Authored by Michael Clements via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

New Mexico state officials on Oct. 23 presented the results of a $1.2 million project to test the blood of people living near Cannon Air Force Base for forever chemicals during a public meeting in Clovis, New Mexico.

The tests found one or more forever chemicals—perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—in the blood of 99.7 percent of people tested. At least one of 16 PFAS chemicals was found across all 628 samples tested, and the most common were those found in firefighting foam.

According to the report, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Air Force did not participate in the testing program.

For more than 80 years, PFAS have been ubiquitous in the United States and around the world.

The family of more than 14,000 chemicals is used in stain- and water-repellent fabrics, nonstick cookware, food packaging, and firefighting foams because they resist heat, oils, stains, and water.

However, they are also almost impossible to destroy and have contaminated the water, soil, and air where they have been manufactured and used. As a result, they are now present in the bloodstreams of 99 percent of Americans, according to government officials.

A 2016 study from the Department of Health and Human Services found evidence that the PFAS family could disrupt the immune system.

Among the PFAS, PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) have received special mention.

“The evidence that these chemicals affect multiple aspects of the immune system supports the overall conclusion that both PFOA and PFOS alter immune functions in humans,” the department’s website states.

Exposure to PFAS has also been linked to increased cholesterol, small decreases in birth weight, kidney and testicular cancer, and changes in liver enzymes.

According to state health officials, some of the chemicals can linger in the blood for several years after exposure. Research from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that it can take weeks to years for levels of many PFAS to decrease by half in human blood, assuming exposure isn’t ongoing.

Contamination at Cannon Air Force Base

Because of the military use of firefighting foam, areas around places such as Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico, are heavily contaminated.

At Cannon Air Force Base, state officials reported that PFAS have been detected in groundwater at concentrations of 26,200 parts per trillion.

In a 2024 white paper, the Environmental Council of States reported that the EPA set enforceable drinking water standards for only five PFAS chemicals.

“At this time, the U.S. has no federally enforceable PFAS standards for other PFAS or for these PFAS in other environmental media, leaving individual states to navigate various avenues for addressing contamination,” the paper said.

The EPA’s legally enforceable levels for PFOA and PFOS are 4 parts per trillion.

James Kenney, secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, said that the state has sued the federal government to pay the long-term cleanup costs. He called on those present at the meeting to speak up as well.

John Wilhelmi, vice president of the Eastern Research Group, which carried out the blood testing program, told those at the Clovis meeting that the presence of PFAS doesn’t guarantee health problems.

“It doesn’t mean you will automatically get these diseases or conditions,” he said. “It just means that, out of an abundance of caution, you are recommended to be screened for this.”

The blood tests showed that PFAS levels tend to increase with age, that males have higher levels, and that those who have military or aviation careers have higher concentrations—all issues consistent with national data, according to information presented on Oct. 23.

Watchdog groups that track PFAS nationwide use EPA and state data to compile maps showing spots across the country where drinking water systems report levels above what’s recommended. Contamination has also been confirmed at hundreds of military bases across the country.

State Support

Kenney, secretary of the New Mexico Environment Department, told those gathered in Clovis that blood testing was only a first step in the state’s plan to address PFAS. He said the state has dedicated $12 million to EPCOR, a Canadian utilities company that provides services to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, to pay to connect residents of rural Curry County to its water lines.

Kenney said the funds should cover all costs of transferring rural residents from contaminated private water wells to a new public drinking water supply that will not be in contact with the contaminated lands.

“We hope it turns out to be a zero-cost proposition to you,” Kenney said at the gathering.

Earlier this week, New Mexico hosted a webinar on HB 212, a new law meant to eventually ban products made with PFAS from the state.

New Mexico is among hundreds of plaintiffs that are part of multi-district litigation in a South Carolina federal court that aims to hold producers and users of PFAS-laden firefighting foam accountable for contamination at sites across the country.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Earlier this month, hundreds of thousands of intellectually challenged Americans took to the streets for a national ‘No Kings’ protest against ‘King’ President Trump. 

Today, a federal judge told the ‘king’ he can’t fire federal workers during the shutdown, indefinitely. 

In a Tuesday order, Judge Susan Illson (Clinton appointee) of the US District Court for the Northern District of California made an earlier temporary ruling permanent. 

“Today’s ruling is another victory for federal workers and our ongoing efforts to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them,” said Lee Saunders, President of AFSCME – a federal workers union. 

The ruling comes after the Office of Management and Budget head Russel Vought announced they were looking to terminate as many as 10,000 federal workers during the government shutdown, also known as a Reduction In Force (RIF). 

RIF notices have already gone out to about 4,000 workers. 

The move by the monarchy resulted in a lawsuit from federal worker unions at the end of last month in anticipation of the layoffs. 

Roughly two weeks ago, members of Congress, including Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), flipped out over the federal firings – calling the layoffs “arbitrary” in her opposition.

“Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public,” Collins said Oct. 10. 

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, said in a statement that the Trump administration was “callously choosing to hurt people.”

And now, ‘king’ Trump can’t do that. 

As we have been writing about for the better part of the last 2 years, growing electricity needs from artificial-intelligence data centers are pushing tech giants back toward nuclear power.

On Monday, NextEra Energy and Google announced a deal to restart the Duane Arnold Energy Center near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, which closed in 2020 after 45 years of operation. The 615-megawatt plant is expected to return to service in early 2029 under a 25-year power purchase agreement with Google, Reuters reported.

Shares of NextEra rose more than 1% after the announcement. The move adds to recent nuclear-supply arrangements tied to hyperscale cloud operators, echoing plans at the former Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania aimed at Microsoft data centers. As we have written about extensively on Zero Hedge, companies including Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have also signed agreements to buy future energy from advanced nuclear projects such as small modular reactors and fusion systems.

Reuters writes that NextEra and Google said they will also explore new nuclear technologies. CEO John Ketchum noted, “Restarting Duane Arnold marks an important milestone for NextEra Energy,” adding, “Our partnership with Google not only brings nuclear energy back to Iowa — it also accelerates the development of next-generation nuclear technology.”

Ruth Porat, Alphabet and Google’s president and CIO, said, “This partnership serves as a model for the investments needed across the country to build energy capacity and deliver reliable, clean power, while protecting affordability and creating jobs that will drive the AI-driven economy.”

NextEra will acquire the 30% stake previously held by Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative, taking full ownership. Central Iowa Power Cooperative will continue purchasing its share of output under the same terms as Google.

While three nuclear restart efforts are underway in the U.S., no previously shut down plant has yet come back online.

Nuclear names soared on Tuesday morning after Cameco and the Trump admin announced an $80 billion deal with Westinghouse Electric (Cameco owns 49%) to build nuclear reactors, the latest push to meet rising demand for electricity from artificial intelligence.

The strategic partnership, which also involves Brookfield Asset Management and Cameco, aims to deliver on President Trump’s AI ambitions and scale up an industry he sees as vital to competing with China. It will create tens of thousands of jobs, the companies said in a statement on Tuesday.

CCJ announced that the company and Brookfield Asset Management have entered into a partnership with the US Government to accelerate the deployment of Westinghouse’s reactor technology across the US. The $80bn commitment is expected to include near-term financing of long lead time items. In a note from Goldman’s research team (which turned bullish on the name about a year ago, and roughly 3 years after us) wrote that they “view this partnership as a significant step forward in reinvigorating nuclear supply chains to accelerate deployment of nuclear power deployment in the United States. We reiterate our Buy rating and highlight key takeaways within.“

According to the release, each two-unit Westinghouse AP1000 project creates or sustains 45,000 manufacturing and engineering jobs in 43 states, and a national deployment will create more than 100,000 construction jobs, the companies said. In short, this is a huge win-win deal for everyone (except a handful of environmental radicals). 

Via Middle East Eye

An Israeli state-owned defense company has set up a subsidiary to operate in the United Arab Emirates, in the first such move since Israel and Abu Dhabi normalized relations in 2020. 

Controp Precision Technologies will establish and register the subsidiary in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, or ADGM, an economic zone in the Emirati capital. The Israeli defense ministry approved the move on Sunday, the Times of Israel reported.  

The Abu Dhabi-based subsidiary will be Controp’s regional arm in the Gulf region, overseeing marketing, sales and maintenance of its electro-optical systems used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions across air, land and sea.

The Times of Israel reported that at a later stage, Controp will directly compete for defense tenders in the UAE and neighboring countries. 

The UAE normalized ties with Israel under the Abraham Accords in September 2020. Since then, the two countries have strengthened economic and political ties. Trade of goods between Israel and the UAE totalled around $3.2bn in 2024, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics.

In January, Thirdeye Systems, an Israeli military supplier, sold a 30 percent stake to Emirati state-owned defense conglomerate Edge for $10m.

Relations became somewhat strained after the outbreak of the Gaza war, with the UAE offering occasional condemnations of Israeli actions. In September, Abu Dhabi described an Israeli attack on Hamas officials on Qatar as “treacherous”, using unusually strong rhetoric.

Earlier this month, a number of Israeli defense companies were banned from the Dubai Airshow pending a “technical review”. 

Controp was founded in 1988 to develop and manufacture electro optical control systems for intelligence surveillance. Its camera systems are used in drones, helicopters, land vehicles, surveillance towers and vessels. 

UAE buys land in Israel to establish permanent embassy. pic.twitter.com/87bezGZzxI

— Globe Eye News (@GlobeEyeNews) October 20, 2025

The investment in establishing the UAE subsidiary is estimated to cost up to $30m, according to the Times of Israel. The report added that the subsidiary would be managed by an Israeli citizen, and full control would remain in the hands of the Israeli parent company. 

Gold is “an overcrowded trade that’s overextended by every technical metric,” Nicky Shiels, head of research at precious metals refiner MKS Pamp SA, wrote in early October, getting ever more overbought.

The reckoning came last week and extended losses this week, with the precious metal back below $4,000…

Source: Bloomberg

The crash that everyone saw coming has now dragged the commodity well off the ledge of overboughtness…

Source: Bloomberg

The ‘dip’ has, however, brought out a new wave of buyers – from retail lurkers to central banks finally waking up.

Amid pictures of lines outside gold stores around the world flooding social media over the past month, Bloomberg reports that, in Bangkok’s Chinatown, the nation’s gold trading hub, Sunisa Kodkasorn, a 57-year-old textile factory worker, had no doubt about whether this move is a turning point in gold’s multiyear bull market, or just a dip?

“Gold is the best investment,” she said.

“We decided to gather all our money and come today because we knew prices had dropped.”

She’s not alone: from Singapore to the US, dealers told Bloomberg they had seen a rush of interest from people looking to buy gold as prices dropped this week. Kodkasorn’s attempt to buy the dip was stymied because the size of gold bar she could afford was sold out.

“Bull markets always need a healthy correction to weed out froth and ensure the cycle has duration,” Shiels, whose initial note came a fortnight before prices peaked, said this week.

“Prices should consolidate and revert to a more measured bullish trajectory.”

It remains hard to find a gold bear among precious metals analysts whose forecasts – for the most part – have been bullish but not bullish enough over the course of the last two years.

When the London Bullion Market Association carried out a survey of analysts at the start of the year, almost every respondent expected prices to rise, but none thought it could trade above $3,300 during 2025.

“We expect de-risking and profit taking by investors to be met by dip buying from other segments of demand including central banks and other physical buyers, ultimately keeping reversals relatively shallow,” Gregory Shearer at JPMorgan Chase & Co. said in a note this week.

Pete Walden, deputy chief executive officer at BullionStar, a dealership in Singapore, said his company had had its busiest day ever on Tuesday.

“We had a queue before opening, with many more buyers than sellers,” he said. “I think many are using it as an opportunity to buy the dip.”

In the US, Stefan Gleason of dealer Money Metals Exchange LLC, said his company had more interest from “bargain hunting” buyers than it could handle.

But it’s not just the retail market participant who is buying this precious metals dip…

Bloomberg reports that South Korea’s central bank is weighing plans to add to its gold reserves for the first time in more than a decade.

“The Bank of Korea plans to consider additional gold purchases from a medium- to long-term perspective,” said Heung-Soon Jung, director of the Reserve Investment Division at the bank’s Reserve Management Group.

The last time the bank added to its gold holdings was 2013, according to Jung, speaking at an event hosted by the London Bullion Market Association and London Platinum and Palladium Market in Kyoto on Tuesday.

His remarks offer a rare insight into the attitude of central banks to bullion reserves.

While their purchases have become an ever more important driver of prices in recent years, central bankers rarely speak in public about the gold market.

Jung said the Bank of Korea would monitor markets to decide the timing and size of any gold purchases.

Any decision would be based on the evolution of its international reserves, as well as the trajectories of gold and the Korean won, he added.

The Bank of Korea faced criticism domestically after purchasing gold in 2011-2013, just before the metal entered a multiyear price slump.

It hasn’t bought gold since, even as a wave of buying by other central banks has helped drive up prices in recent years.

Now may well be the time to follow retail in and BTFD for the next wave of global liquidity.

Authored by Michael Snyder via TheMostImportantNews.com,

It is already happening…

There has been a lot of talk that there will be a surge in demand at America’s overwhelmed food banks once funding for the food stamp program ends in early November, but the truth is that we are already witnessing a surge in demand.  So what is going to happen if the current government shutdown persists for an extended period of time?  On one recent evening, the line at a food bank in downtown Kansas City “snaked through the parking lot, down a driveway and into the street”…

On a recent Thursday evening, the line of cars waiting to pick up food at Redemptorist Social Services Center in midtown snaked through the parking lot, down a driveway and into the street.

Demand for free food is soaring across Kansas City, as job cuts increase, food inflation remains persistently high and federal food assistance is slashed by the Trump administration.

Julie McCaw, executive director at Redemptorist, called the situation “alarming.” Families with working parents, senior citizens and people who simply cannot find work increasingly are turning to food pantries like hers for help.

Sadly, this is just the beginning.

At one location in San Francisco the lines “typically extend a city block”, but the president and CEO of that facility openly admits that the lines are “about to get longer”…

Each week, as president and CEO of the San Francisco social justice nonprofit Glide, I walk past the lines of people who wait for our free meal program. Those lines typically extend a city block.

They’re about to get longer.

If you find yourself needing to go to a food bank during the weeks ahead, my recommendation would be to get there very early.

Because once the food is gone, there is nothing left to hand out.

That recently happened at the Capital Area Food Bank in Maryland, but fortunately a truck with more supplies showed up just in time…

The Capital Area Food Bank started the morning with 300 boxes, enough for 150 families to receive two boxes each. They ran out halfway through distribution.

Cheers erupted as another truck backed into the shopping center parking lot. Federal workers, in a line that wrapped around the shopping center and into the neighborhood, clapped and cheered at the sight of reinforcements arriving at the emergency food distribution site.

If the line at that food bank is long enough to wrap around a shopping center now, what is it going to look like in a few weeks?

In New Mexico, more than a fifth of the entire population is on food stamps, and demand at local food banks is rapidly increasing…

Marissa Brown, who runs the Roadrunner Food Bank distribution, says the line has increased by approximately 50 households to 225 each week. She estimated a line once composed mostly of unhoused people pushing carts is now probably 60% people with roofs over their heads.

“We are just seeing more of our neighbors who are housed coming, too, because it’s just hard for everyone,” Brown told Source New Mexico as people worked their way through the line Friday morning. “We’re really pleased that we can just expand that reach to anyone who might need it, but it certainly has expanded.”

Neighboring Texas is experiencing a similar surge in demand.

In fact, it is being reported that at food banks throughout the state the lines are “growing longer every day”…

The West Texas Food Bank is sounding the alarm. As the federal government shutdown continues, thousands of West Texans — including federal employees and families depending on SNAP benefits — are left wondering how they’ll put food on the table.

The Food Bank is stepping in to fill the gap, but shelves are emptying faster than they can be restocked. Demand has surged across the 19 counties served by the organization, with lines growing longer every day.

“We are seeing fear in people’s eyes,” Libby Stephens, CEO of the West Texas Food Bank, said in a news release. “Parents will skip meals so their children can eat. Families who have always been the ones giving help will find themselves asking for it. We will do everything we can, but our resources are already stretched to the limit. We desperately need the community’s help more than ever.”

We haven’t seen anything like this in a long time.

In our nation’s capital, federal workers that are suddenly without paychecks are lining up to get free food and supplies from a food bank in southeast DC…

Federal workers lined up around the corner outside of the Capital Area Food Bank in Southeast Washington, D.C., on Friday after missing their first full paycheck since the now 24-day government shutdown began.

The food bank, set up specifically for federal workers, provided boxed meals, household goods and personal hygiene items to over 250 federal employees on Friday, according to Wil Stroman, a local pastor who is helping organize a food bank for federal workers every Friday until the shutdown ends.

This is why it is so important to always have a sizable emergency fund.

If you suddenly lose your job or some sort of a temporary emergency happens, you will still need to pay your bills and feed your family.

Yes, it is great that the food banks are there.

But they can only do so much.

We haven’t even reached the month of November yet, and one food bank in Huntington, West Virginia is already rationing potatoes…

Cynthia Kirkhart, the CEO of Facing Hunger Foodbank in Huntington, West Virginia, has already had to explain to customers this year why the organization is rationing bags of potatoes.

The food bank, which also serves households in Kentucky and Ohio, has had to shrink its allotments as higher food costs and surging need strain its budget.

I never imagined that we would be talking about rationing potatoes in November 2025, but here we are.

When things start to go bad, they tend to do so very quickly, and you definitely don’t want to be caught without enough food when things really start hitting the fan.

These are such perilous times.

My hope is that the government shutdown will be resolved soon so that our food banks will not get absolutely crushed by a tsunami of new demand.

But right now we are being told that this shutdown is likely to last quite a bit longer, and that is not good news for any of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

The Russian government is preparing to expand military conscription in order to ensure steady flow of manpower related to its Ukraine ‘special military operation’.

Russia’s State Duma (lower house) has approved legislation on Tuesday that will shift the country’s military to a year-round conscription model beginning next year, part of the broader push to boost troop numbers related to Ukraine, the regional monitor Moscow Times says.

A key change is that draft boards will be able to carry out medical examinations, psychological evaluations, and other enlistment procedures at any point throughout the year, instead of just during designated draft periods as the policy currently stands.

According to more from the publication:

Supporters of the reform say it is designed to ease the administrative burden on military recruitment offices and better distribute workload across the year.

The bill’s explanatory notes say the new system will improve the quality of conscription and reduce bottlenecks during the bi-annual surge.

All of this strongly points to the Kremlin anticipating that the deadly war will grind on possibly for years more to come. It has already been going for well over three years, since the full-scale invasion of Feb. 2022.

Prior to that, the Donbass civil war pitted pro-Russian autonomous republics against the Ukrainian army and its associated militias in the region. But at this point, Russia has still not officially mobilized society for what meets the (domestic) legal definition “war”, as it’s instead a Special Military Operation (SMO).

What were previously high hopes for President Trump to broker a Ukraine peace deal have faded, and the much talked about Budapest summit with Putin has been put on indefinite hold.

Putin could also be anticipating expanding battlelines based on the Western military alliance pouring more weapons into the conflict – for example long-range missiles from the US and UK.

Recruitment methods in Russia have been less controversial than the desperate tactics often on display in Ukraine…

Russia recruits by offering $73,000 USD for signing a contract, or about 6x the avg. annual wage.

Ukraine recruits by sneaking up behind random men and kidnapping them right off the street. pic.twitter.com/2jUPVbQ2gr

— Chebureki Man (@CheburekiMan) October 4, 2025

Moscow might also now be flexing back, showing that it can outlast its enemies in this war of attrition, even as the US and EU impose maximal sanctions, which just happened with the sanctioning of two Russian oil giants.

It’s the 9th war that Donald Trump has (ostensibly) ended, bringing peace to the galaxy.  The gaming wars are officially over and the political left lost.  The icing on the cake?  Leftists are now forced to scroll through Trump Halo memes posted by GameStop and the DHS. 

Woke activists and progressives are in meltdown after GameStop and the White House exchanged memes from the game “Halo” featuring Donald Trump.  The viral joke spread after GameStop published a declaration of the end of the console wars and appointing themselves the neutral adjudicators. 

The official White House “rapid response” X account reposted the declaration, stating that this was yet another war that Trump had helped to end. 

https://t.co/jI0ZrstLgz pic.twitter.com/VS32cV0RG7

— GameStop (@gamestop) October 27, 2025

GameStop posted an AI image of Trump shaking hands with Master Chief from Halo, and the memes exploded.

Power to the Players https://t.co/GqNu0qdgmw pic.twitter.com/4Hw6G7i7aW

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 27, 2025

Finishing this fight. pic.twitter.com/6Ezq9NUqMq

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) October 27, 2025

The response from leftists has been exactly what we have come to expect:  Salt, outrage and accusations of political “hypocrisy”.  They believe that pop culture and the world of gaming belongs to them; controlling cultural expression is the lifeblood of progressive movements.   

FUCK ICE! and FUCK Donald Trump!
Get the FUCK outta here with using HALO for your shitty dehumanizing police state Propaganda! No one thinks your shit is cool besides low IQ hur hur MAGA cult members on X. Half of which are bots. Yall gonna find out soon in the next Election! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/1WvzoeLDvN

— Joe Vargas (@AngryJoeShow) October 27, 2025

Ya know who LOVES this?

The same dumbfucks who said to
“kEeP pOlitiCs OuT of GAming” for the last 8 years. https://t.co/Pt7IwB3APM

— Shaun Bolen (@ShaunBolen) October 27, 2025

The argument that anti-woke champions called for “politics to be removed from video games” is not exactly accurate.  They called for woke politics to be removed from video games.  There’s a difference.  

The Trump/Halo memes are being heralded by Gamergate as the light at the end of the dark tunnel of leftist dominance within media spaces.  If a company like GameStop is unafraid to share jokes with the White House about Trump saving video games, it means that the woke mob has no power to frighten the industry with cancellation and boycotts.  It means the leftist stranglehold on culture is slipping.    

The invasion of the political left into pop culture spaces has been documented by conservatives for decades. However, if we are to be completely honest, it was Gamergate kids exposing the intersectional feminist subversion of the video game industry that ultimately brought the woke agenda into wider public awareness.

Woke activists infested the industry using far-left “consulting firms”, groups that extorted gaming companies, threatening them with potential lawsuits and cancellation if they didn’t integrate the progressive DEI checklist into all of their projects. 

As a result, game developers hired on numerous activists, fearing that they would be targeted by the mob and lose their customer base.  Once inside these companies, the activists hired even more of their activist friends and the assimilation was complete.  As a result, nearly every major console game was replete with DEI and LGBT indoctrination. 

The goal?  To saturate the market with woke propaganda and bombard children with “the message” until they were brainwashed into loving it. 

Instead, Gamergate grew in strength and influence, making it impossible for games companies to embed woke messaging without taking massive losses in sales.  Many of these companies are imploding today.  Many of the activist journalists who ran cover for them and attacked Gamergate have lost their jobs in the recent tech media bloodbath.  They’re lucky if they can get work at Starbucks.

Today, Trump is being memed in Halo armor and ICE is using Halo as a allegory for the illegal alien invasion of the US.  Who could have predicted ten years ago that this kind of political healing was possible?  The woke mob should have left video games alone.

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times,

More than 41 million Americans won’t receive federal help buying groceries in November unless Congress reopens the government.

“The well has run dry,” the Department of Agriculture wrote on its website on Oct. 27.

The department oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which serves about 12 percent of the U.S. population.

The government shutdown began Oct. 1 after the Senate failed to advance a stopgap funding resolution introduced by Republicans, which would have temporarily funded the government while Congress completed 2026 spending legislation.

Nearly all Democrats have rejected the measure until Republicans come to terms on their proposals to extend health care funding expiring end of the year. Republicans contend that those negotiations should happen in the context of regular spending negotiations, not as a condition for reopening the government.

Here’s a look at which states stand to lose the most if the shutdown extends another week, and how that could affect both parties.

States Receiving the Most Funding

SNAP funding totaled more than $7.8 billion in May 2025, the last month for which data is available.

Nearly half of all SNAP funds went to 7 large-population states in the month of May.

California drew the largest share at more than $1 billion in federal funding—about 13 percent of the total.

New York received $647 million, and Texas received $614 million. The next highest amounts went to Florida, $536 million; Illinois, $368 million; Pennsylvania, $368 million; and Ohio, $356 million.

Those states together received 49 percent of the food assistance benefit for May 2025, and they served about 49 percent of those receiving benefits.

Total spending for SNAP reached $99.8 billion in fiscal year 2024.

States are now preparing for the possibility of no SNAP funding in November.

A New York State Department of Social Services website carried this warning: “Due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, November SNAP benefits may be delayed. SNAP benefits cannot be issued for November unless the federal government shutdown ends or other federal action provides necessary funding.”

The site promised those receiving assistance an update by Nov. 1.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom warned residents on Oct. 20 that its food assistance funds would likely be delayed in November if the shutdown lasted beyond Oct. 23.

States With Highest Rate of Participation

On average, about 12 percent of Americans receive SNAP benefits. In some states, that percentage is much higher. These states stand to lose fewer federal dollars, but the impact could be greater, affecting a relatively larger share of their population.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have higher-than-average participation in SNAP.

Of those, New Mexico has the highest rate, with 21 percent of its 2.1 million people receiving food assistance. The District of Columbia is next with 20 percent of its 700,000 residents participating in SNAP. Oregon is next with 18 percent participation, followed by Louisiana and Oklahoma at 17 percent each.

About 15 percent of the population receives SNAP benefits in West Virginia, Nevada, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, and Michigan.

Political Speculation

Leaders in both political parties have blamed the other for the impending loss of food aid.

“Forty-two million people across America are going to suffer from [losing] those SNAP benefits that they count on right before Thanksgiving because [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer and Democrats are so angry with President [Donald] Trump that they just want to find a way to say no,” House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) told reporters on Oct. 22.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said in an Oct. 25 statement: “The Administration is choosing not to feed Americans in need—choosing to inflict pain on families—despite knowing that it has the authority to do so. That is unacceptable. Hunger isn’t a bargaining chip.”

Any loss of SNAP funding is expected to affect the constituencies of both parties similarly.

Schumer and House Majority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are both Democrats from New York, a state having higher-than-average participation in SNAP and ranking second highest in total SNAP funding.

House Majority Leader Mike Johnson and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise are both Republicans from Louisiana, where 17 percent of the population receives SNAP assistance, well above the national average.

In states where a majority voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election, the combined rate of SNAP participation was 12 percent.

In states that voted for then-Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris, the rate was slightly higher at 13 percent.

The Trump administration has said that “contingency funds are not legally available to cover regular benefits” for SNAP, so congressional action will be needed to prevent a loss of benefits.

And there is no legal pathway to reimburse states that expend their own money to cover November’s SNAP payments, should they choose to.

“Despite their willingness, States cannot cover the cost of benefits and be reimbursed,” the department said in a statement.

Dozens are dead, including four police officers, following a major narcoterrorism operation targeting organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. The government operation comes less than two weeks before globalists gather for the COP30 global warming conference in Belem, Brazil.

“We stand firm confronting narcoterrorism,” Governor Claudio Castro wrote on X. He said 2,500 security personnel and 32 armored trucks were a part of the operation across the Alemao and Penha favela regions.

Broadcasters GloboNews and CNN Brasil reported that at least 60 people have died, including police officers, during the raids against drug cartels. 

Rio de Janeiro appears to be in a state of chaos. 

Rio de Janeiro is under a state of terror. The Comando Vermelho (CV) gang has enforced a citywide lockdown in retaliation for police operations targeting crime in the state. pic.twitter.com/7Mc3D84dID

— Cartel Watch (@CartelWatchNet) October 28, 2025

🇧🇷🇺🇸 @StateDept
To whom it may concern:
These are the narcoterrorists shooting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The cartel known as CV is connected to the Venezuelan cartels. A real threat to the United States. pic.twitter.com/lvqsYCKAos

— Rafael Fontana (@RafaelFontana) October 28, 2025

Faixa de Gaza? Não. É o Rio de Janeiro no dia de hoje! pic.twitter.com/ecyuQ7tBkT

— Valeria Bernardo (@ValeriaBnews) October 28, 2025

Castro outlined the operation:

1. SECURITY: The Government of the State of Rio launches, this Tuesday (10/28), the “Operation Containment”. The joint action of the state security forces mobilizes 2,500 civil and military police in the Complexes of Alemão and Penha

2. OBJECTIVE: The operation aims to combat the territorial expansion of the Comando Vermelho and to capture criminal leaderships from Rio de Janeiro and other states. The action also involves the participation of prosecutors from the State Public Prosecutor’s Office.

3. INVESTIGATION: The “Operation Containment” was launched after more than a year of investigation conducted by the Narcotics Repression Police Station (DRE). Throughout the day, arrest warrants and search and seizure warrants obtained from the Judiciary will be served.

4. MOBILIZED FORCES: @PMERJ participates with the Special Operations Command (COE) and operational units from the capital and Metropolitan Region. @PCERJ mobilized agents from CORE, specialized police stations, district stations, Money Laundering Combat Dept., and Intelligence Subsecretariat.

5. STRUCTURE: The operation features a strong technological and logistical apparatus, including drones, 2 helicopters, 32 armored land vehicles, and 12 demolition vehicles from the PM’s Special Operations Support Unit, in addition to ambulances from the Rescue and Salvage Group.

Timing of the raids comes one week before the C40 summit of global mayors and Prince William’s global environmental Earthshot Prize, which will feature celebrities, according to Reuters. Also, globalists are holding their COP30 global warming summit in Belem, northern Brazil, from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21.  

Such large-scale operations in favelas to combat drug cartels have been seen ahead of previous international events in Rio, including the 2016 Olympics, the 2024 G20 summit, and the recent BRICS summit.