from the doge-screwworms-america dept

Back in March of 2025, when Elon Musk was spearheading his bullshit DOGE non-agency and running around cutting funding to all kinds of government programs under the notion that they were a blatant waste of taxpayer money, the cuts were so obviously haphazard and ill-informed that it was making everyone’s head spin. Then, after cuts to funding and staff were done, the very same Trump administration began scrambling to restore it after government agencies found themselves unable to function properly as a result.

But not every bit of funding was restored. Part of what DOGE cut was roughly 5,000 funding grants for USAID. One of those grants funded a detection and warning program for, you guessed it, screwworms!

Following the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s confirmation on Wednesday that the New World screwworm fly has reached south Texas for the first time in decades, questions are being raised about what role DOGE cuts played in what could become a crisis to the nation’s cattle industry.

The Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency gutted the United States Agency for International Development, which included a program dedicated to preventing the spread of the parasite across the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a report from Agri-Pulse published last March, which cited a list of cut programs sent to Congress.

The screwworm prevention program was part of roughly 5,300 grants and programs cut from USAID. The program also monitored outbreaks of avian flu in Asia, according to the report.

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Everyone who was paying attention knew then that screwworm flies were a major problem. These parasites infect livestock, pets, and sometimes humans by burrowing into their flesh to lay their eggs, potentially killing the host in a matter of weeks. A mass-infection event would decimate the livestock of cattle specifically in America, which is already at an extremely low level. That reduction in cattle counts occurred because there are fewer ranchers today than before, which is itself due to the increasing costs of raising cattle in America. Those costs would be for fuel, parts for ranching equipment, and fertilizer. And you can explain most of those rising costs on a combination of tariffs and our idiotic maybe-war with Iran.

Meanwhile, the cost of beef has been further driven higher because of a USDA import ban on Mexican cattle that has been in place since May of 2025. You’ll never guess why that ban was put in place.

“The United States has ordered the suspension of livestock imports through ports of entry along our southern border after the continued spread of the New World Screwworm in Mexico. Secretary Berdegué and I have worked closely on the NWS response; however, it is my duty to take all steps within my control to protect the livestock industry in the United States from this devastating pest,” said Secretary Rollins. “The protection of our animals and safety of our nation’s food supply is a national security issue of the utmost importance. Once we see increased surveillance and eradication efforts, and the positive results of those actions, we remain committed to opening the border for livestock trade. This is not about politics or punishment of Mexico, rather it is about food and animal safety.”

But those increased efforts never came to pass, in part because DOGE cut the funding for them. This government doesn’t have the ability to claim they didn’t know screwworm flies were a problem. Its own USDA said it was. The Trump administration can’t claim it isn’t responsible for the reappearance of the parasite or blame the rising cost of beef and milk on someone else. Trump’s tariffs and war with Iran are directly responsible for it, and any significant issue with screwworm flies will cause that cost to rise even further.

Hell, ranchers have apparently been screaming about this to try to get the government’s attention for months and months now.

Agriculture officials and cattle industry leaders raised alarm about the cuts at the time and, for the last several months, pleaded with the government to step in as they monitored screwworm infections moving north through Mexico—but they were ignored, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told NBC News.

And now we’re here, once again, with another once-eliminated issue that will plague the American people due to this administration’s rank incompetence. Just like the measles. This government is leading us backwards.

So what’s the plan for screwworm flies now? Fly-sniffing dogs and the release of millions of sterile male flies to crowd out the parasite’s ability to reproduce. And that actually is the proper plan to combat this thing… long term. But not in the immediate, which is why we’re likely to see it spread.

The plan to prevent a US outbreak of the New World Screwworm focuses on deploying hundreds of millions of genetically-altered sterile flies. Experts, though, say the supply of sterile flies is too low to immediately impact and halt the growing screwworm population.

60 years our country has been without the New World Screwworm. And now it’s back. Because this government would rather do government cut dinner theater than the hard work of governing.

So they next time you’re at the grocery store and can’t believe the price of a steak, you can thank the Trump administration for it.

Filed Under: cattle, doge, elon musk, screwworm, trump admininstration, usaid, usda

iOS 27 has the usual Apple headline grabbers, led by Siri AI, Apple Intelligence upgrades, and broader system improvements coming this fall. But some of the best day-to-day changes sit much lower on the feature list.

Apple is making smaller changes across Mail, Photos, Home, accessibility, connectivity, AirDrop, and even alarms. They won’t dominate keynote clips, but they could remove the tiny annoyances people run into long after the novelty of a major update fades.

Which fixes sound instantly helpful

Start with Mail, because search is one of those features people only notice when it fails. iOS 27 adds a new ranking system designed to push more relevant results to the top, which should help when a receipt, boarding pass, or appointment confirmation is buried under years of inbox debris.

The other sleeper fix is smoother network switching. iPhone will more seamlessly choose between Wi-Fi and cellular, which could help when you’re leaving home with Maps running or trying to keep a FaceTime call alive while moving between networks. AirDrop and AirPlay are getting speed boosts too, with faster transfers and quicker nearby-device discovery. Bad handoffs are tiny failures, but they make an expensive phone feel dumb fast.

What changes for shared photos

iCloud Shared Albums are getting friendlier for mixed-device groups. Android and Windows users will be able to join and contribute more easily through iCloud.com, which should help families and group chats that don’t live entirely inside Apple’s ecosystem.

Apple is also adding full-resolution sharing, filtering, reactions, more invite options, and expiring Shared Albums. That’s overdue housekeeping for a feature that feels simple until a trip ends and everyone starts asking where the photos went. The Photos app is getting another handy trick too, with an option to save a still image from a video frame.

Which upgrades are easy to miss

Accessibility gets some of the strongest smaller additions in iOS 27. VoiceOver can provide richer image descriptions, while a new captioning feature can generate synchronized subtitles for videos. It can also translate existing captions, which could make saved clips and shared videos easier to follow without a separate app.

The tiny utility pile keeps going. Alarms, timers, alerts, and system sounds can be separated from ringtone volume, so one setting doesn’t have to govern every noise your iPhone makes. Notes can copy and paste Markdown, which is deeply unsexy unless you write for the internet, in which case it’s basically a tiny holiday.

These aren’t the loudest iOS 27 changes, but they’re the kind that may make the phone feel a little less needy every day.

Families in Britain approached a major household decision with a mix of excitement and uncertainty in the spring of 1998. A BBC program from the Computers Don’t Bite campaign followed two of them step by step as they bought their very first home computers. The episode captured the practical choices, the new vocabulary, and the hands-on setup that turned an expensive piece of equipment into something the whole household could use.

The Lyons family went to a specialty electronics store in search of a system that could handle the kids’ school projects, keep track of the household finances, and make some simple graphs without making them nuts. Jenny Lyons spoke with the salesperson about their needs, and they were guided to a Compaq 4620. This one contains a fast 266 MHz Pentium II processor, 48 MB of RAM, a 4 GB hard drive, and a built-in modem to accommodate the growing number of individuals who want to go online. Windows 95 was pre-installed, and the full bundle, including a printer, cost less than 1000 pounds. The Lyons bought a beautiful, ready-to-use system that promised plug-and-play capabilities right out of the box.

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The Plummer family took a different approach, first looking through computer periodicals before purchasing a machine directly from the vendor. This was the material they felt most at ease with. They ended up with a system with similar fundamental specifications: a 200 MHz processor, 32 MB of RAM, a 4 GB hard drive, and a color printer, all for less than 1000 pounds. The Lyons and Plummers both ended up with working home systems, but their choices were influenced by their own comfort levels.

Sue Davis and Dave Green tried to simplify the terminology in the sales brochures. RAM is essentially the temporary workspace that the computer uses while turned on; the CPU runs the apps from there. The ROM stores the machine’s permanent instructions for starting itself up. The hard drive holds saved data, letters, games, and photos. A family machine need adequate room to prevent games and paperwork from filling it up too quickly. Clock speed, defined in megahertz, is important since it determines how quickly the CPU can accomplish tasks, with numbers in the 200–266 MHz suggesting that the CPU will be much quicker than previous devices.

By the time the shoppers left the store, they had a decent idea of what to look out for. More megahertz is better, implying faster labor. Ordinary tasks will run smoothly with at least 32 MB of RAM, and 48 MB is a reasonable amount of space to spare. Hard drives with a capacity of 2 GB will sufficient for most basic operations, while 4 GB will provide some additional room.The presenters also underlined the importance of sticking to a reasonable budget, since £1,500 is about the maximum unless someone wants to get into professional creative work. They also recommended speaking with knowledgeable friends or reading a few periodicals before making a decision.

Setup day arrived for the Plummers, and what a sight it was: a box full of boxes containing everything they had bought. There was a monitor, the main computer unit, the printer, some speakers, a keyboard, a mouse, and a few cords. The color-coded cables made things a bit easier. They followed the steps in a manufacturer video and were quickly up and running on Windows 95. A quick test with Solitaire revealed a tiny glitch that was readily remedied by resuming with the trusted Ctrl-Alt-Delete combination or turning off and back on. After a brief delay, a call to the helpdesk supplied them with fantastic service.

Then followed software installation, with Microsoft Works coming on a CD-ROM and booting up with on-screen instructions. The application offered word processing, spreadsheets, and a basic database. The templates were all ready for use. One presentation showed a family letterhead all filled out with names and addresses, ready to be printed. Ordinary jobs become considerably more manageable without having to choose a program to conduct each activity separately.

offbeat

Prochain arrê: Gare du Bork! French capital city train does the tech can-can

BORK!BORK!BORK! Good news from the Paris Metro. To show off the nation’s technological prowess, Parisian techies have eschewed such fripperies as advertisements and transit information in favor of a good, old-fashioned directory browser.

Spotted by eagle-eyed Register reader “DJ Finsletown,” the screen adorned a carriage of Line 11 at the Chatêlet terminus earlier in June. It looks to us as though a web server threw a bit of a wobbly and showed users its undercarriage.

Then again, France did give us the can-can dance, in which participants perform high kicks that reveal their underwear, so perhaps this is simply the tech version of the music hall standard.

Our reader pondered whether the system behind the scenes was struggling with a recent heatwave, or the borkage was the result of some over-exuberance by football fans following PSG’s recent Champion’s League final victory.

What is perhaps more likely is that some techie in a backroom somewhere opted for a Gallic shrug rather than reaching for the inevitable CTRL-ALT-DEL to revive the stricken system.

Line 11 is notable for being one of the least-used lines of the Paris metro system until a recent extension. It also featured some of the oldest-running stock and was notable for rubber-tired trains and heat that might make London’s Central Line commuters mutter “steady on.”

It was also one of the last lines to be constructed in central Paris, on the former route of the Belleville funicular. The funicular, which ran along the streets in a manner familiar to San Francisco residents, ceased operation just over 100 years ago, in 1924. Line 11 got the nod in 1935.

As for the web server disgorging its contents, that is a far more modern innovation. Heck, it might even be some AI advert demonstrating what might, or might not, happen if an agent is let loose on a system. In the case of the latter, a borked display would, we suspect, be the least of the problems faced by passengers.

Or, as our reader joked, “Probably likely the train’s IT systems just went on strike, like all good French fonctionnaires!” ®

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle was an especially tough one, I thought. Some of the answers are difficult to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story. 

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Dramamine, anyone?

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Maybe a yacht.

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

• SACK, SNACK, SING, BOAT, DINT, RADS, MESS, SENSE, WARD

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

• DECK, WAVES, DRINKS, SNACKS, DANCING, SEASICKNESS

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is IMONABOAT. To find it, start with the I that’s five letters down on the far-left row, and wind across.

Quick tips for Strands

#1: To get more clue words, see if you can tweak the words you’ve already found, by adding an “S” or other variants. And if you find a word like WILL, see if other letters are close enough to help you make SILL, or BILL.

#2: Once you get one theme word, look at the puzzle to see if you can spot other related words.

#3: If you’ve been given the letters for a theme word, but can’t figure it out, guess three more clue words, and the puzzle will light up each letter in order, revealing the word.

OpenAI submitted confidential IPO paperwork to the SEC on Monday, the company confirmed. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are advising on a potential listing that could come as soon as the autumn, according to people familiar with the matter.

The filing makes OpenAI the third major AI-adjacent company to move towards public markets in a single week. Anthropic filed confidentially last week at a $965 billion private valuation. SpaceX, which now includes xAI, is expected to begin trading on Thursday at roughly $1.8 trillion.

OpenAI’s hedged language

“We have not decided on timing yet; it may be a while because there are things we want to do that are likely easier as a private company,” OpenAI said in a statement. “But it’s a complicated set of tradeoffs and this gives us the option to go public sooner if that ends up being best.”

The company is also planning a tender sale of shares in the coming weeks to provide liquidity to employees before any public listing. OpenAI completed a $122 billion funding round in March at an $852 billion valuation, the largest private raise in history.

The 💜 of EU tech

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The competitive pressure

Anthropic’s valuation leapt past OpenAI’s for the first time in its latest private round, hitting $965 billion as its revenue surged. That reversal, combined with SpaceX’s imminent $1.8 trillion listing, creates pressure for OpenAI to establish a public-market benchmark before its competitors define the terms.

OpenAI has told investors it plans to spend roughly $600 billion on AI infrastructure by 2030. That kind of capital requirement is difficult to fund indefinitely through private rounds, even at OpenAI’s scale.

The challenges in the filing

The S-1, when it becomes public, will need to address several known issues. OpenAI reportedly missed certain internal revenue and user growth targets. Several key executives have departed or stepped back from their roles.

The company’s restructuring from a non-profit to a for-profit entity is ongoing, and the failed Musk lawsuit to block the conversion, while legally resolved, surfaced internal documents that will be scrutinised by public-market investors.

Three IPOs, one question

The convergence of OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX in public markets within months of each other will test whether investor appetite for AI is deep enough to absorb three mega-listings simultaneously. SpaceX alone is seeking $75 billion.

If all three succeed, AI companies will have raised more capital from public markets in a single year than in the entire history of the sector. If demand falters, the one that files last will pay the highest price for waiting.

Layoffs commonly stemmed from AI, offshoring and restructuring

More white-collar workers are turning to unions and trade associations for help after losing their jobs.

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) has also seen more cases of retrenchments due to business restructuring recently, said its assistant secretary-general Patrick Tay.

NTUC handled over 3,900 retrenchment and termination-related cases for professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), up 5% from 2024.

Some cases stemmed from offshoring and relocation as companies cut costs, Tay told The Straits Times in an interview. In some instances, roles are being shifted out of Singapore “even when local PMEs are experienced and capable,” he said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also emerging as a factor, though economy-wide data remains limited. “We are also seeing businesses cite investments in AI as a factor for workforce restructuring,” said Tay. “Some workers find themselves displaced because job roles are changing faster than they can adapt.”

The figures cover cases handled across NTUC’s 58 affiliated trade unions and six trade associations, including the Tripartite Alliance for Dispute Management@NTUC. They exclude cases from its Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).

While total employment in Singapore has grown and the unemployment rate has remained low at 2% in 2024 and 2025, retrenchments have increased over the past few years from 6,440 in 2022 to 13,020 in 2024 and 14,400 in 2025.

Many workers still not aware of unions that can represent them

Tay said that NTUC is concerned that many PMEs are still not aware that they can join unions and be represented by labour movements during retrenchments.

It is particularly worried about those in the professional services, finance and infocomm and technology sectors as they are most exposed to the effects of generative AI at work, said the Pioneer MP, who is also director of strategy and legal at NTUC.

NTUC is working to do more for PMEs, said Tay, noting that unions’ scope to represent them has widened over time. Previously, PMEs could only be represented individually on limited matters. But 2015 amendments to the Industrial Relations Act expanded this, allowing rank-and-file unions to represent them collectively as a class.

Now, only employees with clear conflicts of interest—such as those involved in hiring and firing, or with access to confidential personnel and budget information—are excluded from union representation during retrenchment.

As industries transform and PMEs face growing retrenchment exposure, NTUC is pushing for stronger protections, Tay said. This includes advocating in Parliament for earlier retrenchment notices and broader access to the SkillsFuture Jobseekers’ Support Scheme for the involuntarily unemployed.

NTUC is also working with the Government and employers on the Employment Act review, hoping provisions can extend further to PMEs, he added.

“We’re trying to get more of the PMEs to be aware that they can be part of a union and that actually we can represent them,” he added.

Companies can do more to alleviate the repercussions of retrenchment

Labour economist Walter Theseira warned that mandating additional worker protections could make Singapore’s labour market more rigid and hurt competitiveness. But he also acknowledged that workers are currently “too exposed to the risks of retrenchment.”

The Singapore University of Social Sciences associate professor also noted that benefits are not legally mandated, but subject to the solvency of a company and its willingness to pay.

“The presumption that PMEs can ‘self-insure’ places a burden on families to set aside substantial savings in case of retrenchment,” he said.

Unemployment benefits in the form of the Jobseekers’ Support Scheme are also currently too limited to lower-income workers, Theseira added.

As such, Theseira suggested that including higher-income workers with larger payout levels through a scheme jointly funded by workers and employers could be useful.

Another solution the professor posited was retrenchment benefit insurance that companies are required to contribute to, which could also be useful in providing guaranteed benefits.

A risk-pooled retrenchment benefits system could be more efficient than leaving workers to fend for themselves, he added, with safeguards to encourage reskilling and job search while receiving support.

• Read other articles we’ve written on Singapore’s current affairs here.

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