THE MORNING RANT: PepsiCo (Frito Lay) Snack Sales Decline as SNAP Restrictions Kick In

Thanks to President Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., states have been empowered to restrict SNAP benefits (formerly known as “food stamps” such that the benefits cannot be used to purchase junk food and sodas. As SNAP restrictions have rolled out, it has been a sucker-punch to the manufacturers of low-nutrition products.

PepsiCo has been hit especially hard, as its revenue is more reliant on snack products than is the case with Coca-Cola, which is weighted more toward beverage sales.

“PepsiCo’s Turnaround Stutters as Americans Rethink Snacking” [Reuters – 7/14/2026]

Sales in the Frito-Lay and Pepsi soda maker's North American food business slipped 2%, while volume was flat in the second quarter ended June 13, even after earlier price cuts of up to 15% on some of its biggest products including Lay's, Doritos, Cheetos and Tostitos.
For PepsiCo, whose food brands including Ruffles and PopCorners generate about 58% of its annual revenue, the shift threatens one of the key engines that has driven growth for decades.

Articles such as this Reuters piece linked above talk about diet drugs and shifts in consumer food choices as being primary reasons for the decline in snack food sales, but it doesn’t mention that the goal of making SNAP benefits be spent on healthier food is having an impact. Successfully weaning welfare recipients off of taxpayer-subsidized junk food is not a success story to Reuters and the left.

But that is what’s happening.

“SNAP restrictions could change what shoppers buy — and food giants are watching” [CNBC – 6/20/2026]

SNAP purchase restrictions are now approved in 23 states, affecting about one-third of recipients and potentially reducing food and beverage sales by up to $830 million this year.

That misleading statement from CNBC makes it sound like SNAP spending is being reduced by $830 million. That is not the case. There is a potential $830 million that won’t be flowing to PepsiCo and Coca Cola.

Companies including Hershey, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz are closely monitoring shopper behavior as limits on soda and candy purchases expand.

PepsiCo has already had to respond once to the SNAP changes by cutting prices. When low-income consumers were forced to start using their own money to buy potato chips, rather than taxpayer money, many stopped buying premium-priced Frito-Lay products.

I’ll take this opportunity to restate what I previously wrote about the market distortion of taxpayer-subsidized junk food, from a piece from last February titled, “Following SNAP Restrictions on Junk Food, Pepsico Cuts Prices Due to Softening Consumer Demand.”

Some basic economic truths are playing out in the junk food market – the market where Pepsico engages in commerce. Much of its revenue has been in the form of redistributed taxpayer money, which passes through government to the recipients of what was once called “food stamps.” The recipients of SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) have historically spent considerable amounts of their federal food assistance on Doritos, Mountain Dew, and other low-nutrition foods sold by Pepsico.
It didn’t take long for Pepsico to feel the pinch. By early February, the company was finding itself needing to cut prices in response to slowing sales.
But a few months earlier when SNAP recipients were still spending government money, Pepsico was able to steadily increase prices. Now that those same consumers are forced to buy Fritos and Cheetos using their own money, they have suddenly become price conscious.

--------------------------------------
When corporations and their executives made a hard-left political turn in the early 21st century it puzzled me, because the Democrats they allied with were not the party of free enterprise. But I’ve since come to realize that much of corporate America now rejects free enterprise too, and instead wants government to act on its behalf in redistributing money from taxpayers to corporations.
Be it SNAP benefits for junk food or EV credits for auto manufacturers, the Trump administration is putting an end to the corporatist business model and its parasitic attachment to taxpayer wallets.
With “affordability” such a visible political issue, and with the Pepsico case-study showing how consumer prices can be reduced, Republicans need to aggressively focus on cutting the government subsidies that result in higher consumer prices.

*****

Other Stuff I’m Writing About

My latest piece at the The American Spectator has been published. “Natural Gas, AI, and the Industrial Boom Nobody Wants to Talk About” discusses the massive, ongoing industrial buildout going on in this country, focusing especially on the record orders and backlog for electricity-producing, natural gas turbines, and how this boom is cascading through the economy, resulting in an expansion of American manufacturing.

A subject I feel is important to keep covering, despite the puzzling disinterest of the political and media class, is the extraordinary industrial growth that is occurring in the United States. There is effectively a massive “stimulus package” of spending going on, and best of all, it is being privately funded. For once, taxpayers are benefiting from this vast “shovel-ready” stimulus, unlike recent government stimulus spending endeavors, in which money was simply redistributed from taxpayers to favored recipients.

This piece is not behind a paywall. I’d be honored if you’d give it a read.

My latest piece at The American Spectator: "Natural Gas, AI, and the Industrial Boom Nobody Wants to Talk About"https://t.co/MXhPcQLKrz
— Buck Throckmorton (@BuckThrockmort) August 7, 2026

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Sponge!

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:01 AM (sTU8y)

2 The only way to measure a program's success is if spending goes up.

Otherwise people are starving and dying.

You don't want people to starve and die, do you?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, discovering British horror with Hammer Films at August 07, 2026 11:01 AM (bvy21)

3 Investing in anything subsidized by the government is a bad investment.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 11:02 AM (2Cry5)

4 Corgis called

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:03 AM (sTU8y)

5 The only way to measure a program's success is if spending goes up.

Otherwise people are starving and dying.

You don't want people to starve and die, do you?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

You want an honest answer?

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:04 AM (sTU8y)

6 So if you want chips, or "crisps", or whatever fried potato product you will have to buy... a potato. And cut it up and fry it yourself.
I can't see that being hard and it would save taxpayers some money.

Posted by: 88C+u at August 07, 2026 11:04 AM (88C+u)

7 5

You want an honest answer?

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:04 AM (sTU8y)

=======

No.

I want you to kneel and submit.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, discovering British horror with Hammer Films at August 07, 2026 11:05 AM (bvy21)

8 You don't want people to starve and die, do you?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, discovering British horror with Hammer Films at August 07, 2026 11:01 AM (bvy21)

Depends on the people

Posted by: MAC V SOG at August 07, 2026 11:05 AM (P4Pk9)

9 No.

I want you to kneel and submit.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

I thought it was "like and subscribe."

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:06 AM (77rzZ)

10 You don't want people to starve and die, do you?

I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific.

(Yeah, I'm in one of "those" moods today.)

Posted by: Oddbob at August 07, 2026 11:06 AM (vTZFs)

11
9 No.

I want you to kneel and submit.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

I thought it was "like and subscribe."

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:06 AM (77rzZ)

=======

What's the difference?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, discovering British horror with Hammer Films at August 07, 2026 11:06 AM (bvy21)

12 I think people on SNAP should have all the free kale they want!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 07, 2026 11:07 AM (n9eFH)

13 Old and Busted: Do it for the kicks!
New Hotness: Do it for the clicks!

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 07, 2026 11:07 AM (n9eFH)

14 I want you to kneel and submit.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, discovering British horror with Hammer Films at August 07, 2026 11:05 AM (bvy21)

Come over here and say that.

Posted by: Graham Platner, Jarl of the Maine fjords at August 07, 2026 11:07 AM (88C+u)

15 Posted by: Buck
Thanks Buck, I enjoy your insights.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at August 07, 2026 11:07 AM (NnhvP)

16 No.

I want you to kneel and submit.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

I thought it was "like and subscribe."
Posted by: Bulg

Already have. He cleans up pretty good.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:08 AM (sTU8y)

17 The fact that it took until now to ban the purchase of junk food with taxpayer money is just astonishing, and tells you everything you need to know about the people we're up against.

Make a case for taxpayer-funded junk food. Go ahead. I'm waiting.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:08 AM (Riz8t)

18 Well, my guy for governor list the Republican primary, as expected. But, he definitely outperformed any expectations for him. Much better than everyone thought, including me. He even won in a bunch of counties near me.

Dude is BASED AF, which is what got me to vote for him. Hopefully these Republican queens take notice.

LOL, I keed, I keed.

Posted by: Yudhishthira's Dice at August 07, 2026 11:08 AM (BI5O2)

19
I still think the gov't should go with some kind of nutrient loaf or snacker that contains all the necessary vitamins, protein and fiber people need to live instead of SNAP or food stamp or whatever.

Cheaper and if people want better chow they'd go to work.

Buuuuut, that'll never happen, so restrict what can be bought, make sure grifters can't get cards and make them non-sellable. Maybe by using a bar code which can't work unless the proper ID or fingerprint reader gives the okay.

Posted by: naturalfake at August 07, 2026 11:08 AM (iJfKG)

20 You get what you pay people for using other people's money.

Posted by: RandomDave (if you can spare a bit, please click) at August 07, 2026 11:08 AM (aJQbY)

21 I wonder sometimes - the average price of groceries, must almost certainly be significantly higher due to the federal “Snap” and “EBT” confetti-buck cannon firing dollars far and wide. How much? 5%? 10%?

No question corn chips, cookies, potato chips, pricessed frozen snack food meals and the rest of it are marked up very high. A large bag of Doritos is $6 to $8 bucks, and not all that large any longer. I bet there’s probably forty cents worth of product in a ten cent bag, maybe a dollar in transport and handling?

You’ll hear experts decry the rise in metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type II diabetes and blame it on “cheap carbs” and junk foods. This is a bit of a myth, the carbohydrate laden snack foods are the most expensive stuff you can buy.

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 11:09 AM (dE511)

22 Thx Buck.
Here in NY our brilliant governor Hochul has put a moratorium on data centers. That's while the government is funding solar arrays in upstate lands and trying to put battery power storage facilities everywhere.

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 07, 2026 11:10 AM (KY+FT)

23 I think people on SNAP should have all the free kale they want!
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes

I think they should be allowed to have all the junk food they can buy with their own money.

But if they can afford junk food, they don't need SNAP or WIC.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:10 AM (sTU8y)

24 No. You're not going to do it. You're not going to make me like bureaucracy.

People Are Being Driven Away From Food Stamps — By “Paperwork”

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fear Me! at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (ndZc7)

25 naturalfake, that reminds me of John Ringo's Last Centurion. The nutrition bars from hell that made people want to find work so they could stop eating them.

Posted by: RandomDave (if you can spare a bit, please click) at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (aJQbY)

26 Depend on it, when a welfare leech knows their SNAP benefits are going to be cut, their wallet tightens accordingly.

- Shit Samuel Johnson Said, vol. III

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (qRla/)

27 Damn, now I want chips.

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (77rzZ)

28 I'm fine with this. Start encouraging people to cook better food instead of relying on junk.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (lXoJ5)

29 From the AI link:

While analyzing the stock market is not something I would attempt to do, it is setting new records, and it bemuses me that the coverage of the current bull market seems to completely ignore the impact of the massive industrial buildout that is underway in this country.

We are experiencing what will likely be looked back on as the greatest industrial expansion since World War II. It far exceeds what any government-funded stimulus package could do. Prosperous economic times lie ahead with the USA becoming an industrial powerhouse again.

I have a lot of problems with Peter Zeihan's predictions, many of which have turned out to be completely wrong, but on this one he's been ahead of the curve. He predicted a huge rebirth of American manufacturing years ago.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (Riz8t)

30 I am 53 years old so I am delighted to see the popup ads showing 3 old men with big smiles on their faces with a dopeboy baggie of blue pills, a bosomy GILF with promises to have hours of sex and incontinence underwear. This gives me great hope for the Villages years!

Posted by: paulnjax at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (PPnyU)

31 I still think the gov't should go with some kind of nutrient loaf or snacker that contains all the necessary vitamins, protein and fiber people need to live instead of SNAP or food stamp or whatever.

Cheaper and if people want better chow they'd go to work.

Buuuuut, that'll never happen, so restrict what can be bought, make sure grifters can't get cards and make them non-sellable. Maybe by using a bar code which can't work unless the proper ID or fingerprint reader gives the okay.
Posted by: naturalfake

Should go back to the way it was. You went and picked up the government food.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:12 AM (sTU8y)

32 You don't want people to starve and die, do you?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison

We are all dying but some of us are dying faster--too much food of the wrong kind or the lack thereof can speed that process.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:12 AM (E4rtv)

33 The question that people should be starting to ask is, can this re-industrialization be sustained beyond Trump's term?

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 07, 2026 11:12 AM (g8Ew8)

34 You have to be retarded to support solar arrays in the northeast (or, worse, northwest).
Arizona, New Mex, parts of Colorado, I get it. Maybe east Oregon. But it gets cloudy and cold NE.

Posted by: gKWVE at August 07, 2026 11:12 AM (88C+u)

35 31 I still think the gov't should go with some kind of nutrient loaf or snacker that contains all the necessary vitamins, protein and fiber people need to live instead of SNAP or food stamp or whatever.

Cheaper and if people want better chow they'd go to work.

Buuuuut, that'll never happen, so restrict what can be bought, make sure grifters can't get cards and make them non-sellable. Maybe by using a bar code which can't work unless the proper ID or fingerprint reader gives the okay.
Posted by: naturalfake

Should go back to the way it was. You went and picked up the government food.
Posted by: rickb223
=======
Purina Human Chow. Comes in 50 lb sacks.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:12 AM (E4rtv)

36 I want you to kneel and submit.

Come over here and say that.
Posted by: Graham Platner, Jarl of the Maine fjords

You really, REALLY don't want to be on the ground around that guy. He has...ideas.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:13 AM (Riz8t)

37 So if you want chips, or "crisps", or whatever fried potato product you will have to buy... a potato. And cut it up and fry it yourself.
I can't see that being hard and it would save taxpayers some money.
Posted by: 88C+u at August 07, 2026 11:04 AM (88C+u)

Naw, you can buy the store brand at Wally World.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:13 AM (1z8ji)

38 33 The question that people should be starting to ask is, can this re-industrialization be sustained beyond Trump's term?
Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons
=======
With tariffs and a GOP president following Trumpism, yes. Same with restoring the border and kicking out illegals improving society.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:13 AM (E4rtv)

39 Buuuuut, that'll never happen, so restrict what can be bought, make sure grifters can't get cards and make them non-sellable. Maybe by using a bar code which can't work unless the proper ID or fingerprint reader gives the okay.
Posted by: naturalfake

It can be done, but the will is not there.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:14 AM (Riz8t)

40 I'm having lunch today at a place that serves Pepsi products.

However, I'll order a Dr. Pepper just for spite.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 07, 2026 11:15 AM (FZ29D)

41 Buuuuut, that'll never happen, so restrict what can be bought, make sure grifters can't get cards and make them non-sellable. Maybe by using a bar code which can't work unless the proper ID or fingerprint reader gives the okay.
Posted by: naturalfake

It can be done, but the will is not there.
Posted by: Archimedes

This.

Posted by: rickb223 at August 07, 2026 11:15 AM (sTU8y)

42 34 You have to be retarded to support solar arrays in the northeast (or, worse, northwest).
Arizona, New Mex, parts of Colorado, I get it. Maybe east Oregon. But it gets cloudy and cold NE.
Posted by: gKWVE
======
Subsidies means doing shit is that is stupid economically. Like federal and states subsidizing fake majors in college with cheap loans and grants.

The administrators end up the ones that benefit as even the faculty teaching the crap can be hired on the cheap as adjuncts.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:15 AM (E4rtv)

43 Where my EBT card at?

Posted by: La'Shondra at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (2Ez/1)

44 Drink water. It’s good for you!

Posted by: Eromero at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (LHPAg)

45 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (2YhKe)

46 You have to be retarded to support solar arrays in the northeast (or, worse, northwest).
Arizona, New Mex, parts of Colorado, I get it. Maybe east Oregon. But it gets cloudy and cold NE.
Posted by: gKWVE
======
Subsidies means doing shit is that is stupid economically. Like federal and states subsidizing fake majors in college with cheap loans and grants.

The administrators end up the ones that benefit as even the faculty teaching the crap can be hired on the cheap as adjuncts.

Posted by: whig

It's never about what's being subsidized. It's always about WHO is being subsidized.

Posted by: Brother Tim sez: Fiat Justicia, Ruat Caelum at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (OUMaO)

47 When I was going thru school, I worked at a grocery store and you would frequently see folks in the parking lot selling their $1.00 food stamps in exchange for $0.80 cash so they could go in and buy cigarettes and liquor. Nothing will change, just methods.

Posted by: Rev. Wishbone at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (iySPJ)

48 I've observed that the demographics at the local grocery stores has indeed, shifted a bit. Apparently not having lots of extra cash (welfare) is making individuals a bit more circumspect with what money they do have.

Which is as it should be.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (2Cry5)

49 Lays makes grilled cheese and tomato soup flavored potato chips. They should get credit for that, at least.

Posted by: one hour sober at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (J4Dwc)

50 Be it SNAP benefits for junk food or EV credits for auto manufacturers, the Trump administration is putting an end to the corporatist business model and its parasitic attachment to taxpayer wallets.

He's stopping the governmental money laundering......

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (2YhKe)

51 22 Thx Buck.
Here in NY our brilliant governor Hochul has put a moratorium on data centers. That's while the government is funding solar arrays in upstate lands and trying to put battery power storage facilities everywhere.
Posted by: Smell the Glove

Holchul is playing footsie with the Chicoms is why. And the fake left is Chinese subsidized to want what the Chicoms want.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (E4rtv)

52 Drink water. It’s good for you!

Posted by: Eromero

You crazy? Look at what fish do in water...

Posted by: Alcoholic Beverage Purveyors of America at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (OUMaO)

53 The Clinton years. Congress did away with much of the surplus farm commodity price supports, which is what people wanted, I guess.

USDA “food stamps” were rife with fraud. Get maybe 20 cents cash or whatever to the dollar. Everyone had all the rice and beans and peanut butter they needed. Need money for beer and ciggies and the rest of it.

And everyone was admonished that it was “unfair” to have the poor folk singled out like that. Just give them a card loaded with credits.

I watched someone roll up in one of those humongous shopping carts FULL of meat, beef, steaks, chops, chicken, everything. Looked like more animal protein than I’d bought in the last ten years. Must have cost a fortune. Not for her.

“Would you like some help getting that out to your car?” the checker helpfully inquired. I think the cow declined, because her Escalade was parked right at the door, in the Handicapped spot, you see.

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (dE511)

54 Corn chips are a little trickier to make at home than potato chips are. I don't even want to consider Cheez-Its or Cheetohs. Imagine the quality of computer dust from homemade versions.

Megacorps with massive production facilities killed off all the local potato chip shops that used to be a neighborhood feature. I think we had three just on our side of the river, until the late 60's. They were loveable but low-margin. If Pepsi et al cut back, there may be an opening for small 'gourmet' snack foods again.

We get pretty haughty around here defining what "junk food" is for others. Obviously, if somebody we don't approve of is eating it, it's poison. Remember that when you are in the cross hairs next time, and I do mean bacon.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at August 07, 2026 11:18 AM (zdLoL)

55 The administrators end up the ones that benefit as even the faculty teaching the crap can be hired on the cheap as adjuncts.

But they NEED that Office of Diversity Enforcement in Offices of Diversity Enforcement. Otherwise, who will watch the watchers?

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:18 AM (Riz8t)

56 Lays makes grilled cheese and tomato soup flavored potato chips. They should get credit for that, at least.
Posted by: one hour sober

Wow, I gotta get me some of those.

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:19 AM (77rzZ)

57 It's never about what's being subsidized. It's always about WHO is being subsidized.
Posted by: Brother Tim
======
Depends on whether the argument is political or economic.

There are always political cases to be made for various subsidies. Not so using economics despite a lot of cheap date economists shills for specific interests.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:19 AM (E4rtv)

58 Yeah, I lost my old hash. Switched to another internet provider which includes my phone.
Sadly the hash is still uncool. ("Yyrog" is kinda cool but I have to pick that up at the coffee hovel.)

Posted by: 88C+u / gKWVE at August 07, 2026 11:19 AM (88C+u)

59 But they NEED that Office of Diversity Enforcement in Offices of Diversity Enforcement. Otherwise, who will watch the watchers?
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:18 AM (Riz8t)

Tanned, rested, and ready!

Posted by: Jason Arday, PhD at August 07, 2026 11:20 AM (n9eFH)

60 I've been amazed how chip prices have been jumping all over the place during the last few years. It seems they used to be far more stable. Also, chips used to be cheap and when the prices jump, they are ridiculous. I love the Ruffles Sea Salt and regularly bought them for $3-3.50 per bag. Smaller bags are over $5 this week.

Posted by: Emmie, celebrating 250 years of God's grace at August 07, 2026 11:20 AM (OlzlW)

61 We get pretty haughty around here defining what "junk food" is for others. Obviously, if somebody we don't approve of is eating it, it's poison. Remember that when you are in the cross hairs next time, and I do mean bacon.

Yeah, well, when I'm paying for it, I get to be haughty.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:20 AM (Riz8t)

62
Buuuuut, that'll never happen, so restrict what can be bought, make sure grifters can't get cards and make them non-sellable. Maybe by using a bar code which can't work unless the proper ID or fingerprint reader gives the okay.
Posted by: naturalfake

A mark on the hand or forehead.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at August 07, 2026 11:20 AM (Cqx++)

63 Some basic economic truths are playing out in the junk food market

I like that. I'd like that to be the editorial standard: For PepsiCo, whose junk food brands including Ruffles and PopCorners generate about 58% of its annual revenue...

Posted by: t-bird at August 07, 2026 11:21 AM (rxwdW)

64 Drink water. It’s good for you!

Posted by: Eromero

You crazy? Look at what fish do in water...
Posted by: Alcoholic Beverage Purveyors of America at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (OUMaO)
No fish in my well.

Posted by: Eromero at August 07, 2026 11:21 AM (LHPAg)

65 I wonder sometimes - the average price of groceries, must almost certainly be significantly higher due to the federal “Snap” and “EBT” confetti-buck cannon firing dollars far and wide. How much? 5%? 10%?

No question corn chips, cookies, potato chips, pricessed frozen snack food meals and the rest of it are marked up very high. A large bag of Doritos is $6 to $8 bucks, and not all that large any longer. I bet there’s probably forty cents worth of product in a ten cent bag, maybe a dollar in transport and handling?

You’ll hear experts decry the rise in metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type II diabetes and blame it on “cheap carbs” and junk foods. This is a bit of a myth, the carbohydrate laden snack foods are the most expensive stuff you can buy.

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 11:09 AM

I don't know about that but I watched a woman checking out at walmart using her snap benefits the other day. She had a cart full of pretty much nothing but carbs. Her two kids were extremely fat. The younger one was about 11-12 and he looked like he weighed over 200 pounds.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 07, 2026 11:21 AM (cpFbA)

66 The SNAP changes should be a helpful tool in cutting fraud as well--gas stations that only sell pop and snacks and buy SNAP cards at pennies on the dollar will no longer be able to put fraudulent purchases for pop and snacks through for payment. A wise program auditor would look to pre and post changes in purchases to identify potential fraud hotspots.

Posted by: MsT at August 07, 2026 11:22 AM (mtNmY)

67 Should go back to the way it was. You went and picked up the government food.

Bring back shame. When I was a child, people were ashamed to have others see that they were on food stamps.

Posted by: Mary Poppins' Practically Perfect Piercing (aka Eloquent Depression) at August 07, 2026 11:22 AM (qRla/)

68 Purina Human Chow sounds a lot like prison punishment loaf and would be just as popular, and this with a non-captive population. Going back to handing out sacks of groceries sounds better.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 07, 2026 11:22 AM (sGgMH)

69 Now you know at least partially why Pepsi tried to adopt the Obongo logo back when

Posted by: ... at August 07, 2026 11:22 AM (6UXQp)

70 Where my EBT card at?
Posted by: La'Shondra at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (2Ez/1)

Annnnd, my standard reply, as usual, is, "If it was up your ass you'd know".

Posted by: Wise Ass at August 07, 2026 11:22 AM (hmYU4)

71 There are always political cases to be made for various subsidies. Not so using economics despite a lot of cheap date economists shills for specific interests.

Posted by: whig

The moment government starts slinging money around, it's political by definition.

While I get and appreciate the economic arguments, "homo economicus" is a fable. If the lens of human nature isn't in play you'll never understand the results.

Posted by: Alcoholic Beverage Purveyors of America at August 07, 2026 11:23 AM (OUMaO)

72 I think kicking out a lot of illegals also cut into sales of junk-food garbage. I'm sure those leeches were big consumers of junk food and soda.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:23 AM (iFTx/)

73 The SNAP changes should be a helpful tool in cutting fraud as well--gas stations that only sell pop and snacks and buy SNAP cards at pennies on the dollar will no longer be able to put fraudulent purchases for pop and snacks through for payment. A wise program auditor would look to pre and post changes in purchases to identify potential fraud hotspots.

As I said earlier, this isn't an impossible problem to solve. The people running the scams are not galactic brains - they're largely morons. The problem is a government that doesn't WANT to stop it.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:23 AM (Riz8t)

74 Strangely enough calorie restriction has long been known to show a life extension characteristic. You never see really obese elderly people out and about, they always die early. Those people that make it to 102 usually look pretty spry.

It’s one reason paying people not to work and fattening them up on corn is awfully silly. Because they need all sorts of “health care” soon enough.

Weigh-ins and morning PT for the fatties is probably asking a bit much. Worked for the Army, though.

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 11:24 AM (dE511)

75 OT -why would someone want to order Coke with personalized saying on the can.?

Article over brouhaha over it:

https://tinyurl.com/mu49ahdy

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at August 07, 2026 11:24 AM (vxQju)

76 I don't know about that but I watched a woman checking out at walmart using her snap benefits the other day. She had a cart full of pretty much nothing but carbs. Her two kids were extremely fat. The younger one was about 11-12 and he looked like he weighed over 200 pounds.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at August 07, 2026 11:21 AM (cpFbA)

Being fat and bloated is the mark of a successful tick.

Parasites.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:26 AM (1z8ji)

77 But they NEED that Office of Diversity Enforcement in Offices of Diversity Enforcement. Otherwise, who will watch the watchers?
Posted by: Archimedes

Roughly about 2008-9, a majority of college salary expenditures went to staff rather than teaching faculty and since then, it has widened. Basically the coolie adjunct labor force of PhDs teaching for cheap means shrinkage in the number of tenured faculty and those expensive faculty are increasingly not teaching but rather trying to get research grants so admin can get its fat rakeoff.

And the students get the shaft at many colleges because of that but willingly accept that as they only want a credential in many cases.

Administrators pretend education is going on, professors including adjuncts pretend they are teaching, and students in turn pretend to learn and use AI/cut and paste, and other means to dispose of assignments quickly so socializing can be done.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:26 AM (E4rtv)

78 It was hilarious when lobbyists testified at public hearings justifying junk food stampz

Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov at August 07, 2026 11:26 AM (bX16E)

79 56 Lays makes grilled cheese and tomato soup flavored potato chips. They should get credit for that, at least.
Posted by: one hour sober

Wow, I gotta get me some of those.
Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:19 AM (77rzZ)

They also make a mac and cheese flavor that is nowhere near as good as it sounds. Disappointing even.

Posted by: Polka will never die at August 07, 2026 11:26 AM (CTEU+)

80 I think the modern obsession with "snacking" -- endless snacks, all day long, especially for kids -- should be completely rethought and abandoned.

It's expensive, it's unhealthy, and it's creating entire generations of overweight kids that grow into layabout obese farm animals.

I'm not sure when it started. When I was a kid -- not that long ago, I'm Gen X -- there was no such thing as "snacking." We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That was it. There wasn't those meals plus three bags of doritos.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:27 AM (iFTx/)

81 31 I still think the gov't should go with some kind of nutrient loaf or snacker that contains all the necessary vitamins, protein and fiber people need to live instead of SNAP or food stamp or whatever.
++++
I recall one of the DC snipers complaining about prison food that was a food loaf:

"Sniper suspect and vegetarian John Lee Malvo says he is getting sick from eating the jail's meatless loaf, which is usually served to inmates for disciplinary reasons.
For the past two weeks, the Fairfax County jail has been serving the 17-year-old Malvo 'the loaf,' a hodgepodge of flour, raisins, carrots, potatoes and other ingredients baked into brown cakes.

Loaves have become an increasingly popular form of discipline in jails and prisons across the country, and have prompted some lawsuits. In Pennsylvania prisons, a breakfast loaf contains prunes, eggs, toast, hash browns, bacon and orange juice. Texas calls its version food loaf, a breadlike substance made up of the previous day's leftovers."

https://tinyurl.com/3bhutukj

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 07, 2026 11:28 AM (2Ez/1)

82 When I was a child, people were ashamed to have others see that they were on food stamps.
——

And the “experts” admonished everyone how wrong that was. They had to take shame out of the equation, and turn it into a violent entitlement mentality.

“They just need room to destroy” is the result. See how that works?

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 11:28 AM (dE511)

83 So if you want chips, or "crisps", or whatever fried potato product you will have to buy... a potato. And cut it up and fry it yourself.
I can't see that being hard and it would save taxpayers some money.

Here's the problem with that- I can find potatoes, tallow, and salt. Where am I, as a mere consumer, going to find the Natural Beef Flavor, Hydrolyzed Wheat, Hydrolyzed Milk, Citric Acid, Dimethylpolysiloxane, Dextrose, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, and "TBHQ" (?!) I need to make a proper McDonald's french fry?

Posted by: t-bird at August 07, 2026 11:28 AM (rxwdW)

84 It was hilarious when lobbyists testified at public hearings justifying junk food stampz
Posted by: Field Marshal Zhukov

When she was working in public accounting, my wife had to do an audit at the National Potato-Chip and Snakc-Food Association. She said there were packages of junk food lying around everywhere, free for the taking.

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:29 AM (77rzZ)

85 Funyons are neither.

Posted by: Just for the record at August 07, 2026 11:29 AM (2Ez/1)

86 NSFA! (Not safe for anyone.)

Debbie Dingell has the best Hasan [Piker] take to date: I don’t get it. I don’t agree with him. I’m not defending what he’s said. But he’s popular, especially with young people, and he’s hot. So it is what it is. C’est la vie.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fear Me! at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (ndZc7)

87 Years ago, buying produce at a farmers market meant better quality produce at better prices than the grocery stores.

Now, the produce at the farmers market is nearly double the price compared to the grocery store. I wonder, could this be due to the fact that SNAP benefits are DOUBLED at the farmers market?

I appreciate the intention behind incentivizing the purchase of fresh produce with SNAP, but the real-world result is prices raised for everyone except SNAP users.

Posted by: Emmie, celebrating 250 years of God's grace at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (OlzlW)

88 The same people that tell me the government should ban junk food for everyone tell me it is rayciss and mean to not allow EBT to be used on junk food.

Posted by: 18-1 at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (sKqQm)

89 Hawaiian Judge will rule there is no such thing as junk food and Pepsi is nutritious. That will end the Trump starvation campaign.

Posted by: torabora at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (Wt1Rs)

90 While I get and appreciate the economic arguments, "homo economicus" is a fable. If the lens of human nature isn't in play you'll never understand the results.
Posted by: Alcoholic Beverage Purveyors of America
=======
Economics realized that by the sixties with behavioral sciences being imported into the field. And the old rational man thesis of classic economics has been overstated to the point of being a strawman. It is simply some subsidies can be helpful instead of harmful because ceteras paribus never is reality.

That is the point that classic libertarianism fails to understand. Not all tariffs are bad, not all subsidies are bad per se, it depends on how they are used.

An economist would simply recognize these are all incentives and some work better than others at specific successful policy outcomes.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (E4rtv)

91 School started here this week. Most kids eat breakfast and lunch at school if it's subsidized. (it is)

The typical summer junk food fare they'd be eating all day long is now priced to sell as there's less of it flying off the shelves. Same for soft drinks.

Not a lot less money, but a little bit. And stuff's lingering on the shelves longer too. I see a lot more yellow tags (which means it a reduced price and very near or at it's "sell by" date.)

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (2Cry5)

92 ...and now for some Classical Gas.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 07, 2026 11:31 AM (diia5)

93 Drink water. It’s good for you!

You never know!

Posted by: Flint, MI at August 07, 2026 11:31 AM (rxwdW)

94 ...and now for some Classical Gas.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 07, 2026 11:31 AM (diia5)

Beethoven's Farth Symphony.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:32 AM (2YhKe)

95 I don't know about that but I watched a woman checking out at walmart using her snap benefits the other day. She had a cart full of pretty much nothing but carbs. Her two kids were extremely fat. The younger one was about 11-12 and he looked like he weighed over 200 pounds.

If you go back to pictures from the 80s there are occasional fat people but no fat kids. Why? Less exercise and more shitty carb laden food now.

We had shitty carb laden food in the 80s of course but for various cultural reasons people bought less of it.

Posted by: 18-1 at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (sKqQm)

96 I adjusted my own spending and habits considerably some years ago when I decided being a fatty was a bad idea. You can spend a LOT less, or spend it on better quality food and ingredients.

If overnight, everybody started eating sensibly, cut out the shit in their life, it would probably be an extinction level event for many corporations and fast food chains.

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (dE511)

97 Publicly subsidized services should be limited to medical care, long term care, schooling, legal services, and shipping-and-transportation, with contextually large subsidies in re the first three and contextually circumscribed ones in re the last two.
==
Subsidizing people's groceries, housing, and utility bills is bad business. All three commodities are frequently replenished; you don't have the unpredictable spikes you do with demand for medical care and l/t care and you do not have the sort of information deficits you do with regard to pondering medical care or educational choices. All three are also in their consumption sensitive to considerations of amenity. In regard to groceries in particular, the ratio of grocery expenditures to personal income has declined from 16% in 1965 to 7.4% today while mean body mass index continues to climb. Concern about malnutrition was retro in 1965 and an indicator of the degree to which LBJ was influenced by the conditions prevailing when he was a New Deal official. It is bizarre in our own time, when, with very few exceptions, people suffering from malnutrition are vagrants and drug addicts.

Posted by: Art Deco at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (pawNB)

98 Two DC Circuit judges, one an Obama non-partisan and the other a Biden non-partisan (nod to Chief Justice John "Dummy" Roberts), just ruled the President can't finish his WH ballroom construction project without express permission from the Democrat Party.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (zG53D)

99 92 ...and now for some Classical Gas.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 07, 2026 11:31 AM (diia5)

You got it!

https://youtu.be/0vXtywOlayc

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 07, 2026 11:34 AM (n9eFH)

100 Posted by: paulnjax at August 07, 2026 11:11 AM (PPnyU)

Wah......

Posted by: Will Robinson at August 07, 2026 11:34 AM (SExz7)

101 Two DC Circuit judges, one an Obama non-partisan and the other a Biden non-partisan (nod to Chief Justice John "Dummy" Roberts), just ruled the President can't finish his WH ballroom construction project without express permission from the Democrat Party.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (zG53D)

F*ck that. He should just finish it. It's a privately funded project.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:34 AM (2YhKe)

102 Lays makes grilled cheese and tomato soup flavored potato chips. They should get credit for that, at least.

Posted by: one hour sober at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (J4Dwc)

They should start making chips that taste like saltine crackers and government cheese.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 07, 2026 11:34 AM (g8Ew8)

103 >>As SNAP restrictions have rolled out, it has been a sucker-punch to the manufacturers of low-nutrition products.

At some point all of the other benefits SNAP enables needs to be evaluated.

For example, SNAP recipients are given free scooter rental in major cities, as well as reduced entry to institutions such as museums and botanic gardens.
It's become an all-purpose ID for getting all kinds of other free or greatly reduced cost stuff. This is how you get two Americas, one paying full price, the other getting a completely different fare/cost structure via a SNAP card.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 07, 2026 11:34 AM (X8xt3)

104 In light of this decline do investors hang on to their Pepsi stocks?

Posted by: Ben Had at August 07, 2026 11:35 AM (3ZNGI)

105 Hawaiian Judge will rule there is no such thing as junk food and Pepsi is nutritious. That will end the Trump starvation campaign.

I saw a congress critter asking some federal bureaucrat if Pepsi was nutritious and she kept deflecting arguing that she while she was a trained and experienced expert on nutrition she would need to read an analyze the ingredients before answering the question

But remember...trust the experts.

Posted by: 18-1 at August 07, 2026 11:35 AM (sKqQm)

106 Yeah, Frito Lay has jumped their prices up. Not paying $5.00 a bag for chips. Switched to Golden Flakes, still $3.00 a bag.
And by the looks of things I'm not the only one. I've noticed many other items people have stopped buying. People are trying to stick to their grocery budgets.

Posted by: Case at August 07, 2026 11:35 AM (fV9m3)

107 An economist would simply recognize these are all incentives and some work better than others at specific successful policy outcomes.

Posted by: whig

Oh, I get all that. It's a tool in the toolbox, used sparingly can yield helpful results. But it has to be watched and limited.

Posted by: Alcoholic Beverage Purveyors of America at August 07, 2026 11:36 AM (OUMaO)

108 For example, SNAP recipients are given free scooter rental in major cities, as well as reduced entry to institutions such as museums and botanic gardens.

I have to say as a taxpayer I get pissed off when I have to pay to go to a state park or a state/federal museum.

What the hell are my taxes paying for exactly?!?

Posted by: 18-1 at August 07, 2026 11:36 AM (sKqQm)

109 > Years ago, buying produce at a farmers market meant better quality produce at better prices than the grocery stores.

Now, the produce at the farmers market is nearly double the price compared to the grocery store. I wonder, could this be due to the fact that SNAP benefits are DOUBLED at the farmers market?
------------
"Farmer's Market"

More and more it's someone who's been to the produce wholesaler and bought a bunch of stuff to resell (at a profit) which implies a higher price than normal. Claiming it's all from "their farm" or it's "organic."

Some don't even remove the wholesaler's stickers they put on certain produce. And you can see the crates or boxes laying around with the store's logo on them.

We've called out a couple people who do this at the local "farmer's market" and they inevitably leave.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (2Cry5)

110 NSFA! (Not safe for anyone.)

Debbie Dingell has the best Hasan [Piker] take to date: I don’t get it. I don’t agree with him. I’m not defending what he’s said. But he’s popular, especially with young people, and he’s hot. So it is what it is. C’est la vie.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Fear Me! at August 07, 2026 11:30 AM (ndZc7)
___________

Dingell is a miserable old crone who married a rich, politically powerful guy old enough to be her father. It was clearly a transactional marriage. By her standards, the hobo drunk stumbling around Detroit is "hot."

Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (iFTx/)

111
What the hell are my taxes paying for exactly?!?
Posted by: 18-1 at August 07, 2026 11:36 AM (sKqQm)

Cocaine and blowjobs.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (2YhKe)

112 91 And stuff's lingering on the shelves longer too. I see a lot more yellow tags (which means it a reduced price and very near or at it's "sell by" date.)

doubtless the reason california has decided to ban "sell by" dates.

Posted by: anachronda at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (QfB85)

113 "Sniper suspect and vegetarian John Lee Malvo says he is getting sick from eating the jail's meatless loaf, which is usually served to inmates for disciplinary reasons.
For the past two weeks, the Fairfax County jail has been serving the 17-year-old Malvo 'the loaf,' a hodgepodge of flour, raisins, carrots, potatoes and other ingredients baked into brown cakes.

Malvo was the DC sniper's accomplice. Note that the article is from 2002. I guess we should check in on him and see if he's dead from "the loaf" yet. If not, his ration needs to be doubled. Or halved. One of those.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (Riz8t)

114 That is the dirty secret of SNAP and other giveaway federal programs. The money goes to the layabouts who then give it back to The Man via Wally World, Hyundai and the local drug dealer who then make profits while our national debt soars on the backs of people's grandchirrun's future.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Posted by: Gimme Gimme Gimme at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (45BvE)

115 >>Debbie Dingell has the best Hasan [Piker] take to date: I don’t get it. I don’t agree with him. I’m not defending what he’s said. But he’s popular, especially with young people, and he’s hot. So it is what it is. C’est la vie.

Gosh, that Commie Islamist who thinks I should die in a fire for being an infidel sure is hot! So, he's all good with me!

Posted by: Lizzy at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (X8xt3)

116 Cocaine and blowjobs.

That explains Sen Coke Bear and former VP Kamala but what about the rest of it?

Posted by: 18-1 at August 07, 2026 11:38 AM (sKqQm)

117 Malvo was the DC sniper's accomplice. Note that the article is from 2002. I guess we should check in on him and see if he's dead from "the loaf" yet. If not, his ration needs to be doubled. Or halved. One of those.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (Riz8t)

Didn't he get scragged?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:39 AM (1z8ji)

118 3 hours into a 13 hour 3D print, and I am on pins and needles.

It's also lunchtime and I have the rest of the day off, so Gimlet's it is.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 07, 2026 11:39 AM (XV/Pl)

119 So who's building the turbines? I know up to 5-6 years ago, GE (market leader?) couldn't get out of the traditional big power turbine fast enough and just make more windmills... Or turbine systems for windmills, anyway... Haven't followed it much since though

Posted by: bearski at August 07, 2026 11:39 AM (Bhsk7)

120 Two DC Circuit judges, one an Obama non-partisan and the other a Biden non-partisan (nod to Chief Justice John "Dummy" Roberts), just ruled the President can't finish his WH ballroom construction project without express permission from the Democrat Party.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (zG53D)

F*ck that. He should just finish it. It's a privately funded project.

I say just leave it as a construction site. Then, when people demand to know why the WH looks like crap, just say "talk to the Dems".

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (Riz8t)

121
Gosh, that Commie Islamist who thinks I should die in a fire for being an infidel sure is hot! So, he's all good with me!
Posted by: Lizzy at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (X8xt3)

They glorified the Boston Marathon bomber.........

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (2YhKe)

122 Private charities which operate soup kitchens and community food cupboards can address spot problems with nutrition among the impecunious in this country.
==
As for housing, the thing to do is scour the regulator codes for measures which unduly inhibit the production of housing types best suited for the impecunious - emergency shelters, flop houses, SRO hotels, halfway houses, group homes, boarding houses, and apartments with shared kitchens and / or shared baths. You need the stock of available housing to have more bite sized portions. Also, you might remove low priority items in building codes &c in regard to residences in the most impecunious areas of town. Also, tax preferences in poor areas of town would be desirable, with some census block groups facing a 0% rate on assessed valuation and others a rate one half the standard rate. If you lower the tax burden in poor neighborhoods, you reduce incentives to abandon property. Another thing you can do is allow all landlords plenary discretion over to whom they rent and provide for rapid execution of eviction orders.

Posted by: Art Deco at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (pawNB)

123 >>Malvo was the DC sniper's accomplice. Note that the article is from 2002. I guess we should check in on him and see if he's dead from "the loaf" yet. If not, his ration needs to be doubled. Or halved. One of those.

First he demanded vegetarian meals.
Virginia responded by serving him the veggie loaf - hey, it's what *he* wanted. Then he complained.

IIRC, Malvo has been playing the reformed kid who just needs another chance, and was getting interviewed by sympathetic Lefty reporters.

Posted by: Lizzy at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (X8xt3)

124 98 Two DC Circuit judges, one an Obama non-partisan and the other a Biden non-partisan (nod to Chief Justice John "Dummy" Roberts), just ruled the President can't finish his WH ballroom construction project without express permission from the Democrat Party.
Posted by: Huck Follywood
======
And they will end up losing at Scotus because one of Robert's favorite moves is that the appellant lacks standing. And in this case, he would be correct. This is essentially a taxpayer lawsuitm which is barred by Frothingham v. Mellon (1923). They cannot show direct economic or Bill of Rights violations but rather only esthetics.

Congress has grounds to bar it and sue if the President does not comply but they have not done so. Individuals don't. See Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife (1992) as individuals cannot show concrete, particularized, and imminent individual injury from the President renovating the White House. Disagreement about esthetics doesn't meet that high standard for standing.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (E4rtv)

125 Years ago, buying produce at a farmers market meant better quality produce at better prices than the grocery stores.

Now, the produce at the farmers market is nearly double the price compared to the grocery store. I wonder, could this be due to the fact that SNAP benefits are DOUBLED at the farmers market?
________

I think most iof these "farmers markets" are scams. It's just the same food bought from major wholesalers as every other grocer has. It's a marketing scam to charge higher prices for the same shit.

Ditto the "organic" scam.

Now, there are some markets where they do sell truly farm-fresh products. But those are the exception rather than the rule.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (iFTx/)

126 It rained and my butt is all wet

Posted by: The Ballots at August 07, 2026 11:41 AM (LOZbR)

127 Malvo was the DC sniper's accomplice. Note that the article is from 2002. I guess we should check in on him and see if he's dead from "the loaf" yet. If not, his ration needs to be doubled. Or halved. One of those.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (Riz8t)

Didn't he get scragged?

You're thinking of John Allen Muhammad, who got the needle in 2009.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:41 AM (Riz8t)

128 Malvo has been playing the reformed kid who just needs another chance

Yeah, no. He can rot.

Posted by: NR Pax at August 07, 2026 11:41 AM (lXoJ5)

129 Dingell is a miserable old crone who married a rich, politically powerful guy old enough to be her father. It was clearly a transactional marriage. By her standards, the hobo drunk stumbling around Detroit is "hot."
Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (iFTx/)

A member of the Dingell family has held that House seat since 1933.

Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes, the Housekeeper at August 07, 2026 11:42 AM (n9eFH)

130 Lays makes grilled cheese and tomato soup flavored potato chips. They should get credit for that, at least.

Posted by: one hour sober
____________

Sour cream and onion was the pinnacle, and shall never be surpassed.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at August 07, 2026 11:42 AM (XvL8K)

131 What SNAP Can Buy

Fruits and vegetables. Meat, poultry, and fish. Dairy products. Breads and cereals. Seeds and plants to grow food.

Note: Benefits cannot be used for alcohol, tobacco, hot prepared foods, or non-food items like pet food or household supplies.

Yeah, there's a lot of fraud, too, but the Food and Nutrition Administration encourages reporting. Some group always finds a way around specific rules.

Locally, there are some non-profit businesses that have set up exchanges of hot foods for those purchased by SNAP recipients and, reportedly, requiring heating or cooking.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at August 07, 2026 11:42 AM (NFX2v)

132 When I get potato chips, I almost never buy the national brands. I'll buy Tim's chips out of Oregon/Washington (something that hasn't yet been ruined by the woke, thankfully) and I'll buy Utz's/Zapp's chips/ (Is this company now considered to be as big as Lay's? I hope not).

Posted by: Sasquatch, the Original Trans-Wookie at August 07, 2026 11:43 AM (kfDTc)

133 They glorified the Boston Marathon bomber.........
Posted by: Sponge

Don't forget "Luigi, the Musical."

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (77rzZ)

134 126 It rained and my butt is all wet
Posted by: The Ballots at August 07, 2026 11:41 AM (LOZbR

Sounds like you need it to be wiped.

Posted by: Emmie, celebrating 250 years of God's grace at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (OlzlW)

135 Oh, ffs. GOOOOO!!!!!! and let us have done with you.

Sen. Mitch McConnell discharged from rehab center following hospitalization in mid-June
The Republican senator said he would continue to work from home and didn’t provide a timeline for his Senate return.

https://tinyurl.com/3bk788tn

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (Riz8t)

136 Now, there are some markets where they do sell truly farm-fresh products. But those are the exception rather than the rule.
Posted by: Elric The Blade
==========
Urbanized areas are ripe for this kind of manipulation because the truth is that a lot of the best varieties for flavor don't transport well.

And consumers rarely have the ability to tell when generic mega farm produce is substituted for the good stuff from an actual family truck farm, orchard, or even livestock farm. Same as wine.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (E4rtv)

137 You're thinking of John Allen Muhammad, who got the needle in 2009.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:41 AM (Riz8t)

Should have been a double execution. So Malvo was a juvenile? Tough shit.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (1z8ji)

138 GE (market leader?) couldn't get out of the traditional big power turbine fast enough and just make more windmills

Small turbines that spin the windmill and produce excess power are the way to go.

Posted by: t-bird at August 07, 2026 11:45 AM (E/qck)

139 I've never seen Debbie Dingell and Dr Jill together. Coincidence, I think not

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 07, 2026 11:45 AM (KY+FT)

140 51 22 Thx Buck.
Here in NY our brilliant governor Hochul has put a moratorium on data centers. That's while the government is funding solar arrays in upstate lands and trying to put battery power storage facilities everywhere.
Posted by: Smell the Glove

Holchul is playing footsie with the Chicoms is why. And the fake left is Chinese subsidized to want what the Chicoms want.
Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:17 AM (E4rtv)

Data centers are quickly becoming a NIMBY 80-20 issue...they got rich and took a lot of benefits without taking on any of the infrastructure costs...and are now getting called on it...

We have to be careful on it...

Posted by: Nova Local at August 07, 2026 11:45 AM (tOcjL)

141 Seriously ? They stopped the Ballroom again ?

Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 11:45 AM (FtULh)

142 129 Dingell is a miserable old crone who married a rich, politically powerful guy old enough to be her father. It was clearly a transactional marriage. By her standards, the hobo drunk stumbling around Detroit is "hot."
Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:37 AM (iFTx/)

A member of the Dingell family has held that House seat since 1933.
Posted by: I am the Shadout Mapes
======
Dingleberries > the Dingell family

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (E4rtv)

143 Should have been a double execution. So Malvo was a juvenile? Tough shit.

Concur. I don't want to support this insect for the rest of his life, and you know there will eventually be some lefty judge who lets him out.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (Riz8t)

144 John Allen Muhammad ... I always considered that guy a Muslim terrorist and those were terrorist murders. And that kid Malvo was his catamite.

But he was portrayed in the media as a somewhat sympathetic "serial killer" and not a gay Muslim terrorist. Shocker, I know.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (iFTx/)

145 "Malvo is serving multiple life sentences at Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Virginia."

Posted by: Wikipedia at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (2Ez/1)

146 > Two DC Circuit judges, one an Obama non-partisan and the other a Biden non-partisan (nod to Chief Justice John "Dummy" Roberts), just ruled the President can't finish his WH ballroom construction project without express permission from the Democrat Party.
Posted by: Huck Follywood
---------
More evidence the judiciary is squarely aligned with the left. This is a problem.

Rather than litigate this, which is what they'll do, the administration should string up those two on the White House grounds, near the site where the ballroom's being built.

At put a webcam on them.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (2Cry5)

147 135 Oh, ffs. GOOOOO!!!!!! and let us have done with you.

Sen. Mitch McConnell discharged from rehab center following hospitalization in mid-June
The Republican senator said he would continue to work from home and didn’t provide a timeline for his Senate return.

https://tinyurl.com/3bk788tn
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (Riz8t)

Still just statements...this one timed 1 day before he'd have to be replaced to have an election?

Posted by: Nova Local at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (tOcjL)

148 141 Seriously ? They stopped the Ballroom again ?
Posted by: It's me donna
========
More bullshit but in this case, I think Scotus will quash the injunction pretty quick due to misapplication of standing by the lower courts.

Dred Justice Roberts has a tic about standing.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (E4rtv)

149 3 hours into a 13 hour 3D print, and I am on pins and needles.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 07, 2026 11:39 AM (XV/Pl)
----
Might I suggest waiting on a comfy chair instead?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (FZ29D)

150 Drink water. It’s good for you!
Posted by: Eromero at August 07, 2026 11:16 AM (LHPAg)

Don't sock Piper.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (ExV1e)

151 Data centers are quickly becoming a NIMBY 80-20 issue...they got rich and took a lot of benefits without taking on any of the infrastructure costs...and are now getting called on it...

We have to be careful on it...

We do, but the "water use" thing is BS. Look at the numbers for water consumption by DCs vs lawn care, or especially for agriculture. It's orders of magnitude higher. We have to eat, but DCs aren't going to make the difference.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:48 AM (Riz8t)

152 "Malvo is serving multiple life sentences at Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Virginia."
Posted by: Wikipedia at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (2Ez/1)

Would have been much cheaper to give him multiple death sentences.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:49 AM (1z8ji)

153 Rather than litigate this, which is what they'll do, the administration should string up those two on the White House grounds, near the site where the ballroom's being built.

At put a webcam on them.

I'll bet Ace knows where we can find some crows to scavenge the carcasses

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:49 AM (Riz8t)

154 152 "Malvo is serving multiple life sentences at Keen Mountain Correctional Center in Virginia."
Posted by: Wikipedia at August 07, 2026 11:46 AM (2Ez/1)

Would have been much cheaper to give him multiple death sentences.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:49 AM (1z8ji)

Like he gave his victims

Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 11:49 AM (FtULh)

155 @149

>>Might I suggest waiting on a comfy chair instead?

I'm in my office/den sitting in my comfy reading chair, kicking back and goofing off.

So, comfy chair check.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 07, 2026 11:50 AM (XV/Pl)

156 Another thing you can do is allow all landlords plenary discretion over to whom they rent and provide for rapid execution of eviction orders.
Posted by: Art Deco at August 07, 2026 11:40 AM (pawNB)

As a former proud Slum Lord, I always provided the bare minimum for my shithole rentals to the savages who occupied them. Most were used to living behind bars so they didn't deserve any better and would just destroy anything nice so nice they didn't get. Like that scene in Coming To America.

"We seek meager accommodations"

Posted by: Retired Slum Lord at August 07, 2026 11:50 AM (45BvE)

157 Data centers are quickly becoming a NIMBY 80-20 issue...they got rich and took a lot of benefits without taking on any of the infrastructure costs...and are now getting called on it...

We have to be careful on it...

We do, but the "water use" thing is BS. Look at the numbers for water consumption by DCs vs lawn care, or especially for agriculture. It's orders of magnitude higher. We have to eat, but DCs aren't going to make the difference.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:48 AM (Riz8t)

I personally think the “uproar” over data centers is like the manufactured uproar over the Epstein files. I don’t know anyone that’s exercised about data centers

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at August 07, 2026 11:50 AM (qpCPq)

158 One of Malvo's hit jobs was not from where my parents used to live. Gas station IIRC. Used to gas up there myself from time to time.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 11:51 AM (2Cry5)

159 Still just statements...this one timed 1 day before he'd have to be replaced to have an election?
Posted by: Nova Local
=======
That was supposedly August 3rd. If McConnell is announced dead, then my guess is Ky governor Beshear will appoint a Dem regardless of the state law leaving the seat empty until a new Congress in Jan 2027.

That would leave the US Senate itself trying to determine whether to seat him (constitutionally they get the last say regardless of KY courts, etc.).

My guess is McConnell is a human vegetable and been sent home to die via hospice but other than a small group of insiders--who actually knows the Weekend at Mitch's narrative.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:52 AM (E4rtv)

160 We do, but the "water use" thing is BS. Look at the numbers for water consumption by DCs vs lawn care, or especially for agriculture. It's orders of magnitude higher. We have to eat, but DCs aren't going to make the difference.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:48 AM (Riz8t)

The real big issue with data centers is this: what is their intended use? If it is to advance the surveillance State, then no way. And I would include AI in that rejection.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:52 AM (1z8ji)

161 151 Data centers are quickly becoming a NIMBY 80-20 issue...they got rich and took a lot of benefits without taking on any of the infrastructure costs...and are now getting called on it...

We have to be careful on it...

We do, but the "water use" thing is BS. Look at the numbers for water consumption by DCs vs lawn care, or especially for agriculture. It's orders of magnitude higher. We have to eat, but DCs aren't going to make the difference.
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:48 AM (Riz8t)

Water is the distraction - energy is the huge problem...

Posted by: Nova Local at August 07, 2026 11:52 AM (tOcjL)

162 More bullshit but in this case, I think Scotus will quash the injunction pretty quick due to misapplication of standing by the lower courts.

Dred Justice Roberts has a tic about standing.
Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (E4rtv)

You think so ? I don't know how to read SCOTUS anymore

Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 11:53 AM (FtULh)

163 Sitting right here, boss.

Posted by: Ranch Doritos at August 07, 2026 11:53 AM (2Ez/1)

164 o if you want chips, or "crisps", or whatever fried potato product you will have to buy... a potato. And cut it up and fry it yourself.
I can't see that being hard and it would save taxpayers some money.
--
So I 'm not on snap or anything but, bought a fry cutter. You put a medium sized peeled potato in, push the lever down and it squeezes out french fries. They get a bit of oil and into the air fryer. Viola - fresh fries by the time the grill is finished with the meat.

No need to buy frozen french fries and bake em.

Posted by: home economics is not taught and it should be at August 07, 2026 11:53 AM (anL5R)

165 I just hate data centers because they're so damn ugly. And they are EVERYWHERE here in NoVa. The ugly is everywhere.

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:54 AM (77rzZ)

166 Sitting right here, boss.
Posted by: Ranch Doritos at August 07, 2026 11:53 AM (2Ez/1)

Free range Doritos are leaner.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at August 07, 2026 11:54 AM (1z8ji)

167 I live in a comparatively poor section of Appalachia. Most of our gas stations and general stores carry an inordinate amount of pop. I mean huge quantities - up to half of the store in some cases.

On the day SNAP/EBT benefits are credited, some buy large quantities of pop/soda, 30–40 cases at stores that accept EBT.

The cases are then resold, at a huge discount. This converts the non-cash benefits into usable cash for cigs, booze, weed and meth.

Posted by: Tonypete at August 07, 2026 11:56 AM (w+2cP)

168 Murkowski has joined Collins in saying no to Blanche. With McConnell in a vegitative state, Vance looks like he'll be the tie breaker. That assumes Cassidy doesn't decide to say no

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 07, 2026 11:56 AM (KY+FT)

169 Rather than litigate this, which is what they'll do, the administration should string up those two on the White House grounds, near the site where the ballroom's being built.

At put a webcam on them.

I'll bet Ace knows where we can find some crows to scavenge the carcasses
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:49 AM (Riz8t)

To hell with crows. I want to watch the flys and maggots do their magic.

Posted by: Dr. Pork Chops & Bacons at August 07, 2026 11:56 AM (g8Ew8)

170 The real big issue with data centers is this: what is their intended use? If it is to advance the surveillance State, then no way. And I would include AI in that rejection.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

Yep, this too.

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 11:56 AM (77rzZ)

171 Dred Justice Roberts has a tic about standing.
Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (E4rtv)

The judges that do these things obviously know all this...they do what they do for political reasons and not because they are ignorant of standing or the imminent squashing their ruling is about to receive.

What they unwittily do however is provide the proof to Congress that it has to dissolve the DC district court. Its pretty obvious at this point that it will always be a political institution and not a judicial one.

Posted by: Boswell at August 07, 2026 11:57 AM (j10i6)

172 What is the exact problem with Blanche and these GOPe a**clowns?

Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 07, 2026 11:57 AM (XV/Pl)

173 Iranian supreme leader reportedly on death's door. Alternatively, they've decided to retire the fiction/propaganda theme that he's been alive for months.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 07, 2026 11:57 AM (U/Byj)

174 I'm not sure when it started. When I was a kid -- not that long ago, I'm Gen X -- there was no such thing as "snacking." We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner. That was it. There wasn't those meals plus three bags of doritos.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:27 AM (iFTx/)

What about second breakfast?

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 07, 2026 11:57 AM (sGgMH)

175 Sen. Amy Klobuchar gets called on her immigration BS, and she is irritated that the peasants are so disrespectful.

https://tinyurl.com/2xn6hnmu

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:58 AM (Riz8t)

176 136 Now, there are some markets where they do sell truly farm-fresh products. But those are the exception rather than the rule.
Posted by: Elric The Blade
==========
Urbanized areas are ripe for this kind of manipulation because the truth is that a lot of the best varieties for flavor don't transport well.

And consumers rarely have the ability to tell when generic mega farm produce is substituted for the good stuff from an actual family truck farm, orchard, or even livestock farm. Same as wine.
Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:44 AM (E4rtv)

Yeah, I don't do farmer's markets anymore. I'm priced out b/c I don't have SNAP to cover the cost, nor do I have the ability to just buy 1-2 of items with the kids here. I'm a 40-60lb/week of produce buyer...and I might be underselling that number, so farmer's market prices would bankrupt me faster than high end beef right now...

I used to shop them 10-15 years ago before the SNAP change...

Posted by: Nova Local at August 07, 2026 11:58 AM (tOcjL)

177 >>That assumes Cassidy doesn't decide to say no

Cassidy is a yes.

My gut is that Collins was allowed to vote no to help her in the election in Maine once they knew they had the votes.

Murkowski is just an asshole and always has been.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (viF8m)

178 Water is the distraction - energy is the huge problem...
Posted by: Nova Local

Agreed.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (Riz8t)

179 172 What is the exact problem with Blanche and these GOPe a**clowns?
Posted by: Thomas Bender at August 07, 2026 11:57 AM (XV/Pl)

TDS

Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (FtULh)

180 You think so ? I don't know how to read SCOTUS anymore
Posted by: It's me donna

Yes, the administration has been very successful to the point that lawfare leftist judges and the vile ngos financing the lawfare are complaining about Scotus setting aside lower court injunctions and prohibitions not based on law. So called shadow docket. Basically Scotus in many cases is simply setting aside the temporary injunctions and requiring district courts to go through the lengthy and time consuming litigation with a track record and both sides represented in a trial. And like in this case, it is readily apparent that the district court is ignoring Scotus rulings on standing and applying a group of litigants complaining about a) the destruction of the historical East Wing (that is now moot as it is gone), and b) we don't like the design and an advisory group says that OrangeMan Bad's ballroom is an atrocity. But, in standing, individuals and even groups have to show direct injury themselves and aesthetics is not one that the courts recognize.

Standing bars taxpayers from filing lawsuits about everything under the sun that they don't like about government operations as sore losers.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (E4rtv)

181 I pass a large, very nice church now primarily used for community classes for addicts.

Behind the church sits a parking lot and shelving where boxes of fruits and vegetables are routinely stacked, available for the taking in the urban area.

I've driven by a few times this week and boxes of oranges, cabbages, celery remain on the shelves in the intense heat. This is nothing new or extraordinary.

They'll be there until they're removed from rotting, and then replaced with the next new boxes of fresh fruits and vegetables.

The swarms at the food pantries go for proteins, milk and bread, rice, stuffing mixes, baby food, diapers. (Some will be exchanged or sold on black markets.)

Narcan (Naloxone) nasal spray; tampons and sanitary pads; Fentanyl and xylazine test strips; COVID-19, flu, RSV, and STI test kits, and condoms and first aid kits are available for free through the county's automated Test & Go kiosks.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (NFX2v)

182 Wine is also a yuge scam. Many of the "vineyards" really aren't vineyards at all. They buy their grapes from mega vineyards and just put the shit in bottles.

Almost every "celebrity" promoted wine is like this. Same as most "celebrity" booze of any kind. They just buy the shit wholesale, slap a label on it, and smile for the cameras holding a bottle.

There are entire industries out there who's sole business model is fooling (mostly affluent) buyers into thinking they're getting something that they're not.

Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (iFTx/)

183 I'll bet Ace knows where we can find some crows to scavenge the carcasses
Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:49 AM (Riz8t)

To hell with crows. I want to watch the flys and maggots do their magic.

Embrace the healing power of "and".

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (Riz8t)

184 Sitting right here, boss.
Posted by: Ranch Doritos
_________

Those are good, but in terms of eating way more of the deluxe bag than intended, I'd go with:

1. Lays sour cream and onion chips
2. Cheetos
3. Fritos

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (XvL8K)

185 > The real big issue with data centers is this: what is their intended use? If it is to advance the surveillance State, then no way. And I would include AI in that rejection.
-----------
Petabytes of surveillance data needs somewhere to sit so it can be leveraged. Multiple copies. Of course it's one reason datacenters are "hot."

And the water usage depends on whether it's a closed or open system. Bigger issue is the electrical grid. Does it need upgrading? By how much? Who's paying for all that?

And, in a couple years, it'll be obsolete. What then?

Posted by: Martini Farmer at August 07, 2026 12:00 PM (2Cry5)

186 What is with the pop up ads on this site now? Never used to see them.

Posted by: Archer at August 07, 2026 12:00 PM (wvc0i)

187 Happy Guadalcanal Day to those who celebrate. Landing was 84 years ago today.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 07, 2026 12:00 PM (U/Byj)

188 I’m not defending what he’s said. But he’s popular, especially with young people
-------

I predicted this as the exact next line from the media and "establishment" after the fake shock "these people are extreme". Boy do these psy ops move fucking fast.

Posted by: ... at August 07, 2026 12:00 PM (6UXQp)

189 *I'm a 40-60lb/week of produce buyer...and I might be underselling that number, so farmer's market prices would bankrupt me faster than high end beef right now...*
++++

Come see me.

Posted by: Costco at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (2Ez/1)

190 What they unwittily do however is provide the proof to Congress that it has to dissolve the DC district court. Its pretty obvious at this point that it will always be a political institution and not a judicial one.
Posted by: Boswell
=======
Democrats won't and the GOP refuses to end the filibuster to fix the federal district. So we are stuck.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (E4rtv)

191 I feel happy! I feel happy!

Posted by: Mitch McConnell, warming up for his daily Crossfit session at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (XE5AP)

192 More bullshit but in this case, I think Scotus will quash the injunction pretty quick due to misapplication of standing by the lower courts.

Dred Justice Roberts has a tic about standing.
Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 11:47 AM (E4rtv)

You think so ? I don't know how to read SCOTUS anymore
Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 11:53 AM (FtULh)
===================
Reading Whig's analysis up thread makes me feel pretty good about the case, but I'm with Donna. Who can tell when Roberts will decide he and Barrett should cave on something...

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (YJPnY)

193 Snap should be for eggs, milk, ground beef, vegetables and rice.

You want anything else? Pay for it yourselves fucking leeches.

Posted by: Being Honest in America is being a sucker at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (Bz1XI)

194 I found parboiling potato spears for a few minutes - cut into about 5 pieces, and then dredging in olive oil or bacon drippings, plus your favorite spices are really great. Salt, onion/garlic powder, cayenne, sprinkle with parmesan liberally. Bake. Super tasty.

Posted by: Common Tater at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (dE511)

195 There are entire industries out there who's sole business model is fooling (mostly affluent) buyers into thinking they're getting something that they're not.

Aviation gin says what?

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (Riz8t)

196 >>And, in a couple years, it'll be obsolete. What then?

Nuclear. Kind of flying below the radar is the recent advances being made in small, modular reactors.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (viF8m)

197 I like your AS article. I read the article looking at the title guessing you'd mention, Boom Aerospace. Boom Aerospace is one of the many companies that popped up in the 2010s and started peeling engineering talent away from the big corporations using mountains of investor capital that was searching for the next big thing. Well AI became the next big thing and not SST and the money drained out. Those companies, well not all, but a lot went bust.

But Boom Aerospace didn't. They even have a new flagship aircraft you can buy. It's top speed an impressive 0 knots, it has a pretty great max take-off weight of over 500,000 pounds and cruises at a maximum altitude of 0 feet.

That's right, they're making gas turbine generators now to power AI.

Posted by: banana Dream at August 07, 2026 12:02 PM (3uBP9)

198 @177 JackStraw, hadn't heard that about Cassidy. You're right about Collins, and spot on about Murkowski. Murkowski voted for Garland, but Blanche is a no. SMH

Posted by: Smell the Glove at August 07, 2026 12:02 PM (KY+FT)

199 There are entire industries out there who's sole business model is fooling (mostly affluent) buyers into thinking they're getting something that they're not.
Posted by: Elric The Blade at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (iFTx/)

This is about me, isn't it?

Posted by: Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., the Lightbringer at August 07, 2026 12:02 PM (XE5AP)

200 I feel happy! I feel happy!
Posted by: Mitch McConnell, warming up for his daily Crossfit session

You aren't fooling anyone, you know.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 12:03 PM (Riz8t)

201 Two DC Circuit judges, one an Obama non-partisan and the other a Biden non-partisan (nod to Chief Justice John "Dummy" Roberts), just ruled the President can't finish his WH ballroom construction project without express permission from the Democrat Party.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 11:33 AM (zG53D)

F*ck that. He should just finish it. It's a privately funded project.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Cancer at August 07, 2026 11:34 AM (2YhKe)

Dear Hacks In Black, you can both FOAD.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Posted by: D.J. Trump at August 07, 2026 12:03 PM (hmYU4)

202 That misleading statement from CNBC...

Aren't they all?

Posted by: Diogenes at August 07, 2026 12:03 PM (2WIwB)

203 Here was my predicted progression for the WWF battle Democrats "vs" the DSA. From (checks watch) last week....

---------
Right now Democrats are simply calling them extreme.

Check back a little later when it's "they might be extreme but they have a message and are getting traction, we would be crazy to ignore them"

Then "what might seem extreme to us is not extreme to people who have grown up very unhappy in capitalism. They have only seen inequality and they want better things for all."

Then - "you know, at one time, the dominant parties thought Civil Rights was extreme. Maybe it's just a matter of perspective."

Posted by: ... at August 07, 2026 12:03 PM (6UXQp)

204 >>JackStraw, hadn't heard that about Cassidy.

Yea, he just announced on the Senate floor.

Posted by: JackStraw at August 07, 2026 12:03 PM (viF8m)

205 Murkowski is just an asshole and always has been.
Posted by: JackStraw at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (viF8m)
=====================
And entitled beyond belief.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 12:04 PM (YJPnY)

206 189 *I'm a 40-60lb/week of produce buyer...and I might be underselling that number, so farmer's market prices would bankrupt me faster than high end beef right now...*
++++

Come see me.
Posted by: Costco at August 07, 2026 12:01 PM (2Ez/1)

See, you're not close by...and other places are. I'll pick up produce almost every day on my walks and do a stock up on weekends. B/c things like berries and greens don't keep for a week...but we eat a lot of them (bananas are better, but kids inhale them, but also don't eat them once they have a single brown dot...they like them only green to yellow)...

Posted by: Nova Local at August 07, 2026 12:04 PM (tOcjL)

207 Electrical grid has been an issue for decades, naturally almost nothing has been done. Power generation is the purest example of Taliban-like idiocy ("environmental" and of course "climate") impoverishing and damaging our society, but it's decades in the making. Data center issue just brings both long-standing disasters to a head.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 07, 2026 12:04 PM (U/Byj)

208 205 Murkowski is just an asshole and always has been.
Posted by: JackStraw at August 07, 2026 11:59 AM (viF8m)
=====================
And entitled beyond belief.
Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 12:04 PM (YJPnY)

Isn't it time to put her on an ice floe for the polar bears ?

Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 12:05 PM (FtULh)

209 Small modular reactors are the energy source of the future.

Posted by: And always will be at August 07, 2026 12:05 PM (2Ez/1)

210 Petabytes of surveillance data needs somewhere to sit so it can be leveraged. Multiple copies. Of course it's one reason datacenters are "hot."

And the water usage depends on whether it's a closed or open system. Bigger issue is the electrical grid. Does it need upgrading? By how much? Who's paying for all that?

And, in a couple years, it'll be obsolete. What then?
Posted by: Martini Farmer

Most of the competition is because all the big investors are trying to create frontier models because 2nd, 3rd, 4th, place is not good enough if you believe network effects that there can only be one.

So Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, and to some extent Grok are all competing to be the bestest frontier model and that requires training from scratch each time to create a newer version of a working model while the older models generate the profits.

Frontier models are what demand exponentially faster and larger new datacenters so they can compete with others. The surge will end with the investor class/market crowns one as champ and the other models have a collapse in market value.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 12:05 PM (E4rtv)

211 Isn't it time to put her on an ice floe for the polar bears ?

Lotta room UNDER the ice floe. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by: Archimedes at August 07, 2026 12:05 PM (Riz8t)

212 Isn't it time to put her on an ice floe for the polar bears ?
Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 12:05 PM (FtULh)
=================
She does often claim to care a lot about indigenous culture, and I think that's in the style book up there, so probably right.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 12:07 PM (YJPnY)

213 Good article, Buck.

It all depends on the data center expansion, I think. We've seen bubbles in PA where gas is prominent.

AI Overview - While diesel offers instant load response for emergencies, natural gas and hybrid battery systems are increasingly adopted to handle heavy continuous power needs and lower emissions.

Industry Trends and Alternatives
AI Demands: High-density AI workloads are driving massive power requirements, prompting some massive campuses to pair fast-response gas turbines or generators with battery energy storage systems (BESS).

Regulatory Scrutiny: Environmental regulators face growing pressure regarding fast-tracked emissions permits for large fleets of gas and diesel generators clustered near communities.

Posted by: L - No nic, another fine day at August 07, 2026 12:07 PM (NFX2v)

214 The Ballroom came up for a vote a while back and six Republicans voted against it with the Dems...

Posted by: It's me donna at August 07, 2026 12:07 PM (FtULh)

215 >>WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Friday that four American nuclear energy startups have successfully proven their technologies as part of an Energy Department pilot project that began last year.

>>At an Oval Office event, the president said the country had exceeded its goal of three cutting-edge reactors starting up safely by the Fourth of July.

https://tinyurl.com/pexk39kb

Posted by: JackStraw at August 07, 2026 12:07 PM (viF8m)

216 As SNAP restrictions have rolled out, it has been a sucker-punch to the manufacturers of low-nutrition products"

Pop up bodegas hardest hit...

Posted by: man at August 07, 2026 12:08 PM (XuXeR)

217 As SNAP restrictions have rolled out, it has been a sucker-punch to the manufacturers of low-nutrition products"

Pop up bodegas hardest hit...

Not for long.

Posted by: Mamdani taxpayer-subsidized "grocery stores" at August 07, 2026 12:09 PM (Riz8t)

218 I'm really cottoning to that brunette by the pool. I think she digs me.

Posted by: Bulg at August 07, 2026 12:09 PM (77rzZ)

219 Not that it’s important but I still have to delete a popup ad after every page refresh or posting of a comment… sigh

Posted by: LinusVanPelt at August 07, 2026 12:10 PM (nkHgN)

220
Nuclear. Kind of flying below the radar is the recent advances being made in small, modular reactors.
==
Mr. Fusion FTW.

Posted by: Doc Brown at August 07, 2026 12:10 PM (anL5R)

221 I'm really cottoning to that brunette by the pool. I think she digs me.

The one with the SpongeBob floaties? Yeah, she's hot.

Posted by: Joe Biden at August 07, 2026 12:10 PM (Riz8t)

222 Nood Ace.

Posted by: Nazdar at August 07, 2026 12:10 PM (NcvvS)

223 207 Electrical grid has been an issue for decades, naturally almost nothing has been done. Power generation is the purest example of Taliban-like idiocy ("environmental" and of course "climate") impoverishing and damaging our society, but it's decades in the making. Data center issue just brings both long-standing disasters to a head.

Posted by: rhomboid
=======
I think the datacenter issue will end up fixing the grid issue as government barriers tumble when the big money stampedes toward something. We have movement finally towards nuclear which should have already been de facto how we get grid power but stymied since 3 Mile Island safetyism.

Often these AI datacenters are coming with their own generating power due to their sensitivity to powerline sags etc. They have to have dependable power that the grid cannot offer. After the competitors are winnowed down, we will still have the infrastructure of power and computing facilities left. Same thing happened with fiber optics overinvestment. Dark optic cables for a long while which are now being lit up due to demand.

Only government 'investment' usually burns resources leaving nothing after the crash.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 12:10 PM (E4rtv)

224 219 Not that it’s important but I still have to delete a popup ad after every page refresh or posting of a comment… sigh

Use Brave. Problem solved.

Posted by: Joe Biden at August 07, 2026 12:11 PM (Riz8t)

225 It is funny watching Dems, whose non-governmental theft aside were largely funded by tech bros (and foreigners) these last many elections, now suddenly becoming pro-nuclear energy with the explosive need for energy to feed AI, or at least not against it. Not a peep of complaint is being heard against Trump building reactors on federal land and military bases.

Even when these companies build gas turbines, you aren't hearing complaints.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at August 07, 2026 12:11 PM (YJPnY)

226 The cost-effective mix for power generation will vary a bit by location and other circumstances ("renewables" are not a significant part of it, period), but cost-effective (i.e. logical and obvious) solutions may continue to face the scientifically illiterate religious fanaticism of not just "climate" nonsense, but nuke infatuation and other emotional garbage. Coal and gas have no serious competition (for most situations) if analysis is based on facts and not religion.

Posted by: rhomboid at August 07, 2026 12:11 PM (U/Byj)

227 nood

lum

Posted by: banana Dream at August 07, 2026 12:12 PM (3uBP9)

228 214 The Ballroom came up for a vote a while back and six Republicans voted against it with the Dems...
Posted by: It's me donna

But it isn't Congress that is the litigant. Congress probably has standing, rando individuals upset do not. Google Frothingham v. Mellon or Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife for what standing is. The only exception was one for Bill of Rights violations where one person can sue (like violations of the Establishment clause) without demonstrating the rigorous standing limits on taxpayer lawsuits.

Posted by: whig at August 07, 2026 12:13 PM (E4rtv)

229 They will pry my pork rinds from my cold, dead hands!

Posted by: Junk Food Jerry at August 07, 2026 12:13 PM (JM9I6)

230 If you're ever driving on I-81 in Virginia this place is a fun visit.
Plus they give free samples of many varieties of potato chips.
It's near Mount Jackson.

https://www.rt11.com/

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at August 07, 2026 12:15 PM (2Ez/1)

231 So who's building the turbines? I know up to 5-6 years ago, GE (market leader?) couldn't get out of the traditional big power turbine fast enough and just make more windmills... Or turbine systems for windmills, anyway... Haven't followed it much since though
Posted by: bearski at August 07, 2026 11:39 AM (Bhsk7)

In the USA, top three are GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi, none of which are actually American today.

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 07, 2026 12:17 PM (sGgMH)

232 Thank goodness for cancellation codes in my sig!

Posted by: NemoMeImpuneLacessit at August 07, 2026 12:18 PM (sGgMH)

233 Nothing like a big hearty lunch of a glass of water and a big bowl of kale. Yeah that's the ticket.

I think for now I will stick to my grilled cheese sandwich and potato chips and iced tea. I have seen SNAP signs in stores but never knew what they were for until someone told me it was a government program. Oh, another government handout with our tax dollars? That's just great and then the cussing in my head started.

Posted by: Case at August 07, 2026 12:19 PM (fV9m3)

234 Anyone notice the Boss is up?
https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=420879

Posted by: mindful webworker - Ace of Hordes at August 07, 2026 12:27 PM (62m/B)

235 The South Beach Diet pretty much killed my snacking.
I sorta don't miss it.
Sorta.

I do miss cookies. But not chips and misc crap I used to eat.

I'm happy with dried meat and peanuts for snacks, or celery and peanut butter.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards, buy ammo at August 07, 2026 12:30 PM (xcxpd)

236 I have to say that Pop Corners are fabulous and I don't allow myself to buy them anymore. I could eat an entire bag in an evening. No mas.

Posted by: Miley, okravangelist at August 07, 2026 12:41 PM (w6EFb)

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