Monthly Archives: March 2014

Try it Today! 5-Minute Strawberry Jam

Check this out from Lisa Bedford at http://thesurvivalmom.com

If you and your family rely on jellies and jams, I’ve found that store-bought versions definitely have a shelf life when it comes to long-term storage. I’ve found that over time, these become discolored and unappetizing to use. It’s a much smarter strategy to have the ingredients on hand to make homemade versions of your favorite flavors, but even then, fresh fruit might be hard to come by at times.


If you’re storing sugar, long-term, you’re almost ready to make this super-quick homemade jam/fruit spread and with this recipe, you can serve up a sweet and fruity treat in a matter of minutes.

You’ll need:

1/3 c. sugar, or to taste

2 T. Augason Farms Ultimate Gel

1 1/2 c. freeze-dried fruit. I used Augason Farms Sliced Freeze-Dried Strawberries

Cover the fruit with cool water and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Drain half the water, and then slowly add the sugar, stirring until it’s dissolved. Add the Ultimate Gel, a little at a time, stirring to avoid any lumps.

If you want your jam to be thinner, add a bit more water. Store in a canning jar in the refrigerator.

TIPS

  • You can use other types of fruit and more or less sugar, depending on your personal preference.
  • Try adding a bit of lemon or orange zest for more flavor.
  • A little Ultimate Gel goes a long way and can also be used as a thickener with fruit pies.
  • If the finished product isn’t fruity enough for you, soften another 1/3 to 1/2 cup of fruit for a few minutes, drain most of the water, and then add to the jam.
  • Freeze-dried fruit can be found at Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Winco, among others. They’re also available on Amazon and directly through food storage companies, such as Augason Farms.
  • If you want a smaller amount, say just for tonight’s dessert over ice cream, use these amounts: 3/4 c. freeze dried fruit, 1/4 c. sugar (you can always add more), 1 T. Ultimate Gel
  • Freeze dried fruit can become chewy once the can is open and there’s humidity in the air. That doesn’t affect the flavor, but you can avoid that by pouring the fruit into canning jars with tightly fitted lids. There’s no need to add an oxygen absorber unless you’ll be storing the fruit for six months or more. You can also store the leftover fruit in vacuum packed bags or jars using a Food Saver. Watch this video demonstration to see how easy this is:

 

 

This would go great with “quick basic biscuit recipe from storage foods in your survival kit“.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

via: thesurvivalmom

U.S. Risks National Blackout From Small-Scale Attack

The following article was originally published here – – – http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304020104579433670284061220.

The U.S. could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country’s 55,000 electric-transmission substations on a scorching summer day, according to a previously unreported federal analysis.

The study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded that coordinated attacks in each of the nation’s three separate electric systems could cause the entire power network to collapse, people familiar with the research said.

 

The U.S. could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out nine of the country’s electric-transmission substations on a summer day, according to a previously unreported federal analysis. National War College Professor Dr. Richard Andres discusses.

A small number of the country’s substations play an outsize role in keeping power flowing across large regions. The FERC analysis indicates that knocking out nine of those key substations could plunge the country into darkness for weeks, if not months.

With over 160,000 miles of transmission lines, the U.S. power grid is designed to handle natural and man-made disasters, as well as fluctuations in demand. How does the system work? WSJ’s Jason Bellini has #TheShortAnswer.

“This would be an event of unprecedented proportions,” said Ross Baldick, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

No federal rules require utilities to protect vital substations except those at nuclear power plants. Regulators recently said they would consider imposing security standards.

FERC last year used software to model the electric system’s performance under the stress of losing important substations. The substations use large power transformers to boost the voltage of electricity so it can move long distances and then to reduce the voltage to a usable level as the electricity nears homes and businesses.

The agency’s so-called power-flow analysis found that different sets of nine big substations produced similar results. The Wall Street Journal isn’t publishing the list of 30 critical substations studied by FERC. The commission declined to discuss the analysis or to release its contents.

Some federal officials said the conclusions might overstate the grid’s vulnerability.

Electric systems are designed to be resilient and it would be difficult for attackers to disable many locations, said David Ortiz, an Energy Department deputy assistant secretary who was briefed on the FERC study. The agency’s findings nevertheless had value “as a way of starting a conversation on physical security,” he said.

The study’s results have been known for months by people at federal agencies, Congress and the White House, who were briefed by then-FERC Chairman Jon Wellinghoff and others at the commission. As reported by the Journal last month, Mr. Wellinghoff was concerned about a shooting attack on a California substation last April, which he said could be a dress rehearsal for additional assaults.

“There are probably less than 100 critical high voltage substations on our grid in this country that need to be protected from a physical attack,” he said by email this week. “It is neither a monumental task, nor is it an inordinate sum of money that would be required to do so.” Mr. Wellinghoff left FERC in November and is a partner at law firm Stoel Rives LLP in San Francisco.

FERC has given the industry until early June to propose new standards for the security of critical facilities, such as substations.

Executives at several big utilities declined to discuss the risks to substations but said they are increasing spending on security. Virginia-based Dominion Resources Inc., D +0.56%for example, said it planned to spend $300 million to $500 million within seven years to harden its facilities.

A memo prepared at FERC in late June for Mr. Wellinghoff before he briefed senior officials made several urgent points. “Destroy nine interconnection substations and a transformer manufacturer and the entire United States grid would be down for at least 18 months, probably longer,” said the memo, which was reviewed by the Journal. That lengthy outage is possible for several reasons, including that only a handful of U.S. factories build transformers.

The California attack “demonstrates that it does not require sophistication to do significant damage to the U.S. grid,” according to the memo, which was written by Leonard Tao, FERC’s director of external affairs. Mr. Tao said his function was to help Mr. Wellinghoff simplify his report on the analysis.

The memo reflected a belief by some people at the agency that an attack-related blackout could be extraordinarily long, in part because big transformers and other equipment are hard to replace. Also, each of the three regional electric systems—the West, the East and Texas—have limited interconnections, making it hard for them to help each other in an emergency.

Some experts said other simulations that are widely used in the electricity industry produced similar results as the FERC analysis.

“This study used a relatively simplified model, but other models come to the same conclusion,” said A.P. “Sakis” Meliopoulos, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. He estimated it would take “a slightly larger number” of substation attacks to cause a U.S.-wide blackout.

In its modeling, FERC studied what would happen if various combinations of substations were crippled in the three electrical systems that serve the contiguous U.S. The agency concluded the systems could go dark if as few as nine locations were knocked out: four in the East, three in the West and two in Texas, people with knowledge of the analysis said.

The actual number of locations that would have to be knocked out to spawn a massive blackout would vary depending on available generation resources, energy demand, which is highest on hot days, and other factors, experts said. Because it is difficult to build new transmission routes, existing big substations are becoming more crucial to handling electricity.

In last April’s attack at PG&E Corp.’s PCG +0.70% Metcalf substation, gunmen shot 17 large transformers over 19 minutes before fleeing in advance of police. The state grid operator was able to avoid any blackouts.

The Metcalf substation sits near a freeway outside San Jose, Calif. Some experts worry that substations farther from cities could face longer attacks because of their distance from police. Many sites aren’t staffed and are protected by little more than chain-link fences and cameras.

While the prospect of a nationwide blackout because of sabotage might seem remote, small equipment failures have led to widespread power outages. In September 2011, for example, a failed transmission line in Arizona set off a chain reaction that created an outage affecting millions of people in the state and Southern California.

Sabotage could wreak worse havoc, experts said.

“The power grid, built over many decades in a benign environment, now faces a range of threats it was never designed to survive,” said Paul Stockton, a former assistant secretary of defense and president of risk-assessment firm Cloud Peak Analytics. “That’s got to be the focus going forward.”

———————————-

 

So think it can’t happen:

In just the last couple of weeks, in Darwin (capital of the Northern Territories, Australia) something tripped an emergency switch and all power was shut down for a large area of the state. Not only did the power go out but also water and the cell phone towers. It took 24 hours to slowly go through all the substations to manually switch them all back on, taking over 24 hours to do so. Over 86,000 households without power. Now that is a lot of people when no one preps although it is still the wet season there (I think).

Now that was an accident, but what if someone decided to do something nasty like booby trap the substations. I was going to say it doesn’t bear thinking about, but of course we do need to think about the possibility.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26526868

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/northern-territory-hit-by-catastrophic-power-blackout/story-e6frg6nf-1226852309726

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: modernsurvivalonline

Put this quick basic biscuit recipe from storage foods in your survival kit

Guest post by Leon Pantenburg

Quick, easy recipes to make tasty foods from storage foods should be part of your survival gear. During an emergency you might end up with a few basic food staples, a campfire and people to feed.


The school crowd only left me two biscuits for the photo shoot! This recipe is a favorite with kids for breakfast.

Biscuits are comfort food for many of us with Southern backgrounds. Though I was born and reared in Iowa, I lived in Mississippi for years. The southern tradition of biscuits and gravy for breakfast is one I embrace wholeheartedly.
A survival mom can use this recipe to help rotate storage food. At deer camp, produce a wild game stew with hot biscuits for supper, and you’ll see weary hunters perk up. A pan of biscuits goes well with many meals at home. And the smell of biscuits baking the morning has roused many a sleepy teenager out of bed on school mornings.

For a biscuit recipe to be included in your prepper or survivalist gear, it needs to be easy to make, use simple ingredients and tasty.
Here’s the recipe I use frequently.

It comes from the “Southern Sideboards” cookbook, and is an incredibly simple, easy recipe. Master this dish, and the variations will be endless!

Everyday Biscuits

1 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 c Crisco shortening (or bear grease or coconut oil)

1/2 c milk (or buttermilk)

Mix flour, salt and baking powder. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles corn meal. Stir in milk. Let stand about one minute. Knead a few times on a floured board. Roll out and cut with a biscuit cutter. Place on greased baking sheet (I use a skillet or small Dutch oven, being a hardcore cast iron junkie!) and bake at 400 degrees until light brown. Baking time will vary depending on size and thickness of biscuits. (I bake mine for 17 minutes, until the edges just started to brown.)

If you want to make this recipe even easier, premix all the dry ingredients, including the Crisco. Put them in a Ziploc plastic bag, and write on the front “Add 1/2 c. milk”. Then, all you have to do is add the moisture and knead the dough in the bag. (Hmmm…this is starting to sound like a good-tasting MRE…)

If fresh milk might be a problem, add 2 to 4 tablespoons of dried milk to the dry ingredients. Then add 1/2 cup of water when you are making the dough.

Survival campfire cooking doesn’t have to be hard – but it should taste good!

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: survivalcommonsense

NASA Models Predict Total Societal Collapse: “Irreversible”

The end of the world as we know it is coming.

You’ve likely heard this before, especially from the growing number of voices in the alternative news and preparedness communities. Often dismissed as conspiracy theory or outright lunacy, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests these fringe thinkers may well be on to something.

Despite assurances from most political leaders, experts and researchers who argue that we live in a stable and sustainable world, a new study utilizing mathematical models developed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center may confirm our worst fears.

According to the Socio Economic Synthesis Center, which led the study’s research team and was made up of well respected natural and social scientists from various U.S.-based universities, society as it exists today is decades, perhaps just years, from a complete collapse of our way of life.

Given economic stratication, collapse is very difficult to avoid and requires major policy changes, including major reductions in inequality and population growth rates. Even in the absence of economic stratication, collapse can still occur if depletion per capita is too high. However, collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion. (SESC via Steve Quayle)

The study cites scores of historical examples of civilization collapse dating back thousands of years. Given the facts it is clear that humanity’s long sought after Utopian society is a goal that is simply unachievable. Every five hundred years or so, the whole system simply falls apart.

There are widespread concerns that current trends in population and resource-use are unsustainable, but the possibilities of an overshoot and collapse remain unclear and controversial.

How real is the possibility of a societal collapse?

Can complex, advanced civilizations really collapse? 

It is common to portray human history as a relentless and inevitable trend toward greater levels of social complexity, political organization, and economic specialization, with the development of more complex and capable technologies supporting ever-growing population, all sustained by the mobilization of ever-increasing quantities of material, energy, and information. Yet this is not inevitable.

In fact, cases where this seemingly near-universal, long-term trend has been severely disrupted by a precipitous collapse often lasting centuries have been quite common.


This brings up the question of whether modern civilization is similarly susceptible. It may seem reasonable to believe that modern civilization, armed with its greater technological capacity, scientific knowledge, and energy resources, will be able to survive and endure whatever crises historical societies succumbed to.

But the brief overview of collapses demonstrates not only the ubiquity of the phenomenon, but also the extent to which advanced, complex, and powerful societies are susceptible to collapse.

In short, the mathematical models utilized to determine the results of the study indicate that there are two key causes for what the authors call an “irreversible” collapse.

First, with the earth’s population now over 7 billion people our civilization is burning through resources faster than they can be replenished, and the burden of paid “non-workers” (i.e. those who are given resources for performing no actual function in society) leads to a complete breakdown in the system.

We can see how an irreversible Type-N (full) collapse of Population, Nature, and Wealth can occur due to over-depletion of natural resources as a result of high depletion per capita.


Workers and Non-Workers with the same level of consumption, i.e., with no economic stratication. The Non-Workers in these scenarios could represent a range of societal roles from students, retirees, and disabled people, to intellectuals, managers, and other non-productive sectors. In this case, the Workers have to deplete enough of Nature to support both the Non-Workers and themselves.

Second, and this may come as no surprise, “elite” members of society are accumulating whatever available resources there are in an effort to maintain control over the “commoners.”

The Elite population starts growing significantly… hence depleting the Wealth and causing the system to collapse.

Under this scenario, the system collapses due to worker scarcity even though natural resources are still abundant, but because the depletion rate is optimal, it takes more than 400 years after the Wealth reaches a maximum for the society to collapse.

In this example, Commoners die out first and Elites disappear later. This scenario shows that in a society that is otherwise sustainable, the highly unequal consumption of elites will still cause a collapse. This scenario is an example of a Type-L collapse in which both Population and Wealth collapse but Nature recovers.


The Elites eventually consume too much, resulting in a famine among Commoners that eventually causes the collapse of society. It is important to note that this Type-L collapse is due to an inequality-induced famine that causes a loss of workers, rather than a collapse of Nature. Despite appearing initially to be the same as the sustainable optimal solution obtained in the absence of Elites, economic stratication changes the final result: Elites’ consumption keeps growing until the society collapses. The Mayan collapse in which population never recovered even though nature did recover is an example of a Type-L collapse

There are several other scenarios outlined in the study, but the above two are seemingly the ones that may be responsible for the coming collapse of our own civilization.

In America, nearly 50% of the population produces nothing, yet receives payment in the form of money, goods and services. This takes resources out of the hands of those who actually produce these resources.

Furthermore, it should be obvious that elite members of society simply take what they want through force, whether by taxation or criminal activity (as defined by natural law), putting even more strain on the system.

Over time, the debt builds and pulls forward wealth from generations ahead, resources are depleted, and costs begin to reach levels that are simply unsustainable for everyone, including the elites who attempt to amass as much as they can.

In the end, we all suffer the same fate.

According to this and other studies, like one recently published by the UK Government Office of Science and entitled A Perfect Storm of Global Events, we are very quickly approaching the breaking point. Over the next fifteen years, it is predicted that the strain could become so burdensome on society that the system will crack and eventually break down.

The result will be famine, war, and what some refer to as a “die off.” This will affect all segments of society.

Naturally, there will be those who survive, and it will likely be the people who are able to develop their own sustainable environments on a personal, familial or communal level. These people may have taken steps to not only prepare for long-term crises, but to develop sustainable practices that will allow them to produce their own food and energy.

The mathematics being cited here have been seen time and again in other studies, and they don’t bode well for human civilization as we know it today.

With seven billion people on the planet, a massively unproductive non-workforce, and the greed of the elite, it is only a matter of time before something breaks and there is a real possibility that our civilization will not be able to survive it.

The scary version? According to these studies, the consequences will be felt within most of our lifetimes.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: shtfplan

If you find yourself lost, S.T.O.P.

By contributing writer, Jim Cobb

We’re approaching spring (finally!) and with that time of year comes camping, hiking, and all sorts of other wilderness activities.  All too often, though, these relatively simple treks into the outdoors end in tragedy.  It seems not a week goes by without a news story hitting the airwaves and Internet about some hiker or camper who became lost in the woods and dying from exposure or some other cause.

Fortunately, there is a simple tool you can teach your loved ones, as well as use yourself, in that situation.  The acronym S.T.O.P. serves to remind us all of what we should do in the event we find ourselves lost in the woods.

S stands for SIT DOWN.  Stop moving and take a break.  Inhale deeply, hold it for a few seconds, then let it out slowly.  Do this a few times, until you feel you are in control.  Panicking does no good whatsoever.  You need to clear your head and the first step towards that is to sit down.

Keep in mind, too, that is it much more difficult for searchers to find a moving target.  By staying in one place, provided that place is safe, you stand a much better chance of being found.

T is for THINK.  After you’ve calmed yourself, think about your situation, your location, and how you got there.  Sometimes, this is all it takes and you’ll be able to retrace your steps back to camp.  Other times, though, you’ll need to prioritize your list of basic needs and determine what you need to do first.  Usually, this means getting a fire going and cobbling together some sort of shelter.  Remember, the elements can and will kill you far sooner than a lack of food or water in most situations.  Addressing any injuries also takes precedence.

Another consideration is to think about how long you’ve been gone and how long it may be before people start looking for you.  If you’ve committed a cardinal sin and not told anyone where you were going or when you’d be back, it could be quite some time before any alerts are sounded.  In that situation, you’ll be on your own for far longer than you may be prepared to sit tight and wait.

O is for OBSERVE.  You need to take complete stock of the situation.  Can you make a reasonably accurate determination of your location?  Do you know in which direction to travel to find help the quickest (and do you know how to find that direction)?  How late in the day is it now?  What is the weather like now and what is it likely to do in the next few hours?

For example, while in many cases you’d be far better off to stay put and wait for help, if you are absolutely certain the highway lies two hours to the west and it is the middle of a bright, sunny morning, put the sun to your back and get trekking.

This step also entails taking a mental or physical inventory of the resources available to you.  What gear do you have in your pockets or in your pack?  Look around and try to ascertain what natural resources are available to you as well.  Is there a stream nearby from which you can obtain water and do you have the means to disinfect it?  What about wild edibles, such as blackberries?  Even if you aren’t necessarily hungry at the moment, just knowing those sources of food are around you can be a comforting thought.

P stands for PLAN.  It is only after you’ve sat down, calmly thought about the situation, and observed what is around you as well as with you that you are able to make a concrete, informed plan of action.  Of course, the plan will vary with the situation but, generally speaking, it will first involve a decision to either stay put or continue moving.

If you are going to sit tight and wait for help, this is a great time to start signaling for assistance.  We’ll talk about signaling for help in more detail in a later installment but, suffice to say, you should always have a whistle in your pocket when traveling outdoors.  The sound of a whistle will travel much further than your voice and using a whistle won’t give you a sore throat.  Three sharp blasts at regular intervals is the standard distress signal.  The whistle has the added bonus of not preventing you from working on a debris hut or other shelter, as well as getting a fire going, while you’re using it.

Often, the most difficult part about this is remembering to do it.  What you may consider doing is writing S.T.O.P. on a piece of tape and placing it inside your jacket or somewhere else that will be visible to you should the need arise.

 

Jim Cobb is a Disaster Readiness Consultant and author of Prepper’s Home Defense, The Prepper’s Complete Book of Disaster Readiness, and Prepper’s Long-Term Survival Guide. His websites are Survival Weekly and Disaster Prep Consultants.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: thesurvivalmom

How to Make Sprouted Wheat/Spelt/Anything Flour–Picture Tutorial!

Guest post by Sarah at penniless parenting

I will be trying to force myself to take it easy for the next few weeks now that I gave birth, because I know I have a tendency to push myself, but I do need to take it easy if I want to be back to 100% normal faster. But I don’t want to let you blog readers down, and I want to keep the good information flowing from this blog. I’ve asked some friends of mine who are on the same page as I am in some way, to write guest posts on topics that I like for this blog which I’ll be sharing with you readers over the next little while.

First up is this post by my friend, Sarah. She’s a really cool mama who is famous in my circles for her sprouted flour that she makes for her family, as well as provides for others. When Sarah told me she’d write up this post about how she makes her sprouted flour, I was very excited, since sprouting grains for flour is something that I’d been interested in learning about and maybe encorporating into my life, but hadn’t yet. Sprouting makes things more digestible and healthy, and since I have my own grinder and dehydrator, why not? Sarah tends to grind sprouted gluten grains, but this post is good for anyone, gluten free or not, since you can sprout nearly anything you can grind into flour. When I am fully recovered from birth, the first two types of sprouted flours I plan on making are chickpea and buckwheat flours.


Hope you find this post as informative and enjoyable as I did!


Grinding sprouted flour

Properly prepared grains and legumes are a key component to a healthy diet. The main issue with regular spelt/wheat/legume flour is the phytic acid they contain in their unsoaked form. Soaking them gets rid of this issue. Sprouting the grains/legumes after soaking adds additional nutritional benefits: it slightly lowers gluten in glutenous grains, increases the protein quality, and significantly increases vitamins A, C, D, E, K, calcium, iron, magnesium, niacin, pantothenic acid, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, all amino acids, and protein to all grains/legumes. Sprouted flour is actually a bit sweeter from the sprouting process and much more delicious and nourishing than its unsprouted counterparts.

This process can be done with any grain or legume that you can sprout such as wheat, spelt, rye, quinoa, green buckwheat, chickpeas, mung beans, etc. Buy organic if you can to assure good sprouting outcomes.

For things that don’t sprout so well, like brown rice, oat, and some beans, you can follow these instructions just skipping step 4 (sprouting) and going straight to step 5 (spreading out onto dehydrator trays). Doing a long soak (24 hours) makes grains and especially legumes much more digestible and gets rid of the phytic acid. Only soaking yields a flour that is wonderful and healthy without the extra added benefits of sprouting. Both ways are delicious-tasting and great for your body!


In this tutorial I am using a 9-tray Excalibur food dehydrator and high-protein organic spelt grains. I am using 6 kilograms (a bit over 13 pounds) of grain because that is the amount that fills my dehydrator best. Feel free to scale down! For simplicity’s sake, I use the words “grains” and “spelt” in this post which can be replaced with whatever grain or legume you are using.

Bulk sacks of wheat/spelt.

1) CLEAN: Go over your grains/legumes and pick out stones and anything else that looks funky. You can skip this step and just look over the grains as you spread them out on your dehydrator sheets. In my spelt I usually find some stones, seeds of some sort, little woody pieces (hard to describe) and the occasional bean!

Bathing spelt

 2) SOAK: Put 6 kilograms (a bit over 13 pounds) into a large stainless steel bowl. Make sure that the bowl is big enough to house the expansion of the grains that will occur when you soak. Cover by a few inches with filtered water of your preference. I use reverse osmosis. Soak for 12-24 hours. I usually soak for 12 hours if I plan to sprout. If I don’t want to sprout, I usually do a 24 hour soak (see above notes for more talk about this). Add an acid medium like vinegar, if desired.

(Note from Penny- not all grains/legumes need to be soaked the same amount of time before sprouting. Buckwheat, for example, needs to be soaked no more than 30 minutes or it will get waterlogged and not sprout. Check out SproutPeople.com’s informative site with soaking times for nearly everything you would ever think of sprouting.)

Colander stack–where the sprouting magic happens

3) DRAIN: After 12-24 hours have passed, find a colander that will fit your grains. I use two colanders stacked on top of each other because I’m sprouting a huge amount. Drain the grains using your colander and rinse with filtered water. Wet a cloth, wring it, and place over the colander.

Perfecto!

4) SPROUT: Wait for your grains to sprout. Anywhere from 12-24 hours. A short sprout is the KEY to the success and usability of the finished product. You want to sprout just a LITTLE bit. Just when the bud emerges is ideal. Sprouted a little more than that is fine too, just be sure the sprout’s length is shorter than the grain it’s spouting from. Over-sprouted grains are great in salad, but will make the most disgusting, gummy, gross bread EVER. Trust me.

Ready for dehydrating!

5) LAY OUT: Once spouted to the ideal size (or as soaked as you desire for the soak-only version), it’s time to spread the grains out on your dehydrator sheets. I cut window screens to line my dehydrator sheets because the screens they came with have holes that are too big and spouted wheat and other small grains/legumes fall through once dehydrated. When using 6 kilograms (a bit over 13 pounds) of grain, I put 6 cups of the sprouts on each tray which fills my 9-tray Excalibur perfectly. Pat the grain to spread it out evenly onto each tray.

Fully loaded

6) DEHYDRATE: Dehydrate on low heat (up to 115 degrees Fahrenheit / 46 degrees Celsius) for 12 hours. Low heat ensures maximum nutritional value. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you can use your oven set to its lowest temperature with the oven door propped slightly ajar.

Spelt mountain!

7) BAG: Once dehydrated, dump the dry grains onto a large piece of cloth, clean garbage bag, or (as I do) on an empty 25 kilogram (55 pound)-size bulk wheat sack. Transfer the grain to gallon size Zip-lock bags or the receptacle of your choice. If I had a bunch of gallon-sized mason jars, that would be my ideal choice! Each gallon-size bag holds 3 kg (about 6.5 pounds) of dehydrated grain. I like to bag my grains so I can grind a little bit at a time, fresh, right before using.

Ready for chilling

8) CHILL: Before grinding you have the choice of chilling the grain beforehand or not. I like to freeze my grains before milling to preserve the nutritional value as much as possible. My stone mill doesn’t heat up the flour very much, but for those of you with burr-blade types of mills, this step would be highly recommended. You can chill the grains in your fridge or freezer, wherever you have more space.

Stone grinder at work

9) MILL: Grind your properly prepared, dehydrated, chilled (or not) grains. I use a Komo Fidibus XL which is a stone mill. It’s beautiful and I absolutely LOVE it. When stone grinding, make sure to check and adjust the grind setting every time the hopper empties before you put in more grain when you are grinding larger quantities. This ensures an even grind throughout.

Yummy!

10) BAKE: Use your freshly milled, delicious, traditionally-prepared flour in your favorite recipes. Use as a 1:1 replacement for “regular” whole wheat, spelt, rice, chickpea, or whatever flour in your favorite bread, cookie, cake, and cracker recipes. Enjoy the amazing taste and health benefits of sprouted flour!

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: pennilessparenting

Forget Doom and Gloom: Preparedness is the Ultimate Act of Optimism

This article has been contributed by Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper and author of The Pantry Primer.

Does this sound familiar?

You’re talking to a friend or family member who isn’t on board with preparedness.  (And it’s even worse when they think they know what’s going on in the world but garner their so-called “information” from network news sources.)  You try for the millionth time to get them to consider stocking up on a few things and they say this:

Life’s too short for all of this doom and gloom.  Live a little! You’re such a pessimist!

My response to this is that preparedness is the ultimate form of optimism.

One who practices skills, makes dramatic lifestyle changes, and studies current events critically may come across to the uninitiated as a person who has buried himself or herself in negativity, but in fact, one who prepares is saying to life, “Whatever comes, we are not only going to live through it, my family is going to thrive, and I will not bend my knee to tyranny for an MRE and a bottle of water.”

I think that methods of preparedness can be compared to love songs on the radio.  Bear with me through this analogy.

If the songs that make you think of your significant other are sad, with reference to breaking up and getting back together, unsatisfied yearnings, arguments, frustration, anger, and broken hearts, you just might be doing the whole “love” thing wrong.  Shouldn’t the song that makes you think of the one you love be happy, upbeat, full of joy? Shouldn’t thoughts of that special someone make you more prone to goofy smiles and a warm glow than to melancholy longing or the urge to gleefully burn all of their belongings in a great pile in the front yard?

It’s exactly the same with preparedness.  Thoughts of your plans, your lifestyle, and your loaded pantry room should give you a sense of peace and security.  If your state of preparedness makes you feel unhappy, stressed, angry, or resentful, you’re doing something wrong.


Here are some examples of how prepping is pure, unadulterated optimism:

  • Your area is under a severe storm warning.  While everyone else you know is rushing to the store and knocking over old ladies to clear the shelves, you’re tying down some outdoor furniture, filling the bathtubs with water, bringing in  some extra firewood, cooking up some stuff that would be likely to go bad during an extended power outage, and getting the candles and lanterns ready. Perhaps you are discussing with your kids why you’re doing what you’re doing and using it as a teachable moment.  There is no panic, only the peace of mind you feel when you don’t have to try to get things that everyone else is trying to procure at the exact same frenzied moment.
  • During this hypothetical storm, the power goes out for two weeks, water is under a boil order, and trees are down everywhere.  You remain in the safety of your home with your family, not risking downed power lines and falling branches from storm-damaged trees.  You heat up hearty meals using off-grid cooking methods with which you are already familiar.  You spend the two week break playing boardgames, reading books, doing art projects. You have plenty of food, plenty of water, and plenty of light. To your kids, this is an adventure and to you it’s a little break from your regular work and from technology.
  • Heaven forbid that you should lose your job, but if you did, you have the security of a supply of food to see you through. You know how to grow your own food to supplement this supply because you’ve been doing it for years. You know a million different ways to do things manually and save yourself money.  While a loss of income is a crisis, for someone who has readied themselves for the possibility, it could also be an opportunity to seek a new job, to homeschool the kids, to start a business of their own.  If they don’t feel that horrible sense of desperation, realizing that the mortgage payment is coming out in 3 weeks, and they don’t have the money to pay it, the utilities are already close to being cut off, and there are 3 slices of bread in the house, with two of them being the crusty heels that nobody wants to eat, then the person is a little more free to search for the silver lining.
  • One fine summer day when you are enjoying a barbecue at a friend’s house, you listen to other folks complaining about the cost of produce at the grocery store due to the droughts and poor growing conditions across the country.  You realize that you haven’t purchased a single vegetable since your spring lettuce and peas prolifically came in, and you had absolutely no idea that everyone else was paying double or triple what they paid last year for a bag of baby spinach or a pound of tomatoes.
  • If someone you know falls on hard times, you are always able to lend a hand with a bag full of groceries that came directly from your pantry.  You don’t even have to think twice about helping out, because you are prepared for the long haul.

What non-preparedness people just can’t seem to understand is that what we seek is peace of mind, freedom, and security for our families, not just a weekend at Disneyworld?  We don’t wish to delude ourselves with the soothing lies and distractions of the mainstream media so that we can blithely go about the business of trying to guess which B-list performer is going to take the crown (do they have a crown?) on Dancing with the Stars. We like reality and we’d rather not have surprises.  We can still have fun that doesn’t compromise our ideals, sabotage our progress, or deter us from our paths.

We don’t want to be lulled into a false sense of prosperity, hypnotized by our iPhones and our “smart” wristwatches, or pacified with governmental lies about the “recovery.” We don’t want to deal with the aftereffects of shooting poisons into our babies, the ill health that comes from eating substances that aren’t even food but are guaranteed by the government to be “safe”, or stumble through life in a fluoride-induced brain fog.

We just want to go out to our garden and get some unsprayed heirloom tomatoes, for crying out loud, and thrive on real food, clean water, and an avoidance of Big Pharma chemicals.  When I look at my own rosy-cheeked child and compare her glowing health with that of her friends, I am thankful every single day that we take the extra steps to keep her nourished, toxin-free, and whole, in defiance of a government and media that would have her chemically dumbed down and poisoned, literally, for profit.

Here’s a final analogy.

Imagine that you are out for a walk, and you get lost in the woods. You end up wandering around for a couple of days, and you’re exhausted and hungry.  You come upon two bushes, different varieties of plants, both with brightly colored berries.

  • Would you rather know for certain that one of those bushes bears edible fruit that won’t harm you, and consume those berries with confidence because you have taken the effort to be educated on the flora of the area?
  • Or would you prefer to have absolutely no idea which one is safe because the thought that you might have to rely on berries in the woods to survive is pessimistic, and you refused to spoil a great hiking trip with negative thinking beforehand?

Preparedness: It means that whatever may come, you intend to not only grimly survive, but to thrive. It means that you foresee a day when the imminent threat, whatever that may be, diminishes, and you will rebuild. It means that you have taken responsibility for yourself and your family, and that you will not be forced to rely on others. It means that your mind is focused on life itself, not some imaginary life of some reality star that actually has no grasp on reality whatsoever. You have chosen not to be misguided by the lies that the media uses to pacify you.

Preparing yourself is the most optimistic and hopeful thing you can do in a world that would prefer to choose immediate gratification over a firm grasp on reality. Readying yourself to deal with whatever might happen is a joyful act, an expression of gratitude to the Creator, peace made tangible, and the personification of faith itself.

Also, a quick  note to beginners:

Please, don’t let the thought of all of the preps that you do not yet have bring you down. It’s a process, and the most important prep is already in place: your mindset.  Once you know the possibilities, accept them, and begin to prepare, you are already far ahead of most of the neighborhood. You’ve taken the most important step, the first one, and the rest will come as long as you persevere.  Don’t be discouraged by how much you have left to do, instead, be encouraged by how far ahead you are compared to your starting point. Never underestimate the magnitude of the importance of your state of mind.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity;

an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

~ Winston Churchill

 

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: shtfplan

NY’s Response to Sandy Hindered by Computer Network Overload

New York’s emergency response to Superstorm Sandy was hindered because the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Service’s computer network could not handle all the applications running, according to a new report from a western New York company that works for the agency.

The report reveals the division’s ability to access computer data was stalled for a few days in the fall of 2012 because its system was saturated with data requests, requiring IT professionals to disconnect a Google Maps program that was causing the logjam and make other adjustments.

The details of the network difficulties are among revelations in a document ripping reports done for the state assessing its handling of Sandy. The “after-action” reports, which the state has refused to release, were obtained by the Times Union and published last month. The reports were supposed to help the state learn what worked and what didn’t during its emergency response effort.

Buffalo Computer Graphics said in its new document that the harsh criticisms of its incident management/procurement tracking system, called DisasterLAN, in the after action reports were inaccurate, although many of the other criticisms of the state’s response were on target.

The after-action reports were done by Rick Mathews and his National Center for Security & Preparedness, a unit within the state University at Albany that contracts with the Division of Homeland Security. The agency has spent $70,000 to $100,000 on the after-action reports, Mathews has said.

To create the reports, Mathews assigned several interviewers to collect anonymous statements from people who worked on the state’s Sandy response team.

“We were never interviewed ourselves,” said Buffalo Computer Graphics Vice President Gary Masterson. He said in the weeks during and after the October 2012 storm, BCG personnel staffed the state’s Emergency Operations Center at the bunker below the State Police headquarters in Albany and at the Regional Operations Center set up in Manhattan at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s direction. About 20 BCG employees were embedded for many days during the emergency activation, and the company’s staff were on site around the clock.

Mathews reported that the DLAN system crashed. “That is 100 percent false,” said BCG Emergency Services Program Manager Chris Zak, who was deployed to the Manhattan outpost.

He and Masterson, who was at the Albany bunker during the response, said the company’s system did not fail; instead, the emergency center’s computer network that couldn’t handle all the action.

“If the Internet to your home goes out and you cannot reach CNN.com, you should not assume that CNN is broken and blame CNN,” BCG says in a lengthy document it put together for business partners and associates concerned about the criticisms in the after-action reports.

The response, provided to the Times Union, was also sent to a Homeland Security official by the company.

The Buffalo firm says the state had a few computer system hiccups during Sandy and wireless connectivity was lost, meaning the DLAN System couldn’t run.

“Apparently, upon executive orders, a KML data feed tied to other DHSES systems unrelated to DLAN was provided to Google so that they could provide mapping data to their Google Maps product,” the company stated. “Unfortunately, this had the untoward effect of saturating the (state Office of Emergency Management) network with data requests thereby blocking or preventing other traffic from passing.” (KML or Keyhole Markup Language is a file format used to display geographic data in Google Maps.)

He did point out that the state has taken up a recommendation that the Buffalo company said it has been advising for some time: Homeland Security has begun attaching GPS devices to products that may be sent out during a storm response. But it is not using its DLAN system to coordinate the asset tracking with the procurement tracking, as the Buffalo company had recommended before and during the Sandy response.

“Unfortunately,” the company said in its document, its advice did not win the day during the Sandy effort and the state failed to adequately track many large and small assets, such as light towers or generators.

Masterson and Zak pointed out many problems with the after-action reports’ portrayal of DLAN. But they agreed in findings that the state’s emergency response entities are very understaffed, and that the governor’s decision to set up a regional operations center did not help the staff perform duties normally carried out in the Albany center.

Mathews declined to take questions on the report.

The company noted that other states, provinces and counties use DLAN. It is known to be disliked by state Homeland Security Commissioner Jerome Hauer, who was interviewed for the after-action reports and who has a cozy relationship with Mathews, according to interviews with state officials.

“Unfortunately, it appears as if the authors of this report either ignored DLAN supporters or specifically sought out DLAN detractors. One can only question the author’s motivations,” BCG wrote.

The company has a $6.8 million contract with Homeland Security that began in 2012 and extends through the end of 2017 for its proprietary software and maintenance. The company, in business since 1982, employs about 40 people in Erie County.

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

 

Via: survivalring

http://www.emergencymgmt.com/disaster/NY-Computer-Network-Sandy.html

Take These Steps Today To Survive an International Crisis

This article has been contributed by Brandon Smith of Alt Market.

With the Crimea referendum passed and Russia ready to annex the region, the United States and the European Union have threatened sanctions. The full extent of these sanctions is not yet known, and announcements are pending for the end of March. If these measures are concrete, they will of course be followed inevitably by economic warfare, including a reduction of natural gas exports to the EU and the eventually full dump of the U.S. dollar by Russia and China. As I have discussed in recent articles, the result of these actions will be disastrous.

For those of us in the liberty movement, it is now impossible to ignore the potential threat to our economy. No longer can people claim that “perhaps” there will be a crisis someday, that perhaps “five or 10 years” down the road we will have to face the music. No, the threat is here now, and it is very real.

The loss of the dollar’s world reserve status will destroy the only thread holding up its value, namely, investor faith. There are only two possible outcomes from that point onward:

A) The U.S. will be forced to default because no nation will purchase our Treasury bonds and support our debt spending, causing the dollar’s value to implode.

B) The Fed will choose to restart and expand quantitative easing measures, confiscate pension funds, raid bank accounts or issue new taxes in order to keep the system afloat; this will also end in the eventual collapse of dollar value and hyperinflation.

The consequences will lead to an explosion in prices — first in commodities and necessities like petroleum, imported raw materials, food, electricity, etc. and then in all other goods and services. Austerity measures will be instituted by Federal and State governments. Cuts to social welfare programs, including food stamps, are probable. Civil infrastructure will suffer. The cost effectiveness of maintaining public utilities could become unrealistic. Anyone relying on such services may find themselves cut off for days, weeks or indefinitely. Public suffering will invariably rise, along with public crime.

If events like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans are any indication, the Federal government’s response will be inadequate, to say the least. The Federal Emergency Management Agency clearly cannot be relied upon to provide food, shelter, medical care or protection for communities. In fact, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Feds did far more harm than good, corralling people into camps where death was rampant and disarming outlying neighborhoods so that they could not defend themselves. Tens of millions of dollars in donated and Federally purchased necessities were never delivered to aid survivors. Trucks were turned away, and help from civilian sources was denied.

The point is, if you find yourself in the midst of a national or international catastrophe, you should assume that you will be on your own with whatever preparations you made beforehand. To assume otherwise would be foolish, given our government’s track record.

There are some people who will argue that during an international crisis, such as an economic war or a world war, there is no purpose to preparedness. They will argue that there is nothing an individual or family can do to weather the storm or fight back, because the scale of the threat would be “too great.” There is no place for such defeatism in the life of the liberty-minded. The scale of the threat is irrelevant, and only cowards give up a fight before it even begins. Survival and freedom require an unwavering conviction. Nihilists will fulfill their own prophecies, suffering a fate exactly as they imagine for the rest of us; living in fear, slavery, and obscurity.

That said, it is also important to acknowledge the truth that the majority of Americans today are utterly unready for a minor localized disaster, let alone a national or global crisis. This problem, though, could be easily remedied with a few simple beginning steps. I find that most people are not averse to the idea of preparedness, but many have trouble taking the first steps in the right direction. For longtime preparedness champions, the information listed here might seem like old-hat. However, I challenge each liberty movement member to approach at least one friend or family member who could benefit from the steps below. Prepping appears daunting to the uninitiated; show them how simple it can actually be.

Below is a list of goals that every liberty movement member and American can easily achieve starting today and continuing over the course of the next month. If enough citizens were to take the initiative to do these things, all threats — no matter how imposing — could be overcome.

Buy Three Months Of Food Stock

Food supply is the greatest Achilles’ heel of the American populace. Most homes store less than one week’s worth of food items at any given time. The average person needs between 2,000 and 3,000 calories per day to maintain sufficient energy for survival. It takes around four to six weeks for a person to die of starvation and malnutrition. In a collapse scenario, most deaths will likely occur within the first few months, either by weakness and illness, or by looting and violence. The idea is to at least get through this first catastrophic phase without becoming a villain, or falling victim to one. One person removed from starvation is one possible threat removed from the equation.

Three months of supply is not ideal by any means, but it will buy you precious time. Start with 2,000 calories per day per person. Bulk foods can be purchased cheaply (for now) and can at the very least provide sustenance during emergencies. A 20-pound bag of rice, for instance, can be had for less than $15 and provides about 30,000 calories, or 2,000 calories per day for 15 days for one person. Supplement with beans, canned vegetables and meats, honey for sugar, or freeze-dried goods, and you will be living more comfortably than 90 percent of the population.

Food stockpiling is one of the easiest and most vital measures a person could take. Yet, sadly, it is one of the last preparations on people’s minds.

Buy A Water Filter

Do not count on city water to remain functional. Even during a drawn-out economic downturn rather than an immediate crisis, there is a good chance that some utilities will be sporadic and unreliable. This means you will have to focus on rainwater collection, as well as water from unclean sources. Boiling the water will kill any bacteria, but it will not kill the taste of sediments and other materials floating around. A high-grade survival filter is the best way to get clean water that tastes good.

The average person needs about a gallon of water per day to remain healthy and hydrated. I highly recommend the Sawyer Mini Water Filter, which is a compact washable filter that can cleanse up to 100,000 gallons of water. It uses no moving parts, making it harder to break; and it costs only $20.

Buy A Small Solar Kit

Try going a week or two without electricity, and you may find how dismal life can truly be. The very absence of light at night reduces one’s productivity time drastically, and using fuel for lanterns is not practical in the long term. Solar power is truly the way to go for a grid-collapse scenario.

I’ve heard much whining about the cost of solar power, but small systems that will serve most electrical needs can be set up for less than $1,000. Two 100-watt panels, a power inverter, charge controller and four to six 12-volt deep-cycle batteries are enough to deal with most electrical needs in a survival situation; and all these items can be contained in a portable foot locker for minimal cost. New solar panels are much more effective in low-light conditions and winter weather as well, making solar a must-have prep item.

Store A Fuel Source

Twenty gallons of gasoline treated with fuel saver is not expensive to purchase today, but in the midst of hyperinflation, it may be impossible to obtain tomorrow. Kerosene is useful for heating and cooking. Propane can be stored for decades and runs numerous appliances. If you live in a forested area, dried wood can be had for free, and can keep you warm throughout the winter months (keep in mind the your local danger factor when using fire). It is vital to have a means to stay warm and fed during the most difficult seasonal changes, especially during a grid down scenario.

Find Alternative Shelter

There are no guarantees during a full-spectrum disaster. Having all your eggs in one basket is not only stupid, but unnecessary. Always have a plan B. That means scouting an alternative location for you and your family in the event that your current shelter comes under threat. This location should be far enough away from large population centers but still within a practical range for you to reach them. It should also have a nearby water source, and be defensible. Establishing supply caches near this site is imperative. Do not assume that you will be able to take all of your survival supplies with you from your home. Expect that surprises of a frighteningvariety will arise.

Buy One Semi-Automatic Rifle

At this point I really don’t care what model of rifle people purchase, as long as they have one, preferably in high capacity and semi-automatic. AR-15, AK-47, Saiga, SKS, M1A: just get one! Every American should be armed with a military-grade rifle. If you are not, you are not only negligent in your duty as a free citizen, but you are also at a distinct disadvantage against the kind of opponents you are likely to face in a collapse situation.

Buy 1,000 Rounds Of Ammunition

Again, this is by no means an ideal stockpile, but it is enough to get you through a couple rough patches if you train furiously. Cheap AK-47 ammo can be had for $5 for a box of 20 rounds. Get what you can while you can, because the prices are only going to skyrocket in the near term.

Approach One Friend Or Neighbor

Community is what will make the difference between life and death during a SHTF collapse. I challenge everyone in the liberty movement to find at least ONE other person to work with in the event of disaster. Lone-wolf operations may be strategically practical for short periods of time; but everyone needs rest, and everyone needs someone else to watch his back. Do not fall into the delusion that you will be able to handle everything on your own.

Learn One Barter Skill

Learn how to fix one vital thing or provide one vital service. Try emergency medical training, gunsmithing or metal working, as long as it is an ability that people will value. You have to be able to produce something that people want in order to sustain yourself beyond the point at which your survival stockpile runs out. Be sure that you are seen as indispensable to those around you.

Grow A Garden

Spring is upon us, and now is the perfect opportunity to grow your own food supply. If you have even a small yard, use that space to grow produce. Focus on high-protein and high-vitamin foods. Buy a dehydrator or canning supplies and save everything. Use heirloom seeds so that you can collect new seed from each crop to replant in the future. If every American had a garden in his backyard, I wouldn’t be half as worried about our survival as I am today.

Prepare Your Mind For Calamity

The most valuable resource you will ever have is your own mind. The information held within it and the speed at which you adapt will determine your survival, whether you have massive preparations or minimal preparations. Most people are not trained psychologically to handle severe stress, and this is why they die. Panic equals extinction. Calm readiness equals greater success.

The state of our financial system is one of perpetual tension. The structure is so weak that any catalyst or trigger event could send it tumbling into the abyss. Make no mistake; time is running out. We may witness a terrifying breakdown tomorrow, in a year, or if we are lucky, a little longer. The path, though, has been set and there is no turning back. All of the items above can be undertaken with minimal cash flow. If you receive a regular paycheck, you can establish a survival supply for yourself and your family. There are no excuses.

Take the steps above seriously. Set your goals for the next four weeks and see how many of them you can accomplish. Do what you can today, or curse yourself tomorrow. What’s it going to be?

You can contact Brandon Smith at:  [email protected]

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: shtfplan

Obama Has Just Given Himself the Authority to Seize Your Assets – New Executive Order

The U.S. government took steps to seize the US-based assets of Russian lawmakers and anyone else that the US government deemed complicit in supporting the Crimean secession movement.

We’ve seen the U.S. government do this in countless cases surrounding drug and financial crimes, and sometimes even against foreign leaders like Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega.

What makes this particular instance so unprecedented and terrifying is that President Obama went so far as to issue a new Executive Order to give himself the authorization to do so, because the laws of the United States are such that our government is not allowed to simply take someone’s bank assets, home or business without due process.

Here’s the kicker.

The new Executive Order doesn’t just apply to just Russians or foreigners. It gets blanket coverage, so even American citizens could now face asset forfeiture if their actions are deemed to be “contributing to the situation in the Ukraine.”

Be careful what you say. Be careful what you write. President Obama has just given himself the authority to seize your assets.

According to the president’s recent Executive Order, “Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine” (first reported by WND’s Aaron Klein), the provisions for seizure of property extend to “any United States person.” That means “any United States citizen, permanent resident alien, entity organized under the laws of the United States or any jurisdiction within the United States (including foreign branches), or any person in the United States.”

Via: The Ron Paul Institute

Like most Executive Orders and government legalese, the definitions for why an individual would have their assets seized under this directive are extremely broad and they could, for all intents and purposes, be used against anyone who supports Russian interests, or simply argues against those of the United States.

You can read the full Executive Order at the White House web site. The key points are noted below:

All property and interests in property that are in the United States, that hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of any United States person (including any foreign branch) of the following persons are blocked and may not be transferred, paid, exported, withdrawn, or otherwise dealt in: any person determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State:

(i) to be responsible for or complicit in, or to have engaged in, directly or indirectly, any of the following:

(A) actions or policies that undermine democratic processes or institutions in Ukraine;

(B) actions or policies that threaten the peace, security, stability, sovereignty, or territorial integrity of Ukraine; or

(C) misappropriation of state assets of Ukraine or of an economically significant entity in Ukraine

This new Executive Order has crossed a very dangerous line. It’s one that turns the notions of property rights and due process upside down by effectively bypassing the U.S. Constitution.

While we’re sure the President and his staff would argue that such a law would never be used against Americans who are protected by free speech, the fact is that the Executive Branch now believes it has the self-manifested authority to target any individual who engages in activities that undermine US interests abroad or at home.

If a President of the United States believes he has the authority to make it illegal for you to provide support to Russia by way of political commentary, charitable donations or other methods, could he also use similar directives to push forward other agendas?

President Obama has already re-authorized an E.O. giving him the ability to seize farms, food, processing plants, energy resources, transportation, and skilled laborers during national emergency.

The next Executive Order could come in the form of restrictions on firearms advocacy or target those who speak out against policies like government mandated health care. All it would take is the declaration of a national emergency and they can essentially do as they please.

Is it prudent to give a single person the ability to force such actions down the throats of the American people without Congressional oversight or Judicial review?

 

Start now to make sure you are staying prepared.

 

Via: shtfplan