Tag: food

Full SNAP Benefits to Be Restored by Monday, Agriculture Secretary Says

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would be restored by Monday, Nov. 17. This came the day after the Nov. 12 passage of a funding legislation to reopen the federal government.

Rollins made her comments during a Nov. 13 interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown, saying that the end of the government shutdown prompted quick action by her agency. 

“We, immediately last night, began moving out, making sure that the program continues unabated, starting once the government reopened, and hopefully by the end of this week, most will receive it at the very latest on Monday,” Rollins said.

“But keep in mind, the SNAP program is funded by the federal government, but it is the 50 states and 50 different infrastructures that move that money out, which is what made it so complicated, the patchwork.”

Some states have already assured residents that the assistance will again be available to them. 

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey announced on Nov. 13 that SNAP has been restored, and every cardholder should be “fully funded and able to purchase food with their EBT cards.”

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Global Transformation of Food Systems – The Killing Off of Food Sovereignty

A significant event took place last month at the Stockholm Food Forum, based on a recently published ‘global health’ document by ‘EAT-Lancet Commission 2.0’ calling for a top down “global transformation of food systems”.

It was presided over by none other than Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director General of The World Health Organisation, with the close support of foundations – including Bill Gates, Bloomberg and Rockerfeller, as well as corporate giants Nestle, Cargill and Unilever – with The World Economic Forum also featuring high on the list of backers.

Tedros Ghebreyesus stated that the central theme of the gathering was the need for “a top down, inclusive and equitable transformation of food systems” and the need for countries ‘to regulate food production and consumption’.

I think we know what he meant by this – the late Dr Henry Kissinger declared a few decades earlier,

“He who controls the food controls the people.”

But the official public relations message spins this global control heist as a push for the ‘better health’ of the world, postulating what sounds like a fashionable list of general dietary improvements as recommended by ‘The One Health Initiative’: less red meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and a reduction of highly processed foods – as well as outright bans and health warnings printed on packaging, like with cigarettes. 

The end goal is stated to be ‘the integration of food policy with trade, agricultural and climate policies’.

Well, trade, agricultural and climate policies are already an inpenetrable disaster, so food is to be locked into the same prison camp.

Yes, Mr Tedros, admirable proclamations for the unwary, but we have woken-up to your spin on what constitutes ‘world health’ and we know that what you actually want to tell us – because it’s completely in line with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, Green New Deal and the Net Zero fantasy, all of which you already directly or indirectly preside over.

This, as you know, includes the end of farming as we know it (Methane/CO2 releases) and the removal from the land of the last truly independent human beings – farmers – who just might resist being told what to do by a bunch of deluded technocrats and psychotic power obsessed criminals.

The Lancet report, upon which this conference was based, highlights the coming role of digital tools in monitoring citizens’ diets and lifestyles, stating that soon it will be possible to introduce CO2 emission tracking systems linked to food consumption and ways of identifying compliance with nutritional recommendations. 

Well, well, that certainly has a familiar ring about it.

Could the authors possibly be referring to the need for ‘Smart Cities’ to act as ‘reservations’ for those swept up in the moral crusade to rid the planet of all who fail to comply with the cult’s preplanned hunger games?

No – Gates, Tedros, Cargill, Nestle and the WEF only have humanitarian motivations behind their wish to be in control of the transformation of food systems. I must apologise for allowing any such thought to come to my mind.

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What to Know About Food Stamps as Congress Poised to End Shutdown

Americans who are in the federal food stamp program and have not received full benefits are poised to see the money soon, under a package the House of Representatives is due to vote on later Nov. 12.

Many of the 42 million Americans enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have received partial or no benefits for November as the federal government has only paid about half of the approximately $8.5 billion needed to fund the program for the month.

Courts ordered the government to pay in full for November, but the Supreme Court blocked those rulings on Tuesday.

Here’s what to know about SNAP and the upcoming vote.

Some States Have Paid Full Benefits

Usually, the money SNAP beneficiaries receive on electronic EBT cards comes in full from the federal government, which conveys them through states.

Because the government has only paid $4.6 billion so far, a number of states have only been distributing partial benefits, with some SNAP participants not having received any money yet.

The plan in place now “would delay November benefits by weeks or months for recipients in multiple states and would create substantial risks of error,” states said in a Nov. 11 filing to the Supreme Court.

Others have paid full benefits to some people. Hawaii, for example, recently paid full benefits to about half of the 161,400 residents who receive food stamps, officials said in a court filing.

The state took this step following a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) memorandum sent on Nov. 7 that said the federal government would make funds available for full SNAP benefits for November to comply with a court order, according to the filing.

Still others, including Minnesota and Oregon, paid all beneficiaries the full amount they were due to receive after reading the memo.

“The money is now on the EBT cards of SNAP recipients, and the recipients have begun to spend it,” Jessica Amaya Hoffman, deputy director of the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Self-Sufficiency Programs, said in a declaration.

Later on Nov. 7, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government did not immediately have to pay full benefits for November, prompting the USDA to direct states to “undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November.” U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani, who is overseeing one of the cases brought over food stamp funding, said on Monday that she was blocking the USDA from implementing the new memo. She has not yet issued a written order detailing her decision.

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Cloned Foods Are Coming To A Grocer Near You

Cloned-animal foods could soon enter Canada’s food supply with no labels identifying them as cloned and no warning to consumers – a move that risks eroding public trust.

According to Health Canada’s own consultation documents, Ottawa intends to remove foods derived from cloned animals from its “novel foods” list, the process that requires a pre-market safety review and public disclosure. Health Canada defines “novel foods” as products that haven’t been commonly consumed before or that use new production processes requiring extra safety checks.

From a regulatory standpoint, this looks like an efficiency measure. From a consumer-trust standpoint, it’s a miscalculation.

Health Canada argues that cloned animals and their offspring are indistinguishable from conventional ones, so they should be treated the same. The problem isn’t the science—it’s the silence. Canadians are not being told that the rules for a controversial technology are about to change. No press release, no public statement, just a quiet update on a government website most citizens will never read.

Cloning in agriculture means producing an exact genetic copy of an animal, usually for breeding purposes. The clones themselves rarely end up on dinner plates, but their offspring do, showing up in everyday products such as beef, milk, or pork. The benefits are indirect: steadier production, fewer losses from disease, or more uniform quality.

But consumers see no gain at checkout. Cloning is expensive and brings no visible improvement in taste, nutrition, or price. Shoppers could one day buy steak from the offspring of a cloned cow without any way of knowing, and still pay the same, if not more, for it.

Without labels identifying the cloned origin, potential efficiencies stay hidden upstream. When products born of new technologies are mixed in with conventional ones, consumers lose their ability to differentiate, reward innovation, or make an informed choice. In the end, the industry keeps the savings while shoppers see none.

And it isn’t only shoppers who are left in the dark. Exporters could soon pay the price too. Canada exports billions in beef and pork annually, including to the EU. If cloned-origin products enter the supply chain without labelling, Canadian exporters could face additional scrutiny or restrictions in markets where cloning is not accepted. A regulatory shortcut at home could quickly become a market barrier abroad.

This debate comes at a time when public trust in Canada’s food system is already fragile. A 2023 survey by the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity found that only 36 percent of Canadians believe the food industry is “heading in the right direction,” and fewer than half trust government regulators to be transparent. Inserting cloned foods quietly into the supply without disclosure would only deepen that skepticism.

This is exactly how Canada became trapped in the endless genetically modified organism (GMO) debate. Two decades ago, regulators and companies quietly introduced a complex technology without giving consumers the chance to understand it. By denying transparency, they also denied trust. The result was years of confusion, suspicion, and polarization that persist today.

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Open Table is spying on you — and ratting out your bad habits like being late, canceling to restaurants

What happens at the dining table no longer stays at the dining table.

If the city’s servers suddenly always seem to know your go-to drink order, or how you always order extra croutons on your salad – you’re not going crazy.

Reservation platform OpenTable is spying on its users and compiling personal information on guests to share with restaurants, both good and bad, from wine preferences to whether they cancel a same-day reservation.

This allows eateries to highlight things to your preference, save preferred seating or — if your AI notes reveal poor etiquette — cancel your reservation altogether, sources tell The Post. 

“It’s not just spending habits or if they like Coca-Cola or bottled water. Now, we’re getting a taste of what a diner’s behavior at a restaurant is like: If they’re a late canceler, if they leave reviews a lot,” Shawn Hunter, a general manager for Sojourn Social on the Upper East Side told The Post of the feature he first noticed two weeks ago.

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Supreme Court Lets Government Continue to Withhold Funding From SNAP

The Trump administration may, for the time being, continue not to fully fund the food stamp program until Congress appropriates new funds, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled late on Nov. 11.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as the food stamp program, provides financial assistance for food purchases to about 42 million people.

The court extended until 11:59 p.m. on Nov. 13 an administrative stay it granted on Nov. 7 that blocked lower court decisions that ordered the Trump administration to redirect about $4 billion in tariff revenue to SNAP on top of $4.6 billion it already used from a contingency fund. An administrative stay gives members of a court more time to consider an urgent matter.

The new unsigned order in Rollins v. Rhode Island Council of Churches did not provide reasons for the decision.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated she would have denied the extension and the federal government’s emergency application. She did not explain her dissent.

Jackson on Nov. 7 had placed a temporary hold on the adverse lower court orders until the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a written explanation outlining why it denied the administration’s appeal of those rulings. That explanation was released on Nov. 10, prompting the administration to request that Jackson extend her stay.

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Sunny Hostin Scolds John Fetterman For Voting In Favor Of Not Starving His Constituents

Sunny Hostin spent part of Tuesday’s broadcast of “The View” scolding Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) for voting with Republicans to bring the longest government shutdown in history to an end — and he pushed right back.

Hostin’s cohosts — most of whom have been pushing for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) ouster since he “caved” and voted to avert the last potential government shutdown in March — began by pressing Fetterman on whether or not he believed Schumer was still the right person to lead the Senate under the current circumstances.

“Senator Bernie Sanders said the vote was a horrific mistake. Governor Gavin Newsom called it pathetic and a surrender. Poll after poll found Americans on both sides of the aisle blaming Republicans,” Hostin said. “Even Marjorie Taylor Greene blamed the GOP. As you mentioned, Democrats had big wins last week, so you had momentum. Why give in now? Why bring a butter knife to a gun fight?!”

Hostin went on to argue that Fetterman was taking a major risk in trusting Republicans to follow through on promises to hold a vote on the Affordable Care Act subsidies and deliver back pay to furloughed federal workers, saying, “I believe you are wrong!”

“Well, first of all, MTG is quite literally the last person in America that I’m going to take advice [from] or to get their kinds of leadership and values from,” Fetterman shot back.

He went on to note that he had voted to keep the government open from the start, largely because he knew how a shutdown would impact people in his home state.

“I promise you, this isn’t a political game. It is viewed [that way] by many of us, but the reality is, 42 million Americans now [are] not sure where their next meal is going to come from because we vote like that. Or people that haven’t been paid for five weeks now and that kinds of chaos. Those kinds of workers have to borrow more than half a billion dollars from their credit union just to pay the bills,” he said.

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Nothing says ‘Veterans Day’ than military families in a food line

According to reports at Military.com, which as a staple covers the daily lives and military families living on and off bases across the United States, thousands of military families are seeking food assistance due to the government shutdown, which is the longest in American history.

The shutdown reached a breakthrough on Monday night, as the Senate voted on a compromise bill to reopen the government. The measure must go now to the Republican controlled House and faces an uncertain future there.

In the meantime, it’s Veterans Day, which is typically marked by parades and school-based tributes throughout the country, but on military bases, apparently, it is passing amid consternation and stress, as servicemembers and their families face a month without pay.

The impact of the longest government shutdown in history, which as of Monday surpassed 40 days but potentially could reopen this week due to Senate Democrats reaching across the aisle, is hitting military families in every branch, state and pay grade.

Families that live paycheck to paycheck are asking for food, gas and diapers. National Guard and Reserve troops are struggling because canceled drills mean no pay. Nonprofits are shipping emergency groceries to keep cupboards from going empty. A previous Military.com report warned that troops may soon miss paychecks if the shutdown is not resolved.

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Trump administration demands states ‘undo’ full SNAP payouts as states warn of ‘catastrophic impact’

President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed those rulings, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.

The demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came as more than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the Trump administration does not reimburse them for those SNAP benefits they authorized before the Supreme Court’s stay.

Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the program in November despite the ongoing government shutdown. They won the favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states, and the Trump administration belatedly said the program could continue.

On Friday night, however, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused the two rulings ordering the SNAP disbursement while the nation’s highest court considered the Trump administration’s appeal. That led the Department of Agriculture on Saturday to write state SNAP directors to warn them it now considers payments under the prior orders “unauthorized.”

States could face penalties for paying benefits

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to state SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Penn warned that states could face penalties if they did not comply. It was unclear if the directive applies to states that used their own funds to keep the program alive or to ones relying on federal money entirely. The Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a filing in federal court on Sunday, the agency said states moved too quickly and erroneously released full money SNAP Benefits after last week’s rulings.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, on Sunday called the directive “shocking” if it applies to states, like hers, that used their own money to prop up the program.

“It’s one thing if the federal government is going to continue its level of appeal through the courts to say, no, this can’t be done,” Murkowski said. “But when you are telling the states that have said this is a significant enough issue in our state, we’re going to find resources, backfill or front load, whatever term you want, to help our people, those states should not be penalized.”

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Cows Drop Like Flies After Greenie Gov’t Policy Promotes Drugged Feed

Cows are reportedly collapsing and in some cases being euthanized in Denmark following the implementation of a climate policy aimed at reducing a cow’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a Danish media report.

The Nordic country promoted policies financing large dairy farms to adopt synthetic additives to feed after Jan. 1 2025 to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, according to Agriland. However, farmers are reportedly voicing concerns now that their cows have started giving less milk, collapsing and in some instances getting so ill that they need to be euthanized, according to the Danish media outlet Jyllands-Posten.

“We have so many people who call us and are unhappy about what is happening in their herds,” Kjartan Poulsen, chairman of the National Association of Danish Dairy Producers, told the publication. 

Denmark has aggressive climate goals that include reaching “climate neutrality” by 2050 and lowering emissions by 70% by 2030 as compared with 1990 levels.

The cow feed policy is a part of Denmark’s emissions-reductions goals, and reportedly one additive that is mixed in with cow feed called Bovaer may be the cause of the cows’ health decline, according to Jyllands-Posten.

Bovaer is a “synthetic organic compound that can be added to cattle feed in order to reduce the methane they produce and expel,” according to UC Davis.

Cow burps emit more methane than cow flatulence, according to NASA.

“Contrary to common belief, it’s actually cow belching caused by a process called enteric fermentation that contributes to methane emissions,” NASA’s website states. “Enteric fermentation is the digestive process in which sugars are broken down into simpler molecules for absorption into the bloodstream. This process also produces methane as a by-product.”

Notably, early drafts of the Green New Deal expressed concerns over cow farts.

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