False Choices . Bad Faith . Intentional Harm

2019 State of the Union, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76391458

This, as far as I can tell, appears to be the Republican's best offer on ending the shutdown: 

If you won't let us take away their health care in January, then we'll take away their food support starting Saturday.

In the moment, with vulnerable American's health on the line, I feel like that indicates that elected Republican officeholders are terrible people; I could be wrong …it could just be what I regard as bad behavior.

SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program of the United States government — an expression of our collective commitment to ensure that Americans don't suffer because of food insecurity. 

Before a few paragraphs about who we're talking about when we talk about Americans who depend on SNAP benefits, note that Feeding America is one of the alliances geared up to channel emergency food assistance to Americans who are losing that assistance starting this weekend. 

If you have the means and the heart to pitch in, you can do it here.  

So, who are we talking about when we talk about Americans who need supplemental food assistance? 

• We're talking about roughly 12% of Americans — about 42,000,000 of our neighbors — about one in nine of us.

• 73% have incomes at or below the poverty line.

• 80% are vulnerable because of age, and/or disability, and/or responsibility for children in their household.

• A third are children under 18.

• More than a third are white.

• More than half are women.

• The highest percentage of residents relying on SNAP by state, live in New Mexico, Louisiana, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Oregon, (and the District of Columbia, which, though it has a home rule charter, is effectively governed by the U.S. Congress because Congress owns, and has often exercised authority over DC laws, budget, and governing structure, and can revoke home rule altogether).

• More SNAP recipients live in rural America than urban America. 

More than 20% of residents in 11% of urban counties receive SNAP benefits.

More than 20% of residents in 23% of rural counties receive SNAP benefits.

On which subject: Rural food stores are about to join farmers in taking a major hit from this administration’s policies. 

In rural counties, 82% of food stores are community-focused small businesses for which SNAP purchases account for between 30% and 70% of revenues. 

[Walmart will be fine (even if shareholders get spanked). But Walmart isn’t everywhere. In Alabama, 40+ out of 67 counties — all rural — don’t have a Walmart. In Colorado, 40+ out of 64 counties are Walmart-less. And so it goes across the country in states with a significant number of rural counties (which is most of them).

[In some instances, the nearest Walmart isn’t all that far away —  *if* you have reliable transportation … and gas money … and think 10 miles isn’t that far….]

Now, small grocers in rural counties, who work on margins of 3%, are looking down the barrel of a gun that’s about to blow away 35% of November revenues — maybe more. Expect to see reduced hours, layoffs, and higher than expected store closures, along with unanticipated decreases in local tax revenues in rural America. 

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Two more things:

One. 

In 2019, halfway through the first Trump administration, The Economic Research Service at the USDA found that, during a slowing economy, a hypothetical $1 billion increase in SNAP benefits would increase the U.S. Gross Domestic Product by $1.54 billion … and support 13,560 jobs … and boost agricultural revenues by $32 million  — in the first year.

So, maybe, to earn 54 cents on a dollar invested, instead of *cutting* SNAP benefits in *this* slowed economy, we should maybe *increase* those benefits.

That would make sense to an administration focused on improving the economy for the common good, even if it meant not punishing poor people for being poor. But this administration would rather take the loss (but, then, it’s not really coming out of their pockets, is it….).

Two.

This is not a longterm solution at scale, but entering this engineered food emergency, Feeding America is one of the alliances geared up to channel immediate food assistance to Americans who are losing their qualified SNAP assistance. 

That starts this weekend so in the moment, it seems sensible to help our neighbors in counties that are too sparsely or too densely populated to attract a Walmart or sustain independent food stores whose pockets are not that deep. Here’s the Feeding America link.

Sources

1. https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/characteristics-fy23

2. https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/characteristics-households-fy20-early-covid19-characteristics

3. https://www.traceone.com/resources/plm-compliance-blog/states-that-depend-most-on-food-assistance

4. http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research

5. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-people-receive-snap-benefits-in-the-us-every-month/country/united-states/

6. https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/food-stamp-benefits-by-state#google_vignette

7. https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/food-stamp-benefits-by-state

8. https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/resource-files/snap-cola-fy25.pdf

9. https://www.naco.org/articles/rural-areas-see-highest-snap-participation

10. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research

11. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6836802/

12. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/about-12-million-households-receive-both-medicaid-and-snap-reconciliation-bill-puts-them

13. https://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2025/october/closer-look-how-snap-cuts-will-impact-critical-food-access/

14. https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/07/29/snap-cuts-could-hurt-grocery-stores-nationwide

15. https://frac.org/blog/snap-cuts-threaten-the-fabric-of-rural-communities-farms-families-and-small-businesses

16. https://www.hamiltonproject.org/publication/post/snap-cuts-in-the-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-will-significantly-impair-recession-response/

17. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/july/quantifying-the-impact-of-snap-benefits-on-the-u-s-economy-and-jobs

18. https://chainstoreage.com/proposed-snap-restrictions-could-cost-retailers-16b-says-food-retail-groups

19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_deserts_in_the_United_States#cite_note-Ver_Ploeg-2009-13

20. https://www.feedingamerica.org/advocate/snap 

[UPDATE] The beatings will continue until morale improves

[When] "the SNAP program shuts down, we will have the most mass hunger suffering we've had in America since the Great Depression."

-Noel Berg, CEO of Hunger Free America, quoted by Jennifer Ludden

[UPDATE . Yesterday . October 25 . The United States Department of Agriculture — under the direction of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins — violated the Hatch Act prohibiting the use of government resources for partisan ends (a regular occurrence in the Trump administration). The message on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website read: 

“Senate Democrats have now voted 12 times to not fund the food stamp program, also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Bottom line, the well has run dry. At this time, there will be no benefits issued November 01. We are approaching an inflection point for Senate Democrats. They can continue to hold out for healthcare for illegal aliens and gender mutilation procedures or reopen the government so mothers, babies, and the most vulnerable among us can receive critical nutrition assistance.” 

Everything but the number of votes (12) and the date (November 1) is an unholy lie. Continue reading to see why.]

The SNAP suspension commences a week from today —November 01, 2025. When about 42,000,000 Americans ... that's about one in nine of our neighbors ... who need food assistance to eat regularly will lose access to SNAP funds. 

Who are these parasites? 

Mostly children, working people who don't bring home a living wage, old people, military veterans, and people with disabilities. So, scum, am I right? 

The average SNAP benefit is $187 per month.

If you listen to our MAGA neighbors, many of whom are SNAP recipients themselves, they'll tell you this is because radical left Democrats who hate America and rejoice in the suffering of children, working Americans, old people, veterans, and Americans with disabilities have gleefully shut down the government. 

OR ... hear me out ... 

You can listen to radical left Democrats (pictured above) who refuse to vote for the continuing resolution to fund the government because that resolution provides for knocking 5,000,000 Americans off their health care coverage...

Which would cascade into rapid increases in premiums for millions of other Americans in 2026...

Many of whom would take the bet on dropping their health coverage — because *maybe* they won't get sick or injured — because they will certainly get wet, cold, and fired if they don't make their rent, power, and car payments...

Which would lead to the loss of somewhere in the neighborhood of 340,000 jobs across the 2026 U.S. economy...

Which would cost local and state governments about 2.5 billion dollars in operating funds for streets and highways, law enforcement and courts, schools, hospitals and clinics, and fire and emergency services...

All of which would increase in the number of homeless Americans by tens of thousands.

And which local and state governments are least able to offset the loss of sales tax, property tax, and other affected income? These in particular:

The states of Kentucky, West Virginia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, New Mexico, Arkansas; 

And rural counties of Texas, Florida, and Arizona; 

All of which are places where health care jobs and sales taxes are the backbone of local revenue systems (and every medical job generates one or two additional community jobs). 

And do you see any common social or political patterns in these states and counties? Because I think I do.

Some of the pain is scheduled to launch a week from today ... November 01, 2025 ... and Speaker of the House the House Mike Johnson has once again canceled House business (even as Democratic members of the House are making their way back to Washington; ready to work if the bossman unlocks the doors and turns on the lights).

But the rest of it can be headed off at the pass if the Republican controlled Congress will force the MAGA president's hand, whatever that takes.

Tell them: Members of Congress website . https://www.congress.gov/members

Sources

1. https://www.npr.org/2025/10/24/nx-s1-5581354/federal-shutdown-snap-wic-food-aid-ebt-hunger?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=bsky.app 

2. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/20251001/government-shutdown-over-healthcare-has-c onsequences-for-millions-of-americans

3. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/oct/expiring-premium-tax-credits-lead-340000-jobs-lost-2026

4. https://hsph.harvard.edu/news/if-health-insurance-subsidies-end-people-could-see-higher-prices-coverage-loss/

5. https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/aca-marketplace-premium-payments-would-more-than-double-on-average-next-year-if-enhanced-premium-tax-credits-expire/

6. https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/d5fb1359-92a6-47ac-8fae-aeffb1de2f6e/jec-fact-sheet-on-state-by-state-impacts-of-health-care-cuts.pdf

7. https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/09/02/untangling-the-current-debate-around-federal-medicaid-cuts-the-rural-health-transformation-program-and-state-medicaid-budgets/

8. https://shvs.org/medicaid-cuts-and-the-states-tracking-state-specific-estimates-of-the-impacts-of-proposed-changes/

9. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11786949/

10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6727289/

11. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36630137/

12. https://research.gatech.edu/medicaid-unwinding-could-lead-eviction-crisis-new-school-public-policy-research-suggests

13. https://www.networkforphl.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/The-Public-Health-Implications-of-Housing-Instability-Eviction-and-Homelessness.pdf

14. https://www.washington.edu/news/2020/06/29/trouble-paying-medical-bills-can-lead-to-longer-episodes-of-homelessness-new-study-shows/

15. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6058677/

16. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w32227/revisions/w32227.rev1.pdf

17. https://www.kff.org/quick-take/polling-on-medical-debt-illustrates-the-challenges-that-blocked-credit-reporting-rule-sought-to-address/

18. https://www.aha.org/fact-sheets/2025-06-05-medicaid-spending-reductions-would-lead-losses-jobs-economic-activity-and-tax-revenue-states

19. https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2025/05/02/federal-medicaid-cuts-would-harm-state-gdp-credit-ratings-jobs-and-health-systems/

20. https://publichealth.gwu.edu/new-report-federal-medicaid-and-snap-cuts-could-result-one-million-jobs-lost-and-state-gdps-falling

21. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2025/mar/how-cuts-medicaid-snap-could-trigger-job-loss-state-revenue

22. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-24-2025

How About This…

[I was finishing this up when I came across this, from Bloomberg: https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/house-democrats-will-return-to-dc-next-week-as-shutdown-drags-on

So now this post is about why I’m glad they’re way ahead of me.]

How about Minority Leader Jeffries calls House Democrats back to Washington for a week of work drafting alternative budget proposals, exploring  policy concerns and framing negotiation priorities?

They couldn’t hold formal committee hearings or make law, but they could certainly hold private and public shadow hearings with subject-matter experts in economics, banking, technology, climate science, medicine and health care, agriculture, manufacturing, supply chain dynamics, national security, immigration, highlight Representative-elect Grijalva are work for her constituents … you get the idea.

This is an opportunity to remind Americans that, sure, government doesn’t work when MAGA tries to do it; but, in the hands of Democrats, government is a force for the common good.

They must be stopped

 No Kings Day . Seattle City Center . 10.18.25

Magic(al thinking) Mike Johnson

Speaker Mike Johnson saying Republicans won't negotiate with Democrats until the House is back in session is like an abusive spouse saying he’s not discussing *anything* until his wife puts the kids in the car and comes back home where he can talk some sense into her.

I don’t think she’s falling for that again.

our turn

 No Kings Day . Seattle City Center . 10.18.25

No Kings Day . Seattle Center . 10.18.25

 A taste of No Kings Day at Seattle Center . 10.18.25

love your enemies ... [also]

October 18 . Midday . Wherever you are

we have friends everywhere

 

God Save Us from Being Judged by Our Own Standards

 

President Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum, Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence [NSPM-7], is explicit about ideological positions that merit federal scrutiny — though the order is disturbingly vague about how any of these is defined under law:

• Anti-Americanism
• Anti-capitalism
• Anti-Christianity
• Support for the overthrow of the United States Government
• Extremism on migration, race, and gender
• Hostility toward those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.​

These six … *things* are they? … are listed as common threads that animate political violence and that, therefore, can trigger legal scrutiny from the government against individuals, organizations, and institutions even when those *things* are expressed through political advocacy, protest, nonprofit activity, or charitable giving.

I keep saying *things* because Trump hasn’t described, defined, or explained them. Is this like the old definition of pornography: You know it when you see it?

Here’s something I saw: I saw a Presbyterian minister, David Black, the friend of a Chicago friend, wearing a clerical collar, arms wide open, praying at a peaceful assembly to petition the government for a redress of grievances, targeted and shot in the head with a pepper ball by an ICE agent on a rooftop. Not lethal, but exceedingly meaningful.

*That* — if anyone asks — was a government agent committing an act that was anti-American, anti-Christian, and hostile toward those who hold traditional American views on religion, and morality.​​ So, three out of six.

ICE agents and supervisors, Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, and those who fund them should be investigated for violating NSPM-7 — President Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum, Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.

Sources

• https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/

• https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/us/illinois-judge-ruling-ice-protests-pastor-chicago-hnk

• https://thehill.com/homenews/5547044-pastor-shot-pepper-ball-ice/

• https://people.com/pastor-claims-he-was-praying-when-ice-agents-shot-him-pepper-ball-11828065

• https://religionnews.com/2025/10/09/federal-judge-bars-ice-agents-from-taking-some-violent-action-against-religious-activists-journalists/

• https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/religious-leaders-speak-out-about-being-attacked-while-protesting-ice-in-their-communities-249665093842

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc6aKQHFGn

• https://baptistnews.com/article/chicago-pastor-sues-trump-after-ice-assaults-him-while-praying/

• https://www.aclu-il.org/en/press-releases/protesters-and-members-press-challenge-first-amendment-violations-federal-forces-ice

• https://www.npr.org/2025/10/13/nx-s15566785/ice-dhs-immigration-tactics-more-violent

The Smartest Guy in the Room . Portland

 You can always be the smartest guy in the room ... you just have to choose your room carefully.

Sources

https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3m2ph7zr3f42e

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ord.189270/gov.uscourts.ord.189270.56.0_1.pdf

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/12/politics/trumps-violence-court-claims-judges

https://davidlibby.substack.com/p/a-plea-for-mercy-and-compassion-from

https://davidlibby.substack.com/p/but-seriously-is-everything-okay?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1vqmx&triedRedirect=true&fbclid=IwY2xjawNX2ghleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHhyoq9oEzdw2NBuSpi8K4_2Qyd3jzK2KfZCaxsfXlp25HPBNccLQR-lzpu7k_aem_RN59ZMKi9qdGJw6rQMrDBw

No, *You* Think Different!

Dear Tim Apple,

You put up with the indignities of systemic marginalization — and prevailed — and now you buckle to autocrats perfecting systems for oppressing marginalized Americans at scale?

That’s what Think Different means in 2025?

Is this a loyalty test?

Sources

https://abc7news.com/post/apple-removes-apps-allow-anonymous-reporting-ice-agent-sightings/17931395/

https://reason.com/2025/10/03/apple-removed-iceblock-from-app-store-under-doj-pressure/

Mars Attacks; Republicans sleep in

 

Sorry … I know it’s more complicated than *Republicans Diddle while Noem burns* … but come on! Fiddle/Diddle … Rome/Noem? I’m only human….

Republican Members of the House are AWOL because if they come into work, they’ll either have to do hard things, or bow down to the god of war, who is known to be an inconstant lover.

House Republicans are AWOL while the executive branch has gathered at the Temple of Mars[1] to declare war on select U.S. cities … fabricating crisis scenarios, trumped up emergencies, and representing normal U.S. citizens as enemies … much as they’ve represented normal journalists and elected officials for years. Now with guns on American streets.

Seriously: How bad does it have to get before House Republicans show up for work again — the work so carefully laid out for them in Article I of the U.S. Constitution?  

If they — House Republicans — fail, there’s no way this doesn’t end in tears … for them and for everyone.

Contact your Member of Congress: https://www.congress.gov/members

[1] The Temple of Mars Ultor was erected by Emperor Augustus, dedicated to Mars in his role as “the Avenger” (Ultor). Augustus said of the temple, "I have fashioned this to lead the citizens to require me, while I live, and the rulers of later times as well, to attain the standard set by those great men of old." So … make Rome great again…. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temple_of_Mars_Ultor

You Break It; You Buy It

Here’s the thing….

It’s not the only thing … we’ll get to other things … but this is definitely an important thing because it goes straight to our collective capacity to tell facts from fictions and truth from lies. 

It's about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, also know as the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, and ACA.

On the merits...

• The Affordable Care Act began to strengthen the overall economy right out of the gate — by expanding the number of Americans with health coverage, by helping to stabilize the growth of health spending, and by improving financial security for millions of Americans in income brackets that plow every paycheck back into the real economy.

The ACA did *not* reduce overall economic growth or increase unemployment

• In fact, a series of Commonwealth Fund reports identified significant private sector job growth, and a slowing of per capita health care spending growth. In real time, the ACA boosted U.S. economic growth in a period when the developed global economy struggled to recover from the Great Recession.

The ACA generated measurable job mobility and entrepreneurial activity 

• The ACA banned insurers from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions. Which meant no one needed to stay in a job because they needed the insurance. Which meant they could move to better jobs, however they defined *better*. Which meant more entrepreneurs could start new ventures without the added risk of being uninsured. It also meant people could retire early if they wanted to. Which meant younger workers could  advance sooner. All of which added to U.S. productivity and innovation.

By slowing the growth of health care costs, the ACA improved both the business climate and the cost of governance

• Slower insurance premium growth freed up business resources for investment in production and jobs.

• Slower growth in overall health spending contributed to lower federal budget deficits. 

• Cost containment helped stabilize state and local government budgets.

Here's the rub: Americans in states that chose not to participate fully in the ACA missed out on many of these benefits

To be crystal clear, these benefits were *not* withheld from those Americans by the federal government; their legislators and governors decided to refuse them.

• Americans in ACA states saw decreased premiums and more improved coverage that those in others states.

• The knock-on effects of improved minimum standards of coverage and care meant higher premiums in states that opted out than those that fully embraced ACA benefits and protections.

• ACA states added hundreds of thousands of related jobs; the others did not.

• ACA states realized significant reductions in losses from uncompensated care; the others did not.

• Hospitals and clinics in small towns and rural counties were significantly more likely to survive and thrive in ACA states than those who took a pass on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

• Medicaid enrollees in ACA states have benefited from reductions in income inequality, evictions, bankruptcies, and improvements in credit scores that citizens in other states did not.

So riddle me this....

• 15 years after demonstrating the benefits of the Affordable Care Act at the household level and across the U.S. economy, why would Banana Republicans keep doubling down on hurting people they swore to help?

• And why would you let them?

Sources

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/sites/default/files/documents/___media_files_publications_fund_report_2016_feb_1860_schoen_aca_and_us_economy_v2.pdf

https://affordablecareactlitigation.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/8543340.pdf

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2021/may/economic-employment-effects-medicaid-expansion-under-arp

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2025/may/how-does-medicaid-benefit-states

https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/what-does-the-recent-literature-say-about-medicaid-expansion-economic-impacts-on-providers/

https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00931

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305230?journalCode=ajph

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077558717725164

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077558717725164