Monthly Archives: June 2013

Arc Welding with 3 Car Batteries (Tutorial & Demo)

Check out this Tutorial & Demo on how to Arc Welding with 3 Car Batteries.

 

 

If you want to download these videos to your machine from youtube try this:

YTD Video Downloader

Click to see larger images

Formerly known as plain old YouTube Downloader, the recently renamed YTD Video Downloader updates to version 4.0 with a promise of 2x faster downloads and 2x faster video conversions, and perhaps more usefully, the ability to resume downloads after the temporary loss of an Internet connection. As usual, the installer includes a Spigot-based YTD Video Toolbar and offers to change your default search engine to Yahoo and add 5-6 shopping extensions to Google Chrome. Clicking the “Decline” button during the lone advertising screen in the installer lets users easily opt-out of all offers.

Downloading worked very well for popular video sites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Blip.TV.

http://download.cnet.com/YTD-Video-Downloader/3000-2071_4-10647340.html

 

 

When The Music Stops – How America’s Cities May Explode In Violence


Illustration:
Bracken’s CW2 Cube; click to enlarge

From Matt Bracken:

In response to recent articles in mainstream military journals discussing the use of the U.S. Army to quell insurrections on American soil, I offer an alternate vision of the future. Instead of a small town in the South as the flash point, picture instead a score of U.S. cities in the thrall of riots greater than those experienced in Los Angeles in 1965 (Watts), multiple cities in 1968 (MLK assassination), and Los Angeles again in 1992 (Rodney King). New Yorkers can imagine the 1977 blackout looting or the 1991 Crown Heights disturbance. In fact, the proximate spark of the next round of major riots in America could be any from a long list cribbed from our history.

We have seen them all before, and we shall see them all again as history rhymes along regardless of the century or the generation of humankind nominally in control of events. But the next time we are visited by widespread, large-scale urban riots, a dangerous new escalation may be triggered by a fresh vulnerability: It’s estimated that the average American home has less than two weeks of food on hand. In poor minority areas, it may be much less. What if a cascading economic crisis, even a temporary one, leads to millions of EBT (electronic benefit transfer) cards flashing nothing but ERROR? This could also be the result of deliberate sabotage by hackers, or other technical system failures. Alternatively, the government might pump endless digits into the cards in a hopeless attempt to outpace future hyperinflation. The government can order the supermarkets to honor the cards, and it can even set price controls, but history’s verdict is clear: If suppliers are paid only with worthless scrip or blinking digits, the food will stop.

STEP ONE: FLASH MOB LOOTING

In my scenario, the initial riots begin spontaneously across affected urban areas, as SNAP (supplemental nutrition assistance program) and other government welfare recipients learn that their EBT cards no longer function. This sudden revelation will cause widespread anger, which will quickly lead to the flash-mob looting of local supermarkets and other businesses. The media will initially portray these “food riots” as at least partly justifiable. Sadly, millions of Americans have been made largely, or even entirely, dependent on government wealth transfer payments to put food on their tables.

A new social contract has been created, where bread and circuses buy a measure of peace in our minority-populated urban zones. In the era of ubiquitous big-screen cable television, the internet and smart phones, the circus part of the equation is never in doubt as long as the electricity flows. But the bread is highly problematic. Food must be delivered the old-fashioned way: physically. Any disruption in the normal functioning of the EBT system will lead to food riots with a speed that is astonishing. This will inevitably happen when our unsustainable, debt-fueled binge party finally stops, and the music is over. Now that the delivery of free or heavily subsidized food is perceived by tens of millions of Americans to be a basic human right, the cutoff of “their” food money will cause an immediate explosion of rage. When the hunger begins to bite, supermarkets, shops and restaurants will be looted, and initially the media will not condemn the looting. Unfortunately, this initial violence will only be the start of a dangerous escalation.

The ransacked supermarkets, convenience stores, ATMs and gas stations will not be restocked during this period due to the precarious security situation. A single truck loaded with food or gasoline would be perceived to be a Fort Knox on wheels and subject to immediate attack unless heavily protected by powerfully armed security forces, but such forces will not be available during this chaotic period. Under those conditions, resupply to the urban areas cannot and will not take place. The downward spiral of social and economic dysfunction will therefore both accelerate and spread from city to city. These delays, in turn, will lead to more riots with the constant underlying demand that hungry people be fed, one way or another.

Catch-22, anyone? When these demands do not bring the desired outcome, the participants will ratchet up the violence, hoping to force action by the feckless state and national governments.

The “food riots” will be a grass-roots movement of the moment born out of hunger and desperation. It will not be dependent upon leaders or an underlying organization, although they could certainly add to the sauce. Existing cell phone technology provides all the organization a flash mob needs. Most of the mobs will consist of minority urban youths, termed MUYs in the rest of this essay. Which minority doesn’t matter; each urban locale will come with its own unique multi-ethnic dynamic.

Some locales will divide upon religious or political lines, but they will not be the dominant factors contributing to conflict. In the American context, the divisions will primarily have an ethnic or racial context, largely because that makes it easy to sort out the sides at a safe distance. No need to check religious or political affiliation at a hundred yards when The Other is of a different color.

We Americans are all about doing things the easy way, so, sadly, visible racial and ethnic features will form the predominant lines of division.

Would that it were not so, but reality is reality, even when it’s is a bitch.

Especially then.

NEXT STEP: FLASH MOB RIOTS

In order to highlight their grievances and escalate their demands for an immediate resumption of government benefits, the MUY flash mobs will next move their activities to the borders of their ethnic enclaves. They will concentrate on major intersections and highway interchanges where non-MUY suburban commuters must make daily passage to and from what forms of employment still exist. People making a living will still be using those roads to get to where they earn their daily bread.

The results of these clashes will frequently resemble the intersection of Florence and Normandie during the Rodney King riots in 1992, where Reginald Denny was pulled out of his truck’s cab and beaten nearly to death with a cinder block. If you don’t remember it, watch it on Youtube. Then imagine that scene with the mob-making accelerant of texting and other social media technology added to stoke the fires. Instead of a few dozen thugs terrorizing the ambushed intersections, in minutes there will be hundreds.

Rioters will throw debris such as shopping carts and trash cans into the intersection, causing the more timid drivers to pause. The mobs will swarm the lines of trapped cars once they have stopped. Traffic will be forced into gridlock for blocks in all directions. Drivers and passengers of the wrong ethnic persuasions will be pulled from their vehicles to be beaten, robbed, and in some cases raped and/or killed. It will be hyper-violent and overtly racial mob behavior, on a massive and undeniable basis.

Some of those trapped in their cars will try to drive out of the area, inevitably knocking down MUY pedestrians and being trapped by even more outraged MUYs. The commuters will be dragged out of their cars and kicked or beaten to death. Other suburban commuters will try to shoot their way out of the lines of stopped cars, and they will meet the same grim fate once they run out of bullets and room to escape.

The mob will be armed with everything from knives, clubs and pistols to AK-47s. A bloodbath will result. These unlucky drivers and their passengers will suffer horribly, and some of their deaths will be captured on traffic web cameras. Later, these terrible scenes will be released or leaked by sympathetic government insiders and shown by the alternative media, which continue to expand as the traditional media become increasingly irrelevant.

Implausible, you insist?

This grim tableau is my analysis of age-old human behavior patterns, adding flash mobs and 2012 levels of racial anger to the old recipe. Early-teenage MUYs today are frequently playing “The Knockout Game” on full bellies, just for kicks, and proudly uploading the videos. They and their older peers can be expected to do far worse when hunger and the fear of starvation enter their physical, mental, and emotional equations. The blame for their hunger will be turned outward against the greater society, and will be vented at first hand against any non-MUY who falls into their grasp while they are in the thrall of mob hysteria. These episodes of mass psychology we will refer to as “flash mob riots”, “wilding“, or some other new name.

THE OFFICIAL POLICE RESPONSE TO FLASH MOB RIOTS

To gear up for even a single “Florence and Normandie on steroids” flash mob street riot, city police departments will require an hour or longer to stage their SWAT teams and riot squads in position to react. Ordinary patrol cars in small numbers will not venture anywhere near such roiling masses of hysterical rioters, not even to perform rescues. Those citizens trapped in their cars cannot expect timely assistance from local or state authorities.

Even in the first days of widespread riots, when the police forces are well rested, it might take several hours to mount a response sufficient to quell the disturbance and restore order to even one major street intersection riot. In the meantime, scores of innocent commuters will have been attacked, with many of them injured or killed and left at the scene. It will be a law enforcement nightmare to quell the disturbance, mop up lingering rioters, restore security, and bring medical attention to the living and get medical examiners to the dead. And each jurisdiction will face potentially dozens of such scenes, thanks to the ability for MUYs to cross-communicate at will using their wireless devices.

The far more difficult challenge for the police is that by the time they are suited in riot gear, armed and geared up to sweep the intersection, it will probably be empty of rioters. The police, with their major riot squad reaction times measured in hours, will be fighting flash mobs that materialize, cause mayhem, and evaporate in only fractions of hours. This rapid cycle time is a clear lesson taken from massive riots by immigrant French Muslim MUYs in their own religious enclaves and bordering areas.

The American flash mob riot will exist almost entirely inside the law enforcement OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop. In other words, the rioters will have a much quicker reaction time than the police. Until fairly recently, superior police communications meant that they could use their radio networks as a force multiplier. With their networking advantage and cohesive reactions both within a department and among cooperating local agencies, police could act as shepherds guiding or dispersing a wayward stampeding flock.

Today, the mob has the greater advantage, immediately spreading word of every police preparation by text and Tweet, even in advance of the police movement. Attempts by the authorities to stop the flash mobs by blocking and jamming wireless transmissions will have limited success.

It is at this point that the situation spirals out of control.

The enraged mobs in urban America will soon recognize that their spontaneous street riots cannot be stopped by the police, and then they will grow truly fearsome. For the police, it will be a losing game of Whack-a-Mole, with riots breaking out and dispersing at a speed they cannot hope to match. The violence will spread to previously unaffected cities as an awareness of law enforcement impotence is spread by television and social media. After a few days, the police forces will be exhausted and demoralized. As the violence intensifies and spreads, and in the absence of any viable security arrangements, supermarkets and other stores will not be restocked, leaving the MUYs even more desperate and angry than before. The increasing desperation born of worsening hunger will refuel the escalating spiral of violence.

Nor will violent conflict be only between the inhabitants of the urban areas and the suburbs. The international record of conflict in tri-ethnic cities is grim, making the old bi-racial dichotomy formerly seen in America seem stable by comparison. In tri-ethnic cities the perceived balance of power is constantly shifting, with each side in turn feeling outnumbered and outmuscled. Temporary truces, betrayals and new alliances follow in rapid succession, removing any lingering sense of social cohesion.

The former Yugoslavia, with its Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim divisions, comes starkly to mind. The Lebanese Civil War between the Christians, Sunnis, Shiites and Druze raged across Beirut (at one time known as “The Paris of the Middle East”) for fifteen brutal years. Once a city turns on itself and becomes a runaway engine of self-destruction, it can be difficult to impossible to switch off the process and return to normal pre-conflict life. It’s not inconceivable that the United States could produce a dozen Sarajevos or Beiruts, primarily across racial instead of religious divides.

Vehicle traffic by non-minority suburban commuters through adjoining minority areas will virtually halt, wrecking what is left of the local economy. Businesses will not open because employees will not be able to travel to work safely. Businesses in minority areas, needless to say, will be looted. “Gentrified” enclaves of affluent suburbanites within or near the urban zones will suffer repeated attacks, until their inhabitants flee.

Radically disaffected minorities will hold critical infrastructure corridors through their areas hostage against the greater society. Highways, railroad tracks, pipe and power lines will all be under constant threat, or may be cut in planned or unplanned acts of raging against “the system.” As long as security in the urban areas cannot be restored, these corridors will be under threat. Even airports will not be immune. Many of them have been absorbed into urban areas, and aircraft will come under sporadic fire while taking off and landing.

In the absence of fresh targets of value blundering into their areas, and still out of food, MUYs will begin to forage beyond their desolated home neighborhoods and into suburban borderlands. “Safe” supermarkets and other stores will be robbed in brazen commando-like gang attacks. Carjackings and home invasions will proliferate madly. As I have discussed in my essay “The Civil War Two Cube,” so-called “transitional” and mixed-ethnic areas will suffer the worst violence. These neighborhoods will become utterly chaotic killing zones, with little or no help coming from the overstretched police, who will be trying to rest up for their next shift on riot squad duty, if they have not already deserted their posts to take care of their own families.

THE SUBURBAN ARMED VIGILANTE RESPONSE

In the absence of an effective official police response to the exploding levels of violence, suburbanites will first hastily form self-defense forces to guard their neighborhoods—especially ones located near ethnic borders. These ubiquitous neighborhood armed defense teams will often have a deep and talented bench from which to select members, and they will not lack for volunteers.

Since 9-11, hundreds of thousands of young men (and more than a few women) have acquired graduate-level educations in various aspects of urban warfare. In the Middle East these troops were frequently tasked with restoring order to urban areas exploding in internecine strife. Today these former military men and women understand better than anyone the life-or-death difference between being armed and organized versus unarmed and disorganized.

Hundreds of thousands if not millions of veterans currently own rifles strikingly similar to those they carried in the armed forces, lacking only the full-automatic selector switch. Their brothers, sisters, parents, friends, and neighbors who did not serve in the military are often just as familiar with the weapons, if not the tactics. Today the AR-pattern rifle (the semi-automatic civilian version of the familiar full-auto-capable M-16 or M-4) is the most popular model of rifle in America, with millions sold in the past decade. Virtually all of them produced in the past decade have abandoned the old M-16′s signature “carrying handle” rear iron sight for a standardized sight mounting rail, meaning that virtually every AR sold today can be easily equipped with an efficient optical sight. Firing the high-velocity 5.56×45 mm cartridge and mounted with a four-power tactical sight, a typical AR rifle can shoot two-inch groups at one hundred yards when fired from a steady bench rest. That translates to shooting eight- to ten-inch groups at four hundred yards.

Four hundred yards is a long walk. Pace it off on a straight road, and observe how tiny somebody appears at that distance. Yet a typical AR rifle, like those currently owned by millions of American citizens, can hit a man-sized target at that range very easily, given a stable firing platform and a moderate level of shooting ability.

And there are a far greater number of scoped bolt-action hunting rifles in private hands in the United States. Keep this number in mind: based on deer stamps sold, approximately twenty million Americans venture into the woods every fall armed with such rifles, fully intending to shoot and kill a two-hundred-pound mammal. Millions of these scoped bolt-action deer rifles are quite capable of hitting a man-sized target at ranges out to and even beyond a thousand yards, or nearly three-fifths of a mile. In that context, the 500-yard effective range of the average semi-auto AR-pattern rifle is not at all remarkable.

So, we have millions of men and women with military training, owning rifles similar to the ones they used in combat operations overseas from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Many of these Soldiers and Marines have special operations training. They are former warriors with experience at conducting irregular warfare and counter-terrorism operations in dangerous urban environments. They are the opposite of unthinking robots: their greatest military talent is looking outside the box for new solutions. They always seek to “over-match” their enemies, using their own advantages as force multipliers while diminishing or concealing their weaknesses. These military veterans are also ready, willing and able to pass on their experience and training to interested students in their civilian circles.

Let’s return to our hypothetical Florence and Normandie intersection, but this time with hundreds of rioters per city block, instead of mere dozens. Among the mobs are thugs armed with pistols and perhaps even AK-47s equipped with standard iron sights, and except in rare cases, these rifles have never been “zeroed in” on a target range. In other words, past a medium distance of fifty to a hundred yards, these MUY shooters will have little idea where their fired bullets will strike—nor will they care. Typically, most of the rioters armed with a pistol, shotgun or an iron-sighted rifle could not hit a mailbox at a hundred yards unless by luck. Inside that distance, any non-MUY could be at immediate risk of brutal death at the hands of an enraged mob, but beyond that range, the mob will pose much less danger.

Taking this imbalance in effective ranges of the firearms most likely to be available to both sides, certain tactical responses are sure to arise, and ranking near the top will be the one described next.

THE SNIPER AMBUSH: THE NEW TACTIC OF CHOICE

The sniper ambush will predictably be used as a counter to rampaging mobs armed only with short- to medium-range weapons. This extremely deadly trick was developed by our war fighters in Iraq and Afghanistan, taking advantage of the significant effective range and firepower of our scoped 5.56mm rifles. Tactics such as the sniper ambush may not be seen early in the civil disorder, but they will surely arise after a steady progression of atrocities attributed to rampaging MUYs.

Street intersection flash mob riots will not be the only type of violence exploding during periods of civil disorder. As mentioned earlier, the number and ferocity of home invasions will skyrocket, and they will be very hard to defend against. Neighborhood self-defense forces will be able to protect a group of homes if they are located on cul-de-sacs or in defensible subdivisions with limited entrances, turning them overnight into fortified gated communities. Individual homes and apartment buildings located in open grid-pattern neighborhoods with outside access from many directions will be much more difficult to defend, and the home invasions will continue.

Carjacking and other forms of armed robbery will proliferate to previously unimagined levels, leading to a total loss of confidence in the government’s ability to provide security across all social lines. Stray bullets striking pedestrians or penetrating houses will take a frightening toll, even in areas previously considered to be safe. The police will be exhausted by constant riot-squad duty, and will not even respond to reports of mere individual acts of violent criminality. They will simply be overwhelmed, and will be forced to triage their responses. The wealthy, powerful and politically well-connected will demand the lion’s share of remaining police resources, further diminishing the safety of average Americans.

In that context, neighborhood self-defense forces will form the nucleus of the armed vigilante direct action groups which will spring up next in the progression. Suburban anger will continue to build against the MUYs, who are perceived to be the originators of the home invasions and gang-level armed looting raids. Survivors of street ambushes, carjackings and home invasions will tell blood-curdling tales and show horrific scars.

The neighborhood defense teams will evolve into proactive suburban armed vigilante groups (SAVs) out of a desire to preemptively take the violence to their perceived enemies, instead of passively waiting for the next home invasion or carjacking. The SAV teams will consist of the more aggressive and gung-ho members of the self-defense forces, who met and compared notes. Often they will be young men with recent combat experience in the armed forces, who will apply their military training to the new situation. Major intersections and highway interchanges where ambush riots have previously occurred will be among the SAV targets. The SAV reaction times will be measured in minutes, compared to the hours required by major police department SWAT teams and riot squads.

A SAMPLE SNIPER AMBUSH SCENARIO

When word is received that a flash mob is forming at one of their pre-reconnoitered intersections or highway interchanges, the SAV team will assemble. Sometimes cooperating police will pass tactical intel to their civilian friends on the outside. Some clever individuals will have exploited their technical know-how and military experience to build real-time intel collection tools, such as private UAVs. Police will have access to urban security camera footage showing MUYs moving barricade materials into position—a normal prerequisite to a flash mob riot intended to stop traffic. Tip-offs to the vigilantes will be common, and where the networks are still functioning, citizens may still be able to access some video feeds. Sometimes, police will even join the SAV teams, incognito and off-duty, blurring the teams into so-called “death squads.”

The operation I will describe (and it’s only one of dozens that will be tried) uses two ordinary pickup trucks and eight fighters. Two riflemen are lying prone in the back of each truck, facing rearward, with removable canvas covers concealing their presence. Their semi-automatic, scoped rifles are supported at their front ends on bipods for very accurate shooting. A row of protective sandbags a foot high is between them and the raised tailgate.

In the cab are a driver and a spotter in the passenger seat who also serves as the vehicle’s 360-degree security. The two trucks don’t ever appear on the same stretch of road, but coordinate their movements using one-word brevity codes over small FRS walkie-talkie radios. Each truck has a series of predetermined elevated locations where the intersection in question will lie between 200 and 500 yards away. Each truck is totally nondescript and forgettable, the only detail perhaps being the non-MUY ethnicity of the suburbanite driver and spotter driving relatively near to a riot in progress.

By the time the two SAV pickup trucks arrive at their firing positions on different streets and oriented ninety degrees to one another, the flash mob riot is in full swing. A hundred or more of the rampaging youths are posturing and throwing debris into traffic in order to intimidate some cars into stopping. The riflemen in the backs of the pickups are waiting for this moment and know what to expect, trusting their spotters and drivers to give them a good firing lane. The spotters in each truck issue a code word on their radios when they are in final position. The tailgates are swung down, and the leader among the riflemen initiates the firing. All-around security is provided by the driver and spotter.

Lying prone and using their bipods for support, the shooters have five to ten degrees of pan or traverse across the entire intersection. Individual rioters are clearly visible in the shooters’ magnified optical scopes. Each of the four snipers has a plan to shoot from the outside of the mob toward the middle, driving participants into a panicked mass. The left-side shooters start on the left side and work to the middle, engaging targets with rapid fire, about one aimed shot per two seconds. Since the two trucks are set at ninety degrees to one another, very complete coverage will be obtained, even among and between the stopped vehicles.

The result is a turkey shoot. One magazine of thirty aimed shots per rifle is expended in under a minute, a coded cease-fire is called on the walkie-talkies, and the trucks drive away at the speed limit. The canvas covering the truck beds contains the shooters’ spent brass. If the trucks are attacked from medium or close range, the canvas can be thrown back and the two snipers with their semi-automatic rifles or carbines will add their firepower to that of the driver and spotter.

Back at the intersection, complete panic breaks out among the rioters as a great number of bullets have landed in human flesh. Over a score have been killed outright, and many more scream in pain for medical attention they will not receive in time. The sniper ambush stops the flash mob cold in its tracks as the uninjured flee in terror, leaving their erstwhile comrades back on the ground bleeding. The commuters trapped in their vehicles may have an opportunity to escape.

This type of sniper ambush and a hundred variations on the theme will finally accomplish what the police could not: put an end to mobs of violent rioters making the cities through-streets and highways impassible killing zones. Would-be rioters will soon understand it to be suicidal to cluster in easily visible groups and engage in mob violence, as the immediate response could come at any time in the form of aimed fire from hundreds of yards away. Even one rifleman with a scoped semi-auto can break up a medium-sized riot.

Many citizens will take to carrying rifles and carbines in their vehicles, along with their pistols, so that if their cars are trapped in an ambush they will have a chance to fight their way out. If their vehicle is stopped outside the immediate area of the flash mob, they will be able to direct accurate fire at the rioters from a few hundred yards away. Inside the fatal hundred-yard radius, unlucky suburbanite drivers and passengers pulled from their cars will still be brutally violated, but the occurrences of large mob-driven street ambushes will be much less frequent once long-range retaliation becomes a frequent expectation.

THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO VIGILANTISM

Where they will be unable to respond swiftly or effectively to the outbreaks of street riots by MUY flash mobs, the police and federal agents will respond vigorously to the deadly but smaller vigilante attacks. These sniper ambushes and other SAV attacks will be called acts of domestic terrorism and mass murder by government officials and the mainstream media. A nearly seamless web of urban and suburban street cameras will reveal some of the SAV teams by their vehicles, facial recognition programs, and other technical means. Some early arrests will be made, but the vigilantes will adapt to increasing law enforcement pressure against them by becoming cleverer about their camouflage, most often using stolen cars and false uniforms and masks during their direct-action missions. Observe Mexico today for ideas on how this type of dirty war is fought.

Eventually, the U.S. Army itself might be called upon to put out all the social firestorms in our cities, restore order and security, pacify the angry masses, feed the starving millions, get vital infrastructure operating again, and do it all at once in a dozen American Beiruts, Sarajevos and Mogadishus.

Good luck to them, I say.

A few hundred “Active IRA” tied down thousands of British troops in one corner of a small island for decades. The same ratios have served the Taliban well over the past decade while fighting against the combined might of NATO. Set aside for a moment the angry starving millions trapped in the urban areas, and the dire security issues arising thereof. Just to consider the official reaction to vigilantism separately, it’s unlikely that any conceivable combinations of local and state police, federal law enforcement, National Guard or active-duty Army actions could neutralize or eliminate tens of thousands of former special operations troops intent on providing their own form of security. Millions of Americans are already far better armed and trained than a few hundred IRA or Taliban ever were. And the police and Army would not be operating from secure fire bases, their families living in total safety thousands of miles away in a secure rear area. In this scenario, there is no rear area, and every family member, anywhere, would be at perpetual risk of reprisal actions by any of the warring sides.

In this hyper-dangerous environment, new laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in vehicles would be ignored as the illegitimate diktat of dictatorship, just when the Second Amendment is needed more than ever. Police or military conducting searches for firearms at checkpoints would themselves become targets of vigilante snipers. Serving on anti-firearms duty would be seen as nothing but pure treason by millions of Americans who took the oath to defend the Constitution, including the Bill of Rights. Politicians who did not act in the security interest of their local constituents as a result of political correctness or other reasons would also be targeted.

A festering race war with police and the military in the middle taking fire from both sides could last for many years, turning many American cities into a living hell. Remember history: when the British Army landed in Northern Ireland in 1969, they were greeted with flowers and applause from the Catholics. The Tommys were welcomed as peacekeepers who would protect them from Protestant violence. That soon changed. Likewise with our tragic misadventure in Lebanon back in 1982 and 1983. Well-intended referees often find themselves taking fire from all sides. It’s as predictable as tomorrow’s sunrise. Why would it be any different when the U.S. Army is sent to Los Angeles, Chicago or Philadelphia to break apart warring ethnic factions?

For a long time after these events, it will be impossible for the warring ethnic groups to live together or even to mingle peacefully. Too much rage and hatred will have been built up on all sides of our many American multi-ethnic fault lines. The new wounds will be raw and painful for many years to come, as they were in the South for long after the Civil War. The fracturing of the urban areas, divided by no-man’s-lands, will also hinder economic redevelopment for many years because the critical infrastructure corridors will remain insecure.

Eventually, high concrete “Peace Walls” like those in Belfast, Northern Ireland, will be installed where the different ethnic groups live in close proximity. That is, if recovery to sane and civilized norms of behavior are ever regained in our lifetimes and we don’t slide into a new Dark Age, a stern and permanent tyranny, warlordism, anarchy, or any other dire outcome.

Dark Ages can last for centuries, after sinking civilizations in a vicious, downward vortex. “When the music’s over, turn out the lights,” to quote Jim Morrison of The Doors. Sometimes the lights stay out for a long time. Sometimes civilization itself is lost. Millions of EBT cards flashing zeroes might be the signal event of a terrible transformation.

It is a frightening thing to crystallize the possible outbreak of mass starvation and racial warfare into words, so that the mind is forced to confront agonizingly painful scenarios. It is much easier to avert one’s eyes and mind from the ugliness with politically correct Kumbaya bromides. In this grim essay, I am describing a brutal situation of ethnic civil war not differing much from the worst scenes from recent history in Rwanda, South Africa, Mexico, Bosnia, Iraq, and many other places that have experienced varying types and degrees of societal collapse. We all deplore the conditions that might drive us toward such a hellish outcome, and we should work unceasingly to return America to the path of true brotherhood, peace and prosperity. Race hustlers of every stripe should be condemned.

Most of us wish we could turn back the calendar to Norman Rockwell’s America. But we cannot, for that America is water long over the dam and gone from our sight, if not from our memories. John Adams said, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” If that is true, judging by current and even accelerating cultural shifts, we might already have passed the point of no return.

The prudent American will trim his sails accordingly.

Matt Bracken is the author of the Enemies Foreign And Domestic trilogy, along with his latest novel, Castigo Cay.

Author’s Note: This essay and “What I Saw At The Coup” were both written in response to the article published on July 25, 2012 in the semi-official Small Wars Journal titled “Full Spectrum Operations in the Homeland: A Vision of the Future.”

My twin essays represent starkly different “visions of the future” that would-be tyrants, their hopeful henchmen and other self-deluded nimrods may want to consider, before ordering the U.S. military or federal agencies to suppress Americans.

Via: westernrifleshooters

 

How much does one person eat in a year, anyway?

In my previous post, Food Storage by the Numbers, I mentioned just how many meals a family of four would need in order to have a year’s supply of food.  Browsing around the internet, I came across this site which details just how much food is needed to feed one person for a year.  The total estimated cost of that food is $1684.  That comes to only $32 per week for an adult eating about 3,000 calories per day.  Many Americans spend at least $32 a week at Starbucks alone!  I was pleased that the author included 12 boxes of brownie mix!

On a side note, he calculates that food costs have risen 5% in the first nine months of the year and 21% since January, 2008!  That’s a significant increase.  By stocking up on food and other necessary goods now, you’ll have an effective hedge against continued inflation or, worst case scenario, hyper-inflation.

Via: thesurvivalmom

Food Storage by the Numbers

Not long ago, the Sun Oven lady pointed out that a year’s worth of stored food equaled 4,380 meals.  That’s 365 breakfasts, lunches and dinners for four people!  (I’ve always hated math because you can’t argue with numbers!)  Put into that perspective, it made me realize just how much food my family consumes in a year, and that 4,380 number doesn’t include snacks, desserts or Starbucks Frappuccinos!

How does a someone begin storing that much food, and is it even possible or desirable to have that much food sitting around the house, out in the garage, down in the basement and under each and every bed?

If you’re new to my blog and the idea of food storage, you can pick up some easy strategies by perusing some of my older posts.  If you’re already into food storage, you’ve learned how important it is to keep track of what you have so you don’t blindly stock up on too much pasta and not enough sauce!  Last week I took an inventory of what I have stored.  I was delighted to find that I have 75 cans of ravioli, 50 packages of pasta (spaghetti, bow-tie, etc.), 45 cans of mandarin oranges, 3 gallons of honey, and on and on and on.  When I realized that the ravioli alone will provide two months’ worth of lunches for my two kids, I relaxed a little.  Three months’ worth of food is doable, and I know we have more than that.  I’ll bet when you count up what you have and divide it by meals, you’ll have more stored food than you thought you did!

By the way, I don’t count all the food I have in the freezer.  Between freezer burn and possible loss of electricity, I don’t view frozen food as truly long-term storage.  So, all the meat and frozen veggies that I do have in our two freezers just add a nice little cushion to everything in the pantry.

As you’re stocking up, keep track of how much toilet paper your family uses in a month, how much shampoo, conditioner and laundry soap is used a month so you can monitor your progress with those all-important non-edibles.

Three hearty meals a day is nice and all, but toilet paper is what makes us human!

Via: thesurvivalmom

5 Ways to be Prepared Even If Poor and Prepping

This is a guest post by “Zaeda”.

Educate Yourself

  • 1 + 1 = Stockpile
  • Taking Care of “Business”
  • Intelligent Investments
  • K.I.S.S. & Thrifty!

Educate Yourself

Many American’s working full time with car payments, mortgages, disabilities, student loans, and other financial insufficiency’s, believe it’s impossible to Prep. I can tell you from personal experience it is very, VERY POSSIBLE! Patience and good organizational skills as well as a little bit of work will get you in a great place – also making you of supreme value if SHTF and you don’t have a plan C.

Your plan C is education, skills, and knowledge.

No matter how little money you have, your knowledge can be vastly rich and useful! First I suggest taking a Free CPR courses through the American Red Cross. Everyone in your family should know the basics of CPR as well as the Heimlich Maneuver. Just because SHTF doesn’t mean no one will choke or need resuscitation. Also, look into your community hospitals – I got to sit in for free during a “caregivers” course for families of people receiving bone marrow transplants. The course was amazing – even gives you knowledge on how to properly change bandages, give saline injections, clean ports, and many other medical tidbits.

Study, read, and learn valuable skill’s, such as: Human Anatomy and Physiology, Veterinary Medicine, EMT, Intermediate, and Paramedic skills, Automotive, Metal Working, Aquaponics, Solar Energy Guides, Wind Turbine Guides, Composting, Homesteading, and one that many preppers overlook “Ocean Water Distillation” (making ocean water drinkable and usable on crops). There is a vast majority of topics that can make you extremely valuable and able to barter your knowledge if you find yourself in a Plan C scenario.

Textbooks are NOT cheap if they are new – buy used, look for them at thrift stores, garage sales, and online sites such as half.com, textbooks.com – you do not need brand new books!!! I buy ones that are at least 5 to 10 years old. You’re not at a disadvantage if the books are not new. You just want to learn as much as possible. There are many, many books out there. Not to mention you can use them for a fire, toilet paper, or insulation if worse comes to worst.

1 + 1 = Stockpile

So, you can barely make it through the weeks with the necessities (Groceries, toiletries, etc)? I have the same problem, it’s tough with the economy and prices on items. I have a few simple things I do to supplement my stockpile. Whether it’s weekly shopping or bi-weekly shopping try picking up simple long term storage items such as an extra bag of rice, dried beans, oats, and legumes. Buy powdered milk, and SALT (salt is valuable for various reasons including curing meats to last longer). For only a few extra dollars you can start your stockpile. What I like to set aside – a few examples:

Weekly:

  • 1 case of bottled Water
  • 1 or 2 rolls of toilet paper
  • 1 roll of paper towels
  • 1 package of napkins
  • 1 bag rice
  • 1 bag dried pinto beans
  • 1 bag lentils
  • 4 to 6 extra canned goods (canned tuna in OIL, canned chicken, spam, canned ham, soup’s, fruit’s, vegetables, etc.)

Buying in bulk is cheaper in the long run, but if you cannot afford to spend the whole $20.00 to $30.00 on rice, beans, or oats buy them in pound bags you can afford.

I freeze my bags of rice for 3 days, pack them in clean sterile mason jars with BAY LEAVES and “Oven Can” them. Rice weevil’s dislike bay leaves!

Bi-Weekly

  • 2 bar’s soap
  • 1 #10 can of freeze dried anything
  • Small laundry soap
  • Two textbook’s
  • Peroxide
  • Rubbing Alcohol
  • baby wipes

Monthly

  • Package of Tampons (these are handy for bullet wounds, women’s menstrual cycles, fire starters, and straws) UNSCENTED
  • Ketchup
  • 1 or 2 Spices
  • a bottle of booze or a few packs of cigarettes (we don’t smoke or drink , but we buy them as barter items)
  • 1 shampoo and 1 conditioner
  • Candles
  • 1 gallon distilled white vinegar
  • batteries
  • bleach

(I always keep 4 used bleach containers filled with water – in case we cannot flush out toilets, just pour the water into the holding tank or right into the bowl and wala!) (If you go on vacation and stay in a motel/hotel save the soap, shampoo, and other toiletries in your preps!)

There is a WRONG way to be prepared, especially if you’re hoarding everything but essentials, Make sure to add things you eat, use, and need – there are plenty of guides out there make sure to research and find the best plan for you. Make sure the food you buy is something you LIKE – it makes rotating your stock easy. When you add even 1 extra item into a beginning stock within a few months you will be amazed at how your prep is building. I like to use the large plastic tubs with lids, as they are more organized. Please note – you need extra space to put your preps.

Taking Care of “Business”

One of the avoided topics in any “off-grid” or SHTF scenario if human excrement. Let’s face it, no one wants to talk about going to the bathroom. There is a book by Joseph C. Jenkins “The Humanure Handbook“, he takes you deep inside the bowels of the issue! Gives you a way to dispose excrement, not by throwing it into an outhouse as “waste” but using it as nature intended – while taking the myths about poop out of the equation and making it an interesting topic, as well as providing a way to build a suitable long term composting toilet for $25.00. You may think it’s disgusting but if SHTF who expects public water service? This is a comprehensive guide on the topic and an interesting read.

Lets face it, no matter how prepared we are, during TEOTWAWKI situation the toilet paper will eventually run out! Personally, I don’t want to use leafs, magazine paper, or my hand! (YUCK)! Lets say hello to “Family Cloths” This isn’t a new idea by any means. What it is essentially is reusable cloth toilet wipes. You can either buy them pre-made or be budget conscious like me and make them yourself from old flannel sheets, old washcloth’s, towels, etc. I do not use family cloths – but I am making some and setting them aside with my preps. If I do decide to use them I would want to have a small bathroom plastic flip lid garbage can 1/2 filled with bleach-water to put them in for sanitary reasons. Remember that if or when you use a family cloth – they will need to be washed in hot water and sun bleached.

Ladies, we also have to be prepared for our menstrual cycles. There are a lot of viable options now, even semi-permanent ones without having a complete hysterectomy. Just like toilet paper, no matter how prepared you are – eventually the pads, tampons, and panty liners will be gone. Say hello to Diva Cup! www.divacup.com there are two sizes available check the web site for size information.

The Diva Cup has been around for a few years. Imagine how much money you could save! Yes the diva cup cost roughly what 6 months of pads or tampons would cost – but you save money in the long run! The $5.00 to $10.00 you spend on your menstrual cycle needs can now be used towards food preps, knowledge preps, etc! There is also a second option, similar to family cloth, there is cloth reusable maxi pads. You can find them at etsy, or make them yourself! Again, you save money in the long run.

For Family Cloth Patterns and Cloth maxi pad patterns – simply do a web-search for “free family cloth pattern” or “free cloth maxi pad pattern” Print them for future reference!

Intelligent Investments

Investing what little money you have in a proper manner will pay off. Select new items carefully. Many things you may need can be found in thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales. However, there are items you will need to invest in eventually. One way to achieve extra funds to buy brand new goods is change – yes CHANGE! Enjoy your change, don’t rummage for it. Every single time I receive change I put it into two piggy banks one for silver coins the other for penny’s. I coinstar them yearly – last years haul was close to $350.00, yes $350.00!!! I purchased my water storage tower – which was one of my major investments. Instead of scrimping and saving, I just didn’t touch my change as tempting as it was.

Water

Water is THE most important intelligent investment in prep’s hands down, you cannot survive without it. Investing in water storage is the best investment you can buy. 4 days after I purchased my water storage unit – we had a water main break 1 street over. We didn’t have running water for 3 days. Talk about timing! I’m thankful my husband and I filled it the day we had it installed.

Food

Food reserve is the next intelligent investment. As you’ve read it’s quite easy to buy a few items weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly. Adding a few items at a time is essential when you’re on a budget and struggling! Wal-mart also has long term food cans cheaper than anywhere else. You can find a #10 can of corn with a 25 year shelf life for less than $10.00. “Augason Farms Emergency Food” If they don’t sell it at your local store – you can order it online. Long term shelf stable food is a must! Canned goods only last so long.

Medical Supplies and Antibiotics

I wouldn’t want to buy a used medical kit… Who knows where the items have been? Yes, it’s possible to sterilize certain items – but others not so much. You’re going to want a good kit which should include

  • Instant heating pads
  • Instant cold compress’
  • Medical suture kit
  • Emergency dental kit
  • Alcohol
  • Peroxide
  • Irrigation syringes
  • Blood clotting packs
  • Scalpel
  • Forceps
  • Long Tweezers
  • Bent snips
  • Nasopharyngael airway
  • Chest seal (HALO)
  • Battle Dressing
  • Tourniquet
  • Sterile Gauze in various sizes
  • Liquid skin
  • Pocket resuscitator
  • Medical Bag

Again, there are more items you can add. I buy items one at a time on a monthly basis for my medical kit.

Medicine

Many people don’t realize that some animal supply stores sell regular antibiotics that humans take. So yes, it is possible to purchase them without a prescription. Most price “per-pill” I just buy in increments of 30 when my husband and I take a night in, instead of going out to dinner.

~!~!DISCLAIMER!~!~

DO NOT TAKE any antibiotic you haven’t been prescribed or taken before! A lot of antibiotics have sulfa or penicillin in them. Allergies to these can be deadly! If you’re unsure of your allergies to medications speak to your doctor.

Weapons

If you do not have a weapon, this is another intelligent investment! Buy new, and learn how to disassemble and reassemble the gun for cleaning – after purchase make sure to buy ammunition. Buying a gun used can be risky – I’d advise NEW, as there is no way to “test” a gun when purchasing it second hand, unless you’re in the country. You would be surprised at what would entice some people to help you learn about guns. Simply ASK! Some people who are avid hunters and gun enthusiasts don’t mind helping a new gun owner – just last week my husband took a new friend to the range to shoot and learn gun safety. It also doesn’t hurt to offer up a 6-pack, a home cooked meal, or a box of ammo – it’s still a cheap lesson.

K.I.S.S. & Thrifty

K.I.S.S. “Keep it Simply Sustainable & Thrifty”. You don’t need to break the bank on a million different survival books local libraries have a vast majority of knowledge! If your local branch doesn’t have what you’re looking for either look it up on the library website, or have someone assist you to see if a different branch they work with has the title. 99% of library’s will hold, ship, and call you when the book is in for FREE. If you cannot find the title still, check www.half.com, www.textbooks.com, www.amazon.com,

www.betterworldbooks.com/used – there are many sites out there that have cheaply priced used books.

Make Thrift Stores a part of your weekly shopping, you can find troves of useful items cheap! Mason jars, oil lamps, wool and denim clothing and fleece blankets, tents, wagons, rain gear, cast iron pots and pans, silver utensils, old fashioned hand powered kitchen utensils/appliances. and many, many, other important items. You would be astonished at the discounted prices. I’ve gotten an amazing amount of items that will be invaluable in the future. Thrift store shopping can be a huge asset to you – especially if you’re on that tight budget like me. However, do wash the items immediately. Especially cloth type items.

Remember, every person is prepping for certain disastrous scenario’s. Choose a method that makes sense to you and what you are prepping for, not someone else’s preps. I live in snow country so I prep for a blizzard – I also believe that someday our economy is going to collapse causing a SHTF scenario.. You may live in Earthquake country and believe that am EMP attack or solar flare EMP is inevitable. My Blizzard preps wouldn’t make sense in Earthquake country – so rely on yourself, and the VAST information that is out there to help you along the way. Also, PRINT helpful blogs, articles, how-to’s, and other valuable information – if there is an EMP, no more internet.

Via: thesurvivalistblog

Bread prices up on wheat shortage: Argentina

The worst wheat harvest in Argentina’s history is causing a bread shortage.

Wheat is more valued than ever at bakeries in the South American country, where the government is now evaluating whether to suspend exports. The cost of bread has more than doubled in the last month to almost $4 per kilogram.

Argentina’s 2012-13 wheat production fell to 9 million metric tons. That was down from 14 million tons a year earlier.

Leaders of the country’s farming industry on Tuesday blamed the worst harvest in over a century on the government’s agricultural policies. Those include export curbs to ensure local food supply.

Argentina is one the world’s top wheat exporters and sends most of the grain to its neighbor Brazil.

Via: Associated Press

Posted on June 25, 2013 at 7:02 PM

DHS Insider Warns: “It’s Already Begun. You’re Seeing It Now.”

Here is a real scary read pointed out by http://www.shtfplan.com

————————————————

(SHTF Plan Editor’s Note – Full Report Below) 

In December of 2012 we published a report from the Northeast Intelligence Network detailing a possible set of scenarios and timelines. In the report, Doug Hagmann interviewed an anonymous DHS Insider with information that was absolutely mind blowing.

The Insider claimed that in the Spring of 2013 life for the average American would begin to change significantly. He advised that these changes would be revealed after a large collapse in the price of precious metals, which like other financial instruments, were being manipulated by the powers that be. The claims were dismissed by many as ridiculous, with suggestions that the “anonymous source” must be a fake if he won’t even reveal his name.

Given the blowback anonymous sources in recent years have experienced – Bradley Manning, Juliane Assange, and now Edward Snowden to name a few – is there any question as to why any Insider leaking information would want to remain anonymous?

That aside, consider not who the Insider is, but rather, the validity to the claims made in December and beyond.

The price of precious metals has collapsed over 25% in the last 6 months, and just hours after we ran a follow-up report on April 15, 2013, stock markets began to tumble. To add to the intrigue, over the last several weeks Americans have been made privy to the inner workings of a government hell-bent on monitoring and controlling every last activity and digital interaction of a once free public.

Life for Americans, by all accounts, is changing rapidly.

And, now, on the heels of a recent interview in which Insider claimed things were about to get very ugly, the Hagmann and Hagmann Report has revealed even more information.

Take note folks. What you are about to read is scary stuff – frightening, actually.

Given the events of the last six months, those who doubt the legitimacy of the information below are simply not paying attention.

You may be asking: When is this going to happen?

According to The Insider, it’s already begun. We’re seeing it right here and now.

Read it, understand it and share it with those you care for, because this is getting serious.

All signs point to massive paradigm shift, and it’s going to affect everyone on this planet.


More DHS insider from DC

Northeast Intelligence Network / Doug Hagmann

As noted in my June 7, 2013 report titled DHS Insider: It’s about to get very ugly, the additional information provided to me that was temporarily withheld from publication is now being released. The methodical and incremental release of information was (and is) deliberate, to allow other things to play out, such as the public exposure to the name Edward Snowden and his revelations regarding just how extensive the domestic surveillance apparatus is – and who the surveillance is actually targeting.

Back to the early hours of June 7, 2013

“You’ve got to understand that they are trying to find the likes of me,” stated my source. Pretty soon, no one is going to be talking to anybody, especially in the alternative media, even about the damn weather. They won’t risk it, and I’m not just talking about a risk to their careers, either. There has been a systematic method of intimidation with some known and even ‘approved’ media contacts, not just against them, but against their families,” he emphasized.

“Just give it two weeks at most, it will come out that no one will talk to the media,” he added. [Author note: See this article about AP CEO confirming their sources won’t talk anymore, dated 19 June 2013]. “But let me give you some details about some things I was told too. I know this is second-hand information, but it was from someone in a position of authority to know, someone I trust, and someone who I expect to reveal to [name of elected official deleted] the true extent of what has and in some cases, still is taking place. This individual is preparing to disclose much, and has obtained legal counsel, but the problem is that one misstep could be fatal in a literal sense, and [this source] knows that. If not fatal, there are other legal challenges, especially under a corrupt judiciary. By the time this appears in print, the disclosures will likely have already been made, just not made public.”

The Holder hammer & the Chicago plumbers

“The revelation last month that the Justice Department seized two months of telephone records from the Associated Press (AP) last year is only a small part of the story. The public admission is that the Holder Justice Department obtained only telephone records from three locations, something like 20 lines, and records of calls from the House press gallery for about two months. That’s one of the biggest lies ever told,” stated my source.

“The truth is that it was not limited to AP, and not limited to just number identification and call duration, but was an extensive and active wiretapping operation that included every reporter’s telephone conversations, landline and cell, text messages from their personal and business cellular telephones and other electronic devices. The primary focus is on the press gallery, where everything was monitored in real time.”

“Not only were the communications of reporters compromised, so were the private communications of congressmen and their aides. Listen to what I am saying,” he stressed, “the operation was much larger than anyone can imagine. Recordings, actual voice recordings, were turned over to the Obama administration, along with transcripts of texts, other communications and contacts.”

“NSA assets were used, with the NSA acting as the collection agency for their intermediate client, the DHS. Then, at the highest levels of DHS, they sifted through the information collected. But the ultimate client or recipient of the information was the Obama White House. I don’t know if other agencies were involved in sorting through the material, but DHS, and this was limited to the highest of levels at DHS under the personal direction of Janet Napolitano, provided volumes of data directly to the Obama administration. One person inside the administration I know received the data was Valerie Jarrett,” he stated.

“The other part of the lie is that this operation lasted only two months. That’s a lie. It went on well into late last year, was halted shortly after the election, but then picked back up sometime in January,” he said. Something happened in January where there appeared to be another active wiretapping operation started, but this one appeared to be more focused, or more limited in scope. Maybe, and I’m just guessing here based on some of the things I heard, that the Obama people had narrowed their interests based on the fruits of the previous operation.”

Now the ‘Holder hammer’ is coming down on anyone who opens their mouth, or previously leaked any information that could have been or be detrimental to Obama. I can tell you that Valerie Jarrett is working, out of the White House, with DHS and other agencies to co-ordinate their efforts with Justice,” the latter a reference to the Eric Holder Justice Department. “At the same time, on the media side, there is a ‘plumbers team’ headed out of Chicago, with a long reach to the New York and Washington press correspondents. So they are not only going after those on the inside, but the journalists from the other side.”

“The intimidation factor is huge if a media contact is outside of a small circle of ‘vetted’ journalists who are completely loyal to Obama and his agenda. If you are not part of that inner circle, you are a target, it’s that simple. You are seeing the formation of a state-run media and an administration that will intimidate, punish or prosecute anyone considered unfriendly to the Obama camp from the inside and the outside. Like I said, this also involves elected officials, their staffs and even in some cases, their families. And it is all being done under the color of authority and the pretext of national security,” he added.

Loyalty to the man, not the office

It was at this point I asked my source, what were or are they looking for?

“Anything and everything,” he responded. “Obviously, it’s about loyalty to the man, damn the country and damn the law. Protect the man and the agenda, which is not just his agenda, but the people who put him in office.”

Like who? I asked.

“Who benefits? This is about dismantling the United States and nothing less. This is about foreign interests who have taken over our government without a shot. Look at Syria and our economy, both issues that are expected, at least as discussed within DHS,  to play out this year. You had it correct on both counts when you wrote about our involvement in Syria, by way of weapons shipments from Benghazi, to open another war. You also had it correct when you wrote about the killing of the U.S. Dollar. You want to know how I know this? Because the blowback from those two issues alone, one foreign and the other domestic, are what DHS is gearing up for in our ‘homeland,'” he stated.

“Unless there are enough people who wake up fast enough, we will become involved in a war in Syria, with boots on the ground, facing not only Syrian troops but Russian forces. There will be blowback here in the United States. Along with this, you will see the U.S. dollar ‘collapse’ as the reserve currency, and social uprisings here in the U.S. over both. It will be DHS teamed with other federal agencies who will meet, with force, the uprisings. There will be chaos here, but it is expected to be different depending upon where you are at. Big cities will have the most problems, and plans are being made to cordon off cities and restrict travel at the time when these uprisings start. I really didn’t want to use this phrase, but expect martial law to be used ‘for the security’ of those affected by the turmoil.”

“Then, you will see the internet being regulated in a manner that will serve only the agenda of this administration. Either right before or during these events, so-called citizen journalists will be particularly vulnerable. Watch for a serious crackdown of bloggers, online news publications and websites, but not in the way that will be immediately obvious. The ‘plumbers team’ have coordinated their efforts with Internet Service Providers to identify the people like you and others who publish their information on web sites. At first they will cite violations of terms of service. Then, they will select a few ‘troublemakers’ and identify them for criminal prosecution. Others will experience hacking and other electronic attacks. And during all of that, there will be the Obama team flooding the internet with misinformation and disinformation. In fact, that is already taking place.”

During our conversation, I started to ask about certain journalists and bloggers who died, either from ‘natural causes’ or in accidents, suicides, and under other strange circumstances. My source interrupted before I could finish my question.

“Don’t even go there, don’t bother asking me, because I just don’t know, he stated in a rather agitated manner. I do have my suspicions about one, maybe two who got a bit too close to the truth and foolishly trusted certain people, but I really don’t know for sure.”

So, what will all of this look like, I asked, when it all comes down.

“I’ve thought about that myself, and have seen some DHS documents outlining different scenarios. Maybe not what you think,” he replied. “Outside of the rioting in certain urban areas, the low stocks at your local stores, and rationing of gas, maybe not as dire as you imagine. My best guess is a combination of the riots of the 1960′s along with the gasoline rationing of the 1970′s, at least at first. Once people who want to save the country, those with good intentions begin to organize, it will become incrementally worse,” he stated.

“Like a car careening off a cliff, but not hitting the bottom right away. It will hit jagged edges first, each time suffering more damage. Each blow will be worse than the next.”

Centralization

“Let me try to sum it up for you. It’s getting late, and I mean it’s getting late this morning and late for our country. This is all about centralization of power and pursuing an agenda that makes no sense or has any benefit to the United States.  All of the things we are seeing are related. The IRS, Syria, Benghazi, the NSA, and just about everything you can name is about one thing: the consolidation of power and the centralization of authority. This party did not start with Obama, and might not end with him either.”

I interjected my surprise at this point, noting that I thought the worst, like others, that we might not see another presidential election. “When did I mention anything about an election?”

“You’re not thinking big enough,” he admonished. Nobody is thinking big enough, or has been thinking at all, which is why we’re in this position. This is a global agenda, or an agenda of the global interests, the money interests. Do you think for one second that if a person, and I don’t give a damn who it is or what position they hold, becomes a liability to those interests that they wouldn’t get rid of them? Don’t you think those in power know this?

Cryptically, he spoke of Obama’s apparent infatuation with Abraham Lincoln and asked, rhetorically whether that means anything. A country that will fall into a civil war of sorts, and all of the things common to both. Does Obama know something, or feel something? Is that playing in to his desire for oaths only to him, and not the country? Think about it.”

Time frame

As we were parting, I felt a bit like Peter Falk playing Columbo in the 1970′s television series when I said that I had “just one more question.” When is all of this going to start?

What? He turned and looked at me as if I had uttered an insult.

“It’s already begun. You’re seeing it now. If you want to know a date when our money will tank, or when the war goes hot, or when you won’t be able to get food or gas, I can’t tell you, and I don’t think anyone can. But remember what I said before, about the metals taking a hit and something happening after that. Look at the metals market. The U.S. has very little gold. Everything you see is being manipulated, from the economy to the metals to foreign policy. I believe that most politicians know how dire things are, and most are clawing their way for a seat at the global table. But if I had to answer you, and I guess I will so you’ll let me leave, I’d look for something to happen in early July as a precursor to the more major events later in the summer or fall, maybe in October.”

“But don’t try to look at dates for answers, look at events, even the small ones. Remember, their objectives haven’t changed, only their plans to adapt to the right conditions. To the unaware, it will look like everything was just one big unfortunate coincidence.”

Report originally published at The Northeast Intelligence Network.

Via: shtfplan

A Sun Oven Experience

I have been hearing a lot about the new surge in solar energy.  Technology has vastly improved, costs are coming down, and great rebates are available from electric companies and federal and state governments.  What I didn’t know is that I could be using solar energy every single day, saving money on my electric bill, and keeping my kitchen cool at the same time!


I had the opportunity to sample homemade bread and a fabulous peach cobbler, both baked in a solar Sun Oven.  I was thoroughly impressed and ran home to tell the Paranoid Dad that we simply must own one of these contraptions!  Here’s what appealed to me the most.

First, seasonal electric bills can be sky high.   With new government regulations looming on the horizon, they will likely only get higher.  According to my resident expert, the Paranoid Dad, the typical home would recoup the price of the oven via savings in their electric bill in eight to nine months.  With the Sun Oven, my baking is virtually free and I won’t use even an ounce of fossil fuel!

I love saving money, but I love the idea of self-sufficiency even more.  I have been a little nervous about my food storage because a lot of it requires a heating source, either gas or electricity, to prepare.  Should our city experience black-outs or if there was a failure of our vulnerable electrical grid, I’ll still be able to keep my family well fed using a solar oven.  I like the idea of having that extra “safety net”.

There’s virtually nothing that can’t be baked in a solar oven.  I can even use it to hard boil eggs!  Cookies, casseroles, steamed veggies, and roasted chicken are just a few examples of its’ versatility.  Add a solar cookbook or two, and we’ll never miss our traditional oven.  Heck, I might even be inspired to cook more often!

I’ve spent a lot of time on the official Sun Oven website, scoured their list of recipes, and am pretty impressed with the product.

Have you used a solar oven?  What are your own hits and misses?

Via: thesurvivalmom

Under-the-bed stored food now easily accessible

In a recent conversation with a older man, he commented that he had purchased oil drip pans for their food storage. He explained these were the type of drip pans, or trays, used to catch dripping oil from underneath a vehicle.


Intrigued, I asked him to explain how on earth these trays helped with food storage. Well, it turns out that their new home has very little storage space. Since neither he nor his wife fancy trying to fish loose, individual containers of food from under their bed, they’ve placed their stored items on these trays and then just slide them under for storage and back out again when they want to use the food.

How smart!

You can get these trays in varying sizes and could place them in horizontal rows under a bed on each side for easiest access. Also, you could organize the items on each tray so you wouldn’t spend time on your hands and knees locating what you need.

They also make Under-Bed Storage Boxes but they are normally plastic and not supper heavy duty. The trays above a easy and slide nice on carpet.

I am sure others have come up with ways to store under the small space of a bed.

Share your thoughts.

Hope this tip helps you maximize the empty space under beds!

Via: thesurvivalmom

Rules for Your Emergency Food Pantry

Those of you who plan to take the first steps toward preparing for emergencies may feel a bit overwhelmed at where to begin. After all, there is a lot of food to choose from at the grocery stores. Many websites, including this one encourage families to start buying small amounts of food related preparedness items each time they go shopping. This way, your budget is not dramatically affected.

Food storage calculators are a great tool to incorporate in your preparedness planning, and can help you understand how much food your family will need for a given emergency. The food storage calculations can also be printed out and used as an inventory list to keep you on track in terms of what preparedness supplies you have and will need.

To make the most of your emergency food supply, keep these essential food pantry rules in mind before purchasing:

  1. Caloric intake is an important factor in survival. In any disaster situation, you want to avoid malnutrition. Having foods stored to prevent this health issue will keep you at your optimum health. Stock up on foods that provide you with essential nutrients to maintain body functions, proteins and carbohydrates, fats for energy, as well as foods that are not high in salt (the more salty your food is, the more water you will drink). To calculate how many calories you will need in your diet, click here.
  2. Consider buying multifunctional food items. Items that can serve more than one purpose will help your finances, as well as save precious space in the food storage pantry. Items such as oats, pasta, rice, wheat and beans are some great low-cost foods will serve a variety of uses.
  3. Store high energy snacks to help boost energy levels. Eating snacks that are high in complex carbohydrates and protein will provide you with a guaranteed energy boost. High energy snacks such as nuts, peanut butter, crackers, granola bars and trail mix can be stored for up to 1 year and will help keep energy levels and spirits high in an emergency scenario.
  4. Bring on the protein! Protein is an essential ingredient in our daily diets and cannot be omitted out of a survival diet. Canned meat is a good source of protein and can also help you maintain your energy level. Meats such as tuna, ham, chicken and spam are great additions to the food pantry and are multifunctional. (Remember, the oil in canned meat can be used as an emergency candle.) Beans are another great source of protein, and when beans are accompanied with rice, it makes a complete protein which provides all the amino acids needed to survive. One serving of beans and rice provides 19.9 g, or 40 percent of your daily vitamins.
  5. Don’t forget the basics. Essential staples such as cooking oil, flour, cornmeal, salt, sugar, spices, baking soda, baking powder and vinegar should not be overlooked.  If they are present in your kitchen, they should likewise be present in the emergency food supply.
  6. Convenience helps in stressful situations. Many moms know that boxed dinners can be a lifesaver when you are in a time crunch. Having some pre-packaged dinners and meals-to-grab during emergency scenarios will help you begin acclimating yourself to cooking in a grid down scenario as well as can help provide some comfort at the same time. Personally speaking, my family has the “just add water” pancake mixes, corn breads and drink mixes that are a great convenience.
  7. Variety’s the very spice of life that gives it all its pleasure. Variety in your food pantry is important and can prevent the monotony that comes with eating the same foods day in and day out. Having well-rounded food storage will cut down on culinary boredom, as well as balance your diet. Further, stocking up on a variety of spices will also enhance your food pantry.
  8. Find comfort in the little things. Have some comfort food items that provide enjoyment to the family. Items such as popcorn, sweet cereals, hard candy, juice boxes, pickles, applesauce, pudding, cookies could be a great way to provide a bit of normalcy to the emergency situation you may face.
  9. Have backs up for your backs ups. Compressed food bars are lightweight, taste good and are nutritious. Having food bars as a backup to your existing food supply can provide you with peace of mind knowing you have an alternative to turn to if you run out of food. Further, these are great additions to your 72-hour bag or bug out vehicle. A review of the different types of bars can be read here or you can practice your survival skills and make your own with this recipe. MRE’s are another alternative food choice to turn to if you happen to run out of food in your pantry. Although many have turned their nose up at MRE’s (due to their high amounts of preservatives), they will provide you with sufficient calories and nutrition when it counts. Note: These should not be the only items in your food supply. Over time, you could become nutrient and vitamin deficient.
  10. Rotate and resupply when needed. Any items bought for the food storage closet should be used, rotated and resupplied. This is the best way to have the freshest foods available in the event that a disaster occurs. When organizing food reserves place the item that has the earliest expiration date in the front so that it is used first. FIFO is a well-known acronym used in the restaurant business that stands for, “First In, First Out,” and can be incorporated in your food storage endeavors. Do an inventory check every 6 months to make sure that canned goods, preserves and other storage items are within their expiration dates.

Keeping the above considerations in mind when purchasing your food supply will provide your family with a well-rounded food pantry stocked with an array of foods that will assist in promoting a healthy diet. Not listed in the suggestions is water. You must have water to survive. To learn more about potable water, click here. It would be prudent to have a 2-week supply of water on hand, as well as a water filtration device to rely on for extended disasters.

Prepping is a passion for some. For others it is the most efficient way to keep their family as safe as possible.

Via: readynutrition