USDA Threatens Stores Giving Discounts to People on Food Stamps

The Trump administration’s freeze on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program funds during the government shutdown is forcing many struggling Americans to make hard decisions about feeding themselves and their families. Now the administration is even restricting how much grocery stories can help. 

After several food delivery apps and grocery store chains sought to offer discounts to those whose SNAP benefits were interrupted or delayed, the Department of Agriculture sent an email to stores across the country warning them that they weren’t allowed to offer discounts to people hurt by the cuts to the food stamp program.

MSNBC anchor Catherine Rampell posted a screenshot of the email on X Sunday, and reported that at least two stores withdrew their discounts after receiving the email. At issue is SNAP’s “Equal Treatment Rule,” which bars stores from either discriminating against people in the program or offering them favorable treatment.  

On Friday, two federal courts ruled that the Trump administration has to use contingency funds to pay for SNAP, but the government has yet to respond with how it intends to comply, leaving the program’s 41 million recipients in limbo as assistance ended on Saturday, the first day of November. And food retailers in low-income areas may themselves be hurt, as much of their customer base now can’t afford to shop. 

In the meantime, the government shutdown has now lasted more than a month and is nearing the 35-day record set by the first Trump administration from December 2018 to January 2019. Not only are many federal workers furloughed or in danger of losing their jobs but health care subsidies are also on the chopping block. It seems that Republicans are not concerned about the survival of much of America. 

As millions of Americans lose paychecks and SNAP benefits due to the ongoing government shutdown, Bernie Sanders urged Democrats not to back down in an op-ed in The Guardian Saturday.

Sanders positioned the shutdown as a standoff not between Republicans and Democrats but between a power-hungry president and the working families of America.

“This may be the most consequential moment in American history since the Civil War. We have a megalomaniacal president who, consumed by his quest for more and more power, is undermining our constitution and the rule of law,” Sanders wrote.

He also clarified that, unlike what Republicans say, this shutdown is not the Democrats’ responsibility to end. “In order to fund the government the Republican majority must negotiate with Democrats to move the budget forward. This is what has always happened—until now. Republicans, for the first time, are simply refusing to come to the table and negotiate.”

Speaking to his Democratic colleagues, Sanders wrote that he understands the pressure they’re under from constituents, but that they can’t forget that Republicans are receiving the same calls. “There is a reason why 14 Republican members of the House are on record calling for the extension of tax credits for the Affordable Care Act. Understandably, Republicans do not want to go home and explain to their constituents why they voted to double or, in some cases, triple healthcare premiums.”

But ultimately, Sanders wrote, what Democrats do next is bigger than a policy fight.

“If the Democrats cave now it would be a betrayal of the millions of Americans who have fought and died for democracy and our constitution. It would be a sellout of a working class that is struggling to survive in very difficult economic times. Democrats in Congress are the last remaining opposition to Trump’s quest for absolute power,” he wrote.

“The choice is clear,” Sanders concluded. “If the Democrats stand with the American people, the American people will stand with them. If they surrender, the American people will hold them accountable.”

Masked immigration officers in Chicago reportedly crashed into a woman’s car, pointed guns at her, dragged her out of her car by her legs—and then didn’t charge her with anything, The Chicago Tribune reported Monday.

As Dayanne Figueroa, a U.S. citizen, attempted to drive past a chaotic scene in West Town on Friday, an unmarked car collided with hers, according to multiple videos reviewed by the Tribune. Pedestrians had been yelling while drivers honked their horns to alert passerby that federal agents were making immigration arrests.

Federal agents exited the unmarked vehicle and trained their weapons on Figueroa. Agents forcibly opened her car door and pulled her out of her car by her legs, dragging her through the street. They did not identify themselves or tell her that she was under arrest.

Bystanders shouted: “You hit her! We have it on video!” Figueroa was then forced into a minivan and driven away, where she says she was transported to multiple undisclosed locations and denied the opportunity to contact family or legal counsel. Hours later, she was released without charges.

Figueroa’s family was not alerted to her arrest and only discovered she’d been taken by law enforcement after seeing a video of the crash on social media. Her mother said Figueroa had had kidney surgery in August, making the way agents threw her on the ground extra concerning. Figueroa’s family eventually was able to determine she was at the ICE processing center in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago, by pinging her iPhone location.

“I was in shock and terrified,” Figueroa told the Tribune. “The video evidence is clear: Agents crashed into me. I was not involved in any protest or related activity, and I intend to seek justice for how I was treated.”

In a statement to the Tribune, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, claimed that Figueroa was part of the group demonstrating as immigration officers conducted arrests, and had “[struck] an unmarked government vehicle” as agents departed.

“In fear of public safety and of law enforcement, officers attempted to remove her from the vehicle. She violently resisted, kicking two agents and causing injuries. This agitator was arrested for assault on a federal agent,” McLaughlin said.

For what it’s worth, McLaughlin’s statements justifying horrific ICE arrests have ranged from missing essential details to contradicting witness testimony and straight-up lying about every single detail of an arrest.

Daniel Hogan, a witness who recorded the collision and contacted police after Figueroa’s car was left empty in the middle of the street, said it wasn’t surprising that Figueroa had fought back. “Of course she resisted,” Hogan told the Tribune. “She did nothing wrong. They never told her why they were taking her. They came at her with guns. She was scared.”

Figueroa was among several Chicago residents detained by federal law enforcement Friday for allegedly interfering with operations.

President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago has now stretched to its seventh week, as federal agents continue to terrorize the city’s residents—both citizens and noncitizens alike. Last month, ProPublica reported that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including 20 children.

FBI Director Kash Patel can’t believe that Americans don’t want him shuttling his girlfriend across the country with taxpayer money.

Last week, Patel was caught using a $60 million government jet to visit his girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins, at a wrestling event at Penn State. The jet owner’s listed address, according to its FAA registration, is the FBI’s national headquarters in Washington. After Penn State, the plane’s flight log indicates it flew to Nashville, where Wilkins lives.

In a wordy social media post Sunday, Patel condemned press coverage of his latest scandal, deriding legacy media outlets as “uninformed internet anarchists,” while arguing that his girlfriend effectively deserved the multimillion-dollar airlift at taxpayers’ expense since she’s a “true patriot” and a “rock-solid conservative.”

“The disgustingly baseless attacks against Alexis—a true patriot and the woman I’m proud to call my partner in life—are beyond pathetic,” Patel wrote. “She is a rock-solid conservative and a country music sensation who has done more for this nation than most will in ten lifetimes. I’m so blessed she’s in my life.

“Attacking her isn’t just wrong—it’s cowardly and jeopardizes our safety. My love of family will always be my cornerstone, and you will never tear that down or keep me from them,” the FBI director continued, apparently claiming that any criticism of his government-funded spending habits as a top federal official is tantamount to harassment.

“I and this FBI will stay laser-focused on our mission and continue the reform we promised—rebuilding this Bureau from the ground up,” Patel said. “And to our supposed allies staying silent—your silence is louder than the clickbait haters.”

Since news of Patel’s pricey weekend fling went national, the FBI has forced FlightAware, a site that monitors international air traffic via publicly available information, to stop keeping tabs on Patel’s plane.

Patel also axed Steven Palmer, a 27-year veteran of the FBI responsible for overseeing the bureau’s air fleet, despite the fact that it was Wilkins who proved Patel was at the Penn State event by posting a string of photos to her social media accounts.

The entire situation is a bit of a hypocritical development for the former podcaster, who used to regularly chastise government officials for needless spending before joining the Trump administration. He relentlessly hounded the financial behavior of the man who previously filled his shoes—former FBI Director Chris Wray—even arguing in 2023 that the FBI should “ground” Wray’s private jet “that he pays for with taxpayer dollars to hop around the country.”

Meanwhile, the government has been shut down for more than 33 days, making it the second-longest federal closure in U.S. history. It’s only bested by a 35-day shutdown between 2018 and 2019 that occurred during Donald Trump’s first term.

The administration allowed SNAP benefits for more than 42 million Americans to expire on Saturday, thousands of federal workers have gone weeks without pay (not FBI agents), Affordable Care Act marketplace credits have lapsed in several states, and Trump is moving forward with building a $300 million ballroom partially bankrolled by several defense and surveillance contractors.

Donald Trump thinks his violent immigration raids haven’t gone far enough, and wants to escalate.

In the president’s interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, correspondent Norah O’Donnell asked Trump about the images coming from Chicago, where federal agents including Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol have been assaulting suspected undocumented immigrants as well as protesters, using tear gas, and smashing car windows.

“Have some of these raids gone too far?” O’Donnell asked.

“No, I think they haven’t gone far enough because we’ve been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama,” Trump said. When O’Donnell asked him if he was OK with the heavy-handed approach, the president was dismissive, claiming that many of the people apprehended are murderers and criminals.

Even Halloween didn’t damper immigration enforcement in Chicago, with Trump’s shock troops out in full force. Last week, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was rather nonchalant when asked about the possibility of federal agents traumatizing children just trying to trick-or-treat.

Federal agents in Chicago have dragged people out of their cars, shot religious leaders with pepper balls, and threatened to shoot protesters with live ammunition. Not only could this be a preview of what Trump plans to do with other cities that he dislikes (and that are run by Democratic mayors of color), but it seems that he doesn’t think this level of cruelty is enough.