Defining the 21st Century Republican Party?

[Unagi]

I’m surprised El Paso seems to be beating Phoenix.

[Pyperkub]

JFC, that’s just a who’s who of clown car contestants.

Probably why their first move was to disband the Independent Ethics Office?

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[Holman]

Even shaded counties paint an inadequate picture, as many counties are 55/45 in one direction or the other.

[LawBeefaroni]

There had to be a memo circulated after the first of the year as Iowa House GOP members are trying to restrict SNAP options:

A portion of the bill recommends narrowing SNAP food purchases to only what is on the state's approved WIC list, which is meant to be a supplemental nutritional aid for women, infants and children.

Proposed restrictions:

No white grains — people can only purchase 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice and 100% whole wheat pasta.
No baked, refried or chili beans — people can purchase black, red and pinto beans.
No fresh meats — people can purchase only canned products like canned tuna or canned salmon.
No sliced, cubed or crumbled cheese. No American cheese.

This is the same political party that went insane when Michelle Obama changed school lunches, right?

Party of small government, regardless.

I mean I'm suspicious because it's Iowa but it seems like an attempt at promoting healthier eating. Yes, it forces more expensive purchases but it's not that different from banning sugary drinks or taxing soda. Drive behavior via cost and subsidies.

Yeah, it's hypocritical but so is the reaction form the other side.

[DOS=HIGH]

I’m surprised El Paso seems to be beating Phoenix.

I'm guessing the map is showing the most densely populated counties to reach 50 percent of the population. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, is the 4th most populous county in the country. Not sure what color the county would be currently, you could make the argument for either color.

[LawBeefaroni]

Red vs blue counties

“The most populous counties are often transportation hubs and major ports,” Sink said. “The small counties are mostly found in landlocked areas in the Great Plains, mountains and deserts. It’s not uncommon for these counties to even be losing population over time.”

There is also a difference in racial and ethnic diversity. For example, 79 percent of Asians, 71 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of blacks live in big counties. Small-county America is nearly three-quarters non-Hispanic white, whereas this group makes up less than half of big-county America.

The differences between the two geographies also extend to age. The median age in small-county America is 39.1 compared with 36.9 for big-county America, and 54 percent of people age 65 or older live in small-county America.

There is also a notable difference in the rate of growth. “Big-county America is growing nearly twice as fast as small-county America,” Sink said. “They’re not only getting bigger but increasingly more diverse.” Thus, if current trends continue, it’s likely that the divide between big and small will continue to become more pronounced in the future.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/ ... nties.html

[malchior]

There had to be a memo circulated after the first of the year as Iowa House GOP members are trying to restrict SNAP options:

A portion of the bill recommends narrowing SNAP food purchases to only what is on the state's approved WIC list, which is meant to be a supplemental nutritional aid for women, infants and children.

Proposed restrictions:

No white grains — people can only purchase 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice and 100% whole wheat pasta.
No baked, refried or chili beans — people can purchase black, red and pinto beans.
No fresh meats — people can purchase only canned products like canned tuna or canned salmon.
No sliced, cubed or crumbled cheese. No American cheese.

This is the same political party that went insane when Michelle Obama changed school lunches, right?

Party of small government, regardless.

I mean I'm suspicious because it's Iowa but it seems like an attempt at promoting healthier eating. Yes, it forces more expensive purchases but it's not that different from banning sugary drinks or taxing soda. Drive behavior via cost and subsidies.

Yeah, it's hypocritical but so is the reaction form the other side.

This seems like a partial match - for instance how is canned (preserved) meat better than fresh meat? Why not chili beans (unless they mean prepared chili)? The grains might be argued as healthier but they cost more. It seems like this is aimed at making life inconvenient for poor people rather than aiming at health.

[Holman]

There had to be a memo circulated after the first of the year as Iowa House GOP members are trying to restrict SNAP options:

A portion of the bill recommends narrowing SNAP food purchases to only what is on the state's approved WIC list, which is meant to be a supplemental nutritional aid for women, infants and children.

Proposed restrictions:

No white grains — people can only purchase 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice and 100% whole wheat pasta.
No baked, refried or chili beans — people can purchase black, red and pinto beans.
No fresh meats — people can purchase only canned products like canned tuna or canned salmon.
No sliced, cubed or crumbled cheese. No American cheese.

This is the same political party that went insane when Michelle Obama changed school lunches, right?

Party of small government, regardless.

I mean I'm suspicious because it's Iowa but it seems like an attempt at promoting healthier eating. Yes, it forces more expensive purchases but it's not that different from banning sugary drinks or taxing soda. Drive behavior via cost and subsidies.

Yeah, it's hypocritical but so is the reaction form the other side.

This seems like a partial match - for instance how is canned (preserved) meat better than fresh meat? Why not chili beans (unless they mean prepared chili)? The grains might be argued as healthier but they cost more. It seems like this is aimed at making life inconvenient for poor people rather than aiming at health.

"Let them eat Spam."

[Skinypupy]

Red vs blue counties

“The most populous counties are often transportation hubs and major ports,” Sink said. “The small counties are mostly found in landlocked areas in the Great Plains, mountains and deserts. It’s not uncommon for these counties to even be losing population over time.”

There is also a difference in racial and ethnic diversity. For example, 79 percent of Asians, 71 percent of Hispanics and 59 percent of blacks live in big counties. Small-county America is nearly three-quarters non-Hispanic white, whereas this group makes up less than half of big-county America.

The differences between the two geographies also extend to age. The median age in small-county America is 39.1 compared with 36.9 for big-county America, and 54 percent of people age 65 or older live in small-county America.

There is also a notable difference in the rate of growth. “Big-county America is growing nearly twice as fast as small-county America,” Sink said. “They’re not only getting bigger but increasingly more diverse.” Thus, if current trends continue, it’s likely that the divide between big and small will continue to become more pronounced in the future.

https://www.census.gov/library/stories/ ... nties.html

It would be interesting to see if/how that has shifted since from when that data was compiled in 2016.

[Pyperkub]

I could put this in a few different spots, but I think it belongs here - the state of TN is no longer accepting money from the CDC to help cover the costs of treatment and detection for HIV:

A statement from Gov. Bill Lee’s office says the administration “is examining areas where it can decrease its reliance on federal funding and assume increased independence.” His office indicates the state will step in with the same funding amount but redirect money to groups that don’t necessarily target the people at highest risk. In Tennessee, most new HIV cases are among young, Black men who have sex with men.

“With the authority to responsibly steward these dollars, the state is committed to maintaining the same level of funding, while more efficiently and effectively serving vulnerable populations, such as victims of human trafficking, mothers and children, and first responders,” Lee’s spokesperson Jade Byers says in an email.

Nashville Cares has received this CDC grant money for the last 15 years to fund HIV testing in several emergency departments around the city.

I'd love to get a laundry list of money TN accepts from the federal government. Something tells me it won't be focused on children, disease prevention, or women's health. Of note:

Patient advocates are confused because the South accounts for half of all new HIV cases, and Memphis is considered a hotspot nationally.

Also demographics of HIV in TN could be a factor...

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[ImLawBoy]

There had to be a memo circulated after the first of the year as Iowa House GOP members are trying to restrict SNAP options:

A portion of the bill recommends narrowing SNAP food purchases to only what is on the state's approved WIC list, which is meant to be a supplemental nutritional aid for women, infants and children.

Proposed restrictions:

No white grains — people can only purchase 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice and 100% whole wheat pasta.
No baked, refried or chili beans — people can purchase black, red and pinto beans.
No fresh meats — people can purchase only canned products like canned tuna or canned salmon.
No sliced, cubed or crumbled cheese. No American cheese.

This is the same political party that went insane when Michelle Obama changed school lunches, right?

Party of small government, regardless.

I mean I'm suspicious because it's Iowa but it seems like an attempt at promoting healthier eating. Yes, it forces more expensive purchases but it's not that different from banning sugary drinks or taxing soda. Drive behavior via cost and subsidies.

Yeah, it's hypocritical but so is the reaction form the other side.

This seems like a partial match - for instance how is canned (preserved) meat better than fresh meat? Why not chili beans (unless they mean prepared chili)? The grains might be argued as healthier but they cost more. It seems like this is aimed at making life inconvenient for poor people rather than aiming at health.

It reeks of trying to make life more difficult for the poor with a thin veneer of plausible deniability in the form of, "We know what's best for these people, and they need to eat better foods." (And of course I can't imagine there's a lot of research claiming it's better to eat canned meat than fresh.) It's antithetical to anyone who professes a belief in small government and/or decries the nanny state.

[LawBeefaroni]

There had to be a memo circulated after the first of the year as Iowa House GOP members are trying to restrict SNAP options:

A portion of the bill recommends narrowing SNAP food purchases to only what is on the state's approved WIC list, which is meant to be a supplemental nutritional aid for women, infants and children.

Proposed restrictions:

No white grains — people can only purchase 100% whole wheat bread, brown rice and 100% whole wheat pasta.
No baked, refried or chili beans — people can purchase black, red and pinto beans.
No fresh meats — people can purchase only canned products like canned tuna or canned salmon.
No sliced, cubed or crumbled cheese. No American cheese.

This is the same political party that went insane when Michelle Obama changed school lunches, right?

Party of small government, regardless.

I mean I'm suspicious because it's Iowa but it seems like an attempt at promoting healthier eating. Yes, it forces more expensive purchases but it's not that different from banning sugary drinks or taxing soda. Drive behavior via cost and subsidies.

Yeah, it's hypocritical but so is the reaction form the other side.

This seems like a partial match - for instance how is canned (preserved) meat better than fresh meat? Why not chili beans (unless they mean prepared chili)? The grains might be argued as healthier but they cost more. It seems like this is aimed at making life inconvenient for poor people rather than aiming at health.

Well, they did recommend canned tuna and salmon which is healthier than a lot of fresh meats. But true, it's not a 100% move to health. I suspect the fresh meat thing is because of the mostly false narrative of reselling for cash. Chili beans are cooked and seasoned, usually higher sodium content. But it seems like a weird line to draw.

I'm not saying it's a the right move for health but it's clear that's what they're going for.


On another note, my kids go to public school and we keep getting SNAP debit cards. Since 2020, every student in CPS (and I assume all Illinois public schools?) get one. We usually give ours to the local food bank but it seems like there should be some needs test and they could double (or whatever multiplier works) the amount to those that actually need it.

[Isgrimnur]

Well, they did recommend canned tuna and salmon which is healthier than a lot of fresh meats.

As long as you're not pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant.

[malchior]

Well, they did recommend canned tuna and salmon which is healthier than a lot of fresh meats. But true, it's not a 100% move to health. I suspect the fresh meat thing is because of the mostly false narrative of reselling for cash. Chili beans are cooked and seasoned, usually higher sodium content. But it seems like a weird line to draw.

That's the thing - I could easily map this to the usual moralizing and demonization of the poor. While they grift and push money to the wealthy. It's gross how much they spend worrying about this type of nonsense when it isn't the problem.

On another note, my kids go to public school and we keep getting SNAP debit cards. Since 2020, every student in CPS (and I assume all Illinois public schools?) get one. We usually give ours to the local food bank but it seems like there should be some needs test and they could double (or whatever multiplier works) the amount to those that actually need it.

I tend to agree on the surface about means testing but the administration overhead might outweigh the benefit.

[Smoove_B]

A write up was posted this morning by a pair that has experience with public policy:

The proposed legislation is infuriating on many levels. It increases learning costs for recipients who have to keep up with the whims of state legislators. Imagine that every time you shopped you had to know a long list of seemingly arbitrary items that you weren’t allowed to buy? It also adds to the stigma faced by SNAP users. It’s not unusual for SNAP users to end up at register being told they bought the wrong kind of cheese.

Where did this pettiness come from? Dig deeper and you find the list of restricted foods is based on existing policies for WIC users, which provides food supports for women, infants and children.

...

Note that the guidelines don’t just restrict the types of foods that are allowed. Want to buy cereal? Only certain brands and specific cereals are allowed. Users also have to know their portion sizes. Cereals have to be more than 12 ounces. Some breads must be bought in 16 oz loafs, restricted to particular brands and types. Others must be 24 ounce loafs. Tuna can only be bought in 5 oz containers. Every page is a detailed list of what they are allowed to buy, drawing the inevitable comparison about what they can’t.

Regarding the choices of what to support:

The empirical evidence documenting obesity as the primary explanation for links between poverty and poor health is weak and the relationship between socioeconomic status, obesity and health is complicated. This is not to say that poor nutrition and metabolic disorders don’t matter for health, it’s simply that there’s little evidence that the solution to health disparities will come from focusing on obesity.

Further, many of the restrictions make little nutritional sense in practice. It’s hard to argue that restricting people from eating any kind of rice is good, or that canned meats are superior to fresh meats. And how does only allowing people to buy 5oz portions of tuna fish improve health? Indeed, the food lists reflect lobbying on the part of the food industry as much as health concerns. For example, the potato lobby objects to the exclusion of white potatoes from the WIC food list. Perhaps not surprisingly, Iowa allows for “any kind” of potato.

Most importantly, research shows that access to SNAP improves consumption of healthy foods and better health. As we detail below, these kinds of requirements mostly just limit access, reduce participation, and ultimately increase food insecurity and undermine health. Even when well intentioned, the actual result of trying to tightly regulate what people can eat makes them worse off.

There's more on policy, but if you just want to skip to the summary:

So what gives? Why make it harder to access a program that costs you nothing but makes your state better on many counts? Research points to political ideology and perceptions of deservingness. If we see a group as undeserving we tend to be more willing to impose hassles in their bid to access benefits. This is especially true for how conservatives think about welfare programs. By contrast, policymakers with direct experience of the hassles involved tend to be less supportive of them.

More broadly, paternalism, or the desire to control peoples’ behaviors, is endemic to most US poverty policy. It is rooted in the origins of the US welfare state, and is reflected not only in how we regulate food purchases for SNAP, but in the basic premise that instead of just providing poor people with a basic income to make their own choices about how to meet their needs, we create expensive and bureaucratic programs, ranging from food stamps to housing vouchers.

The fact that the Iowa GOP wants to ban SNAP users from buying American cheese is bizarre and petty. The fact that participants in the WIC program are already subject to these sort of nanny state restrictions should be a bigger scandal.

[Zarathud]

Keep it simple — these policies are disguised to shift consumers to buy from certain donors or donor industries. Follow the money, it’s the only thing that makes sense.

I bet Iowa dairy isn’t used in American cheese.

[Skinypupy]

Xbox added a power saving mode that turns it off instead of putting it to sleep. GOP: "THEY'RE COMING FOR YOUR XBOX! THEY'RE INDOCTRINATING THE CHILDREN!"

That level of constant infuriation over literally the dumbest things imaginable must be exhausting.

[LawBeefaroni]

That level of constant infuriation over literally the dumbest things imaginable must be exhausting.

Replace "exhausting" with "lucrative."

Yes, yes it is.

[LordMortis]

"Make them climate conscious now" like it's a bad thing.

"They're going after your children." For a while there it went from religious bogey man to the Tipper Gores of the world. Now it's just the entire Fox News Audience. Anyone remember when Fox Media were the envelop pushers on television? When Married With Children was enemy of every "parental" group out there.

And speaking of, doesn't this make Fox supporters of a Nanny State? Trying to tell MS, Parents, and kids their electricity wasting duties and Americans. Leave the lights on when you leave the house! Boycott all energy star compliant devices! There ought to be a law keeping corporations and children from saving energy!

[Holman]

"Make them climate conscious now" like it's a bad thing.

"They're going after your children." For a while there it went from religious bogey man to the Tipper Gores of the world. Now it's just the entire Fox News Audience. Anyone remember when Fox Media were the envelop pushers on television? When Married With Children was enemy of every "parental" group out there.

And speaking of, doesn't this make Fox supporters of a Nanny State? Trying to tell MS, Parents, and kids their electricity wasting duties and Americans. Leave the lights on when you leave the house! Boycott all energy star compliant devices! There ought to be a law keeping corporations and children from saving energy!

Running your A/C with all the windows open is the new "rolling coal."

[Alefroth]

"They're going after the kids."

Do they know what an Xbox is?

[Blackhawk]

These are the same people shouting at their kids to turn off the light if they're not in the room.

[Skinypupy]

Because of course they have.



Lest anyone thinks it's just a photoshop job, here's video of Santos where you can clearly see it while he's talking.

[malchior]

In a country overwhelmed with gun violence they are showing their support for guns?! Something went very wrong in this nation.

[Smoove_B]

People would walk out of movie if those pins were a plot point - because it would be too unbelievable.

[Octavious]

All the democrats should wear rainbow flag pins. I'm sure nobody will care.

[YellowKing]

People would walk out of movie if those pins were a plot point - because it would be too unbelievable.

I was trying to finish up the last two seasons of HOUSE OF CARDS for completionists sake, and the political corruption seems almost quaint and charming by today's standards.

[LawBeefaroni]

What a funny thing to replace the flag with.


George "Eugene Stoner" Santos I get since he invented it. But the rest? The worst kind of virtue signaling.

[Jaymann]

Just wait until they replace it with a hammer and sickle.

[stessier]

Just showing their support for farmers and the working class!

[Alefroth]

Just wait until they replace it with a hammer and sickle.

Fasces would probably be more apt.

[Holman]

There are already two fasces flanking the US flag in the video above.

[Alefroth]

So there are. Not sure I ever noticed that.

[Carpet_pissr]

Just wait until they replace it with a hammer and sickle.

Feces would probably be more apt.

Fixed.

[Grifman]

They just want him to die:



Can you imagine his funeral? He’d get all the honors, none of which he deserves, and the MAGAs would just go crazy with insane grief. Then again, some/many might believe he didn’t die and it is just a deep state conspiracy.

[Kraken]

If TFG were to die serendipitously soon, Biden might decide his work is done. That would be a win for both parties.

[LordMortis]

'We’re just waiting for him to die.'

Welcome to 2017.

[Unagi]

They just want him to die:



Can you imagine his funeral? He’d get all the honors, none of which he deserves, and the MAGAs would just go crazy with insane grief. Then again, some/many might believe he didn’t die and it is just a deep state conspiracy.

So basically the good ol' Kim Jong-un/Putin plan.

[Unagi]

the MAGAs would just go crazy with insane grief.

I seriously don't think this would happen. I honestly don't think these people have it in them to 'go crazy with insane grief'. Their core quality is not actually caring about anything. They wouldn't know what to do without the chicken-head in place, but they couldn't be bothered to actually 'grieve'.

[malchior]

the MAGAs would just go crazy with insane grief.

I seriously don't think this would happen. I honestly don't think these people have it in them to 'go crazy with insane grief'. Their core quality is not actually caring about anything.

I think we have to maintain some caution about dehumanizing them like this. They are still people in the end. They have been ignored and are angry and afraid for their future - for many legitimate reasons. They definitely have some really deplorable beliefs but they are to an extent at some level victims of a huckster preying on their anger.