Crunch

To paraphrase Captain Renault, who was shocked to find that gambling was going on in Rick’s Cafe Americain in the film “Casablanca:” I am shocked to find out that more than 60 percent of Nestle’s food portfolio is unhealthy."

The world’s largest food company is the proud marketer of nutritional gems such as Dreyer’s and Haagen Dazs ice cream; Hot Pockets sandwiches; Tombstone and DiGiorno pizzas; Thomy mayonnaise/spreads; Stouffer’s frozen foods; KitKat, Smarties, Nestle Crunch, Milkybar candies; Nesquik syrups/drinks, and Coffee-mate. [Full Disclosure: I loved Nestle Crunch bars as a kid.]

One actually could be shocked that 37 percent of Nestle’s food and beverage revenues meets the “recognized definition of health” standards under Australia’s food rating system.

A Nestle internal document reports that a 14 gram serving of strawberry-flavored Nesquik contained a whopping 14 grams of sugar, while a three-meat DiGiorno croissant crust pizza is packed with 40 percent of a person’s recommended daily allowance of sodium.

Nestle admits some of its junk foods “will never be ‘healthy’ no matter how much we renovate.”

That may be why the company agreed on April 30 to shell out $5.8B for The Bountiful Co., the pride of Ronkonkoma, NY, a leader in the global nutrition and supplemental category.

In the interim, Nestle CEO Mark Schneider should think about junking the company’s slogan of “Good Food. Good Life.”

How screwed up is the US? A Public Religion Research Institute and Interfaith Youth Corp Core survey released May 27 gives an indication of how nuts we really are.

It found that 15 percent of Americans agree with the QAnon conspiracy theory that “the government, media and financial worlds in the US are controlled by a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles who run a global sex trafficking operation.”

Nearly a quarter (23 percent) of Republicans buy into that garbage, along with 14 percent of Independents and eight percent of Democrats.

Forty percent of Newsmax and OANN cable TV watchers agree with the QAnon nonsense.

And here’s another tidbit from Crazytown.

Nearly half (48 percent) of Newsmax/OANN fans and 34 percent of Fox News watchers agree that: “There is a storm coming soon that will sweep away the elite in power and restore the rightful leaders.”

Do they have Jesus or Donald Trump in mind? My guess is that Trump has the edge.

A Quinnipiac University Poll released May 26 finds that 84 percent of Republicans have a favorable opinion of Trump and two-thirds of them want him to take another shot at the White House.

That survey offers a ray of hope for America. It reports that Republicans are out of step with the rest of the country. Fifty-seven percent of Americans give Trump a thumbs down, while 37 percent give him a thumbs up.

Two-in-three US adults don’t want Trump to run again and another 53 percent would back a candidate who repudiates Trumpism.

Liz Cheney for president? She'll be available next year after losing her race for re-election to her Wyoming Congressional seat.