Originally published at: Reps. Ralph Norman and Nancy Mace Lose to Trump’s Pick in South Carolina Governor Race - TPM – Talking Points Memo
Two erstwhile allies of President Trump who gave up their seats in Congress to run for governor of South Carolina failed to make it into a runoff election on Tuesday. Pamela Evette, the Trump-endorsed lieutenant governor, came in first place, followed by Alan Wilson, the state’s current attorney general. The two colorful members of Congress,…
Cochliomyia hominivorax , or “man-eater”, the most infamous of New World Screwflies, is in Texas.
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AI as a public utility.
A couple decades ago, public utilities were a big topic. So is AI a natural monopoly?
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I guess in November we get to see if the country really wants to go full MAGA. Because that is what we have as choices, full MAGA and the other guys (Democrats).
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What happens to Norman and Mace seats now?
The top GOP and Dem in the primaries face off. If there is a runoff from the primary, those two face each other, then the general election in November. They’re in office until then. It would be nice if the “got back” at dear leader, but they won’t.
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Democrat non incumbent against Republican non incumbent works for me. Especially when the ‘Pubs are tied to the wild man.
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Yeah, kind of upsetting when you frame it like that. But that is what it is. When Bush beat Kerry for a 2nd term, I got a weird feeling just like now: WTF is wrong with people!
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So true, and so quaint by today’s standards. Oh that we could reclaim the relative sanity, reliance on nominal competence, and adherence to principle under W for the Republican party. But then came Krasnov . . . .
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I feel so bad that Karen, I mean, Nancy Mace lost. So sad. Frowny face.
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Is Nancy Mace going to now have her self-pitying, narcissistic Dick Nixon moment?
“Just think how much you’re going to be missing. You don’t have Nancy Mace to kick around anymore, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.”
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The screwworm is Trumpism in a nutshell. Fifty years ago when I was a biology undergraduate interested in invertebrates the story of bringing C. hominivorax under control (meaning, extinct in the United States) was presented to us as a triumph of science.
- Screwworm flies have an odd quirk: females mate exactly once. If a she-fly mates with an infertile male, she lays unfertilized eggs.
- Screwworm flies can be sterilized (both males and females) by exposing pupae to a high enough dose of gamma radiation. 137Cs or 60Co is used, if memory serves. Sterilized flies are marked.
- Millions of sterilized flies are released. Populations crash when females are unable to produce viable eggs.
- Statistical mark-recapture methods are used to estimate the prevalence of sterile flies overall and the proportion of sterile males.
By 2000, C. hominivorax had been eradicated in North and Central America. All we had to do to protect our livestock industry was to monitor in Panama and continue to flood the zone there with sterile flies. But that costs foreign-aid money. Panama doesn’t have a huge livestock industry and so has limited interest in running a screwworm barrier for our (and Mexico’s) benefit.
So, funding was cut for the monitoring and distribution program. There is a funny thing about flies: they fly. Consequently, they disperse pretty rapidly. A 40+ year program to eradicate this pest from North and Central America took less than 10 years to fall apart, and now C. hominivorax is back in the United States. If it’s here, it’s in every country south of us.
Penny wise, pound foolish. How much more is it going to cost to suppress this pest in the US and Mexico (hundreds of millions of square miles) versus suppressing it in Panama, Nicaragua, and Guatemala? Maintenance isn’t sexy, but it’s necessary.
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Mace & Norman also lost to the state AG who Trump did not pick - they are just nutjobs
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And while human infections are rare, with our current anti-science pandemic, I expect to see some horrific stories out of Texas and possibly here in south Florida.
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As far as I know, screwworms haven’t made it to S. Florida (yet). Oddly, the Keys and S. Florida used to be the region of the US considered most vulnerable to re-colonization by screwworms. This is due the to existence of reservoirs on other Caribbean islands. We maintained capacity to produce sterile flies in the US to flood areas when monitoring detected flies, and we had to act on it a few times in the past.
Now that’s moot–we’ve got flies in Texas and we have to ramp up production of sterile flies to manage the Texas infestation and we need to extend it into Mexico.
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Yes. Understood.
Many don’t know the size of the FL cattle herd. Last I looked it was 13th in the nation. Many of our visitors to our home who have taken the time to drive through the state remark on the number of cattle they see from the roadways.
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Apparently the Stupid haven’t hit a brick wall yet. About the end of this month, oil reserves will be depleted and energy prices will start to rise dramatically. Not that I want one, but I’d expect a glut of the penis-compensater trucks MAGATs love, to hit the market in the early fall.
Oh, yes, NACHO: Not a Chance Hormuz Opens.
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Well, we hear horrific stories out of Texas and Florida on a regular basis. So yeah.
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But the article said they gave up their seats which I assume means the seats are now vacant.