The expanding threats of hacking and cyber-warfare. Homeschooling Surge Continues.

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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we examine the expanding threats of hacking and cyber-warfare.

Risk of Hackers Targeting Industrial Control Systems

Over at Tech_HQ: US Fed warns of state hackers targeting industrial control systems. Here is a pericope:

“Known as Pipedream, the malware toolkit is said to be the most versatile tool ever made to target industrial control systems like power grids and oil refineries.

The DOE, CISA, NSA, and the FBI are all urging critical infrastructure organizations, especially energy sector organizations, to implement the detection and mitigation recommendations provided to detect potential malicious APT activity and harden their ICS/SCADA devices.”

SIG Wins Contract for 6.8mm M4 and SAW Replacements

Army chooses SIG Sauer to build its Next Generation Squad Weapon. Some more details on the news weapons and the bi-metallic 6.8×51 cartridge were published back in February by Guns & Ammo: NGSW Update: More Details on the SIG Sauer-U.S. Army Contract.

NATO Conducts Cyber Wargame

NATO launches cyber wargame amid looming Russian threats.

The Changing Character of War

Reader A.K. sent us a link to an hour-long video that is heavy on demographics charts and maps, but well worth watching: Peter Zeihan: The Changing Character of War — Maneuver Center of Excellence. Note that Zeihan has a strongly Statist outlook, but some of his observations are quite cogent.

How Biden Made the Taliban a Military Power

Reader H.L. sent us the link to this piece by Felix Sater, at The Burning Platform: How Biden Made the Taliban a Military Power With Your Tax Doilars. JWR’s Comments: One of the great ironies here is that the same Biden administration that put full autos into the hands of Taliban terrorists with no paper trail whatsoever now wants to restrict the sale of 80% complete semiauto guns (blocks of metal) to law-abiding Americans. Through teh ATF, Biden has ordered that these be serialized, requiring a background check and permanent FFL paperwork. My advice: Tuck away your lifetime supply of 80-percenters soon! Biden’s decree (that bypassed congress) goes into effect in less than three months.

Homeschooling Surge Continues

Reader D.S.V. sent us this, at FoxNews: Homeschooling surge continues despite schools reopening.

Fusion Centers To Spread Pro-Government News

Over at Activist Post: Fusion Center Disinformation Portals To Spread Pro-Government News. JWR’s Comment: What I’ve dubbed the Triumvirate of Total Control (Big Banks, Big Tech, and Big Pharma) are behind the scenes, influencing these ostensibly neutral “fact-finding” intelligence gathering organizations. We can expect to see them become more overtly politicized and weaponized, with each passing year. The same has already happened at the leadership level of the FBI. A crop of Lois Lerner wannabes are already calling the shots at the intel fusion centers. I predict that in just a few years, it will probably seem more like clones of Lavrentiy Beria are at the helm.

25 States Confirm Constitutional Carry Rights

NRA Achieves Historical Milestone as 25 States Recognize Constitutional Carry. Here is a quote:

“Constitutional carry legislation, which eliminates the need for government permission before law-abiding gun owners can carry concealed firearms, was the natural next step after the success of “shall issue” legislation. In 2003, NRA helped to pass constitutional carry legislation in Alaska. Seven years later Arizona joined the fold, followed by Wyoming, Kansas, and Maine. Ten additional states passed similar legislation by 2019. And in the last two years, nine states have become constitutional carry states. With Georgia’s vote today, half of America provides law-abiding gun owners with the ability to carry without a permit from the state.”

JWR’s Comments: The NRA is now attempting to take the credit, but it was other organizations like Gun Owners of America (GOA), The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) who first led the charge on Constitutional Carry.

The trend is unmistakable. As this trend continues, next up will probably be Nebraska, both Carolinas, Louisiana, Florida, New Mexico, and Nevada. Folks in those states should be hounding their legislators, asking them: “Why aren’t we already a Constitutional Carry state?” There couldn’t be a more clear illustration of the deepening divide between “red” and “blue” states than this issue. Once we have 30+ states solidly affirming a pro-gun stance, we can move on to other important gun rights issues, such as repealing NFA-’34 and GCA-’68, and disbanding the BATFE.