Tag: food

REPORT: Area Where Zohran Mamdani is Planning to Build Government-Owned Grocery Store Already Has 45 Markets Within Walking Distance

The neighborhood where NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani is planning to build a government owned grocery store already has almost 50 markets within walking distance, raising further questions about his far left pipe dreams.

Is the new store even necessary? Mamdani probably does not care about that. This is merely a campaign promise and he likely sees it as something on which he has to deliver.

What is often not discussed is the competition this government owned store is going to create for all of these other privately owned stores.

Ask any business owner, and they will tell you it is near to impossible to compete with the government, which always has more resources and money.

FOX News reports:

NYC grocers sound alarm on Mamdani’s supermarket plan: ‘We’ll lose customers’

A proposal by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani to open a city-run grocery store is facing pushback from East Harlem grocers who say the area is already saturated with supermarkets and bodegas.

The plan, part of a broader effort to address rising grocery costs in the city, would establish publicly run stores across New York’s five boroughs — but the push to improve affordability could come at a cost for small businesses already on thin margins.

The first store is expected to open next year in La Marqueta, an existing public market space at Park Avenue and 115th Street in East Harlem. The city will spend roughly $30 million to build the store.

Roughly 45 grocery stores sit within a 35-minute walk of the proposed grocery site, according to a Fox News Digital analysis.

The existing stores include a mix of major chains like Whole Foods and Lidl, as well as smaller neighborhood markets and bodegas.

The area is also well served by public transit. There are multiple subway and bus lines giving residents several ways to reach nearby stores if they are not in reasonable walking distance.

Some local grocers say the added competition of the city-owned store could hurt their businesses.

“Of course it will affect this store,” said Sarah Kang, manager at a CTown Supermarkets location about a 35-minute walk south, or one subway stop, from La Marqueta.

Keep reading

Bio-Engineered Venom in our Food, Veggie Seeds, Common Drugs

The Shocking Truth About Venom Genetically-Engineered Vegetable Seeds

Imagine biting into a fresh tomato or serving up a bowl of rice, unaware that deep within the plant’s DNA lies a venom protein borrowed from a snake, scorpion, or spider. It sounds like science fiction, but it’s not.

According to a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Venoms (November 2021), scientists have been exploring ways to incorporate venom proteins into vegetable seeds as a new line of defense against insects… and those developments may already be far more widespread than the public has been told.

Venom for Dinner? The Study That Started the Alarm

The journal article, titled Applications of Venom Biodiversity in Agriculture, outlines a growing body of research in which venom peptides… proteins derived from creatures like snakes, spiders, and scorpions… are used to engineer pest-resistant plants.

The rationale?

According to the study’s authors, venom-based biotechnology holds promise for creating what they call “bioinsecticides.” The idea is that plants, through genetic-engineering, can internally produce venom proteins that repel or kill attacking pests. It’s been offered by marketers as a more “natural” solution than synthetic pesticides.

But some researchers aren’t convinced… and the backlash is growing.

Keep reading

MAHA Advocates Rally Against Pesticide Makers, Question Federal Agriculture Policies

As the Supreme Court heard opening arguments on Monsanto v. Darnell, a case which could prevent people harmed by pesticides from suing manufacturers, hundreds of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) proponents, farmers, and environmental activists gathered near the steps of the building outside for the People Vs. Poison rally on April 27.

The event cut across traditional political party lines and highlighted tensions surrounding federal agriculture policies. Speakers expressed frustration with what they deem inconsistencies in federal approaches to “real food” and chemical company protections.

Kelly Ryerson, known as the Glyphosate Girl, is cofounder of American Regeneration and an outspoken critic of Monsanto, which is now a subsidiary of Bayer. Her comments reflected the sentiments of many attendees.

“If your product is safe, then you don’t need immunity. And if your business depends on immunity, the problem is not the lawsuits. The problem is the product,” Ryerson said.

Glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide, is manufactured by Bayer. It is the main ingredient in RoundUp, which is produced by the company.

In February, President Donald Trump surprised some MAHA movement leaders when he issued an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act.

Keep reading

Palantir inks $300 million deal with USDA to safeguard food supply

Palantir announced a $300 million deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which will use the software company’s technology to manage farmland as geopolitical risks threaten global supply chains.  

The agreement builds on ongoing projects with the USDA and underscores Palantir’s growing role inside the U.S. government as it goes beyond cornerstone defense contracts supporting U.S. military modernization.

U.S. farmers are grappling with rising supply costs and are getting squeezed by an ongoing trade war between the U.S. and its major trading partners. That includes China, a key soybean purchaser, which temporarily crippled the market late last year.

In December, President Donald Trump announced a $12 billion bailout aimed at helping farmers swept up in the trade war. But rising gas prices from the war in Iran amplified the pressure, causing fertilizer costs to spike due to shipping disruptions. That’s forced many farmers to rethink what they produce, putting supply chains at risk.

China’s purchase of U.S. farmland in recent years has also drawn scrutiny from Washington and foreign policy experts.

A recent research note published by the Foundation of Defense Democracies recommended that the USDA reform reporting requirements “embedded within the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act (AFIDA) to prevent China and other adversarial countries from exploiting commercial land transactions to gain a strategic edge over the United States.”

The USDA’s contract with Palantir signals its desire to address this issue by harnessing the company’s digital tools.

Palantir was founded in 2003 to scale U.S. defense capabilities in the wake of 9/11, and CEO Alex Karp has long touted the company’s commitment to supporting U.S. warfighters. The company has recently gained recognition for its AI-powered Maven Smart System platform, which was used by the U.S. military in Iran.

“The fact that you can now target more precisely … has shifted the way in which war is fought,” Karp told CNBC at AIPCon in March.

Palantir has also faced sharp criticism over the years for its work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, including reports that its tools are being used by the government to surveil Americans, claims the company has denied.

Keep reading

Food Stamps Could Buy Hot Chicken Under New Bipartisan Bill

Members of Congress from both parties want to let people on the federal food stamp program buy hot rotisserie chickens with their benefits.

Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and 17 other members of the House of Representatives on April 22 introduced legislation that would amend the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 and make clear that benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, could be used to buy hot rotisserie chicken.

Four senators filed a similar measure in the Senate.

Food stamps cannot be used to buy everything in a grocery store. Hot, prepared foods are prohibited under the program. Food stamps can be used for cooked rotisserie chicken, but only if it has been allowed to cool.

Lawmakers said allowing families to buy hot chicken, which is typically sold for $5 to $10 at stores such as Costco and Giant, is a way to help families struggling with affordability.

“It is just plain common sense to allow SNAP participants to purchase a rotisserie chicken with their benefits,” Crawford said in a statement. “Hot rotisserie chicken is healthy, widely available, popular in grocery stores, and aligned with the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans.”

Keep reading

“Mamdani Mart” Exposes The Inefficiency Of Socialism In One Chart

Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z New Media published the most popular charts of the week on financial markets, but the most revealing one came at the end of the note: a comparison suggesting that New York City’s first grocery store, which will soon be run by unhinged socialists, will be structurally less efficient than private-sector supermarkets.

But who cares when it’s not taxpayer monies?

According to the New York Post, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed city-owned grocery store in East Harlem would require roughly $30 million in taxpayer funding.

At just 9,000 square feet, the project implies a construction cost of about $3,000 per square foot – an exceptionally and alarmingly high number by grocery industry standards. 

From an economic standpoint, the “Mamdani Mart” underscores a familiar pattern: state-directed supermarkets often fail to achieve the cost discipline, operational efficiency, and scale seen in private-sector chains.

This story has played out time and again in the U.S., as unhinged left-wingers have experimented with socialism:

The end result is Cuba.

Keep reading

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls for Reparations and Claims Restaurants Are Tied to Slavery in Bizarre Rant 

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is currently embroiled in some sort of feud with the city council over a raise for tipped workers and it’s not going the way he wants so he is lashing out.

This week, while he was remarking on the situation, he suddenly veered into the topic of reparations and then claimed that the restaurant industry has ties to slavery.

How was this man elected mayor of a major city? It really seems like there’s something wrong with him.

FOX News reports:

Chicago mayor links restaurant industry to ‘slavery’ as tipped wage fight intensifies

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson linked the restaurant industry to “slavery” Wednesday as he defended his push to eliminate the tipped wage, doubling down after surviving a City Council effort to block the policy.

Johnson’s remarks came after the Chicago City Council failed to override his veto of a measure that would have halted the city’s phaseout of the subminimum wage for tipped workers — a policy set to raise base pay to the full minimum wage by 2028 that is opposed by restaurant owners who warn it could drive up prices and cut jobs.

He called on Chicagoans to “challenge city council not to do stuff like take wages away from Black and Brown people,” saying that most workers in the service industry who rely on tips are minorities.

“You just watched the entire city council, in transparency, try to take wages away from the very people who are part of an industry that has its ties to slavery is hiding from that,” Johnson said. “I am boldly declaring that we need reparations in this city, and that’s why I’m funding it.”

What is he even talking about?

Keep reading

UNHINGED: Purple-Haired Radical Rosa DeLauro Has Total MELTDOWN Over Raw Milk

Far-left Democrat Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the same purple-haired radical we’ve repeatedly exposed for her unhinged public meltdowns, completely lost it Thursday during a House hearing while grilling HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over Americans’ right to drink raw milk.

DeLauro demanded that RFK Jr. publicly condemn raw milk as “dangerous” and essentially toe the corporate line pushed by Big Pharma and pasteurized milk lobbyists. When Kennedy refused to play along with the fearmongering, the 83-year-old Connecticut congresswoman went full meltdown mode.

“You are the Secretary of Health and Human Services. Is there not some moral responsibility or compunction to say, ‘Don’t drink raw milk, don’t do that, because it’s unpasteurized and can cause serious harm to your health?’ Is that not something you view as your responsibility?

“If I were the head of HHS, I would by God say don’t take raw milk! It is dangerous to your health and if you can’t say that well maybe there are some other conclusions that can be drawn!” DeLauro said.

Kennedy told lawmakers that agencies should “inform the public” and “let people make a choice,” rather than dictate behavior outright.

This is the same Rosa DeLauro whom The Gateway Pundit previously reported on when RFK Jr. absolutely buried the purple-haired Democrat back in May 2025 during his first major HHS hearing. She tried to lecture him then too, and got completely owned.

The radical left, Big Pharma, and the corporate food cartel hate raw milk because it represents everything they despise: freedom, tradition, local farms, and real nutrition that doesn’t come in a plastic-wrapped, government-approved package.

Keep reading

NYC Mayor Mamdani’s City-Run Grocery Plan Is Revealed, and the Receipts Already Make No Sense

The old maxim when pointing out failed Marxism attempts is the wan excuse that “True Socialism has not been tried yet!” Somehow, over the generations, every attempt at implementing Socialist/Marxist/Communist policy managed to get it wrong. In those cases where countries retain this leadership for decades (we are looking at you, Cuba), they never make the adjustments to “proper” socialism to fix things, remaining in their economic quagmire.

Yet we still get these insistent attempts at foisting this doomed leadership on a populace, because those were incorrect applications, according to the studied eggheads promoting the political system, while comfortably ensconced in capitalist countries. It seems revealing that these experts never make the trek to these nations to fix the problem, despite professing to have all the answers, like they will translate the cartoon instructions on an IKEA bookshelf that is listing like the Living Room Library of Pisa.

And this brings us to The Stale Apple, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has announced his plan to fulfill his campaign promise to open a collection of city-run grocery stores. This alone is a surprise, after he tossed aside his other pledged Utopian solutions, like the mobile homeless shelters – wait, sorry: “Free public transportation”. 

This pie-in-the-sky (but not on the shelves) idea is meant to supply city denizens with affordable and plentiful grocery items, all under the benevolent supply of the city government. Already you see the issue when applying the professionalism and efficiency of the DMV offices to the food supply, but Mamdani came out Sunday to boast about his achievements after 100 days in office, and he announced his plan for the NYC grocery project.

Keep reading

Europe vs. Russia in a War: Food, Energy, and Logistics Favor Russia

A companion analysis I conducted for The Gateway Pundit examined European versus Russian military capabilities without U.S. support, focusing on direct military hardware such as tanks, aircraft, carriers, submarines, and nuclear weapons.

It found that Russia holds decisive advantages in ground-force experience, armored production, submarine power, Arctic dominance, and tactical nuclear weapons. Europe’s theoretical hardware advantages are undermined by readiness failures, fragmented command, and a complete lack of peer-level conventional warfare experience.

Raw firepower is only part of the equation. Wars are won or lost on the ability to sustain operations over time. That means keeping weapons factories running, fuel flowing, soldiers fed, and supply lines open under fire. On every one of those dimensions, Russia’s position is stronger than Europe’s. In some cases, the gap is not even close.

European defense spending has risen sharply since 2022, but remains structurally insufficient for a peer conflict. At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, allies committed to investing 5 percent of GDP by 2035, with at least 3.5 percent on core defense. Commitments and current reality remain far apart, however. Sixteen European allies barely exceed the 2 percent threshold, spending between 2 and 2.1 percent of GDP in 2025, and only Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland are projected to reach 3.5 percent this year.

By contrast, Russia’s total defense spending reached RUB 6.3 percent of GDP and 32.5 percent of the federal budget.

Putin claimed in December 2025 that since February 2022, Russia increased tank production by 2.2 times, aircraft by 4.6 times, strike weapons and ammunition by 22 times, infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers by 3.7 times, electronic warfare and communications equipment by 12.5 times, and rocket artillery by 9.6 times, with the defense sector now employing approximately 4.5 million people and accounting for 20 percent of all manufacturing jobs.

General Christopher Cavoli told the US Senate Armed Services Committee in April 2025 that Russia is replacing battlefield losses at an unprecedented rate due to industrial expansion and full transition to a war economy.

Keep reading