I had a dream last night, a vivid dream. Whether it was the Parkinson’s, which is known for vivid dreams, or the phase of the moon, or my medications, or the fact that it was Halloween, or maybe such dreams are like earthquakes, you know, the stress to have one builds up over time until you just have a big one, I don’t know.
But I had it.
In my dream, I had organized a huge event that stretched along a jagged line in an open area south of the city. Under a long string of tents, pretty much everyone I know or ever met was cooking their food specialities for members of the public.
And the public had shown up. Thousands of people had come, including many more people that I knew. Most of them were hungry but the majority of my friends just were there to taste the delicacies, sort of like at the food tents at Burning Man.
I went up and down the food line, checking on everybody. Clearly I was in charge. I explained that people should pay for the food if they could, but that it was fine to give it away as well.
Clearly, most of the people who’d come didn’t have the means to pay, but they were cheerful and willing to volunteer their services to help the operation run smoothly. There seemed to be a lot of bartering going on.
Before long, all of the food was gone. As I walked the line one last time, I remembered that my business plan depended on me getting a small cut of the sales from the vendors who had appeared at my event.
When I checked my pocket, I had one dollar bill.
***
Hunger in America is real and has long been one of our biggest and most persistent social problems. Just check out the two CBS documentaries from the 1960s, one by the legendary Edward R. Murrow.
The most recent estimates are that some 18 million people, or 13.5 percent of U.S. households in 2023, suffered from food shortages or its euphemism, “food insecurity.”
As our elected representatives, Republican and Democrat alike, play their high-stakes political games using hunger as one of their trump cards, and as our overweight President waddles off to his private golf resort in Florida, million of Americans are hungry.
And I had a dream about them. Today’s top story is from the L.A. Times, “Judges order USDA to restart SNAP funding, but hungry families won’t get immediate relief.”
HEADLINES:
Hunger in America (CBS — 1968)
Harvest of Shame (CBS — 1960)
Federal judge orders Trump administration to pay SNAP benefits out of contingency fund (NBC)
National Guard deployment in D.C. extended through February (WP)
Republicans quickly push back on Trump’s call to nix filibuster (Politico)
Trump’s Plan Is Now Out in the Open (Atlantic)
U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela in escalation against Maduro regime (Miami Herald)
Pentagon Admits It Has No Idea Who’s on “Drug Boats” Being Bombed (TNR)
UN human rights chief says US strikes on alleged drug boats are ‘unacceptable’ (AP)
Newsom Turns a California Election Into a National Platform (NYT)
Ohio approves new map giving Republicans a leg up in two more House seats (WP)
How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health (Guardian)
Trump demanded that former special counsel Jack Smith be hauled off to jail amid the political leader’s repeated, sweeping calls for the prosecution and jailing of his perceived political opponents. [HuffPost]
Classified U.S. report finds hundreds of possible Israeli human rights violations (WP)
The GOP’s top think tank just defended an open Nazi (Vox)
FBI says “potential terrorist attack” thwarted in Michigan, 5 people arrested (CBS)
Kennedy Center ticket sales have plummeted since Trump takeover (WP)
Despair spreads across historic seaport in Jamaica that Hurricane Melissa demolished (AP)
Don’t Blow This, Baseball (Atlantic)
Inside the Louvre jewelry heist (NYT)
King Charles III strips Prince Andrew of titles and evicts him from royal residence (AP)
I Tried the Robot That’s Coming to Live With You. It’s Still Part Human. (WSJ)
As AI reshapes the job market, here are 16 roles it has created (WP)
Scream Mask Left On While Using Toilet (Onion)
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