| This morning, as markets jump in anticipation of an interest rate change, the newspapers carry a very different story: a potential disaster if the government is not reopened by Saturday.As Paul Krugman reports, suspension of the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) is scheduled for Saturday, November 1st. It could be delayed only if Trump authorizes the use of reserve funds. Some Republicans insist that he cannot, though they have done so elsewhere and could here if they wished. Trump simply refuses. He is literally willing to starve Americans to get his way.Trump himself has said that any executive who cannot “keep things going” is weak, and by extension, ineffective. But in this instance, we must add another word: vicious. The people who will suffer most are children, mothers, the elderly, and the disabled, who together make up nearly 68 percent of those who rely on SNAP. The remaining recipients are the working poor, people who labor every day but still cannot afford enough food.This is not new. Trump’s abrupt termination of USAID food programs and the destruction of American-supplied food stocks abroad have already caused illness and death among children in nations that depended on U.S. aid. Now, that same callousness is being turned inward. He and his Republican allies are again willing to let people sicken and die for political leverage, to protect tax cuts for the wealthy and the “Big Beautiful Bill” that has fueled the expanding equity markets.Meanwhile, Democrats in the Senate are standing firm to protect subsidies for the Affordable Care Act. Those subsidies make health insurance affordable for millions of working families. But Republican leaders want those funds diverted—to “pay for” yet another round of tax breaks for the top 10 percent. It is a grotesque inversion of values: taking food from the mouths of children to fill the pockets of the rich.Democrats now face a true Sophie’s Choice:If they yield and let ACA premium subsidies expire, millions will lose their health coverage and access to life-sustaining care.If they refuse, Republicans threaten to slash SNAP, literally starving their political opponents into submission.There is no humane choice but to stand firm, to save lives, protect both food and health, and expose this cruelty for what it is.I cannot believe this is where most Republicans wish to go. Surely there remain men and women of conscience within that party—representatives who understand that their duty extends beyond the boardroom and the balance sheet. They must stand now for all Americans, not just the privileged few.RESIST!!! & EDUCATE!!! |
THE AMERICAN POSEIDON ADVENTURE 
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