Tag: poverty

Privacy and hunger groups sue over USDA attempt to collect personal data of SNAP recipients

Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Privacy and hunger groups sue over USDA attempt to collect personal data of SNAP recipientsBy REBECCA BOONEAssociated PressThe Associated Press

Privacy and hunger relief groups and a handful of people receiving food assistance benefits are suing the federal government over the Trump administration’s attempts to collect the personal information of millions of U.S. residents who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The lawsuit filed in Washington, D.C., on Thursday says the U.S. Department of Agriculture violated federal privacy laws when it ordered states and vendors to turn over five years of data about food assistance program applicants and enrollees, including their names, birth dates, personal addresses and social security numbers.

The lawsuit “seeks to ensure that the government is not exploiting our most vulnerable citizens by disregarding longstanding privacy protections,” National Student Legal Defense Network attorney Daniel Zibel wrote in the complaint. The Electronic Privacy Information Center and Mazon Inc.: A Jewish Response to Hunger joined the four food assistance recipients in bringing the lawsuit.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, is a social safety net that serves more than 42 million people nationwide. Under the program formerly known as food stamps, the federal government pays for 100% of the food benefits but the states help cover the administrative costs. States also are responsible for determining whether people are eligible for the benefits, and for issuing the benefits to enrollees.

As a result, states have lots of highly personal financial, medical, housing, tax and other information about SNAP applicants and their dependents, according to the lawsuit.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order March 20 directing agencies to ensure “unfettered access to comprehensive data from all state programs” as part of the administration’s effort to stop “ waste, fraud and abuse by eliminating information silos.”

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LA City Council OKs $14B budget, allowing for $7K per homeless person each month

The Los Angeles City Council passed a $14 billion budget that reduced citywide layoffs by cutting police hiring and fire department spending.

The approved budget uses emergency funds, such as $29 million from the budget stabilization fund, to pay for ongoing regular services, which is typically only done in a recession. That suggests the city has a structural deficit created by spending more than revenue will allow.

Notably, the budget cuts $36.63 million from the Los Angeles Fire Department’s proposed budget and reduces new police hiring in half from 480 new recruits to 230. At the same time, it restores funding for Animal Services and creates a new Bureau of Homelessness Oversight under the Los Angeles Housing Department.

Councilwoman Traci Park, whose district stretches from the Los Angeles International Airport to the fire-demolished Pacific Palisades, questioned the city’s continued funding of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which has failed all recent audits and from which Los Angeles County recently voted to terminate its funding and relationship.

“Spending a million and a half dollars per door to build micro-units of housing to give away to homeless drug addicts when the vast majority of our own city employees could never afford a condo at that price … I don’t think we should agree to spend another penny on homelessness … until we cast a vote on whether we’re finally getting a divorce from LAHSA and what the future of homeless services delivery looks like in LA,” said Park at Thursday’s meeting.

Park also attacked the cuts to the proposed LAFD budget and the halving of the new LAPD officer expansion.

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Fury as Welsh Labour government spends £250,000 on project to count MOTHS while it cuts public services

Taxpayers have been left furious after the Welsh Labour government spent £250,000 on a project to count moths – while it cuts public services. 

The ‘Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn’ project is surveying the moths’ limestone habitats on Llandudno’s Great Orme headland and in neighbouring areas. 

It was handed a grant of £248,348 by the Government’s Nature Networks Fund, and will be delivered by the Heritage Fund.

The under-fire government claims it with help protect at-risk insects, including the Horehound Plume micro-moth. 

A Tory councillor branded the spending ‘ridiculous’ – as families struggle with the cost of living and local authorities cut frontline services.

Llandudno’s Louise Emery hit out after a grant was awarded by the Welsh Government to Conwy county council.

She said: ‘Rather than for the benefit of invertebrates, how about Welsh Government benefit schools and communities by properly funding local authorities to improve education and provide basic services such as maintaining highways and public toilets?

‘It’s about priorities, and establishing the number of moths on specific limestone headlands should not be a priority when Welsh Labour in Cardiff continue to tell local authorities they have no money. This is utterly ridiculous.’

The project, which also works with schools, found ‘a staggering’ 1,109 horehound plume moth caterpillars on the Great Orme in Llandudno.

Cllr Emery continued: ‘There is money available from Welsh Government but only for certain things, so while local authority budgets are really being squeezed, Welsh Government finds money for projects such as the Cryptic Creatures of the Creuddyn.

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Liberal Boomers lined up for Carney—now their grandkids are lining up at the food bank

In 2021, 5.8 million Canadians lived in households struggling to put food on the table. By 2024, that number shot up to nearly 10 million.

Newly released data from Statistics Canada shows that food insecurity in this country has taken a horrifying leap, with a staggering 72% increase in just three years.

Among children, the picture is even bleaker. Nearly 2.5 million Canadian kids—one in three—now live in food-insecure households. That’s not some distant tragedy in a far-off land. That’s right here, in your neighbourhood, in your kid’s classroom.

And while families are rationing groceries, Liberal Boomers just handed the reins to Mark Carney—the unelected high priest of net-zero—who’s promised to keep punishing farmers, truckers, and the energy industry with his anti-energy policies. 

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California Gov. Newsom calls on cities to ban homeless encampments on public property

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday pushed cities to ban homeless encampments or sleeping rough on the streets — and is using state funds to force the issue.

Escalating his push to eradicate scores of encampments across the Golden State, the Democrat called on cities and towns to effectively prohibit tents from being erected on sidewalks, parks, bike paths and other public properties.

People will also be prohibited from sleeping on the streets with a sleeping bag, blankets or any other materials for more than three days in a row, according to the state-issued guidance.

“There’s nothing compassionate about letting people die on the streets. Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history. They asked for legal clarity — the courts delivered,” Newsom said in a statement.

“Now, we’re giving them a model they can put to work immediately, with urgency and with humanity, to resolve encampments and connect people to shelter, housing, and care. The time for inaction is over. There are no more excuses.”

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Feeding the Narrative: How School Lunch Became Political Theater

There’s a huge debate playing out on X and in Congress over school lunch. The basic framing goes like this: the good, caring Democrats want kids to eat and learn, so they argue there must be free, federally funded school lunch for all students. Meanwhile, under the biased narrative, the evil, stingy Republicans supposedly want kids to go hungry, to stay ignorant, and for the money that would have funded school lunches to somehow end up in Elon Musk’s pocket.

As is often the case, about 80% of the people arguing about school lunch don’t even understand what the real issue is, what the Democrats are actually proposing and why the Republicans oppose it. The current debate in Congress, rather than on Twitter, centers on whether school meals should be made universally free for all students or remain limited to low-income children, and, importantly, how “low-income” should be defined.

The current debate is just one more negative consequence of the destructive COVID lockdowns that robbed American children of two years of education and social development. During the pandemic, Congress made school lunches universally free, regardless of family income. That temporary policy expired in 2022, sparking a national debate. Supporters of making free meals permanent argue that universal access removes stigma, supports families struggling with economic hardship, and ensures that children are well-fed and ready to learn.

Opponents, mostly Republicans, argue that universal free school lunch is too expensive, subsidizes meals for those who can afford it, and shifts responsibility for feeding children from parents to the federal government. Additionally, supporters of these programs rarely address basic questions: How were children eating before the COVID-era lunch program? And if that system worked, why can’t we return to it?

Democrats support legislation like the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2023, introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Ilhan Omar, and the No Hungry Kids in Schools Act. While these bills sound appealing—who wants hungry kids in school?—they assume a level of need that isn’t supported by data. Were 51 million children really going without lunch before the pandemic? The way Democrats frame the issue, you’d think the U.S. is Calcutta, with malnourished children collapsing on their way to school.

The reality is quite different. The United States has far more of a problem with obesity than hunger. Nearly 20% of American children between the ages of 2 and 19 are classified as obese. Obesity in the U.S. is inversely correlated with wealth. Poorer communities tend to have higher obesity rates. In fact, the U.S. is one of the few countries in the world where the poor are more likely to be overweight than underfed.

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Media shows no scrutiny of study claiming oil companies made the world $28 trillion poorer

A new study published in the journal Nature concludes that the world would be $28 trillion richer if we hadn’t used fossil fuels. Were it not for the “extreme heat” fossil fuel companies are causing, the researchers from Dartmouth College explain, we’d have a much wealthier planet. 

With such dramatic conclusions, multiple outlets in the legacy media breathlessly reported the findings. A report in CBS News quotes celebrity climate scientist Michael Mann supporting this type of research. A D.C. court recently sanctioned Mann in his libel suit against two bloggers, saying he “acted in bad faith when they presented erroneous evidence and made false representations to the jury and the Court.” CBS News’ report makes no mention of this. 

“Extreme weather events continue disrupt [sic] communities and strain finances,” a report on the study in The New York Times states. The lead paragraph in a report in the Associated Press compares using fossil fuels, which are the basis for over 80% of the globe’s energy and thousands of consumer products, to using tobacco. The study, Associated Press climate reporter Seth Borenstein claims, will “make it easier for people and governments to hold companies financially accountable.” 

These articles fail to mention that the methodology used in the study wasn’t developed by impartial researchers dedicated to following science. The methodology, it turns out, was developed by anti-fossil fuel activists whose aim is to support climate lawsuits against oil companies. The study’s authors also consulted with a lawyer who works at a law firm that stands to profit from climate litigation. 

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REALITY CHECK: Adam Schiff Says Party Has a “Major Problem” After San Francisco Cashier Tells Him “Democrats are As*holes”

Democrat Senator Adam Schiff (CA) is apparently just now realizing that Democrats need to “change how we do business” in liberal areas that are overrun with crime, drugs, and homelessness, citing an encounter with a Target cashier who told him the hard truth about the Democratic party. 

During an appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Schiff recalled an incident at a Target in San Francisco after his car was robbed in his home state of California. And it wasn’t getting robbed in the notoriously liberal city.

The Gateway Pundit readers will likely recall that Schiff got robbed in San Francisco last year while campaigning for Senate in the city. The robbers took his luggage, and he was forced to attend a dinner party in a t-shirt and hiking vest instead of the appropriate formal attire.

Following this, he went to buy toiletries at a Target store, he says, and the cashier hit him with a blunt reality check.

The party that locked everyone in their homes during COVID, bullies people into silence, and allows criminals and the dregs of society to terrorize everyday Americans are “assholes,” the woman apparently told him.

” I thought, you know, if the cashier in South San Francisco at 10 o’clock at night believes that Democrats are assholes because the shampoo is locked up, and my stuff got stolen out of the trunk, we’ve got a major problem that we have to address,” he said.

Still, it wasn’t until now, after the Democrats’ massive defeat in the 2024 election, that Schiff seemingly had an epiphany and sounded the alarm to his party.

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California’s Broke Medicaid Program Has Been Spending on … Homeless Housing

Medi-Cal, the State of California’s version of Medicaid, has been spending on extraneous programs such as housing while running up a deficit so extreme that the state has had to borrow over $6 billion to save it.

As Breitbart News reported last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration had to seek $6 billion in loans to keep the program from collapsing, partly due to the cost of covering illegal aliens, which he did last year.

Now, CalMatters.org reveals that the federal government is cracking down on Medi-Cal and other Medicaid providers that have been using money to support “rent assistance” and “medically tailored meals”:

In 2022, California made sweeping changes to its Medi-Cal program that reimagined what health care could look like for some of the state’s poorest and sickest residents by covering services from housing to healthy food. But the future of that program, known as CalAIM, could be at risk under the Trump administration.

…

The moves align with a narrower vision of Medicaid espoused by newly confirmed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services head Dr. Mehmet Oz, who said during his swearing-in ceremony that Medicaid spending was crowding out spending on education and other services in states with the federal government “paying most of the bill.”

“This one really bothers me. There are states who are using Medicaid — Medicaid dollars for people who are vulnerable — for services that are not medical,” Oz said.

President Joe Biden allowed California and other states to “experiment” with Medicaid funding — and California spent itself into near-insolvency. The Trump administration is cracking down, insisting that Medicaid spending be restricted to medical expenses — not items like housing for indigent patients.

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The Rich Control Their Kids’ Education — The Middle Class And Poor Deserve That Choice, Too

As the school choice movement notches major wins and the Department of Education begins winding down, there is no doubt that the government’s future role in education will be very different than the role it has played in the past.

With this sea change comes new questions about what the education system ought to look like when the federal top-down model finally ends. An emerging group of advocates believes the government should not be involved in schools at all.

The ultra-libertarian position contends that no tax dollars should be used for schooling and all schools should be private schools. Every child’s academic pathway would be up to his parents to design and fund.

While this might sound great to some, the fact remains that many families lack the ability to pay for their children’s education. They would still lack that ability even if tax rates were cut to account for privatizing education, since those at the bottom of the income scale pay no federal income tax. Millions of children would be unable to access a quality education because their parents cannot afford it.

If that outcome sounds familiar, it may be because it’s so close to our current government schooling system: Children whose families have the means can receive a great education, but those from low-income families are stuck with a school experience so terrible it can hardly be called an education at all. Only 17 percent of public school eighth graders from low-income families are proficient readers, according to the latest Nation’s Report Card.  

These devastating results are not the result of a lack of funding. To the contrary, the U.S. public schools spend $17,227 to educate one student for one year. That’s more than nearly any other country. Still, our test scores continue to fall in the international rankings. Our Nation’s Report Card scores, revealing rampant illiteracy and innumeracy, are a national embarrassment.

In an ideal educational system, parents would have control over the tax dollars allocated for each child’s schooling. The money would follow the child to wherever he or she learns best, whether that is a public school, a private school, or even the family’s kitchen table.

Right now, homeschool families pay for education twice: First, with their tax dollars, which are sent to schools their children never set foot in. Second, with the sacrifice of one parent’s income, plus the cost of materials, including curricula, textbooks, and other supplies.  

Private school families pay twice, too: First, again, with their tax dollars, and secondly with tuition. Access to a good public school costs a great deal, too: A family that buys a house near a top-rated public elementary school will pay 78.6 percent more than if they bought a typical house in the surrounding area, according to Realtor.com.

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