Letter Re: Confronting Kleptocracy–Identifying The Looter Mentality

Dear Mr. Rawles,
To follow up on your recent blog article, it is sad that we live in a society where people will lower themselves to such activities as crime on the streets. That crime is regrettable, but in the aftermath of TEOTWAWKI, looting will be an absolute unacceptable crime. It will become rapidly, a capital crime.

Just as in the 19th Century, horse theft was punishable by death, so will be looting in the aftermath of any societal breakdown which results in any of the scenarios envisioned by either you, or your readers.

Essentially, “Rule .308” will apply in most cases. This will be true at the retreat where I reside. While is is not our intention, by any means, to harm a single human being, we will not stand by idly and be looted. Some of my group are of the medical profession, myself included. However, our survival will not be infringed upon by vagabonds and no-accounts who have disdain for their fellows and would steal our means of survival.

We are prepared to dispense charity (at a distance) and fully intend to follow that principle whenever and wherever possible. We believe in the old adage, “I’ll gladly give you a dollar, but don’t even think about stealing my dime.”

While is may be a good thing to recon your area and know where food and other essentials are stored, I find the idea of “taking what one wants,” as deplorable. Anyone who attempts to “help himself” to those commodities we have stocked and ready for use if needed, does so at his or her own peril! While we might eventually be taken down, it won’t be without a fight.

We believe whole-heartedly in the Sixth Commandment…Thou Shalt Not Murder. We will live by this and the other nine commandments and expect others to do the same. Criminals caught by our members will be dealt with in accordance to the law, if still in existence. If not, then “Rule .308” will apply as I doubt that any criminal determined to harm us or steal from us, would find a sympathetic jury of his/her peers. And yes, I can pull the trigger. – R.F., MD

Letter Re: Long Term Situational Awareness Can Give You The Edge

My Dear Sir,
I am surprised at the concern generated by the individual [would-be] looters like Todd S. I think some of your readers are missing what can actually happen when TSHTF in a bad way. The time may come when your readers wish all they had to deal with is a Todd S, a grid down scenario, or a Katrina.

My wife’s is from Communist China. Before the revolution, her family did well for themselves. They were a growing force in the county. They had farmland, silver and gold bars, guns, college educations, and an excellent family ethic. When the Communists came, they were slowly forced to give up all these things. There was no resisting the neighbors and the army behind them.

Burying things was impossible. It would have been death for the entire family with no appeal had they been caught. Though they were from central China, some individual members of the family attempted to escape to Taiwan or Hong Kong. They were caught and the entire family was punished. College education skipped a generation. My in-laws were denied the opportunity to go to college because they were from a landlord family (one that owned land). The family scrimped and saved during the good years. Their savings and small food larder food was immediately appropriated from them during the lean years. The stigma of success stuck to their children. My wife tells me stories of she and her sister being taunted on the playground for being from a landlord family.

When TSHTF, there will be a few “Todd S”es. Those people will be quickly ventilated or otherwise end up the recipients of the “Shoot, Shovel & Shut Up” (SS&S) treatment.

No, the looting mentality will be the neighbors who quickly form the worst of tyrannies, a democratic one. The Golden Horde will migrate into an area. These sheeple will not individually loot your belongings; most won’t dare. Instead, your supplies will be taken away by vote and then by force. If you violently oppose your local community, you and your family will killed. A small group of people cannot indefinitely resist an organized regiment, even with significant force multipliers.

Be aware that in a low supply scenario, your neighbors will enter your house to look for supplies and they will have the force of law behind them. The sheeple around you are smart; perhaps smarter than the sheep dogs. They will know what clothes you are wearing and will know when you take a shirt out of storage. “That’s a nice blue shirt Henry. I haven’t see you wear it before. How long have you had that?” They will know what you are eating from your garbage or what your children say. Imagine that nosy old lady across the street. Now imagine her in charge of the local security committee.

Be prepared for this. Liberty or death may sound well, but you will speak for your parents, wife, and children and perhaps more besides. Americans are accustomed to thinking of the enemy as honorable or law-abiding. But even the Tarletons of our history behaved with far more humane restraint than many freedom fighters of the 20th century. Bloody Kansas does not compare with the Khmer Rouge or the Lord’s Army. It can get bad.

But what about the good? The one thing that my wife’s family retained from before the revolution is their ethic. Better yet, this is the most important thing to have. Best of all, this can never be taken away from a family. Instill in your children self-reliance and morals. They should know that with hard work and discipline, they can achieve great things. They should know that they will always be accountable for their actions to themselves and to God.

I am not saying that this will happen. Heck, the Schumer may not hit in our lives or when it hits, the manner in which it does will not be like I have suggested. But we are sheep dogs and thus we prepare.

What I have suggested here can be avoided by retreating to very low population areas. But do not think of finding one of these places east of the Mississippi. Regards, – P. from Illinois

Economics and Investing:

From The Appenzell Daily Bell: More Sovereign Defaults Loom?

Brett pointed us to some great Afterburner commentary on the “carbon credits” nonsense as well as personal initiative versus Nanny Statism: Flying Solo: Choose Freedom Over the Nanny State.

I warned you, folks! U.S. Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High. (Thanks to Loren for the link. OBTW, I expect even more tax rate increases as the recession deepens, and more states face crises.)

Williams: Expect Hyperinflation Within The Next Five Years. (Thanks to H.H. for the link.)

S.M. liked this piece of commentary about the national debt and precious metals by Stewart Dougherty: America’s Impending Master Class Dictatorship.

GG and MM both flagged this New York Times article: Public Pension Funds Are Adding Risk to Raise Return. (G.G.’s comment: “What could go wrong?)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Jorge sent us this: Detroit City land turned into farmland.
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Flavio sent this linkio from a television news show in May, 2008: Farmer Saves $70 a Day by Trading Tractor for Mule Power

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SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson sent us a link to a great resource of small-scale aquaponics: Faith and Sustainable Technologies (F.A.S.T.).

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More videotaped fun at the range with Mongo and Jeff: Thermal imager views of machineguns and tracers.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“‘Value for value.’ Building ‘on the square and on the level.’ The Hippocratic Oath. Don’t let the team down. Honest work for honest pay. Such things did not have to be proved; they were an essential part of life-true throughout eternity, true in the farthest reaches of the Galaxy.” – Lawrence Smith, a character in Robert A. Heinlein’s novel “Double Star“

Confronting Kleptocracy–Identifying The Looter Mentality

A recent opinion column The New York Times was titled: The Moral Ambiguity of Looting. Ambiguity? There is nothing ambiguous about it. Let’s have the moral courage to be forthright and uncompromising on this issue: Looting is the theft of property that lawfully belongs to another. There are no “ifs, ands, or buts”. Looting is unconscionable and cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. Once looting begins, it soon devolves into: “You have it, I want it, I’m taking it.” And once looting is sanctioned, then where is the dividing line on “acceptable” plunder? Do you draw the line at: Twinkies? Trinkets? Televisions? Teenage daughters? In essence, looting is pure, unmitigated anarchy in action. None of it is acceptable behavior.

It is noteworthy that much of the looting that went on in Chile was not about parents keeping their kids from starving. Rather, it was more about people wanting television sets. Every reader of this blog needs to make a moral choice: Do you tolerate looting or not? I pray that you don’t. If you assent to theft, then don’t be surprised if you come home someday to find your own house looted. As a Christian Libertarian, I’m an advocate of minimalist government. But a society needs some basic laws enforced, or it ceases to be classified as a civilized society. Its clear that law and order being re-established in Chile. But things were dicey there for a few days, and it took more than the just police and army to put the societal trolley back on its tracks.

I’m often asked about depopulation caused by pandemics–how that would be a time that would justify looting. That’s just speculative balderdash. Even in darkest days of The Black Death, when Europe and much of southern Asia lost half of its population, there were still “heirs and assigns.” (If you doubt that, then see William McNeil’s book “Plagues and Peoples”.) It would take a pandemic with a 90% lethality rate or more before that convention would become meaningless. So forget your “It’ll be just like Will Smith and his dog, in I Am Legend” fantasies. The chances of an event causing that level of depopulation, and the even smaller chance of you being one of the lucky few survivors are almost infinitesimal. In all other circumstances, there will be rightful owners or rightful heirs of every piece of land, every vehicle, every tool, every cow, and every larder on Earth. So discard any fanciful “foraging” musings that you might harbor. That’s nonsense.

SurvivalBlog reader William C. recently e-mailed me some thought, in warning about those that are planning to loot, in the aftermath of a disaster. He wrote: “To appraise and to steal someone’s goods incorporates two dilemmas. One is the immoral practice of stealing and the other is the immoral practice of coveting another’s goods. Both are addressed in the [Old Testament] Commandments and should be developed notions in the mind of a moral thinking man.” He is correct in that appraisal. There are moral absolutes, and “Thou shalt not steal” is one of them. I also recently got an e-mail from Geoff in Utah, who mentioned: ” I… find it disturbing the number of people that I’ve come across in my work on becoming self-reliant that feel entitled to what I and others have. For instance there is a Law enforcement officer in town that told me he didn’t need to keep a reserve of anything other than ammo because being an officer of the law he new who had what and he had more guns, ammo and training.”

If your “survival plan” is to loot (or, as I’ve heard it euphemistically put, “forage”), rather than to store in advance what you will need, then that’s not much of a plan. By failing to store substantial quantities of food, you will very quickly force yourself into the role of Vandal or Visiting Visigoth, after the onset of a disaster. And, odds are, you’ll end up in a shallow grave somewhere.

Consider this: The greatest threat we someday face might not be unprepared masses from the inner cities. No, it might be overweight armchair commandos from the suburbs, whose only preparations were buying a set of camo fatigues and an AR-15. That is a nightmare just waiting to happen. If you have budgeted for guns but not food storage, then you are setting yourself up to have only one option, when things fall apart. Examine yourself, and your preparations. If you see that you lack balance in your preparations, then I pray that you re-set your priorities, immediately. Food storage should probably account for more than half of your family preparedness budget. If it doesn’t, then make it so!

Letter Re: Radio Communications for Retreat Intelligence Gathering

James Wesley:
Ron Y.’s article posted on Sunday is interesting and helpful to those who don’t spend much time around radios other than, perhaps, their favorite music station. For those of us who have had a lifetime of radio listening and, in my case, work with public service units in times of disasters small and bigger, there are a few things I’d add.

First is the scanner section of Ron’s information. My work desk has four scanners going at all hours that I am awake. Any one of them might flag something that is of interest or warrants tracking. Frequencies scanned here include all the Air Traffic Control (ATC) and air-to-air channels used by both civilian and military aircraft. I live in the area of four ATC centers and not far from training and refueling areas of many Midwest military units from B-2 bombers to Air National Guard fighter squadrons. There are 200 channels of some activity represented there. Air frequencies were my first alert to the 9/11 disaster. Civilian traffic told to land at the nearest airport and military told to get active, plus the dash to Shreveport by Air Force 1 from Florida, all unfolded within ear shot [of a scanner] while the news channels were still marveling
over what was happening in Manhattan.

Closer to home, scanner radios are the heart beat of this rural area’s health and problems. Sheriff’s radio remains on analog channels while some city and the state police have all moved to digital trunking radios that take a little work to program but remain a first line of information. Arkansas, where I live, also has a state-wide digital
network for health and welfare on a larger scale such as contamination and radiation incidents.

Another resource for frequencies omitted that should be visited is RadioReference.com for up-to-date information on frequencies, changes, digital monitoring and state-by-state lists of what to tune to.

And, another of the recently added radios in my monitoring station is a good old-technology crystal set. It hears all the 50,000 watt radio stations that Ray lists, plus more, and operates with no batteries or other outside source of electricity. These worked for my dad in the 1920s. He taught me to build my first one in 1940 or so. See MidnightScience.com and CrystalRadioSupply.com.

There is, as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band sings, “so much to know before you know enough.” Best Regards, – Vern M.

Service Recommendation from JWR: Mara Helland

You might have noticed that a CPA service advertising on SurvivalBlog. Her name is Mara Helland. Since it is now tax season, I thought that it would be appropriate to give my personal recommendation, and let you know what services she offers.

Like many other CPAs, Mara mainly does tax accounting. But what sets her apart from other CPA firms is absolute privacy. I know that this is crucial for a lot of people, especially fellow SurvivalBlog readers. I don’t know what privacy issues are like in the big cities, but I do know that in small towns, people who make a decent living want to be assured their personal financial information isn’t going to end up as fodder for gossip at the local bar.

I’ve learned that when new clients come to Mara Helland from another CPA, it is almost always because they have experienced poor service. She says that she rarely hears complaints about prior CPA fees, but she definitely hears about lack of attentiveness from other accountants. Of course, all CPAs will say that they value their clients and that they provide “excellent service”, but that is not what happens in reality. A lot of times, CPAs or firm-partners will bring in the new clients, but the actual services and care for the clients are pushed off on staff members, with much less experience and fewer skills. Mara is now in her 20th year of working in public accounting. When clients come to her, they get top-notch service directly from Mara. As I have experienced personally, when a client calls her office, she answers the phone herself. She prides herself on taking good care of her clients, and I think that shows with the number of very long-term client relationships that she has developed.

Mara works with a wide clientele, including individuals, all types of businesses, estates, trusts and non-profit organizations. She has clients throughout the United States, so being in Montana does not limit her to only having Montana clients. She also works with military families and US citizens that work overseas.

March 15, 2010 is the tax-filing deadline for businesses that are corporations. And, of course April 15th is the big deadline for personal income tax returns, as well as partnership/LLC tax returns. If you need more time to gather your personal or business tax information, she can prepare and file a tax extension for you.

Mara noted in an e-mail: “I, too, am a SurvivalBlog follower. I came to your site first as a reader and then later chose to advertise with you. I can certainly relate to my SurvivalBlog clients.”

I’m one of Mara’s satisfied tax accounting clients, so I can highly recommend her!

Economics and Investing:

JDD sent this item: China ready to end dollar peg. The article begins: “The head of China’s central bank has given the strongest signal yet that the country will move away from pegging its currency to the dollar, but he said any changes would be gradual.”

Brian B. sent this news story that illustrates that the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB) won’t stop growing: Program Will Pay Homeowners to Sell at a Loss.

I found this linked at The Drudge Report: Congressional estimates show grim deficit picture.

Jeff B. offered this for the No Great Surprise Department: IRS to Track Online Sellers’ Payment Transactions Beginning Next Year

Tony B. recommended this recent two part article by Jeff Nielson, over at The Street: Silver Supply Crisis Looms, Part 1: and Part 2.

Dissension in the Ranks? San Francisco Fed Doubts Jobs Outlook. (Our thanks to David D. for the link.)

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Rod B. wrote to mention that Popular Science magazine has greatly expanded their free archives to include the entire 137 year collection!

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Just in case there’s wholesale panic on the scale depicted in the movie Miracle Mile, reader H.N. in San Diego suggested researching maps of your city’s storm drain system. For example, he mentioned that he found this map of San Diego’s storm drain system, with just a quick web search. (Of course all the usual safety provisos apply.)

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Tamara over at the View From the Porch blog mentioned that SurvivalBlog readers, on average, are twice as likely to use Microsoft Explorer than her visitors that arrive from other sites. For those that have an interest, here are the most recent browser statistics on the web browsers that are used by SurvivalBlog readers:

Internet Explorer (4,352,882 visits) 60.5 %
Firefox (1,917,463 visits) 26.6 %
Safari (649,604 visits) 9 %

In my opinion, such heavy reliance on the Bill Gates Brain Trust is pretty pitiful. Haven’t you read the warnings about using Microsoft’s browser? Please, please please switch to Firefox or Safari, folks. Both of those browsers are available free, and you can easily migrate your existing bookmarks (also called “favorites”) to a new browser. You won’t lose a thing except some susceptibility.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Liberty regards religion as its companion in all its battles and its triumphs,– as the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. It considers religion as the safeguard of morality, and morality as the best security of law, and the surest pledge of the duration of freedom.” – Alexis De Tocqueville, “Democracy in America“

Note from JWR:

Do you have any favorite quotes that relate to preparedness, survival, self-sufficiency, self-defense, or hard money economics? If so, then please send them via e-mail, and I will likely post them as Quotes of the Day, if they haven’t been used before in SurvivalBlog. Please send only quotes that are properly attributed, and that you’ve checked for authenticity. Many Thanks!

Letter Re: A G.O.O.D. Memorial Day Weekend Test

Dear Jim,

Greetings and thank you, to you and all your wonderful contributors of the past.

As most of us live in the ‘City’ or suburb of the ‘City’, there is a feeling of when TEOTWAWKI occurs, we will grab our G.O.O.D. bag get in our vehicle and head out to our personal retreat, hidden from the Golden Horde.

One quick question – when will the TEOTWAWKI occur? What date? What time? And how will we know it has occurred? As I have read most of the writings from the beginning until now, I seem to have missed that date, and time, so how will a survivalist know it is time to get out, just prior to the rest of the masses? Is there going to be a special announcement on the radio saying “Survivalist, please get your G.O.O.D. bag, and immediately leave, as we will have a surprise attack, by a hate-filled terrorist group in twenty minutes.” Or will we be informed, “A major 7.9 earthquake will strike our good community in 35 minutes. If you are a Sheeple, please ignore this message, and continue on your daily routine, until after this disaster.”

I don’t think either situation will actually occur, prior to the event. Even with a tornado, hurricane, flood, or forest fire, I don’t think anyone will know the exact course of mother nature, until afterwards. At that point, I think survivalist and Sheeple will be on equal footing to get out of town.

Think about Hurricane Katrina, and those who left when initially informed, and those who left when formally informed, versus those who stayed, until after the hurricane passed by, and then were informed that the levee had broken. New Orleans has been hit by many hurricanes, and will continue to be hit by hurricanes. When will the next hurricane strike that will in itself be an actual category 4 or 5, or cause a massive destruction of the pumps that keep the city safe from flooding.

The simple point I am trying to make, is that we do not know when we will need to evacuate, or leave for our planned retreat.

With that in mind, have we taken the time to practice our departure from the city? I am not talking about our driving the roads on a Tuesday afternoon, with little to no traffic.

As we are coming up to Memorial Day weekend. (BTW, Thank you to those who have given their all for my freedom). With that weekend’s higher freeway traffic flow we have the unique opportunity to practice.

As with all of our other practice and preparations (firearms/canning/gardening/hand to hand combat/first aid/radio communication), we need to practice our GOOD process.

First, if you have not planned on going anywhere, this is the time to at least plan on being one of the masses on the road.

Second, unless otherwise required, do not fuel your vehicle prior to leaving.

Third, plan on leaving, or starting to load your vehicle on Friday, after 4 in the afternoon. T

Fourth, after loading your vehicle, go to the gas station to fuel your vehicle.

Fifth, take the road you intend on using to get out of town.

You might be surprised as to how many others are using that road, to get out of town.

I used to live around the Los Angeles basin, and dreaded the three day weekends. My personal story is, I would go home (more than 300 miles away from Los Angeles) on the weekends. I left work at 1:00 , and it would take me about three to four hours, to get to a point on the highway, where I could drive the speed limit. This is at a point where maybe 5 percent of the population was leaving for the weekend. Multiply that by 10 (50 percent of the population trying to get out), and a true understanding of what would occur, if the populous of Los Angeles decided to leave en mass, because of some unknown catastrophe.

Think back to the pictures of New Orleans leaving before Hurricane Katrina struck. How officials opened up both sides of the highway and made it one way, out of New Orleans , in an attempt to relieve and facilitate the evacuation of the city.

Do you remember seeing pictures of the European countries, during WWII, when people started leaving, prior to an anticipated invasion of their community by the invading armies? Walking, the lucky ones with tractors, pulling trailers, and the roads clogged with refuges.

The bottom line is, practice your escape route, this Memorial Day weekend (other times include this 4th of July, Labor Day, or Thanksgiving Weekend). Just don’t do it when traffic will be light, do it when you anticipate traffic to be the heaviest.

Practice what you have learned, and learn from your practice.

Letter Re: Experiencing the Recent Hawaiian Tsunami Evacuation Alert

Jim,
I had the recent somewhat surreal experience of going through the Hawaiian costal evacuation during the most recent tsunami alert. It was a near-miss natural disaster scenario that unfolded in slow motion because of the distance from the Chilean earthquake and the presence of tsunami alert sensors and monitoring officials. There are a few observations that I’d like to share.

I managed to stay ahead of the Golden Horde phenomena by a few hours and it was interesting to just acknowledge some of the predictable elements: most people were not alerted to the risk of the tsunami until 0600 when the civil defense sirens went off. The gas stations and grocery stores were subsequently mobbed and quickly were depleted of supplies. For the most part people were civil with each other but there were some conflicts despite the local radio hosts admonitions to “remember people, love, love, love — aloha”. I think the conflicts were minimal because this was a “potential” disaster only. The costal highways of course were packed. Look at a map of Maui and you can see how egress from many of the more densely populated areas is limited to a single road (right on the coast).

The other folks who were up with me at 0200 beating the crowds tended to be folks with increased “situational awareness”. For example, I talked with a guy that had worked for the powerplant and knew that it was in the inundation zone and was threatened. This also included the main airport and of course the harbors. He currently works for the public utility and also knew that water and sewage pumping stations would be: a) turned off in expectation of the tsunami surge and b) out of commission if the island took a big hit. In a place where everything has to be shipped from somewhere else, it didn’t take much imagination to realize that 120,000 inhabitants and 60,000 tourists could be quickly SOL for services and supplies.

All of this was of course to be expected. Somewhat more subtle revelations include:

-Even if you are going to Hawaii for your 25th wedding anniversary a preparedness awareness and travel kit are in order

-Consider the potential threats in your travel destination. For example a hotel room could be selected not just for the view but with the knowledge that in a tsunami you can vertically evacuate to above the 3rd floor, trying to balance with concerns for fire, or earthquake (these are volcanic islands of course and while there we also got to experience the Vog – volcanic smog, coming from the big island).

-When we arrived we didn’t “need” anything more than a compact car – but it turned out to be prudent to have rented a vehicle with extra cargo carrying capacity when suddenly I was packing cases of water and food and supplies for potential camp out for multiple days

-It reminded me that the being in a state that disallows for conceal carry and personal/ family defense is not just a quaint ideological or cultural shift, but has potential real implications

-I was lucky in that I was up late enough to get the earliest tsunami warning reports. If it weren’t for the Olympic coverage on television (which I normally would not be watching), I too would had my first awareness of the situation at 0600 with the rest of the clueless. It taught me that in your travel environment, (or home for that matter) some kind of monitoring of news and or civil defense sources is a good idea.

| -One shouldn’t rely on the hotel or your other hosts for timely prep or information — they still had their maintenance folks sweeping sidewalks just off the beach as part of their tsunami prep.

-We had selected a hotel room outfitted with a kitchen and this really helped when it came to taking essentials for cooking and cleaning, (as well as self defense if you count a 10″ chef’s knife)

-Civil Defense plans and their orchestration with local agencies was pretty good – but: a) a lot of sirens that were supposed to did not go off, and there were “gathering points” for evacuees that had no supplies (food, water, etc) because this was not part of the plan. Obviously the civil defense planning has not yet included secure power and water supply systems either. Your travel situational awareness might also include taking in the strength and weakness of governmental agencies and infrastructure. This now goes on my travel checklist.

I feel very lucky to have been able to watch and learn from all of this without having had to experience a full blown catastrophe. The process is going to light a fire under my tail to get going with my preparedness plans and to give all of them some needed hard reflection.

Thanks for all the education I have already received from SurvivalBlog. – B.P.S.

Five Letters Re: Long Term Situational Awareness Can Give You The Edge

Jim:
I am horrified by Saturday’s posting by Todd. Okay, if we ever get to a position like in The Road, with the huge majority of mankind dead and civilization totally disintegrated, that is another topic. Really, what are the chances of that happening? Extremely slim.

What makes Todd S. think he so God Almighty special that his own personal survival makes it okay to loot, steal, trespass, and pillage? Instead of striving to rise to the occasion, to be a better man and set an example of, not our baser selves, but the free will, thinking, compassionate humans we can be, he puts himself first. I feel sorry for him.

He chooses to ignore law, mores, culture, and society. I name him a destroyer, not a survivor. – Elizabeth

 

Sir:
I think Todd S. has given me a lot to think about and I’ll be waiting for his foraging kind with my 7.62mm main battle rifle. – Jeff M.

 

James Wesley:
As a farmer/rancher, I can say with certainty that if Todd S actually plans ahead to help himself to my hogs, my cattle, my sheep, poultry, orchards or gardens, he should know that I have planned ahead to employ “Shoot, Shovel & Shut Up” (SS&S). Most farmers/ranchers use it all the time with varmints and/or predators endangering the livestock. I would consider Todd a predator without a second thought, and so would most others that I know.

Honestly, Todd. Do some better planning. Contact a few of those ranchers to see if they would be interested in some sort of alliance should TSHTF. Otherwise, you’ll likely be fertilizer. – Bobbi

Dear James,
While I was reading Todd S.’s letter about positioning of water, food and fuel, I was thinking to myself, this guy sounds more like a looter than a prepper. Thanks for your appended note to the letter. – Linda in Pennsylvania

Dear Mr. Rawles:
Thank you for posting the article from Todd S. regarding Long Term Situational Awareness. Although I have always expected there would be folks with Todd S’s mentality in a grid down situation, I am appalled that someone would dare to commit these thoughts to written word, and expect the world of preparedness to take his concept to heart. Nay, that he would think that he had voiced something that we all would want to emulate.

Interestingly though, not a single word about Todd’s own preparations, merely what he was going to take from others. I have more to fear from these calculatingly evil people than I do the person who would do anything to feed their children. And he is so darn proud of what he plans to do, and this from an alleged scout master. Todd’s is not preparing, he is lurking in the prepper domain, gaining knowledge about others’ preparations. Worse, he is a looter in waiting. Reminds me of those wicked people who lurk and prey on children.

Again, thank you so much for posting your personal thoughts on the matter. – Roberta I.

JWR Replies: Todd S. and those that share his warped mindset will be the enemy that we will face, if and when times get inimical. Please don’t misconstrue why I posted his letter. I did so because we need to know who we will be up against. I wanted to make it clear that the amoral looter mentality is not just some amorphous concept. It has a face and a name. And it may be personified by one of your neighbors! People need to stand ready to confront evil. Unfortunately, Todd’s mindset is all too common. Again: Keep plenty of .308 ammo on hand, folks. You may need it.