Category: Daily Caller
Woman goes viral after admitting to being on SNAP benefits for 3 decades
A video showing a woman complaining about her lack of food aid benefits is going viral because she admitted that she’s been on the dole for 30 years.
Maggie Aragon of New Mexico was interviewed on a KOAT-TV news story intending to drum up sympathy for the tens of millions of Americans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. The program was facing suspension over the ongoing government shutdown.
‘Welfare was meant to lift people up, not trap them forever. When do we start rewarding work again?’
“The first thing I did was grab my phone and call, and when I heard ‘zero dollars,’ my chest went into my throat!” Aragon said to KOAT. “I have depended on those benefits since the 1990s, and it’s detrimental to my life if I don’t get them.”
She told the outlet that she often had to rely on food banks in addition to SNAP in order to survive.
Video of Aragon’s comments went viral on social media, where it garnered millions of views.
Many pounced on the admission to criticize the program.
“I can barely afford my own bills and this useless eater has been on food stamps for 30 f**king years. She’s been living off MY taxes for 30 f**king years. Cut it off. Let them suffer,” author Matt Forney replied.
“Millions of people live entirely as wards of the state, completely disconnected from the world of work and self-sufficiency. How can this be sustainable?” writer Brian Almon responded.
“Look, I feel sympathy for people like this on a human level. But she hasn’t been able to get a job in three decades? This smells of manufactured dependency, not unavoidable hardship,” one user responded.
“Let’s say this woman is 65, which maybe she is … she has good skin, so possibly younger … that means she’s been on food stamps since she was in her early 30s or maybe younger. That is literally insane,” commentator Ryan Girdusky said.
“Thirty years on food stamps says everything about the system, not the person. Welfare was meant to lift people up, not trap them forever. When do we start rewarding work again?” another user said.
Others defended Aragon on the possibility that she was suffering from a disability and was unable to work.
RELATED: Judges rule that food stamp benefits cannot be suspended over shutdown — and Trump responds
At least one police department said it had increased patrols around grocery stores and food banks to avoid robbery and unrest.
“These increased patrols are not in response to any specific incident, but are a preventive measure to maintain public safety, deter theft, and reassure the community that law enforcement is present and ready to help,” reads a statement from the Barstow Police Department.
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‘HORRIFIC’: Jamaica UNRECOGNIZABLE a week after Hurricane Melissa
On October 28, Hurricane Melissa, the strongest storm ever to strike Jamaica as a Category 5, made landfall near Montego Bay, unleashing catastrophic damage across the island as winds peaked at 185 mph. The storm demolished thousands of homes, left entire communities without power or running water, and triggered widespread flooding. Drone footage reveals apocalyptic scenes of uprooted trees and flattened neighborhoods. The death toll sits at 28 currently but is expected to rise as rescue missions progress.
Glenn Beck’s nonprofit, Mercury One, is actively on the ground providing relief in several communities across the island.
On a recent episode of “The Glenn Beck Program,” Glenn spoke with Jack Brewer, founder and chairman of the Jack Brewer Foundation and a Mercury One partner, about the devastation he witnessed in Jamaica.
As the founder of his own disaster relief foundation, Jack has seen his fair share of devastations caused by natural disasters in the 20 years the Jack Brewer Foundation has been operating.
But Hurricane Melissa is the “one of the worst ones” he’s ever witnessed.
“Homes completely leveled — I mean, down to the foundation. And, you know, the entire west side of Jamaica is without water, without electricity. … The infrastructure electricity-wise is pretty old, and so the electric wires are just twisted all in the trees,” he says.
Because Jamaica is “tough terrain,” as much of the country is mountainous, it’s taking relief organizations longer than usual to reach people in need, Jack explains.
The scarcity has caused a lot of chaos. “You see just piles and piles of humans sitting next to each other trying to get water. They’re washing their clothes with the salt water and … there’s fights at the gas pump because people are trying to desperately get enough fuel,” he tells Glenn.
“The most heartbreaking thing,” however, is that downed poles, flooded substations, and uprooted trees blocking repairs mean that “folks haven’t found their family members,” Jack says.
“When I was there, they had just found six more bodies in the area, and they were asking us for cadaver dogs and asking us if we could assist with them.”
And the worst part is: “No one has come.”
“I went to village after village, town after town. No aid organization had come,” Jack says, noting that it hasn’t stopped raining in Jamaica, making travel even more difficult.
With homes and shelters decimated and waters continuing to rise, Jack says the Jamaican people, many of whom are sleeping outside, are now facing “waterborne diseases and mosquitos.”
Right now, the best relief organizations can do is help with temporary solutions, like delivering tents and insect repellent.
“Can you compare this to what we saw in North Carolina?” Glenn asks, referencing Hurricane Helene, which ravaged parts of North Carolina in September 2024 and caused billions of dollars in damage.
“No question,” says Jack. “The difference is, in North Carolina, we have something called insurance, and we have helicopters, and our fellow Americans can get there. … In Jamaica, they don’t have that option. … The people were already living in poverty.”
But praise God, there is joy that transcends all circumstances. “The love of God and the thankfulness and the smiling and the worshipping that was happening in these towns I was in … it lifted me up,” Jack says. “It humbled me to see people that had literally lost it all, but they were so thankful, and they said, ‘You know what? We’re living to see another day. God has given us a chance to recover. We have our life; we have our children.’”
Glenn encourages his audience to donate whatever they can to Mercury One and notes that 100% of donations go to relief initiatives.
“Go to mercuryone.org, and help us help people,” Glenn says.
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Pair of punks caught on video chucking chair at cops — hitting one in back of head — during Domino’s Pizza brawl: Police
Police in Glassboro, New Jersey, said two males were caught on video throwing a chair at officers — hitting one in the back of the head — during an early Saturday morning brawl inside a Domino’s Pizza store.
Police said after officers responded to the large fight around 2:44 a.m. and were making arrests, two black males — one wearing a gray jacket and the other a light blue sweatshirt — “picked up a chair and threw it at our officers, striking one of them in the back of the head. Not only was this intentional, they found it extremely hysterical while they ran from the scene.”
‘Out of nowhere I looked to my left, [and] there’s a chair just flying right down this hallway.’
WTXF-TV reported that the officer who was hit was treated at the scene and is expected to recover.
While police said in their original Facebook post that “we need your help in identifying them,” a Monday afternoon update indicates that suspects have been identified.
However, surveillance video showing the brawl — including the moment the chair was thrown — is no longer on the police department’s Facebook post. Also no longer visible on the post are the four still images of the two suspects.
Police did indicate in their 1:30 p.m. Monday update that a “news release will be made available when feasible.”
A Domino’s employee interviewed at the scene told WTXF that “there was so much chaos up there … just a bunch of people, like, throwing punches at each other, even at my co-workers. … I saw … one girl turn around and just deck another girl in the face. Out of nowhere I looked to my left, [and] there’s a chair just flying right down this hallway.”
Glassboro is about 40 minutes south of Philadelphia. The station added that the Domino’s Pizza store is located near Rowan University, which also is in Glassboro.
As you might expect, a number of reactions to the incident weren’t exactly sympathetic to the brawlers and chair throwers. To wit:
- “These MFs need an old-school ass whooping,” one commenter wrote. “Maybe I am better off out the game now. S**t is ridiculous nowadays.”
- “Time to get rid of no bail and minimum prison sentences,” another user said, adding that it’s the “only way you’re gonna cut it out — or at least cut it down.”
- “They should all be arrested and charged!!” another commenter declared. “The ones standing around watching and recording are no better than the others.”
- “This is disgusting,” another user opined. “Absolute animals that need to be locked up.”
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