Bobby Seale and Huey P Newton. Black Panther Party

“I do not believe that money makes people happy; poverty, however, can make you unhappy.”

— peg’s dad

👆 that up there. Please take all the nutrition and healthcare opportunities available to you, these are good things. For what it’s worth, there’s a delicious bag of food bank grapes in my fridge right now.

"you've bled your whole soul into things you can't control in a world you'll never satisfy."

A Simon Riley x f reader fic. connections you didnt know you had, or wanted, are coming for you. But oh, to say you didn't know what an understatement.)

" I'll bandage up your body and your bones and your bad days too. take care of the blood that your love runs through."

(I don't know what I'm going to do with this but I'm inspired to write, so I will.)

A descriptive gore and emotionally truamatic type of fic. 'TW; guns, violence, abuse, death, self harm, addiction, military, swearing, anger, offensive remarks, and drugs. lmk if i missed any)

Wrong place wrong time?

the alarm that's been poking at your unconscious mind for the past 2 minutes finally breaks through and nudges at you awake. willing your hand over to dismiss it. Flipping slowly onto your back you blink away the sleep after a good stretch and stare up at the ceiling. Trying to coax yourself into getting up. Blood rushes to your head as you kick and shuffle off your blankets lazily. Beginning to sit up, giving way to a rush I'd dizziness you'd gotten used to. After a minute, rubbing at your tired eyes, you stood up and begin to trudge your way over to the closed door. Unlocking it with fumbling fingers, Making your way downstairs to the baren kitchen you call your own. Head too clouded to think properly, fatigue itching at the back of your eyes as you set the 'should have been cleaned a long time ago' pot back into its respective place. Unsteadu fingers reach up and clicking the machine on, whirring haphazardly back to life. Just as it has done so every morning for the past 9 or so months.

It never got any easier

The loud strangled sound of liquid spurting out of the machine and hitting the bottom of the pot falls into your subconscious. Coffee being one of the only things you've kept up on since the incident. A coping mechanism, if you will. A loud high pitched set of beeps pulls your head out your own ass, bringing you back to the gargling sounds of liquid spurting into the pot. With a final beep you unlatch it from its spot and poor the steaming dark liquid right into your cup, steam rolling up past your face. Minutes pass staring at the wall, sipping slowly so it doesn't burn your tongue too bad. In a way you liked the burn, the sting of the liquid against your tongue, sure of permanent taste bud loss after all the mini burns.

About 2 hours later you've had a fair share of 4 cups of plain old hot brew, liquid that hardly does the trick anymore. Tapping your finger against the counter, thoughts of all kinds come and go like the signals through your nerves. So frequently, you don't pay attention to a single one anymore.

Making your way back up you decide to change into something a bit more acceptable than old pajamas to go out in. Throwing on some joggers a beat up hoodie to a college you never went to. Making your way back down to to toss over your dark brown canvas coat and a shoulder tote bag that held your laptop and overdue school work. Throwing on some dusty old boots and making a mental note of what I'll do when I walk out the door. Genuinely better than sitting around letting my head get to me, right?

Walking down the set path from my front door to the gate, unlocking and relocking the doors and gates I go through. Throwing the keys back in my jacket, I continue down the path like I do every day. Headed for the quaint coffee shop a few blocks into town. Zipping up my over sized coat, the slow wind still manages to sting my face leaving a rosey hugh to cover my cheeks and nose. Air like needles going right through my joggers, discomfort silencing the negativity flowing through my head.

Eventually I make it to my destination,press open the door with a light ding signaling my entrance. The quaint cafe owners' greeting filled the silence between the squeek of the metal door and worn down rubber footsteps. Our little routine.

"There she is" bal chuckled as he glanced my way. "Was beginning to think you got lost" the older man says as he continues to clean. "Morning to you too bal" I kept my voice low, trying my best to keep my boots from squeeking on the shiny resin floors. I shuffle over to the same corner with the same chair and table, schooching myself into the seat and setting my bag next to me.

Unloading my laptop, setting it beside me on the table. Bal keeping a sly eye on me as he wipes crumbs off the countertops. A slight uncomfortable silence besides the small fan whirring in the corner to keep heat circulating. "Made a fresh batch of that raspberry danish you love" bal coos from behind the counter to try to coax me to eat, knowing id skip today's food otherwise. "I'm not hungry-" "bah nonsense!" He smiles as he shuffles over and sets a small plate in front of me. Accompanied with a fork. I offer a compliant smile, not much else i can do. I felt bad, since every morning he insisted on handing me coffee or a small dessert free of charge. Needless to say I keep his tip jar full, when I can.

I pull my laptop screen up while holding the keyboard to table, a blue password screen popping up. Fingers hovering over the keyboard as I take a bite, ready to type in my password- *bzzrdt* my phone vibrates a giant fabric of my joggers, urging me to check it out. Weird? Movement notifications? My eyes go wide with panic, 1-2- no 4 distinct figures shown throughout different parts of the house before they all 'go out' one by one. Leaving an error code on each view. "Shit!" I mudder, jumping up shoving my laptop away and booking it out the door. "Girl???" Bal, confused as hell, wondering why I jumped and ran out of his cafe at light speed. Bell chiming behind me as I haul ass back down to my lovely broken down house I got from an inheritance from family I didn't know I had.

Panting, light tears pricking my eyes as I get within view of my front gate. 911 on speed dial, unable to fathom why I can't just press the damn call button. I unlock the gate and rush to my front door, looking around. I rush inside and I'm immediately greeted with silence, the eerie type. I look to my left, reach down and open an old brown drawer under a side table that stand next to the front door. Grabbing out a fully loaded gun and turning the safety off all the whole keeping my gaze up and alert. "I've got a gun and I know how to use it! Show yourself now" I state loudly, keeping my eyes open. To be fair I did know how to use it. The corners of my vision catch wisp of a figure in a far off hallway before I hear boots approach me. Quickly flicking the gun in the direction of the tall burly man with a peculiar haircut. "I rais my gun higher, pointing at his chest while keeping my distance, eyes burning with a fire that puts hell to shame. "What the fuck do you think your doing" I state loudly, words seething with a special kind of hatred. He puts his hands up in a defensive manor and back away a bit "aye, put the gun down, yeah? Not here to hurt ya." A thick Scottish accent fills the space. Unwaveeing eyes stare into his own with hells wraith. "Explains that to the broken cameras then, yeah?" I'm not falling for another cia-military scandal, almost cost my life. "I know this is a lot to take in, but yae need to put the gun down, im just here to talk-" the gun I kept sharply aimed at his chest now aimed higher, at his neck in an instant. "Oh fuck me with that shit, you think I don't remember you?" Face pale, teeth clenched, words overflowing with hatred and injustice. "Hen, please im-" "you, and the rest of you damned scum have got 3 seconds to exit this ducking premises, you, and the goons you've got stationed with snipers aimed at my head. Mctavish." I breath "m' sure Riley's just around the corner? Garrick too?" I state "one." I state eyes slit, with an unwavering gaze. "Two" I cock the gun and just as I'm about to say 3, an odd sensation fuels my senses, emanating from my neck, distracting enough for soap to snatch my gun and my own hand to reach the dark now lodges behind my neck. "You- you fucking BASTARDS! here the finish the job then?" I seethe out as I waver. Edges of my conscious fading faster than i would have of liked, weak legs crumple beneath me, knocked out before I even hit the floor.

Johnny had caught me before I fell, didn't know this though. Simon hidden from the far off in the distance checking in. "Never shite for aim yeah L.T?" The scot chuckles over the mic. "Never", grave deep and cold voice in montone reply.

(how was it? Constructive criticism is appreciated more than you know)

A newly published rule from the USDA, which is set to go into effect on Feb. 12, officially codifies several parts of the Access to Baby Formula Act of 2022.

The legislation, whose passage was led by Hayes in May of 2022 amid the national baby formula shortage, is designed to maintain continued formula access for families who participate in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, known as WIC.

“When the baby formula shortage began last year, many parents were left wondering how they would feed their children. For parents enrolled in WIC, there was an added pressure of having to purchase specific formula based on program requirements,” Hayes said in a press release announcing the codification.

According to Hayes’ office, formula purchased through WIC account for approximately 50% of all formula purchases in the country.

More than 6 million people in the U.S. participate in WIC, including 11,000 infants in Connecticut, according to estimates from USDA.

"I know first-hand how critical WIC is to families, but the shortage revealed how dangerous those limitations can be,” Hayes added. “My Access to Baby Formula Act and the new USDA rule, will help families in the face of crisis. This rule helps strengthen a program that has historically been associated with improved infant health outcomes and reduced infant mortality.”

Provisions in the Access to Baby Formula Act, “Waive requirements that can slow down the process to get formula back on the shelves, without sacrificing safety standards,” and “Strengthen coordination and information sharing between the Secretary of Agriculture and Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding any supply chain disruption, including supplemental food recalls,” according to Hayes’ office

It also grants waiver authority that allows states that contract through WIC to purchase supplies from non-contract manufacturers in response to “emergencies, disasters, and supply chain disruptions.”

friends who receive SNAP or WIC benefits:

Delivery won’t be interrupted for benefits like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — once known as “food stamps” — as well as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). Both programs have contingency funds, but if the shutdown lasts longer than 30 days, it could become difficult for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to continue operations. WIC would shut down entirely a few days after the federal contingency fund runs out, according to the White House. SNAP delivery could last longer, but for how long will be up to the USDA. During the 34-day partial shutdown in 2018-2019, the USDA worked with state agencies to keep the program running for the entire duration.

An overwhelming majority of House Republicans voted against a bill Wednesday providing a bare minimum amount of funding to tackle the ongoing baby formula shortage, a problem that they keep complaining about, while a smaller group of far-right Republicans apparently don’t think infants from poor families deserve food.

The House passed a pair of bills Wednesday aimed at alleviating the crisis, including one providing $28 million in emergency funding to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to address the shortage. The money would also be used to increase staff at the FDA, such as inspectors who could help the agency accelerate the approval process for formula manufacturers, Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut told NBC News following the vote.

After the nation’s largest manufacturer of formula, Abbott Nutrition, voluntarily recalled baby formula after several bacterial infections in infants related to a plant in Michigan the FDA later shut down, supply of baby formula plummeted. More than 40 percent of baby formula is out of stock, according to a data company tracking the shortage.

Though Republicans like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Rep. Kat Cammack repeatedly raised the issue in the past few weeks, including trying to pin the problem on immigrant families, 192 House Republicans voted the bill down.

A memo from House Minority Whip Steve Scalise urged members to vote against the funding bill, claiming House Democratic leadership is “covering up the administration’s ineptitude by throwing additional money at the FDA with no plan to actually fix the problem, all while failing to hold the FDA accountable,” according to The Hill.

Every House Democrat, plus a dozen mostly moderate Republicans, voted to pass the bill and send it to the Senate.

“Parents and caretakers across the country cannot wait—they need our support now,” DeLauro said in a statement following the bill’s passage. “This bill takes important steps to restore supply in a safe and secure manner. Additionally, with these funds, FDA will be able to help prevent this issue from occurring again.”

On Wednesday, President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to address the shortage, which means that the suppliers of ingredients for baby formula are now required to prioritize formula. Biden also authorized the federal government to use the Pentagon’s commercial planes to fly in supplies of formula from overseas.

The $28 million allocated by the House to the FDA is barely a drop in the bucket of federal spending. For comparison, the Ukraine military aid bill recently passed by Congress appropriated $40 billion to the effort.

An additional bill to expand baby formula access to low-income families using the WIC program in the event of a supply chain shortage, like the one the U.S. is currently experiencing, also passed with overwhelming support in the House.

Abbott—which, along with three other manufacturers, controlled nearly 90 percent of the baby formula market as of 2018—is currently the sole provider of infant formula for families on the state-administered WIC program in 34 states and Washington D.C., plus several territories and tribal organizations, Truthout reported last month.

But nine far-right Republicans, including Reps. Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert, voted against the bill. Gaetz claimed that expanding access to other formulas for poor families would “crowd out many hardworking families.” (More than 70 percent of WIC beneficiaries in Oregon are employed, according to the state.)

Rep. Jahana Hayes, the Connecticut Democrat who introduced the bill, used food stamps as a younger mother, qualifying even as she was working two jobs while attending school, as she told Hearst Connecticut Media last year.

“Families nationwide are desperately trying to find food for their babies,” Hayes said in a statement following the passage of the bill. “Among the most impacted are mothers and babies enrolled in the WIC program who use formula at roughly double the rate of non-participating families.”

New blog post up today! It’s a quick intro to the WIC food assistance program. Bon appetite! 🍎🌽🥕

Hetalia ocs: VOC & WIC

At my WIC appointment the other other day, I was asked by the nutritionist if I knew what foods are high in iron.

Y'all. The amount of self control I had to exercise not reply with "pop-tarts"

Well Nourished: How Mutual Aid is Transforming Food Security for Single Moms in Ohio

Well Nourished: How Mutual Aid is Transforming Food Security for Single Moms in Ohio

  Federal food programs, like WIC, face big changes coming out of the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health. Meanwhile, a single moms collective in Ohio holds it down for the single pregnant and parenting people in their community. Motherful’s resource pantry serves their 325-strong membership out of a garage three times a week.  We talk to members and founders to learn what’s…

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Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (CT-05), led the introduction of the Access to Baby Formula Act to help improve access to infant formula amid shortage for families who participate in the WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program during a crisis.