Behind the rhetoric about 'lazy freeloaders' lies a stunning truth: America's largest corporations depend on food stamps to prop up their low-wage empires... Democrats won big in last night's election, and it's a great sign for the future of American democracy. Voters rejected racism, fear, and cruelty. They said in a loud and singular voice — overwhelmingly voting for moderate Democrats, progressive Democrats, and even a ballot initiative without a single person on the ballot — that they want their democracy back. Nonetheless, Mike Johnson is still keeping the House on vacation and John Thune is still refusing to break a Senate filibuster and reopen the government. And, crucially, Trump is still refusing to fully fund SNAP/food stamps, even though he can easily put his hands on the money.

When politics becomes personal, policy becomes powerful, and there's nothing more personal than survival… When politics becomes personal, policy becomes powerful. And there's nothing more personal than survival. Every election cycle, candidates talk about "freedom," "security," and "opportunity," yet ignore the most basic measure of all three: whether ordinary Americans can afford to stay alive. In the richest nation in the history of planet Earth, millions of Americans are dying from treatable illnesses, rationing insulin, and running GoFundMe campaigns for chemotherapy. This isn't just a policy failure, it's a moral collapse. And it's the one issue that could unite the country, reshape the Democratic Party, and finally prove that compassion is not weakness, but strength.

The Best of the Rest of the News and Opinion… — The GOP's dirty little secret exposed, courtesy of Donald Trump: Republicans in the Senate could have ended the shutdown anytime they wanted. — Epstein, Rubio, or ego? What's really behind Trump's Venezuela madness? — Trump's new refugee policy: white, wealthy, and welcome. — Hispanics not welcome either, unless they worked for one of Trump's shabby golf motels. — "Judge Boxwine" Pirro, recently recruited from Fox "News" for a federal judgeship, apparently demanded prosecutors delete the word "mob" to describe a member of the mob that attacked the US Capitol on January 6th. — Tear gassing trick-or-treaters: Noem's new definition of American values. — From firebrand to outcast: Marjorie Taylor Greene's midlife MAGA crisis. What's happening with MTG? — Hunter in a Farmer's World: Rethinking ADHD: It's Not Forgetfulness, It's a Different Kind of Seeing — Wisdom School: The Silent Conversation Between You and Your Bones

Algorithms are not tuned for what is best for society. They don't follow the rules that hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution have built into our cultures, religions & political systems… Some data points for your consideration: — On Saturday in Chicago's affluent Old Irving Park neighborhood, Trump's secret, masked police violently pulled a 67 year old U.S. citizen — a member of a local running club returning to his home from a run — out of his car and threw him to the street, where they assaulted him with such force that they broke six ribs and left him with internal bleeding. — Donald Trump is openly taking bribes, publicly ordering political prosecutions, murdering people in naked violation of both US and international law, all while claiming the Supreme Court gave him absolute immunity from prosecution for any crime. — An MIT study finds that lies presented as news travel six times faster across social media than truths. — While over 75% of Americans trusted the news fifty years ago, today that number is a mere 28%, with only 8% of Republicans believing what they see or read in mainstream outlets. These are all the same story, and they all largely derive from a single source, a mind poison that was introduced into the American (and world) mindstream in a big way about two decades ago.