All About The Joy
All About The Joy is a weekly hang-out with friends in the neighborhood! We share insight, advice, funny-isms and we choose to always try and find the positive, the silver lining, the "light" in all of it. AATJ comes from the simple concept that at the end of the day we all want to have more JOY than not. So, this is a cool place to unwind, have a laugh and share some time with friends!
All About The Joy
Shutdowns, SNAP Myths, and the Cost of Cowardice
The episode starts with shine - literal shine - as we trade retinol tips, laugh about mic placement, and compare notes on simple routines that actually work. Then the tone shifts. We walk through the government shutdown, what a “clean” continuing resolution really means, and why leaving ACA funding out isn’t a technicality - it’s a strategy that hikes premiums and pushes people off care.
From there, we go straight to the dinner table. SNAP benefits hang in the balance, and the myths crumble fast: most recipients are families with children, many are elderly or disabled, and a significant share are working. We talk about the companies paying low wages while taxpayers quietly pick up the tab, how stigma around benefits blinds us to the tiny slice of the budget SNAP occupies, and how a Portland shop is feeding neighbors with “SNAP breakfasts” funded by micro-donations from across the world. That generosity is breathtaking - and a sign that our systems are failing the people they’re meant to serve.
We unpack the middle class myth, the self-made story, and the way repetition shapes belief more than facts. We name the cowardice of leaders who won’t defend basic institutions and celebrate the people - lawyers, organizers, local officials - who keep fighting for a fair vote, fair pay, and a safety net that catches everyone. Joy shows up as a practice: caring for our skin, caring for our neighbors, and caring enough to tell the truth about power, wages, and dignity.
If this moved you, share it with a friend, rate the show, and leave a review. Subscribe for future episodes and join the conversation - who are the heroes you see, and what kind of care do you want your community to guarantee?
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Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth
DISCLAIMER: As always, please do your own research and understand that the opinions in this podcast and livestream are meant for entertainment purposes only. States and other areas may have different rules and regulations governing certain aspects discussed in this podcast. Nothing in our podcast or livestream is meant to be medical or legal advice. Please use common sense, and when in doubt, ask a professional for advice, assistance, help and guidance.
Hey everyone, welcome to All About the Joy. This is Culture and Consequence with Carmen and Andrea. It's okay. Um it's okay, fucking loser. No, I no, I'm not I totally would never. I'm just um I'm just in a sad space. That's all. So like like when you just went, why does my face look so oily all the time?
Andrea:It's uh what is that called? It's like oh god, I can't think of the word where it's like super shiny and they all love it. I can't remember what it's called. Glass skin. It's glass skin.
Carmen Lezeth:Okay. No, actually, you know what I've been using though is um, and I know you're gonna be like, whatever, retinol. I've never used retinol before. And um, Neilu, who does uh my face, uh she was like, you have to try it, but every time I've tried it in the past, it has dried out my skin completely. But I then did it the way she told me to do it. And I like in person, it looks like I look poreless. You know what I mean? Like, but on camera, it looks like what did you call it? Glassy skin. Glass skin. It's what I'm gonna do. And I'm not gonna wear powder, I'm not gonna wear powder. That's crazy. Uh, how did she tell you to do it? Um, well, first of all, it's a certain kind of retinol, which is very interesting, and then also um you don't do it every day and you don't do it twice a day. You build up, so you do like at night one time, like you just do a little time, like not even a pea size, yeah, and then you moisturize, and then you see how you feel the next day, and then do it the day after. So so I really did it strategically, and now I'm just doing it um in in the mornings, and that's it. And we started like this is uh culture and consequence, everyone, but that's okay. These are important topics, everybody. Okay, wait, is your mic on? Yeah, can you not hear? Yeah, no, there's just an echo. It's okay. It's all right, it's not a bad echo, it's just a room echo. It's like, yeah.
Andrea:Okay, hold on. Let me see if there's uh something I can change. Oh my lord.
Carmen Lezeth:Okay, so what's happening is like when you're close to the mic, I can hear you perfectly well. But when you're away, there's an echo, and it's because your voice I'll tell you why. You have the mic to the side, I can see it right now. Yeah, I have the mic in front of me. Because what's happening is your voice is bouncing off your screen and then going into the mic. So if you want to have the mic in front of you, put it like so technical.
Andrea:Okay, yeah, if you can put it way in front of you, and like your keyboard feels like kind of penisy right in front of me. Is that what you think is happening here with me? No, but yours is round. This one just isn't no yours is round too. They're the same. Oh, not like yours.
Carmen Lezeth:Like it's like say look at look at penis-y, penisy. It's still the same. This is the world of mics. This is this is podcasting, honey. This is you know, I'm leaving all of this in.
Andrea:I was like, okay, she's for sure gonna cut all of this out.
Carmen Lezeth:Okay, well, if you want me to, but I mean the other thing is that I mean, if you don't want it to be seen, you can push it closer so that your camera is going above if you want to. Like, so like if I push, oops, oops, oops, oops, wait, wait, wait. I'm about to lose the whole recording. So look at I just pushed my mic all the way to the screen, and still my voice is going to be hitting the mic, so you don't see the mic. I I don't care, and I like the mic being in front of me, so I don't really I I wasn't thinking about penises, so whatever, but now that that image is in front of me now, thank you.
Andrea:Yeah, yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't really, it doesn't really go away, but it's fine, it's fine.
Carmen Lezeth:But you see what I'm saying, right? That that's what was happening before, that's what the echoing. And I'll I'll delete this or whatever. Um, but anyway, yeah, so I've been doing the retinol or whatever, and and I'm really shook by it. Here's the thing though, it's a lot of work for me. I'm not used to doing so much skincare wise. Um, I mean, I'm not trying to act like I don't do anything, but I really it it's it's it's been a thing. So, anyways, and I don't know what it keeps doing.
Andrea:I only use it at night. Wait, you've been doing retinol for years? Yeah, like oh yeah, I don't 15 years probably. I think it's very drying.
Carmen Lezeth:I think it's very drying.
Andrea:Well, you have to the way that I have to, yeah, it is very drying, so but you do get used to it. So I actually put lotion on, I only use it at night. I put lotion on before and then you do it. Lotion, and then I put it on and I use it like I'm gonna say three to four nights a week, not in a row. See, and I put lotion on after too.
Carmen Lezeth:Yeah, see, so I put it on, so cleanse the face, retinol, wait a little bit, and then the cream, facial cream, whatever. And we were doing okay, honestly, I had gotten all of these kind of, I don't know what they're called. I was like, it's cancer. It wasn't, they were like little skin tags or something. Moles, raised. I don't know what they are raised or just like freckles. No, no, they were like little things sticking out of my skin.
Andrea:I had like the real like moles, skin tags, whatever.
Carmen Lezeth:Whatever they are. So the first time I went to a dermatologist and paid like all this money out of pocket, right? Because you have to pay your co-payment and whatever, and and he basically got rid of it or whatever. And then it happened again, and I was like, so I asked Neilu, because I see Nilu every once in a while. And um, for those who don't know who Neelu is, she does my Botox. So just to share. Um, but she you know, but she turned around and she she was like, No, no, no, the reason why this is happening is because you need to use some retinol. She gave me some samples or whatever, and I started using it and it went away. So I was like really psyched or whatever. Whereas the dermatologist, hello, was happy for me, I guess, to come back every time I needed these things taken off of me. So I'm just saying, you know what I mean? So I ain't going to that person.
Andrea:Yeah, you need someone who knows your skin and actually wants to help you solve a problem versus like, oh, let me burn that off for you.
Carmen Lezeth:Yeah. So, and you know I don't wear a lot of makeup. So the thing that I do love about the retinol is that it's allowed me to not really wear makeup at all. And I I just never knew that that was a thing, but but yeah. So I do it, yeah. Oh, that's so interesting. It's just how we do it differently, or whatever. I have not been using retinol. Someone gave me hydrochloric acid. Is that what it is? Um, I've heard of that, yeah. I'm sure it's not actually whatever it is.
Andrea:Well, it's like uh diluted, so you spray like if you're sweating or something like that, so you don't it's I I give it to the kids so they don't break out.
Carmen Lezeth:Whatever, and that didn't work for me either. I'm like, this is way too much work, you know. And um, and I have friends who do like toner, and I'm like, this is just too much work for me.
Andrea:I mean, I I love my skincare and I do all of that stuff, but I I also like things to be very simple. Like I'm maybe like three to four steps at any given time, and that's I'm out. I can't do more than that.
Carmen Lezeth:Okay, so I have always done wash my face, moisturize, and like foundation, which is like sunscreen if you have a good tinted sunscreen or whatever, but um yeah, so funny. I love when we're talking about this kind of stuff. Um, I mean, this is part of what we're doing anyway. So, you know, culture and consequence, your skincare area to learn all the best ways. But I do think it's sorry, that's a sunscreen. Sunscreen is very important, but also I do think it's weird because when I'm on camera, I see the shine, you know. Um you just look like you're glowing. I'm glowing, yeah. I know. It's just a weird, it's just it's just changed over the past uh I've been using it now for like two months, I think. I don't know, our skin looks great to me, so I wouldn't complain about it. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, okay. So it's also lighting, but whatever. Um, okay, we were gonna talk about um the good that people are doing, and you see my negativity on it right now. The good that people are doing. Whatever. Like I'll I'll show that uh clip that I sent you because I did upload it. You know what? Actually, let me start by explaining why the government is still in a shutdown. We are on day 30 of the government shutdown, which is interesting. And for people who don't know, we are we're not arguing, but the conflict between the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans want to pass a clean CR, and the CR is a continuing resolution, which basically is to let the government be funded so that people can get paid through November, I want to say 21st. It's only to November 21st, which then gives the House and I think it's the House and the Senate the ability to have a conversation about the budget for the entire year. The reason why the and can I just say you and I know it's so funny how now the Republicans want to do a clean CR, right? Because it's in their best interest.
unknown:Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth:So people will say, why is it that the Democrats won't just say yes and then negotiate afterwards whatever it is their argument is? Here's why. The Democrats are saying there is no funding in this continuing CR for the Affordable Care Act. And the Affordable Care Act, which is nicknamed Obamacare, it's the same thing, people. Same thing. If you ever watch any of the late night show hosts, I think it's Jimmy Kimmel, they'll do these things where they'll go, and they've done it in New York, but they'll be like, So are you against Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act? And they're like, oh, I hate Obamacare. It's like it's the same thing. You know what I mean? Exactly. It's the same thing. It's just like nickname that I guess Republicans thought was going to be a really bad thing, and Obama embraced it fully and completely. But the reason why this is so important is number one, there's no trust between these two parties at all. And I don't need to go into why, but the most important thing is Republicans have been trying since day one to get rid of Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act. They've been trying to do it, they have voted against it more than 70 times. And every time they don't win, like every time they they have lost. But this is their sneaky way of trying to get into um weakening it because funding for it ends in December. And so there's no other way to make sure that people who are who have healthcare will continue to have it because it's going to triple, triple the premium. So if I'm paying $587 a month for my healthcare through the Affordable Care Act, I will be paying over $1,500 a month come January, which I will not be paying $1,500 a month because I will choose not to have healthcare. Which means if I get in trouble or if I have an accident or I have to go to the doctors or I feel sick, I will be at the emergency room, which, by the way, will then go and actually cost taxpayers much more money because I won't be able to afford to pay whatever that bill will be because I have no health care. Is that like, does that kind of visually explain it? I mean, that's that's the summary. That's the summary. So that's what they're fighting about uh Republicans and Democrats. And Democrats are holding strong. I'm actually impressed. I'm like, okay. I am too. But what's happened now is as of Friday, people who, I mean, people are suffering everywhere. People are suffering everywhere. So many layoffs, so many people out of work, people are working without pay. But one of the big things that's going to happen, those things are big too, but SNAP benefits are going to be, people are not going to get their SNAP benefits as of Friday. There will be no, there's no funding for it. So families who rely on extra money to make ends meet and get food on the table are not going to be able to eat. If you don't know what SNAP is, it means I didn't, you know, I always call it food stamps because that's what it was when I was growing up.
Andrea:Yeah.
Carmen Lezeth:But it's actually, oh look at that. I did the whole Obamacare thing without using my notes. I'm so proud of myself. Um it's um supplemental nutrition assistance program, and it helps low-income individuals and families buy groceries. And so who are these people? Children, veterans, active military, active military are on Snap. I didn't know this. Um, and seniors. And you're folks as well. I'm sorry, disabled folks as well. Of course, disabled folks, yes. I'm so sorry. But I wanted to bring up one thing about uh active duty and also why so many people because I was like, why are active duty people that means people actually working? Like, um, first of all, because we don't pay people enough money. We don't pay people an hourly wage that they can live off of if they're doing a job. And if you're working in the military, I don't even understand how that's a question, but you can't live off of that. And military people are moved around a lot every two or three years, so they can't even like the spouse, you know, can't even turn around and try to get long-term work or doesn't have a work history, or they can't get affordable daycare for their children. So there are just so many reasons, but I was shook by the active um military people and also just working people who are working 40 hours a week, but we don't pay a living wage.
Andrea:Yeah, I I looked up some numbers and I I did I don't have them in front of me, but off the top of my head, I do remember this. 67% of people on SNAP benefits are are people with small children, so families with small children. So that's a lot of kids, right? It really is. Um, I can't remember the exact number, but somewhere in the 30th percentile is like uh is uh disabled people and and the elderly. And 38% are working people. 38% of people on SNAP benefits are working. So that includes the active duty people. That includes one thing I did write down is uh the top companies whose employees are using SNAP benefits. So what that means, everybody, is that we are subsidizing these companies in order to not pay their employees a living wage, as Carmen pointed out. So Walmart. We talked about this before. And it let's remember that all of the CEOs and owners of these companies are what?
Carmen Lezeth:Billionaires.
Andrea:Billionaires. There's more than enough. So we have Walmart, uh, McDonald's, Amazon, um Publix, which is like a grocery store chain, Waffle House, Kroger, so they own Ralph's.
Carmen Lezeth:That's all mostly here though, right?
Andrea:Yeah, yeah. Well, there they have some on the East Coast as well. Uh the dollar stores, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Home Depot, Uber. So another thing that these companies have in common is that most of their CEOs are Republican donors. And and billionaires. Yeah, Republican donors, yeah. Republican donors. So they are raking in the cash and hoarding it, as we talked about before, not paying their employees a living wage. Taxpayers are then supplementing so people can eat, as is the humane thing to do. And now the people they donated to are essentially keeping the government closed and not paying for the food, you know, not paying, uh, not funding SNAP so people can eat. It's a disgusting little circle.
Carmen Lezeth:It's it's a weird thing, right? Because the the most amazing thing that I think wealthy people have been able to do is convince poor people or middle class people that the problem is poor people and not them. Am I saying that right? Like, I it's stunning to me how many people actually believe, and I mean, maybe that has something to do with the idea of the American dream that we all believe if we work really, really hard, we can be rich and wealthy too, right?
Andrea:Yeah, I just saw something about that. That like uh I can't remember the stat, but something about, you know, like almost all of you know, some some large percent, like 90% of Americans think they're middle class.
Carmen Lezeth:I know I said that the other day, and I said poor people, and I I was looked at like I was an idiot. I'm like, okay, okay, okay, like I'm sorry.
Andrea:Well that includes the very wealthy, all the way down to like, you know, really poor people who who are just making $7 an hour or whatever. Yeah, exactly. And so the part of this sort of I don't want to call it a delusion, but it is sort of a delusion, right? And I I I do think it has to do with the American dream and pull yourself up by the bootstraps and all of that, is like, you know, I'm I'm just a couple of good breaks away from being a millionaire, right? Like I like that's I got I gotta protect that money, right? I don't want to pay any more taxes than I do, you know.
Carmen Lezeth:Well, you know what? It goes, and and you know what? I hate to keep bringing this up, but it's an interesting dynamic. When I say things like you want to stay at a hotel in my neighborhood and it's $500 a night, and then people will say, Oh, you're so bougie, it's even that idea, right? It is the idea that somehow, if you're staying in a hotel, that's nice, and it's five, not understanding that the Elon Musk, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Mark Cuban, any of these people, they're not staying at a $500 a night hotel, right? Breaking news. They're not like so this I misunderstanding. The resistance are probably not even seeing. The resistance are not saying, but that's that's the thing, right? We have gotten to a place where we don't even realize the bullshittery that's happening. And so the Democrats who are standing strong, and and I I'm shook by it. I thought by now they would have bailed, but what they're trying to do is say, no, we don't trust you. We know you've been trying to get rid of the ACA, Obamacare for so long. You've also weaponized helping our neighbors and making sure people have what they need. Here's the thing: most people aren't asking for more than what they need. The average person who is getting fucking SNAP benefits, it's under $200 a month. It's like $187 a month. It is only one shopping trip, man. Wait, 1.5% of our federal budget. 1.5% of our federal budget. You know what? I want to help. That's where I want my tax dollars to go to. I want to help people that actually I don't care. I don't care if they're buying their kids gummy bears and bullshit processed food or whatever. If they're eating, I'm fine with it. I don't care. You know, this idea that I am supposed to be angry. Oh, and can we just say I can't believe I have to say this because this is, I just believe people are smart on this. People who are quote unquote undocumented, I was gonna say the other word, but undocumented people in this country, they cannot get SNAP benefits. You're being told lies and you're believing it. You're believing it over and over again, but you don't want to believe the truth. The truth is, red states like Mississippi, West Virginia, and Kentucky have higher SNAP participation per capita in rural areas that are poverty-driven and mostly white than any other place in the United States. It's not liberal Democrats who are stealing money from you. I don't know. I'm sad, right? I I sent you an email like I can't understand how dumb we've become as a country.
Andrea:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you said that just a second ago that you want to believe people are smarter than this. Um, they're not. But why? How can you not be able to do that? This is a just because education has also been gutted, right? Because our media is thoroughly in the hands of the right wing at this point.
Carmen Lezeth:Unbelievable.
Andrea:Like unbelievable. They're they're not, yes, they are being told lies. Where do they go to get the truth if they don't have, you know, as we talked about before, sort of the critical thinking skills, right? How do you and repetition fucking works?
unknown:Yeah, it does.
Andrea:It does. Yeah. You hear it and you hear it and you hear it and you hear it, and it just sinks in.
Carmen Lezeth:I'm heartbroken because I feel like as much as I know this show is necessary, and I I know it's good because I we're getting the feedback or whatever, it's disheartening to wake up every and and know that I'm looking at the news now because I want to see how we can explain or teach things to people. I guess I'm heartbroken because, and I know you're gonna get mad at me, but remember we're being recorded. Um, I just can't believe rich people are this evil. You know what I mean? Like, I I don't like why do you want to hurt fellow Americans? Like, why do you want to have you want to hurt anybody? I know, but okay, but I'm even trying to be even more specific. Like, you have so much.
Andrea:The most basic aspect of humanity that you feed people. Every go to any home of any immigrant you can think of: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Somali, Syrian, whatever. You sit down at their house. I don't care if they have absolutely nothing. You are gonna be served food until you can't get up from the fucking table. That is basically it's the bottom thing on the hierarchy of needs is food. And people are somehow okay with their fellow humans not having enough food.
Carmen Lezeth:Because they don't think it's about them, because when it happens to them, they have what they think is an excuse or a reason that makes sense to them. But anybody else getting snap or welfare or whatever it's called is doing something bad and they're not pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, right? It's kind of that thing, and and I hate to bring up Dick Cheney that's totally like whoof, squirrel. But remember we used to have that conversation where Dick Cheney was such an asshole, and then all of a sudden he found out his daughter was gay, and all of a sudden he had a better understanding of maybe he didn't have control over his daughter being gay. You know what I mean? Like it's that kind of thing. Like it's okay that I take away from you because you're doing something bad until it happens to my family and I can understand it. That's not fucking compassion. Compassion is being able to walk in someone else's shoes without actually experiencing it, right? Having empathy. I mean, I'm pissed right now, so I'm just fucking. I'm just saying, like, I don't have to experience pain to understand that somebody else is in pain. I don't know. I'm I'm a little bit mad because I feel like we should be better than this. And I don't mean Americans, I mean just human beings in general. Like, what the fuck? And how much money do you need? Seriously. How much money do you need? And this thing with healthcare, this country has got to have a reckoning with this bullshit. Besides food, you would think the other thing is to make sure that your neighbor is healthy and fine and good so they can continue contributing to the world in the magnificence that they are. Whatever that means. We're human beings. So your idea is not give them health care.
Andrea:And I I think I do believe on like a one-to-one basis, right? Like you're a random person in the middle of the country, and your neighbor, I don't know, has has a heart attack while they're walking the dog, you're gonna go out and help them. I don't know. Are you are gonna go out and help them? Are you? I don't know. I'm that's what I'm questioning now. I believe I believe if it's like right in front of you, right? Somebody falls down at the grocery store. You know, people aren't just gonna like step over them. No, they're gonna do this. Oh my god, you're right. My whole point is totally.
Carmen Lezeth:This is what's happening. I mean, I look at I hear you. I the irony of this I'm usually the one talking fucking Pollyanna shit. Yeah, I'm the reason why I'm sad, Andrea, is because I I don't get it. I I don't get it. I I heard a couple of uh podcasts the other day, you know, randomly just going to go check out what people are saying. And I was like, I'm not shook by it, but my heart is shook by the it's not just the damasseria that people don't know what they're talking about, but that they are actually okay in hating the idea that people can have health care. Like they're okay with people suffering and not getting food stamps. I'm sorry, snap ben. I just want to apologize. I know you're not supposed to say certain things. I'm used to saying food stamps because that's what I grew up understanding it to be. Um it just it just breaks my heart.
Andrea:I saw a clip, um, you may have seen it, I think it was on TikTok, um, of Tom Nisi Coates. Uh he spoke at a university in Missouri. Although he's intense.
Carmen Lezeth:He's intense, Peter.
Andrea:Yeah, well, so one of the it was just a brief clip, but um, one of the things that he said was that he was surprised by the cowardice. He's like, I just didn't know how many cowards there were. He's like, so cowardice, really, that they won't even defend the institutions that they have for their whole lives said were so great, whether it's an Ivy League school or whether it's you know the Senate or even the country. They have all just completely rolled over, you know?
Carmen Lezeth:And it boggles my mind because I keep trying to, I understand you want more power, you want more money, you want to be next to power. I'm like, but I at what expense? At what expense are you willing? I don't know.
Andrea:I I heard something the other day that said it that it's it's uh and I don't totally agree with this, but um, but it's like an addiction, right? Like people who are addicted to something and they and so I I'm not gonna necessarily put it in that category because that's you know, I think that's sort of more of a health issue, but there is some kind of psychological thing happening where it's like you you are so disconnected from the reality of the human experience when you have that kind of money, you know, that it it I think it shuts certain things down.
Carmen Lezeth:I mean, I think I look at I okay, I'm just thinking about this, but I do believe that the natural human instinct is to always want more. I don't think that's a bad thing. I think it's why we have progressed as human beings. We found fire and and then we were like, okay, warmth, and then you know what I mean? Like we got a wheel to do the whole time. Yeah, but you know what I mean? Like, so I understand that part, but where does the disconnect come where you're still progressing and wanting more, but along the way, you're tripping over bodies or people or climbing over bodies, climbing, yeah. Do you know what I mean? Like that's where I don't understand. Like, I and and look at I'm not trying to be so Pollyanna about it, but it does bother me that as human beings, we can't see the forest for the trees, that so many people of wealth continue to railroad things through at the expense of poor human beings. And Andre, you're so right. So many people don't want to call themselves poor. And like when I say it, people get upset, especially when I'm talking about my bougie hotel or whatever. And it's like, I would here here's what my definition of poor is if I were to lose my job tomorrow, three months, I would be on the street. So is that literally true? No, because I have friends and family. That's the real wealth I have. But as far as having like, you know, investments and properties. And that to me is what the definition of poor is. And most people in the United States can't exist for three months without a paycheck. Well, they can't even exist for a month without a paycheck. I know three months kind of makes me middle class, I guess. Like three months. But and so I think people have to start redefining what wealth is because you're so confused. You're so confused as to what it is. Flying first class on a commercial airline two times a year that I maybe travel, that doesn't make me wealthy. It doesn't even make me middle class. It makes me a single woman without children who can save up money or put it on a credit card and pay it over time. Like it's a choice. And I think that you're I I love what you said, and I feel like at some point we I have to dig deeper into that, but I do think there's something wrong, and I am saying something wrong with the American psyche that we believe that we're all middle class. We're not, we're not there's wealthy people, there's ultra-wealthy people, there's even ridiculously wealthy people, the billionaires, and then there's the rest of us.
Andrea:Yeah, I mean, I think the theaters agree. Well, no, no, it's I 100% agree, right? Like, if everyone's thinking they're middle class, that and that's that's what they want, right? Like, okay, yeah, everything's fine. You don't need to come together to fight, right? You don't need any solidarity or anything like that, right? Because you're all pretty much the same.
Carmen Lezeth:And and and you're you're you're one of us. Trump is like, I'm one of you. How can you even believe that? I don't even know. You know, but that is it, right? Like there's no need to protest this because we're the same. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So one of the things that got me sad yesterday was this clip. Um, was it yesterday? I don't know. Yeah, I think so. Let me um let me play it. Um, I don't know if you'll be able to hear it here, but I'll redo it in the edit or whatever if I have to.
Heretic Coffee:Oh my god, yeah, okay. I don't even know where to begin with this one. Every second another donation comes in. It is unlike anything I've ever seen. Someone was like, you should set up a donation link, and that person's comment had more likes than the actual post. I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. If I legitimately thought we would get like a couple hundred dollars. And so we just um put a donation link that's attached to our register up here, and by the end of the night, we were over ten thousand dollars. Crazy. Um, we have brought in a total the total's at $86,000 that people are. Like what do you say to that? Yeah, like, and if I were to show you these donations, these aren't people giving a thousand dollars. This is people giving, I saw one this morning for a buck and 17 cents. That is someone who only has a dollar and 17 cents to give. Um, those are the ones that just like I that just blow my mind. Um I'll wake up and there will be donations from West Africa, Australia. Like, this is a global movement of humanity feeding Portland people. I think Portland has been in the national news with a bad reputation for many years now, and the entire world is coming together to reset the reputation of what Portland is actually like. And this is just a small little piece of what Portland is actually like. There's this cult, how should I say this, societal or like cult cultural embarrassment maybe that comes with being on a snap program. And so we try to remove that all the way. So if you just order the snap breakfast, sounds like a regular breakfast menu item, and we ring you up just like a customer, except we press a button that 100% comps that order for you. So it comes with that burrito, it comes with that breakfast, and you are treated just like every other person that comes in here.
Carmen Lezeth:I'm like crying again. For so many reasons, not just for the beauty of what he's doing, but like Africa, Australia, like this is what it's come to. I said a dollar, right? People donating like whatever they've got. If you want America to be great, then we need to take care of our people. I don't know what else to say.
Andrea:Right. But I mean, that's you sent that to me, and I was like, I started crying too, and I was like, it's so beautiful. And you know, that like what's happening in there's so many things that are tragic about what's happening, right? What's happening with the snap benefits is is you know a slow-rolling tragedy that will get worse, especially, you know, it's like a few weeks before Thanksgiving, the holiday. I mean, it's just everything's a hot mess. The underlying tragedy is that it's necessary, right? Is that that we need snap at all. Well, we can we and we need it, yes, but like we really actually don't need it because we have enough. We have enough food to feed people, we have more than enough money to pay people so they don't need to be on Snap, so that we don't even have the need for a thing like Snap if people would just pay people a living wage.
Carmen Lezeth:It's weird to be like we're the wealthiest country in the world, and yet we don't have health care, we don't have food for our people, we have homelessness. I say this all the time, but we also have a mindset as Americans that it's our own fault. Like it's it's so weird, right? That like if you're homeless, that's your fault. Yeah, it's not that our government and our wealthy neighbors are not doing their part. It's that somehow the individuals who have fallen through the cracks, for whatever reason, they got into an accident, they got cancer, they whatever it is, it doesn't matter. But we believe that the problem isn't the structure that we're in, but it's our own individual failings because we didn't pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.
Andrea:It's I guess in some ways, sort of the the reverse of you know the idealized, like individualistic American, like you know, the self-made person or whatever. That's very idealized here, right? Like everyone loves that and loves those kind of stories or whatever. The opposite of that is if you don't make it, if you are a person that has fallen through the cracks, it's 100% on you.
Carmen Lezeth:Right, right. The weird thing is, is and I'm I'm gonna say this, and and I I don't mean to offend people, but if I do, I don't care. Um, nobody makes it in the United States without other people. Nobody, no, nobody anywhere, anywhere, but definitely not in the United States, because there's no way you can make it on your own. And so I know we all love those stories, but they're uh they are idealized, but they're not actually true. And and isn't that the compassionate Christian thing of Majiggy, right? We help our neighbors, we help the least among us, we help people. And I I'm just I look at I I'm at wit's end because I feel like people confuse actually being a good person with being socialist. Maybe that's a good thing. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. I don't know why you would confuse having basic necessities met with socialism. I I think most people don't know what socialism is. Um, but that's that's what they've explained to us. That's what they've taught us. That's what they keep putting in our brains so that we can continue being the workforce they need to continue making the money that they want to keep making, because I don't know, five billion isn't enough. Yep.
Andrea:I gotta have my rockets and my yachts and my I don't even know. I don't even I don't know what else they need.
Carmen Lezeth:I really don't. I don't know either. Um, but it's a tragedy. I don't know. There are good people doing things though, trying to fight the system, and um that was what we were gonna spend most of our time talking about. But this video, I mean, this this uh video was what kind of threw me, and I was just so sad. Um, I didn't do a lot of research on people doing good stuff because I don't also want to make it like, oh, so you don't have to do anything, you know what I mean? But I was thinking about like Mark Elias, who is a lawyer who is continuously um what's the name of his? I forget the name of his democracy docket or something. Um but he is fighting in every way, shape, and form in the court system, and I love him. And I think he's he's he still reminds me of the guy in school who probably was made fun of when he was in high school, and now he's like this big time ass lawyer who's like fighting for all the right things. Like it's kind of cool, right? Like I love that story, you know. I'm not saying that I agree with that vibe, yeah. Yeah, I'm saying that's what the vibe I get, like, and and he's like superhero right now. Um, so I was thinking about him and uh I'm trying to think who else. Well, I don't know. I of course there's Gavin Newsom and uh JD Prit Pritzker, I can't say his name. And Pritzer. Yeah, whatever. The guy, uh the governor of Chicago of Illinois. Chicago. I always do that because it might as well just be Chicago. Sorry, the runs of Illinois.
Andrea:Um yeah, and I don't know, you had to be and also from Illinois. Um, I don't know if we saw there's uh there's a woman, uh young girl running for Congress there, Kat, I don't know, Kat Abu Ghazale or something. It's a very long name. She's a young girl, um young woman. Young woman. I was like, I know. Well you're under like 40, you're a girl. Um she's running for Congress in Evanston. Uh or no, I'm well, yeah, whatever. Anyway, she's running for Congress in Illinois, and she's been uh protest. Number one, her campaign contributions, she has had for months now a food bank at her headquarters, and they have like toiletries and all kinds of things, so people can come in and get things. But she's been protesting at um at the ICE detention center for weeks now, and she was just indicted on a federal indictment yesterday. But she is an example, I would say, of a person who you know is literally putting her body on the line and has been for a long time and is trying to do good for the community. So I think I think that there's a lot of examples of that. And like you said, I don't it it shouldn't be just left to us individually or these small groups, right? We have mechanisms in the government to handle this that essentially the levers on those have been turned off right now.
Carmen Lezeth:And again, it's confusing as to why the Republican Party is okay with it. Like there's no checks and balances. And I think that's kind of maybe we can finish on this a little bit. Um I think the heart-wrenching thing for me is that there are no checks and balances. There was never a time that I can remember before Trump where even the Republican Party or the party in power and the party in Congress was always going to agree with the president. You know what I mean? That's not always how it's been. Um and it we always want checks and balances. That's how our constitution was created. But even Republicans, and for the love of God, I don't understand why. It's not because it's correct or the right way to be. That I'm sure on. Like, I'm not, I'm not questioning like, am I wrong? I'm not wrong. I am absolutely positive that I want people to have healthcare, I want people to have food, I want people to have minimum wages that actually allow them to work an actual job and live off of that without needing snap. Can you imagine if we paid people a normal we wouldn't need half of this shit? Nope. I know I'm not sure.
Andrea:I'm sorry, so that doesn't affect their lives at all. Rich people, yeah.
Carmen Lezeth:They wouldn't notice it at all. Even if you tax them, you wouldn't notice it at all. They they wouldn't notice it.
Andrea:It's not going to affect them in the slightest.
Carmen Lezeth:Yeah, but it does affect them if you have a well-educated, you have a well-fed, you have a happy, popular, comfortable society of people who will always question you if you do something wrong. But if you keep people in begging mode, if you keep people wanting stuff, needing stuff, they're always gonna go to you, Elon Musk or whoever.
Andrea:Easier to control. It's easier to control to. Easier to control. I don't think that's a crazy thought. That's really what it is. Yeah, it's a hundred percent what it is. That's like basic, you know, authoritarian shit from the beginning of time. You know, going back to like surfs and stuff, like medieval.
Carmen Lezeth:No, I just wish it. I I I wish I had a happier thing. I mean, there are people doing good things. I think what we're saying is it's just sad to have that's why that made me cry. Because we shouldn't be getting donations from Africa. Oh my god, we are the world now. We are the world now. Oh my god. It just hit me. They're gonna do a Christmas song for us. Fuck Christmas number one. Fuck Americans. Oh my god, it's so sad. But thank you to all the people that are contributing and helping. And I do love that the world is on the right side of history, even if most of the Republicans and conservatives in this country are not. So shout out to the rest of the world. Yeah, yeah.
Andrea:I mean that clip that I was talking about with Tanya Sikotz, he at the end of it, he said, you know, we'll we'll come out of this eventually. I don't know how long it will take. Uh but tell your children who the cowards were. Yes. Yes, children who the cowards were, and talk about it now. And by the same token, who the heroes are.
Carmen Lezeth:Yeah. And on that note, thank you everyone for stopping by. We appreciate it. And yes, at the end of the day, it still really is all about the joy. Thanks, everyone. Bye. Well, it's so depressing. But retinol, really good. Thanks for being girl. Right? It'll look good. All right, bye.
unknown:Thanks for stopping by, All About the Joy. Be better and stay beautiful, folks. Have a sweet day.
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