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”. Migrant riots in Spain start up as they rush the Spain/Morocco border.
Missing Safe Deposit Boxes
Think your valuables are “safe” in a bank’s safety deposit box? Bank of America is in trouble because they have been drilling the locks on boxes and disposing of the contents. The law states that the bank has to make an effort to contact the owner before such action is taken, but in many cases there is question as to how much effort the bank put into the action. Some people are reporting that they showed up at the bank to access their box and the contents were just gone. Others claim the bank canceled the rental, drilled the box, dumped the contents in a bag and mailed it to them. Many items were missing or damaged in the process. One of the people actually worked for the bank when her box was drilled. You might want to reconsider a safe at home. Thanks to KAA for the link.
Cash is King
Reader DSV sent in this article (part four in the series) on the things you can do with cash that you can’t with a debit/credit card. Interestingly, he compares it to Bernie Sanders complaint that there are over 23 different kinds of deodorant at a grocery store. We are a rich nation, not because of the 23 kinds of deodorant, but because we have the choice of 23 different kinds of deodorant. With cash, you have far more choices than you do with a debit/credit card. There are discounts available to you and much less tracking of what you purchase or where you go. I’ve experienced this myself when looking to buy a used car.
I was able to take the right deal at the right time because I had the option of cash. If I didn’t have the cash on hand, the deal would have been gone by the time I arranged financing. Cash is king!
Advantage to Republicans
While I don’t think we are close to an open civil war, nor do I think the lines would be drawn clearly should one break out, this article, sent in by H.L. has an interesting perspective on resources. Ultimately, the resources that can be brought to bear in a conflict has a direct impact on the success. If you were to draw the lines between liberal and conservative states (Democrat controlled vs Republican controlled) and compare the natural resources available, you might draw some interesting conclusions like this article does. Of course some things are missing in the overview such as the availability of ports, international support, et cetera. It’s an interesting exercise nonetheless.
Migrant Riots in Spain
Reader B.B. sent in this article showing sub-Saharan migrants, armed with flamethowers, molotov cocktails, mallets, shears, and feces storming a border fence between Spain and Morroco, violently clashing with police. More that 600 migrants successfully crossed the border and 15 guard officers suffered injury. It wasn’t enough to just cross the border either. The migrants then engaged the police, throwing stones at them and damaging the cars. From what I can see in the video, the border fence topped with razor wire was breached by climbing, but there were lots of medics attending the wounded and their clothes were in tatters when they made it across. None of those coming over the razor wire were running. Fences obviously work.
Finicum Details Emerge
Due to an ongoing prosecution, new details of the Finicum shooting are starting to emerge. Most disturbing is the fact that the FBI agents at the shooting didn’t write any reports about their roles at the roadblock that day and the fact that they considerably disturbed the scene “looking for something” contrary to FBI protocol. There was so much that was wrong with this interdiction that it’s hard to describe. The indictment is over FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita, who is accused of lying about shooting at Finicum’s truck.. Thanks to D.R. for the link.
The Next Shoe Drops
Reader D.S. sent in this article on the next battle on morality. Pedophiles are now on record seeking acceptance of their despicable actions and not to be outdone, ethicists are now advocating for the acceptance of incest. As the writers states, there was a time with “ethics” was a meaningful term and “ethicists” were people who sought to discover and define right and wrong. In today’s society that is all backwards and everything is moral except for telling someone that their actions are immoral. I still prefer the definition of the late R.C. Sproul when defining ethics and morality though: “Ethics are what you ought to do, morals are what you do.”
Health Insurers Vacuuming Data
Reader C.H. sent in this article on how health insurers are vacuuming up details about you from any source they can get along with this note:
In the Army we talk about how aggregating data can raise the classification of a document. This is much the same thing. Aggregation of data to paint a clear picture of who you are. Someone buys plus size clothing (on credit or debit cards), this could be an indicator of depression–mental health issues are expensive. Someone uses their grocery discount card and buys a repeated stream of junk foods, soft drinks, etc. This person could be at risk for diabetes–diabetes is expensive. Information gets packaged and sold to a number of entities, including health insurers. The article even noted public records as a source: a young woman gets married, a pregnancy may be coming, rates could go up. Where does it stop?
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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!
Re: Cash is King
Remember, referencing your car purchase, EVERY transaction over $9999.99 is reported to the government.
Except when its a private transaction between two citizens 🙂
As long as both sides keep the cash as cash.
Banks also record deposits.
Also, any withdrawal of cash over $1000 is reported to the IRS.
Federal Bureau Of Investigators agents are not regular agents.
They are “special” agents.
Extra special special agents are “special agents in charge”.
Extra extra special agents are “supervising special agents in charge”.
Got it?
It isn’t just health insurers but also auto. When you get your oil changed at a service they might be reporting your mileage to a data collection operation which insurance companies can access. We recently received a letter notifying us that our low mileage rate is changing because of our mileage reported when we had the oil changed at the dealership.
http://bestride.com/news/using-quick-lube-oil-change-franchises-can-raise-your-insurance-rates
After reading that article you linked to there is a subtle conclusion to be drawn.
The bible says “The love of money is the root of all evil”. When you throw in the human characteristic of greed you can pretty much do away with that love part and just say “Money is the root of all evil”. Then add the advancements in technology of today and we find ourselves giving up privacy and freedom to save a few bucks. Ultimately money and advancing technology will work together to enslave mankind.
I’m confused….Morocco is in Africa and Spain is in Europe. There is water in between these countries, I believe they call it the Straight of Gibraltar. How can there be a border fence when they don’t share a border?
Don’t those Africans expect to get shot off the top of that fence since they’re all lined up on top so nicely? I would. Stupid is as stupid does……
Spain owns the tip of Morocco, several Principia and the town of Ceuta.
Thanks, learn something new every day.
They should shoot them off the fence with non-lethal bullets. This is a game and the illegals are winning. As long as it is allowed it will continue and escalate. Set up a few snipers with rubber bullets and the message will get out quickly and they will no longer sit on the fence awaiting their chance to sneak in. When our laws and law enforcement treat our borders as seriously as they treat the fence around the White House we will stop illegal immigration.
This note is legal tender for all debts public and private. The only thing is how difficult the Fed has made it for an individual to get cash. Direct deposit, teller machine maximum withdrawals, over a 2,000.00 dollar withdrawal requires the bank managers signature, (a false flag if ever I saw it.) report to authorities any movement of 9,999.00 dollars or more.
If you can afford it ,it could be worth it to stockpile cash. Just for the convenience of things. When it all goes sideways for a short time,(weeks or months) people will only be accepting cash. At the least, until they find out that it’s worthless.
A stockpile of cash and gold / silver is right up there with the ammo, food, hygiene supplies, tools and the rest: A resource, a means to an end in “difficult times.”
As Big John mentioned, cash will probably be the most used means of exchange in the early days of a balloon-up event, and getting your hands on it once things go south will be impossible. We still have the precious privilege of some time, so I squirrel mine away in little bitty sums from many different sources. I’ll have big piles when needed.
Nothing is worth anything except to the parties involved, and the hollow government promissory notes will soon become worthless. Spend ’em while folks will still buy into the idea they have value.
If SHTF, why would anyone value gold or silver? Silver is good for wiring and gold is useful in some chemical cases, but why would anyone trade food, etc. for them ?
PM’s are not for “disaster trading”, they are for moving wealth past the disaster to the next system. Your stockpile of useful things and skills will get you past the disaster better than pm’s, but if you are doing well now, you might want to have a few months current income in silver and gold to give a few more options.
Richard Haven-
Why would anyone trade anything for anything?
The point I was making was that nothing – not gold, silver, paper money, stocks and bonds, hand tools, food, bullets, blacksmithing skills, non-hybridized seeds, solar panels, Star Wars collectables – has any “intrinsic value.”
They are worth only what he who possesses and he who desires agree they are worth. That is different for any interaction in any situation between any parties. This truth is what makes auctions so interesting.
Remember the old Twilight Zone episode “The Rip Van Winkle Caper”:
Thieves steal gold bars and then hide out in the desert in suspended animation for 100 years. As they become more desperate to survive the walk back to civilization, a sip of water from the man with the canteen becomes worth a bar of gold to the man who has no water. (The signature “Twilight Zone Twist” is, of course, in the future gold can be synthesized and has no value at all…)
In a balloon-up situation there will be a window when cash will still be perceived as having worth. During that window of perception I’ll be exchanging as many empty government promissory notes as possible and necessary for stuff I need.
$20.00 a gallon gasoline won’t be a rip-off because I will use it to drive home; the moron gouger will have only useless paper in the end.
When that window closes, when the bills and coins no longer have an agreed upon value, I’ll move on to other things like gold and silver, bullets, shoes, seeds, books and providing services with the skills I have to people who need them and don’t possess them.
But, as pdxr13 mentioned, I’m constantly building my stockpiles of needful things now to deepen and broaden my options in troubled times, be they getting snowed in for a few weeks or full on TEOTWAWKI.
Having options – the ability to make measured choices and not have to act in desperation – is true wealth in any situation.
Ditto what Nobody said. Having lived through the NE Blackout, I can tell you, the only people buying anything after the lights went out, were doing it with cash.
If anyone kiddie-diddled around here, they’d disappear in short order.
Words mean things.
Advantage Republicans over Democrats? Different sides of the same coin. To continue buying into any significant difference to completely miss the controlled diversion. The real difference in Americans is that there are rural folks and city dwellers. Totally different cultures.
The same is true for calling all-male, all-military age, armed invaders ‘migrants’.
I work for a very large supplemental health insurance company where Google Analytics is used costing approx. $150K a year. Other Analytic tools are used as well such as Google Clickstream, Nielsen Reports and more. This week I was asked to look at funding for Pitney Bowes data that focuses on industry analytics. One of the tag lines on the Pitneybowes site states: “Know who. Know where. Know now.” While it is uncomforting knowing that this data is out there and being collected by many large corporations and sold to many other companies, I do know that the analytics we use is purely for increasing sales. It is for getting into and retaining new markets. There are also other companies used for underwriting and claims purposes that I am not very familiar with, but are used to help prevent fraudulent policies and claims from happening. The company I work for is proud of how much we pay out in claims and how quickly we do it, but we are governed by each state’s Department of Insurance where all policies and claims processes are looked at closely. The current state and future of large corporation sales is in knowing and using analytic data sets. In this computer, smartphone, technology age we all become part of the data set. It is up to us as individuals to guard our personal information.
I was at the bank yesterday and a lady was complaining about getting access to her box. It sounded like a large ongoing expensive fiasco. My question is, why have one?
Insurance companies are big on data. The OSS used insurance companies heavily to get a picture on what was going on inside Germany and Europe prior to and during WWII.
I am sure not much has changed on that score.
At our border the drug cartels use illegal immigrants to run drugs. What they do is cut loose a wave of immigrants to tie up the border agents. While they are sufficiently occupied their mules can enter with much less risk.
Europe is finished as a white bastion. In 100 years or so Islam will prevail. The Europeans gave up on God so God gave up on them.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
[…]
It is not hard to see the decline.
“Cash is King”
Medical discounts of 30, 40, even 70 percent can be had when paying cash. That’s how much of the cost is all useless paperwork. Oh and; “Health Insurers Vacuuming Data.”
Yep.
Yep indeed. In our little town we have an ol’ Doc who will not take health insurance of any kind. Got out of that trap years ago. If you need help he’ll see you, cash on the barrel head.
He’s an HMO in so far as you pay him a paltry sum on every month on a sliding scale. The money goes into an escrow account that’s used for stuff like medications and lab work (though he has a well equipped in house lab for the basic stuff).
Anything he handles himself he will barter for if necessary. Yea, Doc has taken chickens in exchange for medical care.
Turn the illegal immigrants at Cueta over to the Arabic trade routes.
See the documentary movie “Africa Blood and Guts”.
O.k., turning the Cueta Spanish Moroccan illegal immigrants over to the Arabic trade routes might have ethical issues. But considering the loss of your culture, not to mention the continous gang rape of any of your family members, neighblors and you and your dog, why help them over the fence?
It’s their choice. A theoretical possibility not to be done would be to leave them snared on the fence so that the following waves of illegal immigrants will see something that resemblances a dried up gecko. If you put up a fence mean it. Helping them over it will be interpreted as a sign of weakness, a luxury that can not be afforded, again considering the negative birthrate and economic welfare situation that will follow if allowed.
Seriously, how do the illegal immigrants logistically manage to travel? The videos don’t show any fancy bug-out-bugs, supplies, water containers or food trucks following fifty thousand or so migrating together thoughtout Europe? Granted I’m naive on this point but the readers of Survivalblog could learn something how it’s managed.
Logistically how is it done?
It was noted there were bags of hashish amongst the travelers. Barter currency?
Which continous gang rape?
You call for murder, every Person who would call for that as part of the security Services would be at best dishonorable discharged or the äquivalent, if not serving a few years in jail.
The People who fled to Utah or forced to take the Trail of Tears did so without Fancy bug out bags etc
I am curious about the headline. Specifically, “Flamethrowers” being mentioned. I saw no evidence of fire in the videos. Wondering about the use of that word and “Molotov Cocktails” to get us riled up at those migrants. Weaponized migrants? Let’s get real.
Carry on.
I may have missed it but didn’t see one female in that whole crowd… (all military aged men). Jus’sayin…
Missing Safe Deposit Boxes
I was taught to NOT use safety deposit boxes. Any law enforcement with a warrant (or even without one) could have access to and “steal” the contents.
And just when you may need the contents most, the courts could tie the box up in knots, preventing you from having access to the contents in the box.
Can you say “asset forfeiture”, boys and girls? I knew you could.
Best to develop and have a safe/hiding space within your own home