Mosquitoes In the Palace Economy

The Z-Man has a theory that our current government is best described as a “palace economy”, in which all money routes through the centers of power. It came to my mind when I fell for a piece of clickbait.

US cities with the most mosquitoes

h ttps://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/orkins-top-mosquitoes-cities

By Daniella Genovese, 24 May 2021

News you can use! especially if you, like me, are unusually tasty to biting insects and actively looking at relocating to where vaxx-deniers aren’t literal outcasts from society. Most such destinations being in the swampy South. Number One for mosquitoes in USA is…

Los Angeles . seen as the epicenter of the entertainment industry . is being recognized for its dense mosquito population.

What? No… no way that’s right… I grew up there. It’s an arid climate. The L.A. River is a gigantic concrete storm drain that the city once thought to convert into a seasonal freeway, it’s so dry. They had rock gardens before rock gardens were trendy. There were NO mosquitoes AT ALL.

The City of Angels has landed on top of Orkin’s list of the cities with the most mosquitos . known for not only biting humans but potentially transmitting various diseases such as West Nile virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis and Zika virus.

Yes, I was a utility fieldworker during West Nile. At one point, I was stepping over dead birds killed by it. I never got WN because 1. I washed my hands and 2. NO MOSQUITOES.

After Los Angeles on Orkin’s Top 50 Mosquito Cities list is Atlanta, which held the top spot for seven consecutive years.

Okay, I can believe Atlanta has lots of skeeters. I can’t believe Los Angeles.

Rounding out the top five is Washington, D.C., Dallas and Chicago. The newest additions to this year’s list, however, are three West Coast cities: Seattle, San Diego and Fresno, California.

DC, Dallas and Chicago are in swamps. I can believe them. San Diego has a similarly arid climate to Los Angeles and I’ve lived there to know better, too, so no. Fresno? It has drought conditions. Cold, rainy Seattle is doubtful. And NYC is on the list… it’s a concrete jungle… where could mosquitoes even breed?

Not only are all of ‘Murica’s power centers on that list… I notice that NONE of the top entries are in Minnesota (#17 is Minneapolis). How can San Francisco rank at all? It’s got cold weather, salt water on three sides and high winds… none of which is mosquito-friendly. Those are syringes poking into your arms, not skeeters.

The pest control company owned by Rollins Inc. noted that outdoor activities, which were “maximized in 2020” and will likely continue as Memorial Day nears, “may lead to increased experiences with mosquitoes.”

Coinciding with the plandemic? Oh, boy. Is the Deep State trying to scare people in the power centers–LA, Seattle, DC, Dallas, Chicago and NYC–into staying indoors to avoid CkinkySkeeterPox?

“We are committed to educating the public on the risks associated with these blood-sucking pests, and more importantly, eliminating them from yards across the country,” Orkin President Freeman Elliott said.

Whatever’s going on here, “MOAR EDDUKUSHEN!!!” is not the solution. “Hey Ma, this weird insect landed on my arm, poked its nose into my skin and is inflating with a blood-colored fluid, and the last insect which did that, the spot itches. Could you contact the local government aid office and see if they have any education available to explain what I’m seeing? I don’ wanna think for myself. SO MANY ITCHES!!! Hurry up and educate me, government, I don’t know what I’m supposed to believe!”

Eh. You can’t out-mock a True Believer. I probably just described a Cupertino millionaire.

Orkin also announced the second annual “Donating Blood Should be Voluntary” campaign in order to “aid the American Red Cross in maintaining our country’s blood supply and protect people against the public health threats of mosquitoes.”

Orkin pledged to donate $25 to the Red Cross for every mosquito control service purchased from May 24 to June 30, 2021, up to $120,000. The company is also encouraging the public to donate blood through the Red Cross through the SleevesUp campaign, through June 30.

They’re claiming that mosquitoes are most problematic in the places with both the most money and least exposure to the bugs, coinciding with a sales promotion. That sounds a lot like what one might see in a “palace economy”.

Although, the list is confirmed by rival Terminix. Link here, dated 2018:

h ttps://www.terminix.com/blog/whats-buzzing/top-mosquito-cities/

By using service data across 300+ branches nationwide, Terminix identified 50 cities where residents had the highest number of mosquito services last year…

Ahh. These aren’t where mosquitoes are most common. These are the cities that purchased the most anti-mosquito services. Which is still consistent with my palace-economy suspicions. The folks with money to burn freak out over gnats while the good folks of Florida use strange devices called “screen doors”, “DEET” and “grit” instead of professional services.

Credit to Terminix, they led with the above-quoted disclaimer. But that’s not what the Orkin article said:

The City of Angels has landed on top of Orkin’s list of the cities with the most mosquitos…

Oh, wait. This was buried inside:

For its data, the Orkin ranked the metro areas by the number of mosquitoes based on the customers served from April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.

Businesses know where the money is. Not in Des Moines, Milwaukee or Grand Rapids. It’s in NYC and SF and Lost Angels. Which are also, coincidentally, the political capitols of USA.

And they’re overrun by bloodsuckers? Say it ain’t so!