Page 7 - Florida Sentinel 2-16-18

White House News
Trump Plans To Kill SNAP Program For Meal Kit
In Donald Trump’s budget proposal, America’s poor is hit the hardest, includ- ing Supplemental Nutrition As- sistance Program (SNAP) recipients. The plan proposes a $17.2 billion-cut to the pro- gram by 2019 and will replace monthly cash benefits with a food box delivery program, ac- cording to reports.
White House budget direc- tor Mick Mulvaney com- pared the program to Blue Apron, an ingredient-and- recipe meal kit service. The Chicago Tribune notes SNAP provides roughly $125 per month to 42.2 million Americans, and the Agriculture Department would use part of those benefits to buy and de- liver boxes of “homegrown” food. It’s called “America’s Harvest Box.”
The Harvest Box would con- tain things like shelf-stable milk, juice, grains, cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans, canned meat, poultry or fish, and canned fruits and vegeta- bles. Since the boxes are valued at half of SNAP recipients monthly benefit, the remainder of their benefits would be put on electronic benefit
cards, CNN Money reports. Trump’s administration says the proposal would save almost $130 billion over 10 years, along with improving the nutritional value of the pro- gram. Consumer advocates aren’t buying it. Some are con- cerned families won’t know what food they would get in ad- vance, how it would work for people with special diets, or how difficult it would be for car-less families to pick up the
box.
Shortly after the announce-
ment was made, the hashtag ‘Blue Apron Style’ began to trend with many wondering how an administration that can barely keep a cabinet together could be trusted to deliver food to 42 million people.
Package Sent To Former President Obama’s Office Leads To Scare
Former President Barack Obama had quite the scare at his office in Washington D.C. on Tuesday (Feb. 13). A pack- age full of a mysterious white powder was reportedly sent to his capital office, the New York Post reports. The incident called for FBI, Secret Service, police, and fire crews to rush to the scene.
The incident reportedly oc- curred around noon at the Worldlife Fund Headquarters, where Obama leased an office after leaving the White House in Jan. 2017. A letter report- edly arrived to the office from Hong Kong, and when it was opened, officials discovered the powder inside, according to the Post.
Thankfully, the whole thing turned out to be a hoax, but not before emergency teams were called to the scene. After in- spection, Fire and EMS Battal-
Suspicious powder inside package mailed to former President Obama.
ion Chief Edward Smith re- portedly determined that the white substance was actually baby powder.
This incident comes only one day after Donald Trump Jr.’s wife, Vanessa Trump, her mother and another unidentified person were re- portedly hospitalized as a pre- caution in New York after
receiving an envelope contain- ing a white powder. They also received a letter inside the en- velope that was reportedly “threatening,” according to the New York Post. They were not reportedly injured.
It’s unclear who sent the packages to the Obamas or Trumps at this time. It is good that no one was hurt.
Not Everyone Is A Fan Of Michelle Obama's Portrait
Former V. P. Joe Biden Blasts President Trump
Former Vice President Joe Biden blasted President Donald Trump over the fond farewell POTUS gave to his ousted White House Staff Secre- tary Rob Porter.
Porter resigned Wednes- day after domestic abuse alle- gations against him became public. Because the FBI had learned of the credible allega- tions made by his two ex- wives, Porter had been operating without top security clearance (though he had ac- cess to classified material since he joined the White House in January 2017). White House counsel Don McGahn and Chief of Staff John Kelly have known of the allegations for months, though the White House in- sists Trump was in the dark until the allegations became public last week.
In remarks last Friday, Trump told reporters, of Porter, “We wish him well. He worked very hard. We found out about it re- cently....We certainly wish him well. It’s obviously a tough time for him. He did a very good job when he was in the White House and hopefully he will have a great career ahead of him. It was very sad when
Former Vice President Joe Biden blasted President Don- ald Trump over the fond farewell POTUS gave to his ousted White House Staff Sec- retary Rob Porter.
we heard about it, and cer- tainly he’s also very sad.
“As you probably know, he says he’s innocent and you have to remember that,” Trump continued, saying, “He said very strongly yester- day that he’s innocent.”
Biden, appearing later in the day at an event in Indiana, responded: “That’s like saying: ‘That ax murderer over there – he’s a great painter!’ ”
“Is there any other crime where there could be the ex- planation the reason why we should not pay attention to the transgression is because they’re good at something?” Biden said, slamming Trump.
The Obama’s at the unveiling of thier portraits.
The highly anticipated un- veiling of Barack and Michelle Obama's presi- dential portraits happened Monday at The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery -- and the portraits caused quite the conversation.
The Obamas, who each saw the portraits for the first time, delivered remarks prais- ing the painters for their work. Renowned artist Kehinde Wiley created the portrait of Barack, while Baltimore artist Amy Sherald pro- duced the one on Michelle.
While Barack's portrait by Wiley seemed to receive uni- versal praise, that wasn't so much the case for Michelle's portrayal by Sherald as some among Black Twitter shared their dislike online -- saying they didn't believe the paint-
ing was an accurate depiction. Many among the critics couldn't understand why Sherald chose to paint Michelle's skin gray as op- posed to opting for a more re- alistic portrayal showing her glowing brown skin. How- ever, Sherald has a reason for that -- as almost all of her work features life-size people of color depicted with gray
skin.
In a recent interview with
the The Baltimore Sun, Sher- ald said the gray skin is “A way for me to subversively comment about race without feeling as though I’m exclud- ing the viewer.”
After unveiling her portrait on Monday, Sherald deliv- ered a few remarks about the painting and her work as a whole:
"I find my models, I style them and photograph them," she said. “My approach to portrait is conceptual. I see something bigger, more sym- bolic -- an archetype, this por- trait delivers the same kind of symbolism."
"As a painter of American stories, I truly consider today to be a milestone in my life’s work," she added.
While Sherald is known for painting African Ameri- cans with grayscale, some even pointed out that Sher- ald doesn't strictly stick to mainly gray hues.
The criticisms even erup- ted in a debate around art cri- tique and what gets to be said as well as who gets to say it, especially given the loaded nature behind the artist's sub- jects.
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