Fly on the Ceiling

RTs and Favs of articles or other expressions of thought are not endorsements. I fly around looking for random stuff. It can be annoying.

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@matthew_cl82957 @Midnight_JJ0 That may be true. But there are plenty of bigger POS s' on the Senate that should not be there. We have a criminal POTUS that should not be there. The point is that he was singled out for a smear campaign. The POS with the "right" politics slides.

[Fair-Is-Fair @MHarrisonW]

Merging the US Armed Force with Israel's will (1) allow every Israeli soldier entry into the US at any time, (2) set them up for dual citizenship, and (3) make them eligible for GI benefits, pensions, low cost loans, etc., all provided by the US taxpayers. This is the most un-American bill possible!

[Nomadic Warriors for Pritzker⚔️ @Nomads4Pritzker]

So, I've worked in the beef industry. I have a fairly detailed knowledge of beef markets, the supply chain, parasites and parasiticides, etc. Suffice it to say, this is a nightmare scenario, but one we've known was coming since at least 2022.

New World Screwworm was eradicated from North and Central America in the mid-90's. The US gov't (APHIS) funded a program of screwworm drops, where they bred sterile males so that extant populations couldn't reproduce and move northwards. But in 2022 NWS jumped the Darien gap and started moving northwards once again. It's most likely that they came undetected on livestock brought alongside migrants fleeing political instability in South and Central America. Elon Musk/DOGE, of course, cut several monitoring programs that would have detected this exact scenario. The screwworm drops are still funded, but the monitoring programs are what have been cut - a stupid move if there ever was one.

A serious Central/South America policy would have worked hand-in-hand with CA/SA governments to help contain this, but we've never had a serious policy towards South America, not during the Biden years, and especially not under Trump. The USDA broke ground on a sterile screwworm facility in Texas... last month. I worry it's too little, too late.

Screwworm is so dangerous because, unlike other fly larvae, they lay eggs and feed on living flesh. So something like a small scratch (or even bug bite) can quickly becomes infested, and the larvae will burrow into the flesh, growing the wound and attracting more screwworm. They don't only parasitize cattle, but will also feed on wildlife, domestic pets, even humans. Since they have detected screwworms in domesticated cattle right now, it's likely that there is a wild reservoir as well. We can quarantine herds and pets, but we can't quarantine deer and armadillos. They will move, and so will the NWS.

Under normal circumstances, cattle are moved around - a lot. Calves will be sent to stockers through their adolescence, then shipped to feedlots for finishing. A lot of calving operations (like 70%) are small, and small-time producers don't always catch parasite infestations. Cattle moved in-state don't require a certificate of veterinary inspection, so it's easy for an infested animal to be moved without being noticed. Animals crossing state lines do need a CVI, but Texas has such an enormous cattle population (something like 13 million head) that as goes Texas, so goes the nation.

Fortunately, we have a lot of drugs that treat NWS. The FDA has issued several emergency use authorizations in the last year or so. But every input raises the price of beef, and treatment only makes a difference if producers catch an infestation early. If an infestation spreads unnoticed on a large feedlot, it can hit hard, both in terms of cattle that have to be killed, and treatments that then have to be deployed. Producers will spend days at a time running cattle through the chute, inspecting them and applying parasiticides. It costs a lot of money, which is then passed on to the consumer.

What does that mean for you? Beef is a commodity, and just because there's no NWS up here in Illinois doesn't mean that prices won't skyrocket - and they will skyrocket. US herd size is already at record lows, and this will result in culls. Consumer prices also run 18-24 months behind, which means that shocks to the supply chain now are still going to be felt by consumers in 2028.

It's hard to say if our government will be able to muster an effective response - though I don't trust our current administration, which can't even throw a 250th anniversary party, to be able to deal with an ecological issue of this magnitude. It doesn't help that our current USDA secretary is a lawyer and think-tank creature. I don't much trust the state government of Texas either. The industry has also taken the workforce of large animal veterinarians for granted - a monopoly/market power issue that I just can't get in to here.

For me, it comes back to our federal government having an incoherent policy on Central and South America. We knew what was coming, we know what's going to happen, but we cut the program meant to prevent this scenario. Instead of taking those countries seriously as partners, the government has been stupid and domineering.

Here's the kicker: this is what the industry voted for. They might scream, they might get bailed out, but all that means is that you, the consumer, are going to be paying more for beef, plus whatever bailout gets shoveled their way. Until the industry accepts that they are part of a larger system; that they cannot eternally privatize the gains and publicize the losses of beef production; that they need to consider sustainability and stewardship in the management of their operations, this is only going to keep happening. Eventually, they may find that there is very little goodwill for them among the public, and people will decide that a Brazilian ribeye tastes just as good as one from Texas.

[Dump Dan Goldman @DumpDanGoldman]

BREAKING: Dan Goldman votes with Republicans (yet again!) against the Lebanon War Powers Resolution 👀

Shame @RepDanGoldman

[Wyatt Reed @wyattreed13]

I’m not sure this is understood in the West, so I want to emphasize:

Al Risala are Lebanese *Boy Scouts.*

They belong to the Lebanese Scouting Federation, the local affiliate of the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

The US affiliate is the Boy Scouts of America.

After Al Risala Scouts turn 18, they often become Scout leaders who serve as EMTs, firefighters, and search-and-rescue teams.

In the past 2 months, Israel has killed 27 Al Risala Scouts, Troop leaders, and associated young adult rescue workers.

Here are some of young Scouts killed by Israel. Neither the Boy Scouts of America nor the World Organization of the Scout Movement have condemned their murders.

[Stew Peters @realstewpeters]

RO KHANNA: “Let me be clear, Netanyahu is the one that actually told members of congress to add section 224 (merging the U.S. and Israeli militaries) into the bill.”

Khanna says the quiet part out loud. Our elected officials are subservient to a foreign nation. We are Occupied.

[Faizan @FreesoulFaizan]

@washingtonpost Pushing “make Israel pay for weapons” as some gutsy shake-up after billions in freebie aid? Washington Post, your spin machine’s still polishing Netanyahu’s war machine while Gaza starves classic lobby lapdog act pretending reform fixes the blood money pipeline. Pathetic.

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@simkin_eric @AIPAC Then how do you know what or why he is objecting? To what? Can't just accuse when there might be great reason to object. Anyone can read it. Maybe he objects because he didn't get his cut and has nothing to do with merging US and Israeli military tech ?

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

This is so insanely corrupt, I can’t even believe it.

More than half the donors to Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom just won over $50 billion in new federal contracts in six months.

And here’s the part that should make your blood boil.

Sixteen of these 27 donors were facing federal enforcement actions, antitrust reviews, labor cases, securities charges. Many of those cases have been quietly dropped or scaled back since Trump took office. You write a check, your legal problems disappear. That’s not a coincidence.

The White House won’t even release the full donor list. They’re hiding it on purpose, because daylight is the one thing pay-to-play can’t survive. A federal judge already ruled ballroom construction has to stop until Congress authorizes it.

Government is supposed to serve the people, not auction itself off to the highest bidder. When access goes to whoever pays the most, working families always end up paying the price.

We either end the corruption, or the corruption will end us.

https://t.co/4MGFzSseFl

[Mandy Arthur @mandyarthur]

In a letter to Congress, Netanyahu literally bragged that Section 224, which fuses the US & Israeli militaries, is HIS plan.

We are at the point where foreign leaders are literally writing our laws and the people voting against it are called "traitors".

1776. NOW.

[Austin Dyches for Congress @AustinDyches]

I am disgusted that my representative killed @RoKhanna's amendment stripping 224 from the FY27 NDAA.

No foreign government should have a place at the highest levels of our Defense infrastructure.

@RepSarahElfreth is an agent of Israel, vote her out.
#MD03

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

When Larry Ellison donated a record-breaking amount of money to the IDF (not to US soldiers, but to the IDF), he repeatedly talked about the "country we call our own" and the importance of the IDF "to defend our home."

By "our country," he is referring to Israel, not the US.

[Joaquin Castro @JoaquinCastrotx]

Last month, I led 30 lawmakers in asking Secretary Rubio for answers on Israel’s nuclear program.

Here’s the State Department's bizarre response (full letter below): “We refer you to the Government of Israel for your questions about Israel’s capabilities."

I am glad that Secretary Rubio acknowledged these serious concerns and I look forward to getting briefed on the matter.

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@re_zipprich @danielsgoldman @bradlander Calling out one band of criminals does not mean support for another set of criminals. Are you stupid?

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@danielsgoldman @bradlander Interesting to watch you run from anything Israel as if it were Kryptonite! Where is you Yellow ribbon pin you used to sport? You voted to fund genocide, crimes and murder. You did nothing when your constituents were murdered by "settlers." Criminals you indirectly support.

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@PostWokeNAZ @RepJoshG Can you please source your claim of exactly how Qatar funded schools in Portland? Waiting

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

Cries the Executive Director of the US Israel Education Foundation

[Heather Johnston @HeatherJ_Israel]

@RepJoshG 🚨 $65 million Qatari campaign to influence U.S. education at all levels.

Our children do not belong to foreign governments!

[Amira Dalton 🇺🇸 @Libertymama888]

@RepJoshG Why is allegiance to another country being taught in American Jewish day schools? Let us know when American kids are marching with Qatari flags and Qatari military logos on their shirts...

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@RepJoshG Hey Josh, can you specify the Qatari funded narratives of which you speak? What do you think of the loyalty oaths Americans are required under US law to make to your buddies in Tel Aviv?

[Fly on the Ceiling @CeilingFly]

@RyanBea64600306 @ChrisLoesch Loesch can't read. All he can do is repeat what his handlers feed him in the morning