Articles in Government
Homeland Security Tracking Preppers?
Survivalist and Prepper websites have been reporting that the Department of Homeland Security has been paying them a visit – for example Off Grid Survival:
So of course I went and checked some of my sites, here are the totals since Jan 1, 2011:
2012 Connect 16
2012 Base 21
Survive 2012 237
That makes sense because the last site contains this blog, so there’s lots more new content to look at. I’m both proud and scared that they find my writing interesting. So I checked DOD and the Navy as well:
Click on the images for a closer look, but there were also 427 visits from the Department of Defence, and 716 from the Navy Network Information Center. Interestingly, the average page views and time spent on the site were extremely similar to DHS. And the spikes in visits correlated with spikes in general – they visited more on days the site …
USA Govt: Mega Snitch List
I’ve mentioned previously how survivalists could show up on government radar if store owners decide that buying supplies with cash is suspicious – the purchaser could be a terrorist! As it happens, there are 25 different flyers asking for public informants, covering a wide variety of businesses. Here are the worst for 2012ers:
Bulk Fuel Distributors — New customers not from the area, those using cash for large transactions, nervous, large purchases, having a rental vehicle.
Farm Supply Stores — New customers not from the area, nervous or impatient, suspicious inquiries regarding equipment specifications, failing to state legitimate use for supplies, rental vehicle, cash for large transactions.
Home Improvement and Large Retail Stores — Large quantity of ammunition, firearms and ammunition out of season, combination of unusual items, interest in night vision and camouflage apparel, purchases of pipe fittings and supplies, rental vehicle, refusal to complete firearms paperwork, using cash for large transactions.
Martial …
What If Money Goes 100% Digital?
The long term trend is obvious to any Sci-Fi fan – one day all transactions will be cashless. We might even have a universal currency known as credits!
There are some indications in Europe that the shift away from cash has begun:
Italy - since 4th December 2011 amounts above € 1000 can no longer be paid in cash. This is to help stop tax avoidance, supposedly.
Belgium – soon the maximum for cash transactions will be € 5,000, down from € 15,000, for the same reason
EU – a directive has been issued regarding how they will enable a cashless society
Now a cashless society means that authorities get to track all transactions. And in the USA they are equating survivalist purchases with terrorism. So Preppers should probably only use trusted suppliers, and only pay cash.
And while cash can be kept safe, digital money can be taken from you with the click of a …
The Final Four Republican Candidates
The leader of the free world has enough power to cause TEOTWAWKI via bad policy or religious motivation. And Obama might be out-voted just before the Mayan calendar ends in December. Even for those who are not in the USA (or Americans who don’t care about politics), each of the remaining four candidates are interesting in their own right
First off is the obvious choice for 2012ers (if they leave religion out of politics) – Ron Paul. The gentleman is obviously intelligent, and he cares about the big picture as well as the rights of the marginalized. A law has just been passed that allows US citizens to be held indefinitely without any trial – in the name of stopping terrorism. This single video is evidence enough that he is needed by the American people:
Next up is Newt Gingrich who just won South Carolina despite the polls predicting otherwise (suggesting to …
USDA Behind Bird Killings / Hoekstra on EMP
This time last year there was a lot of talk about mass animal die-offs. These things happen from time to time, but the cluster of events made it newsworthy. Turns out some mass deaths can be attributed to deliberate poisoning by US authorities:
A recent mass die-off event witnessed in Yankton, South Dakota was traced back to the USDA which admitted to carrying out a mass poisoning of the birds.
Read the whole story at Earth-Issues
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Congressman Pete Hoekstra was recently heavily involved in US Intelligence:
Mr. Hoekstra, as a former Chairman of the HPSCI one of the best informed men in the world, will share his views on the global threats Americans face, now and in the future. Here is a rare opportunity for our audience to question the man who, until recently, was taskmaster of our nation’s spy agencies.
On Wednesday, noon Eastern time he speaks with EMPact Radio, a weekly broadcast devoted to …
Update: Definition of a Terrorist
I covered this back in August, but it has taken on a deeper meaning now that US citizens can detained without charge or trial – the law has passed, and Obama didn’t veto it after all… You could theoretically be locked up forever for one of these:
Storing Food. The FBI/DOJ have decided that having more than 7 day’s food on hand is suspicious, even though this is precisely what FEMA recommends (in case of a disaster). There’s a report from a cannery that pimarily has Mormons as customers (their religion compels them to keep one year’s worth of food stored), where federal agents were asking for customer lists – fortunately they didn’t keep one.
Owning Guns and Ammo. You especially don’t want to be a military veteran who has just returned from war. The Dept of Homeland Security have said:
the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities …
Gingrich Fears EMP Doomsday
It is certainly reassuring when a leading politician mentions the possibility of a catastrophe that most people are unaware of. Newt Gingrich is the subject of an article this week at the NY Times:
In debates and speeches, interviews and a popular book, he is ringing alarm bells over what experts call the electromagnetic pulse, or EMP — a poorly understood phenomenon of the nuclear age.
The idea is that if a nuclear weapon, lofted by a missile, were detonated in outer space high above the American heartland, it would set off a huge and crippling shockwave of electricity. Mr. Gingrich warns that it would fry electrical circuits from coast to coast, knocking out computers, electrical power and cellphones. Everything from cars to hospitals would be knocked out.
In the introduction to the 2009 novel One Second After, Gingrich said millions would die in the first week alone.
The US military believe that the …
American Survivalists – Brace Yourselves
Today’s news is quite disturbing. The U.S. Senate voted to let the military detain terrorism suspects on U.S. soil and hold them indefinitely without trial. This is outside of the normal judicial process. In theory absolutely anybody can be sent to Guantanamo Bay (or some other overseas detention center) and there is no recourse available. Even, say, a political candidate, or an outspoken rap artist. You’d like to think the media would help and highlight any travesties of justice, but I wouldn’t have 100% faith in that.
The problem is a combination of:
1) A DOJ directive that lists criteria for being suspected as a terrorist – as described by Rand Paul (son of Ron) in the video below, including keeping more than 7 days of food, and having ammunition.
2) The government can, via the military, detain anyone suspected of terrorism, without charge, indefinitely.
Emergency Alert System – Lots To Fix
The test of the Emergency Alert System in the USA went ahead as scheduled today, and there was good news and bad news:
Bad news: in many, many instances it did not work
Good news: thankfully they decided to test it
A NY Times blog reports that:
Most of the reported failures affected cable and satellite television subscribers.
Some DirecTV subscribers said their TV sets played the Lady Gaga song “Paparazzi” while the test was under way.
Some Comcast subscribers in northern Virginia said their TV sets were switched over to QVC prior to the alert appearing.
In some places it was 3 or 10 minutes late
In one instance it ran for 30 minutes (instead of 30 seconds)
Now for some criticism. In the USA the EAS dates back to 1994, which means it is old. These days people aren’t watching TV as much as they used to. The USA should consider setting up a system like the …
USA: Emergency Alert System Test on Wednesday
THIS IS A TEST!
Wednesday, November 9 at 2:00 PM EST, for approximately 30 seconds, all radio and TV in the USA will be interrupted by a message that simply says “This Is A Test”.
This type of test has been run regionally and locally in the past, but this is the first time they have tested it nationally. If the Emergency Alert is ever required to run at a national level, it can only be authorized by the president.
Official websites for more info:
http://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/emergency-alert-system-nationwide-test
http://www.fema.gov/eastest/
http://www.fema.gov/eastest/faqs.shtm
E-4B: US President’s Bunker in the Sky
I guess Diane Sawyer misspeaks when she says this plane can survive a nuclear attack (see video and article). It can survive fallout, but I’m sure it would be shredded if a nuke went off alongside it. The only place you can truly be safe is underground.
Still, it has many bunker aspects. Features of the $232 million modified 747:
Electromagnetic pulse shield
Thermo-radiation shields
Can fly for days without refuelling – meaning it can go anywhere in the world
165,000 pounds of advanced electronics
It even has the ability to communicate with submerged submarines via a five-mile-long cable, like a fishing line, but one that can send encrypted messages.
A Few Doomsday Updates…
CDC on the Zombie Apocalypse
You heard right, the US Govt Centre for Disease Control now has a page devoted to surviving a zombie outbreak. Word quickly spread and the servers crashed!
…a typical CDC blog post might get between 1,000 and 3,000 hits. The most traffic on record had been a post that saw around 10,000 visits. By the end of Wednesday, with servers down, the page had 60,000. By Thursday, it was a trending topic on Twitter.
How typical! In the event of a mass outbreak of something, the CDC servers are unlikely to be up and providing information when we really need it. Say after me – “the government will not help you when you need them the most”.
Rapture Services
Not services at the church, but rather sneaky ways of getting some bucks out of believers. One US business, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, promises to look after your pets (pets don’t get …
Water Wars = Domino Effect?
A multitude of factors are coming into play for a global breakdown of society: water, food, oil, terrorism, global warming…
Because for most of us water is a plentiful and cheap resource, it is easy to ignore how perilous our situation has become. Egypt is one place that highlights the situation…
Egypt is 95% desert, and what keeps it alive is the Nile river. The Nile is sourced in other countries – poor countries that could use the water themselves, like Ethiopia. For a long time, via agreements and threats of violence, Egypt has maintained its domination of the Nile. But now we have the other, poorer countries standing up for their water rights. Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda have decided to take more of the water sourced from their countries – which means less for Egypt.
We might have a serious situation arising, and this is just one location. The whole …
US has a Doomsday Plan
“…under the new rule, a majority of living congressmen no longer will be needed to do business under “catastrophic circumstances.”
Instead, a majority of the congressmen able to show up at the House would be enough to conduct business, conceivably a dozen lawmakers or less.
The circumstances include “natural disaster, attack, contagion or similar calamity rendering Representatives incapable of attending the proceedings of the House.”
I doubt that in a 2012 situation they’d be too effective, but the reduced government could quite easily freak out and launch a nuke or two.
For me it is interesting that they acknowledge the possibility that someone major disaster could decimate their governmental ranks, but beyond working out who will run the show, they have made no survival provisions…
