Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray WBS costin me video.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks very much, Dan Watkins. As we head
Speaker 2: into the nine o'clock hour tonight here on Nightside, and
Speaker 2: I'm looking at this morning's Boston Herald. I don't know
Speaker 2: how many of you get the Herald either delivered or
Speaker 2: maybe what look at it the digital the digital process,
Speaker 2: but those very couple of interesting stories about abuse of
Speaker 2: EBT cards here in Massachusetts. Let me preface my comments
Speaker 2: here by saying that I do understand, and I hope
Speaker 2: all of you do understand, that there are people in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts who find themselves up against it through no fault
Speaker 2: of their own. Maybe they contribute a little bit, but
Speaker 2: they're out of work, whatever, they need some help. And
Speaker 2: that's what we're supposed to be like, that's what we're
Speaker 2: supposed to do for fellow residents and people here in
Speaker 2: mass for our neighbors essentially. Now, I know some people
Speaker 2: think that, well, our neighbors are much more than just
Speaker 2: the people who live on our block, just more than
Speaker 2: the people who live in our community, which is fine,
Speaker 2: however you want to describe it. However, the Herald, and
Speaker 2: I believe even the Globe has taken a look at
Speaker 2: some of this, but it's astonishing when you look at
Speaker 2: what the Herald is calling the EBT card hot hotchspots. Now,
Speaker 2: EBT cards are cards in which money is loaded on
Speaker 2: electronically for people to use in grocery stores, feed their
Speaker 2: family and all of that. There are some places where
Speaker 2: eb cards cannot be used. They can't be used at
Speaker 2: liquor stores, pot shops, restaurants, porn shipe porn sites, gun shops,
Speaker 2: and to pay court fees. Makes all the sense in
Speaker 2: the world. According to the Herald piece, the use of
Speaker 2: well for money outside New England, however, remains a massive
Speaker 2: drag on the budget. This is the Herald analysis. And
Speaker 2: I have a quote here from someone from the Pioneer
Speaker 2: Institute and the Herald Piece today says, while it's understandable
Speaker 2: that people do travel to visit family, the magnitude of
Speaker 2: the travel raises the question as to whether all the
Speaker 2: people receiving benefits actually need their benefits. Okay, now, there's
Speaker 2: an estimated one million recipients here in Massachusetts who are
Speaker 2: helped with SNAP formerly known as food stamps and Traditional
Speaker 2: Aid to Families with dependent children and emergency aids of
Speaker 2: the elderly disabled children. We're a state of about seven
Speaker 2: million people, so you're talking about a pretty good percentage
Speaker 2: of individual Now, this does not include what's going on
Speaker 2: with the migrant shelters. Now that's a whole different story. However,
Speaker 2: when you look at what's going on, you have a
Speaker 2: list of the towns in Massachusetts and the people from
Speaker 2: some of these towns that have spent incredible amounts of
Speaker 2: money outside of Massachusetts. That's what we're talking about here,
Speaker 2: outside of Massachusetts. So the Herald Story has found that
Speaker 2: people have used the EBT cards from Massachusetts in places
Speaker 2: like Hawaii, not bad, lots of places in Hawaii, places
Speaker 2: as far away as Alaska, places as far away as
Speaker 2: Alabama to Arizona, Pennsylvania to Puerto Rico, Utah to Wyoming,
Speaker 2: and all the New England states. Now I can see,
Speaker 2: I guess someone using an EBT card and I I
Speaker 2: don't know this for and frankly, I'm not an expert
Speaker 2: in this. There'll be a lot of you out there
Speaker 2: probably know more about it than I do. I would
Speaker 2: say that EBT cards should be limited to grocery stores
Speaker 2: or store that provide the necessities of life. Shoe stores
Speaker 2: or department stores. I'm not in any way shape of
Speaker 2: form trying to say people should not receive some help.
Speaker 2: But if you have an EBT card and you're somehow
Speaker 2: getting to California or getting to Hawaii, or getting to Florida,
Speaker 2: or getting to all of these places around the country
Speaker 2: and around not the world yet but around the country
Speaker 2: as far away as Hawaii, how you doing that? How
Speaker 2: can you possibly be doing that? And the other question
Speaker 2: is why should there be cash available on EBT cards
Speaker 2: or should the cash be totally limited on EBT cards?
Speaker 2: Maybe one hundred dollars a month. I mean, I can
Speaker 2: tell I'm small enough to know that if I take
Speaker 2: my bank debit card and I need to use it
Speaker 2: as another bank other than the bank which issued the
Speaker 2: debit card, it's going to cost me a couple of
Speaker 2: bucks to use that debit card. The place that I
Speaker 2: that I go is a different bank. I don't have
Speaker 2: any money at that bank, but there is a relationship
Speaker 2: I guess, between my bank, which is Eastern Bank, and
Speaker 2: this other bank, so that I am charged three dollars
Speaker 2: for every time I want to take cash out of Well, again,
Speaker 2: this is taking cash out of my own checking account.
Speaker 2: This is not taking cash out of a government fund.
Speaker 2: This is cash being taken out of my own checking account,
Speaker 2: money that I have earned and of course paid taxes on,
Speaker 2: and now I've deposited it and it's in my own account.
Speaker 2: The bank that I go to, my bank that I
Speaker 2: don't have accounts in, it's going to charge me. And
Speaker 2: what happens is Eastern Bank replenishes that. So it may
Speaker 2: take a day or two, but when I look at
Speaker 2: my account, I'll say, Okay, I went throw three hundred dollars.
Speaker 2: This other bank charge gave me the three hundred to
Speaker 2: charge me an additional three But now two days later,
Speaker 2: Eastern Bank has replenished that three dollars. It's one of
Speaker 2: the reasons that I'm a customer of Eastern Bank, to
Speaker 2: be really honest with you. But when you think about
Speaker 2: people who are being given money, given substantial amounts of
Speaker 2: money to live here in Massachusetts, they somehow find themselves
Speaker 2: in Hawaii. I don't know how you find yourself in
Speaker 2: Hawaii if you need an EBT card, I really don't.
Speaker 2: If there's anyone out there who can explain that to me,
Speaker 2: please let me know. I don't know how you can
Speaker 2: end up in the Virgin Islands. If you need an
Speaker 2: EBT card, I don't know how you can end up
Speaker 2: in San Francisco or Los Angeles. It would seem to
Speaker 2: me if you need an EBT card. Now you can
Speaker 2: say that I'm mean, I guess, and that I'm not
Speaker 2: thoughtful or caring. But the bottom line is the money
Speaker 2: that we're spending on EBD cards should be monitored and
Speaker 2: regulated a lot more closely, because I have to assume,
Speaker 2: and maybe I'm making a wrong assumption, that our legislature,
Speaker 2: in their infinite wisdom, should be able to track who
Speaker 2: is this EBT beneficiary? Who is using their EBT card
Speaker 2: in Hawaii? Have they relocated to Hawaii? Is a or
Speaker 2: is this a one time only use of the EBT card.
Speaker 2: It seems to me that they could construct a system
Speaker 2: which would say EBT cards can only be used in
Speaker 2: Saint Massachusetts and the other five New England states. Again,
Speaker 2: you can't stop people from driving to Rhode Island or
Speaker 2: driving to New Hampshire, whatever. But again, EBT cards, as
Speaker 2: I understand it, and according to the Herald, they are
Speaker 2: limited in their use. You can't use them at a
Speaker 2: whole bunch of places including casinos, gun shops, porn site,
Speaker 2: liquor stores, and restaurants. So the EBT card is not
Speaker 2: for you go out to a restaurant and spend you
Speaker 2: and your significant other spend one hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 2: at a restaurant. No, the EBT card is so that
Speaker 2: you have food at home and your children or your
Speaker 2: dependents are fed. Now call me an ogre if you want.
Speaker 2: But why is it that what I use my credit card,
Speaker 2: my credit card company knows exactly what restaurant I've used
Speaker 2: or what grocery store I used, whether I was in
Speaker 2: Massachusetts or somewhere else. Why is this not applied to
Speaker 2: ebd T cards. Maybe maybe the legislature just doesn't care.
Speaker 2: Maybe they don't particularly care who gets an EBT card
Speaker 2: and how is it used. I think there are people
Speaker 2: who truly need help, and I want, as a taxpayer,
Speaker 2: my money used to help people who truly need help.
Speaker 2: But I don't want my tax money use to people
Speaker 2: who are going to use an EBT card, get an
Speaker 2: EBT card, and then find themselves in Hawaii or Florida
Speaker 2: or Virgin Islands or wherever. It's as simple as that.
Speaker 2: If you agree with me. I would love to hear
Speaker 2: you chime in if you think I'm being really nasty
Speaker 2: and making fun of poor people, which I'm not. I
Speaker 2: want more money available to the people who really need assistance, whatever,
Speaker 2: whether they need assistance because they have a disability, born
Speaker 2: with a disability, developed a disability, or if there's someone
Speaker 2: who's unemployed, if someone up against it for a short
Speaker 2: period of time. EBP cards, except for those who have
Speaker 2: permanent disabilities, should not be a career. They should be
Speaker 2: a bridge to your next job. I don't know that
Speaker 2: I hear many members of the legislature, either in the
Speaker 2: State Senate or the State House of Representatives, talking that way.
Speaker 2: If you do, feel free to give me a call.
Speaker 2: Six one seven two thirty six one seven nine three
Speaker 2: one ten thirty triple eight nine to nine ten thirty. Look,
Speaker 2: it's our money, it's not the government's money. They take
Speaker 2: the money from us to give to needy people. I
Speaker 2: want them, if they're going to take money from me,
Speaker 2: I want them to be certain that the money goes
Speaker 2: to people who are needy and not people who are
Speaker 2: gallivanting around the world with an ABT card in their
Speaker 2: back pocket. From Massachusetts. We'll be back on Nightside. Feel
Speaker 2: free to join the conversation.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan ray Line from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WUS Radio.
Speaker 2: Well, it seems to me that either everybody agrees with
Speaker 2: me or everybody disagrees with me. So what I'm looking
Speaker 2: to hear from you is whether or not you feel
Speaker 2: this is a talk show. This is a talk show
Speaker 2: where your point of view is welcome. You heard my
Speaker 2: point of view. I'm looking at again the Herald today.
Speaker 2: Why is it that people I assume they're from Massachusetts
Speaker 2: if they have come Wealth of Massachusetts EBT cards, the
Speaker 2: Department of Transitional Assistance. Department of Transitional Assistance. The word
Speaker 2: there is transitional. This is not supposed to be a
Speaker 2: way of life. It's not supposed to be, you know,
Speaker 2: a great vacation opportunity, get an EBT card and hit
Speaker 2: the California, Florida or Hawaii. But that's what's going on now.
Speaker 2: This doesn't mean the majority of people who have EBT
Speaker 2: cards are doing this. But what can someone explain to
Speaker 2: me why the CAMMWAWD of the Massachusetts which can find
Speaker 2: out that you had a parking ticket in North Adams
Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty five, or if you're a truck driver,
Speaker 2: you might have had some sort of a DUI thirty
Speaker 2: years ago and they're able to get that record and
Speaker 2: they are now going to pull your your CDL license.
Speaker 2: They can do great work there, but they can't figure
Speaker 2: out who was it that spent forty two hundred and
Speaker 2: twenty six dollars in Orlando, Who was it that spent
Speaker 2: forty seven hundred and thirty one dollars in Kissemi, Florida.
Speaker 2: Who was it that spent one thousand and ninety eight
Speaker 2: dollars in San Diego in November of twenty twenty three?
Speaker 2: They know when it happened. Who was it that spent
Speaker 2: three hundred and eighty eight dollars in San Francisco? These
Speaker 2: are all uh, these are reports that are a year late. Okay.
Speaker 2: So they should be able to have a program, in
Speaker 2: my opinion, a computer program which would say, oh, here
Speaker 2: were the EBT card uses for out of state, out
Speaker 2: of Massachusetts or out of New England yesterday last night.
Speaker 2: And they should be able to say, oh, that card
Speaker 2: is uh that's being used in Hawaii is owned. By
Speaker 2: filling the person's name, you would have to have an
Speaker 2: address and a phone number on that person in order
Speaker 2: to give him an EBT card. Why is it that
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts again, they can they have, they can pull,
Speaker 2: they can pick your pocket. If you are a working citizen,
Speaker 2: if you park in the wrong place and that meters
Speaker 2: five minutes over, there's a there's a there's a meter
Speaker 2: person right there writing you a ticket. If if, if
Speaker 2: a ticket was written for you thirty years ago. As
Speaker 2: I said, in Western Massachusetts, good luck trying to renew
Speaker 2: your your driver's license. They will tell you got to
Speaker 2: go out to Western Massachusetts and get that cleared up,
Speaker 2: even though it's thirty years old. That's what I don't
Speaker 2: understand about Massachusetts. And we, of course continue overwhelmingly to
Speaker 2: return the same people to the legislature year after year
Speaker 2: after year. Most of those folks up the legislature have
Speaker 2: been there for a long time, a long long time,
Speaker 2: and they have gotten pretty comfortable up there. I read
Speaker 2: an article today that came out late today that said
Speaker 2: at the state House they now have installed some electric
Speaker 2: vehicle machines, some charging machines in the secure parking area
Speaker 2: underneath the archway at the State House. Now to get
Speaker 2: your car under the archway. You've got to be a
Speaker 2: very important person. You do not even if you're a
Speaker 2: state repro state senator. You don't get your car under
Speaker 2: the archway unless you're in the leadership team. And that's
Speaker 2: all blocked off. Okay, So now for those who have
Speaker 2: EV vehicles, electric vehicles, they have a charging station right
Speaker 2: where they work for them, as a matter of fact,
Speaker 2: pay for by you and me. So there's a convenience
Speaker 2: for the legislators. Legislators who are going to continue to
Speaker 2: pass legislation which basically picks your pocket and puts money
Speaker 2: in pocket of pockets of people who are not working. Now, again,
Speaker 2: I don't think most people who have EBT cards are
Speaker 2: flying or going by boat to Hawaiki, or are flying
Speaker 2: or going by bus to California. But I do believe,
Speaker 2: and I believe very strongly, and I hope some of
Speaker 2: you might join me in that belief. And if you disagree,
Speaker 2: feel free as well that that's a waste of my money,
Speaker 2: in your money, it's a waste of taxpayers money. I
Speaker 2: don't care who you are. If you are living here
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts and you are receiving benefits, you should be
Speaker 2: doing whatever you can to get yourself off the program.
Speaker 2: You should not be flying to Hawaii to visit relatives
Speaker 2: or friends. You should be not to be going to Florida.
Speaker 2: I don't even really care if you lost a close
Speaker 2: family member, I would say, Okay, you've lost a close
Speaker 2: family member, put the EBT card away, leave it at home,
Speaker 2: and go and pay your respects and do what you
Speaker 2: have to do. Okay. And if you need to withdraw
Speaker 2: some cash, I guess you can draw cash in Massachusetts
Speaker 2: and head on, head on wherever you want. I am
Speaker 2: just these stories never end. Many of you probably don't
Speaker 2: have a chance to read the Herald every day like
Speaker 2: I do. But the story that was written by Joe
Speaker 2: Juanel today at the Herald about EBT card hotspots. It
Speaker 2: talks about the amount of money, the amount of money
Speaker 2: that was spent out of state by certain communities. And
Speaker 2: there are significant money, I mean big money that was
Speaker 2: spent outside of New England for EBT cardholders. And you
Speaker 2: may think that I'm picking on people.
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not picking on people. I'm just saying that we
Speaker 2: need to smarten up in Massachusetts and realize that whatever
Speaker 2: tax money we have from the people who are still
Speaker 2: living here in Massachusetts. It's it should not be drained
Speaker 2: away by people who are using the system. That's my theory.
Speaker 2: Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six one seven,
Speaker 2: nine three one ten thirty. I hope that I haven't
Speaker 2: dazzled you with specifics here. I want to hear from you.
Speaker 2: If you disagree and it doesn't bother you that people
Speaker 2: with EBT cards are vacationing or spending time in Hawaii,
Speaker 2: good for you. I think you're foolish to have that belief.
Speaker 2: But feel free, and if you agree with me, feel free.
Speaker 2: You know it doesn't hurt. A lot of people sit.
Speaker 3: At home and they say, you know, I agree with Dan,
Speaker 3: but I don't want to call because maybe my neighbors
Speaker 3: might recognize me my voice. Uh, you know, call up,
Speaker 3: call up, and let people know you're mad as hell
Speaker 3: and you're not going to take it anymore. Because that's
Speaker 3: how I feel about Massachusetts. I am so sick and
Speaker 3: tired of realizing that members of the state legislature have
Speaker 3: charging stations at the state House. Okay, charging stations on
Speaker 3: my dime, on your dime at the state House for
Speaker 3: vehicles that I'm sure you and I probably couldn't afford
Speaker 3: join the conversation, and if you don't, we'll go to
Speaker 3: open lines. If you want to talk about the color
Speaker 3: of the sky or whatever you want to talk about,
Speaker 3: you're more than welcome. Matter of fact, I'm going to
Speaker 3: give you open lines here. Either you can talk about
Speaker 3: ebt cards and ebt card abuse, or if you want
Speaker 3: to call about any other subject, feel free. We're going
Speaker 3: to change topics at ten. Either way.
Speaker 2: Back on Night Side, I hope you're smart enough to
Speaker 2: call and tell me what you think about ebt card
Speaker 2: abuse here in Massachusetts. The Herald Today did a great
Speaker 2: job journalistically laying it out, laying it out for all
Speaker 2: to see. Back on Nightside, right after.
Speaker 1: This Night Side with Dan Ray, I'm w BZY Boston's
Speaker 1: news Radio.
Speaker 2: All of a sudden, the lines filled up, and as
Speaker 2: I said, you want to talk about this, that's great.
Speaker 2: If you want to talk about anything else, I gave
Speaker 2: you permission. Let's go to the phones. I want to
Speaker 2: hear what you have to think, because it's very important
Speaker 2: that people think. We've got to do some thinking here
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts. Joey is in Boston. Hate Joey. Welcome First
Speaker 2: this hour on nightside.
Speaker 4: How are you thank you for having me?
Speaker 5: I appreciate it, well.
Speaker 2: Thank you for calling in. Sometimes when you sit here
Speaker 2: and the phones are quiet, you think, gee, maybe everybody
Speaker 2: either agrees with me or you know, the people disagree
Speaker 2: are always welcome to call in, but the people who
Speaker 2: agree they can call in too. So what's your thought, Joe?
Speaker 5: Absolutely, so, I was a little bit pre cured. You know,
Speaker 5: I make fairly good money. I'm middle class. I work
Speaker 5: two jobs. I saw this thing on TikTok where somebody,
Speaker 5: uh you know, that was getting benefits that left the
Speaker 5: slip behind that actually was featured on there, and somebody
Speaker 5: had fourteen thousand dollars worth of EBT credit and over
Speaker 5: five thousand dollars in cash. You know, it's really like,
Speaker 5: you know, I know people like you know that really
Speaker 5: need it, you know they need it, but like, yeah,
Speaker 5: I heard.
Speaker 2: Me say that, I'm not sure I'm trying to save
Speaker 2: as much money for people who really need it. By
Speaker 2: the way, you work two jobs. Why do you work
Speaker 2: a second job?
Speaker 5: So I work a second job because I you know,
Speaker 5: it's the only way that I can afford rent here
Speaker 5: in Boston. And really, you know, I'm just trying to survive.
Speaker 5: And you know, so I'm not governing.
Speaker 2: Well, the government won't give you money to pay your rent.
Speaker 5: No, they won't give me any money to pay my
Speaker 5: rent because I make too much money. But are you
Speaker 5: ready for this the real kicker?
Speaker 2: Go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 5: Last year, unfortunately I ended up having cancer.
Speaker 6: But I'm okay, but I had to have major surgery.
Speaker 5: I'm out of work for two months. I could not
Speaker 5: get unemployment, I could not get Family Medical lev Act,
Speaker 5: and I could not get short term disability. I was
Speaker 5: completely on my own for two months. I had to
Speaker 5: ring up literally like fifteen thousand dollars in credit cards.
Speaker 2: And you know what's wrong, like the Joe, let me
Speaker 2: just say this, first of all, thank god that you
Speaker 2: caught it. Thank god you're on the road to recovery.
Speaker 2: But that is what is wrong with this state. They
Speaker 2: don't care about you, they don't care about me. You're
Speaker 2: a cash cow. I'm a care cow. Well, and when
Speaker 2: you stop giving milk because you've been injured, they're not
Speaker 2: gonna help you. They're not gonna help you. And exactly,
Speaker 2: and that's that is that's that is worse than the
Speaker 2: illegal it's in my opinion, absolutely immoral. You were probably
Speaker 2: this is the first time in your life when you
Speaker 2: needed a little assistance and they don't provide it because
Speaker 2: guess what, they don't care. You're nothing, but they don't.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 5: I was really appalled, and I'm like, okay, well, you know,
Speaker 5: we got I mean, I know it's another topic for
Speaker 5: another day, but we have, you know, illegals getting all
Speaker 5: kinds of money, and like they can't even help you know,
Speaker 5: the working class, you know, and it's just really well,
Speaker 5: the problem, here's the problem.
Speaker 2: Let me tell you the problem. The problem is if
Speaker 2: I'm a democratic legislator up there, okay, yeah, and the
Speaker 2: my constituents keep voting me in, why should I change?
Speaker 2: I'm fat, happy and content. I got an EV charging
Speaker 2: station downstairs from my tesla that the Speaker of the
Speaker 2: House or the Senate president is going to let me
Speaker 2: charge it up. Okay, why did they care? They don't
Speaker 2: care about you, they don't care about me. They care
Speaker 2: about the rights, period and until.
Speaker 6: People wake the heck up mm hmm.
Speaker 2: And start voting some of these folks out.
Speaker 5: Yes, it's not going to change. You're right, I totally agree.
Speaker 5: I was just I mean, I feel like the middle
Speaker 5: classes really getting a bad rap here. It seems like,
Speaker 5: you know, like the rich getting Richard.
Speaker 2: We're not getting a we're getting we're getting the shaft.
Speaker 5: We are you getting the shaft? Were we seem to
Speaker 5: be paying for everything, you know, And it's you know,
Speaker 5: it's really it's really tough. You know, I've been working
Speaker 5: two jobs most of my life. I mean, you know,
Speaker 5: I can't, you know, to come up with the down
Speaker 5: payment for a house. I mean, you know, you need like,
Speaker 5: you know, thirty forty fifty thousand in cash. I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, it's just, you know, it's just it's just
Speaker 5: all I.
Speaker 2: Can say is and I hope that there's many more
Speaker 2: people like you out there. Yeah, make sure you vote
Speaker 2: in November, and make sure you vote not only at
Speaker 2: the top of the ticket, but write down the entire
Speaker 2: ticket and make every one of those votes count, because
Speaker 2: that is the only way the only ways are going
Speaker 2: to change in massive.
Speaker 5: Absolutely, absolutely no, I totally agree. Yeah, Toty, First, well.
Speaker 2: Thank you for calling. I don't know if you called
Speaker 2: my show before.
Speaker 5: But yeah, yeah, I've been on a on a couple
Speaker 5: of times. It's a it's really a great show. You
Speaker 5: have great topics, and I really do appreciate your time.
Speaker 2: I need you to call more often, okay, because you're you're, you're,
Speaker 2: You're the person that I feel needs to hear this
Speaker 2: show because you know, the average person who's out there
Speaker 2: and doesn't care and doesn't work, you know, I mean
Speaker 2: that bothers me. But when somebody goes out and doesn't
Speaker 2: care it doesn't work and then abuses that system, that
Speaker 2: really bothers me. Because there's people like you and others,
Speaker 2: some people really need to help for a longer period
Speaker 2: of time. Thank God, you're on the road to recovery.
Speaker 2: But don't let them look at you like a cash
Speaker 2: cow anymore. You know, strike back on November fifth. That's
Speaker 2: all I'm asking you to do.
Speaker 5: Okay, absolutely who to vote for?
Speaker 2: I'm telling you to get in that ballot box.
Speaker 5: Yes, most definitely.
Speaker 6: No.
Speaker 5: I really do appreciate it, and I appreciate your time.
Speaker 5: All right, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Night. Okay, let's keep rolling. You're going to go to
Speaker 2: I Lean in winter, I lean you next on nightside.
Speaker 2: Go ahead.
Speaker 4: Oh hi, Dan, I totally agree with you, and I'm
Speaker 4: surprised you didn't know the abuses that were going on
Speaker 4: before this.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm awa, you know, I'm I've got to be
Speaker 2: honest with you. I'm aware of them. But I thought
Speaker 2: the Herald did a really good job the last a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks and particularly today, And I want to
Speaker 2: give them credit. You know, not everyone's going to listen
Speaker 2: to Night Side. Not everyone's going to read the Herald.
Speaker 2: Uh Not, everyone's going to read the Globe. When the
Speaker 2: Globe does a good job, I'll give them credit as well.
Speaker 2: That's what newspapers are supposed to do. And it's a
Speaker 2: great it's it's it's horrible abuse. It is a horrible abuse.
Speaker 4: Oh, let me tell you. The worst abuse is mass health.
Speaker 4: I you said I could talk about something else. I've
Speaker 4: known people from India now fly in a Massachusetts, get
Speaker 4: their physicals, get their medication for a year, and fly
Speaker 4: back to the country. They come from countries, they get
Speaker 4: the mass health, they lie at they own homes in
Speaker 4: other countries. Then they go home for the summer, the
Speaker 4: whole summer along and fly back and they get free
Speaker 4: travel shots. You can't imagine what's going on with mass health.
Speaker 4: Never mind the DBT.
Speaker 2: Well, it's all part of the same system that has
Speaker 2: been corrupted. Okay, the idea of helping people who need
Speaker 2: assistance is noble, but the idea of giving money away
Speaker 2: and not keeping track of it's not beer money that
Speaker 2: they're giving away. It's the taxpayer's money. And people don't
Speaker 2: make that connection. When you pay taxes, you're not just
Speaker 2: giving money to the government. It's supposed to be used
Speaker 2: to do things that benefit everyone. That's why we call
Speaker 2: it the commonwealth, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Speaker 4: I definitely only believe the poor should get the help,
Speaker 4: but they this should be watched, both of them, DBTS
Speaker 4: and mass Health. We are losing millions, no question now,
Speaker 4: people who were stealing from us.
Speaker 2: And again I don't mind paying my taxes to help
Speaker 2: people who are from Massachusetts and who are in need
Speaker 2: because and by the way, I contribute a lot to
Speaker 2: charities too, in addition to my taxes, Okay, because I
Speaker 2: think that's part of my responsibility and I and I
Speaker 2: mean that from the bottom of my heart. But I'm
Speaker 2: telling you, when they allow money to be wasted and
Speaker 2: misspent and do nothing about it, they are eighty and
Speaker 2: embedding the fraud that they know we're committing there that
Speaker 2: are being committed while they're in office. So just you
Speaker 2: got to get to the polls and vote on November fifth, Eleen.
Speaker 2: I'm not telling you how to vote for, but I
Speaker 2: think a lot of those folks up that the legislature
Speaker 2: are fat, happy and contented, and they take you a
Speaker 2: vote for granted, and they don't care about you for
Speaker 2: a for a second.
Speaker 7: Absolutely, Thanks Eileen.
Speaker 4: You're welcome. Bye, jan good one, Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Okay, let me take a very quick break here. I
Speaker 2: got more calls, and we're we're going to get everybody in,
Speaker 2: I promise, and then we're going to talk with Joe
Speaker 2: Battenfeld of the Boston Herald. Fascinating article that he wrote today,
Speaker 2: which I had thought about, but because Joe put it
Speaker 2: in print first, I got to give him credit. This
Speaker 2: is the ultimate October surprise. All of you stay right there,
Speaker 2: Laur and Tina, Mike and James. You're all set. We'll
Speaker 2: get you in coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: Now to be in the Window World Nightside Studios. Let's
Speaker 2: go to Tina down in Rhode Island in moon Soccert,
Speaker 2: Rhode Island. Hey, Tina, welcome back. How are you?
Speaker 8: Yeah, Hi, I'm fine here. I was I was listening
Speaker 8: to this program about the Snap Benefit DBG, and I
Speaker 8: was kin to follow what you're trying what you were
Speaker 8: trying to talk about, And I think I get the
Speaker 8: gist of it, but I'm not sure. But this problem
Speaker 8: that's happening in Massachusetts with the EBD card, isn't this
Speaker 8: isn't this fraud with the EBT cards. Isn't it this
Speaker 8: happening all over the United States?
Speaker 2: Well? It probably, but I'm talking about Massachusetts because one
Speaker 2: we're in Massachusetts and the Herald did a good job.
Speaker 2: It's pretty simple. What they're saying is this, you get
Speaker 2: an EBT card. Okay, there's a certain number of places
Speaker 2: you cannot use You can't use it as a shop at
Speaker 2: a pot shop, at a liquor store, in a restaurant.
Speaker 2: Oh that people, But Tina Tinaya. People are flying from
Speaker 2: Massachusetts to California, to Hawaii, to Alaska to Florida.
Speaker 4: They're using something.
Speaker 8: Okay, well they have probably applied for it, but the
Speaker 8: only like like you're saying, you can only use it
Speaker 8: for food or you can use it to get cash.
Speaker 8: So if you've applied for it when you were poor.
Speaker 8: Like I said, I was trying to grasp what you
Speaker 8: were talking about listening to it. So if people were
Speaker 8: poor and down it out and they needed this supplement
Speaker 8: supplemented nutrition COD to get food, and they deposit I
Speaker 8: guess the government deposits the money every month in your account.
Speaker 8: So if you're doing so, I don't know how these
Speaker 8: people can get benefits if they're doing well, because years ago,
Speaker 8: thirty forty.
Speaker 2: Years ago, it's great, okay.
Speaker 8: But this is what I know. When I tried to apply,
Speaker 8: I had food stamps at one time, years ago, I
Speaker 8: lived in Boston. I had to quit my job, my
Speaker 8: mother was sick. I came here and I and I
Speaker 8: used every and I and I was on food stamps
Speaker 8: for about a month. I have to show them my
Speaker 8: bank books. I was flat broke. But then in Rhode
Speaker 8: Island with the system NA, they ended it because at
Speaker 8: one point I got back on my feet, I got
Speaker 8: a job.
Speaker 2: Well that's the point, Tina, Tina, you're a success story. Okay, Tina,
Speaker 2: I got full pack lines here. I'm going to try
Speaker 2: to get everybody in here. I think you get it.
Speaker 2: I think you get what I'm saying. Yeah, I think
Speaker 2: you get it. I really do. Thanks Tina. Okay, okay,
Speaker 2: bye bye, Let's go to Mike and Boston. Mike next
Speaker 2: on Nightside've got to get you moving here quick, Mike,
Speaker 2: go ahead.
Speaker 6: Yeah, of course. Uh, I'm just like Dina and I
Speaker 6: I kind of get it. But uh, I'd like to
Speaker 6: preface with I got Verizon, so I hope you can
Speaker 6: hear me.
Speaker 2: Yes, I can't. Go ahead.
Speaker 6: I was on transitional assistance myself, and I'm a success
Speaker 6: story like like Dina. But I truly look at my
Speaker 6: paycheck every week and and see the amount of tax
Speaker 6: dollars that I'm paying, And I do have that fear
Speaker 6: that that we are being infiltrated in our social systems
Speaker 6: and that we are paying the penalty for that right now.
Speaker 6: And we do need to come to terms that this.
Speaker 6: I don't want to believe it, but we do have
Speaker 6: to believe that that this corruption, because of our secular society,
Speaker 6: has run this deep into our social system. And she
Speaker 6: would not want to take money away from anyone that
Speaker 6: needed it, and I would be happy for my tax
Speaker 6: dollars to go there. But like you, Dan, I feel
Speaker 6: like there is some infiltration into our social systems.
Speaker 2: What it is, it's it's the has been run by
Speaker 2: people who could kill us, and as long as they
Speaker 2: have people who are willing to take the stuff that
Speaker 2: keeps them the jobs.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's I don't want care less to infiltrate
Speaker 6: my life idea with you. It's like it's like.
Speaker 2: The military industrial complex. You now have sort of a
Speaker 2: social economic industrial complex, and no one wants to.
Speaker 6: Respon socio economic complex. And just like we have just
Speaker 6: like we have a responsibility to anxiety and and adult
Speaker 6: adult deficit disorder, you know, the same responsibility. I got.
Speaker 2: I got three more. I got three more. Everybody called late,
Speaker 2: so I'm trying to get everybody. Thanks man right back
Speaker 2: at you. Thanks, Thanks James, Thanks Mike. I should say, uh,
Speaker 2: let me go next to uh yeah, thank you, Mike appreciated.
Speaker 2: Let me go next to Lauren and Hopkins and Lauren.
Speaker 2: Hi Lauren, Oh Hi, Lauren is right.
Speaker 5: Yes, it is on the you.
Speaker 7: I spoke with you once before. I want to say
Speaker 7: pre pandemic. Okay, it's very nice to be on the show.
Speaker 5: Really quickly.
Speaker 7: I just wanted to put in my two cents on
Speaker 7: TBT go ahead. I'm a single parent real quickly. I
Speaker 7: have the BBT card before in the past, and then
Speaker 7: when I don't need it, I get off of it.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 7: The fraud that I personally witnessed the EBT is absolutely.
Speaker 4: It's just boggling that people do this.
Speaker 2: Mind boggling and mind boggling. I will bet you that
Speaker 2: while you were on the eb when you were on
Speaker 2: the EBT card, I will bet you that you never
Speaker 2: flew to Hawaii or Alaska.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and not only that, what they're doing is there's
Speaker 7: certain places all over Milford, Mass and in the cities
Speaker 7: and local suburbs everywhere where you can go and bring
Speaker 7: your EVG card and they will allow you to buy cigarettes, alcohol.
Speaker 7: They're selling their cards and they're getting cash and they're
Speaker 7: using it for the fetanyl. They all have designer versus
Speaker 7: they have to. You know, I work three jobs. I
Speaker 7: put myself through school, I became that tex and I've
Speaker 7: worked at gas.
Speaker 4: Stations, I've worked everywhere.
Speaker 7: I've humbled myself. Right now, you're a.
Speaker 2: Decent You're a decent human being who needed some help.
Speaker 2: You've got something.
Speaker 7: I signed up for Suction eight about five years ago,
Speaker 7: and I've never been followed, and I have to I
Speaker 7: have to wonder, is it because it's because I'm an America,
Speaker 7: It's because I'm an American?
Speaker 4: Is it because I.
Speaker 2: Either that or you haven't contributed to the right politician
Speaker 2: in Massachusetts.
Speaker 7: I'm following you.
Speaker 8: Everybody who's listening right now.
Speaker 7: Please if you don't like Trump, because you've got a
Speaker 7: big in the world.
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, we're hearing feedback on your radio lawn and it's
Speaker 2: still a little distracting to me into you, into my audience.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to let you go, but thank you
Speaker 2: for calling. Okay, and call again, James and Medford. James,
Speaker 2: got to get you in here under the wire. Go ahead, James, James,
Speaker 2: are you there? Okay, Let's go to Ken in Florida.
Speaker 2: Then we'll go to Ken in Florida. Ken, you were
Speaker 2: next on nights. I go ahead, Ken, get less than
Speaker 2: a minute.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'll be trying to be quick.
Speaker 2: Dan.
Speaker 5: You know some of my background.
Speaker 6: I grew up.
Speaker 5: I was born youngest of nine, lived in Columbia Point Projects.
Speaker 5: My mom died when I was seven. My twenty year
Speaker 5: old sister raised me. We lived on welfare, food stamps,
Speaker 5: free lunches, I did my best in school, I went
Speaker 5: to college, graduated, I became a homeowner. And when I
Speaker 5: worked at I want to the name of the hospital,
Speaker 5: A big hospital in Boston. I watched people take their
Speaker 5: ebach caards to my ATM when I'm going to get
Speaker 5: money out, and they're asking me how to use it.
Speaker 5: And I saw multiple drug deals right around the hospital.
Speaker 5: Let's Boston Medical Center, I'll say this and that. That's
Speaker 5: where I started turning from a liberal voting for Deval Patrick,
Speaker 5: and became more conservative because I saw the abuse. I
Speaker 5: think Patrick said, oh, we can't. We don't have the
Speaker 5: resources to put uh photos on on the EBT cards.
Speaker 2: That's right, yeah, but we we have the we have
Speaker 2: the resources to hire more people for the I R
Speaker 2: s of the Apartment of Revenue. And you called in late.
Speaker 2: I'm flat out of time.
Speaker 4: I want to get in real quick.
Speaker 5: Before I went to bed in Florida.
Speaker 2: Man, okay, keep listening though, wait okay. Oh and by
Speaker 2: the way, batting down the hatches that storhim like, it's like,
Speaker 2: looks like it could be serious.
Speaker 5: Take a hurricane class, I have to teach tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Give me all next week when it goes by I
Speaker 2: want to know you're safe and sound. I mean that
Speaker 2: serious right back at you. All right, I'm gonna take
Speaker 2: a break and the talk with Joe Battenfeld to the
Speaker 2: Boston Harold. He has come up with the ultimate October surprise,
Speaker 2: and guess what, I think it's really possible. Stay with us.