It’s been a bumpy couple of years for the US economy. In 2020 we had the pandemic and all the government’s panic measures to slow it down, which saw the first fall in per capita GDP since the global financial crisis in 2008.
That eventually ended, despite some states trying to keep businesses closed and us stuck in our homes for as long as possible, but the pandemic dealt a massive blow to our economy.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that, as life started to return to normal, inflation started to rise fast. Then, on top of that, gas prices shot up too, reaching an all-time record in summer 2022.
There have definitely been times when it looked like the US was wobbling on the edge of an economic abyss, and a collapse seemed like a real possibility.
Everything’s fine now, though, isn’t it? Inflation is half what it was a year ago. Gas prices are high, but nowhere near as high as they were last June. Can we all relax, stop stockpiling food and ammo, and turn the vegetable garden into a flowerbed?
Not so fast.
The economy has bounced a little, but there’s no guarantee it’s going to keep on improving. In fact there are some red flags that suggest we could be facing more economic problems, even worse than the ones we’ve been through since 2020.
Inflation Is Creeping Up Again
According to the government’s July report, year-on-year inflation was 3.2% in the twelve months to July 2023.
That’s higher than it’s been for most of the last 40 years, but a long way below its terrifying peak of 9.2% in June 2022.
Unfortunately there are signs it could be heading up again.
In fact even the official figures show a slight upward tick from June’s 3.0%, and the reality could be a lot worse.
Although grocery prices are rising more slowly than they were the cost of energy is still high, and that tends to force up the price of everything else.
The post-pandemic recovery is overheating, too; GDP grew by 5.6% in the third quarter of 2023, pumping more money into the economy. Over-fast growth almost always fuels inflation.
Former White House economist Kevin Hassett is pessimistic, and thinks another wave of inflation is on its way.
The Fed Fears Recession
If high growth risks bringing inflation back, low growth would be bad for a host of different reasons – and the Federal Reserve seems to think the present economic surge isn’t going to last.
While they admit last year’s predictions of a recession were wrong, they’re less optimistic about the longer term.
Recently they’ve downgraded their predictions for growth from an annual 2.5% to 1.8%. That seems strange, considering the economic boom in the third quarter, but that’s what they’re saying.
Ironically the thing most likely to cause a recession is the Fed’s own policies. In their drive to cut inflation they’ve pushed interest rates to their highest level in more than 20 years, leaving millions of Americans struggling to pay their mortgages.
If there’s a sharp rise in repossessions people aren’t going to be happy, and with the country as angry and divided as it is now that could give our social stability a hard knock.
Debt Is Out Of Control
Kevin Hassett thinks the current administration is borrowing and spending crazy amounts of money. Many other economists agree.
The federal government is rapidly building up an already huge pile of debt.
At some point, all the money the IRS collects in taxes will be needed just to cover the interest on that debt; at this point, the idea of ever paying off the debt itself is a sick joke.
Republican lawmakers are trying to slow down the administration’s wild spending, which is why the threat of another government shutdown is looming.
Up to now these have always been ended by a compromise that lets the government borrow some extra money, but GOP patience is running out and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is losing control over his own party.
There’s a real risk that the federal government might not be able to pay its employees. That’s going to leave millions of very unhappy people – many of them armed.
We Could End Up At War
The war in Ukraine shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
And the US is slowly being dragged deeper into it.
Ukraine, understandably, wants advanced western weapons to beat back the Russian invaders.
Whether or not helping Ukraine is the right thing to do – and it’s hard to argue the country doesn’t have a right to defend itself – there’s always a risk that if Russia starts losing badly enough they’ll lash out at anyone they blame for their problems.
And if Russian forces are being pushed back by US-made tanks and aircraft it’s not too hard to work out who they’ll blame.
It would make no sense for Vladimir Putin to attack the US, because he has no chance of winning, but Putin does a lot of things that make no sense. It’s very possible he could react in a rage, and trigger a major – maybe nuclear – war.
Things Can Get A Whole Lot Worse
For now, things seem better – a little, anyway – than they were a couple of years ago. This would be a bad time to let your guard down, though. If you know what to look for there are some warning signs it would be very dangerous to ignore.
Our economy is finely balanced, and could crash into a recession at any moment. The government is gambling dangerously with the national debt, and risking a complete collapse of the country.
You might not be able to stop the dollar from going down, but you can be less dependent on it. Saving money that’s losing its value won’t help you and your family stay afloat. Instead, consider using your money for simple projects that make you more self-sufficient.
Being prepared for the worst has never been more important, because it could be just over the horizon.
For a generation and a half, young people have lived their lives free from the specter of nuclear attack. People were not compelled to contemplate the horrors of nuclear war and how they would survive a nuclear blast or fallout, what food would be safe to eat or drink, or whether the air would be safe to breathe.
Unfortunately, the U.S.A. has scant preparations to protect its citizens from nuclear attack. While politicians have gone to great lengths to ensure the continuity of government, there are no fallout shelters for common citizens, only advice and plans to build your own.
You could build and stock a fallout shelter and there are ways to inexpensively improve the protection factor any building already provides, but the average American spends over a third of their workday away from home. What could you possibly carry with you during your day that would improve your chances of survival if a nuclear weapon is detonated on U.S. soil?
How Would You Know a Nuclear Attack Has Occurred Elsewhere or is Imminent?
Who attacks the U.S., what their objective is, what nuclear weapon systems they have at their disposal, how many they use, and how they deliver them, would all affect how much notice there is or whether there is any notice at all.
A nuclear attack by a nation state with a nuclear arsenal and a space program would likely begin with a HEMP attack to blind our radar, take out much of out command and control and cripple our power grid. We may not see such an attack coming at all, much less in time to do anything about it or warn the populace by issuing a warning via WEAS (the Wireless Emergency Alert System). Nuclear weapons optimized for HEMP are probably orbiting the earth in satellites as you read this. Here is a link to a previous article of mine on how to tell if an EMP has happened.
Even if the federal government could warn the citizenry of such an attack, I doubt that they would. Their reasoning being, “Why cause panic and clog the roads and airports and prevent the almighty brass, politicians, and bureaucrats from getting safely to their shelters?” What good would it do to tell the average citizen anyway? Afterall, in their eyes, we are all helpless, defenseless, and utterly dependent on them in every way.
Most of them probably couldn’t care less whether the tiny fraction of the population who is prepared makes it to their fallout shelters or not. They are afraid of us and see us as more of a problem than an asset.
Radiation Meter
You can’t see, hear, smell, taste, or feel ionizing radiation. It can only be detected with specially designed instruments, such as a radiation meter. Without one, you won’t know whether it is safe to stay where you are or whether staying where you are means certain, and very painful, death.
If your local emergency services have radiation detection equipment, have had it calibrated at the proper interval, know how to use it, are able to broadcast measurements to the public, and you are able to receive their transmissions, then you’ll know the severity of radiation exposure inside or outside the fire station or wherever they took, their measurements. You need to know how intense the exposure is where you and your family are sheltered so you don’t die… terribly. Once you are home, you’ll also need to know the intensity of exposure outside to know when it’s safe to go outside.
If HEMP effects have damaged the power grid and radio stations, using radiation detection equipment will likely be the only way to know if you are safe where you are or whether you need to get to someplace safer.
I carry a small radiation monitor and alarm called the NUKALERT that is designed to be carried on a keychain. This radiation monitor is always on and constantly samples about every two seconds and has a battery life of 10+ years.
Chart on back of NUKALERT
The monitor produces a series of beeps when radiation is detected. By counting the number of beeps and referencing the chart on the back of the device, you can quickly calculate how long you have to find, improvise or improve shelter.
Cellphone, Small Amateur Radio with Wide Band Receiver
If there is any warning preceding a nuclear attack and the government does warn the public, then you may receive an alert on your cellphone. However, if the nuclear attack is preceded by a HEMP attack, it is likely that your cellphone may not work.
If your local emergency responders have their act together, they will break out their radiation meters, take readings and report them for broadcast to the public so folks can know whether they need to seek shelter or whether it is safe to be outside. Of course, their ability to get this information out to the public may be degraded if the power grid is down, cell towers are down, and radio stations are down. But do not fear, before long, radio operators will soon get radio back up and transmitting.
The beauty of radio is that you only need a transmitter and receiver to get the word out and they can run on batteries so little infrastructure is needed. That’s why it’s a shame that several auto manufacturers are trying to build vehicles without AM radios. No other technology would reach as many people as quickly in a catastrophic event that takes down the power grid.
Some amateur radios with wide band receive can also receive AM, FM, and shortwave frequencies, giving you the ability to receive broadcasts in addition to monitoring local amateur radio traffic and potentially communicating with family and friends even if phones, SMS, the internet, and the grid are all down.
Faraday Bag
Most handheld transceivers are well shielded and may work even after a HEMP depending on many factors. If radios weren’t well-shielded, they would damage their own circuits when they transmit. You can greatly improve the odds of having a working radio and/or cellphone by storing it in a non-conductive bag and then storing that inside a Faraday bag.
Some tests indicate that many handheld transceivers would likely survive a HEMP with a field strength at or below 50kV/m. However, it is possible that super-HEMP weapons may generate much higher field strengths (Russian military literature references field strengths of up to 200kV/m), so storing sensitive microelectronics you may need to survive in a Faraday pouch that provides at least 73dB of shielding is a reasonable and inexpensive protective measure. It might not protect sensitive electronics if the weapon went off directly above you, but it would improve your chances in much of the rest of the country.
Dosimeters
A dosimeter measures how much radiation you have been exposed to over a given period. This is important to know and, if you have the money, this greatly simplifies tracking. Ideally, each member of your group should have their own dosimeter.
Dosimeter charger and analog quartz fiber dosimeters
You don’t need to carry the charger constantly, but you will need it to periodically zero dosimeters as gamma rays pass through the ionization chamber, bleeding off the charge at a measured rate. To read them, you hold the tube up to a light source and look through it. If you buy these old surplus dosimeters, you’ll need to have them tested and calibrated.
Watch, Notebook, & Pen
If you only have a radiation meter and don’t have a dosimeter, you’ll need to record the total REMs you have been exposed to and over what period of time. If you have older analog dosimeters that look like pen, they only record exposure within a specific range. You must record when you charge them, how much radiation you have been exposed to, over what time period, and then they need to be recharged and zeroed.
Even if you have a newer digital dosimeter that tracks your total exposure, I recommend making a copy of the exposure scale so you will know how many REMs you and others in your care can be exposed to before they become ill and how many are fatal. This information may help you make important decisions, such as when you really shouldn’t spend any more time outside the shelter, when you need to try to move someplace safer, when you are safe and when it’s time to get your affairs in order.
Potassium Iodide
If you receive notice that a nuclear attack is eminent, you should begin taking potassium iodide. One of the effects of exposure to fallout is that radioactive isotopes of iodine can build up the thyroid gland increasing the risk of thyroid problems, tumors, or thyroid cancer.
When unpredictable winds caused a little over 60 indigenous inhabitants to be exposed to fallout during nuclear testing in the Bikini Atoll, approximately one third of them eventually developed thyroid problems, tumors, or cancer over the next 20 years.
Outerwear & PPE
If there is a chance that you may be directly exposed to fallout before are able to get someplace safe or improvise shelter, protect yourself as best you can.
Lightweight Outerwear – Lightweight outerwear is no substitute for a fallout shelter, but it can keep fallout particles from sticking to your skin and help ensure that they they do not stick to you during the decontamination process. Outwear with a zipper is best. You don’t want to contaminate your head and neck by pulling of you top over your head.
Gloves – Gloves will help protect your hands.
Hat – A hat will help keep fallout particles off of the head and out of the hair, where they can be difficult to remove. When you wash, use tepid water and do not use conditioner which will cause particles to bond to proteins in your hair.
Eye Protection – Because your eyes are moist, fine particles can stick to them and eyte protection can help prevent this.
N95 Mask – Fine fallout particles can be inhaled and ingested, and they are far more damaging once inside the body. Fortunately, the largest and most dangerous particles drop out of suspension the fastest.
I wish I could say that this world of genocide, democide, torture, terror, and slaughter of innocents was something new, but of course it is not. The story of mankind is one of horrible brutality, and it is never-ending. The latest atrocity is the ethnic cleansing and slaughter of innocents in Palestine, and the majority are children. This is the purposeful slaughter of Palestinians at the hands of the Zionists; this after 75 years of ruthless savagery levied against them. My comments here are in no way meant to support Hamas, or any State, government, or terrorist organization, but then that is repetitive, as all States, governments, terrorists, and those who control them, are cut from the same cloth, and are pure evil. That is the nature of all States, organized ruling governments, and criminal terrorists.
Because of the history of man, many would think that his natural state would be that of evil, and given what has occurred over thousands of years, one might be justified in accepting this conclusion, but I think it is much more complicated than it appears. On the other hand, one comment I hear consistently, at least by Americans, is that most people are basically good. I think this incorrect as well, so where does that leave us? It seems to me that the natural state of man, at least psychologically, is more sympathetic and peaceful than is evident, but the stoking of hate and division by very nefarious forces, and the purposeful instilling of great fear, has been voluntarily accepted by the majority, and this has caused constant turmoil among nation-states, leading to horrendous nationalism. Because of this intentionally structured antagonism among peoples, constant war has been the result, and this has led to a common behavior that would be best described as dual hatred. What is meant by this statement, is that governments and rulers are certainly evil, but due to the intentional instilling of nationalism, the majority supports State evil due to false ‘patriotism,’ apathy, and fear; this greatly enhanced by the collectivist nature of nationalism.
We live in a ‘modern’ world where the bulk of populations, if given the opportunity to do so, will more than not, choose non-aggression, but they are willing to turn their heads in the face of brutality, war, and carnage instead of facing the truth. Human nature is fickle, and a spectacle of inverted logic. When one is confronted with a death of friend or family, there may be a cry of agony. When a small group of innocents is mercilessly slaughtered by horrendous means, torment may occur. But when thousands or millions are murdered by States and their armies, a heavy fog of indifference takes over the psyche, and a cloak of silence spreads, covering the crowd. One might say that this is just a protective mechanism, but in reality, by remaining silent, it is an acceptance of evil, which is in and of itself, evil. Until this is understood, evil will reside not only in those who perpetrate this terror, but also in those who stay silent and support or condone it.
First and foremost, there is no real war between Israel and Palestine, there is only war against Palestine. There is no war against Hamas, at least not in any conventional sense, because Hamas was created, built, funded, and supported by the Zionist Israeli government and Mossad, with the assistance of the U.S. government and the CIA. This is also true of groups like ISIS and al Qaeda. The Palestinian people have no military, no navy, no tanks, no rockets, and no arms. They are virtually helpless civilians, mostly children, locked inside a completely walled concentration camp, that is heavily guarded by the Israeli military and Mossad. They are relegated to throwing rocks at Israel’s world class military that consists of advanced weaponry that qualifies as the third most powerful military in the world. This is a slaughter and genocide of these people for political, geopolitical, and monetary purposes, and is nothing more than intentional, unbridled, and inhuman wrath against a persecuted population.
What is so confusing is that this torturous brutality, land and property confiscation, mutilation, starvation, and humiliation by Zionists against Palestinians, has gone on relentlessly for the past 75 years under the guise of a false claiming of a long-inhabited territory; all in the bogus name of defense of a forced Zionist State. But in the bright light of truth and honesty, this has been only offensive and unrestrained aggression. Zionism is not Judaism, it is a tyrannical political cult bent on power, control, and the elimination of Palestine in favor of a singular ‘Jewish’ State.. Zionism is colonialism, pure and simple, a political/nationalist movement, formed and plotted for the purpose of taking over lands of the peoples in that region, and by any means necessary. This plot was decades in the making, with deals solidified with Nazi Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. According to Jewish historian, Ilan Pappe, “Zionist leaders were well aware that implementing their project would necessitate the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population.”
This is a very deep and complicated subject matter, and this short essay is obviously not meant to be an historical accounting of Zionism, but it is vitally important to understand the background of this heinous movement that is not what it has always been falsely portrayed to be. There is no innocence in Zionism, as would be true of any brutal and violent nationalist movement.
The bottom line is this: We are witnessing the unrelenting genocide of a people at the hands of the world powers. It is being sold as a defensive effort due to aggressive terrorism by Hamas, an Israeli created organization, used as a patsy, whether accepted or not by the casual observer, to allow for the long-planned and final elimination of all Palestinians from their homelands. But it is so much deeper than this implies. The West, especially the United States government, the CIA, the U.S. military, and the entire U.S. military industrial complex, among many other Fascist corporate partners, are in full support of this genocide. What this means, is that the U.S. population, the masses if you will, are complicit as well in this inhumane, immoral, and brutally evil plot to slaughter and murder an entire people. They are after all, at least a majority, condoning it through taking sides, and allowing the funding of this murderous rampage with their own tax dollars stolen by the government they support.
Geopolitically, this becomes a springboard for regional or world conflict, all for the purpose of continuing the drive toward a one world government; a secret global governing cabal, which has the one goal of attaining total power and control of all populations. Depending on the agendas sought, the involvement of powers due to this plot, could include Russia, China, Iran, the entire Middle East, the U.S., the U.K., and all of NATO. One can just imagine the carnage possible in the future due to what is deceptively claimed to be a struggle between only Israel and undefended Palestine. It is anything but that, but by framing this as a localized regional conflict, the masses of plebiscites will take sides, thus allowing the rulers and their enforcement monsters, to assume a much larger aggression, and one that will affect everyone on earth.
How can any accept this horror? How can any not speak against it, and refuse to support any factions and nation-states, instead of embracing the plight of all innocent victims, regardless of sides? Condemn all who harm the innocent. Condemn the governments and rulers, and their murderous armies, who stoke and perpetuate this violent assault on civilians. People have the ability to live together in harmony, but governments have no ability to live in peace, because the only mission of ‘authority’ is to attain power and control by any means necessary in its rule based only on the dominance of others. Reclaim the higher ground as individuals, and completely eliminate and destroy all forms of government and rule, as war is their health, fear, violence, and killing are their tools, and elimination of dissent is their only means of survival.
“We will expel the Arabs and take their place. In each attack, a decisive blow should be struck resulting in the destruction of homes and the expulsion of the population.”
David Ben-Gurion: Zionist and first Prime Minister of Israel–Letters to his son, 1937
Unless you’ve totally tuned out from any news, you’re probably aware of what recently happened in Israel. As dawn broke on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched thousands of rockets from the Gaza Strip, which they control, into Israel. Under the cover fire, Hamas gunmen crossed the border into Israel and conducted an all-out assault, killing over a thousand Israeli civilians and wounding many more.
It was a ferocious attack, and Israel has since declared war on Hamas, vowing a mighty vengeance.
But the bloodshed that happened and the bloodshed that will follow as Palestinian neighborhoods are pounded into rubble is not why this new conflict matters to America.
Ever since the end of World War II, we’ve enjoyed what’s known as the Long Peace, or Pax Americana, a period of no major military conflicts between the world’s great powers.
Sure, we had the Cold War, but thankfully that never turned nuclear hot.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, America remained the only true superpower, projecting a military and economic power that nobody dared challenge.
The world became unipolar, and the focus was on developing economic ties and a growing sense of cooperation between countries. It led to one of the greatest golden ages in human history.
And we all took it for granted.
The Most Dangerous Geopolitical Moment in Decades
But now things are changing rapidly, and a new global alliance is taking shape. It’s made up of countries that oppose America’s rule and the Western values we stand for. I’m talking about a group of authoritarian countries that have no interest in democracy and would like nothing more than to do as they please without having to worry about America and its allies stepping in to ruin their plans.
It’s probably no secret who I’m referring to; all you need to do is look around. It’s China and Russia, who vowed a “friendship without limits,” but also India, South Africa, Brazil, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and many more. What they all have in common is that they’re ruled by people who have either been in power for a very long time or are working diligently to ensure they will be. Plus, they either overtly or covertly hate America.
What you may not realize is that we are already at war with this alliance—not a direct military conflict yet with American boots on the ground but through proxies.
The first front opened in Ukraine in 2021. The second front is now in the Middle East, and this one has a far greater potential for escalation.
There will be a third. I’ll get to it in a second, but first let’s talk about what’s likely to happen in the next couple of weeks.
From everything I’ve seen so far, Israel will take this retaliation too far. Just looking at the videos coming out of Gaza will make a grown man cry, regardless of his religion.
Protests against Israel are taking place all over the world, but the largest ones are, unsurprisingly, raging in the Middle East.
The Arab world is fast becoming one big powder keg waiting to blow up. The talk coming out of Iran, Turkey, and others is very concerning. I believe that once the Palestinian civilian cost escalates, other countries that hate Israel and what they are doing in Gaza will join the war. And Israel and Hamas will turn into a regional conflict that will completely destabilize the Middle East.
Israel has been at war with Hamas before, and it always ended with the terrorist organization battered but still in control of Gaza. The Israelis know they can’t afford another half-victory. This time they are going all in and all out, as evident by their recent actions.
This will not be over soon.
It’s just in the beginning stages.
All Hell Is About to Break Loose
Even if the ground invasion has been postponed at the behest of America, it will still happen. Israel is just giving us time to protect our troops all over the Middle East. They’re already being attacked, and allegedly Iran’s fingerprints are all over that.
Besides rocket attacks on U.S. bases, there is another immediate threat. Hezbollah, the 150,000-strong militia in Lebanon, is likely waiting for Israel to get bogged down in urban warfare in Gaza before opening a second front in the north.
When that happens, America will have no choice but to step in and help Israel, stretching our already thin military resources even further. We all know how much lethal aid has already been poured into Ukraine, and we are sending more and more. We don’t have the industrial capacity to replenish our stocks as quickly as they are being drained.
And it’s at this time that the hammer will fall in the Pacific.
China wants Taiwan back and has wanted it back for the longest time.
President Xi has repeatedly made it crystal clear.
I believe China has been patiently biding its time, waiting for us to overextend our military assets before finally making a move on the breakaway territory.
As much as I still have faith in our military, not even America can fight on three fronts at once and win.
Not anymore.
In the 1990s, at the pinnacle of our military power, America was ready to fight two and a half wars. That’s how our forces were configured. We could fight and win a major war in Europe through NATO against Russia. We could fight and probably win another huge war against China somewhere in the Korean Peninsula. And at the same time, we could fight a holding war in the Middle East, protecting our assets and allies there until we won one of the two major wars and could divert resources.
Those days are gone.
Our military is diminished, and recruitment is at an all-time low. We can’t fight more than one major war.
And just because we can fight it, there is no guarantee we’ll win it!
Now there is all this warmongering coming out of Washington. They’re talking a big game, but they can’t back it up!
In fact, it’s like they’re gladly walking us straight into World War III, with no efforts being made to deescalate. In fact they’re doing the exact opposite.
We haven’t been at a more dangerous geopolitical point in decades.
But I think anyone can sense in their gut something big is coming—something we’ve never faced before.
The Past Is Prologue
A Pax Americana is coming to an end, I can’t help but think about another empire and the peace they kept. For hundreds of years, the strength of the Roman Empire and its military maintained peace over Europe, parts of Africa, and the Middle East.
But once it was over, the world was plunged into the turmoil of the Dark Ages, which it wouldn’t reemerge from until 1000 years later. And now many of the signs that came before their fall are also present here in America. Endless internal fighting over unimportant issues, political instability, a mounting unsustainable debt, the devaluation of the currency, a weakening of the military, and many others.
Coincidence?
Maybe.
But I think there has never been a better time to prepare your household and get ready to protect your loved ones, because nobody else will. Our government has put America in harm’s way, and sensing weakness, our enemies are out for blood. I don’t know how this will all unfold. I wish I did.
But what I can tell you is that the world you live in today will not be the world you’ll still live in tomorrow. Many of the things we take for granted, like food, water, medicine, and the protection of law enforcement, might simply vanish. That’s why besides stockpiling, becoming self-sufficient on your own property should be priority #1. I’ve just found what I think is the perfect resource for that:
Throughout history, mankind has waged a constant war with starvation. From the time of the first hunter-gatherers, through the early cultivation of crops and all the way to our modern, industrialized farming techniques, we humans have been working to ensure that we can survive the next winter, when no crops are growing and animals hide in their burrows. To our ancestors, this was a great challenge, unlike today. For that reason, the idea of being a “prepper” would seem strange, as they all lived a prepping lifestyle.
Yet somehow, modern western culture has distanced itself from the reality of needing to grow food. As the number of farmers in our midst keeps dwindling and industrialized farming takes over, fewer and fewer people have any idea of where their food comes from. The idea that the grocery store produces meat and vegetables rather than farmers and ranchers growing it, might make for a good joke, but the ignorance behind it is outright frightening.
The United States is the number one food producing nation in the world; yet we do it with a very small percentage of our overall population. Farming, fishing, forestry and related activities account for only 1.8% of the overall workforce. Those people not only produce the food that we eat here at home, but much that is exported overseas.
We depend on this small portion of our population, plus the others who work in the food service industry, to keep the rest of us fed. The rest of us don’t even bother thinking about it. After all, there’s always food in the grocery store… lots of food. There always has been and there always will be, right?
But what if they can’t? What if, for some reason, the farmers in this country can’t produce the food needed to feed our population, let alone all the other countries in the world that buy $159 billion in American food products? What will we do then?
We may very well be facing that problem in the very near future, a top one percent farmer warns. Between late planting of grains, especially corn, in 2022 and an unusually dry growing season, US grain harvests were low in 2023. This is on top of low production of vegetables due to the ongoing droughts in Southern California.
What this means is that the “excess” food in the “pipeline” has all disappeared in a period of about four months. While we are not yet in trouble, we’re teetering right on the edge. All it would take to put us into food shortage, is for a low harvest level in 2024, either through drought,war, natural disasters, an early winter destroying crops or another late planting season.
We’re Not Hearing About It
Should there be actual shortages of food, there would be a need for some sort of food rationing. That would be a function of the USDA (US Department of Agriculture), who would be responsible for putting some sorts of controls in place, ensuring that the food which our farmers are producing would be properly allocated, so that everyone’s needs would be met.
What’s scarier than the potential of food shortages in the near future, is that we’re not hearing about it. Nor does it seem that the USDA is hearing anything about it. Nothing is being done to prepare for potential shortages, because the people who should be dealing with that don’t have any idea of what is going on. They seem to be kept in the dark and nobody seems to know who is hiding that news.
This means that when the food shortages begin to manifest, nobody is going to be ready for it. Government bureaucrats and major producers up and down the line will be caught with a sudden need to do something, but without the time to plan out what should be done.
Can The Food Run Short?
There are places in the world today where food shortages are the norm. I’ve had church pastors from other countries in my home, who have told me about the people they bury, even children, because they’ve starved to death. This is a very real problem in a number of different countries. It’s not something made up by non-profit organizations, to try and get your money.
Are we going to run into that problem here in the USA? We could, but we probably won’t. As a country, we produce something like 180 billion tons of food per year. Of that, about a third actually goes to waste, not ending up on anyone’s dining room table.
The reason for this waste, is that, as a country, we are very focused on the appearance of our food. That began just after the time of World War II, coinciding with electric refrigerators becoming commonplace. Even with their faults, those early electric refrigerators were so much more efficient than iceboxes, that it made a difference in how our food looked, especially produce. No longer did homemakers have to concern themselves with brown spots on produce; it would be consumed before that happened.
With that being the case, homemakers became more selective in their purchases, passing over imperfect produce, in favor of better looking specimens. Noticing this, grocers stopped putting less than perfect produce on the shelves, opting to throw it away and make their selection look better. This then worked its way back to the farm, so that now there’s a lot of food which goes from the farm right to the landfill, rather than trucking it to the store.
Please note that there is nothing wrong with all this food that gets thrown away. In most cases, the flaws are superficial, mere cosmetic blemishes. I’m not talking about food that has spoiled, just food that doesn’t’ look so good.
With so much food that doesn’t ever get eaten, our farms would have to suffer severe shortages, before it became a shortage in the grocery store. The ones who would most likely be affected by such shortages would be our overseas customers, who buy some $160 billion worth of American food per year.
When Food Runs Short
This isn’t to say that it would be impossible for there to be serious food shortages in our country. The amount of food our farmers produce annually is dependent on a lot of separate factors. Should just one of those factors fall short, we might suddenly find ourselves in the position where productivity on the farms is drastically reduced.
There are a number of things I can think of, off hand, which could bring that about, ranging from severe weather to government regulation. Some of these regulations are being pushed for in Washington, without anyone taking into account the ultimate effect of those regulations.
Should the food supply begin to run short, we would first see it as a rise in prices at the store. The only effect that would have on most of us is a more costly grocery bill. We’d pay it and complain, tightening our belts elsewhere in our budgets, so that we could buy the same as we’ve always done.
But there would be those who couldn’t afford to spend more on their grocery bills; those people would suffer. Oh, they wouldn’t starve, but they would need to change their eating habits, so that they didn’t. More than anything, rather than buying fresh, they would have to settle for less favorable choices, perhaps even eating the food that is currently being thrown away.
It Could All Stop Tomorrow
While it would take a lot to shut down our farms or lower the amount they produce to levels where we would see shortages, there is one thing that could shut down food supplies in a day. That’s any sort of damage to our nation’s trucking industry.
The food production and food service industries depend on trucking, more so than many other industries. Without our nation’s trucking industry taking food from the farm to the various processing facilities and then from those to the stores, the supermarket shelves would empty in a day.
As I sit here writing this, that’s happening in Wyoming. Severe winter weather has made the roads all but impassible, with over 200 miles of Interstate 80 closed down. This is making it difficult for truckers to make their deliveries, which in turn has led to empty shelves in the stores. Should this situation last for more than a few days, things could get serious for the inhabitants of that state.
The same could happen nationwide, should the electrical grid go down or some sort of nationwide quarantine be put in place due to pandemic. It wouldn’t matter what farmers could produce then, as it would only be available to people living locally. Those who lived in states where there wasn’t any food grown or even in cities that were far from the farms and processing plants, had better have their pantries stocked, or they’ll find themselves on very short rations.
“For over four decades of the Cold War the world lived under the threat of nuclear annihilation. Nuclear powers spent two trillion dollars on nuclear arms; enough to make sure that there was overkill for the overkill. All this was kept “stable” by the concept of “Mutual Assured Destruction” which isn’t even good grammar, but certainly was MAD enough for anyone.”
But surely not as mad as our “terrorist enemies” who pray for Mutually Assured Destruction.
The media doesn’t talk much about this, but during the Cold War the US lost 7 nuclear bombs and now, more than ever, they are becoming a big threat to our national security.
The One we lost in the swamps – when the US Air Force accidentally dropped two atomic bombs on North Carolina (March 10, 1956)
An American B-52 went into a tailspin during a routine flight along the east coast, causing a pair of 4-megaton hydrogen bombs to dislodge and fall near the town of Goldsboro. A low-voltage safety switch was all that prevented a disaster. Had the bomb exploded, the blast would have been 265 times more powerful than the bomb detonated over Hiroshima and the fallout would have reached as far as Washington DC, Baltimore and New York City, given the strong northerly winds, after eviscerating Goldsboro and much of North Carolina.
Controversy continues to surround the event as newly declassified information reinforced public suspicions that one of the bombs came very close to detonating and one has never been found.
The bomb that was not found plunged into a muddy field. The tail of the bomb was discovered about 20 feet below ground, but the core has never been recovered since excavation was abandoned because of uncontrollable ground-water flooding.
To quote a sarcastic comedian: “OK… We nearly blown up one of the Carolinas, but that’s basically why we have two”.
The one we lost in British Columbia (14 February 1950)
A Convair B-36, carrying a Mark 4 nuclear bomb crashed in northern British Columbia. The B-36 had been en route from Alaska to Texas, on a mission that included a simulated nuclear attack on San Francisco. Seven hours into the flight, three of the six engines began shooting flames and were shut down, and the other three engines proved incapable of delivering full power.
The atomic bomb was jettisoned, the crew bailed out (parachuted) and 12 of the 17 men were eventually found alive.
It is said that the nuclear bomb blew up on impact with the water and only pieces remain on the bottom of the ocean. The bomb’s uranium components were lost and never recovered. According to the United States Air Force the plutonium core was not present for this simulation.
The two Nuclear Cores that not even The US Army knows where they are (March 10, 1956)
A Boeing B-47 Stratojet took off from MacDill Air Force Base, Florida for a non-stop flight to Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco, but mysteriously disappeared.
The unarmed aircraft was carrying two capsules of nuclear weapons material in carrying cases. Since a nuclear detonation was not possible, the nuclear cores of the bombs are probably intact even today.
Despite an extensive search, no debris were found, and the crash site has never been completely located. Aircrafts last known position was over the Mediterranean Sea.
The One that “rolled” over the deck of U.S.S. Ticonderoga (5 December 1965)
31 days after Ticonderoga ‘s departure from U.S. Naval Base Subic Bay in the Philippines, an A-4E Skyhawk attack aircraft carrying a hydrogen bomb rolled off the deck of the U.S.S. Ticonderoga and fell into the Pacific Ocean. The plane and weapon sank in 16,000 feet of water and were never found. As to this day, the fate of the weapon has been a mystery.
The Two Lost Nuclear Bombs when the U.S.S. Scorpion Submarine mysteriously sank (22 May 1968)
The Nuclear Sub sank about 400 miles to the southwest of the Azores islands with 99 crewmen dying in the incident. In addition to the tragic loss of all 99 crew members, the Scorpion was carrying two nuclear weapons.
Today, the wreck of Scorpion is resting on a sandy seabed at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 9,800 ft of water. The U.S. Navy periodically visits the site to conduct testing for the release of nuclear materials from the nuclear reactor and the two nuclear weapons aboard, and to determine whether the wreckage has been disturbed.
But since the site is located in international water, basically anybody can visit it.
It is true that you need some equipment to dive a probe under 9,800 ft of water, but it can be done. For example, Titanic rests under 12,500 ft of water and we managed to dive there and recover some artifacts. In fact current technology allows us to dive under 21,414 ft of water .
So you may ask yourself: wouldn’t that be too expensive? Not even 1% of the costs of building a nuclear bomb – plus: it’s not that easy. On Manhattan Project we spent $26 billion (plus 130.000 people working for more than 5 years). India, Pakistan and even North Korea spent huge fortunes before making their first nuclear bombs. Iran has been working on this for more than 7 years now, and still doesn’t have one.
Why don’t we get those two bombs out of there, before someone else will? Nobody seems to care about this nuclear threat that will eventually come as a BIG “surprise”.
It sounds outrageous to me that we’ve managed to simply lose some nuclear weapons and we’re doing nothing to recover them. We’ve made so many enemies… that “ignorance” becomes a problem of national security.
Most of our recent failures in the Middle East resulted from taking no stand and just letting events drift.
We live in a world marked by increasing uncertainty, geopolitical tensions, and unforeseeable disasters, where the concept of prepping has gained significant traction. More and more people are preparing for potential disasters, often focusing on stockpiling food, water, and emergency supplies to weather a wide range of crises.
However, what can americans learn from one of the most enduring and complex conflicts of our time, the Israel-Palestine war?
A little bit of history hurts no one
The history of Israel’s formation and its impact on Palestine is a complex and contentious subject, marked by a series of events that have shaped the course of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Here are the key historical factors that led to the establishment of the State of Israel and how this process laid the foundation for the ongoing territorial disputes with Palestine.
I. The Balfour Declaration and the Mandate Era (1917-1947)
The origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be traced back to the end of World War I when the British government issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917. This document expressed support for the establishment of a “national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, then under Ottoman rule. While the declaration promised to protect the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities in Palestine, it sowed the seeds of future discord.
Following World War I, the League of Nations gave Britain a mandate to govern Palestine. During the mandate period (1920-1948), Jewish immigration to Palestine increased significantly, fueled by the rise of Zionism, a political and cultural movement advocating for a Jewish homeland. This led to tensions with the Arab majority in the region, who saw their land and identity threatened by the growing Jewish presence.
II. United Nations Partition Plan (1947)
In 1947, the United Nations proposed a plan to divide Palestine into two distinct Jewish and Arab states, with Jerusalem under international administration. The plan was approved despite Arab opposition, leading to outbreaks of violence and ultimately, the Arab-Israeli War of 1948. During this conflict, Israel declared its independence, further exacerbating tensions with its Arab neighbors and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homes.
III. The Palestinian Nakba (1948)
The outcome of the 1948 war, which the Palestinians call the Nakba (catastrophe), led to the establishment of Israel as a state and the displacement of a significant Palestinian Arab population. This period marked the beginning of a long-standing refugee crisis, with Palestinians who fled or were expelled from their homes often unable to return. Israel expanded its territory beyond the boundaries proposed by the UN partition plan, retaining control over West Jerusalem and significant portions of the territory designated for the Palestinian state.
IV. The Six-Day War (1967) and Ongoing Disputes
In 1967, the Six-Day War resulted in Israel capturing the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, which had been under Jordanian and Egyptian control. This marked a turning point, as Israel’s control over these territories led to the construction of Israeli settlements and the intensification of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The status of these territories, along with the issue of Palestinian statehood, continues to be a point of contention today.
The formation of Israel and its territorial expansion have been deeply entwined with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These historical events have left a legacy of grievances, displacement, and competing claims to land that continue to shape the region’s dynamics.
The situation today
This month, the situation in the region escalated significantly. On October 7, militants from Gaza launched thousands of rockets toward Israeli towns and breached the heavily fortified border fence with Hamas sending militants into Israeli territory. According to Israeli authorities, this resulted in the loss of over 1,400 lives, including civilians and soldiers, and the taking of 199 hostages.
The attacks were notable for their unprecedented tactics and scale. Israel had not faced before a terror attack of this magnitude that claimed the lives of so many civilians. Hamas, in this operation, named “Al-Aqsa Storm,” stated that it was in response to perceived Israeli attacks on women, the desecration of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, and the ongoing Gaza siege.
In response to the attack, Israel declared war and initiated “Operation Swords of Iron,” targeting what it identified as Hamas and Islamic Jihad installations in Gaza. Israel also obstructed supply lines for basic necessities to the Gaza population, including fuel and water. Between October 7 and 12, Israel dropped approximately 6,000 bombs on the territory, which is more densely populated than New York, equivalent to the total number of airstrikes launched on the territory during the entire 2014 Gaza War (Operation Protective Edge), which lasted 50 days.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) advised civilians in Gaza to leave residential areas immediately for their safety, but some residents found it difficult to identify safe havens, especially with all crossings out of Gaza closed. The situation is further complicated by the hostages held by Hamas. While Hamas claimed that some hostages were killed by Israeli bombings, Israel hasn’t confirmed nor denied this assertion.
Israel imposed a “complete siege” on Gaza, blocking the delivery of water, electricity, fuel, and food until the hostages are released. On Friday the 13th, Israel’s military urged the 1.1 million people in northern Gaza to evacuate their homes immediately, indicating the imminent possibility of a ground invasion. The situation remains highly fluid and subject to ongoing developments.
What should preppers learn from this conflict?
I’ve been following the situation closely and checked various sources to find out more besides what the classic media reports. I believe that there are some things we, preppers, can learn from this, and the current situation serves as a reminder of why we are prepping. Here are my main conclusions:
Israel is far from being a good tourist destination
Nevertheless, Israel continues to draw millions of tourists annually. While the safety situation in the region can be notably unpredictable, a significant number of visitors are drawn to Israel owing to its profound religious and cultural significance.
However, I personally refrain from selecting it as a vacation destination, as I am inclined to avoid placing myself and my loved ones in the midst of an ongoing conflict. This decision is founded on principles of self-preservation and practicality. After all, what justifies taking such a risk? To showcase one’s travels on social media or to add another destination to a travel itinerary?
It’s worth noting that among those held hostage by the Hamas organization, there are tourists who attended an outdoor rave party. If one chooses to visit such locations, it is advisable to ensure stringent security measures are in place, maintain the means for a swift evacuation, and exercise moderation when participating in such events.
However, if there is a compelling reason for your visit, such as business or visiting relatives, it is possible to take steps to enhance your safety. Ultimately, you bear the responsibility for your well-being. Below, we outline key factors to consider when evaluating the safety of traveling to Israel:
Security Situation: Israel has a complex security environment due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and regional geopolitical dynamics. There have been occasional periods of heightened tension, demonstrations, and conflicts, particularly in areas like the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Visitors should stay informed about the situation and avoid areas with ongoing security concerns.
Travel Advisories: It’s advisable to check travel advisories from your government or relevant authorities before planning a trip to Israel. These advisories provide updated information on safety and security issues.
Local Guidelines: Follow any security or safety guidelines issued by Israeli authorities and local law enforcement. This may include restrictions on movement in certain areas and adherence to security measures in public places.
Restricted access to firearms is a bad idea
Many of the victims of the Hamas incursion into Israel lacked the means to defend themselves. I’ve come across numerous videos and photos depicting local residents being gunned down, and due to Israel’s stringent gun control laws, they were unable to retaliate.
Israel does not have the same level of civilian access to firearms as seen in some other countries, like the United States. The possession and use of firearms in Israel are subject to strict regulations and are generally limited to certain individuals and purposes. Here are some key points regarding firearms in Israel:
Firearm Ownership: Civilian firearm ownership is highly regulated in Israel. Most Israelis do not have access to firearms for personal self-defense or sporting purposes. Firearm ownership is primarily limited to individuals in specific roles, such as security personnel, law enforcement, and military personnel.
Licensing and Training: To obtain a firearm in Israel, individuals must go through a rigorous process that includes background checks, mental health evaluations, and the completion of training and safety courses. Firearm license applicants are typically required to demonstrate a genuine need for a weapon.
Carry Restrictions: Even those who are granted licenses to possess firearms typically have restrictions on carrying them in public. Firearms are generally required to be stored securely when not in use.
Never put all your trust in the government
The recent attack on Israel serves as a stark reminder that no government can guarantee absolute trust and protection. This incident is being viewed as a significant lapse in internal security and tactical intelligence oversight.
Reports suggest there was a degree of chaos in coordinating a timely response to the attack, and authorities struggled to ensure the safety of their citizens. Once again, this highlights the importance of not relying solely on the government for the safety of your family.
Taking precautionary measures to ensure your loved ones’ safety until government aid arrives is crucial. Whether it involves constructing a secure shelter or adhering to the necessary procedures for firearm ownership, the ultimate responsibility for safeguarding yourself and your family falls on your shoulders.
Conspiracy theories have also emerged, suggesting that the Israeli government had prior knowledge of the attack and allowed it to happen to provide a pretext for a forceful response in Gaza.
Others argue that the military’s readiness to respond was compromised because the attack occurred during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, when a significant portion of military personnel is on leave, and military facilities operate with minimal staff.
Nevertheless, video footage reveals significant lapses in military preparedness, with military bases appearing disorganized and failing to follow established protocols. The absence of active patrols and watchful eyes raises questions about the soldiers’ readiness. Many of those who lost their lives were either inside their barracks, sleeping or congregating around open fires, eating and drinking. It appeared that there was little to no advance warning of the attack.
Don’t trust the media
I’ve come across a considerable amount of conflicting information online, along with reports that often contradict established facts. Both sides are engaged in a substantial amount of propaganda, and regrettably, people rarely take the time to verify sources or conduct their own investigations.
Propaganda primarily serves two purposes: first, it seeks to attract supporters to a cause, often drawing individuals with no prior allegiance to the cause or organization. Second, it disseminates information to justify the cause and the means used to achieve its objectives.
A prominent example of this is the unfounded rumor that Hamas terrorists were decapitating babies and young children, which rapidly spread like wildfire. To date, no evidence of such heinous acts has been confirmed, and the Israeli government has not verified the specific claim that Hamas attackers beheaded infants during their shocking attack.
When U.S. President Joe Biden publicly expressed his outrage at Hamas militants invading southern Israel and allegedly beheading babies at the Kfar Aza kibbutz last weekend, the public reaction was extensive and understandable.
However, subsequent reports indicated that no such beheadings had been substantiated by any Israeli or international source, most likely because they never occurred. This serves as a stark illustration of how false reports can swiftly permeate the public sphere through mass media, often with the intention of discrediting one’s adversaries and supporting one’s allies.
Biden’s statement followed a series of news reports and comments from Israeli officials, most of which have since been toned down or retracted. The allegations of beheadings, challenging to verify, have continued to circulate, partly due to the lack of clarity on the matter.
Alexei Abrahams, a disinformation researcher at McGill University in Montreal, noted that even without the claims of beheaded infants, “the actual facts themselves are horrifying enough to elicit the kind of response one would expect.” Stories involving babies are highly emotive and have historically been used to justify extremely harsh responses. Given the volatile nature of the information environment, such claims are inevitably taken out of context, both intentionally and unintentionally.
The key point here is that the media is primarily driven by viewership, as it generates significant revenue and can be easily swayed to take sides when emotional reactions are triggered. Additionally, it is widely acknowledged that there is no longer a truly free and independent media. It is crucial to conduct your own research and draw your own conclusions, as the truth can be readily manipulated.
There is however one piece of news that should give preppers pause, and that’s the information relayed by FBI Director Chris Wray who warned on Saturday the 14th that there was a spike in domestic terror threats in the US related to the war.
Always be ready to bug out
Switching over to the Palestinian side, from the videos I’ve seen online, it’s evident that many civilians are fleeing their homes with only the clothes on their backs. Some have had to depend on others for transportation due to a lack of fuel for their vehicles. This underscores the importance of having a bug-out bag or a basic survival kit ready in case you need to leave your home. It’s also wise to maintain a cache of essential supplies, particularly water, food, and fuel.
There have been concerns that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has targeted food, water, and fuel supplies because they may be used by both civilians and the Hamas terrorist organization. Regardless of this, it’s essential not to leave things to chance and create your own supply cache, regardless of its size.
Another aspect that caught my attention was the evacuation tactics adopted by civilians, whether by choice or necessity. Many of them traveled alongside vehicles such as ambulances, military trucks, and other targets that are typically at risk of IDF actions. It may have been more prudent for them to consider alternative escape routes or at least maintain a safe distance from such targets.
Have you ever viewed any of the historical materials about the holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis? You should know that except for what happened in the Warsaw Ghetto, few of those being rounded up actually resisted, let alone fought back. It’s amazing when you think about it, that any society would be able to round up and kill over six million of its own inhabitants and just a handful would resist.
Of course, these people certainly did not understand at first that they were going to be slaughtered. It’s difficult for normal people to comprehend what psychopathic minds can conjure up. Morally based human beings will reject the unlikely possibility that their government and their fellow citizens could actually perform such a beastly genocide upon them. These people were told they were being “relocated” and would soon be reunited. Because the lies promised hope, they went quietly to slaughter. Evil prefers to creep up. Most would reject depravity if they fully discerned its heinous intent. So wickedness camouflages its mission. It masquerades within the civility of a crisp police or para-militaristic uniform. Evil pretends to be legitimate authority, the one bringing order and protection from terror. In truth, unbridled authority is the greatest evil of all. How can you tell if a country, a government or your own politicians are evil? It really is easy if you’ll open your eyes and LOOK carefully at what they DO, not just what they say. In the past, I counseled many young women who were having relationship problems with husbands and boyfriends. They would listen to what a man said to them, and if they liked the guy, they would have a tendency to believe him even if their spirit told them he was lying. So when they asked me if a guy really loved them, my standard response was: “Don’t just listen to his words; look at his behavior. If he says he loves you, but his deeds don’t bear that out, you’ll have your answer.” Deeds are a far better indication of anyone’s true beliefs than what they say. Any government that lies to you over and over again, isn’t really honest at all. There comes a point where you are a fool if you keep believing all of the lies they tell you. “Read my lips, no new taxes.” “If you like your doctor and your plan, you can keep your doctor and your plan.” Any politician who consistently tells us what we want to hear instead of what the truth is, does not have our best interests at heart. So don’t be surprised when next they want you to drink some of their kool-aid. When I attended Bible college, one of my professors was fond of saying, “It is never right to do wrong in order to do right.” In other words, you don’t want to attempt to achieve a good end by using unethical or dishonest means. Don’t lie or steal or trick people in order to give them something that you know is good for them. When you use dishonest and deceptive methods upon others, you are in essence saying that they are stupid and that you need to do this for their good. If, as a Christian you have to cheat to get your way, you should seriously question your own morality. The same rule should hold true with government. When any government uses dishonest tactics on its people, lying to them “for their own good,” the citizens should begin to suspect everything that their government says. If the bureaucrats don’t trust us with the truth, how can we trust them with it? If they think their moral judgment is superior to the people who put them into power, that makes a clear statement that we have the wrong leaders. Do you think it is a good idea for your government to silently assassinate (without a trial) any of its own citizens who have compromised the safety of our country? If you have a speck of moral integrity in your heart, the answer to both of those questions should be a loud “no.” If it isn’t, then I would ask you if it is okay for the government to hold YOU in prison without a charge? Is it okay for the state to assassinate YOU without a trial, making it look like an accident or a suicide? Only idiots answer yes. It is virtually never right to do wrong, no matter how we think our ultimate motives are so superior. And the truth is that almost all of the western governments (the United States and Europe specifically) have engaged in incredible amounts of unlawful behavior. Our own governments have engaged in false imprisonments, political assassinations, torture, theft, drug running, human trafficking and so much more, all in the name of keeping us safe. This isn’t a conspiracy theory. This is the truth. Many of those who have been involved in such behavior have blown the whistle or written books telling the truth. Knowing the seamy side of government should only make you all the more wary of your own state.
What About Romans 13?
Shouldn’t we submit to the government? Not when it is tyrannical or corrupt. Look at how the Old Testament prophets resisted the Hebrew governments who departed from God. Romans 13 does not tell you to obey tyranny. Plain and simple. The following video explains how the government is actually using to get the church to be fearful of losing its tax exempt status. If you’re hearing anything on this, you should check out this video below. It interviews Chuck Baldwin on his book entitled “Romans 13: The True Meaning of Submission”.
Almost all countries and politicians therefore feel that one of their most important tasks is to control the minds of the citizenry in such a way that they can be manipulated into giving the government carte blanche control. People, even Christian people, are inevitably brainwashed by the government and state controlled so-called free media so that we feel we must never disobey. We must do exactly what we are ordered to do. After all, you are dependent upon your government for subsidies and it has your best interests at heart.
One of the holocaust films that I watched really unnerved me. It was taken in Russia after the Germans took over a large area of Soviet territory. Several hundred well dressed men in street clothes had just been rounded up. The soldiers were barking orders at them and telling each line—one at a time—to run towards an open pit, where they were lined up. In view of the next group they were shot and fell into a massive grave. It seemed incredulous to me that these men could see they were going to be shot, yet they obeyed the orders to run to their execution making the butcher’s job easier. Why didn’t they run? Why didn’t they rush their attackers—even with their bare hands?
Yet you can understand the psychology of the situation. You are not resisting; you are doing as you’re told. You are not a problem, why would they hurt you? Until suddenly you come face to face with the full truth. Even then, your will has been so smashed down that you simply don’t know how to react. You don’t know how to let your anger rise up and force yourself to resist, fighting back because as a good citizen you have never even entertained such a thought.
Will we be like those poor victims of the Nazi holocaust? You need to make sure NOW, that you are emotionally, mentally and spiritually ready to handle anything that might be coming down, because it is surely coming just like what happened before and during World War 2. Ah, it will never happen in America,you might be thinking. If you think that you’re ignoring the evidence just like they did during the era that experienced the holocaust. Everything that is necessary to run a full-fledged police state is already in place set up within the United States. Hundreds of concentration and death camps are already built (not just the FEMA Camps, there are many others hidden away). Millions of mass produced coffins are already spread throughout the country. Thousands of specially built train cars have been constructed to transport the “unnecessary” or the rebellious populace to these prisons.
Police forces and the local state troops are all training together so that they can work under the same umbrella. Everyone of the agencies under the control of the white house are armed to the teeth with billions of rounds of ammo, swat teams, armor, bullet proof vests, etc. The arming of these agencies include all of what you would think of as agencies that simply don’t need this to do their normal jobs like the social security administration, the IRS, the postal service, the national weather department and so on. But agencies like the FBI, the Depart of Homeland Insecurity and all of the more potentially belligerent departments are “combat ready” to take on the citizens of the United States.
Thousands of tanks, drones, and armor are all deployed and ready to be used against the American people when some kind of a false flag event, financial meltdown or other disaster descends upon the country. When the trigger event takes place, the president will simply declare martial law and proclaim that it is “for our safety.” The executive orders have already been enacted and so it will all be “legal” (even though it defies the US Constitution). Depending upon the emergency that is used to justify the order of martial law, law abiding citizens will be removed from their homes and properties and transported to the camps. All of this is ALREADY PLANNED and the actual official documents that instruct the different governments departments about what they are to do have all been written. All of this is ALREADY SET UP. They are just improving and expanding upon it on a daily basis, having multitudes of drills to get the people used to the idea of the government locking down the population.
My prayer is that the citizens of my country and my fellow Christian brethren will never reach the point where they hide their head in the sand and miss the signs of the times that are clearly evident. I believe what is coming is inevitable just like it was once Hitler took power in Germany. When all of this unfolds, you will have a choice in how you respond to what you face.
You can quietly do what you’re told, and keep obeying to the point of your own extermination. Or you can say to yourself, “What they’re doing is wrong! And I WILL RESIST even if it causes my death. But I won’t go quietly to slaughter.”
Now you might think, if their is a national emergency and a state of martial law is declared, it could be that their goals are not as sinister as an extermination. Why would they do that? For the answer to this, it is important that you read more about the international banksters who are using our own leaders, the United Nations and our own government to pursue their own agenda.
The United Nations actually has a document that describes much of what they are going to do and it is Agenda 21. They want to make the world into one big government (a “new world order”) in which they are in charge. And they believe that the population of the world is too large. So they have actually stated (and they are clearly working on) reducing the population of the world by NINETY PERCENT. The primary reason for this is that they can control a smaller population much better than a larger one. This is all really a business decision and the “extra people” in the world are seen only as “expendable capital” which must be eliminated.
And there are no other people on earth more likely to see what’s going on and fight against this agenda than the American population. We are used to freedom, and freedom is not what the international banksters want for the world in their new world order. So you can count on the fact that Americans are just too freedom oriented to be considered an asset. They are a liability because their way of thinking will be in opposition to those in power. So they need to be wiped out.
Double that for Christian Americans. If any group within America has two targets upon their chests, it is the Christians. Everything we stand for, they are against. Everything they stand for, we are against. So we will certainly be first in line to be transported out of the population centers and taken to the FEMA concentration camps. If you don’t want to believe this, I sincerely invite you to do some real research on what I’m saying. If we don’t get our heads out of the sand and stop acting like Christian Ostriches, we’ll end up buried in that same sand.
The primary group you should research is the Bilderberg Group. These international banksters have a clear agenda and it isn’t pretty. And these people are not nameless, faceless men and women. While they try to do their world outside of the public’s knowledge, we do know a lot about these men and women and their agenda, which is both illegal in all of the countries where they operate and it is also incredibly wicked. I’ll have a lot of articles on this site about them soon, but until I get them up, do your own research. Watch some of the excellent videos on YouTube about this group and how they have their tentacles into every facet of western governments.
The Bilderberg members include all of the US Presidents for the last couple of decades as well as the last traitor that left the white house. The banksters are directing all of these men. The world thinks our presidents and prime ministers are in charge of their own governments. The reality is that these politicians have been bought and paid for by these powerful men behind the scenes who are pushing all the world governments toward the same end, which is the unification of all world governments into a massive one world government scheme. And this agenda will certainly not include either Americans or Christians in their future, that’s for sure!
As a Christian, the moment you realize that you are dealing with the forces of evil, you simply MUST make a stand. If you don’t rebel against evil, you will become its victim. To do anything less is to allow yourself and your family to be led to quite literally to slaughter.
With this in mind, it is essential that every Christian citizen of any country, especially in the western world, should keep their eyes wide open, their ears pressed to the wall, and their spirits highly in tune to the Holy Spirit. In these troubling times, we need to know as much as we can, so we can have as much advance warning as possible as the storm clouds continue to brew on our horizon.
And be sure about this, the time is short before world events explode in our faces and the coming martial law is clamped down upon us. So make your preparations about how you are going to deal with it when it comes.
When you talk with people about crisis preparedness (be it in regards to natural disasters, war, economic collapse, terrorist attack, or whatever) you quickly realize that most folks have the same tendency to react with categorical denial of the obvious. We all create certain safe and predictable ways of dealing with the world that involve some slanting of reality. In order to cope with life, and make it more tolerable, we may distort, embellish, or ignore certain aspects of our environment, our feelings, or our memories. There are things we just don’t want to deal with because they are too painful, we fear them, or because we may get overwhelmed by such information. For most people, crisis preparedness topics fall into this category.
Curiously, the most common excuses for people refusing to prepare are also the most irrational. If you talk to people about this subject, you will most assuredly come across the following illogical reasons.
It is comforting to believe we would be safe if a city-wide crisis ever occurred. However, most of us are not prepared for living in a city without power and with low supplies if any of food and water.
If such an event happened, most people wouldn’t remain in the city they reside in for very long. Those of us who live in metropolitan areas are dependent on the things that come with it.
Cities Cannot Feed Themselves!
Every populated city is man-made. Towns are constructed so people can socialize, participate in commerce, and benefit from public services like water, sanitation, education, mail delivery, and much more. But just as we are dependent on the things a city provides, the city itself is reliant on a supply of resources like water, food, and power in order to provide that functionality. Even though water and electricity may still be available from outside of the city by means of pipelines and cabling, the population of a city still needs a regular incoming supply of food to live on.
No city is capable of feeding itself. Not one. Cities are ultimately reliant on food that is imported by farms. Without food coming in, grocery stores would run out of their stock within a week.
Risks in the City
The city can undergo a major crisis in the event of a water, food, or power shortage. In the event of a disaster, cities would face:
Riots after the collapse of social order.
Lack of water filtration or deliveries of fresh food.
A food supply shortage.
Long-term disruption of electricity.
Even though these outcomes won’t happen in every populated city, they could in yours. Let’s go over some of these scenarios:
The Collapse of Social Order
“Social order” is a fragile thing. It stands as a psychological obstruction that could easily fall apart. We have all observed massive riots in the news, many of them instigated by an unfairness of some kind that results in a dispensation of repressed anger and frustration. The L.A. riots that followed the verdict of the Rodney King trial saw Los Angeles citizens torch their own city. Residents were pulled from their own automobiles and literally beaten to death. Firemen trying to put out fires were shot at! In 2005, we all observed the violence, looting, and complete disintegration of civilization after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. We are days away from ending this year and 2020 wasn’t so different, and trust me when I am saying the problems are just starting.
What leads to such chaos in any of the above examples?
The concurrent disintegration of the psychological obstacle of order!
After people realized law enforcement wasn’t able to manage the chaos or weren’t around to help, the police were perceived as being incapable of protecting them. Some saw the police simply leave their posts behind to leave citizens fending for themselves, which canceled out the concept of “Law and Order”.
Nothing was stopping anyone from simply going to the local store and simply taking things without paying for them. They unleashed their frustrations about racism on innocent victims who were driving in the vicinity, and they ran amok on a path of ruin that only ceased when the National Guard, armed with rifles, arrived to restore order. As such, only the risk of sudden death brought violence and looting to a stop. It’s amazing what the sight of a rifle can do. Think about store owners seeking shelter on the roofs of their establishments armed with AK-47’s, shooting at anyone who came close.
Even worse, think about the reckless mob shooting at the rescue helicopters attempting to deliver supplies to helpless victims of the rioting. The National Guard ultimately restored order. This was an isolated incident in one city. Consider hundreds of cities going through a similar experience. Could the National Guard save them all?
Very unlikely, I’m afraid to say.
What about each town’s law enforcement divisions? They aren’t idiots; if things look bleak, they’ll choose to protect their own families first, and more than likely find safe refuge elsewhere as many officers did during the crisis in New Orleans. A pension isn’t worth dying over. Some towns could be changed into combat zones in one night. It would warrant complete military force and martial law to feasibly restore order to the area. There just aren’t enough people in the military to protect every city, should such events occur.
This downfall of social order is maybe the biggest risk to consider when contemplating remaining in a city amid a catastrophe.
What, then, would provoke this downfall of social order? An absence of three key necessities: water, food, and money. When people lack food, they may start to ravage their neighborhoods to replenish their stock. Before long, cities are under attack. Some locales may be able to keep things under control, and the Red Cross will be able to help them. Other cities will see their levels of violence escalate. Visualize the gang-ridden areas of Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and St. Louis. It is unlikely people are going to behave in a civilized manner under chaotic conditions in those areas.
Already armed with guns, many people will feel the need to use them in such situations. Racial tensions have been building up to give people a reason to begin shooting at others of the same or of different colors in order to get what they want.
In the event that food and supplies make their way into chaotic cities successfully, a lack of money will lead to mass theft and looting. As crime increases, the social order will further collapse.
A lack of water will also lead to the “every man for himself” mentality, and perhaps very quickly. The disassembly of social order is disastrous since it doesn’t warrant any specific breakdown of telecommunications, a power grid, banking, or transportation. Social order is a psychological frame of mind, and any worldwide scare can hastily eliminate the mental barricade that essentially maintains order.
The Failure of Water Treatment and Delivery Systems
Can water treatment facilities prevail in the middle of a crisis? Some will and some won’t. The issue lies in determining whether the one you depend on will. Water treatment facilities rely on electricity, and experiments administered on several plants have already isolated some system weaknesses.
During one particular experiment, a water treatment plant discharged a deadly dose of fluoride into the water system. The computers mistakenly believed they were 99 years behind in distributing fluoride dosages, so they tried to adjust the difference. Anyone who was downstream and drank the water met an early death. Regardless of how much a dentist tries to say otherwise, fluoride is a lethal poison. A large disaster is probable in multiple cities.
The most vital question to ask here is what will happen if the water supply ceases to flow, or if it becomes contaminated. You might be aware that, even though individuals are able to remain alive without consuming food for as long as three weeks, ongoing consumption of water is mandatory for every human being. You can last as much as three days without drinking water, but past that, you’ll be struggling and could very quickly die.
With that said, it should come as no surprise that people will do what they feel they must to get water in order to stay alive. The hardest places to acquire water will be in populated cities. Most trusting people will assume any water stoppage will be temporary, and that the government will work diligently to resolve the deprivation. The panic will set in mere hours after a lack of flow of water, though.
A couple of days into the water shortage, people will become worryingly aware of the problem, and social order will start to collapse, as referenced in the prior chapter. People will start to scavenge for water, and they’ll immediately check retail stores first. Needless to say, in such scenarios, it won’t take long before all shelves inside these stores will be ransacked. Since the liquids won’t last for very long, you’ll see the population displace quickly, as people will relocate or go on searches for water outside of their own locales. Some will take to rivers and streams in the country, while others will go on looting sprees, stealing from homes and shops, using violence to take what they need.
Should a stoppage of water occur, you can expect the following events in run-down cities:
Small disruptions of violence while looting is happening. Retail shop owners will be inclined to defend their businesses with firearms, whether or not it is legal to do so.
Large traffic jams on outbound highways as a result of gas running out in vehicles, mid-transport, which will inevitably block main exits, trapping people in cities.
Grocery stores will be purged of all food by at least the third day of the crisis.
Farms and houses near major cities will be raided for supplies by people likely to be carrying weapons for protection and intimidation purposes.
Populations will dwindle down rapidly as a result of people abandoning their homes to find water supply sources.
A water-based epidemic will break out as people start to use rivers and streams as a bathroom. Those using streams and rivers as a toilet will infect the entire drinking water supply. Filtration units can only prevent so much and will become overrun, eventually shutting down. Once the flow of water stops, the disease will start to set in.
The Depletion of Food Supplies
Food supplies will probably diminish fast as the potential crisis draws nearer and residents will be stocking up for worse-case-scenario outcomes. After the crisis starts, anticipate disruptions in food replenishment. If food does arrive, it will be in short supply.
After this occurs, food will quickly become quite a commodity to people. As such, any shipment of food, no matter the size, will be immediately seized by the first person capable of taking it. It takes a mere 7 days of not eating before people realize how reliant they are on food, so the city will be in a state of panic if the food takes even more than a few days to be replenished.
The frenzy and hysteria to be expected will differ per city. Some towns might undergo minimal hardship obtaining food, while others will face situations involving potential starvation; cities rely on food sent from food processing companies and farms that are more often than not shipped in via road networks that may now possibly be severely disrupted if functioning at all.
Also be mindful that if there is an issue with the water supply, as referred to in the earlier chapter, bulk evacuations will begin, which will flood the highways, resulting in gridlock.
A deficiency of food eventually produces the same outcome as a shortage of water. Initially, people will feast on whatever is stored in their pantry. From there, they will loot whatever is left on grocery store shelves. Once those options are ruled out, they will start ransacking homes scouring for food. Most city folk won’t know how to hunt, so they won’t be able to acquire their own food. Anyone who is able to leave the city will do so immediately after the shortage of food kicks in.
The Failure of the Power Grid
Nothing has a greater impact on your psyche than the fear of living without something you take for granted – in this case, electricity. Without a power grid, everyone will start to panic the minute electricity conks out. Over the course of the first three hours or so of living without power, should such a disaster happen, most people will be under the mistaken assumption that the outage is only temporary.
After waiting for the power to come back on for a while, they’ll eventually grow frustrated and angry, not knowing what to do in such a circumstance. Without power, nothing operates as per the standards we’ve all become accustomed to.
The looting will begin within hours of such an outage in cities with a high crime rate. The social disorder will grow worse the longer the power remains off. The power loss will stop activity throughout the city. Automobiles will be able to function with the gas and power that remain within them, but commerce certainly won’t continue. Houses reliant on electricity to heat up their households will feel the draft the natural winter weather brings.
People who need air conditioning to remain cool in the summer will begin to feel the effects of the sweltering heat. This could be fatal, as the elderly and those with weakened immune systems could succumb to heatstroke. Police stations and hospitals will continue to run on generators, but those, too, will become depleted.
Without power, the water treatment plant will go offline, instigating the events referenced in the water section. Power is something we just can’t survive without unless we are properly prepared for such an eventuality. People might be able to survive on low levels of food supplies and water, but without electricity, the order goes completely out the window.
So what steps can you take if you live in the city in preparation for a crisis?
What you have read so far will have no doubt filled you with a sense of dread should your city ever have to deal with a crisis that results in some if not all of the problems that have been outlined previously. You will also be wondering, very wisely, what you can do to best protect you and your family if these types of situations threaten your safety.
You have two options; the first is to stay put and ride out whatever crisis is looming and the second is to leave the city at the first sign of a problem, Regardless of which option you decide best suits your situation, both will require a certain degree of planning.
The most ardent preppers will make plans to do both because with many urban crisis situations they will very often get past a critical point within a few days and recovery will often happen very quickly after that point has passed. However, there is always a chance that such a recovery is not going to be possible and it is at that time when bugging out of the city as quickly as possible would be the wisest thing to do.
Making plans for surviving a disaster or crisis situation, or prepping as it is commonly referred to, isn’t something that you can sort out in 5 minutes, it requires ongoing planning that can be quite meticulous and encompasses everything from storage of water, supplies, and medicine to communication, protection, and evacuation/relocation protocols.
It may seem like overkill to plan to this degree but when you consider that doing so could not only save your life but also the lives of your loved ones then it really does seem like the sensible thing to do, particularly in these uncertain and worrying times.
Surviving in the City
If you have decided that you don’t feel that prepping for a TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) type situation is for you but you still want to know how to be best prepared for a short term urban-type crisis then this list is the minimum you should have for surviving a two week period with no available food, water or power.
Water: You should have at least 1 gallon of water per day, per person stored. This is primarily for drinking and food preparation. Don’t forget that your pet dog or cat will need water too!
Food: You should look to store plenty of non-perishable foods that do not require cooking and that are high in energy and protein. Anything canned or in a jar is a great idea. Peanut butter is a high-energy food source that keeps really well. If you have a baby or toddler, remember to store formula or jars of baby food. Don’t forget pet food too. It’s also a good idea to write the contents directly onto all tins and jars with a permanent marker in case labels fall off, something that tends to happen a lot with flooding situations. Meals ready to eat, MRE are a great idea too as they can be stored for a long time, years in fact!
Important note: Always make sure you have a can opener or two stored away!
Medicines: You should always have a well-equipped first aid kit containing all the essential and prescribed medicines your family will need.
Lighting: If you are without power for two weeks then lighting will be essential. A hand-cranked lamp or kerosene lanterns as well as some torches with plenty of spare batteries are ideal. Before using always ensure your premises are light sealed; you do not want to draw attention to yourselves as having stuff others want.
Radio: A hand-cranked or battery-operated radio for getting essential updates. Don’t waste battery life by listening to music, if you can find any!
Warmth: Blankets, sleeping bags, thick sweaters, woolly hats, and gloves. You will probably have most of this in your home already; just make sure it is to hand for when you need it.
Communication: Hopefully mobile phone networks will still be up so make sure you have fully charged phones or spare fully charged batteries. Walkie-talkies are handy and can be purchased relatively cheaply nowadays. A whistle is a simple yet effective way to communicate and costs next to nothing.
Money: Cash machines will not be working at best, destroyed and ransacked at worst so always make sure you have a stash of hard cash available.
This list is what I would class as being absolutely essential for surviving two weeks in your own home and in all fairness I’m only scratching the surface of what you may need. I haven’t even mentioned sanitation, hygiene, and home and personal protection which in the city, depending on your neighborhood, could prove more important to your survival than anything else!
My hope is that by reading this article and putting into action some of the steps I’ve outlined for surviving a short-term urban crisis you will be more prepared and ready should anything happen to your city.
More than 5 billion people would die of hunger following a full-scale nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia, according to a global study led by Rutgers climate scientists that estimates post-conflict crop production.
“The data tell us one thing: We must prevent a nuclear war from ever happening,” said Alan Robock, a Distinguished Professor of climate science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers Universityand co-author of the study. Lili Xia, an assistant research professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers,is lead author of the study published in the journal Nature Food.
Building on past research, Xia, Robock and their colleagues worked to calculate how much Sun-blocking soot would enter the atmosphere from firestorms that would be ignited by the detonation of nuclear weapons. Researchers calculated soot dispersal from six war scenarios – five smaller India-Pakistan wars and a large U.S.-Russia war – based on the size of each country’s nuclear arsenal.
These data then were entered into the Community Earth System Model, a climate forecasting tool supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). The NCAR Community Land Model made it possible to estimate productivity of major crops (maize, rice, spring wheat and soybean) on a country-by-country basis. The researchers also examined projected changes to livestock pasture and in global marine fisheries.
Under even the smallest nuclear scenario, a localized war between India and Pakistan, global average caloric production decreased 7 percent within five years of the conflict. In the largest war scenario tested – a full-scale U.S.-Russia nuclear conflict – global average caloric production decreased by about 90 percent three to four years after the fighting.
Crop declines would be the most severe in the mid-high latitude nations, including major exporting countries such as Russia and the U.S., which could trigger export restrictions and cause severe disruptions in import-dependent countries in Africa and the Middle East.
These changes would induce a catastrophic disruption of global food markets, the researchers conclude. Even a 7 percent global decline in crop yield would exceed the largest anomaly ever recorded since the beginning of Food and Agricultural Organization observational records in 1961. Under the largest war scenario, more than 75 percent of the planet would be starving within two years.
Researchers considered whether using crops fed to livestock as human food or reducing food waste could offset caloric losses in a war’s immediate aftermath, but the savings were minimal under the large injection scenarios.
“Future work will bring even more granularity to the crop models,” Xia said.
“For instance, the ozone layer would be destroyed by the heating of the stratosphere, producing more ultraviolet radiation at the surface, and we need to understand that impact on food supplies,” she said.
Climate scientists at the University of Colorado, which partnered with Rutgers on the study, are also creating detailed soot models for specific cities, such as Washington, D.C., with inventories of every building to get a more accurate picture of how much smoke would be produced.
Robock said researchers already have more than enough information to know that a nuclear war of any size would obliterate global food systems, killing billions of people in the process.
“If nuclear weapons exist, they can be used, and the world has come close to nuclear war several times,” Robock said. “Banning nuclear weapons is the only long-term solution. The five-year-old UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons has been ratified by 66 nations, but none of the nine nuclear states. Our work makes clear that it is time for those nine states to listen to science and the rest of the world and sign this treaty.”
The Rutgers-led study was conducted with scholars at institutions around the world, including Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Louisiana State University, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Columbia University, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Queensland University of Technology.
SURVIVAL BLOG 