Video: Will China Pull a “Switzerland” on the U.S. Dollar? – B.B.
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The minimum wage economic recovery– 44 percent of jobs added since recession ended come from low-wage industries paying $10 an hour or less.
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US retail sales fell in December – RBS
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Which apps protect against Verizon and Turn’s invasive user tracking?. – RBS
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Agency will confiscate infant if entire family doesn’t get flu shots. – H.L.
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Trillions Laundered Thru CitiBank For Saudi Arabia?. – K.W.
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What to do if you are shot. – T.P.
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Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty. – B.B.
“The test of character is not ‘hanging in’ when you expect light at the end of the tunnel, but performance of duty and persistence of example when you know no light is coming” – former U.S. Vice Admiral James B. Stockdale
Today, we present another entry for Round 56 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 56 ends on January 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.
This article is a fairly long read, but given the topic, it’s an extremely valuable endeavor. Tyranny is not to be taken lightly; it is as serious as a heart attack or, more aptly, a nuclear strike on our nation. Everything is on the line these days, whether it’s about you and your family or the entire free world. We must all have the courage to stand firm in the truth and the wisdom to prepare for the inevitable. You need strength to get through the truth of our reality, which is exposed in this article.
Tyranny, can you define it? I can, yet the guilty have already done so by their words and their actions. What is to follow are factual, documented pieces to a picture puzzle that spells out tyranny, in no uncertain terms. In fact, there are no gaps between all the dots; it’s clearly been filled in and spelled out. The following truth must be understood, or freedom everywhere will cease to exist, on our watch.
The following information is true and verifiable; the conclusion is devastating to everyone, let alone anyone who has blinders on. Normalcy bias is a tough jump to reality. It’s as tough as if the woman of your dreams– your virgin bride of two years– was exposed as having been a teenage prostitute. (Furthermore, she liked it and the movies prove it. Or was it your daughter?) Some things are extremely difficult to accept, especially for those who dedicated their very lives, as Americans, to a mission that may have taken a family member’s life, or the life of a fellow soldier or a friend. It’s very difficult and painful to believe that your trusted leaders are actually lying to your face, likely laughing behind your back, and have been for decades.
Patriotism is often used as a tool to keep people in line, under control. Wars fulfill this role quite well; hence the concern that world war three appears be on the near horizon, as the truth and the economy is backing the tyrants into the corner. Those telling the lies, stating that the economy is recovering and that Obama’s economic actions are working, will need a scapegoat when it all comes crashing down. Creating or promoting a war will allow the powers that be, around the world, to blame the war rather than the existing Ponzi scheme that is running its course. All the while, the uninformed sheeple will rally around the government via the dynamics of patriotism. It’s quite possible that our enemies will attack us when we are at our weakest point. Be aware, and prepare for the future; it is not going to go well, no matter the course it takes.
To fully understand the depth of the tyranny as well as to comprehend the picture being painted, one should research the links provided, as that is where the meat of the story lies. Be sure to read the follow up comments, as there is much wisdom to be found from your fellow citizens. The sleeping giant is no longer sleeping.
The evidence presented here is concrete, easily researched, and conclusive. A bullet between the eyes leaves little doubt as to the cause of death, and neither will the evidence presented here need any additional support. It alone is enough to define the tyranny of our government, yet it is but the tip of the tip of the iceberg. If in doubt, research each topic deeply. Beware; the communist trolls are pushing the truth further back on the search pages. Believe it or not, they are paid to do so.
This link is invaluable to understanding the attempt to create a global market of slavery based on carbon taxation, rooted in an environmental lie (Global Cooling, Global Warming, Climate Change), as well as the fallacy of modern fiat banking and exactly where that is leading (economic collapse). Read this link in its entirety. Hint: the Federal Reserve is privately-owned by the wealthiest families on the planet, and they control our money and destiny for their own enrichment. Imagine owning all of the world’s natural resources, including the land in its entirety, and having a slave base measured in the billions. (It’s pure evil at the end of the day.)
Consider our government’s role in creating the United Nations in 1945. A committee of approximately twenty legislators was responsible. Most were later exposed as communists or communist sympathizers with the Venona Release, Alger Hiss being the most well-known traitor. He led the committee!
Consider the following paragraphs found in this informative link.
The first Secretary General of the U.N., at its founding conference in San Francisco, June 26, 1945, was Soviet espionage agent Alger Hiss. His appointment had been approved by Stalin at the Yalta Conference. Hiss had served as “international organization specialist”. Many Communists were among the American delegation. They drew excellent salaries from the U.S. taxpayers, as is the case today.
Harry Dexter White was the assistant Secretary of the Treasury. Laughlin Currie was the Special Assistant to President Franklin Roosevelt. Lawrence Duggan, Noel Field, Harold Glasser, Irving Kaplan, Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, Victor Perlo, and Julian Wadleigh were pro-Communist operatives, who played major roles in planning the U.N. structure, along with Solomon Adler, Frank Coe, Abraham G. Silverman, William H. Taylor, William L. Ullman, John Carter Vincent, and David Weintraub.
It was agreed that the Undersecretary-General for Political and Security Council Affairs, with direct control over military operations, would always be a Soviet. The U.N. was virtually overrun by Communists, according to Senator James O. Eastland’s testimony to a Senate Committee in 1952.
“I am appalled at the extensive evidence indicating that there is today in the U.N. among the American employees there, the greatest concentration of Communists that this committee has ever encountered,” Senator Eastwood told the committee. “These people occupy high positions. They have very high salaries, and almost all of these people have, in the past, been employees in the U.S. government in high and sensitive positions.”
The U.N. has been described as a “Trojan horse” for Left wing ideology. In 1915, Lenin proposed a “United States of the World”. In 1936, the Communist International proclaimed:
“Dictatorship can be established only by a victory of socialism in different countries after which the proletariat Republics would unite on federal lines with those already in existence, and this system of federal unions would expand…at length forming the World Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.” Today, they (Bush Sr., Bush Jr., the Clinton’s, Obama, Biden, Soros, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, the Pope, and numerous other politicians and world leaders) refer to this in a wanting manner as the “new world order”.
The Venona release vindicated Joe McCarthy. When he was exposing the Soviets subversion of our government, Hollywood, and others, he was humiliated, marginalized, and removed. This is now well known as a Saul Alinsky tactic. With the fall of the Soviet Union, it was established that Joe was right. As a critical thinker, one must realize those Soviet sympathizers remained in their positions of power and influence. In fact, they rose up the ladder of power and position, and they recruited more and more comrades in their endeavor to bring America to its knees via the infamous “fifth column”. Just as Kruschev and Stalin stated, they would defeat America without firing a shot. He knew what McCarthy knew. The Soviets had infiltrated our government, the military, the media, Hollywood, education, the courts, the church, labor, defense corporations, et cetera. This is why our presidents mention this new world order so fondly. This is why we are exactly where we are this day– on the verge of collapse and chaos. Our plight is not due to an inept bureaucracy; it’s intentional. It’s treason.
Let’s go back to the United Nations, which was created by Communist infiltraitors within our government who to take control of the world, simultaneously conquering America. In 1961 our state department (think entrenched communists) wrote the plan called “Freedom from War” for the UN to implement. It was designed to disarm the world’s peoples and militaries, establish a police state in every nation state, and transition all nations to international law that is established and enforced by an ever-growing UN. America would become but one of the many regions that the UN would fully control, losing all sovereignty. The Constitution would be extinct along with those unalienable rights. We, the people, would no longer be free, as our Republic would be destroyed. A new world order would supplant every nation’s sovereignty. Instead of a world based on individual freedom, we would have a world based on collectivist slavery, a world of two classes– the elite and their slaves.
Is this not tyranny? Is this a government of, by, and for the people? I think not. (Feeling queasy yet?) The leaders of this nation have thrown the people under the bus. That’s .0000000666 + or – percent of the population we call leaders/politicians/fascists and communists that are responsible for intentionally destroying this country. Will we stand by and allow them to succeed? I will reiterate that this plan, as outlined in “Freedom From War” (FFW), is true and is easily researched. THIS WAS AND IS TYRANNY TO THE MAX!
Notice this very important statement in FFW for those who might say, this is old news and not viable today: “The negotiating states are called upon to develop the program into a detailed plan for general and complete disarmament and to continue their efforts without interruption, until the whole program has been achieved.” This is embedded in “Freedom From War”. We see this reality developing, as America is virtually the last “free” nation with a population that is still armed. Since this plan was implemented, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China, and a host of third world countries have seen the population disarmed and most militaries weakened. For all practical purposes, we are the last and the most difficult free nation left to disarm.
Here are a few, recent examples that reinforce our government’s subversion: The ongoing effort to supplant the Second Amendment with the UN Small Arms Treaty, as well as the Assault Weapons Ban, which pertains directly to the citizens. They must disarm America’s citizens. We are a very formidable force, as a whole. If they can’t, they are very likely to nuke the country as a justifiable alternative to gain world dominance. Don’t underestimate their resolve to achieve their ends. To them, it’s better to take America intact, but to sacrifice the infrastructure is a short-term loss compared to a long-term gain and is acceptable and preferable to failure.
Recently our government gave Lebanon two hundred armored personnel vehicles, and Egypt received two hundred of our M1 Abrams tanks and twenty F-16 jets. Obama, via executive order, just pledged Russia 700 million tax dollars to purchase helicopters for Afghanistan, superseding congress, the rule of law, and any monetary gain for our own aviation industry. Sequestration, by design, was to hurt the military. Benghazi was an arms running scheme; we were and are arming Anti-American Muslim terrorists. When we toppled Libya, close to twenty thousand shoulder-fired anti aircraft weapons and an arsenal of military arms and ammo ended up in terrorist control. It all adds up to the fact that the administration is undermining our military and this nation on every front, while simultaneously arming those dedicated to destroying our only ally in the Middle East– Israel. Consider our government’s influence in destabilizing the Middle East last year and recently in Syria. Consider the growth and use of the UN “Peacekeepers” as laid out in the FFW document.
We have seen the war on drugs become the vehicle to bring about the police state, escalating to the point that SWAT teams have become paramilitary units throughout America and the world. We have seen Posse Comitatus swept aside, as the military takes to the streets through out the nation in times of “emergency”, setting precedent of disarming law-abiding citizens during Katrina and Hurricane Sandy. We see a Homeland Security Metropolitan Police Force taking shape throughout the country, and we watch this on the boob tube reality shows nightly, conditioning the population to accept unconstitutional police overreach. We have heard the president call for a civilian defense force stronger and better funded than the military as they arm America’s police force with surplus military equipment. The NSA is tracking you digitally, through vast camera systems and RFID technology. Again, you need not ask why; it’s the police state mentioned in FFW. It’s TYRANNY!, and it’s going to get much worse. Wait till Obamacare’s teeth are exposed!
We are seeing our government concede to international law that is highly destructive to our Republic for no gains in return.
These two links are priceless for understanding it’s not about helping the less fortunate; it’s about destroying America and making us a third world country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE
http://www.porthuronteaparty.com/webapp/p/256/suicide-by-immigration.html
Informed military men and women see the government attacking and weakening the armed forces at every turn; the rules of engagement and the insane government intrusion in fighting wars over the last six decades have been and are exponentially increasing the danger and detriment to the forces and their mission. Face it; the government uses the military as pawns, with little moral or defensive concerns. The military has been infiltrated and is being destroyed from within. Key officers are being relieved of duty at an alarming rate. Soldiers are quizzed if they will shoot American citizens today. Those that say “yes” are directed to certain programs.
Some other very important pieces of the puzzle are the NDAA– National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 and 2013. In these and a host of executive orders, the government has given themselves the “legal right” to incarcerate anyone in the U.S. without any legal rights whatsoever. The detainee is given no right to a lawyer, and those involved have no mandate to even tell anyone that someone is in custody. They have made it legal to lie to the population via a complicit media and the leftist bastions of Hollywood, based solely on propaganda to further the new world order. They wrote themselves the legal right to lie to the citizens of this nation in NDAA 2013. All media is now suspect and can’t be trusted to tell the truth. A poll is of no value, other than as propaganda, to the ill informed. Just as market reports sighting positive statistics are usually proven wrong, for a reason. They lie consistently, but most sheeple absorb the information and actually believe it. This is complicit, conspiratorial TREASON!
The office of the president has established the right, via executive orders, to call a state of emergency without telling anyone, even Congress, why. In this state of emergency, they have made it legal to declare martial law; confiscate all food, fuel, vehicles, money, savings accounts, gold, guns, ammo, homes, farms, livestock, equipment, and literally anything and everything you own; and even force citizens to relocate and be placed to work in work camps. Did you get that? This is all found in the National Resources Preparedness Act. They ignore our unalienable rights under God and the Republic in totality. Why would they write these unconstitutional laws? This is TYRANNY. NEED YOU SEE MORE? THIS IS TRUE, AS IS EVERYTHING ELSE HERE.
Yet, consider today’s Democrat party, also known as Liberals and Progressives, who speak of and act toward spreading the wealth and social justice. Both are major tenets to the socialist party, which is nothing but the precursor to communism. They no longer hide who they are. By the way, the Republican Party is full of them, too; they just call them RINO’s. The two parties are just two sides of the same coin. Good cop bad cop is their routine. If the media or other entrenched politicians do not expose the tyranny, they are either complicit, corrupt, or cowards. The recent Senate decision to transition from a sixty percent vote to a simple majority will allow the current “administraitors” to fill the courts with judges who will assist in the tyranny. If the courts are fully subverted, is there any hope of putting a check on tyranny? If they get away with this so easily, what’s next? It’s all by design. The first judge Obama put in place has the responsibility of determining if a law is constitutional or not. Isn’t that the fox guarding the hen house? Wake up folks!
Recognize that our economic plight is not by chance. The manufacturing base did not move overseas for the weather. No, the government intentionally made regulations that forced them to; it’s called “globalism”. Our eighteen trillion-dollar debt and unfunded liabilities in the hundred and twenty trillion-dollar area is not by accident, nor was the foreclosure crises. Today, they are stealing the wealth of virtually everyone, and it’s going to jump even more dramatically with Obamacare, as we see rates doubling and tripling. Recognize the health care industry is no less than fifteen percent of our economy; when it fails, it guarantees the demise of this nation. Do you think it’s by accident that it’s failing?
It’s often been said, we have the soapbox, the ballot box, and then very reluctantly the ammo box to address the issues. Let’s consider this train of thought for a minute. The jury box is comprised of the general, dumbed-down population and a nation proven to be without the rule of law; hence there’s vacancy here, though one could argue that we, “the informed jury”, will rule some day.)
It’s time to look inward for courage and outward for allies. Thankfully, they are more numerous than flies on a carcass, which is something else we all better prepare for, both mentally and physically. Historically, disease is the leading cause of death in war-ravaged areas. (Stock antiseptics, hand cleaner, and pest control products.)
Consider that the U.S. Army is soliciting jobs for “internment camp specialists”, controlling prisoners based on social security numbers, with red and blue as another definitive marker. Soldiers are also asked if they will shoot Americans.
It’s interesting that the mantra of this link states that there is no left or right; there is only tyranny or freedom. That’s so true. Today, we have two parties, just as there are two sides of the same coin; heads you loose and tails they win. It’s a sideshow to keep you busy. Politics, as seen on Fox, MSNBC, or CNN, is nothing but a mechanism to keep you neutralized. These people are not stupid, nor are we. It’s treason.
If the media does not call it what it is, they are part of the fifth column, or is it the fourth branch of government? It’s that simple. It’s that transparent. There is no excuse for them to ignore the tyranny at this point. We expect them to call a spade a spade; that’s all we ask. Yet, why do none dare call it full-blown treason?
I’ve shared all of this, and I did not mention the Bilderbergers, The Council on Foreign Relations, the Tri Lateral Commission, the Bohemian Grove, or Skull n Bones! Hint: Men do conspire to enrich themselves and subjugate others. All these organizations warrant deep research. Conspiracy theories are fully-exposed today. Every one of the above-named organizations work toward a goal that affects the people of this nation and the planet in dark, dark ways.
Hugh,
I have to fly to the east coast soon for work. I am already feeling naked with the thought of not having a good pocket knife and pistol on my person. Is there a good tactical pen or something along that lines that I can legally carry on a plane? Any suggestions would be much appreciated! Thanks! – M.B.
Hugh Responds: The airlines will let you fly with both pistol and knife in your checked baggage. Check with each airline for their requirements. Usually, it consists of a checked, hard-sided, and lockable case. You are not required to have TSA locks, but be available to the TSA to unlock your case because they will probably want to inspect it. Needless to say, you will have to declare it to the airlines at check in, and you should allow yourself some extra time to get through the TSA inspection and security.
Don’t forget to check the applicable laws in the state where you are traveling to. You may need special permits, and you might not be able to carry, depending upon the local laws of the state you are traveling to.
You may also expose the serial number of your firearm to law enforcement record-keeping. (This is something that bothers alot of people.)
I have flown several times with both pistol and AR-15. Do not have the ammo loaded in the pistol. You can have the ammo and pistol in the same box usually but not in a loaded condition. The ammo usually has to be in an original packaging container or similar purpose-designed holder. I have had problems with loaded magazines, too. You just never know. You will end up with totally clueless people looking your rigs over, and if you get a gun control freak as an inspector, you may have issues. If that is the case, keep calm and make sure you have met all of the airline’s regulations, and you will make it through.
Jim Adds: That has been addressed several times in the blog. Just search on “traveling and tonfa”, with our search box.
U. S. Mint American Eagle Silver Bullion Coin Purchases Soared to Record High in 2014 – J.W.
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Wall street banks trying to secure themselves for the collapse? . – A.M.
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Price of Electricity Hit Record High in U.S. in 2014. – G.G.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
IRS Threatens Service Cuts as First ObamaCare Tax Season Looms– Is this supposed to be some kind of threat?!?
For those who miss the Great Revivals of the past, R.G. sent in the link to a powerful message on YouTube. It is well worth the six minutes of your time required to listen to it. It is a huge regret of mine that my children have not experienced the spiritual revival of a church in their lifetime.
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Civil forteifure seizures to be halted without proving a crime has occurred. – RBS
Of course this is Eric Holder we are talking about here. Did anyone else have that instinctive urge to reach around and feel for the knife in your back after reading this? – HJL
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Showing that supply chain disruptions can be as much a catastrophe for the producers as well as the consumers, Valley nut, citrus exports halted in port dispute
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Courtesy of The Daily Sheeple: Spoon Carving with an Ax
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Bench Dogs for under a buck! Don’t know what those are? Perhaps you need to watch Wranglerstar’s new video
“And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep?” Matthew 12:11-12a (KJV)
Today, we present another entry for Round 56 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 56 ends on January 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.
Recently, I came across a website for ex-Mormons who were lamenting the time, effort, and money they sunk into fulfilling the church’s teaching of long-term food storage.
There were many stories of throwing out large amounts of expired food, both for themselves and deceased relatives. Of course, the faithful in the Mormon Church will tell you that if you have to throw out expired food, whether you have ever experienced an emergency or not, you have not been doing it right. You should, for example, already be grinding your own wheat and making your own bread. You shouldn’t wait for the grid to fall before you start doing that.
I have to say that I haven’t gotten around to grinding my own wheat yet on regular basis, but otherwise I have fallen into a pretty good routine of using the stuff I have stored before it goes bad. Still, the ex-Mormons’ comments had me thinking whether I would someday look back and regret the time, effort, and money that I have spent on emergency preparedness. What if nothing ever happens that leads to me really needing a hand-cranked wheat grinder to survive or breaking out an AR-15 to defend my home?
My answer is that even though the biggest emergency I have experienced is the occasional brief power outage, my preparedness efforts have already benefited me in more ways than I can probably enumerate. One of my first efforts was putting an emergency bag in my car. Almost immediately, I found that I was using it. I would need to cut something, and there in my bag would be a knife. If I cut myself, I would have a bandage, or I might be stuck somewhere waiting and get hungry or thirsty; there would be some food and water in the bag. I also had a change of clothes, which proved useful on many occasions when I tore or soiled some clothes that would otherwise have required that I go back home to change. Additionally, my job would sometimes send me out of town overnight at a moment’s notice, and with my bag, I didn’t have to go home and get anything. So, with my regular use of the emergency bag, my first problem that I had to deal with was making sure I kept my supplies in my bag from running out.
Keeping up a good food supply at home has been extremely valuable and has saved a lot of money, although I did throw out some food early on before I became acutely aware of expiration dates. Now I am fairly obsessed with expiration dates. Any grocery item I buy, whether it is to be for long-term storage or not, I check the expiration date. I have discovered that some stores sell items that have already been on the shelves for too long and have a far shorter expiration date than you would expect. I’ve learned going to a higher volume store, like Walmart, can usually fetch better dates. Even for items like milk and bread, I’ve learned that if you check toward the back of the shelf, you can usually get a better date. As a single person, that’s important for me because it’s hard for me to use up a loaf of bread or gallon of milk before it goes bad. The benefit to my emergency preparedness efforts is that I have reduced waste and saved money that I can put toward buying longer term food items.
It used to be that if I came home after a hard days work and realized I had nothing in the fridge or freezer that would make a meal, I would order pizza or go back out and pick up some fast food. However, I now always have something I can put together to make a meal, and a pretty good one at that. For single people, this also comes in handy if you are sick and have no one to look after you.
I have learned a lot about guns. I used to be one of “those” who didn’t see a need for a gun and, frankly, was a little scared to have a gun in the house. However, once I bought a 9 mm, learned some safety guidelines, and fired it at a range a few times, I became very comfortable with it. I began to see that a gun is not going to fire itself and, if you aren’t an idiot, a gun is not going to harm you.
Spending on guns, however, still bothered me, because I knew I would use the food regardless, but what if I never need the gun? The thing is, if you take care of a gun, it will last pretty much forever, and it will keep its value. The guns I see for sale in the pawn shop don’t look much cheaper than new ones. So, in addition to home protection, a gun can be a way of converting paper money that could become worthless into something tangible that would become exponentially more valuable in a grid down situation. I used to scoff at people who had large gun collections, because it seems to me about four or five would cover most any scenario and you can only shoot one at a time. Dual wielding might be fun in a video game, but I don’t think it’s the best tactical choice in real life. If we are left to fend for ourselves, there will probably be no better barter item than a gun.
I live in a sketchy neighborhood, and my home was broken into twice. That was in my pre-emergency preparedness days. No one has broken into my house since, which has been about four years now. If they did, they would be making a very bad choice, I guarantee you, especially if I am home at the time, but even if I am not.
Just to cite one example of improved security, which cost only about $30, was putting in a pet door. Before the burglary, I left my dog in the back yard while I was away. However, the last time I was burglarized, the intruder came in through a front window, so my dog had no way to stop him. Now, if anyone approaches the front of my house and makes any noise, a living burglar alarm will go off from inside.
I also improved my home security team by adding a second dog. If you are allergic to dogs or just can’t have one for some reason, spend about three or four bucks for some “Beware of the dog” signs. Even in a desperate time, I would bet that any intruder would see that and be inclined to pick another house.
Some people may envision that they will be hunkered down in their home or retreat when the grid is down or have a crew to stand guard if venturing out is required. However, I think a more likely future scenario than all-out anarchy is that crime will get a lot worse. Regardless, you will still, in that case, have some incorruptible canine guards for the house while you are away, which will be invaluable.
I have learned many useful skills, such as making my own laundry soap. This soap costs a fraction of buying it and works just as well. I have not bought commercial laundry soap in more than three years, probably saving myself at least $200. I probably spend less time making it than I would by actually going to the store to buy it every time I need it. I make it by grating up a bar of Fels Naptha soap and boiling it in water until to dissolves. Then I put about four gallons of water in a five-gallon bucket, add the soap, add a cup of washing soda, and add a cup of Borax. Let it sit overnight, and you’ve got about four and half gallons of laundry detergent for the cost of about $2.
When I first started doing this, Borax was the only one of ingredients I could find in a store. I ordered the soap and washing soda through the local Ace Hardware. Now I have noticed all three ingredients are now available at my small neighborhood grocery store, as well as the larger Krogers farther away. If you can’t find it, I would try checking somewhere like Ace, where they can have it shipped without charge. You can buy it straight from online, but the shipping costs would reduce your savings. It’s funny to me when I see people showing videos online of their stored items and they have all these commercial laundry soap containers taking up space when they could buy these ingredients, store them in a five-gallon bucket, and probably have a lifetime supply.
Overall, the greatest benefit of emergency preparedness is that I have become a more forward-thinking person. My job requires me to go certain places and have certain things, and previously I would not always have all the things I needed. However, I now think farther ahead and don’t wait until I get there to see that I don’t have something. For example, just this past weekend I took a few moments to check my car’s spare tire to make sure it was pumped up and to make sure the jack and all its parts were in working order. Five years ago, I would have been checking that only when I was broken down on the side of the road with a flat tire.
Another thing I did early on, which cost nothing, was storing up water in my house. I buy orange juice in clear plastic bottles, and whenever one gets empty, I clean it, fill it with water, and stash it somewhere in the house. It wasn’t very long after I started doing it that I woke up one morning and there was no water. I found out later there had been a problem with the line nearby and the city was working on it. I was lamenting that I was going to have to go to work without a shower or brushing my teeth, when I suddenly remembered I had a stash of water. So I was able to wash up in the sink and brush before I left. This made for a much better day at work.
Perhaps most important, I have become a healthier person. I believe one of the most overlooked aspects of gridless survival is physical fitness. It’s going to take a lot of work to survive. When the grid is down, I would put my money on a physically fit person who has done nothing to prepare over an obese person with a houseful of guns and food. Although I can’t say it has been entirely the reason, the thought of trying to survive in an anarchist environment has definitely been a motivator in the fact that I have quit smoking, quit drinking, and started working out almost daily.
I could keep going, but I will sum it by saying that having a preparedness mindset has changed my life quite a bit for the better. I am grateful to the many people who have posted informative YouTube videos, blogs such as this one, and written books. I know many people think we sit around fearing the future, but I feel very much the contrary. I feel better about the future every time I do something to be more ready for it. Putting effort into ensuring that you survive is a sign of good mental health, because it means you have a love of life, even if it gets bad.
Hugh et al…
First off – I am an avid reader and fan of SurvivalBlog and have been following it for several years now. I’d like to share my story in brief and ask a question of the readership.
My story (digest version):
I was born and raised in the LDS (Mormon) faith and had good values about work and family instilled in me from an early age (thanks to mom and dad). I religiously followed the “program” and went to BYU for a year after high school, served and full time mission, got married in the temple and had three children.
The year I turned 40, I found myself at a crisis of faith, and I left the church in favor of a non-denominational Christian fellowship. My wife of 18 years divorced me and I was estranged from my children for several years. During this time I was a desperate and hungry Christian. A couple of years later I married a wonderful Christian woman and have been blessed to have restored relationships will all three of my children as adults.
About four years ago, my wife and I had our “awakening” from the sheeple herd and realized that our cozy little house and property on the Oregon coast would not be a defensible and sustainable place to be in the case of a sustained disaster or major change in the world as we know it. We have, in the time since our awakening, managed to accumulate over a ton of food stores, greatly enhanced our security capabilities, and relocated to the Redoubt. We have been truly blessed to have made all this transition with very little resistance. The road here seems to have been paved with purpose. Our house sold at an acceptable price to the first couple that looked at it. I found work here in the Redoubt that pays better than I had before. We found property with water, pasture, and trees (went from 1/2 acre on the coast to 40+ here). We are working to further enhance our existence with livestock and major gardening and preservation efforts.
We also have a good association with a few families that are like-minded. We are growing a small community of mutual support folks, standardizing on life-sustaining efforts and security (both strategic and tactical). Life here is hard work but good. Very good. That brings me to the present.
My challenge to the Christian readership:
During the last several years, I have again been experiencing a crisis of faith. First of all, I have a firm belief that there is a creative power/force involved in the universe; there’s too much resistance to entropy to explain it any other way. A creator is holding all of this together.
Having grown up in a LDS religious environment that involved a strong “our way is the only way” mentality puts me at odds with the same theology being shared by most Christian teachers and believers. My questions and challenges:
To conclude, I would like to make a few things clear: I have a lot of respect for true believers (those that believe what they believe and live their life accordingly). I am married to a wonderful Christian woman who is very patient with my struggles. I also have a fantastic support system of friends and family who are Christian as well. While my questioning may raise concerns to the contrary, I certainly offer no disrespect to Christian believers.
Let me say this: I want to believe. My resistance is primarily intellectual-based. I feel that I give up some integrity to just blindly believe and yet I haven’t been able to reconcile that loss. I would appreciate hearing from those who may have struggled in a similar fashion and found both a resolution and peace in believing. God bless – NWD
Hugh Responds: God has created us as emotional beings. Those emotions drive the very core of who we are, but emotions are not necessarily truth. Throughout time, man has learned to manipulate emotions and to elicit the desired emotional outcome. Have you ever watched a movie that had no music, or listened to a passionate political speech? We use emotions to connect with each other and sometimes to manipulate each other. TV commercials use emotions to drive sales; car salesmen appeal to your desire to look cool. Having the ability to manipulate a person’s emotions makes you a very powerful person in their lives. Church is no different in that respect. Most modern churches have a given formula designed to elicit that goosebumps or tearful feeling, usually through music. Another method commonly used is chanting. Our modern church music has combined those methods to bring a person into an emotional state to where they believe they are open to the moving of the Holy Spirit and deep understanding of the pastor’s words. Unfortunately, when you hear those words without the emotions, you realize just how shallow they are. Even if they are true, they are milk rather than meat for the soul.
Yes, meeting God is an emotional experience, but emotions also lie (2 Cor 10:15) and can be manipulated. You learn to trust those feelings by knowing the truth of God and comparing what you hear, see, and feel to the truth of the Word. That means you have to study the Word of God (2 Tim 2:15) and hide its truths within your heart (Psalm 119:11). All too often we substitute study of another man’s thoughts on the Word (commentaries, prayer books, devotionals, et cetera) for the actual study of the Word itself, which brings us to your second point.
The canon of scripture is a recent invention of the church. Before the third century (AD), there existed the Torah (the first five books of Moses) and a collection of letters by prophets, historians, and apostles. The early catholic church wanted to distance itself from Judaism and wanted to include some controversial books as official documentation. Shortly after Council of Nicea, among other things, the church created an early form of the canon of the Bible. They included the Torah and other letters in what we now term the Old Testament and included the Gospels and other letters written after Christ’s coming as the New Testament. They gave higher precedence to the New Testament, including the idea the church should view the Old Testament only as history. Not to be left out, the Jews, who rejected Christ, formulated their own canon of scripture and called it the Tanach (which only had pre-Christ letters). The process to arrive at these two cannons of scripture was convoluted, and the authors broke many of their own rules in assembling them. For instance, one rule was that letters could only be included in the New Testament if the authorship could be firmly established and the author had first person experience with Christ. The authorship of Hebrews cannot be established, and there are clear clues that the author had no direct experience with Christ, yet it was included in the canon because it contains the reasoning for splitting the canon of scripture into two and the reasoning for the elevation of the New Testament over the Old Testament. Other letters written by people who had direct contact with Christ were left out. So, in the end, the canon of scripture, as we know it, has some questionable content while missing other content. In addition to that problem, we have another issue concerning the canon of scripture. The canon of scripture was written in three languages over a period of about 2000 years: Hebrew, Chaldean, and Greek. Additionally, those who wrote in Greek, did so because it was the common written language of the time, but it was not their primary language (except for the author of Hebrews). The primary language was Hebrew and the written Greek reads poorly compared to Greek manuscripts contemporary with those letters. The idioms and language mechanics are clearly Hebrew, even though the written word was Greek. I believe that the original language writings, taken within the context of the culture they were written in and to, are the infallible Word of God, but much is lost in the translation to other languages. The core message is brought through, but many of the cultural indicators are lost. The translators also embedded their own theologies into the translations produced.
Given that most today do not speak or write Biblical Hebrew or Greek, how do we know what is true then? That may have been an issue years ago, but in this day and age, you have amazing tools at your disposal. You can easily learn Hebrew or Greek online, and even if you don’t want to become fluent in archaic languages, you can use online tools like http://scripture4all.org to see the original language and how it is translated. You will have to learn about ancient Hebrew culture to grasp the meaning of idioms and parables correctly, but there are amazing tools available for that as well. I also use Olive Tree bible with about 20 translations on my ipad (including interlinear and original language tools). There is more, but I’ll come back to that in a minute. Let’s move on to your third question:
“The only path” is used by so many modern churches and cults, but they can’t all be right. In fact, the modern Church is so fractured from denominational splits that it makes one wonder if any have it right. The Bible is clear that there is only one path to God (through Jesus Christ) but do the Baptists have it? Or perhaps it is the Catholics? Or maybe the Lutherans? Or perhaps one of the “cults” like LDS or Jehovah’s Witness? Or any of the other myriad of Churches? The answer to this question lies in the same answer to the last question. You must be able to discern absolute truth. What if you find the “truth”? Does that mean that all those who don’t believe exactly like you will not meet God, as many of the modern religions insist?
God is a just God, but He is also merciful. Unlike man’s laws, God does not hold you accountable for what you do not know. However, by the same token, those who “know” are held to a much higher standard. Once you learn “truth” you can’t un-know it. When you learn it, you are now responsible for that truth. In Romans 1, Paul makes it clear that ALL men have some knowledge of God, enough knowledge that they cannot claim ignorance of God, but you will only have the revelation of God’s relationship with each man in proportion to the time you spend seeking truth through His Word with an open heart over time.
Many (mainly Catholics) want to bring you to the Council of Nicea to begin to reveal that truth of God to you, but I have a problem with that. Constantine was a political animal, and his “embracing” of the Christian faith is subject to revisionist history. When you study the beginnings of the Roman Catholic church in earnest, it doesn’t take long to reveal that he simply embraced ALL religions in an attempt to unify a broken and shattered Rome. We are far better off using scripture itself to authenticate truth. The modern church would have you look at Paul’s writings in regards to the Law to point out that Christ began the church in the first century (AD), but is that really the case? Paul’s ministry, along with many others, was to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. But was that Christ’s ministry? A cursory reading of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) reveals that Christ’s ministry was to the Jew, but the message was the same: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” This is the same message that Christ sent the 70 disciples out two-by-two to spread in Luke 10. What is the “Kingdom of God”? The modern church would have you believe that it was Jesus’ death and resurrection that brought that Kingdom into place, but why then were the disciples so confused upon his death? They certainly preached the “Repent, for the Kingdom of God” message with gusto, but when Christ was killed, they ran and hid. Even after the resurrection, they struggled until Pentecost, at which point they received the Holy Spirit. How could they preach a message that they fully believed in, yet could not understand? Perhaps, the modern church is not correct in its thinking.
Let’s look at the “Jerusalem Council” in Acts. At this point, the church was clearly established, and the ministry included a strong evangelization of the Jewish people and a fledgling evangelization of the surrounding Gentiles. The question arose, that since the word was brought to the Jew first, did a Gentile have to convert to Judaism before becoming a Christian. This was quite the controversy, and the founding church fathers obviously spent a great deal of time dealing with this. When James (the first leader of the early church who we believe was Christ’s brother rather than the apostle) gave his judgment, it gives us a clue as to where to find the ultimate truth that we are looking for, starting in Acts 15:18:
“Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.”There in a nutshell is the evidence of where to find truth. Being a Gentile, we are commanded that in order to become a Christian, we must immediately abstain from idol worship, from sexual fornication, from things strangled, and from blood. We easily get the first two– you can’t worship idols and God at the same time and you cannot be involved in sexual fornication and be a Christian. (A quick side note here: How many in today’s churches do you see involved in sexual fornication yet claim to be Christians, and why doesn’t the church call them on that?) What about the “things strangled” and “blood”? The key to understanding those is to read verse 21: “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.”
Whoa! James is telling new Christians that they must not only abstain from those four things, but that they have to attend synagogue and learn about Moses (The Torah). Interestingly enough, the four conditions are taken directly from Leviticus 17, 18, and 19. Would that not indicate that the Torah is vitally important to Christians as more than “history” and as more than something for Jews alone? This is contrary to modern church belief and teaching.
God is the Creator of everything. He is singularly responsible for the rules that regulate His creation from the smallest, most minute detail to the largest most grandeur evidence. To find ultimate truth, we must go back directly to God– the Creator. In all other biblical manuscripts, we have visions, given by God, then written down, histories written as they happened, letters of explanation and correction, but only the Torah was directly given by God to man, person to person, with Moses only transcribing as he is told to do so. With the ten commandments, those words were directly inscribed upon stone tablets by God Himself. No other written scripture can claim such direct authenticity. Therefore, the Torah is the direct expression of God’s will and is the written standard by which we are to judge the truthfulness of all other scripture, words, deeds, and organizations, historical or modern.
What we consider Judaism today is in reality more properly called Talmudic Judaism or Rabbinical Judaism. If you read the gospels, you will find that Christ rails against the Pharisees and Sadducees because they hold the traditions of man above the commandments of God (Mark 7:8, Matthew 15:9). When God gave the Torah to Moses, it contained the instructions for living and worshiping God. Over time, the Pharisees and Sadducees had built “fence laws” around the commandments of God, and those laws had taken a higher precedence than God’s original commands. This is what the message that Christ sent the disciples out preaching was all about. “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand”. This meant to repent from the commandments of men and return to the commandments of God, for God is coming. The Kingdom of God (or alternatively, the Kingdom of Heaven) represents when Christ returns in the second coming and sets up his Kingdom here on earth. God expects us to be following his commands. Paul’s writings are not railing against the Torah, as is taught by the modern church, but against the Talmudic or Rabbinical laws that, prior to encountering Christ, he followed intimately as a “pharisee of pharisees”.
What about Christ’s own words? “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19
Christ himself tells us that those who teach the Torah will be great in Heaven, but those who do not will be least in Heaven. It becomes evident that the Torah is incredibly important to us. In fact, the Torah contains the first revelations of God to man. By the very words of the Torah itself, all succeeding revelations must not contradict this first revelation or they are to be considered false (Dueteronomy 13). That is your standard of truth. All other letters from prophets, apostles, or historians must not contradict the Torah or they are false. All church doctrine must not contradict the Torah or it is false. That realization is chilling when we see how far the Church has strayed from what God has presented in the Torah.
About now, many people are reeling from the same struggle that the Gentiles had in the first century church. Do they have to become Jewish to become Christian? The answer is a resounding “No!”. However, you must become one of God’s people, known as a “Hebrew”. God chose the Hebrew people, through the election of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their descendants, to be the example of light to the rest of the world. Scripture makes it clear that they were not chosen because they were special. In fact, they were quite obstinate. They were made special because they were chosen. So how does one become Hebrew without becoming Jewish? The answer is found in how God selected Abraham and his descendants. We do not have clear record of whether Abraham was the first born of his father Terah or not, but the culture was that the “First Born” received the greater blessing. However, after Abraham was chosen, it was his second son– Isaac– who received the greater blessing. Of Isaac’s sons, it was his second son– Jacob– who received the greater blessing. Of Jacob’s sons, it wasn’t even his own son but the second son (Ephraim) of his 11th son (Joseph) who received the greatest blessing. God made sure that we understood: He chooses whom He wills to choose, not whom we think should be chosen. Genesis 46:7 tells us that seventy descendants of Jacob entered Egypt, yet less than 120 years later Moses led nearly two million people (600,000 men over 20 years old) out of Egypt. How could 74 people multiply to over two million in such a short time? When God gave Moses the instructions for the remembrance of the Passover, He gives us a clue. Exodus 12:48-49 makes it clear that “aliens” and “sojourners” are to be treated as native born. One law was for everyone who chose to follow God. Many times in the Torah, God instructs His people that it is not just those who were born into the family who are considered Hebrews, but any who choose to follow His commands are also Hebrew. (Leviticus 17:7-9, 19:33-34; Numbers 9:14, 15:15, 15:29-30 are a few of the many examples of this.) When the Hebrews left Egypt, they took with them not just their families but anyone else, slave or freeman, who chose to follow the one true God; these others came with them, and they were ALL considered Hebrews. In Numbers 32:12, we learn that Caleb, the leader of the tribe of Judah was a Kenizzite (not of Abraham’s seed). In 1 Kings 17:1 we learn that Elijah (considered by most to be the greatest Hebrew prophet) was also not of Abraham’s seed. He was a Tishbite from Gilead.
Paul, in Romans 11, iterates this concept:
“For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.”And again in verse 24:
“For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?”The prophet Jeremiah also underscores this concept. The church today readily lays claim to the “New Covenant”, but Jeremiah makes it clear:
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:” Jeremiah 31:31The “New Covenant” is only for the House of Israel and the House of Judah. You cannot partake of that covenant unless you are part of the Hebrew people, and we become Hebrew by adoption, according to both Moses and Paul. Jesus underscores this concept again through the apostle John in Revelation:
“and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:” Revelation 21:12The New Jerusalem only has 12 gates, one for each tribe of Israel. An angel guards each gate, and none enter by any other means. How will you enter the New Jerusalem if you are not of one of the tribes of Israel?
It is also interesting to note the perspective of the writers of the New Testament. We often hear of them referencing “the scriptures” and we think mostly of the New Testament. However, they were not referencing their own works; they were referencing the scripture that they had grown up with and had been taught their entire lives. Christ, the apostles, and all of the disciples were Torah-observant Jews. Even Paul was a Torah-observant Jew after his encounter with Jesus.
There is much more to this, and I hope to have whetted your appetite for the Scriptures of God. In short, all three of your questions can be answered by determining where to find “ultimate truth”, and that truth, by which everything else is compared, can only be God. We know His truth by his direct revelation of scripture (The Torah) and all other scripture, words, and deeds must be measured by that yardstick. You are right in questioning whether any “group” has “the only path”. Ultimate truth cannot be found in any denomination, any ethnic or socioeconomic group, or anything done or provided by man. Ultimate truth is only found by pursuing God, which is a life long journey.
I’ll leave you with one final concept. You do not have to blindly believe. Websters Dictionary got the definition of ”faith” wrong when it stated that faith is belief when there is no reason to believe. For the Christian, faith is believing in God and the surety of His statements, commitments, promises, and philosophy of life based on the Scriptures. We do not believe because there is no proof. We believe and have faith because of the overwhelming proof offered to us by God. The very nature of God demands two or three witnesses for any statement to carry truth. As God talked to Moses from the burning bush, God did not stutter. “Moses, Moses…” Exodus 3:4, God presented Moses with multiple entities. When God gives a description of Himself in Exodus 34, He begins by declaring all three aspects of Himself to Moses– “The Lord”, “The Lord” and “God”.
May God bless you as you seek Him in your journey.
Economics and Investing:
Despite Decline in CPI, Food Index Increases in December. – G.G.
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First National Bank of Crestview fails: branches will reopen Tuesday under New Orleans bank. – G.G.
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Items from Mr. Econocobas:
Venezuela Lacks A Lot More Than McDonald’s French Fries
Venezuela’s Future? ‘Barbarity and People Looting’ – This is from December but worth posting still.
Obama Said to Seek 7% Budget Boost, Setting Up Fight With Congress
Bullard’s Back (But Stocks Ain’t Buying It… Yet)– This was the same Bullard who lifted stock with a hint that QE wouldn’t end; however that proved wrong as it did end just a few weeks later but it did stop the slide in the markets.
Odds ‘n Sods:
I noticed that former Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s anti-gun pressure group Mayors Against Illegal Guns has been re-branded with the oh-so Kumbaya name “Everytown for Gun Safety”. Perhaps it was the fact that his Mayors Cabal has lost 15% of it membership in the past year. Or maybe it is the fact that an embarrassing number of the member mayors have been indicted or sent off for long stretches in prison. – JWR
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Fearful of pro-gun activists, Texas state Reps. to install security “Panic Buttons”. – T.P.
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Parents Investigated For Neglect For Letting Kids Walk Home Alone. SurvivalBlog reader K.D comments:
“I have children about this age, and have let them walk themselves up to half-a-mile to go to the library/park/convenience-store, et cetera, and they’ve been fine. (It’s one of the perk’s of living in a safe, suburban neighborhood!) You could say– It’s why I pay the taxes I do, to live where I do, surrounded by what I’m surrounded by (and more importantly, NOT surrounded by what I’m NOT surrounded by).
“I agree with the parent’s argument that allowing responsible kids a little room on the leash is a good thing and helps them develop maturity and responsibility. The cop dropping the kids off was probably fine, and the officer should have been able to evaluate the parents/home-life very quickly to see if it was negligence vs. free-range parenting…
“I wonder… Did anyone call CPS to check on the little boy in Cleveland’s parent(s), to see what they were doing while he was playing alone with his modified air-soft gun in the park? ‘Course not, that’s racist.”
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Change Gun Laws in Europe to Let Jews Carry Arms. – T.P.
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The march towards the full nanny state continues: You Could Be Quarantined and Forced to Take Toxic Drugs. – D.S.
Hugh’s Quote of the Day:
“And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.” Exodus 10:3 (KJV)
