Houthi Drones Knock Out Saudi Arabia's Hormuz-Bypass Pipeline, Oil Tops $100 a Barrel

CBD is having a moment and CBD brands are everywhere right now. But with so many options, it can be tough to know what to look for – and which brands actually follow through on their claims.

That’s where CBDistillery sets itself apart. For the past decade, all of CBDistillery's products have been made with non-GMO, US-grown industrial hemp and with 100% clean ingredients – no corn syrup or artificial colors, flavors, preservatives or sweeteners.

They frequently introduce new and innovative products formulated to meet a variety of wellness needs and customer preferences. And every single batch of CBDistillery’s gummies, oil tinctures, topicals and softgels are tested by an independent, accredited lab to make sure what’s in the package matches what’s on the label.

Right now, CBDistillery is offering our readers a special deal: save 50% on orders of $75 or more with code NEWS50!

Try Trusted CBD

The Ready Brief #196

Practical preparedness for uncertain times

Marcus Aurelius was the most powerful man in the world. Roman Emperor. Commander of legions. Ruler of millions. He also dealt with plague, war, betrayal, economic crisis, and natural disaster. His response: a private journal of Stoic reflections, now published as Meditations, where he reminded himself daily that he controlled his thoughts and actions and nothing else. Two thousand years later, his advice is the best mental operating system I've found for living in uncertain times.

Here's what I've got this Sunday.

Ancient Philosophy for Modern Uncertainty

We covered mindfulness (Issue 189), decision-making (Issue 124), and the preparedness mindset (Issue 180). This week introduces the philosophical framework that ties them together: Stoicism, a practical philosophy designed specifically for navigating uncertainty, adversity, and things beyond your control.

The core Stoic principle is the dichotomy of control: some things are within your control (your thoughts, your actions, your responses) and some things are not (other people's behavior, natural disasters, economic conditions, the future). Suffering comes from trying to control what you can't. Peace comes from focusing energy on what you can.

Applied to preparedness: you cannot control whether a hurricane hits your region. You can control whether your household is prepared for one. You cannot control whether the power grid fails. You can control whether you have backup power. You cannot control other people's behavior during a disruption. You can control your own response. The Stoic framework clarifies where to invest your energy and where to release your anxiety.

Negative visualization (premeditatio malorum) is a Stoic practice that aligns perfectly with preparedness planning. Deliberately imagining adverse scenarios, not to generate fear but to prepare your response, is exactly what this newsletter has been doing for 195 issues. "What would I do if the power went out for a week?" is a Stoic exercise as much as a preparedness one.

Amor fati, love of fate, is the Stoic response to events that have already happened. Once the storm has hit, the outage has begun, or the disruption is underway, wishing it hadn't happened wastes energy. Accepting reality and focusing on response is both Stoic practice and survival strategy.

The obstacle is the way. Every disruption, every failure, every challenge contains within it the opportunity to develop a skill, strengthen a relationship, or identify a gap in your preparation. The ice storm that revealed your inadequate heating backup was the obstacle. The improved heating system is the way through.

This isn't abstract philosophy. It's the mental operating system that connects every practical skill in this newsletter. The discipline (Issue 181), the mindfulness (Issue 189), the decision-making (Issue 124), and the emotional resilience (Issue 129) are all expressions of Stoic principles applied to modern life.

Write down three things you're worried about. Circle the ones you can actually control.

For the things you can control, take one action. For the things you can't, acknowledge them and release the worry. This is the dichotomy of control in practice. Three minutes. The clarity is immediate.

Rabies Exposure Cases Are Climbing Nationwide, and CDC Says Treatment Supplies Are Feeling the Strain

The CDC issued a Health Alert Network notice this month after multiple states reported a jump in human rabies exposures since July. From July through August, the agency logged 17 percent more rabies related inquiries than the same period in 2025, including several mass exposure events, and at least eight state health departments reported both increased use of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and administration errors. There is no shortage of rabies vaccine or immunoglobulin right now, but pharmacy data through early September showed vaccine utilization up 33 percent and immunoglobulin utilization up 76 percent compared with the same time last year. A full PEP course also isn't cheap: $11,000 to $14,000 per person is typical. The CDC's guidance to clinicians is about proper risk assessment and correct administration, not panic, but for households it's a reminder that a bat in the attic or an unfamiliar dog in the yard is worth taking seriously and calling about promptly rather than waiting to see how it plays out.

Source: CDC Health Alert Network, Newsweek, KFVS12

Mark Divine's Unbeatable Mind integrates Stoic philosophy with Navy SEAL mental toughness training. His 20-year SEAL career demonstrated that the operators who maintained composure under fire weren't suppressing emotion. They were practicing Stoic focus: directing attention to what they could control (their actions, their breathing, their immediate task) and releasing fixation on what they couldn't (the outcome, the enemy's actions, the chaos around them).

Divine's civilian application: every morning, identify the one thing you can control today that most improves your situation. Do that thing. Release everything else. This daily Stoic practice, performed consistently, produces the mental toughness that no single crisis can develop.

Get Unbeatable Mind on Amazon. About $17.95 for the paperback, Third Edition.

Houthi Drone Attack Shuts Down Saudi Arabia's Hormuz-Bypass Oil Pipeline

Saudi Arabia shut down its East-West pipeline on September 12 after a Houthi drone strike hit the line in the Riyadh and Medina regions. The 1,200-kilometer pipeline exists for exactly this scenario: it moves 4 to 5 million barrels a day (roughly 4 to 5 percent of global oil supply) across the kingdom so tankers can skip the Strait of Hormuz entirely. With the pipeline down, that oil has nowhere to go but through the strait it was built to avoid, right as tanker traffic there is already slowing under regional tensions. Oil climbed back above $100 a barrel on the news, and Saudi crude output was already at its lowest level in more than three decades because of separate Houthi attacks on shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. None of this guarantees a spike at the pump, but it's a clean example of how a single strike on a piece of infrastructure most people have never heard of can move a price everyone pays. If your household budget assumes gas prices hold steady, this is the kind of week that argues for building in some slack.

Source: Reuters via Investing.com, Al Jazeera

Daily Stoic Journal (5-Minute Practice)

Each morning we write three things: what we're grateful for today, what we can control today, and what we need to release today. Each evening we write: what went well, what we learned, and what we'll do differently tomorrow. The complete practice takes about 5 minutes a day.

After four months of this practice, the primary change is reduced anxiety about things we can't control (geopolitics, economic trends, weather) and increased focus on things we can (maintenance, skills, community). The journal costs about $5 for a basic notebook. The mental clarity is worth considerably more.

Budget alternative: The mental exercise alone, without writing. Each morning, silently identify one thing in your control and one thing to release. Zero cost. The writing enhances the practice but isn't strictly necessary.

Overrated: Self-help books that promise to eliminate anxiety and uncertainty from your life. Uncertainty is permanent. Anxiety about uncertainty is optional. Stoicism doesn't remove uncertainty. It teaches you to function effectively within it.

Underrated: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Written 2,000 years ago by a man managing plague, war, and political instability. Every page applies to modern life without modification. Available free in public domain translations. The most practical philosophy book ever written.

Whole-house surge protection. The electrical hardening that prevents a single power spike from destroying thousands of dollars in electronics and appliances.

PS: Marcus Aurelius didn't have a go-bag, a power station, or a water filter. He had a philosophy that worked during plague, invasion, and political betrayal. The tools we build in this newsletter handle the physical challenges. Stoicism handles the mental ones. Together, they cover everything.