Good morning Brad,
The topic of EBT cards is and has been a hot topic issue for me and here is why. There is mass abuse of these benefits and it is not recent abuse, those who would argue against this are living in fantasy land or contribute to the abuse. I grew up poor and lived in disadvantaged neighborhoods early on in my life witnessing firsthand the selling of food stamps for cash and now similar abuses of EBT cards. Here is an example, recently I observed an individual at a local grocery store purchase two candy bars for a total of $2.00 and get $98 cash back. He looked at me funny because of how I was looking at him then apologized to me for making me wait (the cashier cannot dispense more than one 50.00 cash back transaction because it will flag the EBT card as stolen as was explained by the cashier so he made two separate purchases-hence the $98 cash back). I then watched him get into an Infinity four door sedan and drive off. I am humored at the defense put up by the beautiful people of Western MA ( you know, the Longmeadow fellows, etc… as well as individuals employed by the State working at the agencies providing said benefits) against anyone who tries to discuss the issue of abuse. These individuals brag about being champions of the minorities/disadvantaged by financially supporting and voting for candidates who are pro entitlement programs and do so under the guise of sympathy and compassion which is a total farce. Their real reason for supporting such programs and encouraging minorities to utilize these programs is to keep us out of their neighborhoods and for self-preservation for those working at agencies providing these programs. I am equally disappointed with my fellow Puerto Rican brothers and sisters who allow themselves to be pimped by trading their votes for candidates who promise and deliver what amounts to nothing more than table scraps. But my disappointment is more with my people for not realizing the handouts that they have been conditioned to believe is a necessity because of their “disadvantaged lives” is really for keeping them dumb, deprived and dependent. They don’t realize that they are contributing to a vicious cycle which teaches future generations the same lie. There is no motivation by these individuals because they are taught early on in life they don’t have a chance to succeed and the only way they can provide for themselves is to except these entitlement programs. The bigger disappointment is my people not realizing this cycle which is encouraged by the Liberals of the world is intentional and is designed to keep us centralized in impoverished, high crime riddled inner-city neighborhoods killing each other off, and blaming such circumstances on those who are successful in life.
I understand there are some in our society we need to care for, there is no denying that, but there are more abusing the system out of sheer laziness because the system makes it so easy to do so. These individuals live off of the system and spend most of their days hanging out while the rest of us get up every day and go earn our way through life working hard. Those challenging this are disillusioned individuals born with silver spoons in their mouths or are aware of the abuse and don’t care because it keeps minorities out of their neighborhoods.
I apologize for the long winded e-mail Brad; I just get worked up when this topic is discussed.
 
Carlos