▪️This meme was shared a couple years back as a quote attributed to David Attenborough. Which was false, he never said it. Now, at least they removed his name, but it’s still false.
▪️As a parent whose kid is constantly collecting bugs and putting them in boxes, I can confirm ants will most definitely fight each other with no provocation or shaking. Or, if you prefer, the old AFP fact check which quotes an entomologist saying the same thing…
https://factcheck.afp.com/http%253A%252F%252Fdoc.afp.com%252F9QJ8QT-1
▪️Remember, these are the “I believe in science” folks. People who largely know nothing about the world, never collected bugs as kids or did any real science, so they actually believe different ant colonies would be peaceful in a jar. Btw, the quote likely derives from the Kurt Vonnegut novel Cat’s Cradle, which had a similar passage about shaking jars of bugs.
It’s bizarre to see them seesaw back and forth that Trump is totally clueless and aloof, just golfing all day, then all of a sudden he’s a dangerous king/dictator who’s diligently plotting to seize absolute power.
▪️This one is frustrating because, while it’s nice to see the vigor and speed that DOGE is acting with, they’re also sloppy with some of their findings. This is not some bombshell, millions of dead people’s SS numbers aren’t being paid out to fraudsters.
▪️This problem has been known for some time, you can read an inspector general’s report from 2015 about millions of names on the SS “numident” not being correctly annotated for deaths, even though they were older than 112 (the oldest known American at the time).
https://oig-files.ssa.gov/audits/full/A-06-14-34030_0.pdf
▪️There are innocent explanations for some of these. Expatriates that died outside the country, for example. Or immigrants given temporary work permit who returned to their country, people issued new numbers for various reasons, etc. However, most are simply due to the govt not diligently keeping track of deaths.
▪️It’s embarrassing that the govt has millions of numbers on the numident that are ...
