# Biggest non-COVID19 news stories we have already forgotten about: because of COVID-19 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 4, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035 "2020-04-04T06:07:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/1 "2020-04-04T06:07:35Z")
At least I forgot: -Trump’s impeachment trial -US kills Iranian general -Australian wildfire crisis -Puerto Rico earthquake -Prince Harry and Meghan step away from Royal family -Harvey Weinstein goes to friggin’ jail -UK officially and finally pulls out of the EU -The Plague of the Locusts (though this story is still current and pops up, as if we didn’t have enough Biblical problems) -Thailand mass shooting -Democratic primaries and sudden drop off of candidates -Roger Stone -German hate inspired mass shooting -Kobe Bryant -U.S./Taliban deal I THINK that’s a pretty good list. Also, there was one very recent odd though not very major story involving cattle . . . . .without Googling, can anyone guess what it is? Most overlooked: India anti-Muslim citizenship repatriation rules and riots ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/2 "2020-04-04T06:46:10Z")
Almost TOO convenient to be a coincidence, no? ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/3 "2020-04-04T11:13:51Z")
A very bright [comet](https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-may-be-brightenting.html) is likely to be in the night sky this summer. It may be bright enough to see even during the day. Our ancestors thought comets coincided with disasters. Those ancient beliefs seem silly now, right? ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/4 "2020-04-04T19:54:07Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A very bright [comet](https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-may-be-brightenting.html) is likely to be in the night sky this summer. It may be bright enough to see even during the day. > > Our ancestors thought comets coincided with disasters. Those ancient beliefs seem silly now, right? I doubt we’ll ever see shortages of both comets and disasters. No disaster this time? Just wait for the next comet. Has anyone correlated comets and disasters? Is every seventh or thirteenth comet significant? How many comets signaled disasters we didn’t notice? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/5 "2020-04-04T20:03:02Z")
I think most of those had either peaked well before or were never going to get much traction in the US. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/6 "2020-04-04T20:04:49Z")
The presidential nomination/election ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/7 "2020-04-04T20:10:38Z")
Vladimir Putin has been trying to amend the Russian constitution to allow him to stay in power until 2036. [https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-constitutional-court-approves-constitutional-amendments/30490913.html](https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-constitutional-court-approves-constitutional-amendments/30490913.html) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/8 "2020-04-04T20:56:32Z")
In a way, I rather enjoy how the pandemic has silenced most of those other news stories. They were terribly annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/9 "2020-04-04T21:34:26Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The presidential nomination/election That is definitely the number 1 answer. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/10 "2020-04-04T21:36:34Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A very bright [comet](https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-may-be-brightenting.html) is likely to be in the night sky this summer. It may be bright enough to see even during the day. > > Our ancestors thought comets coincided with disasters. Those ancient beliefs seem silly now, right? And if Betelgeuse did indeed go supernova 640 years ago and we get to see it, we might have THREE suns in the sky. (Isn’t there a classic sci-fi story about something like this?) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/11 "2020-04-04T21:38:04Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > In a way, I rather enjoy how the pandemic has silenced most of those other news stories. They were terribly annoying. In late August and early September 2001, it was all Gary Condit/Chandra Levy, all the time. I was kinda sorta wanting a really big news story to come along and dislodge that, but I really didn’t want one that big. Also, when the Oklahoma City bombing happened, my first thought when I heard about it was, “How long will this knock OJ off the top of the news?” The answer? Two days. ---
**Author:** ![PoppaSan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/poppasan/32/189_2.png) [@PoppaSan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoppaSan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/12 "2020-04-06T02:16:53Z")
Whatever and whomever William Barr decided to investigate this week. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/13 "2020-04-06T04:13:44Z")
So…ashamed as I am to admit it, I’ve lost track. Do we in the USA still have end-to-end encryption? Or did the EARN IT act pass? ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/14 "2020-04-06T04:46:19Z")
I also forgot the BIGGEST story of them all: Baby Yoda! Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2020, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/15 "2020-04-06T10:14:41Z")
The Covington Kids were set to make a comeback ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/16 "2020-04-07T21:14:52Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A very bright [comet](https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-may-be-brightenting.html) is likely to be in the night sky this summer. It may be bright enough to see even during the day. Latest news is that [it’s breaking up](https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/comet-atlas-will-it-become-a-naked-eye-object/). That causes it to lose brightness and it potentially could break up so much that it essentially disappears. Speaking of comets breaking up and stories we’ve forgotten, [2I/Borisov, the 2nd interstellar comet](https://skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-news/interstellar-comet-borisov-breaking-up/) may also be breaking up. > [@](#): > > Our ancestors thought comets coincided with disasters. Those ancient beliefs seem silly now, right? With telescopes, there’s virtually always a comet in view. And even if the corelation or prediction applies only to naked-eye comets, any comet coinciding with this disaster should have appeared a couple months ago. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/17 "2020-04-14T02:23:06Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > A very bright [comet](https://www.space.com/comet-atlas-may-be-brightenting.html) is likely to be in the night sky this summer. It may be bright enough to see even during the day. [Or not](https://gizmodo.com/oh-crap-a-really-promising-comet-just-fell-to-pieces-1842841439). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/18 "2020-04-14T02:24:44Z")
(Oops, ancient ninja’d.) ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/19 "2020-04-14T03:03:19Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > The presidential nomination/election The whatnow? When is that? :o ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035/20 "2020-04-14T04:01:02Z")
The major earthquake in Utah on March 18. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-non-covid19-news-stories-we-have-already-forgotten-about-because-of-covid-19/851035.md?page=2)