M

I play card game

[M @Fissionprime]

@ShakaInc Can you hear Josie?

[M @Fissionprime]

@MappingFL @CatherineJCMcK @servetus This is like that extinct phenotype of white person that thinks it's 10x worse to be called racist than to actually be racist.

[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.

[M @Fissionprime]

@KuKhahil I love being reminded of AK47

[M @Fissionprime]

@paulwall1133 @DolkkiDolkki @martian_lore oh, so you're DUMB dumb.

[M @Fissionprime]

@Halbridious I quite like mamu

[M @Fissionprime]

@_ueaj @BIMBOSATTVA_ @1thousandfaces_ These are the sort of people that read the repugnant conclusion and say out loud "Wow! More serfs really would increase total utility!"

[M @Fissionprime]

@jrj1130 @WildSentences Yeah the way to end the cycle of idiocy is for this kid's mom to divorce the greedy asswipe trying to decide who does and doesn't pay rent for a property that is not his. He's clearly just gonna try to screw the kid in some other way later on if he is willing to do this.

[M @Fissionprime]

@jrj1130 @peirslouise @WildSentences Yeah and the idiot stepdad was the one who made every single one of those assumptions and decided to be an asshole to his stepson while doing it. Of course a dumbfuck maga boomer like you would think what he did is acceptable.

[M @Fissionprime]

@jrj1130 @WildSentences So it's cool for the stepdad to ask rent money be paid to him in a house that not only does not belong to him, but he never even verified who it does belong to? In what universe does that even resemble acceptable? If this dude wants to larp as a hardass he can pay rent to stepson

[M @Fissionprime]

@regularaugust I also liked Gankutsuou's decision to focus on Albert as the primary pov character from the beginning. It was a very fun adaptation.

[M @Fissionprime]

@TerraFirmaSTL @thinkingshivers upon further consideration you are absolutely correct

[M @Fissionprime]

@heavenleybody Many people are saying this

[M @Fissionprime]

@gfysmf8302 @AlahanAlloha @EdbieLigerSmith You think the money in the Obama deal was taxpayer money?

If you want to talk about paying Iran with tax money, that's what Trump is inevitably going to need to do to eventually reopen the strait because he put us in an unwinnable situation for the sake of Israel.

[M @Fissionprime]

@alexbronzini Is this like a cooler version of the colloidal silver guy?

[M @Fissionprime]

@blockhead4000 @laurenkirschner I have issues with this as well as in other joints and am woefully uneducated about pilates. Looking forward to any future threads you post.

[M @Fissionprime]

@MT_Lazarus The Spurs are bourgeoisie as fuck. 3 #1 picks in their history and they are 3 of the best big men ever, and #2 with Harper available on top of that? Most silver-spoon franchise ever.

[M @Fissionprime]

@tdbayer2 @LegKickNationOG One team I was on's shitty backup aluminum bat actually had some serious pop. Being the one to discover that felt like digging up an undamaged piece of Roman architecture

[M @Fissionprime]

@ImJustKyle_ He's not untouchable but I really like Ron. Gotta be the right trade if we give him up