“The roughly 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps did not receive their November 1 Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as the government shutdown dragged on. The missed payments came just as the holiday season began, leaving many families struggling to put food on the table. Lines at food banks backed up traffic across the country. The Trump administration defied federal court orders to restore full funding to the program before the Supreme Court’s conservative majority temporarily green-lit the freeze. The White House even tried to claw back funding from states that had already distributed it to hungry families. Lawmakers have now negotiated an end to the shutdown. But the threat to the nation’s primary nutrition assistance program, SNAP, is far from over. As the government reopens, millions will still lose access to food assistance starting almost immediately.” (11/17/25)
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“Came across an old Hampton Institute tweet: ‘If you don’t like being exploited (employee, tenant), then become the exploiter (boss/owner, landlord) is the capitalist mindset that has been drilled into all of us since we were kids. The real solution is to end exploitation (capitalism) altogether.’ You run into this sort of argument all the time when interacting with capitalism supporters. If people can’t make enough money to get by then they should get better-paying jobs. If people don’t like getting kicked around by an abusive status quo then they should climb their way into a socioeconomic strata that isn’t getting kicked around as much. If someone doesn’t like being the nail then they should become the hammer. They deflect criticisms of the abusive system by babbling about what people can do as individuals to be less abused personally.” (11/17/25)
“It occurs to me that ‘giving birth to the future’ isn’t simply a metaphor. I say this as I continue wrestling with infinity — that is to say, working on the book project I began a decade ago: a book about creating peace. My exploration into all this goes beyond politics, global or otherwise. There are countless ways that humanity needs to change and, indeed, is changing. For instance: ‘For much of the 20th century, the childbirth process in this country didn’t invite a lot of active participation from parents. Mothers in labor were given heavy doses of drugs, and fathers were banished to waiting rooms.’ So wrote David Colker in the Los Angeles Times in 2015, shortly after the death of Elisabeth Bing (at age at 100!), the German-born woman who cofounded Lamaze International in 1960 and helped profoundly change the way we birth the future.” (11/17/25)
“David Richardson, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is stepping down, according to the Department of Homeland Security, ending a troubled tenure just six months into the job and while the Atlantic hurricane season is still underway. Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer, is the second FEMA head to leave or be fired since May. He departs amid criticism that he kept a low profile during deadly Texas floods in July that killed 130 people and baffled staff in June when he said he was unaware the country had a hurricane season. A DHS spokesperson gave no reasons for the FEMA chief stepping down. It was not immediately clear who Richardson’s successor will be. Richardson’s predecessor was fired in May, after pushing back against Trump administration efforts to dismantle the agency.” (11/17/25)
“Next time your dog begs for a treat, you might want to give it to him. In Pennsylvania, a dog reportedly wounded his owner with a shotgun left on the bed, while in North Carolina, a dog was caught on camera setting a house (of the assistant fire chief no less) on fire with a damaged lithium battery. Since I just finished teaching my torts students about animal liability (and strict liability for dog bites), these cases offer a teachable moment for humans and canines alike. Dog bite cases have long been a mainstay of torts, even including recent incidents involving the Biden family at the White House. However, what about canine attacks using weapons?” (11/17/25)
“A former Alaska Airlines pilot who tried to cut the engines of a passenger flight in 2023 while riding off-duty in the cockpit will serve no additional prison time, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Baggio sentenced Joseph Emerson to time served and supervised release for three years a hearing in Portland, Oregon. Federal prosecutors had asked for one year in prison, while his attorneys had sought probation. ‘Pilots are not perfect. They are human,’ she said. ‘They are people and all people need help sometimes.’ Emerson was subdued by the flight crew after trying to cut the engines of a Horizon Air flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco on Oct. 22, 2023, while he was riding in an extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted to Portland, where it landed safely with more than 80 people on board.” (11/17/25)
“The rate of new international students enrolment at US universities dropped by 17% this autumn compared to previous years, research released on Monday indicates. The drop comes as the Trump administration has made it more difficult to obtain student visas, with the research suggesting visa application issues like delays and denials are among the top reasons for the decline in first-time students. The survey found a modest overall 1% decline in international students when taking into account students who have been in the US for years. Foreign students make up about 6% of total US enrollment and contributed $55bn (£41bn) to the economy, according to 2024 figures from the commerce department. The survey by the Institute of International Education examined the population of international students at 828 higher education institutions.” (11/17/25)
“In a memo to staff on October 30, Avelo Airlines’ head of flight operations Scott Hall painted a rosy, if defensive, picture of the company’s future. Avelo’s financial strategy was working, he said. The company had a big contract from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to do charter deportation flights … Sure, shutting down their entire West Coast operation looked bad, but it was good, actually, a long-planned move toward efficiency that had nothing to do with the ‘outrage mob’ boycotting Avelo for its association with ICE. … The truth is much more bleak: Avelo’s ICE flights appear to be a fiasco, defined by the poor planning, cruel treatment, and serious safety lapses endemic to ‘ICE Air,’ the network of charter carriers and military planes that transport shackled migrants to detention facilities and out of the country.” (11/17/25)
“U.S. immigration agents [abducted] more than 130 people in a weekend sweep through North Carolina’s largest city, a federal official said Monday, as the governor warned that the crackdown is simply ‘stoking fear.’ The Trump administration has made Charlotte, a Democratic city of about 950,000 people, its latest focus for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and declining crime rates. City residents reported encounters with immigration agents near churches, apartment complexes and stores. … Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that Border Patrol officers had [abducted] ‘over 130 illegal [sic] aliens, who have all broken’ immigration laws [sic].” (11/17/25)
“We are all owed a better explanation from the FBI and Secret Service about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump 16 months ago at a campaign rally in Butler, PA. The president himself remains unsatisfied with the answers he’s been given about the circumstances leading to 20-year-old Thomas Crooks climbing on a rooftop with an AR-15-style rifle and firing eight times at Trump, narrowly missing his head but hitting his ear. Crooks was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper, but not before he killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously wounded David Dutch, 58, and James Copenhaver, 75, who were sitting in the bleachers behind Trump. There is something very wrong with the official story and that invites conspiracy theories. The president demanded answers months ago. A man was murdered. What is going on?” (11/17/25)
