A warm lunch table with veterans turns into a hard truth session about the third week of a government shutdown—and who bears the cost when politics stalls. We unpack what missed first-of-the-month payments mean for retirees and VA disability recipients, why many military families face a double hit from “non-essential” base jobs, and how a late surge of back pay could mask deeper harm in the holiday economy. Along the way, we point to real lifelines—Food to Power, Care and Share, and Mount Car...