Jan Jenkins🇺🇸💙🌊🌎🇺🇦🌻

When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Democrat/Christian/fmr federal prosecutor/animal lover/Marine’s wife. Nevertheless, she persisted #Resistance

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

@mark_slapinski And I feel bad about that. I meant to say he is a sadistic, infantile ugly fuck.

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

@SoundDobad I know this may sound petty, but I can’t stand it when people put photoshop a meth pipe in my mouth. A crack pipe doesn’t have that little bowl at the end. This is why we can’t trust AI. Please make the appropriate edit. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[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.

[Mike Damone @damone_mike]

Me in 5th grade explaining my science project I did on the morning it was due…

[Seth @fiercepatricks]

Friendly reminder that Pride isn't about turning your straight kids into gay kids. It's about not turning gay kids into dead kids.

[Chris D. Jackson @ChrisDJackson]

Can't love this enough. 😂

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

WTF timeline are we on. Someone called me the MAGA whisperer and I’ll gladly take the title. Left, right, D or R we all want the same things. We’re being divided on purpose by the Epstein Elite Oligarch class because as long as we’re at each other’s throats, they get fat and rich off of our misery. The second we figure out we agree on more than we disagree, they’re done. Love your neighbor. Be yourself. Radical honesty. No fucks given, no fucks taken. Everything else is just noise. (But still fuck Jake “Brick Tamland” Tapper on any time line)

[Covie @covie_93]

This is the kind of bipartisanship that's missing in politics. Shoutout to Hunter for bringing it back.

[one dozen rats at a keyboard @PanasonicDX4500]

I know it’s become pretty cliche and cringey to talk about at this point but if you’re under like 25 I cannot stress enough how one time Obama wore a tan suit and people spent a week arguing over whether or not it was demeaning to the Oval Office and they were serious about it.

[Rick Wilson @TheRickWilson]

I’m shocked. Shocked, I tell you,

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

@Kenn321705 I’ve never stolen an erection in my life.

[Covie @covie_93]

The fact that someone like spencer pratt is even been considered a serious contender for public office shows people have learned nothing from trump.

[Jim Acosta @Acosta]

When I called out Trump years ago for being a danger to democracy, a free press, and truth itself, I was accused of making myself the story and showboating. How did things turn out? Trump is all of those things. Tonight, the free press is very much in danger in America. Wake up!

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

Dear @ScottPelley

Thank you.

Thank you for standing up when it was inconvenient.

Thank you for standing up when it cost you a job you loved.

Thank you for standing up to power and for trying to save a landmark news program.

Thank you for your INTEGRITY.

[Mara Webster 🇬🇧🇺🇸 @Mara_Webster]

If anybody asks how I’m doing right now I’m going to send them this video as a representation of my current state of mind

[Franklin Leonard @franklinleonard]

I feel bad for every stand up who's going to watch this video and have to reckon with the fact that they're never going to kill as hard as Samuel is killing in this show and tell set.

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

The chances of a deer taking you out at a crosswalk are slim. But never zero.

[George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway3d]

I had a prostate MRI earlier this year and it was perfect. Maybe I should do it again for fun!

[Adam Parkhomenko @AdamParkhomenko]

Jake Tapper is going after Jill Biden because Jake Tapper is a pussy who will happily attack a woman while being too afraid to criticize Trump.

Jake is a bitch.

[Alex Cole @acnewsitics]

My new favourite account 🤣