SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Wait till you hear about the housing nightmare in Denver!
Preps Work!
Reader GWH sent in this article on two women who attempted to sail from Honolulu to Tahiti and ran into trouble. The engine on their boat failed and they were unable to sail it by themselves. Stranded at sea for five and a half months, they were finally spotted by a fishing vessel who called the U.S Coast Guard. They survived because they had over a years worth of food (dry goods) on board and a water system. Their basic preps were good enough to keep them alive, but they needed better communications ability.
Reason #5048 to Leave Public School
Middle school parents in Jay, Oklahoma were shocked to find that their children were in a “sex education” class that was terribly graphic in nature. The curriculum being taught included masturbation, oral and anal sex, among others. The classes were co-ed and taught by both male and female instructors. As notice of the class, children were given pamphlets that they were supposed to give their parents, but the information did not contain any warnings about the graphic nature of the class. Thanks to K.A. for the link.
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A married substitute teacher has been charged after luring a student to her home where she seduced him. According to the news report, the teacher spent time with the student, often eating lunch with him at school, then progressed to talking about sex and eventually sending nude photos of herself to him through Snapchat. On more than one occasion, the teacher invited the student to her home where she undressed and sexually assaulted him.
Caught Red-Handed
Despite the IRS’s denials, we all knew the accusations of targeting organizations based upon their political affiliation. For several years now, investigators have been trying to prove the accusations and the IRS has steadfastly denied them. Now, investigators have uncovered an email from an IRS agent that alerts the agency to that exact issue. Thanks to D.S. for the link.
Housing Nightmare
Michael Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large sent in this article to a nightmare housing situation in Denver Colorado. The city apparently lost track of their “low-income housing” records and allowed the sale of a house without the stipulated qualifications attached to it. Now the owner wants to resale the house at a fair market value so she can move out of the city. She had a buyer lined up before the city stopped it. Due to the value appreciation rules, the agreed upon price was over $100,000 too high and she was ordered to stop the sale. Now they have informed her that since she never qualified in the first place, she has 30 days to sell the house at the lower value and vacate it.
Vandalism
Residents of an Atlanta suburb had to deal with a vandal over the last few weeks. The side mirrors on their cars were being broken and the sheer volume of incidents prompted the police to suspect a serial vandal – probably a kid with a BB gun. After staking out the neighborhood, they were unsuccessful in identifying the culprit. It wasn’t until one of the victims replaced their mirrors that the suspect was seen as he repeated the attack. It was an angry Pileated woodpecker. Apparently, they are very territorial animals and it mistook its reflection in these side mirrors for interlopers in its territory. Thanks to H.L. for the link.
Plague
Madagascar is loosing the battle for control in this latest epidemic of pneumonic plague. The numbers of infections/deaths have risen dramatically from 200/33 to 1300/124. According to the experts, the outbreak has not yet reached its peak. At this point, the World Health Organization has issued an international plague warning with nine countries and overseas territories identified a priority countries.
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News Tips:
Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
@Housing Nightmare
Absolutely no surprise that Denver is messing with this woman, not only in refusing to let her sell her house in a contract agreed to by both parties, but now ignoring their own culpability and “punishing” her for the circumstances they created.
That having been said, Ms. Lopez has at least some degree of responsibility for the situation under the TANSTAAFL doctrine: If a house in a Denver development could sell in 2012 for $150,000.00, it’s simply not possible she or her agent, who holds a fiduciary relationship with her as his client, could be unaware that the deal was just too sweet.
Even if, as she claims, there was absolutely no mention of any covenant restrictions in any documentation or revealed in a title search, between the incredible price and the fact there was a government program involved, complete with a happy, shining, inclusive acronym -HOPE- the flags and flares should have been going up all over the place.
Instead, Ms. Lopez decided, or was advised, to forego a complete investigation into the particulars of the deal.
“This is your dream Cynthia. You deserve this for your daughter!”
She herself said she knew her income wouldn’t qualify her for a low income house, and that she was being taxed on the property’s full value for 4 years, so her argument she was unaware of inconsistencies in title, deed or covenants is void. She was keeping her head down, hoping to slip under the radar with the sale as she had with the purchase.
The government’s treatment here is arrogant, imperious and inflexible, but when is that a surprise. Especially if they’re partly in the wrong.
The takeaway? When anyone comes at you with philanthropy on their lips, run the other direction as fast as you can.
How much house does a single mother need for ONE two year old? She’s lucky Denver had such a generous program to help her get a real house and not just a Section 8 apartment. If she’d have stayed just 6 more years the provisions would have expired anyways. Sounds to me like she’s trying to ride the nosebleed level real estate wave, which will end badly when and if she buys a more expensive house and finds in a few years she can’t afford the payments.
This is just a sign of the times. Progressive government intrusion into the free market, a single mom wanting to cash out from a bubble market, and lawyers and government drones hovering.
The lesbians on the sailboat were a perfect example of the”entitled” worldview that made them candidates for the Darwin award(nonsurvival). Going to sea without skills,knowledge and basic seamanship should prohibit them from costing taxpayers for rescue(should of boarded fishing boat and delivered to next port) or self repaired at Kiribati(I know people who have been there and the passage isn’t impossible with a little preparation(chart is all you need).
You are also not allowed to be in those islands for more than six months(longest visa)so they were totally misinformed about what they were attempting.
The CBC is reporting inconsistencies in their recollection of events…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/lost-at-sea-women-dogs-1.4379649