SNAP bans on soda, candy and other foods take effect in five states Jan. 1- Thanks RFK!

[Meathead]

Bad idea, then the democraps will want cigarettes and fentanyl added to the benefits. I have a better idea. Start making increasing restrictions to SNAP until everybody is weened off of it and taking care of themselves. It's time to bring the family back and let families take care of families. Society should take care of society. The moronic democraps are so worried about authoritarianism yet have done everything possible to control every aspect of a person's life. The government is not capable of being everything to everyone. It's time to ween people off of government and get government off our backs.

Couldn't agree more. I was just extending Crazy Joe's rationale about not depriving people of things just because they're poor.

 

[Dorian Mode]

Couldn't agree more. I was just extending Crazy Joe's rationale about not depriving people of things just because they're poor.

Democraps don't care about the poor, they just care about buying enough votes with taxpayer money to get into and stay in power so they can get their kickbacks from all the myriad scams they are involved in. If they cared about feeding the poor, they would invite them into their homes and feed them. But they don't. If they cared about the homeless they would invite them into their homes and give them a place to stay. But they don't. What they actually do is create democrap run programs to feed and house the poor where all the money seems to go to wealthy people working in NGOs. Democraps are as fake as press on nails. Don't listen to them.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Just out of curiosity. Where do you live, what state I mean?

I'm asking because I'm Belgian and my wife's American. She lived in New York. And what struck me on my first visit to the US is how expensive "healthy foods" are and how cheap processed junk food. This is over 20 years ago and in my experience that's been the case in every state in the US I've been to since.

This brought me to the conclusion that America's obesity problem isn't one of bad choices, but one driven by economics. The poorer you are the less you can spend on healthy foods.

Snap benefits are for these people. So I wonder. What's preventing these bans from turning an already bad problem of poverty and obesity into escalating into outright malnutrition?

To put it in perspective. My wife just bought me some lychee's imported fruit here. A bit over 2 pounds worth for 6 euro. 1 kilogram of oranges. (About 2 and a half pounds) 6 euro. Those are not the prices I encounter when in the US.

First, healthy foods really aren't expensive. That's largely a myth. Chicken, beef, vegetables, these are not expensive items.

Second, what's more expensive, eating healthy or treating diabetes?

 

[iamwhatiseem]

In my opinion:
To receive SNAP benefits the following requirements must be met.
1) Must not use any uber expensive tobacco products, if you can afford that - you can afford groceries. Will be tested randomly every 12 months. Failure to pass or show up for test is automatic loss of benefits. No exceptions.
2) Must be drug free. Random drug testing every 12 months. Same rules apply as above.
3) If you have no child, and are unable to afford children - you must use contraceptives that will be provided. Failure to take them is automatic loss of benefits.
4) If you have children, benefit amount will commensurate to number of children. You then must be on provided contraceptives. Failure to do so is automatic penalty to be taken from your tax returns. $500 penalty. If you get pregnant, you will get no additional benefits.

SNAP food limitations:
Basic, raw ingredients only. No pre-prepared foods allowed.
Exceptions are frozen vegetables and frozen meat. Absolutely no frozen prepared meals.
No snack foods, no liquids besides water, milk and fruit juice that must contain at least 90% pure juice.

 

[Clipper]

Folks can find reasonably priced fresh food. Like ground beef or ground pork or ground turkey. Sometimes you can find burger patties for a dollar each at certain places. I live outside the USA now but for almost all of my life I have lived in New York State.

Fresh fruit can be expensive but not all year and some places like ALDIs has low cost fruit.

SNAP still exists. There will not be malnutrition, but because of RFK Junior we will simply have more healthy Americans.

I would agree that obesity isn’t just because of bad choices. That is largely driving it but also the fact that the fast food industry is so popular and it is propped up by corporations and powerful interest groups.

Yea, Kennedy wants to make Americans healthy so we'll make a good looking corpse thanks to his deranged anti-vaxx policies which will result in people dying needlessly.

 

[Nostra]

Yea, Kennedy wants to make Americans healthy so we'll make a good looking corpse thanks to his deranged anti-vaxx policies which will result in people dying needlessly.

MILLIONS WILL DIE!


Seems I have heard that lunatic talking point before, Chimper.

 

[JoeB131]

Considering how long people remain on the dole, we should bring back shame with regards to nominally healthy people not wanting to take care of their own shit.

Right, thanks for confirming this is about hating on poor people and not their health.

I have been real, the claim was (to paraphrase) that small shops wouldn't comply.

I disagree with that opinion. Will there be outliers? Sure. Will they risk prison and their business license? Sure.

Will they be the norm? Hell no, the vast majority will comply with the law.

Will they, though? I suspect a lot of them will resist the law. Especially over something this petty.

Operative word is "first", more will likely adopt similar measures. Will it be 1/3 of the states? Half othe states? 75% of the states? All the states? To early to tell.

Probably not more than the five we have now, and they'll start pushing back when profits aren't being realized. Keep in mind, we are heading into a recession, and this is the last thing retailers need right now.

This isn't about "your local grocery". It's about the technology question of POS sales and inventory systems being able to differentiate between SNAP eligible and non-SNAP items.

The systems are already in place in current POS/Inventory systems.

But will they be implemented? Will people find work-arounds? Yup. They do now.

 

[martybegan]

Right, thanks for confirming this is about hating on poor people and not their health.



Will they, though? I suspect a lot of them will resist the law. Especially over something this petty.



Probably not more than the five we have now, and they'll start pushing back when profits aren't being realized. Keep in mind, we are heading into a recession, and this is the last thing retailers need right now.



But will they be implemented? Will people find work-arounds? Yup. They do now.

Yes, because coddling them and giving them just enough to survive barely comfortably is so ******* successful.

 

[JoeB131]

In my opinion:
To receive SNAP benefits the following requirements must be met.
1) Must not use any uber expensive tobacco products, if you can afford that - you can afford groceries. Will be tested randomly every 12 months. Failure to pass or show up for test is automatic loss of benefits. No exceptions.
2) Must be drug free. Random drug testing every 12 months. Same rules apply as above.
3) If you have no child, and are unable to afford children - you must use contraceptives that will be provided. Failure to take them is automatic loss of benefits.
4) If you have children, benefit amount will commensurate to number of children. You then must be on provided contraceptives. Failure to do so is automatic penalty to be taken from your tax returns. $500 penalty. If you get pregnant, you will get no additional benefits.

SNAP food limitations:
Basic, raw ingredients only. No pre-prepared foods allowed.
Exceptions are frozen vegetables and frozen meat. Absolutely no frozen prepared meals.
No snack foods, no liquids besides water, milk and fruit juice that must contain at least 90% pure juice.

I think we need to mark every poor person with a tattoo on their forehead, so that we know they are poor.

****, why don't you just overturn the 13th Amendment and bring back slavery.

 

[frigidweirdo]

That’s one thing I liked Michelle Obama for. And one thing that her and RFK Junior both agree on. But I’m a centrist in these cases. But there are left-wingers who hate RFK Junior and they won’t even applaud him when he wants healthier options for poor people.

The problem is, he mixes this stuff with some really crazy, whacky nonsense.

 

[frigidweirdo]

First, healthy foods really aren't expensive. That's largely a myth. Chicken, beef, vegetables, these are not expensive items.

Second, what's more expensive, eating healthy or treating diabetes?

One big problem with eating healthy is the time it takes to make, but another problem is those who don't grow up with healthy food, won't but used to it, and changing to eating healthy can be quite difficult.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

One big problem with eating healthy is the time it takes to make, but another problem is those who don't grow up with healthy food, won't but used to it, and changing to eating healthy can be quite difficult.

Neither of those things are an excuse.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Neither of those things are an excuse.

I didn't say they were excuses.

Sometimes you just have to understand from a statistical point of view, what will happen.

I work with a dude from Mississippi. He's fat. He knows he's fat. And he works out and does all that, but he can't get away from sugary food. He's feeding his kid sugary food. Continuing the cycle.

Chances his kid will be fat are quite high.

1 + 1 = 2. It's not an excuse, it just is. And this is the same.

 

[forkup]

I get the feeling that you think that the solution can be had in the stroke of a pen, instantly....That's just not true...Too many moving parts....

And, it is absolutely a choice to have healthy options. For instance, Oreo's were brought up....So, you're at the store, and you have the choice to buy a pack of Oreo's for $6, OR Fresh Strawberries, and short cake mix for $6....Which one is healthier?

I want to say up front that I appreciate the way you’ve engaged here, this hasn’t felt like a bad-faith or partisan exchange, and that’s honestly rare in threads on here.

I also don’t think you’re wrong to say this is a complicated problem with many moving parts. I’ve tried to reflect that throughout by bringing in economics, labor conditions, incentives, and human behavior, because I don’t think any single lever solves it.

Where we ultimately differ, I think, is on how much weight we place on individual choice versus structural constraint. You’re comfortable emphasizing choice, education, and targeted restrictions as meaningful drivers of improvement. I’m more skeptical that those tools can move outcomes in a durable way without deeper changes to the economic and policy environment that shapes those choices in the first place, especially for people on SNAP who I still believe might even be harmed by this policy.

At that point, continuing to trade individual examples probably won’t get us much further, not because either of us is acting in bad faith, but because we’re working from different assumptions about what kind of intervention is justified or effective.

I’ve laid out my view as clearly as I can, and I don’t think rephrasing it again would add much. I've offered the perspective of someone who has experience in a different way to manage obesity. And I've tried to give an analysis of the differences, why they are different, and how I believe it works. You can choose to disagree of course but there it is.

Anyway. Happy New year.

 

[BluesLegend]

SNAP bans on soda, candy and other foods take effect in five states Jan. 1- Thanks RFK!​

Oh SNAP! lol

 

[iamwhatiseem]

One big problem with eating healthy is the time it takes to make, but another problem is those who don't grow up with healthy food, won't but used to it, and changing to eating healthy can be quite difficult.

Complete bullshit. Perhaps in 1980, but not now.
We have a thing called the internet. You can learn, with video tutorials, to cook anything.
I have been cooking with raw ingredients (little to zero preprepared ingredients) for 30 years. It is not, at all, difficult.
The main difference is laziness.
The CHOOSE to buy a premade frozen entree because all they do is pop in microwave and creates no dishes to clean up.

 

[j-mac]

I want to say up front that I appreciate the way you’ve engaged here, this hasn’t felt like a bad-faith or partisan exchange, and that’s honestly rare in threads on here.

I also don’t think you’re wrong to say this is a complicated problem with many moving parts. I’ve tried to reflect that throughout by bringing in economics, labor conditions, incentives, and human behavior, because I don’t think any single lever solves it.

Where we ultimately differ, I think, is on how much weight we place on individual choice versus structural constraint. You’re comfortable emphasizing choice, education, and targeted restrictions as meaningful drivers of improvement. I’m more skeptical that those tools can move outcomes in a durable way without deeper changes to the economic and policy environment that shapes those choices in the first place, especially for people on SNAP who I still believe might even be harmed by this policy.

At that point, continuing to trade individual examples probably won’t get us much further, not because either of us is acting in bad faith, but because we’re working from different assumptions about what kind of intervention is justified or effective.

I’ve laid out my view as clearly as I can, and I don’t think rephrasing it again would add much. I've offered the perspective of someone who has experience in a different way to manage obesity. And I've tried to give an analysis of the differences, why they are different, and how I believe it works. You can choose to disagree of course but there it is.

Anyway. Happy New year.

Thanks, and happy new year back at ya…

I appreciate the struggle, and you sound like you’re looking at it soundly as well.

I think, that they need to go full on with ad campaigns as well. They can’t change it overnight, but emphasize what a life of obesity brings in terms of health issues, joint pain, mobility, diabetes, and shortened life span.

Healthier food choices, exercise, and just plain social activity, getting off the phones provides benefits that last. That coupled with reigning in food producers and the short cuts they use to produce foods that are harmful would be a good start.

 

[forkup]

Thanks, and happy new year back at ya…

I appreciate the struggle, and you sound like you’re looking at it soundly as well.

I think, that they need to go full on with ad campaigns as well. They can’t change it overnight, but emphasize what a life of obesity brings in terms of health issues, joint pain, mobility, diabetes, and shortened life span.

Healthier food choices, exercise, and just plain social activity, getting off the phones provides benefits that last. That coupled with reigning in food producers and the short cuts they use to produce foods that are harmful would be a good start.

Thanks as well, I appreciated the conversation.

It’s a good reminder that even when we disagree, there’s real value in actually engaging with each other’s arguments rather than just talking past one another. I’ll certainly try to keep that in mind in future exchanges, and I hope you will too.

I don’t expect we’ll always agree, or even always have conversations this calm, but I can say that I’ll continue to take your perspective seriously when we do cross paths again.

Discussions like this are a lot more rewarding than simply restating positions, or desperately wanting to "win" and this one was a good example of that.

 

[SweetTea]

Entry being denied because not having a passport were your gender matches your birth certificate.

Yeah, a passport should reflect a person’s physiological gender, not some gender someone thinks they are at the moment. That is common sense, but much of the world lost that years ago.

 

[forkup]

Yeah, a passport should reflect a person’s physiological gender, not some gender someone thinks they are at the moment. That is common sense, but much of the world lost that years ago.

Oh poor, poor snowflake. Afraid of the mean, mean trans people.