The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. The Redoubt is beginning to prepare for the expected onslaught of visitors for the Solar Eclipse. If you are planning on attending, you should plan accordingly.

Glyphosate

Monsanto was its own ghostwriter for some safety reviews. Questions arose about the carcinogenic properties of Monsanto’s baby “glyphosate”. In response, they hired an independent consulting group to develop the supplement that countered those claims. Monsanto claimed that their only involvement was to hire the group. However, recent internal emails that have come to light. These suggest that Monsanto played a much more central role, even to the extent of editing the final document. So much for independent verification.

Obamacare

It’s pretty clear at that point that the Republican’s rhetoric about repealing Obamacare was just verbiage to get reelected and they most had no intention of every actually doing it. An interesting statistic came up a couple of days ago from Scott Rasmussen. While the stated purpose of Obamacare was to extend insurance to more people, we now know that over 6,500,000 Americans actually paid a fine rather than sign up for the coverage. Another 15 million would drop it if it were legal to do so. How’s that for a failing government program.

Solar Eclipse Update

Port-a-potty shortages, cellular blackout zones, ambulances stuck in gridlock— these are just some of the conditions emergency managers across the nation are expecting. Up to 7.4 million visitors will pack into a 70-mile-wide band that follows the predicted path of the eclipse for the best viewing. Reader J.C. sent in this article that describes some of the things that emergency managers are trying to plan for. How should you get ready? Experts recommend enough food and water so if you get stuck in gridlock, you will be OK.

Who Eats Last?

Canadian Prepper asks this question and discusses some viable answers. We all have the idea that we will suffer ourselves so that those under our care can be satiated. This may not be the best answer though. You may be running at a pace that requires 10,000 calories/day.  Performing your chores (wood chopping, security patrols, et cetera) will require a high output. You should not expect to consume the same caloric intake as someone who has a more sedentary pace. It’s not a natural thing to consider if you are like most parents, but you must be able to perform optimally to care for your family. Thanks to reader T.J. for the link.

Public Schools

Reader D.B. wrote in to inform us of this Oregon school district that is removing the word “Lynch” from three of their elementary schools. They don’t want to offend any minority that might be sensitive to that word and might ascribe negative connotations to it. Of course, the schools were named after the Lynch family who donated the land that the schools were built upon. It’s odd to see such a potentially positive lesson on the dangers of political correctness get buried under the fear of a few snowflakes who, in reality, have never been traumatized by the stated reason.

North Korea

Susan Rice (of “Innocence of Muslims” fame) is urging Obama to accept a nuclear armed North Korea. Now we know why the Obama administration had a Laissez-faire attitude towards North Korea that ended up with their ability to have Nuclear weapons in the first place. Similarly, the Iranians are well on their way to obtaining them also. What’s next? Will she urge the current administration to accept anyone with the ready cash to buy one as well? How did we make it eight years with that administration?

Solar Panel Hack

Reader G.P. sent in this article where a Dutch researcher has shown that many Internet connected solar power inverters are vulnerable to cyber attack. The hacker can gain control of the inverter causing the output to change and fluctuate. This can have disastrous results for the power company.  They attempt to balance the power generated on the grid with the power used from the grid. Crippling one or two inverters is no big deal, but a mass hack is another story entirely. Inverters from SMA were the only ones tested. The company says only four models were vulnerable, but can be protected by removing them from the Internet.


20 Comments

    1. Which group is “most people”? We have paid the penalty since its inception for my wife at almost double the amount every year. I have never heard that it was waived for anyone.

    1. They were, but Obama granted exceptions to all. The ACA preamble stated that it was binding unto Congress. The basis of the Presidential exceptions? Financial Hardship! What’s wrong here?

      1. The exemption for congress critters and their staff was to classify them as “small businesses”,maybe they should have to deal with all small business regulations

    2. Its my understanding that they sorta did have obama care but when they conplained they “couldn’t afford it” obama put in a clause for the federal government to pay 72% of the cost that everyone else had to pay themsleves. I have seen citizens that had obama care come in and find out they had a 6000 dollar deductable before obamcare paid a dime. (ever see a smile turn upside downlol?)

  3. I’ll have to learn more about “glyphosate” since I use this annually to prep fields for planting. If it is direct exposure during mixing I can control that, but if it is something else that does not break down in the environment then I’ll need to change what I’m doing for sure.

    1. We used to use it quite a bit, but I quit about 4 years ago. There is a species of grass and also some broad-leaf ground cover that locals call “pig weed” that doesn’t seem to be affected by it. All I did was kill off the competing plants and those two have gone crazy and are nearly unmanageable now.

  4. Mio, only people who were eligible for welfare benefits were waived from fines.
    My wife was without coverage for the month of January of 2016 because, after 2 years of little work, she found a temporary part time job at Walmart (who does not provide coverage) it cost us $800 off our tax return! (her gross pay for that month was less than $700, net was less!)
    She’d a been better off financially not looking for work!
    BTW: many folk think SS has already been taxed and can’t be taxed again…….. just make over 30K on a joint return and see what happens!

    1. Well… not true. The law doesn’t authorize the IRS to go out and collect the fine. However if you have a refund coming they will deduct that fine from your refund. It is somewhat up in the air what happens to those unpaid fines. Technically you still owe them and probably if Hillary had won the IRS would have been authorized to collect them. So don’t count your chicken just yet.

  6. If there was anyone who still believed that we have two political parties with different goals the recent “Repeal” of the Affordable Care Act should have removed all doubt. A little investigation will reveal that any meaningful differences in the actual goals of the two parties disappeared in the 1960 election cycle. The national leadership of both parties has since that time been of one heart and mind. Everything else is just entertainment for the masses.

  7. re: Obamacare ‘Skinny Repeal Vote:’
    The two ‘GOP’ female Senators who voted against the bill stated that their no vote was to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood.
    I surmise they expect to attract and hold women’s votes. May they pay a price for each child aborted!

  8. We actually lost our insurance BECAUSE of Obamacare. The company went out of business and because of our age (60) the cheapest we could find was $2500 per month. We found an alternative in Medi-share. A Christian alternative to insurance that exempts you from the fine.

  9. Do you all remember how obama care was sent to the government agency for evaluation and they said “yes it will save millions” The democrats cut what medicare was to pay doctors by 30 percent across the board. A new byppass usrgery $100,000 nope you get 70,000 etc. This would save millions or billions across the country. One month after obamacare was passed the congress came back in session and reinstated the 30 % and added 6% this is why obamcare was endorsed by the American Medical association and AARP . they knew the fix was in and (some) americans were fooled into believing their lies until it was to late.

  12. My retired neighbor in the mountains were told they don’t make enough income to qualify for a subsidy for Ocare but no worries since they don’t qualify they don’t have to pay the fine and they can get “free” medicade. So they go to medicade and they were told yes your income qualifies you for medicade but you own your home and have to much in assets, so sell your home and you will get your “free” healthcare. So the government would prefer you homeless to force you to submit to their “care”.

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