I’d love to blame this entirely on DOGE and trump but honestly this was a perfect storm that built up over decades.

The screwworm was eradicated from the US a long time ago using sterile fly releases that pushed the population progressively southward until the Darién Gap became the permanent chokepoint. They maintained the barrier there with sterile fly releases and ground monitoring and it worked. It worked so well that the Mission, Texas facility closed in 1981 and the Mexico facility closed in 1999 because there was no longer a need for them.

That success is part of what caused the problem. Complacency set in, and capacity eroded. Then COVID wrecked the monitoring infrastructure. Ground teams couldn’t operate, sterile fly releases got disrupted, and the barrier at the Gap was breached. The flies started moving north again and the program didn’t have the capacity it once did to respond.

DOGE cuts to USDA APHIS in 2025 hit an already compromised program at the worst possible time reduced staffing and funding when they needed to be scaling up emergency sterile fly production and reestablishing the barrier.

So yes, the current administration made it worse. The vulnerability was already there before those cuts, and once COVID broke the barrier there was always a real chance they were going to make it back to the US regardless.

Fuck DOGE and trump though for real, I just cant get on this “its entirely their fault” train.

.223 or 223

2.23 is not a thing 5.56 is the metric measurement of .224 diameter bullets which are used in both 5.56x45mm and .223.

To go deeper, a civilian .223 Remington is almost identical to the military 5.56x45mm. Both use a bullet diameter of .224 and a weight between 40 grains and 77 grains. The differences without getting super technical are in SAAMI pressures. A .223 Remington cartridge produces less pressure than the military 5.56x45mm. You can shoot both out of a rifle marked 5.56x55mm or .223 Wylde but it is not recommended that you shoot 5.56x45mm in a rifle marked .223 Remington.

.223 Remington (SAAMI MAP): 55,000 psi (≈379.2 MPa) maximum average pressure (piezo).

5.56×45 mm NATO (NATO/EPVAT service pressure): ≈ 62,366 psi (≈ 430 MPa) service pressure (piezo).

Unless you plan to carry concealed or get a concealed carry license skip the pistol for your first gun.

If you want something for home defense that sits by the bed get a 20-gauge pump shotgun. I’ve never met anyone man woman or child that couldn’t shoot one and #3 or #4 buckshot is hard to miss with within 20 or 30 yards. You can go to almost any sporting goods store and pick one up for about $250. I like the Maverick 88.

If you want something to hunt with or just have in case of “troubles” get yourself a decent bolt-action rifle with a 3x9 scope in a popular caliber such as 308 or 270. Rifles are easier to shoot and you can use them for hunting. Once you shoot the rifle a few times and are comfortable with it you can put it away for those “troubles.”

If the US gets ripe enough you need to stack bodies you are going to want a rifle more than a pistol and if you have a shotgun or a rifle you can pick up a pistol, there will be plenty on those bodies you are stacking.

That’s my extremely qualified opinion, but with that said opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

Good luck out there, be safe.

I wasn’t alive for the screw worms but I heard a lot of stories from my Grandmother who was a Texas cattle ranchers wife in the thick of it.

The objective is to overwhelm the population with sterile males. The female only mates once, so if you drop 50 sterile males to every 1 fertile male, the female will pick a sterile male.

They started dropping them in Florida in 1951 and were eradicated from the US by 1966. They had them pushed to the Darién Gap by the late 90s, and from 2000 until COVID, they were dropping 20 million sterile males a week, keeping them there.

Same old, same old. The DNC lost the most important election and ended democracy. Had a chance to change but couldn’t see past the pile of cash in front of 'em.

I have a buddy who told me this was awesome. This same buddy dog walked Clinton’s crime bill from sea to shining sea back in the 90s. Are they stupid or is it me? Anyway I pointed out the similarities and he got mad at me.

And out come the wolves

Man, a while back I was cleaning some pistols after a range day. I was walking down the hall from my gun room/laundry room with the last one, a little woodsman .22, to the kitchen when someone rang the doorbell. I set the pistol on the bookshelf before I answered the door. 20 minutes later, the neighbor was gone, and I cleaned the guns in the kitchen, put them back in the vault, and went about my day.

Fast forward to the next week and a buddy asked if he could borrow a pistol to teach his kid. I thought I had the perfect one and went to the vault and it wasn’t there. I distinctly remembered taking it to the last range day but didn’t remember cleaning it. I started to get concerned because it wasn’t in the range bag or my pistol case. I searched everywhere and even called the range and asked them if anyone had turned it in. After about a week of searching, I resigned myself to the fact that I had lost it. This little woodsman had some problems, and I figured if someone picked it up, they would probably take it to a gunsmith, so I called around and asked if anyone had dropped it off and, if not, to keep an eye out and gave them the serial number. I live in a small town so it was only a couple of calls.

Almost a year later I am looking for a book. I get to the bookshelf in the hall, reach up, put my hand in a clear space on an upper shelf, and there is the pistol.

The pistol on the shelf reminded me of that story, idk why I am telling it here other than I am bored. Anywho, yall have a good one.

That’s the one you picked lol? Not the no such thing as viruses eh? Well, thanks for correcting part of it I guess.

All sorts of shit could happen with H5N1. Maybe it plays out like H1N1 (Spanish Flu) as you said. Maybe the mutation that makes it transmissible between humans also makes it more like H3N2 or maybe it mutates on its own we get it just in time for the annual flu outbreak and we see a reassortment with H3N2. Or maybe the prevalence of H5N1 in farming communities gives it the chance for reassortment with H3N5 and that is what gives it the ability to transmit from human to human.

H3N2 kills all sorts of old folks.

Research showing the elderly are particularly vulnerable to severe outcomes during H3N2-dominant flu seasons: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7121031/

A study demonstrating how reassortment between H5N1 and H3N2 can lead to highly pathogenic strains: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842136/

Anything can happen homie, it just needs time and inaction.

Edit: structure

Life sets em up, I knock em down…or they knock me down…or it’s a tie and we just pummel each other for days on end lol

In my 30s I quit my super stressful job cooking fancy food for fancy fucks and got a job at Subway. It’s a long story full of sex drugs and rock and roll that led me to that Subway but that’s another story.

One day I was half drunk slinging subs when this lady came in with her daughter with Down Syndrome in tow. The store was slow, it was that dead time between lunch and dinner. Anyway, mom was frazzled but the daughter, Sarah, was so excited to be there. Mom got one of those flatbread joints and Sarah started in on an epic Cold Cut Combo. It had everything on it, it was about as big around as a small tree lol. I answered all her questions and it was like any other order, well except that epic sandwich lol.

They sat down and ate and I gave them some free cookies and went back to doing nothing. Sarah comes to the counter to say thank you, I say your welcome and then she asks me if I am sad. What? This took me aback a little. Some background, my parents had me late in life and poor health and age took them before I was 30. I have been alone for a long time now but at that time it was still kind of fresh and I didn’t have anyone that cared enough to ask if I was sad. I gave her some lame “no I am just tired” answer and she went back to her mom. They finished up and were leaving when I went to wipe down their table and Sarah came running up to me and gave me a bear hug. I was just standing there arms up in the air rag in one hand looking at her mom for guidance. It was sort of startling but man, I am hard-pressed to name a more needed hug lol.

Her mom apologised but Sarah just told me it was okay to be sad and they left. A few days later they came back and I made them sandwiches and they would sit and eat and we would all talk. I heard about school and her mom and dad and her mom would always apologize for bothering me. I was never bothered about it, I looked forward to my new friend’s infectious optimism every week.

That little girl helped me see some hope in what was at the time a dark place. I only worked there for about 18 months and when I left I waited until I saw them so I could tell them I was quitting. I ended up keeping in touch, went to a couple of birthday parties, and was pen pals with them when I moved for a new fancy food for fancy fucks job.

Sarah died from some complications due to her disability, she had a lot going on. She never cried about it, she was never anything but smiles and compassion. When I visited her in the hospital one time she was holding court in her room with the nurses and staff all smiling and happy. Her indestructible smile changed and in some ways saved my life. I miss that kid, I wish I had known her longer. Anyway, imma go cry like a little girl for a while lol. Peace.