China’s economy just touched the government’s chilling ‘red line’. – H.L.
o o o
More Unofficial Capital Controls In The US: PFIC Rules. – G.G.
o o o
Obama supports reduction in military retirement pay. – T.P.
o o o
DO YOU HAVE AN EMERGENCY FUND? 42% of Americans Cant Get Access to $2,000 Without Using Credit
Albuquerque Cop Charged With Two Felonies After Attacking Man, Then Deleting Video Evidence. – T.P.
o o o
“SIR, I WILL NOT OBEY THAT ORDER.”. – B.B.
o o o
Bracing for a big power grid attack: ‘One is too many’. The power grid is under attack on average once every four days. – A.W.
o o o
Elites Push Physician-Assisted Suicide. – B.B.
o o o
DIY fresh water – free solar soda bottle still easy quick to make . – R.M.
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:22-24 (KJV)
Infidel Body Armor is running a special today. Customers will get $40 off, a decal patch, and pre-paid shipping on orders over $200.
o o o
Don’t forget, Ready Made Resources is offering three Mountain House Classic Assortment Buckets along with a Sawyer SP 128 mini water filter (capable of filtering 100,000 gallons of water) with the purchase of their MOUD142 Mountain House Entree Pac (36 cans / 6 cases). It’s one of their best offers yet!
o o o
Today, we present another entry for Round 58 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 58 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
During TEOTWAWKI, there will be millions without the basic necessities of food, shelter, water, and medicine. While you certainly can’t be expected to care for everyone, you should plan into your parachute a bit of charity. Our personal number is 10%. We store 10% more than we think we will need so that we will have some to give away as charity.
Your charity portion will have to be carefully disbursed so that you don’t compromise your OpSec, but none the less you will fare better for having it. Unlike most things about TEOTWAWKI and preps, charity can be neatly divided into two major classes: charity for those you know but cannot take in, and charity for those you don’t know.
Let’s be quite frank at this juncture. Despite your best plans and your best conversations, there will be people you know but did not invite who show up at your door looking for a handout. Having something in the charity bag to hand them while you politely shoo them on their way can both help them and ease your mind. Having something to give them allows you to keep your promise (“You can’t come here!”) while fulfilling the implied promise of helping a friend in need. If you have already planned this charity into your parachute, it is really no extra burden.
There is a subcategory of those you do know but can’t take in. That is those that you can take temporarily. Perhaps you can take them just overnight while they get a meal, shower, and wash their clothes before they move on. Or, perhaps you can take them for a week, while they labor in your garden, cut firewood, or provide security. Whatever you decide, once again, communication and setting proper expectations are paramount. Talk to them, and make absolutely sure they know your plans.
Then there are those strangers you don’t know who may come knocking for a handout. Zombies! I strongly discourage you from giving charity from your front door to those you don’t know. That is a huge violation of your OpSec. It could lead them to believe that you have supplies that they desperately need and provoke them into staging a violent midnight raid on your sanctuary. I would suggest a more clandestine method of helping, such as very quietly giving to the local food bank, church, or free medical clinic. If this giving is previously planned, then it too is really no extra burden.
Even when dealing with the Zombies, planning is critical. Having prepared the right words, which are delivered with the right tone of voice, can go a long way toward keeping your peace. How will you handle the Zombies who won’t take “no” for an answer? How will you treat the Zombies that keep coming back? Plan now how you will respond to the Zombies, and it will go much easier on that stressful day.
Planning a few extra cans of beans for charity into your preps is a small price to pay for the goodwill it may bring you. Certainly, giving away some edible supplies is quite prudent if it keeps you from having to deplete your lead supplies.
Now that we agree that good planning is a critical skill and we have talked a bit about what to plan, let’s discuss how to plan. Plans must be cataloged, firm but flexible, and constantly reviewed and updated.
Step one for planning is to put your plans to paper (or computer). Writing your plan down is the best way to ensure that you won’t forget things, and it also makes it much easier for your partners to know what you have in mind. WARNING: This step takes the most time but reaps the most rewards! A quick search of the Internet will yield you dozens of spreadsheets to use. Or, if you are old school (or EMP probable), use a pencil and a notebook to keep your data.
So, what do you need to put in this spreadsheet or notebook? Here is a list of the things for which you probably need to plan, as you increase your readiness for TEOTWAWKI. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it gives you a good start.
In this section, you should note the skills you have, the ones you plan to get, and the ones that others may bring with them. (See now why you have to have some idea who is coming?) List the skills in order of importance. You may discover that you are missing vital skills that you cannot live without. (You are trained in first aid, aren’t you?) These are your first priority for obtaining skill training. Note that as your group composition changes or ages, so will the skill sets.
Shelter is quite important, and I am sure that you have given it some thought. This is a huge category, and you may want to break security out into its own section. I included it here, because the main purpose of security is to secure your housing, along with the people and things in it.
In this section you will also record your plan for how you will provide heat (wood, coal, solar, et cetera). Do you plan on having alternate sources of power during TEOTWAWKI (solar, generator, gassifier, or something else)? Here is also where you list the items you will need to repair your shelter (plexi-glass, wood, nails, tarps, pipe, and so forth).
Here is where knowing who is coming is so important. Who is going to be there informs this part of your plans. I can’t tell you specifically how to plan, but I will tell you our plan. Feel free to adjust it to your specific needs.
We plan for 20 people for six months. Further, my plan calls for servings of three fruits, four veggies, five starches, and six breads, for a total of about 1130 calories each day. We will supplement this with our own meat from our homestead. Having these numbers allowed us to calculate how much we needed in each category. From here you can further break this down, such as within the breads category how much wheat, or barley, or rye, et cetera. Perhaps you have less people, want more calories, or plan on a longer timeframe. This organization gives you the format to accurately plan for those things by changing the math to fit your plan.
This is a big deal. During TEOTWAWKI you may not have government-sourced, running water or any electricity to power your well. Knowing how much water you will need will help you with this part of the plan. For instance, in our plan, if we want to supply 20 people for six months with two gallons a day, we need to source 7200 gallons of potable water (one very large swimming pool). If you are planning for a drought, knowing how much water you need may provoke you to deepen your well, so that when your neighbors are all out of water your well still provides. (Of course, now you will have to change your security plan to defend it.)
Now you have your food, water, and shelter planned out, but it does you no good, because you all stink so bad you cannot stay in the same house. Please plan for good hygiene. If you do not, then you have to plan for much more medical supplies to treat the resultant illnesses.
During TEOTWAWKI medical help may be a long way off or completely nonexistent. Plan to care for the potential needs of your group. Try to anticipate the needs that are not present now but may arise later. Don’t forget to add medical care to your skills list.
We already discussed having a transportation plan. Here is where you list the items you need to make that plan happen.
TEOTWAWKI may present you with no power, so hand tools may be required. In this section you list all the tools, both powered and manual, that you may need.
This list could have gone on and on to include such vital things as education, entertainment, and communication. You can, and should, add to this list as your situation dictates. Planning for an economic collapse will create a very different list than planning for an EMP.
Creating a great plan takes lots of hard work. I suggest that you create it the same way you eat an elephant– one bite at a time. Create the skills list and mull it over for a week or so. Take it out every day and just look at it. Things that belong on the list will seem to just pop into your mind.
The second week move on to the shelter list and mull it over for a week in the same fashion. I am quite sure that as you work the shelter list, you will discover some things you forgot for the skills list, too. Then, next week, move on to the next topic and so forth. Take it one bite at a time, and it will not overwhelm you.
In armies, Generals are not the best shooters; they are the best planners. The CEO of General Motors is not the company’s best car builder; he is the company’s best planner. For preppers, the most important skill is planning. If you do not have a plan, you have a high probability of failing, which may mean death! What good is it to have all the food you could possibly need if you have not planned a means to prepare it? What good are all the bullets, if you forgot to buy the rifle? What good is it to have a parachute if it won’t bear the weight on it?
Plan. Plan. Plan. Planning you parachute may save your life!
HJL/JWR:
I am a former G6 (army comms) and closet geek, and a stability operations (Civil Affairs) practitioner. Suffice to say the issue of open Internet access and destabilizing influences on the ground have been the center of my world and work for over a decade. You’re not going to like this, but here it is:
The only way to preserve the Internet AND reduce the spread of radical ideology is to register users’ to each IP address. Here’s why.
The Internet IS like a big, wonderful library (paraphrasing yesterday’s poster). However, there’s a problem. Imagine your children in that library, along with your grandma and all your financial records, too, when a stranger comes in the door, masked, in a fedora and trenchcoat. He flashes your kids, kicks your grandma in the teeth, and swipes your financial data. How did this happen?
It’s because we let a guy come in the library with a mask on.
That’s the Internet. The anonymity we all have grown to see as a “right” is really just a function of the way the Internet and our lives evolved together. Your town would NEVER let a stranger come into the library with a mask on, so why in the world would we allow the same thing to occur in cyberspace?
IP address registration and biometrics can be linked operationally, strategically, and yes biblically, but please understand that they are not automatically concurrent. As a libertarian, I loathe to say this but the registration and tracking of IP addresses and users is a textbook government function.
We cannot allow anonymous users access to the Internet; if any three of us had sit around the kitchen table and planned the ubiquity, rate of growth, and saturation of the Internet into our lives, we would NEVER allow a SINGLE unregistered user access.
I am certain there will be people in the survival-blogosphere who will denounce me, and that’s okay. I’ll leave you with one thing to think about, as a stability practitioner: think about the increased event density with regard to terrorism and radicalism. Think about the geographic, religious, cultural, financial, social, and other spheres involved. Now tell me: what is the ONE single unifying factor among all of the things you’ve considered? It’s communication.
Marshal McLuhan was right: the medium IS the message.
The (open) Internet IS the problem. In Christ – T.K.
HJL Responds: Anonymity on the Internet does not exist today, and I’m not sure it ever existed. Having spent considerable time in the industry, I can tell you that every bit of “metadata” is saved for several months, and the only thing keeping it from being saved for years is the ISP’s unwillingness to use the disk space. To my knowledge, every ISP operates more-or-less to the same standard with the only difference being in how long such records are maintained. The logging of the data is inherent to the design of the Internet and is how system administrators troubleshoot networking problems. Each ISP also maintains those records for their own protection. They keep those records so that if illegal activity is traced to any particular ISP, they can point the finger at someone else. The natural check/balance that keeps this information from being pooled in a massive database is that a court order is required to pull the data from every single ISP involved in the network path of the data.
If you are using the Internet, you must assume that the metadata is always saved. If any particular entity along the path of the data is under active investigation or current search warrant, the content of the data may also be saved. In addition, it has been revealed that the intelligence community has the capability of duplicating and saving every packet of data that passes through a major routing point within the United States. Even though the saving of data is only supposed to apply to data passing to and from foreign destinations or people of interest, it has been shown that the intelligence community keeps data with up to three or four degrees of separation from the actual entity of interest. Can you guarantee that the person/entity you are communicating with does not know someone else who knows someone else of interest to the NSA? Always assume that your Internet communications are tracked, because they are, if not by the NSA (or other alphabet agency), then by the local ISP, and the data is only a court order away from being public.
Despite Ever-Expanding Police State Measures, Cops Worse Than Ever at Solving Crimes. Here’s Why.. – H.L.
o o o
Ukrainian Authorities Raid Dormitories to Catch Students Evading Draft
o o o
DHS Launches “Family Reunification,” Refugee Program for Central Americans. – B.B.
o o o
Banks Turning Accounts over to Police for Seizure. – D.S.
o o o
SurvivalBlog recently ran across a U.S.-made wind turbine for those who live in a suitable location. You might want to check Pika Energy out, if you are interested.
“Sic vis pacem para bellum – if you want peace, prepare for war.” ? A.J. Darkholme, Rise of the Morningstar
JRH Enterprises is having a sale on PVS14 P+ 3rd Generation Night Vision devices. These are all ITT/Exelis, brand new with 10 year factory warranty and all standard accessories. They are currently $600 off retail and JRH will throw in a LIF and NV compass. You also might want to check the NightFighter 2 combo package which is also on sale
o o o
Today, we present another entry for Round 58 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 58 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.
Imagine that you are a passenger on a large commercial airplane headed to paradise. The people on board are excited, because they are embarking on the vacation of a lifetime. The skies are beautiful and things are going along just fine; then, suddenly, the plane develops engine trouble. There is a horrible metallic bang. The nose of the plane dips. The plane banks down and to the left, and smoke starts coming from the left engine. It is obvious to you that the plane is going to crash in just a few moments.
Being the prepper that you are, you and your spouse have packed parachutes. You and your beloved open your carry-on luggage and don your trusty parachutes while heading for the door. You have prepared for this day. You have held several dry runs. You took skydiving classes to hone your parachuting skills. You are ready. It’s time to put your good plan into operation.
Several other passengers watch you make your way toward the exit and ask if they can hold on to you when you jump out of the failing aircraft. They just want to survive, too. You know that the extra weight of full grown adults will collapse your parachute and you all will die, so you refuse. Then, just before you jump, a young lady comes and delicately asks if you would only take her infant son. He is light enough, but you will have to care for him (perhaps forever) and he certainly will make your plight much worse when you land. How will you feed him? How will you clothe him? He wasn’t part of your parachute plan. Do you refuse to take the baby? How about taking that small, cute, three year old girl with the pigtails that reminds you of your favorite niece? How about the two infants in the next row? Where do you draw the line?
Being preppers, we are a peculiar people who believe in packing our parachutes for the very likely case of uncertain times. Yet, we are surrounded by those who, despite our best warnings, refuse to prepare their own parachutes. Sometimes, they even giggle and say, “When the SHTF, I am coming to your house!”
Plans need to be made that can be implemented quickly. Foreknowledge, which comes from thinking about a situation in advance, can be invaluable. Your plan should start with the biggest, by far, variable– who. Once you have planned for “who”, you can move on to other things, such as “how” and “how much”. This article will help you forge plans without which your parachute will most certainly collapse.
You have to decide now who you will include in your plans for TEOTWAWKI. It is pretty evident that you cannot care for everyone, but you will have to decide which ones. This article poses more questions than answers, but I am hoping that the questions spur you to think about this. Deciding who may potentially live or die is not a very pleasant thing, but the reality is that you, being a prepared person, will have to make some of those decisions. When you have food, shelter, and security and others do not, you must decide, or they will decide for you. When you have the parachute, you must plan for who can ride, or everyone will grab on, in which case you are sure to meet the ground in a most severe manner.
Now is the time to think about, and plan for, who you will include. I am not writing about your fellow preppers who are in your Preparedness Group. I am writing about those loved ones or neighbors who will not (or cannot) prepare and who will look to you for help in TEOTWAWKI. I am talking about those who want to share your parachute because they don’t have one!
During TEOTWAWKI your emotions will run high. Your stress level may be through the roof. That is not the time to make serious life-affecting decisions. Think it through now, while your emotions are cool and you can take your time to ponder it. Plan it now, while you can turn it over and over in your mind.
Will you take all of your children? What about any grandchildren? How about your kids’ spouses? Are your parents and in-laws welcome? Are extended family members going to be welcome, such as cousins, aunts, uncles, or the in-laws of your kids? Will your grandchildren be safe if your daughter-in-law decides to go to her parents because her parents are not welcome at your sanctuary? Will you take ex-spouses so your kids have both of their biological parents? What will you do for the elderly widow down the street?
Thinking these things through now, while you can take your time with it, and making a plan is best. Discuss it with your beloved and get in agreement now. Many of us have solid plans for how we might greet green-toothed, wild eyed, half-human zombies during TEOTWAWKI; I doubt we would want to use that same welcome for someone we love but forgot to plan for.
Coming to some even tentative conclusions about who might be welcomed at your door can be quite informative. Knowing how many you will need to feed can help you plan food storage targets. Discerning who has valuable skills can inform your resupply and security plans. Identifying the medical needs of potential TEOTWAWKI induced “guests” can assist you in making decisions on what medicines you might need. Knowing who might be welcomed at your door can help you form your plans for the bullets, beans, and Band-Aids we all need.
There is also the other side of the coin. Knowing who might show up at your door will help you plan for the liabilities they may bring, too. Do they have a need for refrigeration for medicines? Do they have any mental or emotional disorders for which they take medication that may not be available during TEOTWAWKI? Are they likely to bring weapons, or do you have to provide them? Are they capable of properly using those weapons? Are they likely to bring unwelcomed friends, pets, or diseases? Can they be trusted? Can you bear to live with them for the duration of TEOTWAWKI? Can you bear to live without them?
Whatever you decide, you must communicate that decision to those you are inviting (or uninviting). They need to know that they are welcomed. That fact alone may help them see the depth of your prepper commitment, and as a result they may offer some help, whether it is with finances, planning, or skills enhancement. Talk with those you choose so they are not left wondering if they are welcome when TEOTWAWKI hits. Hammer out some plans. During TEOTWAWKI are you going to pick them up? Will they have to provide their own transportation? Can they bring friends without your prior permission? How long will you hold their spot until you give their portion to another? How long can they stay? Will they be expected to work? What pets can they bring?
This communication works quite nicely toward your peace of mind, too. You can know, because you talked about it and planned for it, that when the proverbial balloon goes up, your loved one is not just floundering but is on their way to your mutually planned security. You will both be on the same page because you discussed it and formed a plan.
The other side of this conversation is true, too. Those that may have jokingly said they were coming to your house when the situation gets dire need to understand that just showing up uninvited will not be acceptable. Things they said in a joking manner while society was intact, may take a whole new tone of seriousness when hunger and fear are on the horizon. Talk with them and let them know that you are giving your help now in the way of information and encouragement for them to become preppers too. Everyone needs a parachute, and they must be encouraged to pack their own or made to understand that they will take the ride down without you and yours.
During these conversations, one thing you must always concern yourself with is OpSec (Operational Security). Operational Security is very important. In your conversations, perhaps it is best to not disclose all of your preps. You should keep quiet about the total amount of your food and not discuss, in specific terms, your weapons and other defenses. This is not because you don’t trust those you chose to talk with (although you may not) but because, even if they know the rules about your OpSec, they may unwittingly reveal something that should not be made public.
Once, my daughter, in a very innocent conversation with her friend found that both the friend’s father and I were preppers, although we didn’t know each other. My daughter’s friend went on to write an article for the local television station using my name and quoting me on several “prepper” topics, even though I never met her nor talked to her. That was a serious breach of OpSec! This is just one example of why we must always guard our preps and plans. Have good conversations, but be wise when you do so.
Flexibility and adaptability are key and important to any plan. Revisit your plans frequently and on a regular schedule, such as once a year. Note any changes in the constitution of the families that you may have invited. Have there been any deaths? How about divorces or marriages? Were there any new children born? Did someone move far away, join the military, or begin to attend college out of state?
If you are planning for your child and his or her spouse to come to your retreat during TEOTWAWKI, the birth of a child to them may radically change your preps. Now, you may need baby formula, diapers, ointments, bottles, nipples, shampoos, breast pumps, and a place for another to sleep. The list could go on to include baby strength medicines, wipes, food grinders, vitamins, teething rings, and a whole host of very expensive items. You have to be flexible with your plans and diligently revisit them periodically. You may have to store things that you did not originally plan for but if you have created a plan, and revisited it occasionally, you will be prepared.
On the other hand, changes in family dynamics may have you include people that you previously rejected. Perhaps your sister’s no-good husband left and now she is alone. You previously excluded them because you just could not see your way to support that lazy guy. Well, now he is gone. The family dynamic is different, and you now have new information with which to re-decide whether or not to adjust your plan.
Again, flexibility and adaptability are key and important. Periodically revising your plans is just as important as having the plans in the first place. Having an out of date plan is dangerous. If you were planning to accommodate six people during TEOTWAWKI and now you have a seventh; you are suddenly fourteen percent (14%) short on provisions. To put that in perspective, if you have provisions and plans for six people for one year and a seventh person shows up, you are now six weeks short of your year’s supplies. Six weeks is a long time for everybody to go without food because you didn’t reconsider your plans.
Hugh,
Regarding the recent information about well hand pumps on the blog (Simple Pump, Bison Pump), I would like to add that there is another robust and reliable pump that has not gotten the attention of many people outside of the farm & ranch community. It is the Model 11HD (for deeper wells) pump made by Baker Monitor. This pump is heavy duty (cast iron) with a design that has been around for almost a hundred years. This is the same type of pump that has been reliably attached to windmills on farms since its creation and has also been used by the Forest Service at some of their campgrounds (the shallow well model). I researched the Bison and Simple pumps before I learned about the Baker Monitor pump from a local well pump installer, who has installed many of them in our area. The installer was able to add this pump onto my existing well (200 ft) without interfering with the electric pump. The cost of materials plus installation (including optional garden hose adapter) was less than the cost of materials for the Simple pump or the Bison pump. We placed the bottom of the Baker Monitor pump at 84ft (static water lever was 45ft), and we have no problem pumping considerable water in our tests. I like that this pump can be attached to a windmill at some future date, if I desire. The one drawback to the pump is that it is heavy. – K.K.
Citizens’ Growing Protests against Border Patrol Checkpoints Inside the U.S.. – H.L.
o o o
NYPD investigating disturbing video of Uber traffic stop . – M.F.
o o o
o o o
Pastor Cruz: ‘We Are on The Brink of The Destruction of This Country’. – B.B.
o o o
Chicago Robbers Appear to Copy Mexican Cartel Roadblock Tactics. – D.S.
o o o
From Wranglerstar: The Axe Is Back! Keep It Sharp
“Food’s the killer. The clock starts as soon as the troops are on the ground. You wouldn’t believe how fast they consume what they’re carrying, and then … if I don’t get them more, if I don’t find them more … they die.” ? Henry V. O’Neil, Orphan Brigade: The Sim War: Book Two