00:00there's something kind of unique about the war on the poor
00:03in the United States it's a war that's actually been building for a long time
00:08the most unique thing about it Louis is that it actually exists contrary to a
00:13lot of the wars that the right-wing claims exist there's no war on Christmas
00:16there's no war on Christians there's no war on the rich
00:20but let's look at some other stories that point to there being a war on the
00:25poor and the sort of criminalization
00:26a poverty in this country yesterday we talked about that Baltimore
00:31Republican delegate a Maryland Republican delegate
00:34who thought it was a good idea interesting anyway
00:37to take away food stamp benefits from the parents have children who are caught
00:42protesting in Baltimore so a constitutionally
00:45protected activity the right to peaceably assemble in petition the government
00:49constitutionally protective protected a republican says
00:53well unless they are protesting unless they're get on food stamps in which
00:58case maybe we'll just cut off the food
01:00there's a lot of these bills I spent a couple hours this morning really looking
01:04into this in detail
01:05here's one example Kansas Republicans have passed a bill
01:09that would ban poor people from enjoying most
01:13amenities in modern civilization this is House bill 2258
01:18it's an effort from the Republican Party to humiliate poor people
01:23degrade poor people make them feel like lesser human beings and what it does is it
01:29bans recipients of temporary assistance to needy families also known as tan from
01:36using that assistance to purchase alcohol cigarettes tobacco products lottery
01:43tickets concert tickets professional or collegiate sporting event tickets or tickets
01:48for other entertainment events intended for the general public
01:52let's explore that to begin with alcohol and cigarettes okay both are legal
01:58I'm against smoking I think it's a waste of money I think it's terrible for people's
02:02health but it is legal buying alcohol is legal lottery tickets I think are an
02:06absolute waste of money of course every once in a while someone gets lucky but
02:10by and large buying lottery tickets is a way to lose over the long term
02:14but what about collegiate sporting event tickets or other entertainment events
02:19and then the law goes even further the bill goes even further and it says you
02:23can't spend money you can't camp recipients can't spend at establishments
02:30such as casino and gaming establishments jewelry stores tattoo parlors massage
02:36parlors body piercing parlors spas and nail salons lingerie shops and it goes on and on
02:44and on so basically the goal here is I guess to make these recipients not be able to
02:52spend time with their kids at a swimming pool for example or at the movies because
02:57they're banned from doing so and they also can't withdraw more than twenty five
03:01dollars a day from ATMs that's an attack on the poor it's I think it's paranoia but we
03:10could call it the you know you could call it a lot of things but those on the
03:15right who passed bills like this are are really afraid of how government money is
03:19being spent and they're afraid of poor people in their districts and states
03:24let's talk about Missouri were Republican congressman Rick Bratton wants to ban
03:29poor people from purchasing steak and seafood we know that nutrition pyramid it
03:35obviously suggests eating protein as part of a healthy diet ideally if the protein is coming
03:40from meat it should be meat that is rich in nutrients and not processed and steak and
03:46seafood or options there but apparently the Republican Bratton thinks poor people should
03:52be restricted from eating certain meat so he introduced house bill 813 which says quote
03:57a recipient of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits snap also known as food stamps
04:03shall not use such benefits to purchase cookies chips energy drinks soft drinks seafood or
04:11steak now again I think that the fast food craze in this country is a disaster energy drinks
04:18I don't think anybody should be drinking energy drinks soft drinks terrible for people's health
04:23I don't drink soda but the micromanagement that comes from Republicans who believe in small
04:29government and look at the food stamp rules snap rules allow recipients to buy steak and seafood
04:36because their food items and it would be burdensome to restrict these items but apparently what
04:42Bratton wants in Missouri is that if you're asking for assistance in Missouri you're less than
04:48other people the state is going to tell you specifically how and where to spend your money they claim
04:54Louis the republicans claim that they want the government to stay out of people's personal
04:59lives the GOP hypocritically has no problem whatsoever making laws that specifically legislate the lives of
05:06poor people they have no problem getting involved in the minutia of the lives of women and what
05:11medical procedures they can have they have no problems getting involved in the lives of gay people
05:16and they are criminalizing helping the poor as we've talked about these statutes banning beating the poor in public
05:23there is a war on the poor here Louis seems like there is and I think this brings us back
05:29to the term strict father morality
05:31yeah and that is definitely at play here it's it's quite stunning it really is grotesque and let's forget about
05:39the war on Christians that doesn't exist in the war on Christmas and and the entire thing
05:43let's focus on something like this the obvious hypocrisy were for small government except we want to micromanage all of
05:50the aspect of women's health
05:52sexuality sex education and now food what mood people can buy
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