I should be in a bit more of a buoyant mood, what with the Dodgers putting on one of sports’ most thrilling comebacks with back-to-back nailbiters that ended in double plays–the second in extra innings, no less–to lay claim to the first back-to-back set of baseball World’s Championships in a quarter-century. And hey, a recent project I completed actually surprised me by Venmoing me my payment a coupla days ahead of schedule. Things could be, and believe me, have been worse.
And for far too many Americans, it is. GOOD MORNING, AMERICA’s Katie Kindelan valiantly tried to unpack the latest:
(T)ens of millions of Americans are bracing for a pause in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, known as SNAP, that allow them to buy food. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters Friday that the agency does have a contingency fund, but it does not cover “even a half” of the $9.2 billion required for SNAP benefits. Rollins’ comments come the same day a federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily ordered the Trump administration to continue funding benefits for SNAP by distributing the contingency money “as soon as possible.” The potential pause in SNAP benefits is estimated to impact around 42 million Americans, including 16 million children.
Let me do my part to update Kindelan’s report from late Friday. My bestie and her family survive on what are collaquially called “food stamps”, and as of this writing their cards haven’t been reloaded. Here’s proof from yesterday. 
By the way, she’s got a couple of pets that are kinda SOL as well–a figure that I know an awful lot of emphathetic souls might also factor into their emotional distress. 
So I spent a good deal of yesterday looking for ways to help them actually eat. Largely because even the valiant Ms. Kindelan didn’t provide an awful lot of actionable clarity. I was able to find at least one resource which they were able to immediately reach to that at least covered a couple of meals for them and a couple of pets as well.
You know who’s not providing any such support? The very politicians that have allowed this mess to unfold in the first place.
Far too much has been written already and elsewhere about Mike Johnson’s phone scrolling, his boss’ Gatsby-like Halloween party which he flew around the world to make a token showing at and the endless posturing and finger-pointing. Yes, I’m sickened by it as much as most of you are.
But I’m equally sickened that the supposed “good guys” can’t even seem to find staffers that were as resourceful as I was to provide their constituents–both actual and aspirational–some ways to better deal with the immediate issue. Each side seems to be hell-bent on blaming the other and seeing who blinks first.
Instead, three of the “white hats” chose to throw their own little bash earlier this week which didn’t exactly meet with enthuiastic support, as the NEW YORK POST’s Carl Capanile took note of:
Forest Hills Gardens residents were forced to remove their cars from the streets Sunday ahead of a rally with mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani and lefty darlings Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Locals in the well-heeled neighborhood fumed over the ban on in-demand parking near Forest Hills Stadium after they were given just 24 hours from the NYPD before the planned rally in support of the democratic socialist.
Forest Hills Gardens resident Jenna Cavuto blasted the late notice as “completely unacceptable.” “The city has been VERY well aware of this event, as they issued the Public Assembly Permit. So why is the community being given less than 24 hours notice?” she said on X.
Yes, I’m acutely aware of the source and dogwhistle language utilized in this “objective” report. But Sanders–an elected official holding office in a far less “well-heeled” area–offered little more than a barrage of social media posts imploring people to “stand strong” because of the crucial battle for democracy that’s ongoing, each one building on levels of urgency that escalate with every new milestone the government shutdown reaches. And the ever-effervescent Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has been burning up my own inbox with request after request for money for HER–as opposed to, say, the thousands of the folks she purpotedly serves who have their own issues with feeding their own families. I suppose she deserves some props for at least showing up in the second borough she is charged with serving, but from the looks of her tailored designer suit I highly doubt she had to worry about parking and traffic concerns.
And as for said front-runner who seems to also be more than capable of sporting four-figure threads while he’s promising government run grocery stores to deal with these inconvenient truths–hmmm, perhaps a pop-up pilot test of one in light of these recent events might have been a well-received proof of concept that at the very least would have made a small but tangible dent in the fears and concerns of those who couldn’t afford to buy their way into the TICKETED event that disrupted so many?
Please don’t tell me something like that is hard to do. There’s plenty of vacant real estate in that neighborhood and if Netflix can find a way to expeditiously side-step red tape to stage an FYC event, one would hope the creative and zealotic millennials driving Mundami straight into Gracie Mansion could also figure it out.
As for the cost–no, it doesn’t necessarily have to come out of any politician’s own pockets–although they certainly could. They have donors and PACs. At bare minimum they could have donated a portion of the proceeds for these last-minute fund raisers to food banks and resources like GoPuff. Again, timing is everything.
Despite the fact that I had barely enough to my name to give me a positive net worth I took a percentage of what I received for my project and leant my friend and her family enough to cover a meal or two. I wish I could do more. I KNOW others can.
So I’m throwing out a challenge to them and, frankly, to you. Until my bestie and those that are in your lives can prove to you via a screenshot that those SNAP benefits are actually hitting their accounts at least point them in the direction of real, obtainable resources–not just links to what “might” be available. Better still, if you can spare it float them enough to take care of the pets and kids in their lives. Or pressure the living crap out of those who might be able to do so far more easily. And no, not necessarily the opposition party, either. It’s not just about them. It’s about us.
Do it, for heaven’s sake. What are you, chicken?