Now You Can Get Discounted Amazon Prime If You're On Government Assistance

Stephen Lam / Reuters

Today Amazon launched a discounted Amazon Prime membership for people on government assistance. The monthly price for Prime will drop from $10.99 to $5.99, and subscribers will have access to the full benefits of the subscription service, including free two-day shipping, the ability to purchase Amazon's discounted basics, unlimited cloud photo storage, and unlimited access to a range of streaming media.

In order to qualify for the discount, subscribers must have valid Electronic Benefit Transfer cards. EBT cards are an integral part of the distribution of benefits for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Women, Infants, Children Nutrition Program (WIC), and cash welfare payments. In its most recent report on government benefits, the US Census Bureau reported that 23.1% of Americans, roughly 52.2 million people, were on some kind of government assistance, a 5% increase from 2009.

People with an EBT card can sign up for a free 30-day trial of the program at amazon.com/qualify; after the free month, customers can choose whether they'll be automatically billed or not. A discounted subscriber can only qualify for four years of reduced-price Prime. People have to reapply every year, and they can cancel and restart their membership any time without losing the discount. According to the Census Bureau, the majority of TANF participants were in the program between one and 12 months. The largest share of SNAP recipients, 38.6%, received benefits for 37 to 48 months.

We're hoping to introduce Prime to customers who may have felt there were barriers to online shopping before,” said Julie Law, an Amazon Prime spokesperson. “It’s not all altruism. We hope that when they’re not in those states of need that they do become lifelong members of Prime. That’s the other logic to the program.”

The USDA estimated it spent around $102 billion on food and nutrition assistance programs in fiscal year 2016, making for a sizable market. It's spent $41.7 billion on the programs so far in fiscal year 2017. High-income families — with household incomes of $112,000 or more — make up Prime's biggest subscriber base, according to TechCrunch. That's the top 20% of US earners.

Amazon said in a statement that it will add other ways for people on government assistance to access its services in the future without EBT, though it did not specify how or what programs.

Amazon Basics offers cheap versions of ubiquitous products like batteries, diapers, towels, charging cords, and pencils. Many of the Basics products are aimed at families with children and include a 20% discount on regular subscriptions to baby wipes and diapers. Amazon's extensive content library includes streaming TV shows, movies, music, and audiobooks via Audible.com.

Registration for the EBT discount does not require a credit or debit card because of the Amazon Cash program, which allows people to add cash to their Amazon accounts via designated brick-and-mortar retailers, such as CVS and Speedway.

An EBT card can't be used to pay for the membership itself or for any items on Amazon yet, though Amazon, along with other online retailers, will pilot a program that will allow SNAP users to buy food from its grocery services in 2018.

Quelle: <a href="Now You Can Get Discounted Amazon Prime If You're On Government Assistance“>BuzzFeed

The Pro-Trump Internet And The Alt-Right Is Turning On Breitbart

On Monday morning, Breitbart News fired staffer Katie McHugh, following a series of incendiary weekend tweets broadcast in the wake of the London Bridge terror attack. On Saturday evening, as word of the incidents spread across social media, McHugh tweeted that “there would be no deadly terror attacks in the U.K. if Muslims didn't live there.” Her comments reportedly offended a number of Breitbart staffers, according to a story published by CNN.

After McHugh's firing, she took to Twitter again to condemn the publication for what she views as censorship. “Breitbart News fired me for telling the truth about Islam and Muslim immigration,” she wrote.

Across the pro-Trump internet, McHugh's firing was widely decried as a sign of weakness by Breitbart and an attempt by the site — once led by now-Senior White House Advisor Stephen Bannon — to pivot toward a more moderate editorial strategy. McHugh, meanwhile, set up a donations page on the far-right crowdfunding site, Wesearchr, run by Chuck Johnson.

And early Tuesday morning, Johnson — a former Daily Caller freelancer known for his trolling and informal advising of the Trump transition team — echoed McHugh's frustrations in a Facebook post. “I suspect we are seeing the end of Breitbart,” Johnson wrote. “It's basically a shell of it's former self. It's not that interesting anymore.” Johnson called Breitbart a “click-baity property” and “a poor man’s right-wing Huffington Post.”

In a follow up email to BuzzFeed News, Johnson responded unequivocally: “Breitbart is over.”

Another pro-Trump supporter and member of the MAGAsphere on Twitter suggested that the site has lost its edge after Steve Bannon left to run Donald Trump's campaign. “We read (past-tense) [Breitbart] because their news cycle was stuff we were interested in reading, and it seems Bannon was the person driving that vehicle,” this person who wished to remain anonymous said. “With him unable to do that in his job with POTUS, BB just doesn't have the stories that interest us anymore.”

Jack Posobiec — a pro-Trump Twitter personality — echoed that sentiment. “People in MAGA world don't really look to [Breitbart] for breaking news as much as they used to, Its more like the Hill or Roll Call,” he said.

In pro-Trump circles, that perceived pivot may prove to be enough to turn away devoted readers. New Right blogger Mike Cernovich noted that “the media market has no need right now for another Hill,” he said. “We need more sites like what Breitbart was and what the Daily Caller is doing. It's a massive mistake to try to pivot to the mainstream, especially if you're on the right.”

Such testimonials from the pro-Trump internet are largely anecdotal. That said, there is some data to suggest Breitbart's momentum has slowed from the halcyon months leading up to the 2016 election. In May, Vanity Fair cited Alexa web traffic results that appear to indicate “an unusually steep decline in Breitbart’s traffic.” And today, Digiday reported that ad tracking platform MediaRadar found just “26 brands appearing on Breitbart in May, down from a high of 242 in March.”

Multiple conversations with pro-Trump media personalities suggest the resignation of Breitbart Tech Editor Milo Yiannoplous in February after the discovery of video of him allegedly endorsing pedophilia was a turning point for the site. According to reports Yiannopolous' resignation was the result of internal pressure from Breitbart employees. For some in the pro-Trump media, it was a sign that the publication's management was caving to the pressure from the mainstream media.

… and that some are heading toward sites like The Daily Caller

Quelle: <a href="The Pro-Trump Internet And The Alt-Right Is Turning On Breitbart“>BuzzFeed