Category: Emerging Threats

Letter Re: How to Thwart Nigerian Scammers: Demand Proof of Life

Captain Rawles, Regarding the multiple letters you are receiving on the Nigerian scams, you may want to warn your readers that participation can lead to incarceration. The reader who told his story of USAA bank taking the amount of the fake checks from his account was lucky. Frequently, these scams prey on people who get greedy and suffer the consequences. In many cases, people receive a check (sometimes out of the blue, with no prior email contact) in the mail with a request to deposit it and send back 10% or 25%, etc to an international address (often in Canada). …


Europe In The News: Ominous Prospects, by Michael F.

It appears as if there are some new developments going in on the Continent, that unfortunately appear to be old memes being resurrected for the 21st Century. Let’s take a look at the highlights of recent events: Greece continues to have widespread protests and riots as unemployment remains above 25% (25.4%, when measured in August, 2012) and austerity measures continue to be implemented. Spain is in a deep recession, and has been since 2008.  The banking industry in Spain alone could require 60 Billion Euros to remain solvent. Portugal and Italy are in similar straits to Spain and all three are close to emulating the protests, …


Two Letters Re: How to Thwart Nigerian Scammers: Demand Proof of Life

James,  Another variation to watch out for is when the scammer asks you to pay using an escrow account supposedly managed by Amazon or eBay.   A too good to be true add is found, you respond, the scammer/seller tells you he sells using an eBay escrow account. The merchandise will ship to you after you send a check to Escrow. The scammer directs you to a link sent in the scammers/sellers email that appears to be an eBay site.   The scammer creates the illusion of security using a brand like eBay with some official looking legal contract showing how …


Michael Z. Williamson: Telecom Cable Rooms and Salt Water–A Bad Combination

This article bears special mention: Into the vault: the operation to rescue Manhattan’s drowned internet Hurricane. Steve [an acquaintance who is a telephone lineman] wrote to note: “Having a cable vault under a central office flood is a major disaster in the telecom industry. One splice getting wet is a big job. Losing the entire office brings up comments like I didn’t want any days off this year. Having fixed splices like this that have gotten wet I have a good idea what is involved to fix this. It’s a lot of slow meticulous work. If the damage is only …


Letter Re: Population Density, Traffic and Getting Out of Dodge

Mr. Rawles: During the recent Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I drove from my house, to my brother’s a mere 270 miles, a mere 4 to 4-1/2hrs drive. With accidents and construction, it took almost 8 hours. And it was in both directions, North and Southbound. I was perplexed at the mass confusion, weaving in and out, driving over medians to get to the access/frontage road to get ahead of others, only to find out that that road went off in another direction or dead ended.   Coming home on Sunday I saw 15 accidents in a 20 mile stretch, one accident …


Letter Re: Economic Collapse and Power Grid Collapse

Mr Rawles, I’ve read and enjoyed each of your books, and I am an avid prepper — it’s only a matter of time before we have an economic collapse.  However, I am having trouble connecting the dots between a collapse and the loss of the power grid. Can you help me here, please?  How does an economic collapse translate into the loss of the power grid?  If I can fully understand this, I will prepare for the event by purchasing a biomass gasifier for my generator. Thanks, – Richard M. JWR Replies: The main triggers would be a disruption of …


Letter Re: Anticipated Refugees Flows in a Grid Down Collapse

Mr. Rawles,   I’m currently trying to do a cogent analysis of the lower 48 and where my optimum safety location/region might be. I’ve read your articles on the great redoubt, rankings and ratings etc… I can respect your criteria and agree with most of it. The question that I’m pondering however, is that in a serious SHTF scenario, how will mass migrations occur. The “head for the hills” mentality will motivate millions to escape die off zones desperately seeking life’s basics. I agree that in a scenario of seriously “grid down”, a great many Americans will die. In contrast …


Never Let Your Guard Down: Adventures in the City, by B.D.

The rustling came again from the back of the shotgun-style apartment. Was it squirrels? We had a few of the little gray buggers living in the trees around us and they made quite a racket. I assured my wife via text that a squirrel wouldn’t come through our window screens. She got up and looked into our bedroom just to make sure and saw a head and back sticking through about half way onto our bed. Letting out a blood curdling yell, she screamed and ran towards the window as the perp backpedaled out and ran off down the alley. …


Letter Re: Hurricane Sandy: An Outsider’s Perspective

JWR, I don’t live anywhere near the affected area from Sandy, but now that we’ve had some firsthand accounts, I wanted to throw in my $.02 as an observer from afar: When the storm hit, I defaulted to the main stream news channels and sites, which got old and repetitive quickly without being very informative.  To get a better feel for the local perspective, I resorted to my smart phone’s 5-0 police radio app.  By bouncing around and listening in on the various police, fire, and EMS dispatch feeds from Northeast counties and cities, I was able to get a …


Letter Re: Lessons From a Knife Attack

James, A local surveillance camera [in Albuquerque, New Mexico] caught this stabbing incident.  There are lots of lessons here, but I’d point out three: 1–the attack was quick, with no warning and no known reason, and 2–the victim fought back as best as he could, probably saving his life as the attacker was trying to stab him again and 3–“smoke shops” should be avoided. – Scott B.


What if TEOTWAWKI Arrives as a Slow Gradual Boil?, by LongJim

Sure we’ve watched  the  new television series Revolution, with their heroine and her post-SHTF world amazingly perfectly coifed hair-do. The series based loosely on an end of the world  scenario built around a “Sudden” abrupt change” a la the Dies the Fire novel series [by S.M. Stirling]. All power suddenly goes poof, and nothing electrical works, society collapses, and we’re all back to the age of bow and arrow, knives, and, weirdly deviating from the Dies The Fire premise, good old black powder front-stuffing rifles. Militias, which are all always portrayed by Hollywood, as evil, dictatorial, and brutally repressive, run …


Letter Re: Fuel Stabilizers and Emerging Threats

Good Day, James, First – have greatly enjoyed your blog site and your novels. I particularly appreciate the fact that although the stories are fiction – they provide a wealth of preparedness information. As a principle in Power Research Inc. – a company with extensive international sales to the commercial marine and power generation industries – I have deeply investigated the world economy and our present financial system in an effort to protect my company, my family, and my employees. There is absolutely no question that the present system is unsustainable, and the ramifications of an economic collapse will be …


The End Game, by M.W.A.

Preparedness, planning, survival… Words we heed and respect as part of our every day lives for the past few years and for some, the past couple of decades. We know not what the event will be, or if the SHTF will be a multi-pronged crisis. We just know that WTSHTF is inevitable and addressing basic needs is an absolute must. Preparation starts by accumulating the rudimentary elements of survival: food, water, shelter, medical supplies, security, survival skills and a basic reactionary plan. We research and consume information through articles, books and web sites dedicated to different skills and techniques of …


The Likelihood of Man-Made Disaster, by William Crosby Prentice

Introduction, Scale I think you will agree that you will get the highest returns from your preparation investments when you make those decisions based on the relative likelihood of a range of SHTF scenarios.  Unfortunately, the probability of many SHTF situations is very hard to determine, and will end up being a judgment call.  However, there is some information out there on the likelihood of certain events that qualify as SHTF.  This information allows us to at least calibrate our judgment calls on the likelihood of certain events, enabling us to refine our gut feelings. In doing so, we will …


Letter Re: You Don’t Need To Be A Conservative To Be Prepared

Sir: Anyone who spends any amount of time on survivalist and preparedness oriented forums knows that a certain political worldview is the most commonly encountered perspective, particularly with respect to economic concerns. Particularly in the literary niche that is survivalist/preparedness fiction, the protagonist is often identified as a conservative critic of Keynesian economic thought and favors the gold standard. Very often the plot presupposes a very right-wing political orientation. Matthew Bracken (Enemies Foreign and Domestic), Thomas Sherry (Deep Winter, Shatter), Glen Tate (299 Days), and even James Wesley Rawles (Patriots) all share to some degree this worldview. Some authors even …