Several months into this crisis, we’re still seeing supply chain interruptions.
Today, my local full-service grocery store (Cub) had no toilet paper or paper towels in stock (they have had both on and off, but not today). And very little facial tissue. Overall, maybe 95% of the paper products area of the store was empty.
Sparse shelves amid the cleaning products area. Very little rice. No dried yeast. 80% Ethyl alcohol hand sanitizer at $13 a quart. A well-stocked meat department that had been slim pickings a week or so ago.
Plenty of candy and ice cream, gotta keep the kids charged up. Most canned foods are readily available, but not all. Lots of empty shelf space among canned soups for instance.
And what’s up with canned pineapple? “Store brand” canned pineapple has vanished, I haven’t seen any for weeks. Within a three-mile radius I’ve got 3 Cubs, 2 Targets, and an Aldi. Brand-name Dole crushed pineapple is available, but ring and chunk varieties have not been in stock for almost a month.
And where I live is anything but a food desert. Plenty of mainstream grocery stores in easy driving distance, two of them walkable. An area that’s mostly upper-middle class with some very pricey neighborhoods in the mix. If the supply chain is sketchy/stressed here, I can’t imagine it’s in much better shape in other parts of America.
What’s unavailable or hard to find where you live?
Coronavirus News and Analysis:
From the #informationwar files:
Trans Mountain pipeline: Protest ban is 'great time' to build, says minister
The supposed downward trend in Georgia’s Covid-19 case levels is not quite as advertised.
Covid-19 Patients Not Infectious After 11 Days: Singapore Study
Victory Gardens: A War-time hobby that’s back in fashion
This has not been peer-reviewed but, if confirmed, might be a game-changer:
MMR Vaccine Appears to Confer Strong Protection from COVID-19: Few Deaths from SARS-CoV-2 in Highly Vaccinated Populations
Published epidemiological data suggests a correlation between patients who receive measles-rubella containing vaccines such as the commonly available MMR vaccine, and reduced COVID-19 death rate. Similar observations were recently noted in a Cambridge Study by Young et al, who noted protein homology between the COVID-19 virus and the rubella virus, corroborating the evidence in this report. The epidemiologic associations suggest that a measles-rubella containing vaccine, as currently produced, may be protective against severe disease and death from COVID-19 exposure.
The acceptability of risk depends, of course, on one’s own attitudes and proclivity to take risks, and whether one has a choice in the matter. Unlike skydiving or hang-gliding, in which the risk is limited to the person making the leap, with Covid-19 the actions of the individual change the risk levels of everyone in the community.
Welcome to a failed state in slow motion: The United States of America
Our national response to the pandemic hasn't been national at all. Lockdowns and social distancing have been state by state, county by county, city by city, business by business. The so-called "blue states" have responded one way, the "red states" another. People are not acting with a sense of what the consequences are. One tribe is saying, Your freedom ends where my health begins, and the other tribe is saying, The hell with your health! Freedom! Liberty!
All of it over whether or not to wear a goddamn protective mask.
With heavily armed men in full combat gear occupying the visitors galleries in the Michigan state capitol, we are one trigger-pull away from what happens every day in places like Kabul and Mogadishu and Tripoli. With tens of millions of people out of work, they're talking about cutting food stamps and canceling the unemployment bonus they just passed. Every day, there is more evidence that nothing is working the way it should in a country gripped by the biggest crisis it has faced in decades.
Desperate Rats Are Getting More Aggressive in Search for Food During Pandemic
The Price of American Arrogance
It is easy to blame President Donald Trump’s ham-handed response, replete with dangerous misinformation and deadly politicization. Without a doubt, his actions have cost American lives, but the full picture of how we got here precedes this administration. American arrogance was costly long before Trump came to power. It is what made his own arrogance so dangerous to us all.
Chris Martenson interviews Neil Howe, co-author of The Fourth Turning:
