As Congress has effectively shut down for the rest of the year - without a continuing resolution much less a budget - we have federal workers still on the job but not getting paid.
Most notably TSA agents and air traffic controllers - if you were wondering why your flight was delayed or cancelled.
CAPTAIN'S NOTE: For some reason, one of the president's rich friends sent $130 million to help pay the military. One has to wonder what he'll get out of it.
Oddly, I.C.E. is still getting paid and large signing bonuses are being thrown around like rolls of paper towels at a hurricane recovery center! The Immigration and Customs Enforcement currently has a larger budget than the U.S. Marine Corps.
And, of course, Congress still gets paid too - even though the House Majority Leader has no intention of calling the House back into session until January.
CAPTAIN'S NOTE: Little Johnson knows that as soon as he calls them into session, Democrats will have enough support to force a vote on releasing the Epstein Files.
But then there's the SNAP program. Formerly known as "Food Stamps", SNAP stands for "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program". Approximately 42 million Americans receive some amount of SNAP benefits, which helps them put food on the table.
Some are disabled. Some are children. Some are employees at WalMart and Amazon.
Some even serve in our military!
As a bargaining chip to get the Democrats to give in and approve the Republican-proposed continuing resolution, the government has decided it can't pay SNAP benefits in November.
Yes, withholding food support from 40 million Americans!
Now, shame on the Democrats for not giving in to Republican demands, right?
Do the Democrats want American citizens to starve?
No. The Democrats are fighting to restore funding for the Affordable Care Act - an item intentionally left out of the Republican bill. Without such funding, medical insurance for those same poor people will skyrocket to beyond reach.
So the Republicans have left us with the choice: you can either have food or medical care.
Leading the Captain to wonder if America great is yet?
In my blog of April 1, 2025, I addressed a comment made by the president's press secretary, in which she claimed the president is working toward another "Golden Age" in America.
Either she said the quiet part out loud, or she is not familiar with history.
The so-called "Golden Age" in America was at the turn of the previous century. The now famous "Robber Barons" made their fortunes on the backs of hard-working Americans.
To be quite honest, that is exactly where the president is leading us right now.
Here's where I'm headed with this.
On Halloween - the day before SNAP benefits were scheduled to end - the president threw a party at Mar-a-lago, his Florida country club and residence.
The theme for the party: "The Great Gatsby".
Truly tone-deaf - some of our wealthiest citizens and government leaders rubbing salt into the wounds of our poorest citizens.
Has the president not read the famous novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald?
Does he not know that the title character, "Gatsby", is a big phony who made his money in bootlegging and other criminal activities in a failed attempt to impress a woman he couldn't have when he was poor?
Did no one instruct him in the depiction of the inherent inequalities in life? About the racism depicted in the book? The sexism?
At least someone should have told him how the book ends - with a desperate poor man mistakenly shooting Gatsby in his own swimming pool.
The gall of this man to flaunt his wealth the night before those struggling to get by in this new "Golden Age" are losing their food supplement!
UPDATE: Lawsuits were brought against the administration to force the payment of SNAP benefits - since the FDA has an emergency fund specifically designed to continue SNAP should there be a government shutdown. Two separate judges ordered the government to meet its commitment by today.
In a typical stalling tactic, the government lawyers argued there is no process in place to transfer the money and, with the government shutdown, no employees to make it happen.
The judges were insistent and today it was announced that SNAP recipients would receive half their usual benefit for November.
Some day.
This is an unfolding story.
But a truly horrid government led by a truly horrid president.
