Hello, readers – happy Tuesday! Today, we’ll be talking about the status of SNAP, a new conflict in Nigeria, a legal battle in Israel, NYC’s mayoral election, peace in Venezuela, and more Tylenol craziness.

“A person who has not done one half his day's work by ten o'clock, runs a chance of leaving the other half undone.” ― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights

SNAP Is Back With The Snap Of A Finger

We’re starting the week off with some not-so-bad news, which is better than usual. Yesterday, the Trump administration announced that it would provide partial assistance to food stamp recipients, reversing course from last week when the government warned that it might not provide any food assistance at all. The decision means that the 42 million people receiving food from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will get at least 50% of their usual monthly benefits. 

Initially, Trump’s Department of Agriculture signalled that it would be shutting off SNAP benefits entirely. The agency argued that it wasn’t allowed to tap a SNAP contingency fund during the government shutdown, arguing that the money had been set aside for “real” emergencies such as natural disasters. Last week, a judge sided with two dozen states who sued to challenge that decision, stating that the distinction between real and fake emergencies was “arbitrary.”

“I have instructed our lawyers to ask the Court to clarify how we can legally fund SNAP as soon as possible … even if we get immediate guidance, it will unfortunately be delayed while States get the money out,” Trump posted after his agency lost the case on Friday. “If we are given the appropriate legal direction by the Court, it will BE MY HONOR to provide the funding.” Multiple states have announced that it might take weeks for the partial benefits to be handed out due to the White House’s waffling on the benefits, even as people line up at food banks nationwide.

New Conflict Unlocked: Nigeria

Over the weekend, the president of the U.S. threatened to invade Nigeria. “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the USA will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump posted on TruthSocial on Sunday. According to one source, the president made the post “immediately” after watching a segment about Nigeria on Fox News.

What “killing of Christians” is the leader of the free world referring to? Over the past decade or so, the Islamist group Boko Haram has been carrying out attacks in Nigeria’s north – while the country is about 53% Muslim and 45% Christian, the north is home to a larger concentration of Muslims. The group has been targeting Christians living in the area, and international Christian organizations have accused Nigeria’s government of not doing enough to protect the country’s Christian population. Boko Haram has also targeted Muslims that the group deems not religious enough, as well as followers of African traditional religions.

What does this all mean? While it’s concerning that the president is throwing around threats of invading another nation “guns-a-blazing,” it’s unlikely that we’ll see any unilateral U.S. military operations in the country. Trump also announced that he would be designating Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” though that label is largely symbolic. Most important is probably Trump’s threat to withdraw all U.S. aid to the country – Washington sent $902.9 million to Nigeria in 2024, a significant number given 78% of workers in Lagos (Nigeria’s largest city) earned less than ₦100,000 ($62.50) per month last year.

The Prosecutor Becomes The Prosecuted

• Yesterday, Israeli police arrested Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, the IDF’s top military lawyer. Tomer-Yerushalmi stepped down from her position last week after admitting to leaking footage of Israeli soldiers allegedly abusing a Palestinian prisoner – she was arrested on charges of suspicion of fraud, breach of trust, abuse of office, obstruction of justice, and disclosure of official information by a public servant.

• This story goes back to July 2024, when military prosecutors raided Israel’s Sde Teiman prison. They detained 11 soldiers for interrogation, explaining that they were suspects in the assault and anal rape of a Palestinian prisoner who was sent to a nearby hospital with “object penetration” injuries. Sde Teiman has become notorious for similar abuses, with dozens of Palestinian prisoners and international rights organizations describing the facility as a hotbed of human rights violations.

• After the raid on Sde Teiman, Israel’s right wing rallied against the prosecution effort, describing the suspects as “heroes,” harassing prosecutors, and staging rallies outside of the prison. In last week’s resignation letter, Tomer-Yerushalmi admitted to leaking CCTV footage of the alleged sexual assault in the midst of this backlash, stating that the leak was “an attempt to debunk false propaganda against army law enforcement bodies.” 

• Since then, she’s been hounded on social media and in person, with demonstrators gathering outside her house. Israel Katz, the country’s defense minister, even joined in on the campaign, publicly accusing Tomer-Yerushalmi “spreading blood libels.” Just one Israeli soldier has been convicted for abusing prisoners throughout the Israel-Hamas War, and none have been charged for killing civilians in Gaza.

More Mixed Nuts

• Xi Jinping cracks joke about spying with phones given to South Korean president (Guardian)

• At least 20 dead after magnitude-6.3 earthquake hits Afghanistan (BBC) 

• Rigid gender roles are prompting women to leave rural Japan (NPR)

• Worker dies after partial collapse of medieval tower in Rome (BBC) 

• Caribbean islands reel from Hurricane Melissa’s devastating impact as storm heads north (CNN)

• China’s Global Exports Continue to Grow Despite Trump Tariffs (NYT,$)

A Big Day In The Big Apple

• Later today, New Yorkers will pick their next mayor, choosing between left-wing front-runner Zohran Mamdani, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who’s running as an independent (because he lost the Democratic nomination to Mamdani). 

• Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, secured his upset in the Democratic primary by focusing on affordability and quality of life issues, which he promises to fund by taxing corporations and the rich. Given New York’s status as the financial capital of the U.S. (if not the world), many powerful people are unhappy with that platform.

• Over the weekend, one of those people spoke out against Mamdani in an interview, throwing his weight behind Andrew Cuomo. “I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's gonna be between a bad Democrat and a Communist, I'm gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time, to be honest with you,” said President Trump on 60 Minutes. He also threatened to withhold federal funds if Mamdani wins today, saying, “It's gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a Communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there.”

All Is Buena In Venezuela

• Good news: we’re not going to war with Venezuela. Or at least, that’s what Trump says. In his 60 Minutes interview, the president was asked if the U.S. would engage in a full-on war with Venezuela. “I doubt it. I don't think so. But they've been treating us very badly,” he replied. That’s despite the U.S.’s historic military buildup in the region – currently, there are roughly 10,000 Navy personnel, 9 warships, dozens of warplanes, and even a nuclear submarine in the Caribbean. 

• Mainly, those forces are being used to carry out strikes on alleged drug boats, which the U.S. seems to be blowing out of the water on a whim. “Every single boat that you see that's shot down kills 25,000 on drugs and destroys families all over our country,” Trump claimed in the interview. So far, the Navy has killed at least 64 in its attacks.

• Despite saying that the U.S. wouldn’t engage in a full war with Venezuela, Trump refused to rule out launching airstrikes on the country’s territory. “I wouldn't be inclined to say that I would do that... I'm not gonna tell you what I'm gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn't going to do it,” he said. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused Trump of “fabricating a new war” in the region, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the U.S. of using its military to “dominate” Latin America.

More Nuts In America

• CBS News heavily edits Trump 60 Minutes interview, cutting boast network ‘paid me a lotta money’ (Guardian) 

• Democrats brace for Nancy Pelosi's possible retirement (NBC) 

• The Battle Over an Activist Who Protested Stephen Miller Near His Virginia Home (NYT, $)

• ‘They take the money and go’: why not everyone is mourning the end of USAID (Guardian) 

• California owns dozens of vacant houses in Los Angeles County. It's paying millions to guard them from protesters. (Politico)

• Public workers could be denied loan forgiveness if cities defy Trump, lawsuit alleges (NPR) 

Another Dose Of Tylenol Drama

• Another episode in the Tylenol saga is the last thing we expected to be writing about today, but here we are. Yesterday, consumer products conglomerate Kimberly-Clark (which produces Huggies, Kleenex, and other consumer paper products) announced that it would be acquiring Kenvue (the company behind Band-Aid, Benadryl, Listerine, and, of course, Tylenol). 

• The massive deal will cost Kimberly-Clark $40 billion, and is a bet that the new entity will be able to survive the Trump administration’s claims that Tylenol can cause autism when used during pregnancy. Kenvue’s stock has plummeted more than 30% since those claims were made, and the company has been slammed with hundreds of lawsuits from families claiming that their children developed autism and ADHD due to the drug.

• In a moment of irony, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – a major proponent of the Tylenol-autism claims – admitted that there isn’t “sufficient” evidence that the drug actually causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children. “We’ve all said from the beginning that the causative association between Tylenol given in pregnancy … is not sufficient to say it definitely caused autism, but it is very suggestive,” Kennedy said, adding, “We’re doing the studies to make the proof.”

More Loose Nuts

• Amazon closes at record after $38 billion OpenAI deal with AWS (CNBC)

• The Lonely New Vices of American Life (Atlantic, $)

• ‘Eyes-off driving’ is coming, and we’re so not ready (Verge)

• The number one sign you're watching an AI video (BBC)

• Walking 3,000 or more steps a day may slow progression of Alzheimer’s, study says (Guardian)

• The Nanny Who Moved in and Wouldn’t Move Out (The Cut)    

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