Michael Tupper

Iowa State Alumni | Ag Engineer | American | Libertarian | A pessimist complains about wind; an optimist expects it to change; a realist adjusts the sails

[Michael Tupper @mtupper17]

The Republican Governor candidate and the Democratic Secretary of Agricultural candidate in Iowa both rail against drain tile.

You thought it was hard to farm before? You have no idea how hard it's about to get. European style decline is here.

The Brazilians are dancing tonight

[Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog]

I’m actually pretty pissed at how badly they’ve bungled America 250. First they tried to invite Milli Vanilli and a bunch of other absurdly washed up geriatric one hit wonders. Then when that didn’t work they decided to convert the event into a Trump rally where Trump will talk about himself for 90 minutes. This should have been a massive, raucous celebration of the country and its 250 year history. Now it will be a political rally identical to the ten million other ones we’ve already seen.

[Jeremy Carl @realJeremyCarl]

This is why the stronger forms of "Heritage American" discourse lose me just like the "America is just a creed" folks do.

So what if Talarico is an eighth generation Texan?

So what if his "girlfriend's" ancestor signed the Texas Declaration?

They're both crazy woke lunatics who want to destroy everything that's great about America.

I'd much rather share a country with some patriotic Trump-supporting 3rd generation Mexican American, who goes to a conservative church, served in our military and loves America's history and folkways.

Of course, none of this extends infinitely-- having deep roots in America does matter, and you can't rapidly change the ethnic mix of the country without doing a lot of damage.

But fundamentalists on either side of the creed/heritage debate are missing something important about what makes our country great.

[Christian Heiens 🏛 @ChristianHeiens]

>Supreme Court hands you a win of the century
>Your voting base is begging you to take the free shot and pick up two guaranteed Congressional seats
>You decide to intentionally fumble the football on the goal line because you are afraid of negative PR from people who already hate you

It’s outrageous that Republicans in South Carolina and Louisiana intentionally want our own side to lose because they think winning is a violation of principle.

We don’t have time for this bullshit any longer.

[Michael Tupper @mtupper17]

I mean, maybe people's operations shouldn't run on federal programs?

[Sawyer @SawyerWhisler]

The FSA office in your county handles your loan applications, your disaster payments, and your emergency operating credit.

It's the part of the federal government your operation actually runs on.

It's also the first thing cut when Washington wants to save money. Always has been.

[RodeoProfessor @RodeoProfessor]

Of course this DNC account punts what this debate is actually about, here’s an easy to follow overview for you. The controversy focuses on an NGO called the American Prairie Foundation with a bison herd on public land (BLM) in Northeast Montana (note this is different from the famous Yellowstone herd that you may have visited on a family trip).

To obtain a grazing permit on BLM, this isn’t auctioned off at market. Instead, it’s a preference system linked to ownership of a nearby property (called a “base property”).

American Prairie is a relative newcomer who acquired BLM preference for grazing allotments by purchasing deeded ranches adjacent to BLM land. Then, they asked the BLM to modify their grazing permits to include bison. The BLM did an environmental impact assessment and approved bison in 2022, which was just revoked at the request of Montana lawmakers and ranching families in the state.

The reason ranching families, stockgrowers, and Montana lawmakers do not want American Prairie to run their conservation focused bison herd on BLM land begins with the fact that to purchase deeded ranches and obtain eligibility for BLM grazing, American Prairie got piles of cash from foreign and out of state donors. As a donor funded foundation, most of its cash comes from a Swiss born billionaire, a German billionaire, and high net worth individuals from NYC and SF. How would a regular rancher from Montana compete with that to purchase the ranches that would lead to preference for BLM? How would a 21 year old seventh generation rancher compete? When this NGO buys these deeded ranches, the associated grazing rights on BLM are automatically transferred.

Montana ranchers and politicians also oppose buffalo on BLM parcels because of the risk of disease transmission to livestock, and an overarching belief that Montana has been ranching for food production for centuries, newer conservation interests backed by non-local cash undermine the long, rich heritage of the state.

On the other side of the debate is American Prairie with a noble mission to restore the mighty bison to American grasslands to promote biodiversity, focusing on native grasslands and fauna. This is a group focused on what’s called “rewilding” or returning the land to its pre human state, with the buffalo as a powerful symbol of the American frontier. Proponents argue that as a keystone species, buffalo have many ecological benefits that make our great prairies healthier and more productive. They argue disease transmission risk is overstated, and that market-based conservation is the future. In America, if you have resources to buy ranches, get the BLM permits, you should be able to do so without government putting its finger on the scale and reversing policy for the ranching interests. They argue public land shouldn’t exclusively be for ranching, and the true purpose of “multiple use public land” should include conservation.

When I present issues like this in my class, I’m very careful to not tell my students what to think but rather *how* to think about conservation disputes. Where you land on the issue is uniquely yours, a function of your values, heritage, economic preferences, beliefs on the purpose of public land and the role of wildlife in the 21st century.

[Christian Heiens 🏛 @ChristianHeiens]

I wasn’t kidding when I called this guy retarded.

If you think Democrats can draw a 25-1 map in New York, a 51-1 map in California, a 16-1 map in Illinois, an 11-1 map in New Jersey, and somehow also redraw Washington and Minnesota despite not having political control over the redistricting process in either state while Texas and Florida are somehow maxed out at 30-8 and 22-4 respectively, then you’re even dumber than I previously thought.

This is West Wing tier slop. No different than those fictional TV shows that depict Tennessee going blue in a presidential election.

This might very well be a race to hell, but at the finish line is you guys losing.

[I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 @ImMeme0]

FLASHBACK: Navy SEAL Team Six operator Matt Bissonnette exposed the truth that Obama personally delayed the bin Laden mission by 24 hours purely so he could attend the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The operation was locked in for a moonless night with perfect weather and air density. At Obama’s direction, it was pushed back one day. Temperatures spiked, lift dropped, and one of the stealth Black Hawks crashed inside the compound, exactly the risk the original timeline had been engineered to avoid.
Bissonnette put it bluntly, Because Obama needed to hit the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

The team already had razor-thin prep time after receiving the tip. That vanity-driven delay forced them to fly in suboptimal conditions, all so Obama could deliver cheap shots at Trump and play Lion King clips while operators risked everything.

Mission success came despite the politics, not because of them.

Bissonnette’s account lays bare the cost of putting Washington optics above warrior safety.

[U.S. Senator John Fetterman @SenFettermanPA]

We were there front and center.

That venue wasn’t built to accommodate an event with the line of succession for the U.S. government.

After witnessing last night, drop the TDS and build the White House ballroom for events exactly like these.

[Flatland Sports🌵 @flatland_sports]

What a freaking clown.
The Big 12 had 6 first round draft picks including the #2 overall pick.

Not only that but three different Big 12 schools had players drafted in the TOP 10.
Texas Tech
Arizona State.
Utah.

The Big 10 had two.
Indiana
Ohio State

The SEC and ACC had one.
LSU
Miami

But the Big 12 is a "G6" because there isn't a team with an orange cow on their helmet.

[Troy Frasier AKA Revived Studios @RevivedThoughts]

The amount of self-hate Americans have towards their own history is truly unreal.

They defeated slavery by fighting against their own family.
They shut Europe out of the western hemisphere so that nations wouldn't live under colonization forever.
They had the ability to stay out of world war 1 but they went and died to help Europeans.
They had the ultimate power in the nuclear bomb. They also had access to all of Europe's colonies that were in shambles. But instead they promoted freedom. They rebuilt Japan and Germany after defeating them in war. They stood down the Soviet Union, even as the world jeered them.
They sent soldiers to places like Vietnam and Afghanistan that died TRYING to create a better world (even if you disagree with those wars, the intentions were fairly good)
And they sent more missionaries to the world than maybe any other country in history. Translated more Bibles into indigenous languages than any other country in history. Ran bigger charities than any other country in history. Created more Christian resources than any other country in history.

Whether it was stopping the Dutch from reconquering Indonesia to the Berlin Airlift to giving Cuba its freedom in the Spanish-American war to saving China from the Japanese America has at least ATTEMPTED to do good with its power.

Yes yes, America has problems. People are imperfect. But goodness gracious does the world have a lot to be grateful for in America. And when we could have taken SO much from the world we have often chosen not to. Rome, Britain, Mongols, Assyrians, Soviets, Chinese, no other group has ever shown the restraint America has consistently shown with such vast power at its fingertips.

We didn't even get into the GIGANTIC technological advances, consumer advances, convenient lifestyle changes America has pioneered. From electricity to space to the light bulb to the smart phone to many cures in medicine and agriculture to the airplane the world has been enormously blessed by America.

[Michael Tupper @mtupper17]

I think that not being able to file for disaster payments would do agriculture much more good than harm.

[Tork @TorkWhisler]

The USDA just proposed cutting Farm Service Agency staffing by 25% in two years.

You don't think that hits you? Wait until you need to file a disaster payment and nobody picks up the phone.

[bumbadum @bumbadum14]

I really think it's important that we teach every child in the United States that the indians are not "native" at all.

They crossed an ice bridge from Asia to Alaska, and during their migration down across the continent caused the mass extinction of every large mammal in the Americas.

Including but not limited to: Woolly Mammoth, Columbian Mammoth, Jeffersonian Mammoth, Jefferson Ground Sloth, Harlan’s Ground, Sloth, Glyptodon, American Horse, Camelops, American Lion, Saber-toothed Cat, American Cheetah, Dire Wolf, Short-faced Bear, and the Giant Armadillo.

[Michael Tupper @mtupper17]

The second half of the advice is obviously very good and everyone should be doing it.

[Michael Tupper @mtupper17]

I'm not sure I've ever seen worse advice than race to the bottom on the cheapest suppliers and find new acres to plant.

I understand the sentiment of driving cost lower, but having strong relationships with suppliers and land owners is a powerful tool.

[Grant Wiese @gwiesefarms]

Normal operations do what they did last year. Buy from the same suppliers and plant the same acres. They get normal results.

Highly profitable operations act different. They question everything on their cash flow statement, scrutinize all new purchases, & constantly find ways to generate unique income.

Those operations get outsized financial results.

[Michael Tupper @mtupper17]

I used to be an advocate of UBI. I thought it would be the best way to replace current inefficient welfare programs.

Then I realized that most people need to be working far more than they currently do, not less.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Universal HIGH INCOME via checks issued by the Federal government is the best way to deal with unemployment caused by AI.

AI/robotics will produce goods & services far in excess of the increase in the money supply, so there will not be inflation.

[Katie Pavlich @KatiePavlich]

At the 2012 DNC convention Democrats’ main message was that Republicans and *Mitt Romney* specifically was waging a war on women. During a break in speeches, the DNC played a seven minute long tribute video to Senator Ted Kennedy and stamped “WOMEN’S RIGHTS CHAMPION,” on the screen. It was the moment that prompted
me to write my second book, Assault and Flattery.

Democrats excused Kennedy leaving a woman to suffocate to death in his car so long as he supported abortion. Why are you surprised about Swalwell?

[Dominic McGregor @DominicMcGregor]

If the UK joined the US as the 51st state.

We would be the poorest state in the entire union.

Mississippi which is portrayed at swamp dwelling hillbillies in majority of international media is above us.

I don’t think people grasp how far we’ve fallen in real terms when it comes to GDP per capita.

We’ve seen no growth for almost an entire generations.

We’ve seen our productivity decrease and our tax increases.

The average person on the UK, on £50,000 is less well off than your average Mississippi swamp dweller.

[Sama Hoole @SamaHoole]

Can someone please explain, in very simple language, how growing almonds in a Californian desert, draining the local aquifer until the ground subsides, spraying the entire crop with fungicides because almonds can't survive without them, killing off the commercial bee population in the process, then refrigerating the harvest and shipping it six thousand miles to Britain is environmentally friendly,

but buying a piece of beef from a farmer twelve miles down the road, whose cattle eat the grass that grows in the rain that falls on the hills that have been there since before anyone had opinions about this,

is a planetary emergency?

Asking for the cow.

[Chris @chriswithans]

And the only reason why Obamacare continues to destroy our country is because John McCain tanked the skinny repeal of the ACA that was supported by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. That law, and the failure to repeal its most damaging provisions, has led to more Democrat election victories than a dozen Kari Lakes.