jim hancock: [UPDATE] The beatings will continue until morale improves

Sunday, October 26, 2025

[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/