REPUBLICAN CHAOS FUELS THREAT OF GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

By Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. (TRICEEDNEYWIRE.COM)

Unless warring factions of Republicans in the House of Representatives can come to their senses, the United States government will shut down next Sunday. Some may not notice – we tend to rely on government only when we are in need. But the impact – and the hurt – will be immediate – and will grow over time. Nearly a million federal employees will be furloughed and sent home without pay until there is a resolution.

items on the grocery list.

Nevertheless, lawmakers like Marco Rubio and others may be seeking to jam this misguided idea into the farm bill. The legislative process is hard enough as it is, but it becomes significantly more difficult as individual members of Congress and D.C. special interest groups seek to attach pet projects or priorities to what should be bipartisan legislation. And in Congress, it’s easy for a few lawmakers to derail the progress on must-pass legislation. see SNAP, page 5A

Everything we rely on from the government will slow down or be halted. Home mortgage and loan applications will be delayed. The inability to get government permits will impede everything from commercial fishing to health research to visas and passports. National parks will struggle to stay open, but they will overflow with human waste. Health and scientific research will be disrupted. As we continue to get hit with extreme weather, the emergency help provided by the government will start to run out. Some vital services will continue. The military will stay on the job – although civilian defense workers will either be sent home or work without pay. Social Security and Medicare checks will go out – but the newly retired are likely to find their applications delayed. As always, the vulnerable will be hurt the most. The janitors that clean offices, the food workers that serve food in cafeterias, the security guards who provide safety and others who work for government contractors will not be paid – and may never be paid for what they lose. Many of these earn poverty wages. Their families will suffer if they lose income for a few days, much less a few weeks.

The White House reports that 10,000 children from lowincome families would lose access to the Head Start preschool program.

Pell grants will continue, but new applications will be delayed. An extended delay will constrict federal aid to schools, parks, police, and arts programs. Families living in public housing will get hit. With HUD employees sent home, funding to fix furnaces, roofs, and windows will be disrupted.

As contracts for lowincome housing expire, HUD will be unable to renew them. Those seeking to start a new business will be unable to secure loans from the Small Business Administration.

Subcontractors across the country – the smaller businesses that supply

Republicans can’t agree among themselves on what to pass, with their leaders held hostage by an extreme right that even Republican House members call the “clown show.” vital services to bigger government contractors – will go without pay; many will be forced to the edge. This shutdown – if it occurs – will be worse than the one that took place when Donald Trump was president. At that time, Congress had passed appropriations for several major agencies – from the Defense Department to the Department of Education. They continued to operate as normal. This time, the House has failed to pass any appropriations bill. Republicans could not even agree on a Defense Appropriations Bill to send to the Senate. The threat comes directly from the chaos in the Republican Party. This isn’t a battle between the parties. The Republican majority in the House hasn’t even begun to negotiate with the Democratic majority in the Senate. Republicans can’t agree among themselves on what to pass, with their leaders held hostage by an extreme right that even Republican House members call the “clown show.” see Jackson, page 5A

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Or they blame the victim, the way Ike Turner blamed his wife for his spiraling domestic-violence episodes. They married in 1962 and divorced 16 years later, in 1976.

“We weren’t even talking abut domestic violence, yet,” Tina Turner wrote in her 1986 autobiography, I, Tina. Later, she said on an Oprah episode, “It was just control.” (Ike Turner died at age 76 in 2008 from a cocaine overdose).

Now, few women are talking openly about technology-assisted violence. As a result, highprofile women, feminists and other female internet users have endured lengthy online campaigns against them, where groups of abusers have published their home addresses, created images of them being raped and beaten, threatened them with death and rape, and bombarded them with sexist and racist commentary. Many women have complained but are often accused of overreacting by friends and the police.

“They have been told it was just words and pictures on the internet and their fears were dismissed as an overreaction,”

Suzie Dunn said in her 2021 book, The Emerald International Handbook of Technology-Facilitated Violence and Abuse. “In some cases, they have had to flee their homes, close their digital platforms, and cancel their events due to technology-facilitated attacks.”

A case in point surfaced in July 2022 on the steps outside the U.S. Capitol. New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a frequent online target, shared a video on Twitter of a man harassing her with a video camera and making derogatory comments about her appearance and her support for abortion rights.

“Look at that big booty on AOC – that’s my favorite big booty Latina,” he said.

Snap

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The basis of the idea is about removing choice, but the authors of the so-called “Healthy SNAP Act” claim it’ll help reduce spending, but the data doesn’t support it. SNAP recipients will still have the same amount of benefits.

On the SNAP side, lawmakers could look at generating savings by capping benefits, implementing work requirements, or reducing the overall size of the program.

We all want Americans to make good choices that promote healthier eating habits, but restricting the treats parents buy their kids is not the solution. It’s a shortsighted and ineffective approach that infringes on individual freedom, further stigmatizing lower-income communities, and won’t yield the savings Senator Rubio is promising.

Tamika

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Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump represented Breonna’s mother, Tamika Palmer, in a wrongful death settlement against Louisville. He won both a $12 million settlement and police reforms, including the abolishment of the no-knock warrant. That’s partial justice. Real justice will come when the man who described Breonna’s murder as “justifiable.” And if Tamika Mallory has anything to do with it, his callous response to the death of a young Black woman will end his political career (or he can work for his ally,

“I love you AOC – you’re my favorite!”

The man, who was later identified as Alex Stein, a commentator on The Blaze TV, a media network founded by Glenn Beck, filed a lawsuit against her about a year later. He claimed Ocasio-Cortez was actually flattered by his comments, supposedly evidenced by her flashing a peace sign at him, but blocked him once she

“realized” he was not a political ally. The lawsuit also provided a screenshot from Stein’s account showing that he was blocked.

Stein’s lawsuit requested that he immediately be unblocked from her Twitter account. But this was not her first encounter with technology-assisted abuse.

Earlier, a minor league baseball team released a video describing OcasioCortez as an “enemy of freedom.” On Sept. 8, 2022, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar was censured by the House months after he posted a video online that depicted him killing Ocasio-Cortez.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is one of 13 female political leaders who has experienced (ongoing) technologyassisted violence, according to a 2021 report produced by The Wilson Center, a think tank, which produced the report by analyzing online conversations about 13 female politicians across six social media platforms.

Instead, we should focus on real policies that improve access to nutritious foods and empower all individuals, regardless of their income, to make healthier choices.

As Republicans, we are proud to be the party of individual choice and freedom. These foundational principles are essential to the promise of liberty for all – that we trust our fellow Americans to make their own life choices, even if we don’t agree with them. I’m proud to subscribe to these values, which is why it is important we push back on ideas from within our party that restrict the ability for us to make our own decisions. These values should apply at the grocery store, so lawmakers should reverse course on their misguided SNAP restriction proposal. The last thing Americans need is more nanny state decrees from politicians who think they know best for them.

John Burnett is a business and political analyst

and

an adjunct assistant professor at New York University.

the (twice impeached former president).

Tamika Mallory has become part of the Louisville Black community. She has developed a close relationship with Tamika Palmer and has also become a known presence in the city. She has visited churches, been a presence on the streets, and, through Until Freedom, channeled nearly a million dollars into the community. Her organization has also fed thousands of people and has become a resource for Black people in Louisville. While this Warrior Queen hails from New York, she plans to stay in Louisville until the election, until justice for Breonna, until freedom.

Dr. Julianne Malveaux is an economist and author. She can be reached at juliannemalveaux.com

Researchers sorted through more than 336,000 pieces of abusive content shared by over 190,000 users over a two-month period.

The next year, Harris, in June 2022, announced the launch of a task force aimed at combatting and preventing online harassment and abuse, saying “for far too many people the internet is a place of fear.” The task force “aims to address the growing problem of online harassment and abuse which disproportionately targets women, girls and LGBTQI+ people,” a White House official told reporters.

Technology-assisted abuse is experiencing a clear uphill battle similar to the one domestic violence advocates faced in the early days, due to the fact that the technologyfacilitated abuser aims to dominate, intimidate and control a targeted woman in order to influence her autonomy, (like the domestic-violence abuser, in other words). However both forms of violence arise from societal norms that excuse and normalize violence.

Describing how Ike excused and normalized his own violence, Tina Turner said in her 2018 memoir, My Love Story, Ike gave her Black eyes, broke her jaw, and poured hot coffee on her face, and routinely cheated on her with multiple women. In a 2018 interview, Turner said, “There was violence because he had this fear that I was going to leave him.” In a follow-up interview on Oprah in 2018, Tina Turner said, “I’m still trying to find out why he did it. Maybe something from his childhood followed him through life.”

This means that while a 2013 report from the World Health Organization called violence against women “a global health problem of epidemic proportion,” domestic violence still exists one decade later. Since 5.3 million die each year due to domestic violence, you could fit all of these victims into Houston (population –2.288 million) and Chicago (population – 2.697 million) Each year, about 5.3 million women die due to domestic violence. A woman is beaten every nine seconds in the U.S.

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Loans

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3. Find out if you’re enrolled in the best repayment plan for you. – Borrowers have options on selecting the best repayment plan for their circumstances. Federal Aid’s online Loan Simulator tool helps borrowers to better understand their repayment options on federal loans.

Borrowers using this tool are advised that its availability does not guarantee full accuracy. But for borrowers who need clarification on determining their best strategy for loan repayment, whether to consolidate their loans, or are struggling with current loan repayments, it provides useful information and direction. Access the Federal Student’s Loan Simulator at: https://studentaid.gov/ loan-simulator/

4. Take action now if you need to lower your monthly payment. –Borrowers previously enrolled in an incomedriven repayment plan or IDR, but have had a change of income since payments were suspended, may be able to receive a new and lower monthly payment. Specific steps are required for borrowers in this category.

5. If you need immediate relief, contact your loan servicer ASAP. – Your loan servicer is your point of contact for your loan, loan payments, and other needs.

6. Fully understand the difference between loan delinquency and loan default. If you miss a payment, your loan is delinquent. If it remains delinquent for 270 days, it is defaulted and brings specific financial penalties: a. The default status will damage your credit score. b. You can lose your access to more student aid. c. The government can seize your tax refund, up to 15 percent of Social Security benefits, and/or your paycheck towards paying off your defaulted loan. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) recently encouraged consumers to remember filing complaints on loan servicer issues remains an option.

Anyone desiring to register a complaint with CFPB should visit: https:// www.consumerfinance.gov/ complaint/. Complaints may also be made by phone weekdays between the hours of 8am and 8pm Eastern Time. Callers should expect to spend an average of 30 minutes for completion. The toll-free phone line is (855) 411-3732. Charlene Crowell is a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at Charlene.crowell@ responsiblelending.org.