; and I speak from personal experience. And the recipients of reviews from malcontents should feel free to stick them where ...
Well, although I do like some sushi, it tends to be expensive for the small amount one gets - so not much "bang for the buck"
True, but I suspect quite a few people buy it for the cultural experience. Which will wear off, but still.
What would be the difference between opening the bait err sushi vs opening the bag of Cheetos? They will sell you all the crap from PepsiCo in a heartbeat.
I'm not a fan of sushi, but plenty of people do love it. I'm in agreement with you.
On a side note, since sushi became popular, I've noticed a lot of kids with what appear to be fish hook sticking out of their lips. Coincidence?
Maybe they discovered a way to save money on perforation services down at the tattoo artist's place. As to the purpose of this particular phenomenon, could it be a modern way for girls to get boys hooked on them, or vice-versa? and impressing on them that a separation would be too painful for both parties? The mind boggles.
I love seeing little old ladies use their Oregon Trail Card to buy organic foods. I'd buy sushi if I had one.
Why personal responsibility is the best way for our citizens to move forward. There are few issues in our society that aren’t decreased or removed by citizens being personally responsible.
That makes way too much sense for Leftist bureaucrats.
Not just lefties. The GOP has not done anything about the issue either. Lets face it, on issues of substance, our congress is useless.
Which is why the Founders didn't want them involved in this stuff (in our personal lives) at ANY level.
Leftists hate God and they want to be your God. So I guess they want it to be your “mana from Heaven.”
“Food deserts” is BS. You’re in a food desert if your closest grocery store is >1/4 mile away?
1/4 mile is four blocks.
My closest grocery store is about 8 blocks away. I often walk there if I’m not buying heavy or bulky items, just for the exercise.
Hey, we wouldn't want these SNAP recipients to get some good exercise by walking more than four blocks and back to get their Doritos and Coke. It might make them healthy enough to get a job or something.
Yeah, just another mindless name tag to show that your tax dollars are working for you. Food desert and 1/4 mile! Good lord, we have become a country of the lazy.
As published in the NY Post, walking even a few blocks on NYC sidewalks can be hazardous to your health, given the frequency of black hoodlums sucker-punching elderly ladies carrying their groceries home.
Then don’t live there! Good grief, people have choices and can change their lives IF THEY WANT TOO.
Agree. I live in a small town (around 11K people) and I live well over a mile from all 3 grocery stores (one being the local Walmart).
Agree , who in their right mind would put a new grocery store in downtown Baltimore ? They need to clean up their community . The culture is the reason it's a " food desert " .
I was a commercial photographer for the last half of my working life. My best client was a regional grocery chain who, at one point, wanted environmental portraits of all their department managers in their respective departments. The stores are beautifully designed, well stocked and have excellent produce, deli, fresh meat and bakery departments. Most have a pharmacy as well. We've shopped at the same one for over thirty years.
They had two stores in Chicago and flew me there to cover those stores. The first was in South Chicago which was about a 20 minute drive from my hotel. As I was getting closer, the neighborhoods were urban, older, and clearly had seen better times, and I began to think I must be lost as it seemed like an unlikely location for a large supermarket, but as I turned down the street of their address, there it was on one side of the street, plus a Home Depot, opposite. I was delighted to see this neighborhood so well served by both outlets. The store was as large and nice as any of their stores, and the employees were welcoming and enthusiastic. They obviously took great pride in this store.
About three years later I was having lunch with the corporate art director who hired me, and I mentioned the Chicago store. He shook his head and said it had closed, as had the Home Depot. Continuous theft, vandalism, robberies, assaults and carjackings in the parking lot had made it impossible to operate safely or profitably.
That was tragic and frustrating, but I think of that every time some government official laments the existence of food deserts, because the implication is usually that they are simply a manifestation of racism. My experience demonstrated to me that it is not so simple.
Glad all went well for you, Don. Enjoy your newly-refreshed peepers.
Precisely! Just look at CA today! Now that looting has virtually become legal hundreds of stores in all areas of all cities have shut down and moved out.
So glad you are doing well Don. Write on!
Areas that are considered food deserts are that way because of out of control theft and crime. I know, I have lived and worked in those areas. Owning one of these quick Mart‘s or convenient stores is risking life and limb.
I remember watching the series The Wire and thinking that possibly illuminating how real the problems were might make some change to at the least Baltimore. Instead, it served as a training manual. It also appears to have been the same for.House of Cards.
So true about House of Cards.
A problem not mentioned is that nutritious food typically doesn’t have the shelf life of junk food, so more overhead for the proprietor.
The convenience stores have become dangerous in some areas for sure. Can’t remember where I read it but there was an article about a convenience store in the midwest that had been robbed several times and the owners finally started carrying firearms. There was a sign posted to that effect. Robberies stopped. People have more options than they realize.
It wouldn't work in states and cities where the "gun control" laws prevent residents and store employees from carrying arms (mainly sidearms). These areas usually have leftist DA's who will give violent residents "slaps on the wrists" and release them without bond within hours after their arrests.
🙏Great news about the success of the cataract surgery, Don.
In 1961 I was 16 years old and working my first job in a local grocery store. Even then food stamp recipients could buy candy with them. The mothers would send children back to the candy section to use up the last penny there was left.
Re food deserts in the inner city: There are logical reasons why the grocery stores do not go there....insurance rates because of theft and vandalism. Perhaps there would be better behavior if the residents ate better food but good luck with that.
I still laugh at the women on HGTV looking at houses which their husbands have already said that MAYBE they could squeeze it in....they want a big kitchen...my God...why? Do they cook? Probably not. And that goes for the inner city people. If you do not know how to cook, what good does it do to sell nutritious food which is not packaged if you do not know what to do with the raw ingredients.
Instead of teaching marxism in school, perhaps the schools need to go back to teaching not just how to read, write, do math, and think (for oneself) but also teach life skills....like cooking.
A few years ago, my very much grown son watched me make breakfast. I cook from scratch. He ate that way growing up. He said to me "I watched you take a bunch of stuff and make a meal out of it." My response: "Yeah...it's called cooking." His wife, offspring of the 60/70s femlib movement, does not cook.
If the people do not know what to do with the basic ingredients and are too lazy to use their handheld computers to look up what to do with those ingredients, what is the point of it all? You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.
Excellent post. Public schools should all be focussing on important life skills instead of BS cultural nonsense such as CRT and gender crap. Public education, seemingly, has lost its way as to their primary mission. Not sure if they still have shop and home economics classes anymore like they did when I was in high school, but they should.
A compromise: shop and home economics for transgenders and genderqueer...
I learned to cook from my mom and grandmother as I was growing up (I'm a "boomer"). I buy fresh food (vegetables, fruit, dairy, poultry, meat, and fish) and make my own meals and lunches to take to work - "fast food" has become so expensive.
I do love America, but personal observations have convinced me that by and large, European educational systems are far superior to the American way (Widely and regularly published results confirm that opinion, BTW.)
First of all, what we call "school choice" has long been widespread over there. In Holland, for instance, instead of pushing everybody into one gigantic high school, there are many alternative, smaller schools that have curricula designed for a wide variety of careers, from people wanting to teach the classics to those who want to do office work to those to aspire to a technical trade -- and it's all publicly funded. That's how my father, as a mere teenager, was qualified to work in a machine shop, and I attended a high school called Gymnasium, which is heavy on languages, modern as well as classical. I should mention that there was also a "housekeeping" school, attended by girls whose only aspiration was to get married. We derided it as the "pudding school", but it served a purpose -- like learning to cook.
Later on my dad was part of a group of parents who wanted to start a Christian school; the way that works over there is that a group of parents of any persuasion -- socialist, protestant, catholic, Montessori, Muslim -- can obtain a building from the local city government, and the national government is obligated to fund its operation. There are, of course, requirements, including sound financial management, at which the Muslim schools have often failed, but that has not invalidated the system, which has been around for well over a century.
Europe is changing. Don't go to the bank on anything remaining as it was. The US used to have an excellent education system.
Remember in the way back time when Home Economics was taught?
I remember, but I never bothered taking such blow off classes. I had learned to clean and cook from my very talented and efficient mother who grew up in a farm. She was one of 7 children graduating from high school just after WWII ended. She left the farm and never looked back. She moved to the city (San Antonio, Tx) where she enrolled in Secretarial school. She worked pretty much from 17 til she was 72. I went to college because both of my parents could not. I went to work for a Wall Street Firm in Dallas in the early 80’s. All I ever wanted was to be a stay at home mom. Really, all I ever wanted was for MY mom to be a stay at home mom in the 1960’s.
My kids think I wasted my life. See how things evolve. I cooked, I baked bread and cooked, had the kids friends over, kept house, ferried them around and made sure they went to the best private schools. My daughter is very over educated and won’t speak to me. Barely cooks. Lives in Manhattan—Upper West Side. My son plays poker for a living despite his Finance degree from Baylor! He loves sushi and all kinds of expensive delicacies!
Smh…
Not mentioned in the article is the main cause of “food deserts” and that factor is theft. Perhaps if the stores only stocked fresh vegetables, healthy grains and lean meats the theft would stop.
That fresh vegetable store would go out of business very quickly bc nobody would shop there.
And most all those perishables would go bad on the display racks.
There is a hint of paternalism here that doesn’t sit well with American beliefs. If we’re going to ration junk food for the poor, then why not just get rid of junk food altogether? Not by prohibiting it, but by upgrading standards for ingredients.
I would gently disagree about the paternalism.
IMO, paternalism is when Mayor of NYC tries to ban Big Gulps for everyone.
Paternalism is *not* when you take govt assistance and then want to complain about what it does *not* include.
I agree that soda is basically poison, as does RFKJr. But as he has pledged, he's not banning it for everyone; he just wants to include more disclosure to consumers what's in it.
But if you want to buy it with funds supplied for the purpose of you not starving, then strings are very justified to be attached.
But that is just me.
👍
The idea is to not allow the purchase junk foods in absolute, the idea is that handout money shouldn't be used to 'buy' junk foods. If you earn the money yourself then buy what you want but if you are given money and you accept it then you also should accept the terms that go with the program. It is exactly like a bank lending you money for a house. They don't allow you to buy a cruise around the world in 80 days instead and say thanks.
That is very squared away. Bravo!
Nah - that doesn’t follow at all. Welfare should not be designed to provide anything and all of anything someone wants. Welfare should be designed to provide “needs” so that the individual is able to recover from calamity and move on his own to “ wants.”
And it should be short term, not life long.
Easy here, your in the common sense area.
Or welfare…
i don't necessarily believe that it's any of my business if people want to eat junk food...as long as i don't have to pay for the food. your money, your food.
it's the same with abortion. i don't support the killing of the unborn but i realize that's not going to be changing much so at the least i shouldn't have to pay for the killing.
You’ll pay for it anyway in your insurance premiums to offset the cost of treating all of the obese diabetics with heart disease who live on junk food and go to the ER at the first sign of a sniffle.
no question about it but the in your face cost of welfare (ebt cards) is offensive just as planned parenthood being funded by taxpayers for abortion. why does it seem that we are always paying for women when they are supposed to be so powerful brave smart and independent? at least that's what the general narrative is. so either that's not the case or men are being played.
Well, just pair your observation with a criticism also of the MEN who father all those children and abandon the women. If the men stepped up to provide for them the taxpayers wouldn't need to.
nope. women chose who they sleep with not men. for men that's called rape. there are seventten forms of birth control that women could use if they were chose to. also, women initiate 80% of divorces. also, single motherhood is a business...BIG business. a trillion dollar business. a generational business. also, women get 90% of custody and over 90% of all child support. you've been misinformed tpg.
Ditto for we taxpayers involuntarily contributing to fund PBS & NPR
then forced to buy them inside your cable package.
$40K is more than enough to bribe a politician. Remember, the only thing that matters -- to these poor excuses that call themselves public "servants" -- is getting reelected. The health and welfare of their constituents is the last thing on their mind.
Whenever anyone even comes within shooting range of touching any welfare program the uprising is deafening!
Their institution has created a perpetual underclass in the country who have come to believe it is the government’s responsibility to care for them from cradle to grave, and for everything in between. And there is not a single politician who would ever dare to so much as mention reducing their proliferation much less ending them, or there’d be pitchforks, torches, and rioting in the streets.
Trump’s efforts to expand manufacturing and bringing more jobs back to the country will have an impact on reducing poverty levels over time, but we’ll probably never rid ourselves of these programs altogether.
They are truly the third rail in politics even moreso than Social Security, which is a “paid into” insurance of sorts.
Once upon a time there was a sort of shame attached to being on government assistance. Now it’s practically become an art form in learning how to game the system. There are hundreds of NGO’s and organizations whose whole modus operandi is teaching people, especially of late, illegal immigrants, how to apply for every government program under the sin. It’s become a literal industry.
It would necessitate a monumental (and I’d say miraculous), cultural shift in mindset to even begin to think about minimizing them, much less ever doing away with them entirely.
Hear, hear!
One of the implied arguments against restricting the purchase of soda and chips was that it might cause embarrassment or feeling “less than”. Instead we have recipients who never think about the people who are supplying those funds - and I’m not talking about the government — and consider it a right with nary a hint of gratitude.
I think we can always thank LBJ and his Great Society for that and the destruction of the family unit
I think a requirement for getting food stamps should be a mandatory healthy diet training program.
and a job.
Why do the poorest households have the highest rates of child obesity? Same reason they have the highest rates of criminal conduct, drug use and pretty much every other social pathology you can think of. The illegitimate spawn have no parental influence. The fathers aren't there (not that most of these sperm donors would exert a positive influence regardless) and the mothers (who fit only the purely bilogical definition of this term) don't care. We have created this destructive cohort by supporting and reinforcing its behaviors with welfare benefits of every kind. The pattern shows no signs of diminishing. Of course, it remains true that this behavior will continue until it can't, by which I mean to say that only the financial ruin of our country will end it. Regrettably, this will have an equally devastating impact on the rest of us, but such is the fate of every society. Sir John Bagot Glubb outlined it a century ago: The Age of Pioneers (Outburst); The Age of Conquests; The Age of Commerce; The Age of Affluence; The Age of Intellect; The Age of Decadence; The Age of Decline & Collapse. We are currently swirling the around in the toilet of decline, soon to be flushed into the sewer pipe of collapse.
It’s no different than virtually every federal program or department where the name of it is always the opposite of its outcomes. The Department of Education educates nobody, the Department of Energy produces no energy, on and on. Everything in the federal government is fake, gay, and usually cover for a grift.
Glad to hear your surgery went well!