Category: Emerging Threats

Letter Re: The OTHER Electrical Grid Failure Problem

Hugh, As an electrician with over 20 years experience in power generation, I can tell you that there is no way if a massive grid down event takes place, the nuclear reactors in this country will be safe. A failure of the electrical system will not be able to be repaired quickly. You will find one or two electricians working on nights and weekends; the rest are going to be home. Do you think they will leave their families? Most locations have more than one reactor that will be down. And I understand, you have about 4 hours to get …


Structured Thinking for Practical Prepping for Suburban Life, by S.I.R.

I am writing this article based on my experience as Army Infantry officer, a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and intelligence professional, but most of all as someone who uses structured thinking to plan against and mitigate threats. It is important to plan for events that are less of a threat yet highly probable that in turn provide the foundation to plan for extremely dangerous threats that are less likely to happen. Structured thinking and scenario development will assist the average reader with how to move beyond theory and talk to practical planning. The Americans I interact with live in …


Letter Re: The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities

Mr. Editor: Regarding the recent discussion of the “Golden Horde” concept (in Patrice Lewis’s guest article The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities) — it seems that a review of the history of Germany’s 30 Years’ War (from 1618 to 1648) would be in order. You may recall how Wallenstein rejected the idea of a 40,000-man army, demanding 100,000. Austria protested that such a large army would be too expensive. The reply was, that the larger army would finance itself [through what was euphemistically called “foraging”, on a tactical scale, and “plunder” on a strategic scale], while the smaller …


The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities, by Patrice Lewis

A common concern among rural people in a grid-down situation is the concept of marauding urbanites swarming through the countryside looting and pillaging — the so-called Golden Horde. I addressed this issue on my blog a few months ago when a reader noted, “You can hide yourself, but not your garden. Are you going to take your beef herd into your house with you? In any long-term crisis situation, your cattle and garden will be indefensible and therefore gone in a matter of months. You cannot protect them from a determined large, armed group.” This reader respectfully listed what he …


Guest Post: The Difference Between Gold and Debt, by Gary Christenson

Simple version: Gold is good. Sovereign debt is bad. The world has added approximately $60 Trillion in debt since 2007, much of it sovereign debt created from deficit spending on social programs, wars, and much more. In that time the world has mined perhaps 30,000 tons of gold, or about 950 million ounces, worth at September 2015 prices a little more than a $Trillion. It is easy to create debt – central banks “print” currencies by borrowing those currencies into existence. Debt increases, currency in circulation increases, and until it crashes, life is good for the financial and political elite. …


Letter: A First-Hand Perspective on Europe’s Immigration Crisis

Hugh, My wife and I have just returned from a two week vacation that I had planned long ago to Hungary, Austria, and a bit of Germany. I’m not sure how great the coverage of this was in the U.S., but I would like to give the readers a briefing. Upon arriving in Vienna, we discovered that our train to Budapest had been cancelled. One look around the Westbahnhof train station revealed literally thousands of immigrants. Rail officials could do little to offer suggestions as to what to do. It was up to us to find our way out. We …


Letter Re: Trail Shelters and the Hantavirus Threat by Zac T.

Hello All, In an effort to remove oneself from the vectors in a trail shelter I’d suggest never going in to a trail shelter… Carry and bring your own solution with you. After hiking for 10 hours, nobody is going to break out their N95 mask and wet mop down a shelter to remove the virus risk. The best someone can hope for is to remove themselves from the now known threat and avoid the pests causing it. Hennessy hammocks come complete with a rain fly and mosquito netting that you zip yourself in for the night. No bugs, and …


Trail Shelters and the Hantavirus Threat, by Zac T.

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There are a number of fantastic hiking trail systems within the U.S. The Appalachian Trail alongside the East Coast, the Continental Divide through the Rockies, and the Pacific Crest along the West Coast immediately come to mind, just to name a few. And if you’ve ever spent a considerable amount of time backpacking through one of these trail systems, you’ve probably passed a prepared shelter or two. Your typical trail shelter is essentially three walls and a roof, meant to really just get you out of the wind and rain. Should you be placed in a survival situation and opt …


The Surveillance State 2015- Part 2, by Kass Andrada

Police and government have also been using cell phone jammers in a number of places. The Federal government has discussed implementing in-car jammers in order to enforce anti-texting and hands-free laws,[1] in part, at the urging of articles in the Journal of the American Medical Association.[2] While the FCC insists that use of cell phone jammers is illegal[3] at least one commercial site offers cell phone jammers for use in prisons[4] and at least one corporation has been caught using cell jammers to prevent it’s employees from communicating while on the clock.[5] License plate readers have been deployed in fixed …


Occupying Your Neighborhood- Part 1, by B.S.C.

Let’s face it folks, this past decade has been chalk full of so many major disasters affecting the world, that it’s hard to keep up. From one day to the next, we are bombarded by stories about hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorists, radiation, shootings, market turmoil, droughts, wildfires, tornados, meteors, and you name it! Throw in government corruption and nonsensical rules encroaching on your family’s well-being and freedom, and you’ve got the recipe for a well-founded case of narcissism or worse! Why do we worry so much about all these events that not only can we not control but don’t even directly …


Personal Notes of Application From SurvivalBlog’s “The Frog in A Slowly Heating Pot”- Part 1, by C.F.

First of all, let me say that Mr. N.H., who wrote The Frog in a Slowly Heating Pot, is a skilled writer; he provided a very picturesque, succinct, and articulate article. More importantly, the experience he shared was dynamic and highly educational. It was not some far-fetched, improbable scenario, but a very common and probable one, and the lessons he learned can be a blessing to many, it seems. Yes, we have questioned the story’s authenticity, but upon close examination I cannot find anything that would prove it to be fictitious based on internal evidence. If it is fictitious, the …


Letter: The Lack of Police and Fire Training or Preparation For the Aftermath of An EMP

I have been visiting west coast fire departments and law enforcement agencies, and none of them, including LAPD, LA Sheriffs, Seattle PD , Oakland PD, or Portland PD, have or plan on scheduling any EMP training drills, and they are not even thinking about how their police or fire agency is going to deal with the aftermath of an EMP. Everyone talks about how devastating an EMP could be and how the aftermath will affect everyone, but no one from Police and Fire is talking about what and how are they going to react to a catastrophic EMP event. Has …


An Introduction to Gangs – Part 3, by T.N.

WHITE SUPREMECY AND SKINHEAD GROUPS: There are far more groups in this category than I could ever hope to name, but they are usually easy to spot. Unfortunately, they are actually very commonly found in prepper circles and in the survivalist communities. Most white supremacy groups and skinhead groups are far more concerned with their political cause and less with committing acts of violence. This being said many of them have committed isolated acts of violence at some time or another, and many times conduct regular criminal enterprises that include making/selling meth and buying or selling illegal guns. Most violence …


Letter Re: Regarding Massive Solar Events/Power Generation

HJL, Working for 35 years as a field engineer for a major oil company, then five years as an engineer for the Cat dealer in KY, I was in and out of almost every industry in the U.S. In 2008 I was tasked with making a presentation to the Kentucky Association of Hospital Engineers on the subject of Emergency Diesel Generators. My research for the session included calling on all of the fuel terminals and most of the fuel distributors, as well as studying the fuel requirements of the various major hospitals in the Louisville area. At one major hospital …


The 100-Year Geomagnetic Storm and The Electric Grid – Part 2, by Tango Delta

Defense Strategies If you’re not ready for TEOTWAWKI, you’re probably asking, “Can’t we do something to keep the grid from going down?” The answer is “yes”. There are two approaches– early warning and hardening of equipment. In theory, early warning relies on the ACE and DSCOVR satellites, located one million miles from the earth, to measure the intensity and polarity of a storm and then issue warnings, which utilities would use to take steps to protect their equipment. In reality, large storms are too fast, allowing maybe 15 minutes of warning. Nuclear plants are supposed to be in “cold shutdown” …