A new year is, traditionally, something we look forward to with optimism. It stretches in front of us filled with possibilities, opportunities, new roads to explore. That’s why we celebrate on December 31, and make resolutions on how to improve our lives.
But a new year is really just another twelve-month slice of the future, and it contains dangers as well as opportunities. Obviously we hope none of the bad things the future can hold will come to pass, but we have to be realistic – the world isn’t always a friendly place. Good things will happen in 2018, but bad things can and will happen too. Some of those bad things have the potential to be truly disastrous, and we need to be prepared to face them if they happen.
It’s always hard to predict what’s coming down the road, but some things are more likely than others – so it makes sense to put more of our preparedness efforts into making sure we can survive those. A lot of what we do will be useful in any scenario, of course, but it still helps to have an idea of what we might face. Now that we’ve had a couple of months to see how 2018 is shaping up, here are five of the threats I’m most concerned about for the rest of the year.
M.A.D.
I’ve seen a few people saying that an EMP attack would be more destructive than a nuclear war. It wouldn’t. An actual nuclear war would cause unimaginable devastation. Major cities would be flattened and burned by multiple strikes. Airports, harbors and military bases would be hit. Smaller warheads would take out freeway intersections and rail junctions. Parts of the country would be blanketed in fallout. Dust and smoke pumped into the atmosphere by the explosions would block the sun’s light for weeks, adding cold weather to all the other hazards. Then, on top of that, you’d have the EMP as well. Every weapon would cause local EMP damage, and it’s almost certain that high altitude EMP bursts would be included in the strike to maximize the chaos. A major nuclear war would be a lot worse than an EMP. Short of an impact from a slate-wiper asteroid it would be worse than anything I can imagine.
So a nuclear war would be bad, but how likely is it? Well, not as likely as it could be. This isn’t 1983; the Cold War is over. On the other hand, it could come back. Russia is smarting from the treatment we gave them during the Clinton era, and they’re steadily rebuilding their military. Russia’s nuclear forces are the most powerful on Earth, and President Putin probably has the starch to use them if he thinks it’s necessary. Putin is also pushing hard to rebuild Russia’s influence in eastern Europe, and there are several places where a small border skirmish could grow into a confrontation between Russian and NATO troops. If that happens, nuclear war is back on the table.
Related: The First US Targets To Be Nuked
The Silent Killer
I’ve just explained why EMP wouldn’t be as destructive as a full-scale nuclear war, but it would still be devastating – and it’s a lot more likely than a Cold War-style missile exchange. There are two reasons for that. Firstly, it’s a lot more survivable for the aggressor; our government might hesitate to launch a retaliatory strike on a country, killing millions of its people, because its leaders exploded a nuclear warhead in space. Secondly there are more countries who are capable of doing it right now or could be there in a matter of months.
A long-range nuclear missile is incredibly sophisticated. It needs to be; it has to deliver a warhead – possibly up to a dozen warheads for a MIRV’d missile – to a precise location. A Trident II submarine-launched missile can drop half its warheads within 65 feet of the target, letting it destroy even hardened bunkers with a relatively small weapon. An EMP attack doesn’t need anything like that precision. As long as the rocket can get the weapon to a high enough altitude, it can detonate anywhere in a circle hundreds of miles wide and still blanket a huge area with its pulse. Every country that currently has nuclear weapons and several that could be very close to building them has the ability to attack with high-altitude EMP – and that includes rogue or unstable states like North Korea and Pakistan. An EMP might not be the worst thing that could happen, but it’s a real risk.
The Virtual Killer
A cyber attack would be less destructive than an EMP, but it could still cause total chaos – and cyber attacks aren’t just something that could happen. They’re happening now, and already causing disruption on a large scale. The World Economic Forum estimates cyber attacks will cost $8 trillion over the next five years, and that’s just the financial impact.
Think about how much of what’s around you is vulnerable to hackers. It’s a lot more than most people think. Pretty much everything that modern society depends on is run by, or with the help of, computers; most of those computers are connected to the internet. Power, gas and water can be seriously disrupted by a skilled hacker. Hospitals could lose patient records and see a lot of their sophisticated equipment disabled. Traffic lights might be shut down or reprogrammed to cause accidents. Air traffic control is vulnerable. As for most communications – including phones; a lot run on VOIP now – forget it.
A serious, coordinated cyber attack could easily disrupt us enough to cause social collapse – and from the attacker’s point of view, it’s even safer than an EMP. It’s hard to prove who carried it out; even if you can pin down where the attackers were located, their government can claim it was nothing to do with them. Meanwhile the attack could cause a runaway collapse, where the failure of one system brings down others in a cascade it could take years to recover from.
Related: The Battery That Can Power Your Home Completely Off The Grid
The Invisible Killer
In 2014 there was a major outbreak of Ebola hemorrhagic fever in West Africa. This was far larger than all earlier outbreaks combined, because people are getting more mobile and the disease reached larger towns and cities. Horrifyingly, it also managed to reach out across the Atlantic and infect four people in the USA. We were lucky; all the cases were caught before they could spread further. We might not be lucky next time – and the virus is still out there in Africa. All it takes is one sick person to get on a plane and we could be facing a major epidemic.
It doesn’t even take something exotic like Ebola. A bad strain of the flu could overload our medical system and push society to the edge of collapse – and maybe beyond. Preparedness is going to be essential in any kind of major outbreak. Expect stores to be quickly emptied by panic buying, and then probably looting; hospitals won’t be able to cope, and everyone will be forced back onto their own resources. That’s why it’s vital to have those resources.
Your first priority in an epidemic is to protect yourself and your family from infection. That means minimizing contact with other people who might be carrying the disease. If you’re self-sufficient and can survive for a few months without having to go outside your own property, your chances of being exposed are pretty much zero.
Related: 30 Supplies for Pandemic Survival
Trouble At Home
The USA is one of the world’s great democracies, but too many Americans don’t seem to respect the process anymore. The media is full of arguments about the Second Amendment, but in many ways growing disrespect for the First Amendment is a lot more worrying. Far-left gangs violently shut down any speaker they don’t approve of. Millions of people flat-out deny President Trump’s right to be president – they don’t see any need to respect the election result if it wasn’t what they wanted. Political agitators constantly whip up tension and hatred between races, between men and women, between red and blue states.
The anti-democratic extremists don’t have the power to overthrow the US government – although when states like California openly defy federal law and declare themselves as “sanctuaries” for criminals, they might be closer to gaining it than most of us think. What they do have is the power to cause havoc at a local level, and if they coordinated their actions they could have a serious effect on law and order across multiple counties or even states. We’ve already seen that some fanatics, like Antifa, are willing to assault and rob anyone they define as a “fascist”, which is most of us. A sustained campaign by anarchists, the far left and race-based groups could cause social collapse lasting days or even weeks – and the longer it goes on, the more it’s going to test your preparedness. I think there’s a serious risk of that happening, because powerful people aren’t happy at the way democratic votes are going against them.
Most likely, 2018 will pass without any of these things happening. Then again, most likely it’ll pass without you having a traffic accident – but you still pay for car insurance. If I’m ready to cope with any of the things I fear most in the coming year I’ll also be able to handle anything else that goes wrong, and that’s what prepping is all about.
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My biggest fears this year
Running out of my medicine at a horrible time
Being homeless
Being jobless
Random violence
I wish we’d all stop using the term democracy when describing America. We’re a limited Constitutional Republic and there is a big difference between them. My concern is when you accept the other sides terms in a debate, you give them the upper hand and they control which way the debate goes. Same with gun control, allowing them to hammer in the words “Saturday night special” or ” assault weapons” lets them control which way things go and weakens our position.
I agree.
There are inaccurate terms being used by both sides in every debate.
We are not a Democracy- in a democracy, every one votes on every question-
Assault Weapons Is not an accurate term either – If you mean an weapon with a detachable magazine then that covers a lot of ground. If you mean semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines and “military” features like pistol grips, flash suppressors and collapsible or folding stocks you are being more specific.
My personal opinion- the real issue in America is extremism- alt right or alt left. If you believe yours is the only way/solution/right answer- You are the problem.
The rear issue killing America is complacency and acceptance.
My biggest criticism from my husband is I don’t accept people’s faults. I have standards and where would America be without those??
Are we headed there??
‘Extremism’: Support for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as originally written and meant – is the ONLY way.
I’m with Goldwater, extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice, and moderation (aka kneeling to the State’s agents) no virtue..A ‘compromise’ which disables exercises of liberty and faith, seizes property, and loots earnings and assets is no way forward for genuine Americans – ever.
The American Left can go suck on their favorite uniformed thugs’ weapons. Or whatever else sticks out.
They’ve ruined California and many other places via their ‘reasonability’. Redefining a seasonal puddle on a farmer’s land as ‘navigable waters’ and the scofflaw behavior of the BLM are the behaviors of absolute scumbags. Typical of the likes of HRC, Comey, and the rest of that murderous snooping federal entity.
Hinterland Americans have had enough of such ‘reasonable reforms’.
Thanks, Viet Nam Vet. People keep calling us a democracy but that is not our form of government. Our founding fathers were reluctant to have a true democracy because they correctly feared mob rule. It doesn’t bother me that government moves slowly. That keeps it from swaying to and fro in shallow breezes. Congress was supposed to be a deliberative body. The Supreme Court was supposed to be an even more deliberative body. Rapid response is only acceptable in the troops coming to your rescue, not in governments.
L. Coast Chuck, your absolutely right. A Constitutional Republic was the intended form with checks and balances between the three branches of government. But infiltrate all three branches with the same corrupt exclusive club members (we’re not in the club by the way) and goodbye checks and balances. Hello power consolidation. A Government Accounting Office whistleblower in the 90’s stated, “You used to be able to differentiate the difference between corporate policy and governmental policy. Now there’s no difference.” Hello United States of Corporate Fascism.
@Rumplestiltskin That’s a very good way to put it and more and more people must be realizing the same thing these days. You have excellent insight. Sooner or later something HAS to give way and it probably won’t be all that pleasant.
USSA: United Soviet States of Amerika.
@ Oldnamvet I can only imagine the horrors you encountered in Vietnam. You had great courage to go over there and fight for your country. Now. To the present day. I don’t want to be a nitpicker, sir, but the US is a Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic. These days more akin to a dog and pony show with Trump as the handler and maybe even more like one of the reality shows that Trump is so fond of. But that’s my personal opinion. I’m not quite sure what the difference would be between a limited and unlimited Constitutional Republic. And I’m not asking these questions to be a jerk but to learn. By definition Canada is a Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy and as we don’t have a Queen on our soil (unless you count Trudeau as a “queen”…LOL!) our head of state is Queen Elizabeth II. We are still tied to Britain even unto this day still being part of the British Commonwealth of Nations. This all a side issue anyways as to the main theme of this article. I just like to make sure we’re all on the same page.
As a strong nation, I think we can combat a lot of the issues in the article. All of them would be bad, but the slow dismantling of our country’s basic nature by forces from within makes me really sad.
To your closing, I’d like to add something that Solomon said in the book of Proverbs: “The prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” So, we all should work, as Claude said, to keep making our personal situations stronger, and safer. God gave us incredible minds. Lets put them to good use. I like to do something every day; no matter how small it may be. Because, when you add up the little things, it turns into a great accomplishment.
Claude, thank you for this article, and for askaprepper.com. It’s a wealth of help and knowledge.
Keep up the good work!
Hoosier Homesteader,
I am taking it that maybe you are a christian yourself as you quoted Proverbs so I ask you this question:
We can build up our stockpile all we wan’t but what happens when Martial law takes effect and they want what we have, as a christian I don’t believe we should kill anyone in order to protect our stuff , what is a christian supposed to do if we feel to prep now only to have it taken from us then? Should we hide our preps in places away from our home? Thank you
Jesus told His disciples, if you don’t have a sword, take one of your tunics, sell it and buy a sword. That tells me that we are to defend ourselves or the people around us righteously. Jesus wasn’t telling His disciples that so they could play patty-cake with unruly people.
Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it.
True, though this is taking out of context. This is directly after Jesus telling Peter that he will deny him 3 times that night. Continuing your quote:
37It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors’[b]; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
38 The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”
“That’s enough!” he replied.
So two swords were enough, not to fight the soldiers, but to fulfill Isaiah 53:12 that see’s Jesus as a transgressor. In fact, to continue this story after Peter cuts the ear off of the high priest’s servant, Malchus, Jesus says (in Matthew):
52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
This has nothing to do with Jesus ordering us to arm ourselves. Instead, it strictly has to do with him fulfilling prophecies that the Scriptures had already laid out.
I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree with you there. NT Wright, one of today’s most respected theologians, wrote in his book Luke for Everyone, about the Last Supper and how frustrated Jesus was when he tried to explain about the things that we’re going to happen. The apostles, Knuckleheads that they were, we’re just not getting anything he was trying to convey. Just before the statement about the swords, Jesus had pointed out that he had sent them out without purse or bags or sandals and that they were not short of anything. And then he said that in the future anyone who has a purse should take it and the same with the bag. And anyone who doesn’t have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one. As NT Wright put it, when Jesus says “That’s enough!”, he isn’t suggesting that two swords would be sufficient for the job in hand. What could that possibly mean? What he is doing is wearily putting a stop to the entire conversation, in which at every point they seem determined to misunderstand him. This discussion can be on pages 264 through 267 of the aforementioned book. NT Wright is not known as a gun rights person but rather as a theologian of high rank.
Thanks for the response. I’m familiar with NT Wright, though haven’t read Luke for Everyone. I need to hunt that up. Going with a different commentary (IVP New Testament Commentaries), I get a bit of a different take. It says:
Jesus’ final words make it clear that circumstances are changing. Opposition to the disciples is rising. Where before Jesus had sent them out empty-handed yet they were provided for (9:1-6; 10:3-4), now they will have to take provisions and protection for their travel. They will have to procure a sword. Scripture such as Isaiah 53:12 is finding its fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus is rejected; he is numbered with the transgressors.
The disciples take Jesus’ remarks literally and incorrectly. They note that they have two swords, but Jesus cuts off the discussion. Something is not right, but it is too late to discuss it. As the arrest will show, they have misunderstood. They draw swords then, but Jesus stops their defense in its tracks. He is not telling them to buy swords to wield in physical battle. They will have to provide for themselves and fend for themselves, but not through the shedding of blood. They are being drawn into a great cosmic struggle, and they must fight with spiritual swords and resources. The purchase of swords serves only to picture this coming battle. This fight requires special weapons (Eph 6:10-18).
That last, of course being Paul’s Armor of God statement, that consisting of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the sandals of peace, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.
I would have an issue if asked to defend “stuff”.
But to defend my family and our well being I will do whatever it takes. I will ask for forgiveness for sure as I always do but I am with Riceburner here to sell the tunic and buy a sword.
If you are talking about food, medical supplies and other life supporting products, that doesn’t constitute “stuff” in my opinion. That should be defended
“Stuff” is your TV, your sound system, items of that ilk. You can live without TV. Surprisingly people managed quite well for several thousands of years without TV.
Yes I was referring to stuff as the life giving life supporting things we will need in a world gone out of control for what ever reason , I could care less about the other things in life that people get caught up in. Thanks for your response.
The stuff your talking about is what will help keep my family alive and well when things go south. And as a Christian I am tasked by my Creator to defend my family. So yes, I would and will resist any attempt to take our “stuff” above and beyond what we would share as Christians. If that means using deadly force, so be it.
@Consco That’s a very good point. There’s nothing really more important than family. We have to define what we mean by “stuff”. Chuck makes a very good point. All the luxuries that we have today can be done without if we have to. They aren’t that important and can be repaired or replaced, if we want, when things get more or less back to normal. What does need to be defended, other than family, are the things that are necessary for our survival. The food. The water. Shelter. Heat. Hygiene products. Necessary medicines. Etc. The things that will help to ensure our survival in the face of an uncertain future. What I would suggest though, is that, if you have info stored on hard drives that you don’t want to lose fill the drive up with what you deem important and put those items in an EMP-proof container. Even a metal garbage can set up properly will do. And one small computer that’s able to access those drives. No matter what happens, or how it happens, a new civilization WILL spring forth from the ashes of the old and then knowledge will help to rebuild it. If you have important books that might come in handy for helping to rebuild then also find some way to secure those.
You might want to print hard copies of at least some of your computer-stored info. That way if (or when) your computer breaks down you will still have access. And it is easier to carry a loose-leaf binder out to your wheat field when you’re trying to repair your reaper.
Good point. But if you do have your drives and at least one very simple computer stashed away in an emp-proof container it will once again become useful when they eventually get the lights turned on again. And make no mistake about it. We will rebuild our civilization. Up to that point, yes, I entirely agree with you that hard copy is easier to deal with.
I love my books! My iPad not so much. A future without electricity we can survive with books of knowledge, not electronics in a copper trash can, lol. Not a tech kinda person, no offense,lol.
I am a christian, and I wouldn’t kill to keep my preps. It’s important to put supplies in different places. We can have house fires, petty theft, and probably a number of other reasons that aren’t coming to mind at the moment. I have to admit that I haven’t got to that yet. If martial law is declared, we’ll know before they come to our homes; that would be the time to relocate critical supplies if it hasn’t yet been done. Lets hope it never comes to that.
Thanks for your question.
I have an answer and it comes from my over 100 yr old Native Grandparents who didnt prep they lived it.
Learn to eat what the earth gives. If fro a Christ iani (Christ is in) look at John the Baptist. Lived in the desert and ate Locusts and honey.
You look at a desert and see death. As a child I learned what my G parents lived off of and I see food everywhere.
I walk with my som and point you use this for this you eat this you find water here. Take my food I will find more. Take my water I will find more. Why because I learned how to.
I used to go put and get food for my G parents when they would show me like I show my son today.
Jesus said “Look at the birds of the air. Neither do they reap nor do they sow yet they are fed.
Look at the flowers of the field not even Solomon wore a garment as beautiful.
The thing is learn what the Earth has to offer. Then you may share.
So this is the truth of what another posted about preparation. But widen your vision. Think what was ised before the production of food or clothing or mercantile and industrial revolution.
When you can drop your pack when you can make a knife axe from stone or a rope from yucca or bamboo and you no longer actually need produced things.
Then you will truly be prepared for anything.
It’s not our “stuff” we’re protecting; it’s our lives. That stuff is what we’ve collected and stored to keep ourselves alive. If someone steals your food supply he isn’t just taking possessions; he’s potentially condemning you to a slow and painful death by starvation.
Preppers should set up hidden caches, either around a bug-in site, and/or along the way to, and at, any bug-out site(s).
A well-prepared person likely has several sites and caches. A catastrophe which collapses your prepared cave’s ceiling shouldn’t be a death sentence unless you’re actually in that cave.
As for the ‘sword’ discussion below: fact that Iesous (his real Greek moniker) told his disciples that, if they didn’t already own a sword, they should even sell an outer garment (if necessary) so as to buy one. He wasn’t simply ensuring that a sword would be at hand at Gethsemane, but providing for a future in which he wouldn’t be available to protect Christians and their friends.
Now, his point wasn’t -and isn’t- to have weapons so as oppose ‘authority’. (Although that’s the way Geo. Washington and the Founders understood the matter.) The point is defense against nefarious private actors.
Opposing a cop gang or a squad of soldiers is a Mission Improbable. They’ll not only be certain that their behavior is correct (despite being murderously wrong) but they generally can call upon many more such thugs.
So, sadly, the rational person lays down his ‘sword’ and surrenders to Romans 13 ‘authority’. But when someone is breaking into a food store or climbing in a window, likely they should depart life via the edge of your ‘sword’.
The prudent man…and God’s protection.
When a few have told me I don’t have faith because I stockpile foods–I reply:
God didn’t make the ark for Noah. .
The Bible tells us to Submit ourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Many times evil flourishes and expands its borders in nations because those who recognize the evil do nothing about it. God says stealing is wrong. He says murder is wrong. He says adultery, idolatry, and many other things are wrong. When we don’t stand up and resist the evil right in front of us it is a cancer that slowly ruins nations. The Bible says righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to any people. We can’t allow our country to get to the point that South America is at right now. They are murdering white farm owners and the authorities are doing nothing. Their lands are being stolen from them and they are being kicked out by force. There is not a person who posts on this website who would not defend their home if a stranger forces their way in and wants to steal or harm. Why would it be any different in SHTF scenario? Resist the evil, don’t let it get to that. If people want to take my families food and leave us to starve then yes I will resist and use deadly force. You know, not everybody mentioned in the Bible were godly and did things right. Lot was Abraham’s nephew and raised his family in the sodom and Gomorrah area. God is going to destroy the towns for their wickedness. Nobody resisted the devil and it got really bad. God sends angels to warn them to get their family out the city is going to be desimated. A mob of perverted people heard these new men were in town and wanted to have their way with them. They wanted to rape them. Lot tries to tell them don’t do this, but they said give them to us or we will break in and take them by force and we will attack your family as well. So being a terrible dad that he was he offered his two daughters to the mob to do their sexual desires unto them. SAY WHAT??!! If we don’t resist things will get bad. We are not called by God to willingly lay over and allow evil to befall us. He tells us to resist it. This is a defensive posture. But don’t forget the first part, submit to Gods authority. I will resist people from raping my daughters, I will resist people from stealing life sustaining things we have labored for, I will resist people from wrongful acts because it is the right thing to do. This is why we ingage politically, and be a light for Christ to help stay the evil from advancing so hopefully it will never get to the physical resisting. I know this is totally against what most Christians have been taught about turning the other cheek and that persecution is coming we should just be ready to accept. Just supply the murderer with the weapon and willingly put your neck on the chopping block. Let’s be more willing to live for God instead of so ready to die.
You sound like a really good person, Wannabe, but it comes down to this.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
So much of the history of the struggle between good and evil can be explained by Edmund Burke’s observation. Time and again those who profess to be good seem to clearly outnumber those who are evil, yet those who are evil seem to prevail far too often. Seldom is it the numbers that determine the outcome, but whether those who claim to be good men are willing to stand up and fight for what they know to be right. There are numerous examples of this sad and awful scenario being played out over and over again in the scriptures.
If the time of troubles is ahead of us then the “good” men of this world will HAVE to learn to stand up and do what is necessary to protect their loved ones and their quality of life.
To Armin, sounds like we agree my friend
Yes, 100%, sir.
Well said, Wannabe, like I said in my comment above to Armin, I would have my preps at different locations, simply because it isn’t wise to put all your eggs in one basket. Better to lose a little rather than all.
However, I believe that taking the life of an aggressor to protect loved ones is justified.
love this. thank you
Excellent point made. Just to add … Joseph prepped as well. It was his planning (after God’s insught) that saved Egypt from 7 yrs of famine.
My biggest fears our that men, particularly white men, will refuse to grow up, all the while corporations rape & pillage the earth and set working class people here and around the world against each other to their advantage. Men need physical work & activity, craft, not office life. Without that men find themselves frustrated & lash out, unable to define themselves in the world. There is a reason that handcrafted materials are so often better, homegrown food healthier.
I fear yet more unhinged white men will shoot up schools & malls.
I fear a president who sells us out to a foreign nation, disrespects his wife and all women and cannot speak with any more clarity than a petulant six year old.
I fear people who think “left wing” people are the problem, or Mexicans, women or GLBT people -who, de facto, are not the ones shooting up schools, churches, workplaces or driving cars into crowds of people.
And there is no trouble with right wing speakers speaking- they just need to take the heat for what they say like grown ups. To speak, the left endured beatings, water hoses, attack dogs, bombs, prison. These complaining right wing “speakers” are wimps & whiners. No one rolled the red carpet out for the actual Free Speech Movement & young people were beaten for speaking out, fired, expelled and yet they fought on and made gains because treating people with equality, being against war, is a positive and healthy human endeavor. Supremacy is not.
We have a 40 hour work week and a weekend thanks to “the left” in this country, not to mention food labeling & considerable work safety measures.
I fear men who refuse to grow up.
…..and the Democratic Party who used slaves and still do. Imagine trying to pass your selves off as “progressive”? Perhaps a little bit of self aggrandizement here. Remember which party it was that was beating people for speaking out? I am old enough to remember that. The left endured no beatings at all. Democrats were of that party oppressed. Education is a wonderful thing if you open your mind to it. Your racist rant flows along with your apologist leanings. You are 100 percent correct in that almost all mass shooters are white males. BUT lets look at prison populations. Oh oh, no denying this either, non-whites are disproportionally represented. I have heard the excuses and they do not impress me at all. I have grown up through the “progressives” enslaving minorities with welfare. Hmmm.
Prepping is not for one side or the other. It’s not for the far right or the far left. It’s not for Christians or atheists or any other religion or faith or lack thereof.
Those who know that being prepared for anything are preppers. We are all here, a community of sorts, to prepare for disasters that hopefully will never happen. Please consider the whole community.
In the event of an EMP situation, I fully intend to band together with my neighbors to protect our neighborhood from outsiders who may to try to loot or worse. I fully intend to share resources if they are into that. I fully intend to share medical supplies, knowledge, recipes, seeds and more if necessary. I know for a fact that my neighbors and I differ greatly on political issues, and especially political candidates from every election since we’ve lived here. But in a SHTF situation, we’d all be in it together. Please remember that before jumping down each other’s throats in the comments here. We are all interested in being prepared, because we are all alarmed and or scared of what may happen in the future, because not everything is in our control. But our behavior toward each other is absolutely within our control.
It’s not a one side vs. the other side issue at all. It’s a people issue. It’s a human issue.
Well said!
Well said!
your words show wisdom…thank you
While I understand what your saying, I can’t agree. If I’m the only one in my neighborhood that is prepping I won’t have enough supplies to cover the 100 odd families around me. So I don’t plan on staying here. My group has a location where we will join up together and where the vast majority of our supplies are and where we can defend what we’ve spent many years and many, many dollars putting together. If refugees happen to come across our front gate, we will assist them to the best of our abilities with food and medical aid and then send them on their way. To try to cover an entire town or village with what is actually our limited supplies means we all starve together. Even the garden with what seeds someone may have put aside wouldn’t be enough to feed so many hungry mouths. That’s why we made the decision long ago to not put ourselves in that position.
Hi, GNP. While, as a fellow Canuck, I applaud your noble sentiments I fear that in a true extended grid-down situation your idealism could be viewed as naivete and could get you and your neighbours killed or worse. And I am not criticizing or judging you but I don’t think most of us can imagine how bad it might get if a true SHTF situation arises. If you live a bit out of the bigger cities, once the looters are finished with them they will turn their eyes to the agricultural hinterland surrounding the cities. They will have no choice unless they all become cannibals. Once the food is completely gone from the major centres the mass of the population will spread like locusts across the land raping and pillaging and stealing whatever they can to survive. They will band together in gangs to survive and that will be very difficult to defend against. In any siege situation the advantage is always with the aggressor. They will wear you down bit by bit over time. I have to laugh at the notion of all the very rich secreting themselves in their hidden bunkers to wait out the end of the hostilities. What is there going to be for them to come back to? And if the attackers are determined enough their bunkers are going to be peeled back like so many sardine cans and the insides scooped out for good eatin’. LOL! If we’re talking bible stuff somewhere in there it says something like that no one can hide in caves or things like that if the worst comes to pass. I can see your idea working if you get together with ALL your neighbours before our worst nightmares come to pass and getting EVERYONE in your neighbourhood to start prepping now if they already haven’t done so. And you all have to be of like mind with a self-sufficient survivalist mindset. Everyone needs to have some farming or hunting skills and EVERYONE needs to be armed. AS long as they ALL understand it’s for the common good. Everyone has to bring their own particular skillset to the table and be prepared to work very hard to supplement the dwindling original food supply without the weekly virgin sacrifice. LOL! But that is also fraught with danger if there are laggards that refuse to prep and then they of course know who has supplies stashed away. There is no easy answer. Again, I’m not criticizing. You have to do what you think is right. I’m just trying to open your eyes as to what the reality of the situation may become. As bad as most of us think that things can get I don’t think most of us realize that whatever we can imagine the reality would be a 100 times worse. Under the right circumstances people can succumb to true evil and unfortunately too many people have watched shows like “The Walking Dead” giving them many “good” ideas as to what to do to survive. Unless you have a warehouse full of food and water stashed away you have no chance of even saving a small percentage of your neighbours. And once the easy food and water is gone there is a very good chance of them turning on you. As horrible as it sounds, once the food is gone, then starving people need to be treated like rabid dogs or they WILL pull YOU under and then all your effort is for naught. The only real solution I see is to try and move to a small community where the people are already used to being self-sufficient and settling there until some kind of order is restored. I live on a small crescent in what is still a fairly small town and my neighbours are the best. At the moment! LOL! It’s like a small community within a community. Maybe 200 houses. You do the math as to how many people. I have no hope in hell trying to save as many people as I can with the meager supplies I have managed to put away. As far as I can tell no one here is prepping or has fruit trees in their back yards or any thoughts for the future. And of course no one here knows what I’m doing. As far as they’re concerned I’m a poor, dumb, harmless old man. That suits me fine. I’ll leave you with one last story and it surprised the heck out of me. Came across a video on YouTube and there were three young men. Maybe mid 20’s. Not in any particular good or bad shape. Summertime. They wanted to see how far they could walk in 24 hours starting from the very bottom of Yonge street right by the lake. In 24 hours those sons of a bitches made it all the way up to Barrie. Didn’t think it could be done that quickly. The point being that once the people in the major centres like Toronto run out of food they will start to head north. And we’re talking millions of people. Once that happens the people north of the major centres will be in deep, deep shit. Hope we all have a lot of a ammo. I know that I’m going to get blasted for these comments but that can’t be helped. And I’m also sorry that I think so little of human nature but in a true disaster scenario events will play out quite differently as compared to the many sanitized versions that Hollywood loves to portray. As I say there is no easy answer or no easy solution and when the time comes many very difficult decisions will HAVE to made. OldNamVet has seen the reality of combat and what he proposes makes much more sense to me. Show whatever compassion you can to those refugees that come to your door but then very politely but firmly send them on their way and make sure that they understand this is a one time deal. When the time comes we will all be forced to become hard as diamonds while still retaining some semblance of our humanity. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Consco- I have edited hundreds of hours of interviews with Free Speech participants and the photos & footage taken during the incidents. You need a history lesson.
We do not have a democracy in the U.S., we have a Capitalism. We can be played, but in the end it is all about money.
I have seen with my own eyes white men (I am white) let off while black or brown folks were put in prison for doing less. Private prisons have their lobbies intended to fill those prisons. This last fellow in Florida who murdered 17 was let off over & over.
The Democrats are no champions of fighting corporate malfeasance, either.
I repeat: white men need to grow up. They people screwing you are your own kind & you are being played to achieve their ends.
When the SHTF it will not discriminate whether the person being radiated or poisoned is one race or another.
If you follow the media against white men, look at your own minority and the intercity, never grow up, run drugs, very little education, little if any working, gangs are cool. Look at yourself and think of the ignorance you just wrote. Follow the left like a lemming and you will never improve yourself.
rlb- Have you visited an urban school and seen what they have to work with in resources compared to wealthier schools? In the cities, real estate pimps rule and have all the power. Schools suffer. The media only ever shows the students & people after they have been driven from their houses by gentrification & lay-off’s. The corporations are the problem.
To think that inner city life is all as you describe- that is as bad as the insulting way people adopt a southern accent to denote that someone is backwards, or think that all blue collar workers are stupid or insensitive. You are buying into corporate media memes.
JJ: You might find the following post by a Los Angeles, CA, Unified School District teacher edifying:
“Title-1 schools are on the free-breakfast and free-lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I’m not talking about a glass of milk and a roll. But a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make the Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten. (Our tax dollars at work!)
“I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids. (More of our tax dollars at work!)
“I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department, or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything. My budget was already substantial, but I ended up buying new computers for the Computer Learning Center, half of which, one month later, were carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America. (More and more of our tax dollars at work!)”
In addition, LAUSD purchased Apple laptops for every student in the district. The dollar amount was enormous. With six month more than half of the computers had been “lost”.
Bravo! I fear your comment will fall on blind eyes here, but your view is shared by the majority of thinking Patriots.
Melania, I’m not sure whose comment you’re replying to. The original comment by JJ or one of the many replies.
I’m quite sure the majority of thinking Patriots (in a survival situation, societal breakdown or other massive crisis) will help those in their close circle, regardless of personal beliefs and political differences (because those won’t matter in a SHTF situation).
“If we can’t live together, we’re gonna die alone.”
Finally something other than right wing sound bites. There are a lot of us out here that are concerned about survival and where our country is going that DO NOT buy into the baloney that is saying that liberals/progressives are the source of our problems. Yes, people on the left were beaten, imprisoned, and harassed for their beliefs. And yes, there are intolerant jackasses on the left, but the amount of violence, intimidation, denial of rights, and harassment coming from the right far outweighs any other source. I do not care about party labels-right wing democrats in the first 2/3 of the 20th century were responsible for much of the above.Look at the history that does not get taught-Rosewood, Tulsa, Southern Arkansas, and the thousands of lynchings that occurred. These were not done by progressives/liberals. Research history, read about our history, learn what really went on. Then proceed with making survival plans that are positive for our future.
Thank you, PR.
‘White’ men as the prime irresponsible protagonists in your racialist rant? Wow.
An urbanizing America, featuring females of color (and increasing numbers of tattooed and pierced ‘white’ females too) who are ‘married’ to government, yet who individually sleep around with irresponsible males, so as to qualify for welfare. That’s the reality, not some collective ‘white’ guilt.
The basal problem is socialism, because it seeks (among other things) to infantilize _everyone_ it rules. Every independence is discouraged or even suppressed, except those fictitious ‘freedoms’ which are in truth libertinism.
What evidences the juvenile is a propensity to blame all problems on others.
I agree, Enigma. What is wrong with our society isn’t a racial issue so much as it’s a socio-economic issue. Being presented as a predominantly racial/political/Republican/Democratic issue is done to drive us as a people further apart. Why? Because “a house divided against itself cannot stand” and by bringing down the Republic the ‘left’ can fill the resulting vacuum. By keeping us from communicating with each other we cannot unite with each other to drive the snakes out of D.C. By labeling all Trump voting Republicans as vile, rascist, sexist, gun-totin’, tobbaccy-chewin’, n!@@€£-lynchin’ assholes, the left leaning elitists are selectively expunging the Democratic record of rascism (tell that to Medgar Evars BTW), and laying all the blame for 400 years of treating other humans like crap at the feet of the political party of Lincoln. By exacerbating and then playing off of white man’s guilt the dems have nicely set up the foundations for another power grab and a future where race riots are normal, the police are evil, sick maniacs, every person of color is an innocent merely striving to right the wrongs of society, and every white person is a racist at heart who longs to put our brethren of color back in chains. Then along comes whomever and everything will be peaches and cream for those in the elite of the ruling party. If any of this sounded vaguely familiar its because these are the same tactics used by the Nazis and by the communists. And we all know how that turned out.
One thing is certain; whatever misdeeds the American Right today is accused about will have first been enacted -for decades- by the American Left.
Often folk of the Right are left amazed, stunned, and nonplussed by an unAmerican Left accusing them of the Left’s very own prior atrocities and chicanes in politics, Academe, and elsewhere.
It wasn’t Bible-thumping conservatives who perpetrated racial atrocities between 1830 and 1970, but instead members of the Democratic Party. Which DP had justly been styled as the Demonic Party in another place.
Fact is, Bible-waving folk were more often opposed to chattel slavery and other wrongs – abolitionism arose from churches. Foregoing isn’t to whitewash nominal conservatives, whose numbers have contained the likes of greedy, exploitative, and murderous land, cattle, railroad, and mining ‘barons’, the likes of those who overran and murdered (for their lands) aboriginal tribes, and who today are arrant hypocrites, like those neo-cons and RINOs.
It can be said with confidence that if ever conservatives cause problems, it’s because they’ve been compromising with and imitating leftists. As with that recent Omnibus ‘Budget’.
Yet the lesson of history is that the Left of any age is the more cruel and murderous, indeed purposefully mind-destroying and genocidal. They are Satan’s children, for they use clever and not-so-clever lies to steal earnings, and assets -and consequent power- just as he has.
Not completing our house in time for something terrible that goes wrong and being 1800 miles away from it due to work.
Sometimes one must ‘roll the dice’. Without necessary earnings and assets – harder to prepare.
Yet, all work and no play makes Jack a depressed boy.
Interesting article but do not Prep because of fear. Prep because things happen and you need to protect yourself from disruption. For example, the food supply chain is getting tighter, there used to be 3 days worth of food in grocery stores but now major grocery chains like Whole Foods no longer have stock in the back of the store (inventory is delivered straight to the shelves). With less than one days worth of food in grocery stores, you must already have food storage or go hungry. So, be prepared instead of fearing disruption.
Fear is a natural response to some of the potential threats we face. Show me someone that isn’t afraid of the chaos a real SHTF situation would bring, and you’re not pointing at a brave man; you’re pointing at a madman. Fear is our brain’s way of telling us there’s danger. What matters is whether you face it or break. Prepping is facing it.
@Donovan —
Thank you for showing some legitimate fears, not the hyped-up ones like this website keeps trying to force as real.
I don’t think a concern over an EMP attack or even a full scale nuclear attack is a necessarily hyped up concern. Is there a question in your mind that Iran’s ayatollahs have animosity toward the U.S.? I don’t consider whether it is justified or unjustified, just that they have considerable animosity and that they possess nuclear weapons.
Is there any question in your mind that North Korea’s supreme leader is at least a little weird and that he also possesses nuclear weapons?
Is there any question in your mind that one of the goals of the ISIS organization is to obtain nuclear weapons by any means and use that weapon to control the world via their distorted religion?
Is there any question in your mind that the biggest weakness of the United States is its dependance on electricity and the defenseless condition of the electric grid that distributes that electricity?
I won’t bother to touch on disease entities that can be spread all too easily via air transportation together with the the lack of screening of visitors from other countries.
Each of us has personal fears. It might be poor health. It might be a precarious job situation. There are a great number of individual calamities that can befall us, however, the fact that you have just been fired from your job, while I am concerned as I would be for anybody who has lost employment through no fault of his own, it doesn’t affect me. It doesn’t affect my neighborhood. It doesn’t affect the distribution of food and utilities.
Of course, each of us should prepare for poor health, loss of job, loss of home due to local conditions, but you have support systems in place for localized problems. The area where I live was burned out four months ago. Over 1,000 homes were either destroyed or damaged. People have moved on. Reconstruction has started. Road are being cleared of mud and debris. We may have more local devastation, but it won’t affect 99.99% of the folks reading this post. An atomic attack, an EMP attack, a CME burst from the sun over a widespread area, a 1918 type of flu epidemic, all of those things will affect 99.99% of those reading this post. I don’t think those are bogus in the least nor hype just to get readers on this list. I sincerely hope that you re-consider your position that they are just hype to get readership.
I think that one reason we focus on the big national disasters is that it’s somehow easier for some people to deal with something impersonal that affects everyone. If you focus on your own personal shtf situation, like your spouse dying and leaving you with a mortgage you can’t pay by yourself, it can be too emotionally difficult to clearly assess your preparedness and your needs. Far pleasanter to contemplate slaying dragons than the bear in your back yard.
That’s a legit list that everyone should use as a template for preparations. Any/all could happen at any time and with little notice.
The EMP/grid down threat has been our biggest concern and the primary focus of our preparedness plan. Learning to live without electricity, or at least practicing from time to time exposes the weaknesses in planning. We get our water from a well, so we plan to use an Emergency Well Tube (www.emergencywelltube.com) if we lose electrical service. We also have manual kitchen appliances and other hand tools to fill-in for the corded ones should the need arise.
Having a plan and practicing for a crisis have helped up us to at least feel more prepared though none of us will know for sure until the day comes.
Let’s not forget the Sun. A massive CME would kill worldwide.
Yes, a really big CME would basically be EMP on a global scale. It wouldn’t kill anyone directly, but the damage it did to infrastructure would cause a massive death toll. Luckily, if you’re geared up to survive EMP you’re well placed to ride out the aftermath of a CME too.
My biggest fear is knowing that a survival / disaster expert has a fear of having to survive a disaster.
ROFLMAO!
What does that mean?
@Hacksaw. Don’t most of us have a fear of the unknown no matter how well we think we’re prepared?
“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” FDR
Much of what has been said I agree with. What I do take exception is that many think that an EMP Pulse at this point in time would be somehow less devastating then a nuclear attack. A Nuclear attack kills rapidly initially and then other problems would cause a die off. An EMP Blast would not kill masses but it would be equally devastating as all infrastructure fails and mass starvation, lack of resources would have the same effect. Read the Book 1 Second After and it illustrates how bad things could really be. I am not minimizing the devastation of a Nuclear Bomb. I am pointing out that the impact woult probably be close to the same.
No, an EMP would be much less devastating than a nuclear attack. With a major nuclear strike you’d get the EMP as well, because every weapon would create a localized pulse. Then on top of that you’d have the physical destruction, potential climate effects, and of course radiation. I’d be much happier learning to live without electronics than riding out the fallout.
Hi Preppers,
You haven’t mentioned the extreme weather cascading upon us. 3 Noreasters in 3 weeks, feet upon feet of snow, tornadoes and flooding; not to mention crop loss for this growing season. Some trees have to be replaced, so no crop for 3 to 5 years.
Actually, the weather is just one factor. We are in free falling into a Grand Solar Minimum, some say even an Ice Age. 1/3 of our population will parish.
A GSM is when the sun literally goes to sleep giving us less heat and disrupting earth’s magnetosphere. Hence the weird fires, (Caused by extreme heat then plasma lightning.) and storms.
2018 will have weather twice as bad as 2017. 2019 will have weather 4 times as bad as 2017. 2020 will have weather 6 times as bad as 2017.
See a pattern here? We are in for Great Ride.
Better get ready.
Need more info:: Start Here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLFHgccaJRA&t=236s
@Loonejack That WAS strange weather, wasn’t it. One storm after the other after the other. No relief for those poor people. Good idea not to live on the east coast. There are some saying that we are overdue for an Ice Age and that it could be here in the next decade or so but does any one REALLY know. It really does come down to speculation. There was a mini ice age in Europe from about the 16th to the 19th centuries. They’re not quite sure about the exact times. There were three particularly cold intervals: one beginning about 1650, another about 1770, and the last in 1850, all separated by intervals of slight warming. Everything goes in cycles, especially the sun, and if we do experience a true ice age then we’ll just have to deal with it. I would think in a situation like that people would come together for mutual survival.
There wasn’t much weather tracking prior to the late 19th century. Certainly, some individuals kept track of the weather as best they could locally, but it wasn’t organized into a regional or national scale perhaps until the mid 20th century. I am reading about the great desolation of the 1930s in the Eastern Colorado, Western Kansas, Oklahoma panhandle, North Texas area and even in the 1930s weather tracking was at best primitive. Dust storms came as big a surprise to the weather bureaus of the region as it did to the farmer on the ground.
One can infer from commentary in newspapers and writings of folks commenting on the current scene that weather was bad. I can remember folks still talking about the winter of ’88 when I was a kid. I do believe as a personal belief that war creates world wide different weather patterns. I believe it is due to the smoke and dust thrown into the air by shelling, now also bombing, and fires that create some temporary misalignment in world weather patterns. I know from personal observation in the desert that contrails can affect the temperature on the ground locally.
From accounts I have read when the Romans invaded England they planted vineyards that flourished and provided wine, so England at that time must have been a little warmer than it is now. Just before the great plague in the 9th century there was a long period of cold and very heavy rain in Europe. I’m talking about years of cold and heavy rain. When the plague hit, the author of the book theorized that the population was already in a debilitated state due to the lack of food from the decades of adverse weather and that at least partially accounted for the lethality of the black plague. I was always under the impression that there was only one episode of plague sweeping Europe but I was very incorrect in that impression. There were several episodes of plagues, some centuries apart from others. In an EOTW situation, rats and other vermin will be common and we could well have another world wide plague, limited only by the movement of people and rats.
That’s why Hacksaw’s comment about a survival expert fearing surviving a disaster is true to the mark. You have a choice: starving to death; dying of radiation poisoning; dying of plague. Or living an early 19th century lifestyle without any of the life skills that were common at that time nor the support structure that civilization provided then.
I’m glad I’m old. My exposure is limited.
Hi Chuck. Another book you might find interesting is “The Third Horseman – Climate Change and The Great Famine of The 14th Century” by William Rosen. There was a period of global cooling that led to massive crop failures, famine and an outbreak of bubonic plague combined with warfare that killed one eighth of Europe’s population. Depressing as hell but very interesting as it shows how all of these things are interrelated.
Thanks. I will check it out.
Hi Left Coast Chuck,
I take it by Your old remark that You have some knowledge of the old skills. How are You passing them along?
Read the book “Lights Out” and you will get a sense of what could happen.
There are a lot of us out here that are concerned about survival and where our country is going that DO NOT buy into the baloney that is saying that liberals/progressives are the source of our problems. Yes, people on the left were beaten, imprisoned, and harassed for their beliefs. And yes, there are intolerant jackasses on the left, but the amount of violence, intimidation, denial of rights, and harassment coming from the right far outweighs any other source. I do not care about party labels-right wing democrats in the first 2/3 of the 20th century were responsible for much of the above.Look at the history that does not get taught-Rosewood, Tulsa, Southern Arkansas, and the thousands of lynchings that occurred. These were not done by progressives/liberals. Research history, read about our history, learn what really went on. Then proceed with making survival plans that are positive for our future. It would be nice to read the many good ideas on here without the political BS.
You posted this message two times. Once was certainly enough. One should not talk about posting political b.s. when one posts the identical political comments two times.
Just for you to consider, the South was mostly Democratic in political leanings. There were not thousands of lynchings. One is too many, but they never reached thousands. The lynchings in northern cities at the beginning of the 20th century generally were by working class individuals. The Democrats have always prided themselves on the support they got from the unionized working class. If you remember, although I doubt it, your politics from the 1950s and early 60s, it was the Dixicrats, Democrats from the southern states that blocked civil rights legislation and filibustered against civil rights bills in Congress. Although I am not a religious person, there is a lot of good advice in the bible. I think one passage applies here: “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” Both parties have bloody hands. Neither party can castigate the other for sins of omission or commission.
This whole discussion was started by JJ who attempted to blame the evils of today on WHITE men who had not matured. Of course, it is immature white men who have abandoned their families. It is immature white men who have dropped out of school and then complain because they can’t get jobs. It is white men who populate the jails and penitentiaries of the country with more of their population than any other race.
Another quote I like from William Shakespeare, a line from Julius Caesar, Cassius to Brutus,”The fault, Dear Brutus, lies not in our stars but in ourselves.”
If you have problems, look in the mirror, don’t look elsewhere. If your life sucks, look in the mirror.
That’s good advice, Chuck. You’re a smart cookie, cricket. LOL!
I apologize for posting twice, I do not reply on these forums very often and am not quite sure how I did that. However,I did not and do not absolve any party from blame. Right wing repression knows no party, the thousands of lynchings were not done by democrats or republicans, they were done by white men afraid of losing their power. The murders and mass killings in the places I listed were done by whites afraid of losing the power and privilege they had accumulated.
And, by the way, I am a white male and have voted republican far more that democrat in the elections I have participated in since 1970.
I will try to post this only once.
Hmm,, PR,
I wonder what this has to do with preparing for a SHFT. If White people might have lynched someone; that was by a small group of idiots a while ago.
My question to You and everyone.. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TODAY?? Comments such as Yours only get us off of the subject.
Even a little planning and study can go a long way.
SHFT won’t come and ask if You are a rightwinger or leftwinger. If You ain’t prepared, You die and those around You will parish along with You.
Get ready folks, HERE IT COMES, READY OR NOT….
PR, are you trying to say that because some lynchings occurred in the USA between circa 1865 and 1965, that the practice may get renewed during an enduring crisis?
Lynching is a terrorist ploy, like the beheadings Daesh committed in West Asia and like those usual practices of the Zionist infestation in Palestine. During the latter 1800s, wealthier ranchers also used lynching in efforts to frighten off sheepherders and would-be farmers. ‘Law enforcement’ (irregular ‘sheriffs’ and ‘regulators’) also got co-opted.
Aside from cases like Daesh, lynching and exemplary killings are tools of an ‘establishment’. Leaders of such an establishment rarely involve selves directly; instead they tend to incite and recruit marginal members of a community. Freely-flowing alcohol -supplied ‘magically’- also historically a feature of such events.
Anyway, in a general crisis only organized communities are likely to practice formal kinds of ‘execution’ or exiling. For North American urbs, formal reorganizing is initially unlikely; as with the failing Roman Empire, people will attempt to maintain prior forms until it’s clear that those require much more than that which is locally available (ie., records, ‘honest’ record-keeping, knowledge, skills, imported or difficult materials…).
For any enduring crisis, our real problems will be much more urgent and lethal than any worries about lynchings.
Not to mention the “year without a summer” that happened after the eruption of Mt. Tambora in the Dutch East Indies in 1815. The resulting ash and smoke plume blocked the sun enough to lower the average temperatures only by a few degrees. It was enough to trigger famines in North America and Europe for several years until temperatures gradually normalized. If the Yellowstone caldera erupts the smoke and ash would block the sun much as would a nuclear winter and would trigger even worse famines and suffering from people trying to cope with minimum if any infrastructure for heat, water, medical, etc. just for the simple reason that we’ve got way more people now and more of us live in urban areas.
As for all of the political rhetoric, as far as I’m concerned both parties are riddled with selfish, self-serving and crooked bums who care nothing for this country or their constituents. They seek only to keep US divided and fighting each other so we’re distracted from their stripping us of our rights, our liberties, and our property. Read 1984 for a glimpse at our future.
Very, very well said MissKitty. You’ve reminded me of some of the natural disasters that have happened which did have a direct effect on us. The Yellowstone Caldera is a real worry but what can we really do about a potential disaster of that magnitude. That would almost be a planet killer. And I do agree 100% with you about “THEM” trying to keep “US” distracted and divided. Hegelian tactics. Bread and circuses. Cause and affect. Then solution. Cause the problem and then miraculously provide the solution. Orwell may have had it pretty much correct but I don’t think even he realized how really bad it could get. Even in recent memory I recall the Iceland volcano disrupting air travel and that was a very small event. Some of the other ones that effected the climate were Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines which dropped global temps for 2 or 3 years. The 1883 explosion of Krakatoa. That was not that long ago. The four years following the explosion were unusually cold, and the winter of 1887-1888 included powerful blizzards. Record snowfalls were recorded worldwide. You mentioned Tambora in 1815. It produced mid-summer frosts in New York State and June snowfalls in New England, Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1600, the Huaynaputina in Peru erupted. Tree ring studies show that 1601 was cold. Russia had its worst famine in 1601-1603. From 1600 to 1602, Switzerland, Latvia and Estonia had exceptionally cold winters. The wine harvest was late in 1601 in France, and in Peru and Germany, wine production collapsed. Peach trees bloomed late in China, and Lake Suwa in Japan froze early. These are just some of the worst volcanic events and if people are interested they can go to wikipedia and look it up themselves. For me the point of this is that the global weather system is rather fragile and delicate and doesn’t take all that much to disrupt it. I’m sure the “planners” have taken this into account before they start throwing a whole bunch of nukes around and stirring up so much dust that we have an extended nuclear winter. Unless their plan IS to try and get rid of as many of us as they can in one fell swoop. I’ve heard figures of 500 million bandied about as the ideal population limit for this planet but as I can’t get anyone to confirm, who knows. The best that any of us can do is to be as well prepared for the potential disasters that we CAN deal with.
If a mass population reduction is being plotted, nuclear war is unnecessary and unnecessarily wasteful.
All that’s needed to markedly reduce human populations is a high-latency (artificial) form of a hemorrhagic fever. Llassa, Ebola, Marburg, etc., but with a 3- or 4-day period before an infected person shows any symptoms. By the time of a Patient Zero detection, it’s all around the planet via airliners.
Or rusts which affect grain crops. Once read a SciFi novel in which an aggrieved (with reason) Palestinian scientist created a mutant fungus which prevented wheat from producing seed heads.
Worldwide famines. That’s how Stalin and Mao murdered so many 10s of millions – induced famines.
It’s now May 20th. Ebola just reared it’s ugly head again this past couple of weeks (at least as far as msm is concerned, I think its been ramping up again for the last month). They’re saying its hitting more urban populations than last time. But Stormy and Russia-gate are apparently more news worthy than people dying half a world away. Sad commentary on U.S. priorities.
I think we’ll weather the domestic problems – 2018 will be even tumultuous than the last couple …
The Middle East “relief valve” has been tied down too long and don’t see that current situation lasting thru the year …
You may actually be right, Illini Warrior. There’s something very strange going on with people. They seem to becoming more violent and destructive and I really don’t know what the cause is. Just this morning on the news I heard that another package exploded. I think it was in a UPS depot somewhere in the States. Apparently two people were killed and a number injured. I don’t know what people are thinking when they commit these kinds of atrocities. And we’re still supposed to be living in the “good times”. What’s going to happen when you deprive people of their creature comforts and have them starving at the same time. I shudder at the possibilities. I hope to god you’re wrong about 2018.
Increasing acts of mass violence: may have to do with the medicating of America. Antidepressants which actually cause depression, it alternating with frenetic rage episodes.
Prior generations were never so synthetically drugged as the latest ones. Nor before were there mysterious ‘cides (pesticide, fungicide…) in human diets.
Nor before were salad greens soaked in preparations designed to suppress wilting and browning. Nor before were there any GMO ‘foods’. Nor were food animals put into cramped feedlots, fed GMO substances, and injected with hormones and antibiotics.
Just In Time Inventory systems and urbanization, and the constant immorality of abortion, all put pressure on people, whether or not they consciously realize such psychic pressures.
I feel so lost here….smart meters being forced on your house, then they catch fire and the insurance co. refuses to cover, they also emit radiation 24/7 at a much higher frequency that first reported (Watch “Take Back Your Power, by Josh Del Sol–excellent info on these cancer causing devices), the fracking ruining our water, the greedy corporate “health” system with their outrageous prices for meds that then maker you sicker, the chemicals in our food,air,water,environment, the ‘me me’people, —with their huge egos & the ‘hell with everybody else’ attitude that you encounter with almost everyone you meet anymore, 1/2 the country is gonna be doped up on pot & too stupid to be of any real help when the SHTF, the other half—well, they will need their anxiety meds and as soon as they run out, will be frozen in fear and mental cloudiness and start to go off the deep end in short order….. what the hell is going on anymore??? 5G is going up everywhere—the electric & phone companies want to blanket the universe with this shit & it’s been proven that all this crap is eroding your brain cells at an alarming clip, not to mention disrupting blood chemistry and your DNA, but do people listen??? Politicians, government, cops, lawyers, doctors, clergy, teachers we are supposed to trust them, but just look at the news……. every day there’s something. Who do you trust anymore?? Who do you believe? The powers that be, screaming take “God” out of schools, take him off money, everybody bitching if you say “Merry Christmas’— but yet we, (the United States), were founded on a Christian principal…..so much filth, disrespect, evil, hatred—all over the world anymore. It’s so sad….. what man has become. We are poisoning the well of our own offspring, a million times over…….
Hey, Possum. The only thing we can do about the evils of this world is to pray for a speedy return of the Lord and in the meantime try to live our lives as well as we can – to try to not contribute to the insanity and misery going on around us but at the same time to not allow ourselves to be marginalized or taken advantage of. And to try not to freak out, which is difficult because it’s hard to not want to choke some of the awful, truly despicable people that we have to share planet space with. But that’s why we have a living God Who came down here in the first place. He had to deal with worse than most of us have to and will help us deal if we ask Him. Faith is an important survival tool we haven’t discussed much. It gives you hope, and without hope you won’t survive anything. You may continue to exist, but you won’t be living.
Yes, that is true. Many years ago I was all into reading tarot cards, reading palms and crap like that. I relied mostly on my wit & street smarts, mainly because I have always been a loner most of my adult life, just me & the animals. About 10 or so years ago, I started praying, sporadically at first, then everyday, just because I could see that I was no longer in control of things, even though I worked like mad to ‘fix’ my environment/job/health life, etc…. I was trying to ‘will’ things to happen, just by sheer determination, but I just couldn’t do it alone anymore….. It is still hard, some days. You try to do the right thing, speak “up” speak “out”, protect the weak, old, infirm, nurture the environment and all it’s beautiful creatures, & and at the same time keep your ego in check….
I think everyone will come to a dead halt soon, then the face to face reckoning will begin….
After reading the latest posts I get the feeling that when the SHTF time comes nothing will change for the better. FOX HEADS on the right against the CNN-ERS a tad to the left. Prep for yourself and anyone else that will help. Most importantly, try not to let your heart turn cold to those truly in need. After all, we all have a finate shelf life. Stay true to your morale core and God bless
“.. a tad to the left.”?
What fairy-tale cosmos in which do you live? The Communist Narrative Network is stalking all historical American freedoms in its plot to destroy them.
No stake in FOX either – so many neo-cons, RINOs, and sell-out Zionists.
There’s a prophesied Judgement.
Karma is expressed by Newton’s Second Law.
Just a video for your entertainment, touches many issues……
https://www.facebook.com/JakeMHoffman/videos/1601068473347282/
well worth the viewing
A Dune protagonist said it well: Fear is the mind-killer.
As soon as you identify a fear, seek ways to deal with it. If there can’t be any rational ways of ending a fear, stop considering it.
Food for thought.
I’m cutting trees around 18″ plus at the base. 32 growth rings. I helped ‘re purpose an old house that was in the woods. One of the original settler log homes. Land was deeded by Andrew Jackson, south Arkansas. I have a log sill that is 9″ in diameter, 89 growth rings, maybe more. Both trees here are pine, 1/4 mile apart. Something must have been different back then.
89 rings versus 32: 9″ log grew in a colder-drier environment. May also be a different variety?
Humanity has been messing seriously with plant genetics during past 100+ years, ie., selecting for trees which can be ‘cropped’ as if food plants. Also guessing that the 9″ log is far denser and harder than 18″ one.
Andrew Jackson is a vile genocide. Not a shred of Christianity in his behaviors. Caused, and presided over, a series of massacres of Indian women and children, and arranged a series of ethnic cleansings now styled Trails of Tears.
His actions also promoted and expanded chattel slavery by robbing and selling Indian lands, which then got used to establish and expand cotton plantations. If there’s a Hell, Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and a crowd of complicit presidents and Congress-critters should burn there forever.
Davy Crockett opposed Jackson for very good reasons.
That settlers son in law was a Colonel that had a lot to do with the trail of tears. Jackson gave him 10,000 acres here when it was over. The dog buried in the cemetery was given by Jackson. Found a tomahawk hid behind the stairs. It was a simple house but had a stairway up to the attic. Just simple open framed steps. Also a set of clinchers still worked like New. Square nails, drilled holes and whittled pegs, mortice and tenon joints, hand hewn logs. Up on boulder rocks, no bricks or concrete. There are two more old ones i found in the woods that you can walk under. Chimney on each end. One has a separate log cookhouse with a large wide rock chimney for cooking. Lot to be learned there.
Americans get taught there was a single Trail, only implemented against the Cherokee, but there were multiple Trails of Tears imposed on several Southern and mid-Western Indian tribes. Basically, any aboriginal group living on land, or above resources, coveted by Euro-whatevers (violating the 10th Commandment) got ejected and ethnically ‘cleansed’. Many robberies, rapes and murders committed against them during those atrocities. Very like what’s done to Palestinians (between 1946 and today) by Zionists, to Tibetans by communists, and now to the Rohingya (NW Burma) by nominal ‘Buddhists’.
False ‘patriots’ proclaim that the USA is an ‘exceptional country’. It is – in this respect, its rulers and most of its people have violated every moral precept they hypocritically espoused. A comparably immoral people (ignoring the Mosaic Law) were/are the Israelites, due their idolatries, child sacrifices, and other gross atrocities.
One reason cookhouses often separated aforetime from main abodes was the frequency of escaped cooking fires. Not everyone knew/knows how to build a proper chimney, and people do stupid-expedient things to simply get smoke out.
Using resinous woods (such as pine) for interior heating and cooking fires a very bad idea. As smoke cools on its way up a chimney, flammable resins accumulate in chimney flue(s). Eventually, months or years later. when someone builds another fire (say, during a cold Winter night), those resins ignite, and you have an upside-down solid-fuel rocket engine. Flame may gush sideways out of cracks in chimneys, igniting an entire abode.
In re prior construction methods, wrought iron once was expensive. Mostly wealthy folk deployed it to proclaim their economic status. Ordinary and careful folk used mortise & tenon joins secured by wooden pegs. For many articles indeed, including furniture, which had an advantage in that such could be disassembled for transport.
Enigma, your constant harping about the “Zionists” is really obnoxious! Regardless of what you’ve heard, the Jews (or Zionists, or Hebrews or whatever you choose to call them) are NOT singlehandedly responsible for the ills of the world! Neither is Trump, neo-cons, whites, blacks, the left, the right, the middle, Russia, China, North Korea, the USA, etc.,etc.,etc. There’s plenty of culpability to go around, so fix the problem, not the blame! Same goes for you too JJ, with your “white man’s guilt”. Unless you personally are guilty of racist actions/remarks in the past and this is your way of attoneing please stop blaming white conservatives for the inner city blight. And actually, slavery is alive and well. Undocumented workers who have been encouraged to come here with lies are forced to work for sub-standard wages because they can’t get real jobs because they’re illegal. And a LOT are in Calfornia where there are sanctuary cities and also big agro. What a coincidence! And many poor minority youths can’t find jobs so they sell drugs to other poor minorities who get arrested and go to jails which are big businesses, often the biggest employers in urban areas. Then when they get out they can’t find work, so they wind up on the dole ( also big business), start slinging again and on and on. Have you never noticed that the kids killed by “accident” in the random drive by are ALWAYS nice, bright kids who had a real future ahead of them? They would have broken out of the cycle of poverty and desperation and probably been able to help others do the same which would have messed up the local economy if enough people got on board. That would also adversely affect the local politicians who depend on a subjugated constituency for voting blocs and the all important base. They fulfill just enough of their election promises to lull their base into thinking that things will actually change for the better, then they start sneaking their actual agenda through. Don’t get sucked into this blame game b.s. ! Put the blame where it belongs – big business, big government and human greed.
Zionism is one of the causes of current West Asian, and American political, problems.Your ‘representatives’ have sold out Americans (and other populations) for political contributions (and actual bribes). The annual many billions given to the Zionists have gotten used and recycled to skew behaviors and matters. Not least among candidates and your putative representatives.
Zionism has caused serious problems as far away from West Asia as Indonesia and Malaysia. (Those countries house the majority of Muslims.) Which situation in turn partly causes divergent and dangerous behaviors everywhere.
Don’t conflate Jew with Zionist; the majority of Zionists are nominally Christian, which negatively affects American elections and foreign policy. Orthodox Jews in majority oppose an ‘Israel’, but that fact gets rarely reported.
In order to deal effectively with problems, we should (must?) understand their origins. American voters must appreciate the origins of how such things as ‘sanctuary’ states and cities, and vast population movements, came to be.
Likely with y’all, I decry materialism and hedonism, which are the basal causes of humanity’s bad behaviors.
I’m a Christian and I’ve had Christian friends question why I put things by, as my grandma used to say. They say they just trust in the Lord to provide. They go to the store every day or two to get what they want. I follow my parents way of thinking. They said that if you have a grape vineyard and you get 5 bushel of grapes but only need two, you don’t throw the others away as next year you might not get any. And it’s true. God provides what is needed but we’Re not to just sit at the table and wait to be served, but to help provide for ourselves.
I don’t get paranoid about what I put back but if God gives me more than I want, and I can’t give it away, I do what I can to save it. I figure there is a reason for it. I know what hunger is and it’s not pretty. I’ve learned to forage and raise most of what we need. When the time comes, we’ll be ok and being elders, we might not be able to have access to things when it all falls apart. No one can prepare for every scenio, just prepare for what you can and pray you’ll never need it.
Daresay your ‘Christian’ friends aren’t careful readers of Scripture. They should consider what Iesous (Jesus) said, & Paul wrote, about what would happen to the congregations once the Son of Man (ben hAdam) and his apostles departed/died.
Most of Iesous’ disciples and apostles died untimely and not of extreme old age. Often their deaths were torturous. Exception was John (he of Apocalypse), yet he died in exile on the Aegean Sea island of Patmos.
Solomon put the matter this way; wiser folk conceal selves when they foresee trouble, but careless persons just trundle along and fall into the hands of bandits. Don’t know your religious persuasion, yet having pantries / cellars well-stocked with foods not requiring special preservation and elaborate cooking was how wiser forebears operated.
When God desires to show His power in connection with a person or group, He pre-announces His intent via His prophets, as with ancient Israelites. Biblical record also depicts how hard that process was on said Israelites whenever (most of the time) they were less than completely faithful.
Your ‘saved by faith’ friends likely haven’t had specific and verified promises of Divine physical aid. Don’t be concerned by criticisms so long as you’re not being miserly.
I am officially embarrassed to be an American. My niece just told me she wants to be a prepper because she’s afraid for the future, and wanted some help getting started. I asked her what she wanted to prepare for, and you know what she said? “I’m afraid the president is going to get us killed with the things he says and does.”. I may not be a big fan of him, but that just embarrasses the hell out of me.
I ended up showing her how to prep basics for martial law and occupation.
Might want to explain to victims of US public ‘school’ systems real-world differences between words and deeds. The ‘radical’ difference between someone merely saying something ‘offensive’ and MS-13 members hacking limbs off 14-year-old girls.
‘News’ media, and lawyers (and all too often religious), are all about posturing, words, and flashing colored images – such are their ‘stock’ which they sell. So they pretend such are valuable. (Their lies and politically-correct hypocrisies ultimately are worse than offal.)
Yet nobody can be nourished by mere words, nor wear such ephemera as apparel, nor live inside words and images. Nor will this system of things, this Cosmos of Hate, get ended or reformed by mere words. Not any uttered by any mere human…
For younger folk panicked by Trump, best they read books now out about him; a few written by actual conservatives and by persons who actually have known him for 40 or 50 years. (Not any scribbled by a CNN cretin.) Conservative authors will be critical due more-material reasons, while leftists will merely be screaming their visceral fears, rage, and hate.
Next thing such younkers should do is actually try living as a subsistence person. Say, as if a senior scraping by in a hinterland town / village via a SS stipend, one -say- of circa $1,000/month. After a year or so of that experience, they may begin to understand -dimly- why ‘flyover folk’ voted as they did.
There also were those ‘financial crises’ of 2005 – 2015. People who had been led to believe that their house was a ‘savings account’ which paid actual returns learned that they have been betrayed Ditto re their IRAs etc. – amounts on reports may have increased, yet actual purchasing power for _necessary_ things.weakened.
Then, those my personal betes noir, work ‘visas’ and ‘offshoring’.
What exactly did this article tell us? I’m not sure if it was supposed to explain what might/could happen, or what to do but it was pretty thin when it comes to information.