"Opioid Attack" Injection at Travis Scott Concert Nearly Killed Security Guard, $4 Gas is Coming, 2.4M in May Starve to Death in Kenya, (The Five for 11/08/21)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
A couple of notes before we begin. My last day at my previous employer was Friday, which came as quite the surprise.
Which makes this a great time to let you know about a couple of projects I’ve been working on.
A. The first is a forthcoming ebook, The Blue Collar Guide to Effortless Output, which is a step-by-step guide to how I run projects, including writing a thriving newsletter for a community of active readers in just a couple of hours per week, when it would take others 10+ hours for the same work.
I used to be a very “unorganized” person who burned a lot of needless time and energy.
Then, I met a couple of mega-millionaires, and copied how they managed complex projects with simple systems.
Which changed my whole life.
If you want to learn that system, stay tuned.
B. With the ebook launch, you’re also going to have the opportunity to grab some Blue Collar Philosophy Merch.
Pre-orders for the ebook and merch start soon!
C. The term “Blue Collar Philosophy” popped into my brain earlier this year…because the readership of The Five and individuals I connect with online are often from working class backgrounds and/or bring an entrepreneurial spirit of “find a way, get it done” to what they do. I found myself creating content for a crowd that hungers to know what’s happening in the world and culture, but finds much of the “ivory tower elite” stuff to be obnoxious…hence the term blue collar philosophy.
D. If you need help to:
Launch a successful newsletter, and profit from it
Utilize email and landing pages to dramatically increase profits
Create a thriving business from an idea you’ve had for years
Create a proven system to use a small ad budget to produce big sales
…then hit me up on my new website, which is still a work in progress, thebluecollarphilosophy.com.
Let’s talk about building something that changes your life.
[one]
Over the weekend, tragedy struck the Astroworld Music Festival in Houston, led by 8x Grammy nominated rapper Travis Scott.
At least eight people are dead and several others were injured Friday night at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival at NRG Park, authorities said.
At about 9:15 p.m. Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pena said the crowd, which numbered an estimated 50,000, compressed toward the front of the stage. People began to panic and several fell unconscious. Authorities on site began transporting victims at around 9:38 p.m.
“It seemed like it happened over the course of just a few minutes,” he said. “Suddenly we had several people down on the ground experiencing some type of cardiac arrest or medical episode and so we immediately started doing CPR and moving people.”
Event organizers ended the concert early and canceled Day 2 of the festival.
Pena said the medical personnel stationed at the event were quickly overwhelmed. Multiple law enforcement agencies responded to the scene to assist.
Paramedics transported at least 25 people to the hospital, one as young as 10 years old. Eleven of those transported were in cardiac arrest, Pena said. Over 300 people were tended to on site throughout the day. As of Saturday, 13 remain hospitalized, including five under the age of 18. A 10-year-old transported from the scene remains hospitalized in critical condition as of Saturday afternoon, authorities said.
Those killed in the crowd surge ranged in age from 14 to 27 (one age 14, one age 16, two age 21, two age 23, one age 27 and another of undetermined age). Some of the victims were trampled, Finner said.
If you’re not familiar with Scott (I’m only casually familiar with his music), the best way to understand the live experience is to think of the rapper as this generation’s biggest punk/metal band, as far as the dynamics of the concerts, according to the Associated Press:
“Travis Scott’s whole aesthetic is about rebellion,” said HipHopDX editor-in-chief Trent Clark, who has attended several of his performances. “The shows have a lot of raging. With the death of punk rock, hip-hop has indeed adopted and patterned the new generation of mosh pits. It’s not uncommon to see a lot of crowding and raging or complete wild behavior at a Travis Scott show.”
Observations:
A. Sadly, this is a reality of live music, once in a great while. Eleven people famously died at a concert by The Who in the 1970’s, and fans around the globe have been crushed to death at other events, including a 1989 incident where 96 people died in England at soccer game in South Yorkshire.
B. Scott is currently in the middle of a lawsuit filed by a fan who was thrown from a third floor balcony by other fans into the crowd during a 2017 concert, at Travis Scott’s direction. (Scott wanted to bring him onstage to give the fan an expensive ring, and said the crowd would catch the fan). The fan suffered fractured vertebrae and is partially paralyzed on the left side.
C. Travis Scott has an unwise, unsafe history of encouraging fans to jump barriers and ignore security. From what I have read, he’s likely going to be held legally responsible for the 2017 incident listed above. However, in my opinion, the best thing to do here is to let the Houston Police carry out the investigation. We’ve had more than enough “Nancy Drew” types on social media attempting to uncover secret plots that simply don’t exist (see: old TikToks about the Gabby Petito case, where would be “influencers” were trying to piggyback off the tragedy to build up social media numbers). Attempting to blame the rapper for this frenzied crowd…based on past incidents…may be tempting, but it’s unethical and stupid, at least until there’s evidence beyond “YouTube reaction videos.” A man must answer for the crimes he committed, but not the ones projected upon him…unless further evidence shows something new. At this point, cell phone footage “assuming” Scott could see the distress in the crowd doesn’t really tell us anything. An artist with massive spotlights in his eyes can’t be assumed to see individual audience members in crowd of 50,000+.
D. You are responsible for your own safety, and for the safety of any minors in your care. Currently, a 10 year old is in critical condition from injuries at the concert. Regardless of the style of music being played, any venue where fans are known to get rowdy is not a place for elementary school children.
E. I believe this highlights the false sense of security that many people feel. “I paid money to be here, so the venue will keep me safe.” Or, “the police will protect me if there’s a violent incident or riot.” Take it from someone who sat on hold with 911 for 10 minutes trying to reach St. Louis City police after my Catalytic Converter was stolen in broad daylight…you are first and foremost responsible for your safety.
UPDATE: NBC Houston reported Monday that a security guard was administered Narcan, an emergency treatment for opioid (heroin, fentanyl, oxycodone, etc) overdoses, after a the guard was injected by someone at the event, who plunged the needle into his neck.
There’s currently no information as to whether any other injuries or deaths are connected to similar attacks.
[two]
A second year of severe drought in Kenya is threatening the lives of millions.
In northern Kenya, the ribs of dead sheep stretch towards the blazing sun as parched herders trudge past, a day's march from water. The value of their skinny goats is falling as fast as the prices scrawled on the sacks in the market are shooting up.
This is the second consecutive season the rains have failed in northern Kenya, a semi-arid part of the country, unlike the more fertile and greener south.
The lack of rain means 2.4 million people in the region will struggle to find enough to eat by November, the United Nations World Food Programme says., the U.N. says.
Food prices are climbing. In Marsabit County, they are 16% above average, data from the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) shows.
"Goats are unsellable, cows are even worse to sell and our children are starving," Moses Loloju, a herder from Isiolo county who volunteered to help distribute food donations from the county government.
This is the second consecutive season the rains have failed in northern Kenya, a semi-arid part of the country, unlike the more fertile and greener south.
The lack of rain means 2.4 million people in the region will struggle to find enough to eat by November, the United Nations World Food Programme says.
Observations:
A. The current U.S. supply chain issues, which are largely man made, are annoying, but not deadly. And temporary. Be thankful.
B. It’s worth noting that eight people died in the Astroworld incident covered above…and the Houston concert is covered on every major news outlet in America. Two million people may starve, and only the AP, Reuters, Seattle Times and the Guardian (in the UK) are covering this…notably absent are Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and Washington Post have yet to cover this story (as of Sunday, 11/07, at the time of this writing).
[three]
In the wake of the US leaving Afghanistan, parents are selling their young daughters to keep the rest of the family from starving to death.
Parwana Malik, a 9-year-old girl with dark eyes and rosy cheeks, giggles with her friends as they play jump rope in a dusty clearing.
But Parwana's laughter disappears as she returns home, a small hut with dirt walls, where she's reminded of her fate: she's being sold to a stranger as a child bride.
The man who wants to buy Parwana says he's 55, but to her, he's "an old man" with white eyebrows and a thick white beard, she told CNN on October 22. She worries he will beat her and force her to work in his house.
Parwana is one of many young Afghan girls sold into marriage as the country's humanitarian crisis deepens. Hunger has pushed some families to make heartbreaking decisions, especially as the brutal winter approaches.
The parents gave CNN full access and permission to speak to the children and show their faces, because they say they cannot change the practice themselves.
"Day by day, the numbers are increasing of families selling their children," said Mohammad Naiem Nazem, a human rights activist in Badghis. "Lack of food, lack of work, the families feel they have to do this."
On this side of the globe, it's unclear as to whether or not the average American knows (or cares) that half of the population of Afghanistan is now facing food shortages.
For the most part, Afghanistan is viewed as a a political talking point, with headlines mainly focusing on the electoral impact in the upcoming midterms.
You know who's never going to forget about the botched U.S. military pullout?
The elementary school aged girls in Afghanistan sold as child brides and outright slaves in the new Taliban regime.
[four]
Whatever you paid for home heating last year, plan to increase that number as we head into winter, according to an interview with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on CNN.
BASH: Should Americans in what will likely be a cold winter — most of them are — expect to pay higher prices for heating their homes?
GRANHOLM: Yes, this is going to happen. It will be — it will be more expensive this year than last year. We are in a slightly beneficial position, certainly relative to Europe, because their choke hold of natural gas is very significant. They’re going to pay five times higher.
But we have the same problem in fuels that the supply chains have, which is that the oil and gas companies are not flipping the switch as quickly as the demand requires. And so that’s why the president has been focused on both the immediate term and the long term.
Let us get off of the volatility associated with fossil fuels and associated with others who don’t have our country’s interests at heart and invest in moving to clean energy, where we will not have this problem. And that’s so much of what these two bills are focused on.
Granholm calling fossil fuels “volatile” strikes an odd chord just 9 months after frozen windmill turbines led to power outages that killed 2010 in Texas last February. In the long term, renewables may prove to be more consistent sources of power.
Here in St. Louis, we received a letter from the power company telling us to expect heat outages and other service disruptions.
Hey, I guess we’ll be saving money on that premium priced natural gas…when we can’t get any.
Granholm also stated that gasoline is expected to rise to $4 per gallon.
[five]
Growing up in rural America, my childhood was split between two Democratic strongholds in otherwise deep red west-Central Illinois, Pike County of my early youth (a blue stronghold, from FDR’s New Deal days) and outside of Moline, IL (a local economy dominated by John Deere, and populated by traditional labor union Democrats).
Anecdotally, I’ve watched Clinton era true blue Democrats from those areas—not exactly become Republicans, but develop a deep and open hatred of the Democratic Party. The numbers also describe this phenomenon in Virginia, as the stats from the recent gubernatorial election are sorted out.
In 2008, there were only four small Virginia counties where Republicans won 70% or more of the vote in that year’s presidential race. Nowhere was the party above 75%. This year, Youngkin was above 70% in 45 counties — and he surpassed 80% in 15 of them.
“Look at some of those rural counties in Virginia as a wake-up call,” said Steve Bullock, a Democratic former governor of Montana who made a long-shot 2020 presidential run, partly on a message that his party needed to compete in more conservative parts of the country. “Folks don’t feel like we’re offering them anything or hearing or listening to them.”
Youngkin not only won less populated areas by record margins — he was outpacing former President Donald Trump’s 2020 showing in even the reddest counties, including by 6 percentage points in Bath County — but he also successfully rolled back Democratic gains in bedroom communities outside Washington and Richmond, where many college-educated white voters had rejected Republicanism under Trump.
The twin results raise a foreboding possibility for Democrats: that the party had simply leased the suburbs in the Trump era, while Republicans may have bought and now own even more of rural America.
As I’ve stated previously, there isn’t much coverage of Republicans in The Five this year…because there just isn’t much to report. The Democratic Party holds the House, Senate and Presidency…and they’re finding it’s much harder to govern than to win.
Mainline Democrats, like Krysten Sinema and Joe Manchin (who are now harassed almost continually in public at this point) do not align with far-left members of “The Squad,” including AOC, Corey Bush and Ilhan Omar, who are in districts so deep blue they essentially can’t lose an election.
This year has been the story of the “civil war” in the Democratic Party, but now we know what that rift is doing in local elections—kitchen table voters are turning on Democrats up and down the ballet, who are stuck between the far-left pressure from the most vocal and aggressive members of their own party in Congress—and the voting reality on the ground.
AOC, Bush and Omar may not be in danger of losing their own elections—but the evidence is starting to become clear that they can oust members of their own party.
But the replacement candidates are not Socialist Democrats—but deep red Republicans winning in traditionally blue areas. At least that’s the story Virginia tells.
We’ll find out next year, at the midterms, if that trend will be repeated nationwide.
Until the next one,
-sth