Category: Gummint

Snapping The Junk

Food & Drink, Gummint, Subsidies

A whole bunch of people are getting their knickers in a knot about this little development, whereby Pore Folks who qualify for food assistance (SNAP) will in future not be allowed to buy candy and such with these handouts — and are suing the Fed to be allowed to do so.

Recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Wednesday, challenging its food restriction waivers that reduce the types of foods that can be purchased with benefits.

Represented by the National Center for Law and Economic Justice (NCLEJ), a nonprofit focused on advancing justice for low-income families, five SNAP recipients from Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Tennessee and West Virginia sued the USDA for implementing its waiver restriction pilot projects.

The restriction waivers bar SNAP recipients from using their benefits on junk foods, sodas, energy drinks or other “non-nutritious items.” The USDA has approved 22 restriction waivers so far, with the types of barred foods varying across states.

I have two competing thoughts about this.  On a point of principle, if money is being given to you (note:  given) then the donor has every right to determine how you spend it.

On the other hand, however, is the thought that the fucking government has no business telling people what and what not to eat and drink, regardless of donor status.

“Oooooh but they’re spending money on unhealthy foods!”

So fucking what?  They’re adults, and should be treated as such, not as children guided in their food choices by Mother Government.

Just remember, however, that every SNAP dollar spent on Red Bull eventually ends up here:

Not that I care, one way or the other.

Food For Thought

Bureaucracy, Economics, Gummint, Marxists

Here are a few A.I. videos that I think are worthy of consideration, so if you care for the thesis — and you might, because it’s all very much focused on the economic scenario in various countries and not so much on politics (although the two are pretty much entangled, as you will see).

The first has to do with Canada;  the second with France; the third with the EU and the fourth with the U.K.

Finally, if you want to see yet another (but shorter and more superficial) article which (because it’s CNN) looks at the actions rather than the motivations behind the actions, there’s New Zealand.  And if you want to really chuckle, note that the fleeing New Zealanders are mostly heading for Australia — as the video calls it, “the new Argentina” (and to be clear, they’re referring to Peronist Argentina, not the Argentina of Milei).

Now the chilling bit.  If you distill all the events in the above, it will become clear that even with MAGA, with DOGE, and with all the Trumpism reorgs, the U.S. is heading down the same path.  The manifestations thereof are well known:  the citizens of ur-European soviets (New York, California and Illinois, etc.) fleeing their failed states for states that aren’t being run into the ground by their respective state governments.

And the spoiler:  all the above — all of it — can be ascribed to Marxism and the mindset it creates.

Africa Wins Again

Subsidies, Taxes and Theft

Here’s a totally unexpected development [sic]:

Barack Obama’s presidential center in Chicago that is supposed to open this year is reportedly costing Chicago taxpayers more and more money.

There have been surging public infrastructure costs for the project the former president said would be a “gift” to the city.

However, taxpayers are stuck with the bill and no government agency can provide an accounting of the total public cost, despite months of queries and FOIA requests.

Obama vowed in the beginning to privately fund the project via donations to his foundation, Fox News reported on Saturday.

But building the infrastructure to get the project up and running is publicly financed and cannot move forward without those funds.

And:

Tax filings showed the Obama Foundation had only deposited $1 million into its $470 million reserve fund.

Chicago authorities have “failed to produce a reconciled total showing how much city taxpayers have committed or how current spending compares to the roughly $175 million discussed when the project was approved.”

So where has all the money gone?  Silly rabbits, it’s  Africa  Chicago:

“Illinois Democrats are leaving taxpayers high and dry and putting them on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars to support the ugliest building in Chicago. Illinois’ culture of corruption is humming along with pay-to-play deals to their allies and friends while lying to Illinois voters.”

Hey, those taxpayers voted for him in their millions and now they’re getting their reward, good and hard.

Cornerstone, Dislodged

Eco-Crap, Eco-Warriors, Gummint

Back in April last year, I noted that Lee Zeldin was taking aim at this piece of Obama-grade bullshit:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin said that the agency will review the agency’s endangerment finding — the “holy grail of the climate change religion” that has created over a trillion dollars in regulatory impact. The finding stated that greenhouse gas emissions are an alleged threat to public health and welfare.

“Review”, was it?  Well now, lookee here:

President Trump is set to repeal an Obama-era climate finding that was the basis for federal greenhouse-gas regulation, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Repealing the finding, which was a scientific determination that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, would remove the legal basis for greenhouse gas regulation, Reuters reported.

The repeal is expected to be published later this week, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the repeal would be “the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States.”

With the repeal, regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal GHG emission standards for cars would be removed, administration officials told the Journal. However, the repeal would not apply to stationary sources such as power plants.

Time to get one of these precious things, methinks.

Transplant

Immigration, Taxes and Theft

I see that billionaire asshole Mark Zuckerberg is looking at property in Florida:

Mark Zuckerberg may soon be adding Miami to his ever-growing list of luxury addresses. According to people familiar with his plans, the Meta founder and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are exploring a home on Indian Creek Island—an ultra-exclusive, heavily guarded neighborhood often called “Billionaire Bunker”.

On the bright side, he’s not looking at Texas;  he might have fit in quite well in Austin, although he might not be liberal enough for those assholes.

Chalk up one more score to the other liberal assholes in California, who are looking to tax billionaires into the poorhouse or something #WhoCares.  According to the above article:

Chamath Palihapitiya [who he?] wrote on X: “With Zuck’s move to Florida, California’s total taxable wealth from billionaires has plummeted to well under $1T from over $2T just a few weeks ago.”

Yeah, it’s all fun and games to spout Commie propaganda and fund Commie organizations who in turn fund Commie activists in Minneapolis — until they turn on you… right, Zuck?

A pox on all their houses, including the ones in Florida.