u/Long-Anywhere156

Common Dreams has a write up about some documents the Post got leaked that concluded, in the words of the CIA that

>“Iran can survive the US naval blockade for at least three to four months before facing more severe economic hardship.”

And if at this point you retort with,

>"I turn 50 in less than a half-decade and my entire life they've been under sanctions, so, I mean, I guess that makes sense, they've had a ton of practice..."

...then congratulations, you've passed the bar of competence required to be in the Trump Administration.

But we're not here to bury the admin, no no no. We're here to talk about The Opposition, the good party, the party standing up for American Values, Good America, looking at the tide coming to erode America's standing in the world and saying "Please, if you just give us four more years...and then four years after we lose another easily-winnable Presidential election..."

Because we're here to talk about Christopher "Chris" Murphy, D- Resistance-Twitter

Here is- with as much context as possible- every result when you view the Common Dreams write up and Cmd/Ctrl + F for "Murphy",

>Leaked CIA Analysis Shows Trump and Hegseth ‘Lied Through Their Teeth’ About Iran War, Says Murphy

>Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) responded to the Post’s reporting by quoting Hegseth, who said in March that “never before has a modern, capable military, which Iran used to have, been so quickly destroyed and made combat ineffective.”

>Murphy declared: “They lied through their teeth. Just straight up fabricated shit.”

>Tags Central Intelligence Agency Chris Murphy Pete Hegseth ...

So, for all his...robust...activity and heavy-support of...not what the Trump Administration is doing, one of the Dems most vocal Senators is- in response to the US blatantly not listening to intelligence reporting and estimates- nothing.

Or, fine, you know what, I'll put the point different. On 9 May 2026, Murphy started a tweet-thread with the following,

https://preview.redd.it/zm06fxe5dh0h1.png?width=1236&format=png&auto=webp&s=4b325c16130b547c00fe090bd2294735ada29f05

and he ended it with this.

https://preview.redd.it/mw7iyvx6dh0h1.png?width=1238&format=png&auto=webp&s=a9467c22dd530fc73b762d70a84668d0cda61ccc

You would be right if you wondered, wait, doesn't the Senate have some kind of authority...can't he do something. But in the words of their most ardent poster, the only thing they can be doing is re-litigating a decade-old deal signed by an administration whose Vice-President, when he had a chance to bring it back as President, couldn't be bothered because his dementia-addled brain was stuck on memories of getting handjobs behind the Rehoboth Beach boardwalk during the Eisenhower Administration.

I know this stuff is largely...stupid. facile. inconsequential. But at some point in the future we're going to have another election, where these same people are going to be telling everyone how important it is to Accept That Sometimes You Can't Let the Perfect Be the Enemy of the Good. And it's important to remember that, when it costs them literally nothing to go on about imposing ANY penalty for ANYTHING these people can't even be bothered.

So, whatever. Screw them, or don't. As long as the checks clear, they don't care. So why should you?

So a bill just passed that allows SNAP benefits (food stamps) to be used to buy rotisserie chicken. Normally, you can't buy hot foods with EBT at grocery stores, convenience stores, corner stores, bodegas, mini marts, what have you. But this law carves out an exception for rotisserie chickens.

On one side, you've got the liberal faction cheering about what a great compromise this is, proof that when you cross the aisle and work with the Republican Party, you can get things done. On the other side, you've got people who are pissed that even this is allowed. And then, of course, there's the small minority faction of leftists, socialists, and we're always glad when more people get access to food and our tax dollars go toward keeping people fed instead of bombing children. The 200 schoolgirls bombed in Iran, nobody taking responsibility; the two pilots we know by name still haven't been brought to trial for war crimes. So yeah, I prefer my tax dollars going to rotisserie chicken over Raytheon profits.

That said, something we ought to think about is who actually has access to these rotisserie chickens, and where the hell they're even sold. They don't sell rotisserie chickens at 7‑Eleven. They don't sell them at Circle K. They don't sell them at the bodega, or Dollar General, or Family Dollar. They don't sell rotisserie chickens at any of those places. And huge numbers of people get their groceries primarily from those places.

I've always hated that term, "food desert." The wording makes it sound like a natural phenomenon, like a desert just happens. But in reality it's policy and profit that create these zones in the most disenfranchised areas of the country. When I lived in San Antonio, the only grocery store within walking distance (within a three‑, four‑, five‑mile walk, and let's be real, you're not walking five miles with a week's worth of groceries, it's just not happening) was a corner store. That corner store did sell hot food. They had a roller grill right next to the slot machine. But they didn't sell rotisserie chicken.

So what this bill really represents is means testing as a way of policing the middle class. You know where they do sell rotisserie chickens? Costco, where you already have to pay for a membership to even walk in. Sam's Club, same deal. BJ's Wholesale, other big‑box bulk stores. And to get to those stores you've got to have a car, and you probably live in the suburbs. So what this is, is a signal to the so‑called middle classes, the suburbanites: "Hey, look, we got your back. We're gonna ease things a little for you. We know you're on SNAP for the first time ever because things are so hard and the economy is collapsing, but here, you can get your rotisserie chicken."

You can't ignore the racialized element here as well. Think about who actually has power in the American government. These are 60‑ to 90‑year‑old people passing these laws. To them, when you say suburbia, you really mean white. They don't consider the diversity of modern American suburbia, nor do they consider the diversity of inner‑city America. No, mentally these crypt‑keepers of power place their mental image of who is going to Costco and who is going to the bodega as racial: white people live in the suburbs, Black people live in the city. No depth. And these are our representatives? Their mentalities don't even consider the material reality. But it's par for the capitalist course. It's been the same playbook for 250 years. Our "representatives" have such a wonderful way of crafting racialized policies that divide the working class. In the amygdala, the lizard brain, you know that some of these representatives are patting themselves on the back: "White families will get rotisserie chicken, and Black families will get nothing." Not realizing that we aren't living in 1971 anymore, and these suburban areas are cross‑pollinated. But still knowing that their policies have systemically built a reality wherein yes, it is majority people of color living in these food deserts. They want to pass policies that only help white families, but they are so out of date with reality that they haven't realized that the suburbs, and the Costco line, are pretty damn diverse. I don't think it's out of pocket to ask for representation that understands the material reality of their constituency and operates based on what benefits those people, instead of representatives that operate on outdated, racist frameworks that really only intend to harm specific groups of us.

Meanwhile, in the inner city and across rural America, it's the same story. In the city, where people rely on walking, on biking, on human‑scale concrete infrastructure, it's the same price for a pizza at 7‑Eleven as a chicken is at Costco, and you technically can't buy it with EBT. Of course corporations know that EBT makes them money, so they sell the pizza cold and cook it in store after you purchase it, allowing EBT purchases. Companies have already found loopholes. There's no reason why you can't buy hot food with EBT other than the aforementioned racialization of who would benefit.

And out in the sticks, it's even more blatant. If you live in a small rural town, the closest thing to a grocery store might be a Dollar General ten minutes down the road. They're everywhere, saturated across the countryside, but they don't sell rotisserie chickens either. What they might have is a gas station attached to a McDonald's, or a non‑corporate‑brand food mart with a Hunt Brothers pizza setup. That pizza, right there, is way more accessible than a rotisserie chicken from a Sam's Club that's an hour's drive away. You stop to fill your tank before making that long haul into the city, and that hot pizza is right there. But your EBT can't touch it unless the cashier rings it up cold first and then throws it in the oven. Some places will do that, some won't. The point is, your options are a gas station pizza and a roller grill, and the rotisserie chicken bill does absolutely nothing for you.

Rural America has been so completely forgotten that it doesn't even enter the conversation. It's not just the inner cities that have been gutted by fast‑food conglomerates. We didn't vote for the local butcher to be replaced by a McDonald's. We didn't ask for the local bait and tackle that sold fried fish to be torn down for a Taco Bell. These decisions were made for us, and the same corporations that hollowed out our communities now employ us at wages so low that we're told to sign up for EBT at orientation. And then we can't even use that EBT to buy their hot food. It's a closed loop designed to extract, not to feed.

And let's keep it a buck. It's a class war. Why would they want to give their enemies anything? Sure, the middle class can have something, but the middle class is bought off. They might not jump at the chance to espouse support for the murder of children for military company profit, but the capitalist knows that their 401(k) is tied to the stock market, and murdering Iranian schoolgirls juices the stock market. So the capitalist is happy to let them have their rotisserie chicken, because he knows the middle class is materially invested in not rocking the boat of capitalist exploitation. These are typically the same people who will lament about their taxes going to things like EBT anyway. Strange how the same people who get upset at poor people buying junk food with EBT seem not to get mad at the rich for buying children on private islands. Some people aren't quite aware of how rapidly a mortgage can be lost when a job layoff happens, when five months pass and the savings run out. They are far closer to the poor they police than the rich they envy. How long will these bribes of gated communities, retiring at 70, and rotisserie chicken pay out?

However, if you're a non‑property holder (whether you're an inner‑city renter or living in a rural trailer), if you don't have that second home for vacationing, hell, especially if you don't have a vehicle and you're getting your groceries from whatever is closest, man, you're shit out of luck. You can't buy hot food with EBT. You can't get the $4 chicken sandwich meal deal at Circle K, but you can pay $4 for a box of Kraft mac and cheese that would be $1.29 at any other store outside of Circle K. But if you've got a car and you live in the suburbs and you've fallen on hard times? Hey, we got you. We'll get you your rotisserie chicken. The bill does not aim to help the poorest. It exists to signal to the suburban middle class who are newly on SNAP due to economic crisis that they haven't been forgotten (they have).

Another thing to consider, of course, is the growing number of Americans who live in motels, hotels, and inns. These hyper‑marginalized people typically only have access to a microwave, maybe an air fryer or hot plate if allowed (if they don't trip the breaker, which is usually what happens and why these devices are banned in the motel setting). Hot food can be a lifeline. If you and your two kids are living in a motel (which is becoming more and more common as American society collapses), can you really cook a meal for a family in a motel? Maybe getting KFC is the best option, or at least the 7‑Eleven pizza. Hell, in my opinion, you should be able to go to any fast‑food place and your EBT should be as good as cash. If they want to flood our communities with that slop, we should have access to it. Sometimes the freshest, healthiest option is literally Taco Bell. We didn't decide to have our communities gutted for these franchises, who employ us at wages that require we use food stamps to survive. Fundamentally, what is the difference between a hot rotisserie‑style chicken sold in a Sam's Club deli and a hot bucket of fried chicken sold at a Popeyes? Optics? The need to maintain this illusion of scarcity so the rich can keep getting richer?

Food is a human right. You have to eat to live. Fifty percent of the food produced in this country is destroyed to maintain prices. There is literally no reason for anyone to go without in the country that has the most. No reason for food deserts to exist. No reason millions of people in this nation don't have access to fresh produce, to actual groceries, and are paying higher prices for worse products. There's no reason why millions of us have to rely on corner store rot, on Dollar General slop.

I would love to see someone like Rick Scott (who was instrumental in banning poor people from buying chips and crackers and snack cakes and other junk food with EBT here in Florida). I'd love to see him live in a food desert. Walk into the store and the only choices are expired bologna, bread that's been sitting there so long it's got dust on it. They don't even have actual cheese. They've got processed imitation food, cheese food, you know what I'm saying? And it's all marked up three, four dollars. You're paying $20 for the expired lunch‑loaf. That's what you've got to choose from. Yeah, bro, I'm gonna get the big bag of chips, because it's food that's available to me. It's not good, it's not healthy, but that's not my fault. It's what's profitable to sell. Soda? Well yeah, Tahitian Treat, RC Cola (the types of soda you can only find in the corner store). These sure do taste a lot better than often cloudy, "is there a boil alert" faucet water. Did these lawmakers even consider that one of the simplest struggle meals is a can of chili ($6.50) and a bag of potato or corn chips? Mix the two together, eat with a fork in the bag, can be eaten cold too. Can you imagine any of these lawmakers eating a meal like that? But they have the balls to say that someone can't buy the bag of chips with EBT.

If you've ever watched a prison recipe video ("Dude, we're gonna make this spread, bro, we're gonna use Hot Cheetos and ramen noodles and summer sausage and all the commissary stuff"), low key, that's what it's like to shop and eat and exist in a food desert. You're making do with junk food, garbage food, processed food you can find in a rundown goddamn corner store. And a lot of these corner stores do sell hot food that is higher quality, marginally so. I mean, think about it: would you rather buy the pack of hot dogs for four or five dollars, with one of them looking greenish‑gray and slimy (the only protein in the whole motherfucking store), or would you rather get a roller dog and a tornado? You see what I'm saying? But you can't if you're on EBT. The system has deemed you subhuman, second class. If you have the ability to get a car, to go to Costco, to pay for the membership, then we bless you up and let you buy a rotisserie chicken with EBT. The majority of people who can actually access a rotisserie chicken from a Costco probably aren't on EBT to begin with.

The bottom line is this: EBT should be as good as cash for any food‑related item, period. Hot, cold, restaurant, grocery store, corner store, gas station, food stand. It doesn't matter. You should be able to walk into any fast‑food place and swipe that card like it's a debit. If a single mom wants to take her kid out for a birthday dinner using her benefits, let her. Yeah, she'll have to tighten the budget that month, but that's her call to make. That's what it means to treat people like human beings. The only way you empower people is by giving them the most choices, trusting them to manage their own circumstances. The same politicians who say poor people can't be trusted with a bag of chips are the ones who've never missed a meal in their lives. They don't understand that when you're living in a motel with no kitchen, either way, a hot pizza from 7‑Eleven is survival. Food is morale. That when you're in a rural town and the only hot meal around is a Hunt Brothers pizza at the gas station, that EBT card should be good as gold there. Everyone gets fed, the people making the food get paid, and we stop pretending that a rotisserie chicken from Costco is the benchmark of dignity.

We are fundamentally against means testing because it dehumanizes poor people. It tells them that the state knows better than they do what they should eat, when and where. It's neoliberal paternalistic logic that excuses the systemic realities of capitalism. We believe that people can make the best decisions within their material conditions when they are educated, uplifted, and have access to resources. We believe that rising tides raise all ships. We believe that our nation is only the care we give to the most disenfranchised. That's the core of it. This means testing doesn't work. It never has. This law is virtue signaling from a dying ruling class. Instead of "let them eat cake," it's "let them eat rotisserie chicken." And the working class (whether you're in the hollowed‑out rural towns or the gutted inner cities, whether you're a motel family or a suburbanite who just got laid off) deserves better than table scraps. We have the money for these programs. We have the resources. What we lack is the will to stop means testing people into second‑class citizenship.

EBT as cash, anywhere, for any food. That's the line. That's why this rotisserie chicken bill is bullshit.