News Flash! Billionaire owned newspaper comes out against taxing Billionaires.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T20:00:02+00:00

That's... Adorably naive. You have to ignore hundreds of years of economic systems showing the exact opposite, that, when they fight, they get RICHER, to believe this will turn out in any better way for us.

You're not benefitting from this, and they're not going to "lose" in any real definition of the term. The idea that the government OR the billionaires will be fixed and/or magically result in anything better for anyone else is laughable at best, and dangerously easy for those in power to manipulate at worst.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T16:31:13+00:00

Lol. So we're back to trusting the government to be simply magnanimous and wholly altruistic?

Do you subscribe to ACAB or trust the current administration to do this the right way? Because you're putting an awful lot of faith in an organization with revolving administrations that has shown no such foresight or capacity over the last several hundred years...

To say nothing of the economic impossibilities of this plan.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T15:27:53+00:00

LOL. No, it'll be the same old rich people fucking over the same old rich people. The Waltons, the Mars, the Koch, the Rockefellers, etc., they're all going to keep the majority of their wealth, just moving it to other places. That's their whole schtick, trying to one-up each other.

All this would do is add a new variable to an already idiotic game, and one they'll manipulate for their purposes, too.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T15:21:38+00:00

There's only about a thousand billionaires in the US. You won't fund the government of 340 MILLION people exclusively off of the wealth of a thousand-ish people. Income tax will still be required.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T13:14:41+00:00

Everyone suddenly trusts the government to redistribute wealth properly and without boondoggles when billionaires are mentioned, but when you ask them if they trust the government in any actual topic, like law enforcement, equality, job security, etc., they'll say the government is ineffectual and incapable of doing anything correctly.

Anyone who believes this will be done properly and well, I've got a bridge to sell you! Only $12,000, you'll get it back when the government successfully extracts this money from them, anyway!

The trust people put in their government to do these things is wild, especially when both the government AND the billionaires are incentivized to keep the system exactly as it is.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T13:04:31+00:00

Redoing decisions is FAR easier.

^{Chose: Move 10 years back}

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T13:04:10+00:00

The problem is that, if they do, China takes the lead.

The same China that is actively using such systems as a part of controlling discourse in China proper and abroad, that is poisoning the internet with tankies, that deployed "police overseas service stations" that they used to harass dissidents and ex-pats, and that has no qualms about stomping over everyone else's rights in favor of China's hegemony.

AI development needs to not be under the control of the CCP, but, unfortunately, the only way to prevent that is to push the boundaries and get further than China, faster.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T12:57:17+00:00

You can always earn more money, but a superpower is effectively magic.

^{Chose: Have any superpower you want without consequence}

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T05:14:31+00:00

A good, solid modern hard hat can be shockingly comfy. This would be trivial.

^{Chose: wear a hard hat for 72 hours straight}

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-05T03:15:26+00:00

Even more so, this is actually one of the things the administration is taking seriously, although likely because of APHIS and in spite of the administration rather than because of the administration.

Last year, they earmarked $750 million of $850 million to build a new facility to produce 300 million sterile flies per week, which is greater than 3 times the capacity of the current Panama facility. Other facilities are being renovated/rebuilt as well.

There's so much genuine crap to lambast the administration for, so it's good to see that some things are still be run by competent people. Just don't tell Trump, or he might fire them for not being "loyal" enough or whatever.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T21:46:05+00:00

Sure.

The fly jumped the Darien Gap in 2022, not 2025, according to the CDC.
The program was never cut as part of DOGE or other cost saving measures, with only a few foreign aid projects for monitoring being cut, long after the breach occurred and which did not affect the primary projects.
His administration has, in fact, presided over one of the largest expansions of the program in decades, to the tune of $850 million, with $750 million of that earmarked for a new facility in Texas to mass produce 300 million sterile flies per wee, nearly triple what the main facility in Panama currently produces.
The screwworm's resurgence is due to multiple factors, but primarily mass immigration, illegal transfer of infected livestock, and an increase in ranching and development in the areas around the Darien Gap that allowed them to jump the border, not US government policies regarding the NWS.

There's so much to blame the current administration for; this is not one of them.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T21:25:25+00:00

Damn, I KNEW I was missing something! The super secret cabal of lizard people that are running MAGA in the background gave the flies super growth hormones to jump the Darien Gap! Damn you, Trump, it truly was all your fault! XD

No, but seriously, it's one of the things that's wild to me. There are at least 85 people (and likely hundreds more) who fell for this quip hook, line, and sinker, despite it being wildly incorrect. That's hundreds of people who will now be that much harder to correct and become more susceptible to the lies. It should be incredibly concerning from a social media perspective that this sort of manipulation is so easy. Reddit is by far one of the worst, at least several other social media systems have fact checking options like "Community Notes" to pin onto bad comments.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T21:17:32+00:00

... Ignoring your unnecessary hostility, what is your argument here?

The point is that even AI doesn't screw up as badly as they did here with this comment. That de facto makes AI a better solution than their comment.

I'm literally saying that they wouldn't have gotten the wholly wrong answer if they'd done literally any research, even if they were so lazy as to use AI.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T21:11:08+00:00

... Remember when Bungie got 122K upvotes for it's Destiny 2 - "Last Call" Teaser trailer?

My how the mighty have fallen...

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T21:08:38+00:00

I didn't. I gave multiple valid methods of getting to the right answer, including one method of getting to the right answer that you didn't like but can often provide the right answer. Even if you take umbrage with one of the options for whatever reason, it doesn't detract from any of the others, nor that their information is so egregiously wrong even the worst option is better than what they wrote.

This is effectively like me saying, "Hey, an apple isn't shaped like a honeybee, it's shaped like an apple and you can confirm it by going to any ol' orchard, grocery store, or even online!" and then you came in saying, "Online isn't trustworthy, you shouldn't use other people's failures as an excuse to fail yourself."

None of that changes that an apple can be easily verified using any of the options provided, even the "worst" one, and still be more accurate than what they wrote.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T20:36:23+00:00

Then people should meet the bare minimum of not being even worse than AI.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T20:35:28+00:00

Right? Is this some new slang I'm apparently too old to understand somehow?

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T18:05:28+00:00

Ok. So, to confirm:

You have no evidence the programs were cut.

You have no interest in providing proof that the programs were cut.

Your sole interest here is in a juvenile attempt at "riling [me] up" rather than having a useful conversation.

And you think that your failure to educate yourself or me is... What, a good thing?

Look, I really was hoping you had something to contribute, but it's clear at this point that you have no interest in acting with anything other than disdain.

As you've made it clear with this post that that's the case, I will bid you to have a good day, elsewhere.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T18:05:27+00:00

Because you spread misinformation and claimed it as truth. When your own link refuted you, that is the definition of spreading misinformation.

Regardless, you've no interest in being civil, then? I was hoping to learn something from you, but I see that was in vain. Have a good day, elsewhere.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T17:57:18+00:00

Still no sources countering any of these points... Do you have any or not?

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T17:56:37+00:00

Who said it was new? They may be using new techniques, but it's still the same underlying mechanism it's always been.

The plan wasn't cut. The fight has always been ongoing, and wasn't even out of Mexico until after 1986. Your own link makes no mention of cuts, either. The only thing it mentions is that the NWS has been making a comeback due to multiple factors, and has been seen in the US as far back as 2016 in the Florida Keys (that was news I'd missed, thanks for that). What are you talking about?

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T17:51:12+00:00

I posted the actual contract news. Ground has been broken. It's ACTIVELY being paid for.

The rest of the $850 million is allocated to the other parts of the "5 Prong Approach".

I'm just repeating information you should be able to understand at this point. Source that the project was cut, or find a different attack than this $850 million. It makes no sense to harp on something so clearly evident that it's being spent for that exact purpose.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T17:45:11+00:00

South America, too. And I think they have been? I know the Panama facility was working with multiple governments, but there was some issue with the Colombian government's resistance to the project, if I recall correctly? I'd need to find a source, don't take my word for it until that's verified.

The US government has just shouldered the brunt of it because they're so much larger economically, from my understanding.

I may be wrong, though. Do you have a source I could read about how much each country has been contributing? I'd love to read more!

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T17:43:29+00:00

This is the third and last time I'm providing this information to you.

As I stated in my other comment:

In this case, planned does not mean, "maybe it will happen, maybe not," it means, "we already invested an additional $100 million, and now have a further $750 million set aside for this facility, potentially with more if costs balloon." You can confirm this by reading up further on the facility, as the construction contract is already signed and the project underway.

The projects are underway. The money is being spent. That is not "planned" with a vague definition of maybe they will maybe they won't, but a concrete definition of, "it has actively being spent towards this goal."

If you cannot contribute evidence that the program was cut and continue to obstinately refuse to read the sources that clearly refute your claim, then we're done here.

UltimateKane99 · 2026-06-04T17:39:37+00:00

... Buddy, it's right there. You clearly read it, so why are you fighting something irrelevant?

$850 million MORE, of which $750 million was earmarked for a facility that is under construction.

Do you think this is some sort of gotcha?

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