Eat The Rich

I happen to live in a single party consent state (in New York you can record audio conversation as long as one person knows they’re being recorded, in California all parties have to know)

Kinda forget by the time the uber arrives and get in as normal. Chat a bit with the driver. Gets quiet. I glance around. Realize i am appearing in a video feed inside the uber driver’s app. I look straight ahead and now notice the small camera wedged under the passenger seat headrest

I wonder how long uber holds on to that video. Cost of storage vs cost of legal exposure makes me think they hold on to it for at least whatever their Demand Refund window is

i remember hearing years ago that the uk is one of the most highly surveilled places in the world, and it wouldnt surprise me. the second you set foot in public it's extremely likely that you are on someone's camera, private or state operated. maybe i'll count the number of cctv cameras i see while im out today.

The U.S. grocery slowdown is becoming harder to ignore.

Shoppers are buying fewer items than a year ago, and grocery sales are declining as weakening unit sales are now outweighing rising prices. That is according to new analysis from Bain & Company using NielsenIQ grocery data shared exclusively with CNBC.

Grocery units, which refer to individual items or products sold, fell 1.8% in June from a year earlier, a sharp reversal from the 0.1% year-over-year growth recorded in June 2025. While prices continue to rise about 2% to 3% year-over-year, that inflation cushion for the industry is no longer enough to keep overall sales growing.

"That big grocery stock up trip that costs you $300 in 2019, now costing you $400," said Kurt Grichel, head of Bain's Americas retail practice.

"Even that upper-income consumer, you're talking a big enough absolute dollar change that people start to feel a little bit of that sticker shock and start to shop around," said Grichel.

Rather than one economic shock, Bain suggests several pressures have converged on consumers.

Grocery prices are roughly 33% higher than they were in 2019 and fuel costs have spiked. Many lower-income households have also had to cut back spending due to reduced SNAP benefits and tighter program eligibility.

Bain's U.S. Consumer Pulse Wave survey conducted in May found 80% of Americans are still trying to spend less, while 28% are actively cutting back on grocery spending. Among those shoppers, 56% said they are trading down to cheaper brands, 49% said they are buying fewer items and 44% said they are relying more heavily on coupons and promotions.

Those trends are having ripple effects for producers. PepsiCo is one of the food manufacturers feeling the consumer shift.

During its second quarter reported on Thursday, the beverage and snack maker said North American demand weakened. North America food revenue fell 2%, while volume was flat.

"I think the consumer is worse than what we had anticipated, and it's driven mainly by gas prices," said PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta during the company's conference call with investors.

Executives also pointed to lower effective pricing, indicating the company increased promotional activity as consumers became more price sensitive.

Those results align with a broader shift across the grocery industry, where retailers including Walmart and Kroger have emphasized price cuts and value-focused promotions to attract shoppers.

Walmart announced summer price cuts to beef, ice cream and other items including products made by PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and the company's own private label Great Value.

"The grocers have been pushing back on the suppliers to reduce prices where possible, and the suppliers recognize the need to do so," said Telsey Advisory Group analyst Joe Feldman.

"The entire industry is trying to get back to unit growth, not just dollar growth."

Bain said that strategy may become increasingly important.

“So... We got the exploding diarrhea. Here's my advice for anyone who doesn't have it yet:

It's going to take a minute for the government to pin down where this is coming from, and then issue a recall, because the FDA has been gutted. But, I can tell you, without a shadow of a doubt : this is coming from Taylor Farms produce, and you will see them recalled.

You'll want to avoid all Taylor Farms produce in the grocery store. They supply McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, about any fast food place you can think of.

Raspberries, watermelons, cilantro, and the veggies you're hearing about are not causing this many people to get sick. It's the shredded lettuce, specifically, that's the problem. But, you'll want to stay away from every type of produce this company puts out, because one strand of shredded lettuce is all it takes to contaminate bushels.

Taylor Farms is the source. Taco Bell proactively pulled their produce from their restaurants. You're going to see other fast food places doing this, and probably will see that before the government names a source. The FDA knows this, but they can't come out and tell us all until there's proof, which takes resources and research, which takes manpower, but the FDA has been cut by about 20-30%

During the Biden term, onions at McDonald's had ecoli. We knew this because DNA testing was done quickly and they were able to narrow it down to one place that caused the outbreak. And, it was traced back to Taylor Farms. This isn't going to be solved as quickly though.

When you get this, make a virtual appointment to your PCP - a "same day sick" appointment. Tell them someone in your family just tested for this and was positive and was prescribed Bactrim. If you go in person, they're probably going to make you poop in a cup and wait until results come back to prescribe.

You'll know when you get this. Trust me on all of this.

You'll want to stay hydrated because this parasite damages the lining of the small intestine. Your small intestine, in turn, secretes more water into the gut, and less nutrients and liquid are able to remain in the body. So no matter how much you shit, you're going to want to drink. A day of this leads to dehydration if you don't increase your fluid intake, and a few days will land you in the hospital.

If you have headaches, weakness, muscle cramps, dizziness, or an increase heart rate - hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Go to the ER for fluids if you can't drink enough.

Thank you for coming to my Ted talk. Brought to you by America's 250 birthday celebrations, workforce reduction in the FDA and CDC, and viewers like you.

Please feel free to share this.

And, MAGA - don't blow up the comment section. I argued with y'all on COVID bc I was afraid y'all would die, but I really don't care if you get explosive diarrhea.

However, per CNN and numerous other news outlets, as of Thursday afternoon, the outbreak has been at least partially traced to lettuce supplied to Taco Bell from Taylor Farms, in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, and Kentucky.

Other states and/or businesses could have received the same contaminated lettuce, or there could be multiple simultaneous outbreaks with different sources: currently, it's not clear.