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Soda Purchases Slumped 13% After SNAP Sugary Drink Restrictions

Soda purchases fell about 13 percent among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries after 10 states restricted purchases of sugary drinks with SNAP funds in 2026, a study found.

SNAP restriction waivers banned non-nutritious items like soda and candy to ensure that taxpayer dollars are directed toward nutritious options that improve health outcomes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture stated on its website.

The August study from the National Bureau of Economic Research - not yet peer-reviewed - evaluated the immediate effects of SNAP food restriction waivers in 10 states that implemented the bans.

Researchers used a Nielsen consumer dataset of about 5,000 SNAP households from July 2025 to June 2026.

Before the ban, the average SNAP household bought about 185 ounces of soda per month. That’s about 15 cans. The 13 percent drop is about 24 ounces, or two cans less per month.

Purchases of energy drinks also decreased by 4 ounces per household per month.

Interestingly, as Sylvia Xu reports for The Epoch Times, the study found that even households having enough cash to offset the restrictions reduced soda consumption by 18.5 percent, down 40 ounces per month.

When states labeled soda as an unapproved purchase, it acted as a powerful psychological signal, according to the report.

Arkansas shelf tag...

Instead of bypassing the ban with cash, families reconsidered their habits.

The policy changed what they viewed as appropriate foods to buy, leading to a significant drop in overall soda purchases, according to the study.

These findings indicate that simple administrative restrictions can effectively steer dietary choices and potentially improve public health outcomes, the researchers concluded.

Texas shelf tag...

However, it’s not clear how big the impact on sugar consumption will be.

A similar study in 2024 predicted a decline of up to 20 percent in soda purchases when the soda bans went into effect, but also forecast a 7 percent increase in juice consumption.

That would mean an overall decrease of just 7 percent in the intake of sugar from beverages.

Data on the current level of juice consumption by SNAP users is not yet available.

In fiscal year 2025, SNAP distributed $102.6 billion to nearly one in eight Americans, more than 42 million people. That’s about $2,400 per person per year.

Until this year, those funds could be used to purchase nearly all foods except for alcoholic beverages and hot prepared foods.

As of August, 23 states have implemented SNAP restriction waivers and prohibit recipients from purchasing junk food such as beverages and candy.

This is the first time in the program’s history that the Department of Agriculture has granted waivers allowing states to restrict SNAP benefits.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/26/2026 - 23:00

Dispatchers confirmed six gunshot wounds as emergency crews treated the area near the Space Needle as an active scene.

Who will steer your driving choices?  You, based on your needs? Or Gavin Newsom and Sacramento bureaucrats, based on their green whims? The answer’s as plain as a road sign. Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at a press conference in Oakland. This week, the CEO of Dunlop Tires North America blasted the state’s latest climate decree:...

Adva Lavie threw such a tantrum in a Los Angeles County courtroom on Wednesday.

Robert Stock struggled and the Mets’ bats stayed quiet in an 8-1 loss to the Brewers as Citi Field squirrels stole the show.

The late actor originated the role of that “sweet transvestite" Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 cult-classic musical film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and the 1973 London theater production.

The late actor originated the role of that “sweet transvestite" Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the 1975 cult-classic musical film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and the 1973 London theater production.

The Yankees lineup finally opened well. And closed well. And amid all the injuries, it sure seems wide awake all of a sudden.

Nvidia Rises After Solid Earnings, Reversing Margin Concerns As Company Guides To 70% 2028 Revenue Growth

Update (5:10pm): NVDA stock is very volatile, and after sliding 3% at first on solid earnings but weak margin guidance, the stock has since recovered and is up over 5% as the earnings call begins, on the following comments from Jensen Huang:

• *NVIDIA CFO SAYS SEEING DEMAND ACCELERATION EVEN AT OUR SCALE
• *NVIDIA CFO SAYS REVENUE TO GROW ABOUT 70% IN FISCAL 2028
• *NVIDIA CFO SAYS SEEING DEMAND ACCELERATION EVEN AT OUR SCALE

As Bloomberg notes, Amazon’s commitment to use a lot more Nvidia products and a strong prediction for growth in revenue of about 70%, well above whispers of about 40-50%, next year has shoved aside the naysayers. The 2028 guidance, which came unexpectedly and was intended precisely the spark a buying spree in the stock, did just that, and has pushed the shares about 5% after hours. 

* * * 

Earlier:

In our preview of NVDA earnings we said that "Nvidia will beat FQ2 (July) revenue estimates by approximately $3-4 billion, with revenue potentially reaching $94-95 bn. The stock, however, will not respond to the beat.... recall revenue guidance has beaten Street consensus by an average of 4% over the past four quarters, while the stock has traded down 3%/5% on average over the subsequent 7/30 days." It seems we were we right: despite blowout beats on the top and bottom line, the stock is sliding after hours, in what will be the 6th of the past 7 earnings reports the stock has tumbled despite beating bigly. 

Here is what NVDA just reported for Q2: 

• Adjusted EPS $2.22, beating est $2.09
   
• Revenue $96.22 billion, beating estimates of $92.38 billion
  • Data center revenue $89.02 billion, beating estimate $85.86 billion
  • Hyperscale Revenue $48.71 billion, beating estimate $43.55 billion
  • AI Clouds, Industrial, & Enterprise revenue $40.31 billion, missing estimate $41.96 billion
  • Edge Computing revenue $7.20 billion, beating estimate $6.61 billion
  • Compute & Networking revenue $88.30 billion, beating estimate $84.69 billion
     
• Adjusted gross margin 75%, in line with exp. 75%
• Adjusted operating expenses $8.23 billion, below estimate $8.32 billion
• R&D expenses $7.05 billion, above estimate $7 billion
• Adjusted operating income $63.96 billion, beating estimate $61.19 billion

While revenue numbers were impressive, don't forget the circular financing.  Almost half of the company's record $96BN in revenue, or $40.3 BN, came from hyperscaler customers who can't fund their own buildout without outside capital, and without Nvidia handing them cash to buy its own products. As we have extensively reported, Nvidia sells the chips and simultaneously guarantees the leases and invests in the builders so the orders keep coming, helping create a massive $3 trillion off-balance sheet funding hold. Two of the companies which are supposed to generate revenue in the AI ecosystem, OpenAI and Anthropic, both lost gobs of money last year. Both are heading to IPO to raise more cash to keep buying.

Looking ahead, the company shared the following Q3 Guidance

• Revenue $108 billion (+/- 2%), beating estimate of $104 billion; the company also said it does not assume any Data Center compute revenue from China in its outlook.
• Gross Margin 73.5-74.5%, missing estimates of 75%
• GAAP and non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be approximately $9.2 billion and $9.0 billion, respectively.

While the guidance was solid, and well above the sellside, it may not have been solid enough with some buysiders throwing around numbers as high as $109 billion. 

Commenting on the quarter, CEO Jensen Huang said that “AI has reached its inflection point. It’s doing useful work. Its tokens are productive and profitable. Now, compute is revenue. And demand is accelerating. This time last year, one lab alone was driving the buildout; today, we have a golden age of new AI labs and startups, multiple frontier labs scaling in parallel, a thriving open-model ecosystem and physical AI coming online — with strong momentum across the U.S. and around the world. The AI infrastructure buildout is at full steam. Vera Rubin, now in full production, was built to power exactly this moment.”

Nvidia’s latest quarter was still about the Blackwell Ultra. The company said its 117% jump in Data Center revenue was driven by the ramp of Blackwell Ultra infrastructure. The extremely expensive Vera Rubin is next (recall "Nvidia's Vera Rubin Rack Will Cost $7.8MM: Here's What's In It"). Nvidia built inventory to prepare for Rubin’s introduction in the fiscal third quarter, while saying the new platform is now ramping into full production. That means the $108 billion revenue outlook Nvidia just gave investors is the first quarter where Rubin should begin contributing meaningfully to sales.

The other problem is that Vera Rubin needs massive amounts of memory at a time when memory prices, unlike a year ago, are absolutely stratospheric.

Which bring us to the next point: Nvidia forecast a margin between 73.5% and 74.5%, versus analyst estimates of about 75% and estimates as high as 76.5%. Needless to say, that won’t help worries about increasing component costs, especially after the company is raising prices on many of its customers.

To be sure, there is a growing focus on Nvidia’s gross margin, which is where competition is starting to manifest in the form of more aggressive pricing cuts.  Recall that Nvidia’s recently told customers its prices are going up because of costs; so the questions about whether it can maintain the 75% margin level it’s guided to will continue.

Another concern, and a reason why the stock is dumping: Nvidia’s future supply commitments have more than doubled in a single quarter,  jumping to $279 billion from $119 billion. The reason, as Bloomberg notes, is striking: Nvidia says the increase is primarily related to securing memory. These aren’t costs already incurred, but commitments to suppliers to lock in the components and capacity needed to meet AI demand over the next several years. Nvidia has $92 billion committed for the rest of this fiscal year, $87 billion for FY28 and $88 billion for FY29

And while most concerns focus on the income and cash flow statement, according to Vital Knowledge, this is going to be the most talked about part of the Nvidia report: "Accounts receivable was $63.1B with 60 days sales outstanding (DSO), up from 45 days sequentially, due to extended payment terms on large, multi-quarter agreements with certain investment-grade customers."

It appears that we may not even get to the off balance sheet bubble (discussed overnight): net working capital alone is starting to be a huge issue for the company and its clients.

China also remains a giant question mark for Nvidia. There have been signs that Beijing is allowing limited purchases of its chips by Chinese companies. That’s after the Asian nation had earlier retaliated against Washington’s restrictions with its own soft of imports of US technology. Nvidia’s Huang was able to get Washington to ease some restrictions on exports, in the form of limited licenses to some companies in China willing to take older Nvidia products. 

The net effect persists: Nvidia is largely locked out of the biggest market for semiconductors, a country that’s actively trying to foster competition for its products, and judging by recent performance from open-weight models, is succeeding. 

And lets not forget growing competition: OpenAI is just one of a growing group of customers and rivals who are touting their own chip efforts and claiming parity or performance leads over Nvidia’s offerings. Until there’s enough supply to fill every order, that remains a moot point. But there are growing concerns that Nvidia’s utter dominance is facing more serious challenges.  As reported earlier, OpenAI said its new Jalapeño processor outperformed Blackwell systems in two areas in its tests. So does specialized AI compute eventually chip away at Nvidia’s dominance, or does explosive growth in overall compute demand leave room for everyone? 

Putting it all together, despite another blowout quarter, the stock is once again down on results in what is becoming a habit...

... and it is only a matter of time before increasingly impatient investors start asking just what will it take for the stock to actually go up on earnings, for once.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/26/2026 - 22:35

Matt Leinart shares why his date with Rihanna years ago could have gone better.

US Special Forces Conducting Operations Inside Ecuador

Authored by Kyle Anzalone via Antiwar.com,

An Ecuadorian official confirmed that US Green Berets were engaged in anti-cartel operations. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump formed a coalition, dubbed Shield of the Americas, that was aimed at combating cartels in Latin and South America.

A local official told AFP and UPI that US special forces have been conducting direct operations against suspected cartels in the Esmeraldas province. "We are with the 7th (Special Forces) Group of the US Army. We are working together in the fight against narcoterrorism," Esmeraldas Provincial governor Juan Jaramillo said last week.

Ecuadorian Defense Minister Gian Carlo Loffredo added that two US warships were operating in the region.

In March, President Donald Trump said that a dozen Latin American nations had enlisted in the Shield of the Americas coalition to fight cartels in the region. Ecuador is a member of the bloc.

That month, the US and Ecuador conducted joint military operations against alleged drug targets. "The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism," U.S. Southern Command said following the raid.

However, The New York Times reported that the target of the operation was a dairy farm, not a drug lab. "The military strike appears to have destroyed a cattle and dairy farm, not a drug trafficking compound, according to interviews with the farm's owner, four of its workers, human rights lawyers, and residents and leaders in San Martín," the outlet explains.

The military activity in Ecuador is part of Operation Southern Spear. Trump ordered the Department of War last year to expand military operations in Latin America to curb narcotics trafficking to the US.

The US has conducted dozens of airstrikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean. The operations have killed over 200 people and over 60 vessels.

The White House has asserted that the targeted boats are operated by narco-terrorists attempting to smuggle fentanyl into the US. However, the administration has not offered the American people any evidence to support the claim.

Additionally, some evidence suggests that at least some of the vessels that have been attacked were not involved in narcotics trafficking. The family members of several victims have said their slain relatives were fishermen.

Last month, The Washington Post reported reviewing a DEA assessment that found the strikes on vessels operated by alleged narco-terrorists have not changed the amount or price of cocaine entering the US. US military officials also admitted to Congress that the operations have had no impact on purity.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/26/2026 - 22:35

Newport Beach is ditching synthetic herbicides on its 17 athletic fields as alarm grows over a rare childhood cancer cluster in a nearby community. The move comes as families grapple with at least six cases of Ewing sarcoma among children and teens since 2013 in Ladera Ranch, a master-planned community in south Orange County. To...

University Of Maryland Warns Trump's Four-Year Visa Cap Could Crush Graduate Enrollment By 30%

The Trump administration is overhauling rules governing the length of stay for international students and exchange visitors, replacing a decades-old system with a fixed period of up to four years.

Beginning Sept. 15, most people entering on F-1 and J-1 visas will no longer be admitted for "duration of status," which generally allows them to remain in the country as long as they maintain their academic or exchange programs.

Instead, students and scholars will receive predetermined admission periods based on the length of their programs, capped at four years. Any extension needed to complete a degree, including for many doctoral candidates, will require an application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The new four-year visa cap could be damning for some colleges and universities that rely heavily on international students.

A new report from local outlet The Baltimore Banner warns that the University of Maryland "could face a decline of as much as 30% of its newly admitted graduate students this fall, thanks to a new visa restriction proposed by the Trump administration this summer."

University officials disclosed a new estimate in court filings supporting a federal lawsuit seeking to block the four-year visa cap. The University of Maryland and University of Baltimore face similar contractions in international enrollment. 

According to the report, international students contributed an estimated $240.4 million to the University of Maryland and the surrounding economy during the 2024-25 academic year. At the University of Maryland, Baltimore, that figure was around $14 million.

Whether the four-year visa cap proves to be the final pin that finally punctures America's higher-education bubble remains to be seen. But certaintly may cause hardships for universities that heavily rely on foreign enrollment. 

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/26/2026 - 22:10

It would cost Bonta nothing but a news cycle of Ruffalo’s disappointment to speak out against the actor's absurd, antisemitic conspiracy theories.

“It’s no secret that I want to be president,” Cruz said during an interview on Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s podcast. 

A fraudster who posed as a wealthy player with the San Francisco 49ers scammed more than 26 women out of $1.3 million, according to the FBI.

A family of four will spend about $1,627.71 to attend a Rams game at SoFi Stadium in 2026—$421.88 more than a Chargers game.

Browns fans protest Deshaun Watson’s starter role with signs on Jim Brown’s statue.

California should be the happiest state to live in, but it's not by a long shot.

Hormuz And The Law Of Diminishing Returns: When Leverage Burns

Authored by Tamuz Itai via The Epoch Times,

For months, the assumption that the Strait of Hormuz was Tehran's ultimate card dominated commentary on the war.

Vessels are seen in the Strait of Hormuz, off the port city of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran on Aug. 10, 2026. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images

As a narrow waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil and a substantial share of liquefied natural gas had historically passed, it appeared to be a chokepoint Iran could close or severely disrupt at will. It did not need to destroy every tanker. Hitting a small percentage with drones, cruise missiles, speedboats, or mines would spike insurance rates, deter crews and companies, and effectively shut the strait without continuous physical control.

This idea was not new for 2026. It had long been a feature of the Iranian strategic posture, treated as both a military instrument and a political myth-proof that even under pressure Tehran retained a decisive lever over the global energy system. Parts of the Western media and independent analysts amplified the same narrative.

Relying on incomplete open-source shipping data, especially once vessels began sailing dark, many concluded that the United States had been caught unprepared and lacked a realistic path to reopen the waterway. Hormuz, they argued, was effectively closed or closable at Iran's discretion. That framing was powerful, but also incomplete.

How the Threat Has Been Eroded

The assumption that Iran's detection and targeting system could not be dismantled without dramatic escalation proved wrong. Under the U.S. Central Command, also known as CENTCOM, and with significant involvement from the Fifth Fleet and Air Force components, the United States ran a sustained effort to degrade the sensors Iran needed to find and hit ships.

Iran relied on mobile truck-mounted radars, drones, cruise missiles, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) speedboats, and naval mines. Inside the narrow strait, ships move in relatively predictable lanes. Iran combined active radars with passive electro-optical and infrared cameras on elevated terrain and islands such as Qeshm, Larak, and Abu Musa.

Mobile radars would radiate briefly to locate shipping, then shut down and move before anti-radiation missiles could arrive. Once a ship's approximate position was known, strike systems could be sent to search.

The vulnerability was that every radar emission could be detected. American aircraft responded systematically with anti-radiation missiles while visual and intelligence efforts located the passive sensors. This was the core of what some involved called "draining the swamp."

Iran had redundancy, but the number of sensors was finite. Hundreds of precision strikes gradually reduced Iran's ability to see traffic in the strait. As the detection layer thinned, the effectiveness of the strike systems declined with it.

Parallel efforts neutralized mines with unmanned vessels and declared the southern lane near Oman largely clear. Convoys moved under escort, often at night with the automated information system (AIS) off. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers with Aegis radars and standard missile (SM)-family interceptors formed the backbone; drones and Apache helicopters armed with laser-guided rockets provided additional cover. American ships also engaged IRGC speedboats that closed on the convoys.

On the commercial side, the United States addressed insurance barriers. In early March, President Donald Trump directed the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide political risk insurance and guarantees for maritime trade.

The DFC, working with the Treasury and CENTCOM, established a revolving reinsurance facility of roughly $20 billion-later expanded with private partners including Chubb-focused on hull, machinery, and cargo cover. Early uptake was limited. As Iranian success rates fell, more vessels joined.

Results have been significant. CENTCOM has reported assisting well over a thousand commercial vessels and moving hundreds of millions of barrels since the spring. Independent trackers often showed lower numbers because much of the traffic sailed dark. Pre-war throughput was 20 million to 21 million barrels per day.

Flows through Hormuz remain below that, but combined with the Abu Dhabi-Fujairah pipeline and Saudi Arabia's pipeline to Yanbu in the Red Sea, volumes recovered enough to keep oil prices in the $85 to $95 range-elevated, but far from the predicted catastrophe.

Not Seeing the True Picture

Public data lagged for both technical and psychological reasons. Ships that went dark during transit normally turned their AIS trackers back on afterward, so theoretically they could have been tracked and counted, yet matching was imperfect amid overlapping night movements, incomplete satellite reception, intermittent signals, and ship-to-ship transfers.

Commercial trackers attempt corrections using imagery and other data, but confidence thresholds still produce undercounts relative to what escorting forces could see.

There was also a narrative reason. The story of Iranian success and American failure fit expectations many already held. Contradictory evidence produced cognitive dissonance. The common response was to protect the original frame-by applying greater skepticism to inconvenient details and treating quieter progress as temporary.

In a contested information environment, narratives that confirm prior expectations often outlast those that require revision.

The General Principle

Hormuz illustrates a broader pattern. Leverage is often strongest while latent. The threat shapes behavior; the target hedges or hopes the card is never played. Once used at scale, incentives change. Real costs appear, and the value of neutralizing the threat rises sharply.

Adaptation follows: sensors are hunted, escorts are organized, alternative routes are accelerated, commercial workarounds are found. Over time, the original leverage delivers diminishing returns. The coercer frequently ends up weaker than before.

The pattern is not unique. In 1973, Arab oil producers cut exports and raised prices. The short-term shock was severe; the longer-term response included efficiency gains, strategic reserves, non-OPEC production, and the shale revolution.

Russia's gas cut-offs against Europe from 2021 to 2022 produced a similar arc: LNG expansion, storage, demand reduction, and alternative suppliers collapsed Moscow's share of the European market, forcing it to sell more of its supply with heavy discounts to China and others.

China's 2010 rare-earth restrictions against Japan spurred alternative mining, recycling, and substitution. In recent years, the United States has also accelerated the shift with CHIPS Act funding, Department of Defense equity stakes and loans, price-floor and offtake arrangements, and Project Vault, which includes equity stakes in key producers and a strategic minerals reserve, while expanding cooperation with partners such as Australia.

Remaining Levers and Their Limits

If the Hormuz card is already delivering diminishing returns, what options remain for Iran?

The most consequential underused lever is a more systematic campaign against Gulf energy production itself-fields, processing plants, refineries, and downstream industries. Iran has already struck these targets at a meaningful scale. What has not been fully attempted is a sustained multi-country effort at lasting destruction of capacity.

Other potential levers include intensified proxies, cyber operations, pressure on Bab el-Mandeb, residual nuclear signaling, and heavier strikes on U.S. bases or critical infrastructure. Each retains some potential.

Yet the same logic applies. Further large-scale use would accelerate the responses that reduce effectiveness. At the same time, the regime faces continuous economic pressure from the U.S. naval blockade, oil-export enforcement, and broader "Operation Economic Outcast" sanctions. Escalation under that siege significantly raises costs and shortens the runway.

Another option might be a distraction elsewhere, perhaps initiated by another country in the emerging axis of Chinese Communist Party-dependent countries, such as Russia, North Korea, or China itself.

The battle for the strait is not the entire war. It has, however, illustrated a recurring feature of strategy: geographic and resource levers look most formidable while they remain latent. Once put into continuous action, they often set in motion the forces that ultimately reduce their power.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/26/2026 - 21:45