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”.
EU Parliament Article 13
SurvivalBlog readers living in the EU should oppose EU Parliament Article 13 which is touted as copyright protection but will actually destroy free speech on the Internet. AI algorithms will continuously search for any copyrighted text, audio, or graphics OR the links to any such material. Since algorithms will err on the side of caution and zap anything it finds infringing. This will include items genuinely included as fair use–including quotes, news article links, reviews, memes, parodies, satires, remixes, et cetera. With AIs at the switch rather than human moderators, the number of false positives for “copyright infringement” will be enormous! The EU Parliament’s vote on Article 13 is now scheduled for June 20th. Please contact your MEP and express your strong opposition! – JWR
HART
Reader T.D. sent in this article on Homeland Advanced Recognition Technology (HART). This plan is Big Brother on the loose. The plans include a unified data warehouse of everything known, suspected or merely speculated about every person, citizen or non-citizen. Falling under the purview of the NSA, the plan supposedly only collects information on people who have some sort of connection to a foreigner who is within the NSA’s lawful purview, but in this day and age of international business and immigration, that means everyone. You have a connection with a foreign person, even if it is tenuous or incorrect. It is suspected that Amazon, Google and Facebook are all participating in this data collection as well.
Sweden Mobilizes the Homeguard
Sweden has mobilized it’s home guard. This is the first time it has been done since 1975, in the height of the cold war. Reader T.J. sent in this video from the SensiblePrepper on Sweden’s mobilization. It’s worth noting that Sweden is not a member of NATO, though they do have military agreements with a number of countries including the United States should an invasion happen. While the concern is primarily over increased tensions with Russia, it is not known at this time how much the mass immigration from Islamic states is playing into this. There is a rising concern in the politics of the EU over the mass invasion that is taking over their cultures. SensiblePrepper does a decent job of relating Sweden’s concerns to the prepper community in the United States. Note that you can see an English translation of their brochure online as well.
VPNFilter Malware
Reader DSV sent in this article on an update of the VPNFilter Malware. Apparently, the list of targeted devices is growing as researchers find more models that are affected by this exploit. You need to follow the instructions given to update the firmware of your router if it is on the list. You should be running the latest firmware update anyway and make sure that you have changed the default password that comes on the device. These default passwords are well known and it is the primary vector that hackers gain access to your device. If you are interested in a more technical article on how this attack works, reader D.B. sent in this description as well.
North American Volcanoes
Two major volcanoes in North America have been updated to Yellow. Mexico’s Mt. Popocatepetl and Alaska’s Great Sitkin both sit on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” that roughly encircles the perimeter of the Ocean. Added to the two volcanoes that are actively erupting in Hawaii and Guatemala and there is some concern that the activity may be increasing. While we don’t think that this is a major concern for the vast majority of North America, if you live near one of these active volcanoes, you may want to make sure that your preps are in place and your G.O.O.D. plans are ready. Thanks to H.L. for the link.
South African Farmers Trained by Israelis
With the violence against white South African farmers on the rise and the government failing to protect (and in some cases encouraging the violence), farmers are taking matters into their own hands. Reader A.D. sent in this article on how Israeli Special Forces are training the farmers to defend themselves and their property from the violent attacks. The training is open to everyone and anyone who wants a specially designed system for the farms. The training includes hand-to-hand combat, bush warfare, semi-bush warfare, urban warfare and information collection.
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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!
Years ago a friend from south Africa told me it was always good to be ready out where his family was, once he stepped out of his shower to find 3 bad guys sitting in his bedroom waiting on him to finish. They were going to rob and kill him. He just stepped back into the shower and grabbed a old FAL he had on a rack in the shower and “shot the lot of them ” he would say.
If the anti-gun liberals in America get their way and a similar situation where to play out then your friend would be reduced to using harsh language to defend himself from his would-be assailants. Never let yourself be disarmed.
A comment about the HART tech. On the internet when there is a lot of traffic on one of the trunks, you may be routed electronically on a trunk going overseas and routed back into the US just as a matter of traffic congestion. When this happens you fall under the perview of the NSA as if you are foreigner. So if your message hits on a particular NSA pegged sequence of a words and phrases of interest it will be captured and flagged as if you are a foreigner. The same type of sequence as Flynn etc., etc. was captured for talking with a person of interest to the NSA was targeted in the Russia investigation or the FICA matter. But NSA captures everything all the time anyway as Snowden, Bill Binney and numerous others have revealed.
The village of Deerfield Illinois council unanimously passed the ordinance to ban a big long list of named firearms. As of tomorrow the thirteenth if you own one of the many banned guns you have to surrender them or sell them outside the village or give them away or if you keep them in your possession within the village you will be fined $1,000.00 a day and be subject to confiscation of your legally purchased and owned firearm.
I’ve seen several articles about this town in Illinois. What I haven’t seen addressed is how will they know you have the banned guns? Does anyone know the answer?
https://www.ispfsb.com/public/foid.aspx
Specifically, in the FAQ section there is this question:
Q: Who needs a FOID Card?
A: Unless specifically exempted by statute, any Illinois resident who acquires or possesses firearms, firearm ammunition, tasers or stun guns within the State must have in their possession a valid FOID card issued in his or her name. Non-residents are not required to have a FOID card.
As is constantly heard in the drum beat of the firearms circles – registration ALWAYS leads to confiscation.