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SNAP [curr ev, US]

Americans, as I hope you know, on Nov 1st, the Federal government, being shut down, did not transmit the money to the states to pay for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP, aka "Food Stamps". In many states, SNAP money is supposed to hit recipients' EBT cards on the first of the month. It didn't. There is in the SNAP budget funds to cover emergencies, but Trump said he would not release it; lawsuits ensued, and as of right now, partial payments are going to be or have been made.

I commend the following video to you. It's longish - 26 minutes – but worth your time.

2025 Nov 1: Hank Green [

hankschannel on YT]: "This Shutdown is Different"

Hank Green, of vlogbrothers fame, invites Jeannie Hunter, Tennessee regional director of the Society of St. Andrew (aka EndHunger.org), on to his personal chanenel explain how the US's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka SNAP, aka "Food Stamps", actually works.

Hunter turns out to be a great interview subject and the resultant conversation was fascinating. I highly recommend it - not just to understand what's at stake in the goverment shutdown, but for your own simple enjoyment of learning how things actually work, and also so you can more eloquently advocate for this system.

Watch on YouTube

I am so tired

I have a mandatory staff meeting in an hour and I may call out on the grounds that I am so tired.

(I also have a headache, but if I call out on the grounds that omg my head is killing me my manager will tell me to go to the doctor. It's not an illness, it's a generational curse, plus I worked 16 hours on approximate 0 hours of sleep yesterday.)

On the other hand, I want to seem responsible. But... I am really groggy and tired and I have a headache.

Mamdami won

I haven't had a chance to look at any other election results yet, but that's cheering. I do think he's vastly overpromised and will regret it - among other things, free buses requires first wresting the MTA back from Albany, and that's not the job of a single term - but it's not like I liked any of the other candidates.

Especially Cuomo, for many reasons, but most especially because you just can't trust somebody who thinks the best career move after governor is mayor.

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When the Wolf Comes Home, by Nat Cassidy

This book is very hard to describe without spoilers, so I'll just cover the setup. Aspiring actress/current waitress Jess is having a bad night that gets much worse when she finds a scared little boy who's run away from his father. Things get extremely strange from there. This book is a wild ride.

I read it in a single sitting, so it's very propulsive. It's also very dark/bleak, despite some absurdist humor arising from the premise. I enjoyed it a lot while I read it, but it's now months later and it hasn't quite stuck with me the way some other books have. Nestlings is still my favorite of his.

Content notes: Child abuse/harm is central to the story. So is an accidental needle-stick with a possibly contaminated needle.

Spoilers! Also contains some light spoilers for Stephen King's Firestarter.

( Read more... )

Cheney died

Happy Election Day, I guess?

Argh!

I took over Jenn's game of Cult of the Lamb - which may have been a mistake, because her angry followers whom she starved now pop out of chests and try to kill me - and I defeated the big boss and converted him into a follower. And then I resurrected somebody, and literally the second I stepped outside my temple to go to the healing hut to heal the resurrected follower, the resurrectee ate him. So now I have to do a new resurrection!

Didn't look closely enough

picked out a pair of glasses I just cannot stand. Sending them back, getting a better pair. I do have another spare pair if this one gives out entirely.

The word “perforce” does not belong in YA

I don’t care if it is in character, pick another word! (And while it ought to be in character, she hasn’t exactly been dropping the big words every other dialog line. Or if she has, I didn’t notice?)