News roundup for Fri, Mar 26, 2021

There was a mass shooting in Boulder, CO on the 22nd, and 10 are dead. There’s typically a flurry of debate on gun ownership after mass shootings, along with the swift drafting of legislation—but in many places gun laws are broadened after shootings. It’s hard to tell what’s going to happen now, but the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit says states may restrict open carry. Meanwhile, the 6th Circuit says bump stocks are not machine guns. Biden is calling on Congress to consider a ban on assault-style weapons.

I never could have imagined myself covering Marco Rubio’s take on Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) over military installations, but here we are–and his take is surprisingly reasonable considering the topic:

A massive container ship is occluding the Suez Canal, through which a significant portion of global trade flows. Every attempt is being made to get it out, but it’s been days and no luck so far. Another huge blow is being dealt to the global supply chain, potentially impacting anything you’d plan to see on store shelves. It might be time to stock up on coffee (which is dually impacted) and toilet paper (again):

Gas prices are rising:

This is a fascinating article about the detective work needed to figure out why Eagles were dropping dead out of nowhere all over the American South. What irks me is the decidedly gentle, almost quiet, revelation of bromide in affected bodies of water. I understand that academics and journalists must be diplomatic this way at times, because if they’re too forward their funding and standing can be imperiled—if you’re going to fight Big Corp, you best not lose. My point here: there are huge amounts of bromide in the water! Identifying the source of a super terrible neurotoxin is important, and it’s essentially a passing mention.

Tornadoes did huge damage across swathes of Alabama and Tennessee, and 50 million people are still at risk of dangerous weather. Tens of thousands are without power.

The world has over 126 million COVID cases.  The world has gained 3.7 million cases in a week. There have been over 2.7 million deaths in total. The US has over 30.7 million cases. Over 559,000 Americans have died. There have been over 990 deaths in the last 24 hours in the US. The US gained nearly 60,000 new cases in the last day. Brazil is leading the globe in daily deaths, with over 2,600 in the last day. Brazil is also leading the world in daily case gain, with nearly 100,000 cases in the last day.

Many states are opening COVID vaccination to all adults (and some for those over 16). Here’s a helpful timeline of the opening schedules for multiple states.

The US might have a glut of vaccines soon. We can help with a glut by opening up eligibility sooner, tasking primary care providers with educating their hesitant patients on the need for a vaccine, and by sharing a glut with other countries.

29 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses were being held illegally in an Italian factory. What infuriates me most about this is not simply the piracy, but that fact that half the population could have been vaccinated with it. Only ~4% of Italians are currently vaccinated.

FEMA will help you with funeral costs if you lost someone to COVID:

AstraZeneca (AZ) committed another gaffe in the comedy of errors that is its vaccine roll out. It gave month-old data for its recent US efficacy rate, and NIAID and the NIH had to make statements on the veracity of the data (or potential lack thereof). Ultimately, the efficacy was found to be a few percentage points less efficacious than stated (76% v. 79%) for prevention of symptomatic disease. It’s still 100% efficacious at preventing severe disease and death:

I cannot imagine having to intubate someone without anesthesia. This horror is brought to you by out-of-control COVID in Brazil:


  • 6 Comments

    • woodrow

      Thanks for the FEMA tip – we lost an older family member in December.

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    • brownfox-ffContributor

      Hello. Thank you so much for writing your updates, and for continuing to provide a reasoned, informed view on the world. Over the past year it has been a great source of calm to read your posts. Throughout the chaos of COVID and 2020 it was heartening to be able to return to this site and see you all still fighting the good fight, week after week. It is reassuring to know there are intelligent, well-mannered humans out there who have good goals: to make the best of what we have; to do what we can to plan, prepare, and mitigate; and to work to improve life for ourselves and our families. This is especially true during a large, shared event such as a global pandemic.

      Reading your regular updates has helped me feel connected to like-minded individuals who are working hard and trying their best. The road might not be easy, but we’re all taking steps when we can. Thank you for creating this site as a resource for calm, reasoned thought. Thank you for working to create a positive, strong community. Please know that even if some of us are not active or vocal, your hard work and effort is still enthusiastically read, extremely helpful and useful, and deeply appreciated. Thank you.

      7 |
      • Stephanie ArnoldContributor brownfox-ff

        Céad míle fáilte, Brownfox. Having an outlet to share helpful information with others is a positive outcome of what would otherwise be a neurotic information-trawling habit (for me, anyway). This community helps suss out the useful from the noise, and for that I am also very grateful. 

        7 |
      • Gideon ParkerStaff brownfox-ff

        Thank you for your incredible nice words. I’m glad that you able to feel connected to other like-minded individuals while browsing the site. That is something that I truly enjoy as well. I don’t know many preppers in my day-to-day life but on this website, I am able to hang out, ask questions, and learn from so many.

        I haven’t seen you around over on the Forum. You may just browse and read other people’s comments on there, and that’s totally great, but I just wanted to point that area of the site out if you weren’t aware of it. It’s a great way you can feel even more connected as you talk back and forth with people.

        Again, thanks for the great complements, we really appreciate it!

        5 |
    • Karl Winterling

      A few of the Nordic countries apparently decided that, unless they can definitively prove by near-100% confidence that the AstraZeneca vaccine does not cause blood clots in any patients, they will use a different vaccine. The rationale is that they’re very worried about people deciding not to get vaccinated. I agree this doesn’t accomplish anything other than increasing confusion and making people panic.

      Anyway, I have about a week before I get my second Moderna shot. I’m proud of everyone around me for making it this far and staying careful.

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