SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, Hawaii’s planned dictatorial “Emergency” powers.
Hawaii Plans Expansive Emergency Powers
By way of the Whatfinger news aggregation site: Hawaii Bills Would Allow Gov’t To Quarantine People, Enter Property, Seize Firearms, And Suspend Laws. JWR’s Comment: If this becomes model legislation for other states, then we can kiss our freedoms goodbye when there is another big emergency that has a level of severity comparable to the COVID-19 pandemic.
War Preppers in Taiwan
JWR’s Comments: God bless them, but they won’t stop the PLA with harsh language. If the Taiwanese government is serious about repelling a PRC-PLA invasion, then it should remove all restrictions on private gun ownership and 3D gun part printing. And, of course, destroying all civilian gun registration records and backups would be best!
New Burglary Gangs Using Signal Jammers
Reader H.L. sent this: Organized South American crime group burglarizes over 60 high-end Houston-area homes targeting designer goods. A pericope:
“More than 60 high-end homes across the Houston area have been hit in a sweeping burglary spree tied to a South American theft ring using signal jammers and counter-surveillance tactics to evade detection, West University Place Police Chief Gary Ratliff confirmed to Fox News Digital.
The organized crime network, known as the South American Theft Group, has been linked to numerous break-ins in West University Place, surrounding counties and across the country, authorities said.”
Woops! Man Takes Control of 6,700+ Robot Vacuums Worldwide
Pat A. sent this news item: Robo Army: Man Accidentally Takes Control of 6,700+ Robot Vacuums Worldwide While Hacking His Own.
Illinois is Ditching Paper Car Titles
Signs of the times, from attorney Steve Lehto: State Getting Rid of All Paper Titles Completely. JWR’s Comments: This move in Illinois follows a disturbing trend: Tokeniztion. It all started many years ago, with “warrantry deeds” supplanting the issuance of true allodial property deeds. (A warranty deed only establishes that there are no known lien holders and that a true deed to a piece of land exists somewhere. ) Then we had the advent of the electronic stock certificate (an abstraction), followed by stock exchange traded funds (an abstraction of an abstraction). The goal with tokenization seems to be eliminating pure title and instead fabricating mere “interests” in tangible items. We are thus transformed from being 100% owners into just groveling little “claimants to an interest.” (Presumably with possessory interest, at least for tangibles.) I hope that my readers can fully appreciate the gravity of that transformation of legal distinctions. We must resist this digital serfdom at all costs! In the event of some future EMP or solar flare disaster that destroys the records held on cloud servers, there will be no way to clearly establish true, undiluted, uncontestable ownership of land, vehicles, and other tangibles of worth.
Iran Dirty Bombs?
Long-time reader S.F. wrote to mention:
“The Khameni regime in Iran is now at the “desperation” stage. They can see that their end is near. So, what is to stop them from sending rockets laden with a few pounds of uranium or plutoniom powder toward Israeli cities like Tel Aviv or Haifa? They wouldn’t need to reach critical mass. Just a small low-order explosive would aersolize the radioactive materials, and spread lingering death. And I mean lingering for many generations. (Some insanely long half-lifes.) And BTW, given the near-100 percent effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, the explosive force [needed] to aersolize the payloads could be provided by the air defense missile warheads. Pray for the peace of Israel.”
Rampaging Mexican Drug Cartels
Breitbart: Cartel Terror Erupts in Over One Third of Mexico as CJNG Exacts Revenge.
“Cartel violence exploded across more than ten of Mexico’s 32 states on Sunday after the government of Mexico confirmed the death of Cartel Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) leader Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera, triggering roadblocks, gunfire, and burning vehicle attacks from the Pacific Coast to the Texas border.”
Guarding US Air Force ICBM Silos
Tim J. sent this: Security Forces Guarding ICBMs Need Fresh Tactics To Defend New Sentinel Silos. JWR’s Comment: You may recall that I described missile silo security in my third novel, titled Founders.
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