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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Boxing Day in Iowa

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: Boxing Day in Iowa

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With Rep. Steve ‘Pigmuck’ King off the roster and Chuck Grassley sliding downhill faster than Mitch McConnell, I guess Iowa’s GOP women felt the need to step down their game.

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55Comments

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    Well yeah. One knows the only way to get people to stop being poor is to punish them even more for being poor in the first place. It’s right there in the Republican Bible. Oh no not the Christian Bible dear! The one we truly worship where the rich farmers must be rewarded and the poor ones stomped until they have to sell.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    Okay, but like…what does she mean by “unused items in the fridge” because most things in the fridge have been opened, and no food bank will accept opened packages. You can’t bring in half a bottle of salad dressing or half a pack of bacon or something. She wants people to take full, unopened cartons of milk to the food bank? That they just bought and were probably going to consume? Christ, what a dipshit.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    So many ranking Republican women look so ugly.  I swear it’s all the hate on the inside.  The governor looks just plain mean.

    What the fuck is wrong with these people?

  11. 11.

    BC in Illinois

    In my mind, this all goes back to Ronald Reagan. He taught us that we have made it so easy on the poor that everyone wants to be poor, and just soak up all those free goodies. And we made it so hard on the rich that no one wants to be rich anymore.

    The Republicans have spent 40 years trying to reverse that.

  12. 12.

    wjca

    @Alison Rose: Perhaps she doesn’t have experience with food in the fridge.  (Beyond, maybe, grabbing a midnight snack.)  The servants deal with those details, after all.

  14. 14.

    WaterGirl

    Joni Ernst translation:

    Pull something out of your fridge and give it to the poor in Iowa, because I sure as hell am not going to do anything to help them.

  16. 16.

    satby

    The ironic thing of course, is that SNAP and federal food assistance programs are agriculture support programs. And yet the salt of the earth types don’t want their tax dollars feeding the “undeserving”. Extra food for children takes some of the burden off their parents, who don’t deserve the help; too bad for the children who picked the wrong parents. Collateral damage.

    Yep, that’s how they think.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … Fool.com:

    Musk has told investors Tesla plans to launch a fully autonomous robotaxi — with no pedals or steering wheel — by 2024, which can seamlessly transport passengers with no human assistance. However, once FSD rolls out to all customers, any Tesla vehicle could become a robotaxi.

    Musk says the average passenger vehicle is only driven for 12 hours per week, so customers could lend their Tesla EVs to the company’s ride-hailing network when they’re not in use. That would allow the owner to earn income, which would be split with Tesla.

    Ack! What could go wrong??!

    “Wrong? I don’t know the meaning of the word!!11” – Melon, probably.

    2000s: Yeah, enjoy your freedom! Make a fortune being your own boss as a Gig Worker!!

    2024: Yeah, enjoy your freedom! Make a fortune letting strangers drive your unused “Full Self-Driving™” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) car!!

    What a world, what a world, … [/WWotWest]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Redshift

    Reynolds’ statement is dripping with poor-shaming:

    “An EBT card does nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic.”

    There’s the wingnut trope that if poor people are overweight, it must mean they aren’t really poor, not that they only have access to bad food.

    “HHS and the Department of Education have well-established programs in place that leverage partnerships with community-based providers and schools who understand the needs of the families they serve,”

    Translation: you need to have someone who “understands their needs” making choices for them, because if they’re poor they must not understand what they really need. If you just give them a card that lets them buy food, they’ll buy t-bones or drugs somehow.

    Asshole.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    @Another Scott

    2024: Yeah, enjoy your freedom! Make a fortune letting strangers drive your unused “Full Self-Driving™” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) car!!

    “Insurance premiums paid by YOU! The free market in action!”

  24. 24.

    West of the Rockies

    How is this playing in the Iowa press?

    Republicans are heinous.  What a clot of enraged, terrified, mad worms.

  25. 25.

    Jeffro

    @Alison Rose: it’s also the most inefficient way possible to get food to folks who need it, by far.

    Congrats, Republicans!  You’ve really outdone yourselves here.

  26. 26.

    Rusty

    The cruelty is the point.  They get off on being mean and cruel.  This is the party that is so worried about the fetus that they would let children go hungry.   Just horrible people.

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    @Another Scott:

    Musk has told investors Tesla plans to launch a fully autonomous robotaxi — with no pedals or steering wheel — by 2024, which can seamlessly transport passengers with no human assistance. However, once FSD rolls out to all customers, any Tesla vehicle could become a robotaxi.

    Once again , Musk is getting ahead of himself. He’s also probably still stinging from the recent Tesla recall because he insists on pushing driver assistance technology as full autopilot.

    I would love it if we had self-driving cars, but I don’t see it happening any time soon, for all kinds of reasons.

  28. 28.

    Alison Rose

    It reminds me that one of the things Romney mentioned in his 47% rant was that those people believe they are “entitled to food”. And like…yeah! Yeah, Mitt! People are indeed entitled to fucking food.

    And here’s Kim and Joni a decade and a half later, doing their own shitty cover song of Mitt’s bullshit.

  29. 29.

    scav

    Thinking about it further, Iowa is an agricultural state, they know full well this plan is the definition of feeding the poor on pig slops.  Charitable Pig Slops.

  32. 32.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Alison Rose: ​Okay, but like…what does she mean by “unused items in the fridge” because most things in the fridge have been opened, and no food bank will accept opened packages.

    And how the fuck would she know that? If Phony Joni ever donated to a food bank in her misbegotten life she probably had one of her overpaid staffers write them a check drawn on a campaign account.

  36. 36.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @WaterGirl: So many ranking Republican women look so ugly.  I swear it’s all the hate on the inside.  The governor looks just plain mean…What the fuck is wrong with these people?

    Cf. one Sourah Fuckabee Slanders, who embodies the old saying Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes to the bone.

  39. 39.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    Trade some day labor for a chicken or a pig and that kid can feel proud while they look at their pig or chicken and figure out how to eat it.

    She’s refusing it because the feds administer it and she can’t take the money for the state.

  40. 40.

    Gvg

    They all refuse to know anything. The tribe has to display how ignorant they are in order to belong.

    I also think they are sort of fighting each other all the time. They really go out of their way to avoid taking democratic presidents federal money i think because they will get attacked in elections if they do.

    I still think that if desantis turned down federal hurricane help, Florida would turn on him instantly. We have our expectations of a well run hurricane and i think we would blow up if any politician pulled that stunt. Being without power in the summer here is not funny.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Boebert’s jumping from the southwest 3rd CD to the northeast 4th CD. It’s a much safer district for whoever wins the Republican primary, but I have to wonder if 4th CD Republicans will rally behind a famous carpetbagger. Especially since Boebert is famous for the wrong reasons, and instead of a carpetbag she’s toting one of those yellow Dollar General sacks.

    This is gonna be fun.

  43. 43.

    m.j.

    Kimberly is just upset that the blowjob she gave Trump didn’t pay off with a vice-presidency. She’s also not exactly loving her decision to go along with the DeSantis Grave-y train.

    Lashing out is her style.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:I have to wonder if 4th CD Republicans will rally behind a famous carpetbagger. Especially since Boebert is famous for the wrong reasons, and instead of a carpetbag she’s toting one of those yellow Dollar General sacks.

    I’m going to put $5 on her losing the primary, bigly.  =)

  45. 45.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: There’s a rancher/State Rep. running who looks like he’ll be tough to beat. If she wants to be competitive, Boebert’s gonna have bring her C game!

  47. 47.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    Musk also announced the robotaxi was coming out “next year” in 2019. He’s repeated it a couple of times since.

    Back in the day, doing hardware/system design and development, we used to joke that the software/code/whatever would be ready “in two weeks,” because that’s what we kept hearing from the software “engineers.” And, of course, at the end of those two weeks, the software people would restart the clock, and tell us “in two weeks” again.

  48. 48.

    Pink Tie

    @Alison Rose: yes! i work at the nation’s biggest food bank as a volunteer and a huge part of the labor goes into sorting and discarding things that aren’t safe or usable. that part of it is honestly the most frustrating task they have us perform. when we do assembly of boxes for downstream programs akin to meals on wheels, it is both gratifying and heartbreaking to see what ends up in the boxes. shelf-stable milk, fruit, beans, canned vegetables, pasta, juice. most of it is from pallets that grocery and big box stores donate, not from people’s expired fridge and pantry garbage. and the people receiving the boxes are definitely not getting enough to feed a family for more than a couple of days, or enough to feed pets. this bitch has never seen how a food bank operates, i guarantee. she has probably never experienced any kind of food insecurity either — i can at least relate to that on a certain degree because i did have a time when i only had enough money to pay rent and grad school tuition but not for groceries. but my parents were there to come through during those times. she is suggesting there is some private social safety net for people who are needy to the level they are depending on food donations? and they need more than just food — their kids need warm clothes in the winter and clean underwear, and shoes that fit, and dental care, glasses, academic intervention when called for, some way to keep the electricity on… the people she thinks about in this abstract way are so far down the hole. it is sickening.

  49. 49.

    Tony Jay

    My local MP is one of the driving forces behind the campaign to have a ‘Right To Food’ enshrined in British law, making it much harder for conservative Governments (of any Party) to help their donors profit from the poverty and malnutrition suffered by millions.

    Surprising no one, the current Nu-New Labour leadership wants him deselected as an MP and booted from the Party for being a smelly Trot. Someone like Kim Reynolds, though? A pragmatic, business-friendly realist like her would fit right in. Probably be the Minister for Children in the next Government.

    Scum recognises scum.

  50. 50.

    Pink Tie

    @Uncle Cosmo: i realize it’s a bad look/inappropriate to rail on these women’s looks, but it is very true that the ugly shines though. i can’t understand why anyone thinks Boebert is hot stuff except that she is like that old dad joke, outstanding in her field. liz cheney at least seems to moisturize and get enough sleep.

  51. 51.

    Anne Laurie

    @Pink Tie: she is suggesting there is some private social safety net for people who are needy to the level they are depending on food donations?

    Are there no prisons?  No workhouses? …  No church-centered ‘non-profits’ (heavily supplemented by government funds) that will hand out holiday food baskets in return for a proper display of gratitude?

  52. 52.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Pink Tie: @Uncle Cosmo: i realize it’s a bad look/inappropriate to rail on these women’s looks, but it is very true that the ugly shines though.

    I spin that old saw a bit differently from when I heard it coupla generations back – the ugliness in the soul eventually seeps out and twists the surface.

    Many years ago I met a couple who were, well, from a “lookist” POW, um, challenged – but once you got to know them even a little bit you knew they were decent, kind, lovely people and ever after you thought of them as such. OTOH Mike Huckabee’s little girl demon spawn will always look to me like a 1950s-era B-movie male heavy in an ill-fitting dollar store wig and a Goodwill dress – she just looks uncomfortable in her own skin.

    i can’t understand why anyone thinks Boebert is hot stuff except that she is like that old dad joke, outstanding in her field.

    Extended “silly cones” and surveillance-cam footage of a tug job in a theatre is, unfortunately, exactly the sort of character the Y-chromosome wing of the contemporary GOP finds attractive: a physically “enhanced” slut prone ;^D to attack the nearest male soon as the lights go down.

  53. 53.

    Matt

    @Another Scott:

    Musk has told investors Tesla plans to launch a fully autonomous robotaxi

    In related news, Phony Stark is a serial liar. He’s been saying this for damn near a decade.

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