Posted on 11/01/2019 1:27:55 PM PDT by Red Badger
Karma
Forget the billions spent on China’s massive military build-up, the ongoing attempt to make the Chinese Communist Party the most powerful and feared force on the planet. The yellow peril is being decimated by tiny foes, one of them microscopic. All the chest-thumping and saber-rattling, and it finally comes down to a stand-off with a lowly bug that happens to hate communists. Boy, they didn’t see that coming! African Swine Fever (ASF)
With a mortality rate near 100%, ASF has swept through China’s hog industry, decimating their primary source of protein. Best estimates put losses at 30-35% of China’s 700 million swine population, and it’s still spreading across China and into neighboring Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, and Mongolia.
As usual, Communist Party leaders deny there is an epidemic, but with a 35% reduction in protein available, and an even larger decimation possible in the future, the agriculture problem is serious—on its way to critical. This year China has already destroyed as many pigs as are raised annually in the United States. So what? Eat beans!
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Well, enter the second plague: meet the Fall Armyworm. It can travel over sixty miles in a day (300 in its lifetime) and lay over a thousand eggs before it dies. It has no natural enemies and is extremely expensive to eradicate, especially for a nation of poor farmers.
The Fall Armyworm has been responsible for devastating China’s other sources of protein (and income). Crops of soybeans, wheat, corn, and rice, among others have been destroyed by this malicious pest. With the huge protein losses due to the swine epidemic, these other crops were critical in making up the difference.
China had stopped importing bean crops from the US after the tariffs were imposed—something they may have to reconsider. The US and China were numbers one and two in corn exporting until the Fall Armyworm arrived, this misfortune for China could turn into a boon for US corn producers. China is coming to the trade table with their hands out
The loss of export revenue brought about by the Fall Armyworm’s devastation couldn’t have come at a worse time for China, with President Trump’s hardline on trade, and tariff pressures. With China weakened by this twin assault on their agriculture industry, and with a faltering economy, we can expect that President Trump’s team will take full advantage as they hammer out a final trade agreement.
Any other president we’ve seen would have managed to turn this silk purse into a sow’s ear.
MAGA
David Brockett is a Vietnam Veteran and former Marine aviator. He has worked in the field of mental health as a counselor and hospital administrator. After retirement, he volunteered with the US Forest Service as a wilderness ranger and horse packer. He writes fiction and historical fiction, as well as articles on politics, religion, gun-rights and current events. In his free time, he volunteers with veteran’s groups and community projects. He and his wife divide their time between their home state of Texas and Idaho.
I'm turning into my Grandfather.../smile
The 10% “punishment” figure, as of a group of soldiers, is an antiquated historical reference.
Common usage:
“kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of”
“drastically reduce the strength or effectiveness of (something)”
I am by no means an expert on words, but I would like to preserve the original intention of a word. If a word has a historical context, why not keep it as such? At some point, someone used it incorrectly and others followed suit. Why do that? If you want to convey that something was “totally destroyed”, why not use an existing word that conveys that meaning (obliterate?).
Just last week I found out that my understanding of the word “penultimate” was totally wrong. Ask yourself what you think it means and then look it up. If you were right, you have a better understanding of some words than I do.
More winning. Yet the Greta and the Left wants us all to be just like Communist China
The Communist Chinese lobbied Congress and the FDA to eliminate country -of-origin information on foods, as I recall
Your fundamental point is spot on - the left absolutely does use language to subvert culture and ultimately erode our basic freedoms.
So “transphobia” -———> communism, yeah, I can buy into that.
So “unviable tissue mass” -————> communism, same deal, along with scores of other games the left plays with words.
But “decimate” —————> communism - that one doesn’t really worry me.
However, I will agree with those who would prefer “devastate” or “obliterate” as much better terms - and not because that would make me any less of a tool (no offense taken).
Am I the only one who has fought Army Worms? Way back in my farming days we had an invasion of the buggers. They loved to feed off of smaller trees and your crop if you let them. They build webs in the trees and make colonies and stripped the leaves. We would spray the webs with kerosene and set them on fire. BBQ worms. It took about 2 yrs to get them all dead. They spread quickly all over the place.
The US and China were numbers one and two in corn exporting until the Fall Armyworm arrived, this misfortune for China could turn into a boon for US corn producers.
I hear you. I live in northern New Jersey. Years ago, when I was a kid on the outskirts of the town I grew up in there used to be a Schickhaus (remember their hot dogs?) rending plant. Man, on some spring and summer nights did it ever stink!
“None are imported from China.”
I assume that goes for their seasoned pork loins. We don’t eat pork often, but I love to cook those in a crock pot. Easy, delicious meal.
“The term is now widely recognized to mean far more than 10%; such as ‘almost all’!”
That’s the trouble with “now widely recognized”. Doing a wrong thing often enough will desensitize the population and wrong becomes right — abracadabra. How about people just saying the true and correct thing to begin with instead of bastardizing the English language?
I guess President Trump must have seeded China with the virus and the worm to gain some leverage.....wait for it....
Easy to tell where these are coming from...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3790792/posts?page=73#73
——Taiwan——
Hmmm......... how did it cross the South China Sea?
The adult insects can fly and then lay eggs that produce larvae.....worms
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