Erica Weintraub Austin

SNAP benefits feed essential needs while still leaving many hungry for more Journalist and author Adam Chandler explains what so much of the conversation about them gets wrong.

As SNAP hangs in the balance for nearly 42 million people, misinformation is rampant. Myths of laziness and fraud persist when we should be talking about too low wages for workers, income inequality, and our threadbare social safety net.

In this guest post, Adam Chandler sorts fact from fiction:

Today is 105 year anniversary of Ocoee Election Day Massacre. On 11/2/1920 a white mob murdered 30 Black people, & burned 25 Black owned homes & Black churches—all b/c Black people dared exercise the right to vote

Ocoee's entire Black community was exiled. No Black American moved back in until 1980

Harrisburg’s Catholic bishop apologizes for ‘notorious symbol of hate’ on Halloween float The phrase "Arbeit Macht Frei" was commonly posted at Wolrd War II-era concentration camps. Thursday, it also landed on a float in the Hanover Halloween parade.

Anything to be said energetically in significant mainstream media and from leaders about the Nazi Halloween parade float that just happened to go down the street near Harrisburg?

Meanwhile @azteclady.bsky.social just posted an example of how the Jerusalem Post and other legacy media also are using AI in their reporting and not making it obvious, and AI requires a lot of fact checking.

Folks, don't repost those fake videos ok?

yup, meeting people where they are with relevant information...

#medialiteracy

Inspiring about libraries.

When something is available, uplifting and enlightening, more people want in.

Libraries' power emanates from core values of openness, truth, and community accessibility. But this attracts threats.

Partnerships reduce vulnerability to isolated attack.

#medialiteracy

In better news:

An apology from the Bishop is a decent start but a lot more needs to be said about this by a lot more people in leadership roles.

Ron was a pit bull scheduled for euthanasia. Now he’s a South Jersey K-9. K-9 Ron, a rescued pit bull who was once scheduled to be euthanized, is now working for the Delran Township Police Department in narcotics detection. He was officially sworn in Tuesday night.

Meet Ron!

Thanks to many, he made it off of Death Row and has a fun job now.

share.inquirer.com/HeG8Ld?utm_s...

'A sad reality': Food banks, grocery stores, residents expect to feel the strain from impending SNAP benefit expirations Dozens of volunteers sifted through huge pallets overflowing with 40,000 pounds of pears fresh off a truck from the Wenatchee Valley on Tuesday afternoon at Second Harvest distribution center in Spoka...

IF YOU CAN:

Food banks & pantries especially need $, shelf-stable milk, cooking oil, canned food, cereal, oatmeal, rice, peanut butter, juice, feminine products, toiletries.

& volunteers!

"SNAP distributes about 9x as much food as the charitable food system" says Eric Williams of Second Harvest.

What is the National Hunger Hotline? Hunger Free America operates the National Hunger Hotline. The hotline is a resource for individuals and families seeking information on how to obtain food. The National Hunger Hotline staff connects callers with emergency food providers in their community, government assistance programs, and various social services. The hotline can be reached at 1-866-3-HUNGRY (1-866-348-6479) or 1-877-8-HAMBRE (1-877-842-6273), for Spanish, from Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET. Call the Hunger Hotline. Follow the Hunger Hotline on social media for more updates and resources. Click here to visit our Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter page! Don't have time to call? Text the hotline! The Hunger Hotline also operates a texting service. Our number is 914-342-7744. Please note that these are automated texts and we do NOT reply or monitor texts. A list of keywords available is listed below. By sending a text you consent to receive messages from us where message and data rates may apply. You can opt out of receiving messages at any time by texting STOP. If you have any additional questions that were not answered over text, please call the hotline at 866-348-6479. https://www.hungerfreeamerica.org/en-us/national-hunger-hotline

This hunger hotline seems important to share.

You can learn more about @hungerfreeamerica.bsky.social on their website.

www.hungerfreeamerica.org/en-us/nation...

Can you believe this decadence? There is more fun to be had. The What's Cooking interest group definitely needs more posting, everybody!

Thank you to @flyinghabu.bsky.social for this stunning image!

Anti-abortion pregnancy centers are looking to offer much more than ultrasounds and diapers More anti-abortion pregnancy centers have been offering medical services such as testing for sexually transmitted infections.

"this kind of “both sides” coverage of crisis pregnancy centers is simply not going to cut it, because on one “side” we have medical and scientific consensus—and basic facts—and on the other “side” we have disinformation." thread continues from @garnethenderson.com

Usually AP is a reliable source, but this thread shows that mistakes happen. This critique clearly has a viewpoint but provides accurate info and context re crisis pregnancy ctrs.

Here is addtl info from the Am Coll of Obs & Gyn, w additional sci links.

Check multiple sources

#medialiteracy

According to @cantwell.senate.gov's post comparing 2025 and 2026 for a self-insured couple in WA state making $120k, the costs might easily TRIPLE. More info about WA costs at www.wahealthplanfinder.org

This is obscene.

This is my state. This is real information

Wahealthplanfinder.org

Recognition of satire is a key #medialiteracy skill 😉.

Boo! 🐾

Study finds mRNA coronavirus vaccines prolonged life of cancer patients A study found that covid-19 vaccines appeared to awaken the immune system in lung and skin cancer patients, helping them live longer than those not vaccinated.

VACCINES ROCK

www.washingtonpost.com/science/2025...

Thank you for sharing! ❤️

We have created a new online tool to help people see where #measles exposures may have occurred in the state. The Measles Exposure Location Tracker shows public places where a person with contagious measles recently was.

More at doh.wa.gov/newsroom/doh...

I guess if you're looking at the sky the date and the day don't have to match. 🤔 But this really is happening on Thursday. Which appears to be the 23rd.

Ipsos | Trusted News: Audience Use and Perceptions of AI Assistants for News - Report - October 2025 chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/documents/audience-use-and-perceptions-of-ai-assistants-for-news.pdf

According to a BBC-Ipsos study just released, many people believe AI summaries of news content even though AI summaries usually contain mistakes (see previous post), and people may wrongly assign some blame for those mistakes to the original news source. www.bbc.co.uk/aboutthebbc/...

#medialiteracy

Prof journos analyzed AI results from ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, & Perplexity for 22 public service media organizations in 18 countries, in 14 languages:

45% of all AI answers had 1 or more issue
31% had missing, misleading, or incorrect attributions
20% had major accuracy issues

#medialiteracy

Meet the Astronomer at the Dyer Observatory, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Thurs Oct 24, 7 pm CT. What is the Most Intriguing Evidence that Suggests Life Beyond Earth Might Exist? No, it's not tiny, bacteria-shaped structures in Martian meteorites. No, it's not methane gas in the atmosphere of Mars. No, it's not the material seen in the geysers erupting from the subsurface oceans of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Yes, it's something else entirely. In this fascinating talk, Vanderbilt Professor of Astronomy Emeritus Dr. David Weintraub discusses why the little-known secrets found in the Murchison, Orguiel and Allende meteorites, and in samples from asteroid Bennu might be the best evidence we have to suggest life might be abundant in the universe.

See and Hold Parts of Our Solar System It's not every day that one gets their hands on a 4.5-billion-year-old meteorite. In addition to learning about the various kinds of space rocks, attendees will also have the opportunity to see and even hold examples of these relics! Following the talk (weather permitting), we will end the night with a grand view of Saturn and its moons through Dyer's historic Seyfert Telescope! Doors open at 6 p.m., and early birds may even have a chance to do a bit of telescope viewing before the talk. The lecture will be held on Dyer's tented back patio, so it is recommended attendees dress in layers for comfort during the lecture and while in the unheated telescope dome. About the Speaker David A. Weintraub is Professor of Astronomy Emeritus and Director of the Communication of Science and Technology Program Emeritus at Vanderbilt University and a Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. His research discoveries include identifying the first known, nearby, young star cluster, the TW Hya Association, and pioneering the use of infrared speckle interferometry, infrared molecular hydrogen imaging, and submillimeter continuum imaging to identify material in the circumstellar disks of young stars. He is the 2015 winner of the Klopsteg Award from the American Association of Physics Teachers, which recognizes the outstanding communication of the excitement of contemporary physics to the general public, and the author of The Sky is for Everyone: Women Astronomers in Their Own Words (2022, Princeton University Press), Life on Mars: What to Know Before We Go (2018, Princeton University Press), Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It? (2014, Springer), How Old is the Universe? (2010, Princeton University Press), and Is Pluto a Planet? (2006, Princeton University Press).

Cool opportunity Thurs Oct 24 to think about finding life out in the universe! And to meet my brother. And to look through a telescope if in Nashville. 🧪

Tickets for in person:
www.eventbrite.com/e/the-most-i...
LIVESTREAM the talk for free: www.youtube.com/@dyerobserve...

dyer.vanderbilt.edu

Thank you @murray.senate.gov and @cantwell.senate.gov for voting NO on behalf of WA state

Oy

Andy Borowitz posts on Substack that George Soros has gone bankrupt due to the huge turnout from the NoKings rallies.

From Andy Borowitz about George Soros:

"The legendary investor said that paying No Kings participants had required him to liquidate his most prized holdings, including his share in the orbital lasers operated by the Rothschild banking family."

I scrolled through the @1stforall.bsky.social's gallery of print front pages for local coverage of "No Kings" protests. Here are some of the standout papers, starting with the Daily Sentinel of Grand Junction, Colorado: