A collection of opinionated commentaries on culture, politics and religion compiled predominantly from an American viewpoint but tempered by a global vision. My Armwood Opinion Youtube Channel @ YouTube I have a Jazz Blog @ Jazz
and a Technology Blog @ Technology. I have a Human Rights Blog @ Law
Unfortunately, Rachel made a big mistake, claiming that Nixon did not claim absolute immunity. I know she is relatively young, but I remember when Nixon claimed absolute immunity for criminal behavior. "When the President does it, that means it is not illegal" - Richard Nixon
GA SNAP Payments Ordered During Government Shutdown, Courts Say
Two federal judges ruled that the Trump administration must continue funding SNAP using contingency funds during the government shutdown. The rulings came after the USDA planned to freeze SNAP payments, citing funding limitations. The rulings are likely to face appeals, but they protect millions of families, seniors, and veterans from losing food assistance.
It wasn't immediately clear how quickly the EBT cards that GA beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after the ruling.
KC Neufeld, right, shops with her family in Englewood, Colo., Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.(Thomas Peipert/AP Photo)
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Two federal judges ruled nearly simultaneously on Friday that President Donald Trump's administration must continue to fund SNAP to Georgians and other recipients, the nation's biggest food aid program, using contingency funds during the government shutdown.
The judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island gave the administration leeway on whether to fund the program partially or in full for November.
The rulings came a day before the U.S. Department of Agriculture planned to freeze payments to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program because it said it could no longer keep funding it due to the shutdown.
Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday cast blame on Democrats for the lasting shutdown, specifically Georgia-based U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock. The governor has been adamant about Congress ending the stalemate.
“In the latest example of D.C. Democrats putting bad politics over the people they claim to care about, Senators Ossoff and Warnock and others in their party are denying hundreds of thousands of Georgians the SNAP benefits they need to feed their families,” Kemp said in a news release.
“Their repeated failure to reopen the federal government will be felt at kitchen tables all around the state, right as we approach the holidays. While they waste time playing the blame game, my office is in contact with food banks, nonprofit organizations and community partners across the state to hear feedback on how the shutdown is affecting them and to assess current demand. But the only way to quickly and effectively resolve this issue is for Democrats to vote to reopen the federal government immediately."
Kemp told reporters he was worried that if he spent Georgia's $14 billion surplus to help with the loss of SNAP, the funding may not get reimbursed. The feds have said they are not required to return money to states if they step in and aid the impending crisis.
The program serves about 1 in 8 Americans and is a major piece of the nation's social safety net — and it costs about $8 billion per month nationally.
Democratic state attorneys general or governors from 25 states, as well as the District of Columbia, challenged the plan to pause the program, contending that the administration has a legal obligation to keep it running in their jurisdictions.
The administration said it wasn't allowed to use a contingency fund with about $5 billion in it for the program, which reversed a USDA plan from before the shutdown that said money would be tapped to keep SNAP running. The Democratic officials argued that not only could that money be used, but it must be. They also said a separate fund with around $23 billion is available for the cause.
In Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell ruled from the bench in a case filed by cities and nonprofits that the program must be funded using at least the contingency funds, and he asked for an update on progress by Monday.
Along with ordering the federal government to use emergency reserves to backfill SNAP benefits, McConnell ruled that all previous work requirement waivers must continue to be honored. The USDA during the shutdown has terminated existing waivers that exempted work requirements for older adults, veterans and others.
"The court's ruling protects millions of families, seniors, and veterans from being used as leverage in a political fight and upholds the principle that no one in America should go hungry," Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said of the Rhode Island decision.
There were similar elements in the Boston case, where U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled in a written opinion that the USDA has to pay for SNAP, calling the suspension "unlawful." She ordered the federal government to advise the court by Monday as to whether they will use the contingency funds to provide reduced SNAP benefits for November or fully fund the program "using both contingency funds and additional available funds.
"Defendants' suspension of SNAP payments was based on the erroneous conclusion that the Contingency Funds could not be used to ensure continuation of SNAP payments," she wrote. "This court has now clarified that Defendants are required to use those Contingency Funds as necessary for the SNAP program."
It wasn't immediately clear how quickly the debit cards that beneficiaries use to buy groceries could be reloaded after the ruling. That process often takes one to two weeks.
The rulings are likely to face appeals.
States, food banks and SNAP recipients have been bracing for an abrupt shift in how low-income people can get groceries. Advocates and beneficiaries say halting the food aid would force people to choose between buying groceries and paying other bills.
The majority of states have announced more or expedited funding for food banks or novel ways to load at least some benefits onto the debit cards used in the program.
At a Washington news conference earlier Friday, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, whose department runs SNAP, said the contingency funds in question would not cover the cost of SNAP for long.
Speaking at a press conference with House Speaker Mike Johnson at the Capitol, she blamed Democrats for conducting a "disgusting dereliction of duty" by refusing to end their Senate filibuster as they hold out for an extension of health care funds.
A push this week to continue SNAP funding during the shutdown failed in Congress.
To qualify for SNAP in 2025, a family of four's net income after certain expenses can't exceed the federal poverty line, which is about $31,000 per year. Last year, SNAP provided assistance to 41 million people, nearly two-thirds of whom were families with children."
During President Trump’s second term, several officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, moved into military housing in the Washington D.C. area. This trend is unusual, as only a few officials lived in military housing during Trump’s first term. While some officials cite security concerns, others question the appropriateness of using military housing for civilian officials.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved into a home at Fort McNair traditionally reserved for the Army’s vice chief of staff. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others also now live in military housing.
According to a Defense Department official, Mr. Hegseth is paying $4,655.70 per month to live at Ft. McNair this year.Eric Lee for The New York Times
Quarters 8 at Fort McNair in Washington, situated along the Anacostia River, has traditionally been the home of the Army’s vice chief of staff. But at the beginning of President Trump’s second term, it was vacant.
The general promoted to the vice chief’s position had opted to remain on a different base nearby, across the Potomac. That provided an opening for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to claim it.
As Mr. Hegseth settled into the home, which an Army history notes is guarded by two Revolutionary War-era cannons, other Trump officials also took up residence at housing built and designed for senior admirals and generals in the Washington area.
A handful of White House officials have lived in military housing in the past, but it appears to be unusual for several cabinet members and other officials to move into military quarters in such a short amount of time.
Three former residents of Quarters 8 expressed frustration that a senior officer was not living at the home, which they said would cause a ripple effect and make it more difficult for admirals and generals posted in the area to find affordable housing.
“It’s a great place,” said retired Army Gen. Dennis J. Reimer, who lived in Quarters 8 when he served as the Army’s vice chief of staff in the early 1990s. “It’s like one out of the movies — you have that spiral staircase and you’re right over a riverbank.”
The trend of Trump administration officials taking over military residences in the region was reported earlier by The Atlantic.
Soon after he was sworn in as secretary of state, Marco Rubio moved in a couple doors down from his Pentagon counterpart. Mr. Rubio lives there mostly alone; his family has opted to stay in Florida, according to a State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, lives in “a government representation facility” owned by the Coast Guard and is “paying fair market rent,” according to Tricia McLaughlin, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman.
Daniel P. Driscoll, the Army secretary, has also moved into military housing, as has the Navy secretary, John Phelan, whose home in Washington was damaged in a fire in May, according to a congressional staff member who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, only Jim Mattis, the defense secretary, and Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, were known to have lived for a time in military housing.
There is precedent for an elected official to take over military quarters. In 1974, Congress authorized the vice president to reside at the Naval Observatory, which for 40 years had been the official home of the chief of naval operations. (Since then, the Navy’s top admirals have typically lived in Tingey House, a historic property across town at the Washington Navy Yard.)
At McNair, the Army vice chief of staff’s residence at Quarters 8 sits in the middle of a row of 15 military homes that have long been assigned to the three-star generals on the Army’s senior staff at the Pentagon, as well as a number of generals commanding the post-Sept. 11 wars.
According to a Defense Department official, Mr. Hegseth is paying $4,655.70 per month to live there this year.
General Reimer said that the residence had a brass plaque noting that the Army’s 1980s recruiting slogan — “Be All That You Can Be” — came from one of its previous occupants, Gen. Maxwell R. Thurman. Quarters 8 also had a small gravesite in the yard, he said, where General Thurman buried his dog, who died while he lived there.
“I think the dog’s name was something like Fido,” General Reimer recalled. “The dog’s grave had a marker saying ‘Here lies Fido. He was all he could be.’”
When Robert M. Gates was chosen to be President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, he did not own a home in the Washington area. He asked for government housing and moved into an old home near the State Department. Known as Navy Hill and Potomac Annex, the 12-acre site has three residences for admirals.
Congress authorized Mr. Gates to live in the house while paying rent to the Pentagon.
Mr. Gates’s successor, Leon Panetta, was offered his predecessor’s home at Navy Hill.
“I went there and checked it out,” Mr. Panetta said in an interview. “But found out that it would cost probably about $3,000 a month.”
Without his wife joining him, he added, “I certainly would not be entertaining there, so it just didn’t make a lot of sense for me to take the house.”
Mr. Panetta took an apartment near Capitol Hill in the same townhouse he had lived in as the director of the C.I.A.
Defense Department officials installed the secure communications lines he needed to discuss sensitive and classified information away from his office.
Security guards stood watch outside, even when he was not home.
If there were increased threats against the senior members of the Trump administration, Mr. Panetta added, the federal government could build new housing for them.
It is unclear why so many Trump administration officials have sought to live on military bases, but Mr. Panetta and his successor, Chuck Hagel, said that they faced the same kinds of security threats that any defense secretary routinely receives, and felt secure in their homes with Defense Department bodyguards posted outside.
For national security reasons, it makes sense for three- and four-star generals to live at Fort McNair, which is a short drive away from the Pentagon, Mr. Panetta said.
“Any time there’s an emergency they’ve got to be able to respond quickly to whatever crisis is taking place, so that’s important,” he said. “I think that was part of the reason for having that housing close by.”
Mr. Mattis lived in Mr. Gates’s former home at Navy Hill during the two years he served as defense secretary under Mr. Trump. But other Pentagon chiefs, including Chuck Hagel, Mark T. Esper and Lloyd J. Austin III, stayed in the homes they owned in the Washington area, and had similar secure communication rooms installed.
In an interview, Mr. Hagel recalled that it took about three days to set up when he was sworn in, and just a day to remove when he left office.
Government employees patched the drywall, repainted and moved on.
Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.
John Ismay is a reporter covering the Pentagon for The Times. He served as an explosive ordnance disposal officer in the U.S. Navy.
Hamed Aleaziz covers the Department of Homeland Security and immigration policy for The Times.“
Live Updates: Hurricane Melissa Speeds Toward Bermuda After Leaving a Destructive Path in the Caribbean
"The storm left the Jamaican port of Black River unrecognizable, leveling buildings and leaving what one official described as “total devastation.” At least 23 deaths were reported in Haiti and five in Jamaica, but the overall toll could climb.
Hurricane Melissa’s destructive path across Jamaica has rendered parts of the island unrecognizable to residents, leaving behind towns littered with rubble, twisted cellphone towers and a nation still struggling to count the dead.
In Black River, the capital of St. Elizabeth Parish on Jamaica’s southwestern coast, “only places that have four concrete walls are still standing, and usually their roofs are gone,” said Amiri Bradley, who frequently visits the port town.
Oct. 30, 2025, 11:30 a.m. ET
Dana Morris Dixon, Jamaica’s information minister, said at a news briefing on Thursday that West Jamaica was devastated by Hurricane Melissa, with some areas “flattened.”
“I think the entire Jamaica is really broken because of what has happened,” she said. “But we remain resilient.”
Dixon said the military was cutting its way by foot through blocked roads to reach Black River and other decimated communities in Western Jamaica. She added that soldiers were using a helicopter to respond to reports of any bodies found.
Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters
Oct. 30, 2025, 11:18 a.m. ET
In an official statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the State Department had issued a formal Declaration of Humanitarian Assistance for Cuba after Hurricane Melissa. He said the United States was prepared to provide aid “directly and via local partners who can most effectively deliver it to those in need.” He noted that U.S. law, which forbids nearly all commerce with the island, includes “exemptions and authorizations relating to private donations of food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods to Cuba, as well as disaster response.” Rubio has long been one of the fiercest critics of Cuba’s government and a supporter of strict economic sanctions on the island.
Oct. 30, 2025, 9:31 a.m. ET
Melissa might brush or move over the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, Canada, early Saturday morning. This isn’t unusual. The storm could still have the power of a hurricane when it reaches the coast, but may already have transitioned or be shifting toward a storm more like a powerful nor’easter than a tropical cyclone.
Oct. 30, 2025, 8:21 a.m. ET
The British government said Thursday that it was preparing flights to help British citizens in Jamaica leave the island, now that Hurricane Melissa has passed and the main international airport has reopened. It said that it would give preference to people with medical needs and children.
Oct. 30, 2025, 6:42 a.m. ET
Melissa is traveling much faster than it was for much of the past week. Initially moving at a slow walking pace as it approached Jamaica, Melissa is now racing toward Bermuda at 21 m.p.h. with winds at 105 m.p.h. and strengthening. Forecasters expect the storm to pass northwest of the island tonight, close enough to bring hurricane-force winds to the island.
Satellite imagery showing Black River, Jamaica, before and after Hurricane Melissa.Vantor, via Agence France-Presse
Black River on Wednesday was unrecognizable to people there: The coastline was strewed with massive boulders, and a cellphone tower had twisted into a semicircle.
“Only places that have four concrete walls are still standing, and usually their roofs are gone,” said Amiri Bradley, who frequently visits the port town.
A man surveyed his damaged home in Santa Cruz, Jamaica, on Wednesday after Hurricane Melissa struck.Matias Delacroix/Associated Press
Members of the Jamaican community in Bermuda said they were struggling to reach relatives to confirm their safety amid efforts to organize relief after Hurricane Melissa, as downed power lines and damaged cell towers limited communication across the island.
Bermuda is home to several thousand Jamaican nationals, many of whom maintain daily contact with parents, children and extended family across the Caribbean. But after the hurricane disrupted infrastructure in western Jamaica, calls and messages have gone unanswered for more than a day.
The former headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, long America’s primary arm for international disaster relief, in Washington in July.Jason Andrew for The New York Times
The State Department has asked the United States military to assist with disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, as the Trump administration mobilized its emergency response to Jamaica and its hard-hit Caribbean neighbors.
It was unclear what military assets might be involved, but the official said the mission would likely include airlifts of food, water and other supplies to remote areas of Jamaica that have been cut off from the rest of the island."
Here’s How Much Obamacare Prices Are Rising Across the Country
"Prices for next year’s Obamacare health insurance plansbecame publicthis week, with big increases in premiums across the country. We now have data that shows how much more people will pay.
Most people who buy their own coverage don’t pay full price. Tax credits created by the Affordable Care Act help pay the bills. But the new prices reflect what will happen if extra tax subsidies, first passed in 2021 and extended in 2022, are allowed to expire at the end of this year.
Change in 2026 monthly premiums without extra subsidies
Figures are for the median county.Source: KFF estimates
Extending the subsidies would cost the federal government around $23 billion next year and about $350 billion over the next decade, according toestimatesfrom the Congressional Budget Office. Without them, many Americans will face much higher costs before the midterm elections next fall — in some cases increases of more than a thousand dollars per month.
The magnitude of the change depends on where people live, how old they are, and what they earn. (More details below.)
This funding is at the heart of the congressional fight that has left the government shut down for nearly a month. Democrats have demanded an extension as a condition of their support for a government funding bill. Republicans have said they won’t consider an extension until the government is reopened.
The numbers in our charts and maps come from researchers at the health research group KFF, and reflect insurance prices published onhealthcare.govand state websites that allow people to “window shop” before Saturday, when insurance marketplaces will open for business. An earlier version of this article included estimated premiums for insurance next year, but now we can show the real prices Americans are currently facing.
Congress could still act and change the funding structure, but probably not before people start picking health plans this week.
For the lowest earners, free insurance could go away.
For people earning the lowest incomes, the expiration of the subsidies will mean the end of free, generous insurance. Right now, with the extra subsidies, eligible Americans who earn less than $24,000 a year don’t have to contribute money toward their premiums, though they still face some co-payments and deductibles when they use their insurance.
Monthly premiums for individuals earning $22,000
If subsidies are extended
If subsidies expire
Source: KFF estimates
A single person earning $22,000, for example, will have to pay $66 a month for a typical plan after the subsidies expire.
Around half of all enrollees in Affordable Care Act marketplaces nationwide will experience increases in this range — from a free premium to one between $27 and $82 a month. This group includes many people close to the poverty line in states that didn’t expand their Medicaid program. Their insurance will remain heavily subsidized, just at the lower level established by the original Affordable Care Act legislation.
Although the price difference in dollars may look small, it can mean a lot for people who earn less than $2,000 a month. Since the enhanced subsidies became law, sign-ups in this lowest income group have tripled, withparticularly large increasesin Texas, Florida and Georgia. Some critics of the subsidies say the numbers have gotten so high that they are concerned about fraud.
People who earn a little more — $35,000 a year —are also facing relatively standard price increases around the country. Their cost for a typical plan will more than double without the extra subsidies, from $86 a month to $218 for a popular plan.
Monthly premiums for individuals earning $35,000
If subsidies are extended
If subsidies expire
Source: KFF estimates
Around 40 percent of enrollees earn between $24,000 and $63,000 and will experience increases of this type.
For individuals who earn about $65,000, location matters, but age matters more.
Many older people at this income level will experience a sharp increase in premiums — from a few hundred dollars a month to $1,000 or more.
In most states, the enhanced subsidies created a ceiling on how much people earning more than $63,000 have to pay. Without the extra subsidies, people will have to pay whatever insurers in their markets charge. People in this group tend to be self-employed or work for small businesses.
Because insurers are allowed to charge higher prices to older customers than younger ones, subsidies for Americans at this income level make the biggest difference for people close to retirement age. The large increases in the underlying insurance premiums — around26 percent on averagefor a typical plan — pile on top of the lost subsidies.
Monthly premiums for individuals earning $65,000
If subsidies are extended
If subsidies expire
Estimates are for the median county. Figures are rounded.Source: KFF estimates
But where people live also matters. Premiums tend to be higher in rural areas, and they are particularly high in a handful of very rural states, like Wyoming and West Virginia.
For some people in the most expensive markets, the increases could be staggering. A 60-year-old living in southern Illinois will face premiums increasing from $460 a month with the subsidies to $2,800 a month without.
Increase in monthly premiums for individuals earning $65,000, if subsidies expire
Source: KFF estimates
Fewer than 10 percent of all Obamacare customers earn $65,000 or more.
For the top earners who receive subsidies, age matters the most.
People with even higher incomes have to pay a lot for Obamacare health insurance, with or without the extra subsidies.
Monthly premiums for individuals earning $95,000
If subsidies are extended
If subsidies expire
Estimates are for the median county.Source: KFF estimates
Many younger people who earn this much haven’t seen any benefit from the extra subsidies. The subsidies kick in only when the cost of insurance is more than 8.5 percent of their income, which comes up only in the most expensive markets.
But some older people with high incomes do save money with the extra subsidies. Without them, they will pay even more than they already do.
This group is also affected by rising premiums. Even though the subsidies didn’t help many of them this year, they still paid lower premiums than insurers are offering in most markets for next year.
Increase in monthly premiums for individuals earning $95,000, if subsidies expire
Source: KFF estimates
Our charts and maps focus on how subsidies affect individuals buying insurance. The math is a bit more complicated for people who are buying insurance for their whole family. But the basic patterns are similar: Families at lower incomes would face more uniform increases, while families at higher incomes would see variable price increases, depending on where they live and the age of each family member.
You can estimate your personal household costs with and without the subsidies usingthis calculatorfrom KFF.
About the data
The numbers in our analysis come from researchers at the health research group KFF and are calculated using insurance premiums published onhealthcare.govand state insurance marketplaces as part of “window shopping” for the 2026 plan year. Anearlier versionof this article was published using estimated price increases for 2026, and showed similar though not identical numbers.
Consumer costs are calculated based on the price of the “benchmark” silver plan in each market, the second-least expensive plan that covers around 70 percent of the average enrollee’s medical costs. Individual consumers may pay more or less if they choose other plans in the market. Calculations account only for federal tax credits and do not include additional state subsidies, available for some consumers inseveral states.
In a handful of states, people earning $22,000 won't be immediately affected by subsidy changes because they qualify for different low-cost state insurance programs: Medicaid in Alaska, Hawaii and the District of Columbia; and the basic health plan in Minnesota, Oregon and New York (the basic health plan is Medicaid-like coverage with low premiums for a sliver of low-income Americans in certain states). New York residents earning $35,000 also currently qualify for the basic health plan.
Thefederal poverty levelis higher in Alaska and Hawaii than in other states, which means the top income cutoff for subsidies in those states is higher than $63,000. That difference explains small differences in the average prices for people at $65,000 and $95,000 in income."
