January 1, ‘The Food Supply Chain Is Breaking’

Good morning Middle Americans, 

Here’s something most of us were taking for granted about seven weeks ago – we could basically get anything we wanted at the grocery store. We didn’t say we could afford anything we wanted, we just said, we could get it, if we could afford it. Now that’s not the case. And we are all about to learn more about meatless mondays according to the execs at Tyson foods. This after the company announces that it’s shutting down more of its processing plants due to COVID-19. 

Duck dynasty star Willie Robertson and his family are safe after their house is riddled with bullets during a drive-by shooting. We have a story below with more details about the investigation.  

Finally today, more questions arise about the leadership at the WHO as the organization (the one that’s supposed to be the global leader of the pandemic response, but seems to fail at every step) after they delete a tweet that spread fear and concerns about catching the virus a second time. As Jonathan Swift, (and not Mark Twain) said, “a lie wakes up and makes it halfway around the world before the truth gets out of bed and puts its pants on.”

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

This Day in History | 1805

Lt. William Eaton leads a small force of U.S. Marines and mercenaries against Tripoli in North Africa after marching 500 miles from Egypt. The Marines were on a mission to depose a the ruler of Tripoli, who had seized power from his brother, a ruler who was sympathetic to the young United States.

‘The Food Supply Chain Is Breaking.’ Tyson Foods Warns of Meat Shortage as Plants Close Due to COVID-19

(Time Magazine) – Tyson Foods, one of the U.S.’s biggest meat processors, didn’t mince words in a full page New York Times spread that ran Sunday, in which they warned, “the food supply chain is breaking.”

“As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain,” John Tyson, Chairman of the Board of Tyson Foods, wrote in a letter published as an advertisement. “As a result, there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that are currently closed.”

The Arkansas-based company says food waste is also a threat, as “farmers across the nation simply will not have anywhere to sell their livestock to be processed, when they could have fed the nation.”

“Millions of animals —chickens, pigs and cattle— will be depopulated because of the closure of our processing facilities,” Tyson writes. “The food supply chain is breaking.”

Find out more here

Duck Dynasty Star’s House is Riddled with Bullets in a Drive by Shooting

(USA Today) – A gunman fired nearly 10 shots at the home of “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson in broad daylight, police said.

A driver in a white and brown Ford F-250 with large aftermarket rims and tires drove by Robertson’s estate at least one time before opening fire around 2:33 p.m. on Friday. 

One of the shots went through the bedroom window of the home where son John Luke Robertson lives with his wife Mary Kate McEachern and their infant child, but nobody in the family was injured.

“We were pretty shook up,” Robertson said in a Sunday interview with USA Today Network. “It looks like they were just spraying bullets across my property.”

The property and houses on it are behind a fence and gate and located far off of the road. No arrests have been made.

Robertson said multiple witnesses saw the truck in which the suspects were riding pass by the property at least once before firing the shots at 2:33 p.m.

“It was broad daylight,” Robertson said.

Read more here 

WHO Deletes Misleading Tweet That Spread Paranoia About COVID-19 Reinfection

(Reason) – This weekend the World Health Organization (WHO) had to delete a misleading tweet about the coronavirus. Unfortunately, several media outlets had already cited it, spreading unwarranted fear about the likelihood of secondary COVID-19 infections.

On Friday, the WHO published a scientific brief on “immunity passports”—the idea that governments should grant special documents to citizens who test positive for COVID-19 antibodies, allowing them to move about freely. The WHO warned that this is premature, since “no study has evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confers immunity to subsequent infection by this virus in humans.”

The WHO is correct that scientists have not determined the degree of immunity enjoyed by COVID-19 survivors. But the tweet version of the brief was missing important context, and it said only this: “There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from #COVID19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.

Learn more here