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DON DEMANDS NO SNAP PAYMENTS

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DON DEMANDS NO SNAP PAYMENTS

President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under judicial orders in recent days, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed those rulings, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.

The demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came as more than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the Trump administration does not reimburse them for those SNAP benefits they authorized before the Supreme Court’s stay.

Nonprofits and Democratic attorneys general sued to force the Trump administration to maintain the program in November despite the ongoing government shutdown. They won favorable rulings last week, leading to the swift release of benefits to millions in several states. The Trump administration indicated to states that it would facilitate the full payments in accordance with the rulings, while it also was appealing them.

On Friday night, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson temporarily paused rulings ordering the full SNAP disbursement while an appeals court considers the administration’s request to halt the payments. That led the Department of Agriculture on Saturday to write state SNAP directors to warn them it now considers full payments under the prior orders “unauthorized.”

Fran Cooper waits in line durning an emergency food distribution at The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia's Mitzvah Food Program in Philadelphia, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Fran Cooper waits in line durning an emergency food distribution at The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia’s Mitzvah Food Program in Philadelphia, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

States could face penalties for paying benefits

“To the extent States sent full SNAP payment files for November 2025, this was unauthorized,” Patrick Penn, deputy undersecretary of Agriculture, wrote to state SNAP directors. “Accordingly, States must immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025.”

Penn warned that states could face penalties if they did not comply. It was unclear if the directive applies to states that used their own funds to keep the program alive or to ones relying on federal money entirely. The Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a filing in federal court on Sunday, the agency said states moved too quickly and erroneously released full SNAP benefits after last week’s rulings.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a Republican, on Sunday called the directive “shocking” if it applies to states, like hers, that used their own money to prop up the program.

“It’s one thing if the federal government is going to continue its level of appeal through the courts to say, no, this can’t be done,” Murkowski said. “But when you are telling the states that have said this is a significant enough issue in our state, we’re going to find resources, backfill or front load, whatever term you want, to help our people, those states should not be penalized.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, takes questions from reporters on day 36 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, takes questions from reporters on day 36 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

‘We will see him in court’

Democratic Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts said SNAP benefits were processed and placed on EBT cards before the U.S. Supreme Court order Friday night, in line with the previous guidance from the USDA. She said that if Trump attempts to claw back the money, “we will see him in court.”

“Massachusetts residents with funds on their cards should continue to spend it on food,” she said in a statement Sunday. “President Trump should be focusing on reopening the government that he controls instead of repeatedly fighting to take away food from American families.”

Democrats have hammered Trump for targeting the anti-hunger program during the government shutdown, contending the administration could have maintained it even with other parts of the government idle. As senators worked through the weekend on a deal to end the stalemate, their bipartisan package of agreed-upon measures to keep open some aspects of government included full funding of SNAP programs and a provision that would ensure reimbursements for expenditures made during the shutdown.

More than two-dozen states represented by Democratic attorneys general and other party officeholders on Saturday warned in a court filing that, even before the Supreme Court put the rulings on hold, the Trump administration was refusing to reimburse them for those legally-ordered SNAP payments.

SNAP EBT information sign is displayed at a gas station in Riverwoods, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)

SNAP EBT information sign is displayed at a gas station in Riverwoods, Ill., Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)

Four different directives in six days

Wisconsin, for example, loaded benefits onto cards for 700,000 residents once a judge in Rhode Island ordered the restoration of benefits last week, but after the U.S. Treasury froze its reimbursements to the state, it anticipates running out of money by Monday, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ administration warned in a lengthy statement on Sunday.

The lack of money could leave vendors unpaid and trigger escalating legal claims, the states warned. “States could face demands to return hundreds of millions of dollars in the aggregate,” the states’ filing at the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals says.

That situation “would risk catastrophic operational disruptions for the States, with a consequent cascade of harms for their residents,” the filing concludes.

Evers issued a quick response to the Trump administration’s demand to undo the payments. “No,” the governor said in a statement.

“Pursuant to and consistent with an active court order, Wisconsin legally loaded benefits to cards, ensuring nearly 700,000 Wisconsinites, including nearly 270,000 kids, had access to basic food and groceries,” Evers said. “After we did so, the Trump Administration assured Wisconsin and other states that they were actively working to implement full SNAP benefits for November and would ‘complete the processes necessary to make funds available.’ They have failed to do so to date.”

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland said in an interview on CBS on Sunday that “in the past six days, we’ve received four different measures of guidance” from the Trump administration. He fumed over the latest that threatened to punish states that paid the full benefits.

“There is a chaos, and it is an intentional chaos, that we are seeing from this administration,” Moore said.

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Riccardi reported from Denver and Bauer from Madison, Wisconsin. John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, and Lisa Mascaro in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

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The Dictatorship

French company Capgemini to sell subsidiary working with ICE

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French company Capgemini to sell subsidiary working with ICE

PARIS (AP) — French company Capgemini announced Sunday it is selling off its subsidiary that provides technology services to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during global scrutiny of ICE agents’ tactics in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

France’s government had pressured the company to be more transparent about its dealings with ICE, whose actions in Minneapolis in recent weeks have raised concern in France and other countries. The government’s campaign against immigrants in Minnesota’s capital has led to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal immigration officers.

Capgemini said in a statement Sunday that it will immediately start the process of selling off its subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions. It said the rules for working with U.S. federal government agencies ″did now allow the group to exercise appropriate control over certain aspects of the operations of this subsidiary to ensure alignment with the group’s objectives.″

It didn’t give further explanation for the decision, but noted that the subsidiary represents only 0.4% of the company’s estimated 2025 revenue.

Capgemini CEO Aiman Ezzat said he was only recently made aware of the subsidiary’s contract with ICE. In a LinkedIn post, he said, “The nature and scope of this work has raised questions compared to what we typically do as a business and technology firm.’’

The company selloff announcement came after French Finance Minister Roland Lescure, speaking to parliament last week, urged Capgemini ″to shed light, in an extremely transparent manner, on its activities … and to question the nature of these activities.″ Lescure’s office did not comment on the company’s decision.

Non-governmental organization Multinationals Observatory reported that Capgemini Government Solutions provided ICE technical tools to locate targets for the immigration crackdown. CapgemiSni did not immediately respond to a query about the tools.

Capgemini is a consulting and technology company that employs more than 340,000 people in more than 50 countries.

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‘Melania’ opens with strong ticket sales for a documentary

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‘Melania’ opens with strong ticket sales for a documentary

NEW YORK (AP) — Promoted by President Donald Trump as “a must watch,” the Melania Trump documentary “Melania” debuted with a better-than-expected $7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The release of “Melania” was unlike any seen before. Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million for the rights, plus some $35 million to market it, making it the most expensive documentary ever. Directed by Brett Ratner, who had been exiled from Hollywood since 2017, the film about the first lady debuted in 1,778 theaters in the midst of Trump’s turbulent second term.

While the result would be a flop for most films with such high costs, “Melania” was a success by documentary standards. It’s the best opening weekend for a documentary, outside of concert films, in 14 years. Going into the weekend, estimates ranged from $3 million to $5 million.

But there was little to compare “Melania” to, given that presidential families typically eschew in-office memoir or documentary releases to avoid the appearance of capitalizing on the White House. The film chronicles Melania Trump over 20 days last January, leading up to Trump’s second inauguration.

Marc Beckman, left, shake hands with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer as they arrive for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump's movie

Marc Beckman, left, shake hands with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer as they arrive for the premiere of first lady Melania Trump’s movie “Melania” at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

On Thursday, Trump hosted a premiere of the film at the Kennedy Centerwith attendees including Cabinet members and members of Congress. There, Ratner downplayed its box-office potential, noting: “You can’t expect a documentary to play in theaters.”

The No. 1 movie of the weekend was Sam Raimi’s “Send Help,” a critically acclaimed survival thriller starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. The Walt Disney Co. release debuted with $20 million. The film, with a $40 million budget, was an in-between kind of release for Raimi, whose hits have typically ranged from low-budget cult (“Army of Darkness”) to big-budget blockbuster (2002’s “Spider-Man”).

The microbudget sci-fi horror film “Iron Lung,” directed by YouTuber and filmmaker Markiplier, came in second with $17.9 million, far exceeding expectations. The Jason Statham action thriller “Shelter” debuted with $5.5 million.

But most of the curiosity was on how “Melania” would perform. A week earlier, the White House hosted a black-tie preview attended by Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy, Apple chief executive Tim Cook and former boxer Mike Tyson.

The audience waits in a movie theater for the start of the screening of a documentary about Melania Trump in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

The audience waits in a movie theater for the start of the screening of a documentary about Melania Trump in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Darko Bandic)

The film arrived in a week dominated by coverage of federal immigration tactics in Minnesota after a U.S. Border Patrol agent fatally shot 37-year-old Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

“Melania” didn’t screen in advance for critics, but reviews that rolled out Friday, once the film was in theaters, weren’t good. Xan Brooks of The Guardian compared the film to a “medieval tribute to placate the greedy king on his throne.” Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it a “cheese ball informercial of staggering inertia.” Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “To say that ‘Melania’ is a hagiography would be an insult to hagiographies.”

But among those who bought tickets over the weekend, the response was far more positive. “Melania” landed an “A” CinemaScore. Audiences were overwhelmingly 55 and older (72% of ticket buyers), female (72%) and white (75%). As expected, the movie played best in the South, with top states including Florida and Texas.

David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe called it “an excellent opening for a political documentary.”

“For any other film, with $75 million in costs and limited foreign potential, it would be a problem,” said Gross. “But this is a political investment, not a for-profit movie venture, and if it helps Amazon with a regulatory, taxation, tariff or other government issue, then it will pay back. $75 million is insignificant to Amazon.”

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the premiere of her movie

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for the premiere of her movie “Melania” at The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center For The Performing Arts, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“Melania” is Ratner’s first film since he was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. Multiple women, including the actor Olivia Munn, accused Ratner of sexual harassment and misconduct. Ratner has denied the allegations. Last fall, after Trump’s reported intervention, Paramount Pictures said it would distribute his “Rush Hour 4.”

“Melania,” which will stream on Prime Video following its theatrical run, was released globally. Shortly before its debut, South African distributor Filmfinity said it would no longer release it. The company said it changed course “based on recent developments.”

International ticket sales for “Melania” were expected to be minuscule.

Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:

1. “Send Help,” $20 million.

2. “Iron Lung,” $17.9 million.

3. “Melania,” $7 million.

4. “Zootopia 2,” $5.8 million.

5. “Shelter,” $5.5 million.

6. “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” $5.5 million.

7. “Mercy,” $4.7 million.

8. “The Housemaid,” $3.5 million.

9. “Marty Supreme,” $2.9 million.

10. “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” $1.5 million.

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‘ICE out’: Bad Bunny uses Grammy speech to speak out

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‘ICE out’: Bad Bunny uses Grammy speech to speak out

As awards season progresses, celebrities continue to speak out against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown — especially in Minneapolis. Though some stars have opted for a slight nod of resistance with pins that say “ICE out,” others have been more vocal in their stances.

Upon accepting the Grammy Award for Best Música Urbana Album on Sunday night, Bad Bunny got straight to the point.

“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” the Puerto Rican performer said as soon as he approached the podium with award in hand.

After a standing ovation and cheers from the crowd, he continued.

“We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”⁣

This is not the first time the artist has spoken out against the Trump administration’s rhetoric against immigrants in the United States. Last year, he announced he would no longer tour in the U.S., which drew criticism from some right-wing commentators.

Despite that pushback, Bad Bunny scored the headlining spot at this year’s Super Bowl and said he decided to “do just one date in the United States.”

The album Bad Bunny accepted the award for, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” also won Album of the Year, becoming the first primarily Spanish-language album to win the distinction in the ceremony’s 68-year history.

Kathleen Creedon is a platforms editor for MS NOW. She previously worked as a web producer for Vanity Fair.

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