The reflecting pool wants to make a deal very badly.
Sorry to disappoint, if you were expecting to see Swamp Thing here. 😉
Category: Politics, Religion & Money
Follow the Money to Not Trace the Food
Anybody as not surprised as I am?
Taylor Farms had made a $1 million donation to the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc on March 26, 2025. That’s just six days after the FDA announced it was pushing back the implementation of its “Food Traceability Rule” by 30 months.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/taylor-farms-made-huge-donation-192241647.html
Lettuce Correct Ourselves
Under Trump, the FDA seems to be as incompetent as the CDC.
Federal health officials are continuing to test food items for cyclospora after discovering a sample of iceberg lettuce was a false positive match for the parasite that has caused thousands of people nationwide to fall sick.
Taco Friday
A follow-up to yesterday’s post about the breakout of Cyclospora illnesses. It seems that Taco Bell was, in fact, a primary source of infection, albeit not at all their fault.
The blame apparently is with an outfit called Taylor Farms. With such a strong, verifiable link, it shouldn’t have taken so long to figure this out.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/16/health/cyclospora-outbreak-shredded-lettuce
Stewart Sampler
Jon Stewart continues his Daily Show side gig as a podcast host. Note that the show is sponsored, as is the norm. You’ll need a full workday worth of hours to watch all three of these very worthwhile installments.
Ben McKenzie on Crypto
Jack Smith on American Justice
Austan Goolsbee on the Federal Reserve
Remember Covid?
More than 400 cases in four states (Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky) seem to be linked to a common source, which has not yet been identified, according to the C.D.C.
Can we stop trying to evaluate and explain events based upon pre-Trump criteria? The CDC of the not too distant past would have certainly, by now, identified the specific source(s) of the Cyclospora contamination. Instead, they’re leaving it to Taco Bell to take action without guidance.
The CDC no longer has enough competent epidemiologists, or sufficient funding, to do its work. Because of Donald J. Trump, and no on else. RFK, Jr. wouldn’t be where he is without Trump. It’s his fault, so please stop claiming the difficulty is primarily a matter of the bacteria being “tricky.”