James Ponitz ᥫ᭡

🌮🍺 🦞🦖 🐊🏈 🗽🇺🇸

Tweeting less. If you're upset about a truth I told you, please see the link below ✌️😘

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

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[Andrew Fleischman @ASFleischman]

at the end of each episode she marries the subject of the interview

[wise political commentator (derogatory) @b_n_d_l_e]

most virtuous and intellectually honest republican:

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@Sundancing_

[Jess @Sundancing_]

they shoulda blew the fucker sky high with a hellfire missile

[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.

[Jim Stewartson, Decelerationist 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇺🇸 @jimstewartson]

If only there were a safe process for removing pathogens from milk.

[Jack @tracewoodgrains]

screwworm prevention is one of those markers of state capacity that gives you confidence adults are in the room somewhere

one by one, those markers fall

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@poormagats @nikesignedme Lying is a sin bud, so I never do it

https://t.co/XbrfTRhGzw

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@poormagats @nikesignedme Lying to yourself isn't a healthy coping mechanism bud

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@nikesignedme My bitch @nikesignedme really needs to develop some self-awareness lmfao. His parents should be shamed publicly for their failure to raise this baby brain

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

How my bitch @nikesignedme was acting after I dogwalked him for months ✌️😘

[Will Sennett @Senn_Spud]

(after getting my ass kicked) there is nothing more pathetic than kicking someones ass

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@nikesignedme Months later I still have my bitch @nikesignedme hopping mad lmao. Still have his pussy ass trying to phone a friend to make him feel better instead of learn from his mistakes ✌️😘

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@poormagats @nikesignedme Lmfao cope harder

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@SaneSzn10 @nikesignedme @sarge____ @Section344Lions The irony! @nikesignedme

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@Tonyybas

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@qwertyyyyuiopp You took ten days...and still have no response? Just accepting the humiliation like a good bitch ✌️😘

https://t.co/RwDnJoaX2p

[James Ponitz ᥫ᭡ @Pwnitz]

@qwertyyyyuiopp The weird loser is being a hypocrite again? Lmfao

[William B. Fuckley @opinonhaver]

We can get a little hyper-partisan here, but a lot of people did pour their heart and soul into Spencer Pratt's campaign. If that's you, I want to take a moment to reach out and be human: politics will always make you feel this way and you should not participate in the future.

[jor @jorfolle]

no he wouldnt be. we know what his political positions were because he only died like a year and a half ago

[Dev @sleepy_devo]

a normal person from 1995 did not want:
- USAID dismantled
- NATO dismantled
- the president to be granted absolute immunity by the SCOTUS
- the president to corruptly rug pull billions of dollars for himself

[sean @_sn_n]

crazy how the Democrats steal every election except the big important one in 2024

flawless MAGA logic.

[Saad Yousuf @SaadYousuf126]

the fact he may carve out time to attend two basketball games merely weeks after saying he didn’t have time to attend his own son’s wedding is objectively hilarious 😂

[Gigi @Gigi_chienergy]

The screwworm program wasn't charity, it was a $10 million fence that kept a billion-dollar problem from eating our own livestock alive. That's the thing with most USAID funding: it looks like "aid," but it's really cheap self-defense. Solve a problem there, and it never lands on our doorstep. But sure, let a bunch of guys who can't define DEI without Googling take a chainsaw to it. They didn't stop to ask, "Will this cut hurt us too?" Unless that's the point, burn it all down and call it efficiency.

As usual our inept agriculture secretary, blaming the Biden administration as usual, instead of offering a solution to the problem they created.

Texan here

A screwworm infestation is a nightmare for cattle, causing horrific wounds and economic devastation. For Texas, the situation has escalated dramatically in the last 24 hours with the first confirmed case of New World Screwworm (NWS) in over 60 years! This could have been avoided!

Infested animal can kill a cow in less than two weeks.

Treatment is extremely difficult and time-consuming, requiring the painful removal of every visible larva and deep disinfection of the wound. Ranchers no longer have much experience with this labor-intensive process, and there is currently no approved pharmaceutical treatment to make it easier.

This has triggered a massive economic threat. The USDA estimates that a widespread outbreak would drain an astonishing $1.8 billion from the Texas economy alone in livestock deaths, labor, and medication expenses.

How will this affect you? Tightening supplies will drive already high beef prices higher.