this post was submitted on 01 Jun 2026
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[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

People think the sunbelt population boom was all about AC becoming widely available. Yes, AC played a huge role. Also, not having extremely painful fly larva burrow into any open wound, mucus membrane. Believe it or not, that was something of a turn off for people prior to the eradication campaign of the 50s. Time to start wearing long sleeves and layers again.

But hey, at least we saved a few million dollars by not adequately funding the facilities that kept screwworms south of the Darien Gap. It should only cost a few billion to repeat the eradication campaign this time around.

Do You Want To Know More? https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/8e4617f337af41b1a083ab17deb95e2a

[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I'm all for humanity waging a bio war against all human parasites that if decimated would have no biological impact.

[–] Areldyb@lemmy.world 8 points 6 days ago

If we ever want to gene drive these fuckers out of existence, cutting science funding was probably a bad call.

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 5 points 6 days ago
[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

This is the one that kills cattle?

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

yes, and infect pets and can infect people, though that's not it's primary target.

it's fucking awful. and it's easily preventable. but we simply stopped doing the hard work of prevention because of cost-cutting.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

At least we have all the ivermectin?

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

5 earthquakes in the past 7 days, a meteor OVER a volcano, pestilence...

We're cooked.

[–] Tiral@lemmy.world 0 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Meh. The human race is a plague in general.

[–] Quexotic@infosec.pub 1 points 6 days ago

It definitely does seem to be that way.

[–] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

Screwworm all out attack!

[–] Taleya@aussie.zone 2 points 6 days ago

They're coming for the rest of you, Kennedy!

[–] Zedstrian@sopuli.xyz 73 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

RFK Jr. should keep them to himself.

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's impressive that many of us immediately went there. He's made a name for himself.

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 3 points 1 week ago

He's certainly a striking character. Dude sounds like a wheelbarrow of rocks falling down a hill.

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[–] Pollo_Jack@lemmy.world 72 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Conservative policy cut funding to keeping these away. Conservatives should be seen not heard when it comes to any policy.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 28 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

IIRC, they were being stopped at the choke point in Central America. Now that they're past it, they'll be almost impossible to contain even if funding were restored.

Just one of many cases where the damage being done is permanent.

[–] Pollo_Jack@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

It can be stopped again but god damn will it not be cheap.

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah, Elon said "Millions of dollars for breeding radioactive flies?!? What kind of dumb science stuff is this‽ Fraud, waste, and abuse!"

[–] Folstar@lemmus.org 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

As likely as that is, it's important to note that was step 3 in the screwworm failure.

  1. Covid supply chain issues raised alarms that hey, that little lab we have in Panama protecting ~100M people and the livestock industries of several nations might need some emergency support, funding. The Trump Administration did not raise to the challenge. [note: the cause of the Darian Gap failure is "contested" because some people think it just, you know, happened or something, man]

  2. The Biden Administration's initial position, as is the Democrat way, was to assume the status quo their predecessors strived to create was good enough. When it became obvious this was not the case they sprung into forming a committee to create a plan to monitor the situation and collaborate with foreign entities who were completely incapable of handling this issue, since institutional knowledge of a problem solved 40 years ago was gone. Apparently process documentation is a problem in all human endeavors. To their credit, when screwworms hit Mexico the administration did halt livestock border crossings and quadruple the Panama facility's output.

  3. Trump takes over, does fuckall for half a year, then USDA announces they'll build a $750M screwworm facility in Texas. Experts note this facility is about 3,000 km from the Darian Gap, but hey, can't be sending American money to some shithole amirite? Luckily the facility will be online in late 2027 barring certain delays, so as long as the screwworm's northern spread slows by orders of magnitude for no reason we'll be covered.

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fraud, waste, and abuse

I got so very sick of seeing those assholes all repeating that line in the first part of 2025. It sounded like they all had an alien parasite that crawled into their heads.

Especially that grinning idiot of a chipmunk, Kevin Hassett.

What I find so annoying is that none of these asshats seemed to get put on the spot to have to define just what that even means. It's like they just rode on the myth of the $600 hammer "government bad" stuff and it was/is all so very stupid....

[–] wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Anything that helps the poor: "fraud, waste, and abuse!"

Anything that transfers wealth from taxpayers to the rich (especially Elon): "NBD, that's just business"

Apparently conflict of interest means nothing anymore. Or collusion, embezzlement, or emoluments...

[–] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I sometimes have daydreams of getting to watch people struggling hard enough and have been adversely affected by bullshit artists like Elon and Kevin Hassett being given atomic wedgies and swirlies.

But just before, they get to look right into the camera and repeat that mantra for everyone. Then the swirlies, etc., start...

🤣

[–] benjirenji@slrpnk.net 4 points 1 week ago

The public health boomerang

[–] leadore@lemmy.world 56 points 1 week ago (2 children)

RFK Jr. has immediately flown to the area to play with, and possibly eat them.

[–] Cort@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Do you think he'll bring his grandkids, like as a snack for the screw worms?

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 week ago

Praise Shai Hulud!

[–] lemmyng@lemmy.world 33 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

If you haven't seen the image of what these things can do to a deer, I'd highly advise against looking for the pic unless you have a strong stomach.

Edit: Seriously, folks. Imagine Uzumaki's "Spiral" story in real life and how fucked up that would be.

[–] jaycifer@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Honestly not as bad as I thought it would look.

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I took that bait and can confirm you should not look up the images. I need to lay down.

[–] RumAndCreole@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Pffft wimps.

Mother of God... what even... why did I do that!!!

[–] kibblebits@quokk.au 7 points 1 week ago

Right? I mean, I guess that’s pretty much where I saw 2026 going anyway. 😅

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Their name is enough

You warned me and I still did it.

Can we have covid back instead?

[–] ChanchoManco@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 week ago

I have seen the damage they do to cows and horses in real life and it's nightmarish. My father got one in his arm once, this was before I was born but luckily he got it out before it did much harm.

[–] who@feddit.org 26 points 1 week ago (2 children)

The article talks about cattle, but these things infest humans, too.

[–] Klear@piefed.world 14 points 1 week ago

Oh hell Jimmy, I don't care for that notion one bit.

[–] xylol@leminal.space 5 points 1 week ago

But people can usually seek help, sucks for wild animals

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

My apocalypse bingo card is filling up fast.

[–] notacat@infosec.pub 25 points 1 week ago

Don’t worry, they’re dismantling all the monitoring agencies so these warnings will stop coming

[–] Chozo@fedia.io 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Haven't they already been in the US for a while now? I recall hearing about an infestation in Texas some time ago.

[–] BloodMuffin@lemmy.ca 22 points 1 week ago (2 children)

they used to be rampant in the southern States. a huge multinational effort pushed them back down south.

https://youtu.be/zxq60I5RSW8

[–] meco03211@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Was that something cut by doge?

[–] it_wasnt_arson@awful.systems 11 points 1 week ago

iirc, they fell behind during COVID, the increased funding and facility expansions needed to actively push them back down into the chokepoint never got approved, and the trump administration would rather spend 10x more moving all the infrastructure up to the US-Mexico border than do anything that would help other countries "for free" (even though they already chip in).

[–] Krusty@quokk.au 9 points 1 week ago

More or less.

[–] bss03@infosec.pub 4 points 1 week ago

1/2 as Interesting also did a good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olj8arvfYj4

[–] AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago
[–] Astronut@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 week ago

That sumbitch!!!!

To anyone confused as I was, they are talking about a location in Mexico roughly 31 miles away from the USA border, not 31 miles of border length.

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