Such a beautiful rant deserves repeating. You’re my Howard Beale, straight out of the 1976 movie “Network,”telling us to open our windows and shout to the world, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” That’s exactly how I feel right now. Fourteen locations in Polk County to pick up the anointed box of food. 14. Waste, fraud and abuse? When Raygun began selling T-shirts with Reynolds’ likeness depicted as “Cruella Des Moines” I thought it a perfect fit. I wear it walking past Terrace Hill, and frequently receive honked horns and thumbs up. Encouragements help, but very little.
But, as you so vividly describe, this cabal of malevolence is broader and runs much deeper. My disbelief at their ability to dispense poisonous decisions, with absurd logic and false moral equivalency, has proven my inability to grasp how much they truly don’t give a damn about…..anything. Transparency? I don’t think their image is reflected by a mirror. Is that the definition they use? Please keep venting your spleen Matt, and keep us informed about your latest findings. It’s like a balm for my mental health. At least until tomorrow.
“SNAP cuts could deprive children”. What a line. What’s next? Give us another “ could” scenario instead of doing the hard work of investigating both side’s (right and hard left) explanation of the Big Beautiful Bill’s impact. Would’ve, should’ve, could’ve. Child’s words.
Highlighting the difference that the governor's actions made especially on Greenfield was eye-opening! I'm a disabled senior citizen and have been on "food stamps" for at least a decade. One of the challenges of relying on them is how the amount you receive varies greatly depending on your most recent audit (for lack of a better word. You have to fill out a multi-page form every six months or so, including documentation for the information on your income, housing, vehicle, bank accounts, other assets, and expenses including medical, electric, gas, rent or mortgage, and more. Once that is submitted, you have a phone interview. Gone are the good old days when the interview was in person and you had the chance to go over everything face-to-face with your caseworker. One good thing about the pandemic was that they raised the Snap amount to the upper limits (about $400). I received twice what I had been getting and was able to afford better cuts of meat, organic produce, and better nutrition in general. After the pandemic and with the highly touted COLA increase to Social Security, that raised my income level and dropped my SNAP benefits down to about $75. With an increase in rent and other expenses, I am now getting more in SNAP benefits, but nothing in comparison to the heyday of the pandemic. On the first of each month, I call EBT automated Service and heave a sigh of relief when I hear that the amount I'm receiving is the same as last month. I'm grateful to have a neighbor who can do a lot of the work in our garden so we can eat "gourmet" organic foods like sugar snap peas, beets, a variety of heirloom tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, greens, garlic, as well as purple and Yukon Gold potatoes!
You write well when ticked off!!!! Keep it up! Thanks for your data. I ll use it in today’s phone calls to our crime family senators. I’d make up a name but it would insult Sicilians.
Right on, Matt. Thank you. The big question is how do we escape the trap leading to the condition you describe so well given that we are in an age of information manipulated to favor those who benefit from our current inequalities and of highly effective mechanisms for reinforcing the biases of people on the extremes (actually mostly on the political 'right' these days in the U.S.) in our polarized society. When we should be carefully examining issues with analyses and dialogues like those promoted by the National Issues Forum Institute (https://nifi.org/), we instead mostly engage in what seems aptly described as 'pissing contests' based on wild and unsupported claims-making. I think that illustrative analyses like yours are positive contributions.
The science is clear, story beats facts and data every time. So we have to keep telling true stories in person, on social media, at town halls, and with legacy media. All of that matters.
Matt, this is such a well-written, educational piece. Thank you for the work you do, and for your writing that helps the rest of us understand. Of course you’re pissed. We all should be.
Thanks Virginia. I'm so appreciative of how my nation and my state has supported my life and my family. From farm payments to the Pell Grant to free lunch in high school to the Premium Tax Credit we're getting for our ACA Market Place health insurance plan right now. And by the way, that tax credit is going away in 2026 unless Congress acts to extend it. House Republicans didn't include that extension in the One Big Beautiful Bill. We've also been a Medicaid family and our boys got Social Security survivor benefits until they were 18 because their mother died when they were little.
Such a beautiful rant deserves repeating. You’re my Howard Beale, straight out of the 1976 movie “Network,”telling us to open our windows and shout to the world, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!” That’s exactly how I feel right now. Fourteen locations in Polk County to pick up the anointed box of food. 14. Waste, fraud and abuse? When Raygun began selling T-shirts with Reynolds’ likeness depicted as “Cruella Des Moines” I thought it a perfect fit. I wear it walking past Terrace Hill, and frequently receive honked horns and thumbs up. Encouragements help, but very little.
But, as you so vividly describe, this cabal of malevolence is broader and runs much deeper. My disbelief at their ability to dispense poisonous decisions, with absurd logic and false moral equivalency, has proven my inability to grasp how much they truly don’t give a damn about…..anything. Transparency? I don’t think their image is reflected by a mirror. Is that the definition they use? Please keep venting your spleen Matt, and keep us informed about your latest findings. It’s like a balm for my mental health. At least until tomorrow.
Thanks for the kind words in these unkind times. I do have hope that goodness will persevere.
I’m grateful for so much. Faith and hope sustain me. But as Mother Theresa of Calcutta said, I sometimes wish he didn’t trust me so much.
“SNAP cuts could deprive children”. What a line. What’s next? Give us another “ could” scenario instead of doing the hard work of investigating both side’s (right and hard left) explanation of the Big Beautiful Bill’s impact. Would’ve, should’ve, could’ve. Child’s words.
Highlighting the difference that the governor's actions made especially on Greenfield was eye-opening! I'm a disabled senior citizen and have been on "food stamps" for at least a decade. One of the challenges of relying on them is how the amount you receive varies greatly depending on your most recent audit (for lack of a better word. You have to fill out a multi-page form every six months or so, including documentation for the information on your income, housing, vehicle, bank accounts, other assets, and expenses including medical, electric, gas, rent or mortgage, and more. Once that is submitted, you have a phone interview. Gone are the good old days when the interview was in person and you had the chance to go over everything face-to-face with your caseworker. One good thing about the pandemic was that they raised the Snap amount to the upper limits (about $400). I received twice what I had been getting and was able to afford better cuts of meat, organic produce, and better nutrition in general. After the pandemic and with the highly touted COLA increase to Social Security, that raised my income level and dropped my SNAP benefits down to about $75. With an increase in rent and other expenses, I am now getting more in SNAP benefits, but nothing in comparison to the heyday of the pandemic. On the first of each month, I call EBT automated Service and heave a sigh of relief when I hear that the amount I'm receiving is the same as last month. I'm grateful to have a neighbor who can do a lot of the work in our garden so we can eat "gourmet" organic foods like sugar snap peas, beets, a variety of heirloom tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, greens, garlic, as well as purple and Yukon Gold potatoes!
Thank you for sharing this Cathy. These are important, real life details of how this program empowers people.
You write well when ticked off!!!! Keep it up! Thanks for your data. I ll use it in today’s phone calls to our crime family senators. I’d make up a name but it would insult Sicilians.
Thanks for making those calls. They make a difference.
Right on, Matt. Thank you. The big question is how do we escape the trap leading to the condition you describe so well given that we are in an age of information manipulated to favor those who benefit from our current inequalities and of highly effective mechanisms for reinforcing the biases of people on the extremes (actually mostly on the political 'right' these days in the U.S.) in our polarized society. When we should be carefully examining issues with analyses and dialogues like those promoted by the National Issues Forum Institute (https://nifi.org/), we instead mostly engage in what seems aptly described as 'pissing contests' based on wild and unsupported claims-making. I think that illustrative analyses like yours are positive contributions.
The science is clear, story beats facts and data every time. So we have to keep telling true stories in person, on social media, at town halls, and with legacy media. All of that matters.
Matt, this is such a well-written, educational piece. Thank you for the work you do, and for your writing that helps the rest of us understand. Of course you’re pissed. We all should be.
Thanks Virginia. I'm so appreciative of how my nation and my state has supported my life and my family. From farm payments to the Pell Grant to free lunch in high school to the Premium Tax Credit we're getting for our ACA Market Place health insurance plan right now. And by the way, that tax credit is going away in 2026 unless Congress acts to extend it. House Republicans didn't include that extension in the One Big Beautiful Bill. We've also been a Medicaid family and our boys got Social Security survivor benefits until they were 18 because their mother died when they were little.