SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at Red Flag Law Tyranny.
More Red Flag Law Tyranny
Headline: Maryland Man Killed in No-Knock SWAT Raid Was Shot While Asleep, Family Says. JWR Asks: Why was this gun seizure raid carried out at 4:30 A.M.? If the goal was to simply seize weapons, and not arrest the man, then why wouldn’t they simply execute a search warrant at a time when they knew he would be at school? Let me be blunt: These “red flag law” raids are actually a form of SWATing, under the color of law. Red Flag laws are gross violations of our Second, Fourth, and Fifth Amendment rights. This was the second Red Flag raid killing in Maryland. (The first was in 2019.)
I’ll also make a prediction: Someday in the near future, some “Red Flagged” gun owner will be waiting, well-armed, and he or she will kill several police officers in a SWAT team before they even have the chance to turn around and return fire. (Yes, if that individual is clever, he will be lined up to engage a SWAT “stack” from behind.)
The “Red Flag” law tyranny must end. The sooner that the Supreme Court hears a challenge case, the better!
Unresolved Questions About COVID-19
Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson recommended this thought-provoking essay by a brilliant Stanford University epidemiologist: A fiasco in the making? As the coronavirus pandemic takes hold, we are making decisions without reliable data.
Updated Continuity of Government Plans Revealed
Chris posted a comment that mentioned this fascinating article: Exclusive: Inside The Military’s Top Secret Plans If Coronavirus Cripples the Government
Coronavirus: Ammo & Firearms Shortages
Coronavirus; Ammo & Firearms Shortages And What Is Coming In The Future. “This is much worse than the Sandy Hook scare.” Mr. GunsnGear predicting a minimum increase of 10% on ammo prices, chronic ammo shortages, including .22 rimfire. Ditto for full capacity magazines. He’s comparing this to an epidemic. Panic now and beat the rush.
Estimating Actual COVID 19 Cases, Based on Deaths
Estimating actual COVID 19 cases (novel corona virus infections) in an area based on deaths
DEA Returns $82,000 Life Savings Confiscated at Airport
Reader DSV sent this: DEA Returns $82,000 Life Savings Confiscated at Airport but Doesn’t Explain Why
We’re Not Going Back to Normal
MIT Technology Review: We’re not going back to normal. A pericope:
“To stop coronavirus we will need to radically change almost everything we do: how we work, exercise, socialize, shop, manage our health, educate our kids, take care of family members.
We all want things to go back to normal quickly. But what most of us have probably not yet realized—yet will soon—is that things won’t go back to normal after a few weeks, or even a few months. Some things never will.
It’s now widely agreed (even by Britain, finally) that every country needs to “flatten the curve”: impose social distancing to slow the spread of the virus so that the number of people sick at once doesn’t cause the health-care system to collapse, as it is threatening to do in Italy right now. That means the pandemic needs to last, at a low level, until either enough people have had Covid-19 to leave most immune (assuming immunity lasts for years, which we don’t know) or there’s a vaccine.“
Deutschland, Deutschland Uber Virus
Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Merkel calls coronavirus ‘greatest challenge since WWII’ in rare address urging German solidarity.
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You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!
Re: Article on unresolved questions about COVID-19 – “A fiasco in the making”:
Basically this professor waxes philosophical in meaningless polysyllabic morphemes for multiple paragraphs to make the point that “we need more accurate statistical data”. My level of agreement with anything he has to say stops here. Beyond that, the comparators he uses are poor… a cruise ship? That’s the best he can do? What about Italy? What about China? While we cannot trust the veracity of the numbers coming out of China, one must wonder why a totalitarian communist regime effectively *neutered* themselves economically by shutting down several of their largest industrial cities in response to this virus. And, after assailing every country in the world for not having sufficient statistical data (which is impossible in the midst of an evolving crisis) this so called brilliant professor goes on to assert that the “vast majority of this hecatomb would be people with limited life expectancies…in contrast to 1918 when many young people died”. What an exasperating buffoon. He can’t with any credibility make sweeping statements like this while simultaneously admitting that accurate statistics are still pending. Worse, he fails to mention that in 1918, the average life expectancy was around 48, so it stands to reason that the Spanish flu’s mortality rate of “young people” (aged 20-40) was rather high. Further, his dismissive reference to “limited life expectancy” smacks of arrogance, as if to say “It’s no great loss… they were about to die anyway”. The problem with this line of thought (besides the obvious moral failing) is that even now we can’t be confident that this virus is inordinately targeting the elderly. In these countries with socialized medicine (or shall we call it single-payor-medicine to accommodate liberal sensitivities?) perhaps if
the elderly were actually being placed on ventilators at the same rate as young people, the data might be skewed an entirely different way. Some of the data currently coming from Italy indicates that significant numbers of patients in their 30s and 40s are becoming gravely ill, which is wildly out of proportion to what the liberal media told us to expect. This Stanford epidemiologist/statistician is making assumptions about target patient populations that most of the medical and research community in the US is not yet willing to make.
We need to proceed with a high level of cynicism and caution for the very reason that we *don’t* have accurate numbers yet. While we can’t afford the luxury of making assumptions about this virus, we can be fairly confident that this worms-for-brains (and possibly morally depraved) Stanford professor has written an article full of irresponsible conjecture which helps no one except perhaps himself – in furtherance of what I suspect is his own liberal political agenda advocating euthanasia of elderly (and on the opposite end of the spectrum – murder of newborns.)
Oh…one more thing. I’m not elderly. Not by a long shot. But I am of the conviction that the practice of medicine must be evidenced-based (which comes from stringently stellar statistical analysis) and it must be conducted with the highest possible morals, ethics, and overwhelming value for ALL human life.
Research the research and study the study.
Excellent summation, thank you.
We still don’t really know what happened and still happening in China.
With several hundred thousand people worldwide who are or have been sick with the Covid19 virus we have enough data to predict who will get sick, how sick they will get, and how likely it is that they will die. The virus is a serious threat to those who are less healthy (shocker!) and much less dangerous to the healthy. We should focus our efforts on protecting the vulnerable, teach and promote healthy habits, and let the rest of us get on with our productive lives. Overreaction including 1 trillion in new debt with checks for all is a much greater threat in the long run than the virus. The virus will not bring down the system, but the response may.
Very good reasoning and I couldn’t agree more heartily that responses should always be predicated upon evidence based science. But as a layman I have to think. Without the testing numbers (4-5 weeks behind and now too late to matter), the most important part of the equation seems to be missing. How many are really sick here based upon the number infected out of a total number.
I’m assuming scientists here are modeling based upon China numbers. But what if those numbers were incorrect? RickS above has said, “The virus will not bring down the system, but the response may.”
I admit I’ve thought the same thing lately especially since I’m in California and everything is shut down. A dear friend is in a memory care unit less than a mile from me. I was able to visit in person for 1 hour 9 days ago. Luckily, because the state shut everything down the next day. Two days ago her hospice nurse had to fight management to visit her for a half hour. When I talked to her on the phone she was agitated and very confused because of no visitors. This is no doubt happening in all nursing homes in the country. And residents dying without family being allowed to visit.
This is all understandable if the numbers they are extrapolating are valid. If they are not the cost in human suffering and economic damage will be incalculable.
Grits,we know several things ,first virus in Italy is not the same as China or elsewhere. The Chinese knew they were facing a genetically modified (created) bioweapon with unknown capabilities. Those bloviating on tv for pay are extremists pushing for more power and control for One World Government and using this virus as a excuse. How many have been sickened or died from regular flu? Tens/hundreds of millions sick,millions dead in a normal year-makes this PANICDEMIC a real sick joke on the Billions who are far more harmed than if they got the sniffles(85% have little or no symptoms,of the other 15% only a few % die-measured mortality .04%,less than normal flu)
Dear VT,
The crude mortality rate is currently 4.4%, not 0.4%.
I don’t purport to have any inside knowledge about One World Government or extremists or any such agendas, so I try to just keep my comments factual.
What I do know is that the author of this article is affiliated with Stanford Woods Institute, a liberal environmentalist organization which trains and sponsors DC lobbyists. I also know that environmentalists have merged their agendas with those advocating population control ( aka the “voluntary human extinction movement”). They believe that the more people die, the better the planet will be. Therefore, they have no real interest in minimizing the spread of a global pandemic. They actually HOPE people will die….
… and I don’t.
To go along with the article about continuity of government, DOJ asks congress for permission to suspend constitutional rights. Among others they ask to be able to imprison citizens indefinitely without trial.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/21/doj-coronavirus-emergency-powers-140023
Take a look at that SWAT stack in the picture, and tell me the tactical rule they are breaking! One hand grenade, mortar round or killsmore, and that entire stack falls! I learned well from my drill instructors.
They obviously never learned to choose the right side to fight for…… There was a time when most law enforcement swore their oath to the constitution and the people, not a select group of political masters.
Your prediction lol.
I don’t agree with red flag laws by any means. Due process is very important.
But if you think that someone is out there shooting off their mouth and making threats in such a manner that they draw in the attention of everyone in public and in law enforcement and then have the mental capacity to fall back to possibly hundreds of meters to a overwatch position and lay in wait possibly days with the proper equipment is fantasy.
The subjects of enforcement are brash, lack discipline and are living fantasy in most cases.
99.9% of us know to hush and that just because “you got rights” doesn’t mean it’s prudent to exercise them at every opportunity and to push those beyond the limit to where it becomes criminal.
Just like this conversation and disagreement we have here now. Neither of us is going to threaten to blow each other’s houses up, kill everyone in the family, skin them out and stake them over an ant hill or anything like that. We will have reasonable conversation and move on and no one else cares. No one loses. No one dies. The end.
@ Matt,
I have no stake in this convo about whose prediction is right or wrong. However, with reading your reply, the first question that came to mind is, have you ever read gun forms and or social media posts?
If you had, the 99.9% claim you made may read more like 10%. There is not a week that goes by when I read the internet (to include Sblog), and am I never surprised about the amount of stupid that people post on the internet. While what they say today may not be an issue, it is their entire presence on the internet that could be called into question in such “red flag” situations.
There are several companies that specialize in archiving and motioning internet activity.
True but what your reading is usually not vocalized at work, in church, at the grocery store where people actually know who they are.
As you acknowledge it’s easy enough to find them should that decision be made. That’s why people are careful in most cases.
I associate in real life with a lot of people and these internet commenters of violence are a very small percentage.
@Matt in Ok
Spoken like a true ‘only one’.
Just keep believing that all “subjects of enforcement are brash, lack discipline and are living fantasy in most cases.”
The panic to buy guns, now the liberals who always vote for anti-gun politicians are now finding out how hard it is to purchase guns and ammo. And some of them are not liking having to go through the background checks and reality is clicking in. They really thought all you had to do was come in off the street and buy any gun you wanted, including pistols.
My opinion is that the scare is 95% political.
I’m happy people are stocking up on guns and ammo, which is their constitutional right. I’m glad they’re learning it’s not that easy in most states. I have enough ammo to shoot thousands of zombies who step on my property. LOL. But, seriously, I do appreciate the fact that scared people actually consider the idea that they may need, at some point, to protect themselves and their families against bad guys (whether that be in law enforcement, government, or criminals, either way, red flag or no red flag, enter at your own risk). Every state needs to enact “stand your ground” laws.
I’m glad people have awakened to the fact that having extra food and supplies on hand is wise, not crazy.
I’m glad people are turning to God, even if it’s because they’re afraid.
One thing I remain highly irritated at, is people, and that includes some in the “prepper community”, who are fear mongering on steroids. Maintained stress makes people ill, including heart attack and stroke. Stress can be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Stress lowers the immune system response. I urge all sojourners here, to be as calm, as positive, as helpful, as full of faith, as they can possibly muster.
We DO NOT have a food shortage in this country. We have an abundance of food and supplies and the means to produce. What happened (empty shelves) was a breakdown in the supply chain due to the Just in Time delivery model that was adopted a long time ago. The problem, due to the panic buying, is that right now we don’t have enough capacity in the transportation industry to move food across the country as fast as it has been demanded. The truckers are in high gear, and areas are being resupplied. Please let your friends and family know: there are no food shortages, stores are being resupplied, just buy what you need for now, be calm, be patient, we will get through this. The resupply will take months.
Also: plant a garden and plan for future preparedness. We’re gonna be okay.
Apologies if I’m repeating myself, but I felt I needed to reiterate.
God bless.
I am glad to hear you mention just in time shipping as applied to supply chains.
I studied LEAN principles as a course in college, and just in time is one of the aspects of LEAN methodology.
This “just in time” concept does not always work, as you pointed out.
Thank you and may God shine his Grace on you and yours.
Dear SaraSue,
Have you listened to David Dubuyne of ADAPT 2030, Christian at IceAge Farmer, Yanasa Ama Ranch?
Please go over to the Website AgroInsurance that gives a weekly list of crop and animal losses from around the whole world.
You will see that the food that was on the shelves was mostly from 2018. The 2019 crops were terrible and would only be hitting the shelves around this time period. There wasn’t a lot that survived. World-wide, have you seen the locust plague that is striking all the way from southern Africa north and across the Middle East to China?
I’m not scare mongering, God Forbid, I am helping to bring out the warnings. So that people are aware and can plan accordingly!
Matthew 24:7 states that, “Nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be FAMINES, and PESTILENCES, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the BEGINNING of sorrows.” We are there, now!
Believe me when I say that once this “crisis” calms down, if it ever does, there won’t be much food and there will be rationing of only staples, because the other food won’t exist for the masses.
Revelation 6:5-6 “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny and see that ye hurt not the oil or wine.”
Please, I am telling you all that ‘NOTHING will EVER BE the SAME AGAIN. We will never go back to the abundance that we enjoyed for the past 70 years or so. The Powers that BE have begun their take over of the World!!
Please do the research.
Prepare accordingly. I pray for all of you!!
Lily
Lily,
I listened to those videos you spoke of, it’s true. If we have ANOTHER crop failure in the Midwest here where I am it will get EVEN WORSE!
Everyday I can look out my windows in any direction and see the proof, they barely harvested anything, most of it sat In the ground and rotted.
Have a Rockin great day day !!
So glad Jim is home to you!!
RKRGR68, We are not that far from esch other, most fields didn’t get planted or so late it was strictly for crop insurance money(no hope of a harvest,seed and chemicals had been bought). Seeing a wet pattern setting up this year too. Pestilence and famine? Get out of Illinois,it is going to suffer very badly with the whale beached in Springfield.
VT
So true!!! Especially that “Surprise “ 6 inches of snow yesterday
Mr Springfield needs to put down the Portillo’s Beef sandwich and stop spazzing out on his news conferences with that little Troll from Chicago next to him
I wonder if Portillo’s is still open??
Have a Rockin great day!!
Dear Lily,
I adore you and your family and I would never accuse you of fear mongering, nor Jim. You’ve always given practical advice and shown the “what if’s”. I’ve been a Survivalblog follower since Jim started the website. It helped me become a “prepared” individual and teach it to my children. I have listened to David Dubuyne of ADAPT 2030, Christian at IceAge Farmer, Yanasa Ama Ranch, and others. Peak Prosperity is another, and there are many others. I’ve done copious research on all fronts. I do believe we are entering a grand solar minimum, but I don’t think it will have the same devastating effects as in previous times but primarily because of the technology and knowledge we possess now. I can be shown wrong. I don’t agree with them that this is TEOTWAWKI. My personal and humble opinion is that many cherry pick the worst news and put it out there. Only my opinion.
I have read Revelations (and the entire Bible) many times. I am prayerful. I hope the current situation wakes up many more people to a preparedness lifestyle. I think my point was, maybe poorly stated, that now is a time for calm, for helping others, for sharing knowledge, for patience, for sharing God’s word. I hope this helps.
Hugs
Hi SaraSue,
I agree with you that it is a time to be calm and soberly assessing what is happening and going to happen. We need to watch what the leadership is doing and pray for protection and that the Lord will hide us under His wings. I just think it’s just the beginning of the very Last Days. They are prophesied to be very bad for humanity. I think there are a group of ELites who are also trying to fullfill the scripture prophecies in their own power. This virus is part of their weaponry and they will take advantage of it. I also think that we have lost a lot of food to weather anomalies and this panic buying has just made the situation much worse and perhaps dire. But only time will tell. We have been preparing for ten years (me in particular, Jim many years longer than I,) and encouraging others to stock up. Now I think for the most part that that ability will be closing, soon.
Sorry about the fear-mongering part. I have been accused of doing that. And it gets my dander up, because the ones who say it are not awake to biblical prophecy, nor world-wide current events. I watch international news all of the time and have studied a lot of history. And I see it is NOt looking good. I just want to warn others to get ready spiritually and physically. If I don’t warn, their blood is on my hands. :(. God has given us this forum to warn others. Therefore we cannot downplay what is really happening. That’s why I keep saying to read the bible, pray, ask for discernment and watch and pray.
Thank you for your warm words, support, and encouragement to us and this Blog. We really appreciate you.
Warm blessings, to you,
Lily
Amen!
> We DO NOT have a food shortage in this country.
Thank you. We have so much food in this country that we waste it on ethanol and high fructose corn syrup. After visiting Costco last week, I think America might actually gain weight during this crisis.
Maag, if you could see the FDA warehouses in every major city you would not be worried,a LOT of your tax dollars are dstacked and avaliable for distribution.
Since we are relaxing the rules against frivolous posts, here is a bit of humor-
“Sign in Dollar Store- Toilet Paper 99cents. Limit one square per customer.”
One of “my guys” is working with GISAID. He’s written code for curves intended to predict rates of infection, hospitalization and deaths. So far, the curves very closely fit reality.
The current projection is for up to 24.5 million deaths in the US. That’s a tad over a 7% rate.
Note that to date, of those who to ICU, half die.
Lockdowns slow the rate of hospitalization, hopefully allowing doctors and nurses to get some sleep.
It would be easy to construct a conspiracy theory around covid19. To say it is no worse than the flu and perhaps not even as bad so therefore the government is doing all this to take power from us. But why than did China go to the extremes that they did since they already have 100% of the power over their people? Why are so may other countries in addition to the U.S. implementing stay at home and quarantine restrictions if this is just another flu?
I don’t buy into the conspiracy theory. I think that the medical community is genuinely scared by this virus. I think that the ‘low’ estimates of a million Americans dead from covids19 in 18 months IF we shelter in place and flatten the curve is actually what worries them. And the upper end of over two million dead if we fail to flatten the curve AND that would also include the destruction of our medical system because of the unmanageable volume of the sick and dying. I think that the world leaders, doctors and scientists are aware of how bad this could get and haven’t told us everything yet.
Also I suspect that China did not succeed in stopping the pandemic but did succeed in stopping the release of information about it. Their lower level government and party members were told to keep their mouths shut about the illnesses and deaths or they would be sent to jail. I suspect that years after this is over that we will discover that tens of thousands more died in China than we were told.
Thank you!!! China is lying to the world as per usual…
Dear OKie Matt (& anyone else) who pretend to understand the law. We are not called to live in fear of our government! Nor any of its innumerable laws which CIRCUMVENT the Bill of Rights and the natural laws or God given rights ie. Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Happiness (which is defined as ownership of property).
Real law is uncomplicated and understood by every common man. That is why they called it Common Law. For the most part, this means do no harm to another by taking their life, enslaving them or restricting their freedom for ones own gain without their consent and lastly do not be taking another’s property without permission.
These Rights have been around and protected since men desiring your birthright were willing to take them away. Cain and Able being the first I’ve read about.
If you do NOT exercise your rights – you Do Not have those rights… period!!
The powerful absolutely love people who keep their head down and their mouth shut.
Read the biography of Martin Niemöller.
I think the 99% you mentioned are the most fearful of their elected masters. Though in my humble opinion the tide is turning back towards the original intent of those lost and unexercised freedoms.
Ask for wisdom He gives it freely.
I found difficulty in doing a search on the benefits of Vitamin K2. I was trying to send an article to a friend. Nothing to do with the Corona virus. I found that while last year Google and other search sites blocked many of these articles unless you knew a name of a natural dr or site. Today none of that worked. No natural or homeopathic info came in searches. I did many searches to find an article. Only items that came up were amazon places to buy items. No articles. I thought it was odd. At the bottom of the small search results (also odd) a link to cdc. Seems information is being limited to what they want us to see. Not good I don’t think. These are scary times. As an aside, when seeing the map of US last night showing all the states with stay home orders CA, IL, NY, NJ CT PA. I guess aside from PA, the same states that have strict ‘selfprotection’ laws. Hawaii today has some strict laws now as well with fines.
Hey Everybody,
Jim is HOME. safe!!! Thank you! Thank You! Thank You! for praying for his safe travels!
Hallelu Yah!!
Blessings to all of you,
Lily
Glad to hear it!
YAY!! I stopped and prayed as soon as I read his message about traveling home. Yes, I’ve read all his books.
Thank You so much for praying SaraSue.
We were anxious about him getting home safely. God saw him through. He was a Man on a Mission!! When he said he was leaving at “O” dark early, he wasn’t kidding!! Wouldn’t it have been awful, if after writing about a character trying to make it home after a TEOTWAWKI situation, he ended up being one of those folks?? No! No! NO! NOT allowed! 🙂
He is now getting set up in the cabin for a lengthy quarantine stay in there. He thinks he has more errands to run this week, which will increase his quarantine time. :(. We’ll see about that???
I keep going out there and conversing with him about different things from a distance. I keep sending him air hugs and air kisses. 😉 We have a phone system set up and can Skype, too.
Thank You, again for praying!
Blessings,
Lily
Lily- You not only *filled in* for James while he was gone, you provided a lot of much-needed information that we would have missed otherwise due to your excellent research. Thank you.
Welcome home Jim!
GREAT news Lily! I think I can speak for all of here on SB, we are so happy that he is home and safe! Will be praying the quarantine in not needed and he will remain healthy and you will get to hug him very soon “person to person”. 🙂
welcome home, Jim. please stay well!
Re: Maryland, it does not say in the article that this was a red flag case, it says that police were attempting to arrest him for weapons violations in that he was allegedly a prohibited person in possession. The tactics could be debated all day-I’ve never been a fan of “no knock” warrants having been on plenty of them-and I’m no fan of red flag laws but unless I misread something this isn’t a red flag case.
As I see it. The situation is three fold. A) We have a very contagious virus racing across the entire planet at the same time. There is no cure nor relief from the disease. In addition it will mutate there is already two strains. B) Every economy across the whole world is suffering and each governmental unit is printing money as fast as the printing presses will print it. In addition the whole world economy’s are shut or shutting down. C) The world economy is based on the US dollar. The US dollar was fiat prior to the virus outbreak. It is backed by promises of the US government which largely are the most trusted promises in the world prior to the virus. Presently the Fed is printing money as fast as they can and selling paper promises in the form of bonds and other instruments to back this enormous printing. At some point organizations are going to attempt to demand money for those financial instruments. The US government will not be able to produce for those demands. A world solution to this will occur despite what the US can do about it to thwart it. If you think this is not TEOTWAWKI. You are sadly mistaken and deluded.
Sen. Rand Paul tests positive for coronavirus.
“In August 2019, part of Paul’s lung required removal as a result of the injuries he suffered during the attack”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_Paul#2017_assault
This is not good…
Glad to hear Jim has returned home safely!
What is going on outside the Western and limited Asian worlds?
I am puzzled by India and Mexico. According to official numbers very limited spread of the virus despite several of the biggest population centers on earth. Is it just a matter of time? Do the have higher immunity living with so much disease already? Are they simply not testing and or reporting?
Corn 360 million ton/year, soybeans 120 million ton/year, wheat 58 million tons/year, peanuts 3-4 million tons/year, rice 20 million tons/year, barley 140 million bushels/year, oats 65 million bushels/year.
I think that our chances of escaping starvation are okay.
I wonder if you have the statistics on how much we export. That would be a useful metric by which to judge the U.S. food production.
Hi!
Exports are even more variable than production because exchange rates matter, so does foreign production. Especially the South American production. Opening the plains of southern Brazil to massive agricultural production is a recent development that got little attention outside of farm country. If Kazakhstan has a bad year in cotton, maybe we plant more cotton and less beans and peanuts.
Anyway, we do export a lot, but that’s basically discretionary. We burn a third of our corn as highly subsidized subpar auto fuel. And we do it on significantly less farmland than we used 50 years ago. A bunch goes to livestock feed.
If our corn production was cut in half it would still be about 3 pounds per person per day. And these statistics are just for comparatively long storage grains, skipping a bunch of other supplies – potatoes, milk and eggs, other grains, fruits and vegetables.
The only reliable numbers on the coronavirus are those that came from the cruise ship as these people were in a closed system. The upside is that the numbers were not that radical and they had none of the drugs that were recently approved to treat any of the patients. Current guesses at the number infected are so unreliable as to be near useless and they must know how many are infected and how many recover in order to have useful numbers. The FDA and CDC dropped that ball and their is no way to catch up with reliable numbers. Any testing now is to affirm that someone may need care in the near future and to quarantine them from the public at large.
Wrong, we have very good numbers from first person sick in US,she was back from Wuhan caring for family-made hundreds of contacts,only her husband got sick(low transmission),both recovered quickly and are back home.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY…
“6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4: 6,7, NIV)
Following “virtual” church this morning, I read Philippians Chapter 4 and just felt led to share it with our Survivalblog family. In the midst of these very challenging times, may the Lord bless and encourage each of you today as you meditate on His promises.
Cliff (in Oregon)
We should all memorize that.
Akvusn eh : Gotta love it !
What may be a revelation has surfaced. Data from China has come out that in the last 3 months 21 million cancelations of cell phone service has happened most of those in the Wuhan area. Speculation is that China has actually experienced millions of deaths and have covered them up. But no one thought that something as mundane as cell phone service terminations might expose the truth. Were all 21 million because of deaths from covid19? Who knows but something has definitely happened and coincidently in exactly the time period where China freaked out rather excessively over fewer admitted deaths than Italy. I think the truth is leaking out.
How much cell phone sevices have been new made?
I saw an article that was 8.116 million less cell phone subscriptions over Jan and Feb, I’ve not seen the 21 million figure
I would argue that many of them were due to people not having jobs and could not afford the plans, and cancelled.
But I pick plan B, which is “never trust a communist”
When the truth comes out MILLIONS of people were infected, and MILLIONS of people died in China.
No wonder everything is going on lock down in the USA and EU
PS. Iran is bad bad bad
IN that article they made the point that for Chinese in China they live by their cell phone and would not just give it up. My first thought was that maybe this was not too far from normal but apparently in China the cell phone is prized above everything else and no pone gives up their cell phone and that 21 million cancelations was extremely unusual. I honestly don’t know if it really means anything or not.
It would be interesting to know how many new cell phone contracts had been made or how many use prepaid
Ocala Drive-In one of the few shows in town during COVID-19 era
By Carlos E. Medina
Posted at 1:54 PM
https://www.ocala.com/news/20200322/ocala-drive-in-one-of-few-shows-in-town-during-covid-19-era
“Ocala Drive-In Theatre Is Still Open
March 22, 2020 at 12:49 pm
https://www.ocala.com/photogallery/LK/20200322/PHOTOGALLERY/322009997/PH/1
“Owner John Watzke said that cars are being spaced farther apart for social distancing as movies are shown. The Drive-In Theatre is one of the last entertainment spots still open during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Church @ The Springs is also using the drive-in for their church services on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Watzke said.”
For those looking for information on natural medicines and an alternative view on CoVid-19, look up Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. David Brownstein. Start with these two. I have found their information extremely useful and unbiased.
On CoVid-19: There are a lot of questions that are not being answered that deserve to be. If you are not skeptical, you are missing something.
1. What is the average annual number of flu related deaths in China.?
2. Is China’s CoVid-19 caseload any worse than the caseload during a normal flu
season?
3. Does our Corona Virus test specifically test for CoVid-19 or does it just detect a
generic Corona Virus? We assume it specifically tests for CoVid-19, does it really?
4. Why are there increasing calls demanding a military response to a medical issue?
5. Cui bono? Who benefits? I have an answer to this last one, the CDC and the
bureaucracy.
The more I read, the more disturbed I’ve become, and the more questions pop into mind. I’ve made numerous attempts to search out answers to my questions. The searches have proven futile.
Finally, welcome back Jim. I know you are keeping Elk Creek Company on hold for the time being. Looking forward to seeing the new additional inventory. Making my list and checking it twice. Want to see if I need to make alterations or not based on the new additions.
6. What are the numbers outside the west in areas like Mexico and India where a pandemic should hit very hard in metropolitan areas.
7. What are the rates in the only 100% tested and enclosed population, the Diamond Princess?
Each search I did today on Dr Mercola came up with no results for articles. I know last year when Google started refining their search results to skip Dr Mercola and many others writing about natural methods. I receive Dr Mercola’s, health nut news, natural news etc and have for over 15 yrs. Today even putting his name in the search, my results on Duck Duck Go came up with no articles. I am concerned since Google (who actually run the searches as well as startpage results) anonomously still restrict results. I am concerned since no place in all the news on this new virus do they mention the use of any natural food, vitamin, herb or mineral that could help. I feel the only things we will be offered are meds and vaccines. I am concerned. Please post if anyone else has had an issue. To be clear, I wasn’t even searching info on the virus. It was for Vitamin K2. Thank you and pray this my experience was an oddity. Also, I’m not sure how many listen to Coast 2 Coast AM with george Noorey. On Fri March 27 he is holding a Prayer segment. Hoping all can pray to help rid the world of this virus. God Bless and stay healthy.
Try this. I don’t see anything specific to vitamin K2 and Coronavirus but I might have missed something. I didn’t look too hard.
https://www.mercola.com/coronavirus-resources-optin.htm
I also use DuckDuckGo. I haven’t had any problems finding Dr. Mercola. As to specific articles of his I haven’t tried to search for.
Thank you both. Maybe just a weird happening. I know many natural health articles have been put to the end of the results since last year. When I had a problem the other day just thought more restrictions. I wasn’t looking up vitamin K 2 for Corona. I was just talking to friends of mine on how important is. Many are unaware it is needed when taking oral D3. They work together and help keep the calcium in the bones and teeth and out of the arteries. Vitamin D, C, B group and A have been some items people are using for a stronger immune system. I was just looking for one of Mercolas articles and seemed to have a problem. I do not particularly like that in our country they really don’t mention the importance on these nutrients as well as many others that help keep our immune system strong. So true K2 not mentioned and most time isn’t, however, it is kind of necessary to have when D3 is taken orally (to help over absorption not take place. D3 from sunlight doesn’t O D) thank you both again. And God Bless!
I use google for work and just searched for both Dr Mercola and vitamin k2. Both popped right up.
I’m not a doctor or particularly smart, but this is how I see it. The cruise ship was the perfect unintended laboratory situation to see how the virus works and effects people. About 1100 crew and 2200 passengers were in large groups, in enclosed spaces, breathing/sneezing and not aware anyone was infected.The first part of the cruise no one even knew about the virus so infected crew we’re preparing meals, interacting with passengers, etc. Infected passengers we’re walking around mingling with other passengers and crew. Amazing that 83 % never were infected. Of the 17 % that were infected, about 9 % had none or very mild symptoms. Their were lots of people over 70 on the cruise. Unfortunately 7 people died, all over 70. 7 into 3300 is .002 % mortality rate. Fear is our greatest enemy because we are allowing it to give media and politicians/gov’t the power destroy our lives, our economy and as such our country. Yes the virus is dangerous, but what we are allowing to happen because of fear. may be far, far worse. Even though the one cure, the malaria drug, which has been proven highly effective in serious clinical trial in Israel, Belgium, France, the US is being ignored by the CDC because it not CDC/Dr. Fauci’s way of thinking and ignoring the fact that it’s been used for over 70 years very effectively without serious side effects.
For your best interest recommend you listen to Dr. Fauci. I checked on the malaria drug and found the article linked below. WHO is starting a trial of four drugs, not the best design, but we don’t have time for a good designed trial yet. The data isn’t available yet from other studies to show effectiveness in patients. Even in China they are only now bringing cases down.
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/who-launches-global-megatrial-four-most-promising-coronavirus-treatments
I did the math and for the US with a population of 325,000,000, an infection rate of 17% and a mortality rate of .002% and the death rate is 110,500 people. Unfortunately, our ship of state has been open with people coming off and onboard till only recently.
I do believe everyone has been doing the best they can. I especially pray for the medical personnel on the front lines.
Having served in the Navy for 23 years I can tell you that on a ship the rate of infection is way higher than on land. Pretty much every sailor knows that after about a week underway lots of people are going to get sick with a cold or to a lesser degree a stomach ailment. A week later most everyone will be well and stay well until you pull into port.
This has been demonstrated on ships since the time of sail. And cruise ships are no exception. Recall Legionaires disease?
.002%=.00002
325000000*.17*.00002=1105
Perhaps you mean .2%?
I believe that’s the case. I took it from Guardians comment three comments above this. It’s what I got when I divided 7 by 3300 using his example.
The Diamond Princess cohort was an aged population for sure and likely a population with a high proportion of complicating factors. You cannot extrapolate .2% across the general population of the US.
The gentleman who wrote the “Fiasco” article adjusted for these factors he came up with a median rate of .125% with a range (due to the small sample size) of .025% to .625%.
He brings up a subject near and dear to my heart because it was perpetrated on me several times in my Navy career. I remember sitting in briefings that stated that our response time in a certain situation had degraded to x number of minutes. (The actual situation is not medical and not pertinent to this discussion and would bore most people.) I listened to a couple of these briefs over a couple years and the thing I always searched for was a control group or a baseline period. They never said what the response time had degrade FROM or even gave a STANDARD as to what a reasonable response time was or even a year to year DEVIATION. The top brass of course felt like the response time should be instantaneous (which of course was not possible) and so this sounded very ominous and dramatic to them so they would get all ramped up for a while, until they got ramped up about something else. In the meantime we would get beat on for a short time and the people providing the “study” would get funding for another year.
COVID19 is the same. As I write this the worldwide deaths from the virus is15,337 which sounds terrible. In the meantime the US only deaths from seasonal flu has climbed to 22,000 vs 458 COVID19 deaths. Last years US seasonal deaths from flu were 80,000 with millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations. I have not been able to find the world wide numbers for comparison.
For reference there were 48,344 suicides in the US in 2018. There were 36,540 deaths by motor vehicles. From 2005 to 2014 there were an average of 3,536 drownings per year in the US. I could go on with more google searches for specifics but the biggie is that almost 3,000,000 people die per year in the US.
I always hate the statement, “There are lies, damn lies and statistics.” As a numbers oriented guy I want to scream that numbers don’t lie. But the fact is we are constantly bombarded with incomplete statistics that are distorted for anyone’s purposes and it causes us to make irrational decisions.
I wonder how many additional suicides are occurring right now among people who just got laid off or are just on the edge already? That will be an interesting number to look at in say 2022 when the dust has settled and those numbers come in.
JBH… I remember my stats class in college from 1973 in which I read “ How to Lie with Statistics” … being a numbers guy this intrigued me … give me a set of numbers and an agenda and I will make the argument as you need it to be… IMHO this is taking place Right Now
The good news (yes, there is some!) is that it doesn’t really matter what the CDC or Fauci think, because the FDA has now issued “compassionate use” status for chloroquine and remdesivir in the treatment of COVID-19. What this means, essentially, is that the FDA is giving a nod here and acknowledging that (in the absence of full clinical trials and the data those trials provide), these two drugs appear to be our best bet to date. They are giving doctors in our country the “go ahead” and freeing them up to administer these medications in an “off label” usage. I expect to see production of these two medications ramping up immediately.
The FDA sets the standard for clinical trials around the world. Like most government agencies, compliance with their regulations can be both cumbersome and expensive, but I have to give them a pat on the head when one is due. They have consistently done an excellent job of being cautious when it’s warranted,
and loosening the reins and quickly issuing compassionate use status when needed. They perform better than most government agencies and this latest move will speed things along in a positive way for our country.
Glad Jim is home, praying for you all out there in Survival Blog country, where ever that may be.
State of NJ closing FFLS. Not considered essential. And in NJ no firearms ID cards being issued or pistol Permits. No ammo sales. No private sales since all except close relatives require a NICS check. Only state I’ve seen doing this.
Rockland County NY stopped processing pistol permits a week or so ago and since most sheriffs in NY use civilians for that job, that’ll effectively end statewide. Gun shops are not on the “allowed to remain open” list in NY.
Kind of thought NY may have been in the same boat. I’m not surprised at all. Yes. In NJ the past few weeks some police dept were not issuing firearms I D cards or pistol Permits. Evidently one of the Second amendment groups is filing a law suit. Good luck with this since I believe courts are not open either. Letting some prisoners free as well. While I can see small crimes, NYC released those Jan 1. NJ has basically no bail for most crimes so not in jail anyway. Wonder what type will actually be let out. Some police depts have asked for no calls and use Internet to report crimes. And we haven’t seen many patrol cars as of late. So not a good situation. Please pray for those stuck in the states with stay home orders. If you look at the map it’s similar to the states with difficult (if no impossible,NJ) concealed carry
With stay at home orders/recommendations now in effect, I do expect that home invasions, home burglaries, home robberies, and home trespass in general will go down, at least for a little while, in areas where folks are allowed to have their guns out at home.
NJ is letting more out from county prisons today (March 24). They also stopped all NICS checks and purchases on this past Sat. The Governor basically laughed at a news person asking about it yesterday in a news conference. (The closing of FFL transfers). Here, for any transfer–aside from close relative–NICS is necessary. While those can still happen, a handgun requires a permit for all. They have been holding up issuing those and firearms ID cards for months. And now all that not done, as well.