Archive for the 'Survival' Category

The below also applies to four-legged predators. Seems like common sense; head up, pay attention, move with purpose, and try not to look like such a sissy: i.e., situational awareness.

Source:

In 1981, a study was conducted which tested [Ted] Bundy’s claim that victims display characteristic body language, specifically in their walking style (Grayson & Stein, 1981). Essentially, inmates who were convicted of violent offences and incarcerated in Ontario Canada, were asked to look at video of people walking. Individuals scoring higher on the interpersonal/affective aspects of psychopathy (Factor 1) were more accurate at judging victim vulnerability simply from viewing targets walking than a sampling of people drawn from the general public.  To put psychopathy in perspective, a 1992 FBI study found that 44 percent of offenders who killed a police officer were psychopaths. Psychopaths compose 15% to 25% of a typical prison population and are responsible for 50% of violent crime.

PSYCHOPATHS EVALUATE VICTIM POTENTIAL BY ANALYZING GAIT

This study has been repeated numerous times with varying methodologies and these studies have all come to a similar conclusion. Violent individuals evaluate victims by the way they move, specifically by the way they walk.

So, specifically what are violent predators looking for? Submissiveness. A criminal wants an easy day. They want to get paid and they don’t want to get hurt or caught. “Paid” could mean many things from your cell phone to your injury or death.

Let’s focus on the fact criminals don’t want to get caught or hurt. If a criminal got hurt every time they “worked” they would have a pretty short criminal run. They want an easy score. They use surprise, violence of action, multiples, and weapons to overwhelm their victim. Criminals don’t want a fight, so they look for victims who they evaluate to as “soft” targets.

Soft targets display vulnerable body language: head down, smaller or constricted movement of limbs, jerky or uncoordinated movement, hunched shoulders, and shorter strides are all body language which indicates submissiveness.

People who display vulnerable body language were more likely to have been victimized in the past. Lack of confidence is displayed in body language. Victims are targeted due to perceived lack of confidence. Victimization causes lack of confidence and that lack of confidence is displayed in the past victims movement. This becomes a horrible cycle causing innocents to be re-victimized due to

Task fixation, such as texting or talking on a cell phone, mimic the body language of submissiveness, thus attracting violent predator attention. Victims of prior abuse also may display submissive body language due to lack of confidence.

A simple but temporary fix to attracting predators attention would be to avoid task fixation in public areas. Specifically, areas which crimes are more likely to happen. Stay off of cell phones, don’t listen to music, and don’t read when moving through a potentially dangerous area.

Next, get training and carry pressure tested equipment. There are only two things you bring to a conflict, your tools (weapons, lights, medical gear and the method of carry) and your training. You do not pick the time, place, or nature of the conflict, you could only control your software and your hardware!

Having pressure tested hardware and appropriate training to deal with violent encounters will give you confidence. Confidence and training will show in your gate, making you less likely to be targeted by a violent criminal predator.

Reading through this draft copy of a free chapter from the upcoming book Preparedness Pays, we noticed some remarkable things. The willingness to have a sense of humor and also go slow in prepping is essential. Fear drives errors, causing waste monetarily and time in do-overs. Worse yet, nobody wants to find a mistake to be evident when finally needing preps.

It’s good to read material that challenges our present assertions. This is what mature adults do in order to hone themselves by adjusting to new information. That last sentence seems weird to have to say, but here we are in 2022. It’s only a sample chapter, and possibly later, more is discussed along the lines of Solutions Based Prepping, but we found object-based prepping to be less adaptable and flexible.

A couple of examples of Solutions Based Prepping are in order. A person needs hand tools. An electric screwgun, however, can drive screws. The object only has one purpose. But when looking for solutions, it can drive screws into wood or metal. It can also remove screws. It’s usable not only on living structures but other structures, vehicles, heavy equipment, and light machines. When pressed by circumstances, humans with practical knowledge and learning in the use of rotating hand tools of all types will find solutions-based usages never before thought of for devices. This is the value of head knowledge to expand practical use applications when a result is needed. Humans are clever with their hands; this is why.

A second example is growing food. Where the author thinks of people and food, we think of solutions; food growing. Farming is not only about feeding people. Some are canned/preserved for later, and some can be used to feed protein animals. Some can be given in goodwill to neighbors for their rabbits in hopes of establishing a relationship. If things go well, that relationship may revolve around prepping and could even grow to mutual aid or security support. Perhaps you’ll come up with a barter exchange? But even if a relationship doesn’t bud, they’ll hesitate to shoot you, but most importantly, God will see the gift and bless you in abundance returning the benefit. Worse comes to worst; throw extra food on a compost heap or leave the corners of your garden not gleening in full all of the bounty; allowing some seed to return to the ground will be blessed by God. Those are just a few solutions-based things you can do with a garden.

So instead of thinking about feeding a cow, a pig, rabbits, 12 chickens, and six people with separate food sources, you can start doing arithmetic for items of dietary overlap. We know you engineering types are out there, doing preps by math; you’re not fooling us! Heh.

Like the screwgun, having a garden in abundance gives you solutions for problems you may not yet perceive. A person needs tools and food. Tools and food solve a myriad of possible problems and those yet unseen while opening many potential doors.

The sample chapter also got us thinking about proximity to disaster, natural or man-made—the proximity of distance and time matters. Take Ukraine’s inability to grow food right now. Food inflation is spreading globally due to supply-demand dislocations in the market. Ukraine is far away geographically from the US, so the effects are growing more slowly here than in Europe, and the closer to the war, the bigger the problem of cost to supply. But there’s also a time factor. In a free market, we in the US wouldn’t worry much about the lack of foodstuffs grown in Ukraine, but we don’t have a free market. Farmers would crank out food to profit from these higher prices, but the US agriculture industry is so heavily regulated by multiple agencies that current markets don’t work to fill supply for growing demand. Even if regulation was much lower, time to fill gaps in supply at higher prices is still a factor. Some disasters are very long in the making.

Waiting for “somebody” to “solve” Ukraine and US regulatory problems is a terrible plan; having local food sources, teams, friends, neighbors, barter, co-ops, etc., is much needed.

Instead of buying things, start building and making things! This will prepare your mind and hands for leaner times to come. The closer your sources for all necessities in both time needed to produce and geographic distance, the more control you’ll have over resolutions for your immediate area and family.

None of this is a knock on the chapter; it got our mental juices flowing, which is a good thing; we look forward to the book. You can approach your preparations as solutions based using the book’s eight objects. That might help to find weaknesses that need addressing, further adjusting to what works while rounding out approaches so as to not miss critical sources and needs.

One thing we don’t like is scenario-driven prepping. Though examples and illustrations are important, planning for certain contingencies is even more spending and stockpiling-intensive than object-based prepping alone. Having said that, we’ll again offer this very simple Risk Matrix to help get started or find solutions when getting stuck about how to proceed. But also consider the geographical distance from source problems and time factors to tribulation development in your risk assessments.

Note about food and debt: US grocery stores are still throwing away tons (actual) of fruits and vegetables daily. The restaurants, at least in this area, are still packed even at these higher prices. It’s shocking the lack of foresight and acceptance about what’s happening, and therefore it’s no wonder credit card debt is rising sharply. We’re blessed with abundance, but debt is not abundance; it’s a liability. Do yourself a long-term favor, trust your gut about what’s happening, cut out the extras and avoid debt.

“If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.” – Deuteronomy 22:6-7

Don’t overtax the land that you’ve been blessed with; it’s God’s, not yours. Prolong your days that it may go well with thee.

Somebody will object and say; we’re under grace and not under the law. Well, just keep industrial farming, relying on chemical fertilizers, gleaning one hundred percent of every field every season, never rotating crops, and not leaving some ground fallow for a year on a rotating basis. It’ll be apparent one day soon: God will rest His land if modernity won’t.

Never forget Donald J. Trump shut down the economy. And it’s “almost” as if his announcement to run for president is perfectly timed to get you to waste another two years in false hope for a human savior. Right when you realized that the entire system was lost to corruption and you were about to do amazing things to change the world around you, galvanized to take charge of all that you can, a shiny trinket of distraction is dangled in your eye. Instead of being the man you could be learning and teaching and training your family, church, or team, and growing your local group in the depth of understanding and trust for each other, honing skills and adding critical knowledge and infrastructure, they want you well distracted by politics.

Source:

According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), there’s still very little relief in the supply pipeline for components needed to complete manufacturing and farming equipment. Consequently, there are “nearly complete” pieces of farm and construction equipment sitting on manufacturing lots waiting for components. For some, they may be as basic as a 7-pin connector for wiring harnesses. Others parts, some ordered more than a year ago, still haven’t shown up on “shipped” reports.

Some companies, like farm equipment manufacturer Unverferth has gone so far as to create “rework teams” whose jobs are to add missing components to machines that have been languishing in storage. Others have procurement staff scouring sources for acceptable component replacements.

Dealers are still battling shortages in tires, steel components and computer chips for existing customers’ equipment.

According to AEM, the situation was supposed to have improved by now, but hasn’t. They add that while it’s bad for farm equipment, it’s even worse for construction equipment. More than 95% of their members say they’re experiencing “major” supply chain issues.

If that’s not enough, suppliers and manufacturers are getting slammed with major price increases. And salaries and bonuses have also had to rise in order to get/keep factory workers.

Consequently, used farm equipment is selling at an all-time high.

A farmer with seldom-used equipment can quickly turn that gear into the cash needed to acquire equipment that’s really needed. The downside is that the “used iron” is also pricey- and getting even more so the longer shortages exist.

Farmers, being very experienced with market realities, are very aware that being forced to pay a premium for used equipment today doesn’t guarantee that same price stability a month from now. If the supply chain eases, demand for used gear will slow- and prices will fall.

So they’re following the advice Amazon’s Jeff Bezos shared last week: if you can hold off purchases, it might be a good time to do just that.

In the meantime, Purdue University’s Ag Economy Barometer reports that “insufficient supplies have impeded” producers’ overall operations. According to that barometer, farmers share another major concern with the outdoor industry: interest rate policies.

Despite farm income having rise over the past five years, farmers are still being hammered by high input (planting) costs and falling commodity prices. They’re accustomed to fluctuations in commodity prices, but the additional strain of acquisition of new gear or parts for existing gear, coupled with rising interest rates, has injected a lot more stress to an already tough profession.

“A year ago,” says Curt Blades of the AEM, “we thought the supply chain issues would have improved by now. That didn’t happen.”

There are similar stories throughout the outdoor industry as well. Last week, one manufacturer told me he was machining parts from aluminum bar stock because extrusion “isn’t an option right now.” As he explained it, “I was told that even if I had my order in right now, it would be a year before I could hope to get parts. So…I’m machining.”

The good news is that Americans are learning to adapt, innovate, and manufacture for themselves again.

Inflation is going to greatly improve your prepping. The days of throwing money at a problem by buying stuff of marginal quality and usefulness are over. The throwaway economy has made us all somewhat parasitic, and a dedicated effort is required to retrain the mind. Solid patient research is the way to go. Read reviews, ask around, pool your money for just one, and do a team evaluation of quality and usability for your purposes before buying more, perhaps. Remember, the library has free books to teach yourself new skills. Knowledge is lightweight, highly portable, flexible, adaptable, reusable, extendable, scalable, and above all, multiplies your side’s survivability and lethality.

That’s the headline that won’t be linked because, NO, now is the time to prepare.

Things you need:

Teach your family, on a regular schedule teaching true Christian morals and work ethic directly from the text of the Holy Bible

Permanent non-utility-controlled potable and bathing water source(s).

Sustainable multiple food sources – hunted/grown/husbandry/stored/wild gathered

Alternate food handling/prepping and cooking

Keeping your family warm

Understand your neighbor(s)hood in an outward concentric circle of increasing distance and not subject to geographic features or transportation routes

Parameter safety/security – training, tools, and animals

Fuel and alternate power source(s)

Unpowered/powered Handtools

Friends

Plans – options and backups and backups to the backups

Go/Stay decision matrix

Fishing/trapping/quiet hunting

Mobility plan

Comms plan

Hygiene/medicine items

Medical/dental knowledge and skill (Get your dental squared away this month before prices go higher, keep it up to date)

Printing hardcopy manuals and classical and other pertinent civilizational literature, fiction, and nonfiction

Barter and Goodwill items

Make you’re own lists, but more complete

Teach yourself a new related skill this winter; start today!

Further your practical application of homestead/pioneer/survival mastery.

And Etc

Do this now prior to further stressors being introduced

Like seeing one termite or the tip of an iceberg, this is only going to get worse, and neither will this get better.

If you’re still having problems understanding, here’s another clue to help you.

2030 is seven years away!

Simple ways to get water while on the move.

Without power, your water will eventually stop flowing. Alternate sources may become essential. The below video provides several temporary solutions for on-the-move or wilderness, but longer term, you may need a well on your property. If you’re going to dig a seep well, you want to locate a “flood plain.” A flood plain, regardless of size, is a low area where water gathers when a creek or river rises. Along a creek, a flood plain is usually about one foot above the waterline and mainly sediment, making it an excellent place to get good seepage. A seep well is a good shelter-in-place or overnight location solution. Creekbeds are cold at night so consider your camp location relative to the well.

Republicans, or people who vote for them, are still, in a bizarre act of idolatrous religious faith, counting on national-level voting to change things. Meanwhile, the communists are tearing at the foundations with increasing success. If you feel you should vote, even knowing your government is thoroughly corrupted, then do it; we believe there is a Biblical case for that, but let the idea go that anybody but Christ can save us now.

First, your District Attorneys continue to be replaced by communist party adherents, faithful only to Moa’s little red book.

Secondly, as we’ve warned, the defund police movement in some cities is moving to phase two of their operation. They only want control of the national security apparatus with which to destroy you. **Warning, not a family-friendly link** Hard-core violent communists are training the police to be party enforcers, which means you, dear religiously Republican voters, are being targeted for genocide.

Thirdly, these religious Republican voters scoff at the leftist State’s and City’s policies of allowing rampant crime and homelessness, never understanding that it’s being done on purpose. Crime, along with national tax policy and immigration, has been designed to drive leftist constituents into the Red States, turning formerly quiet, friendly, and quaint small cities and towns into communist enclaves, one Uhaul truckload at a time.

Why can they read this post, understand it’s true, yet live and remain in their fantasy? Shamefully, the next national-level election will be no different. Those going through the various iterations of the grieving process for America today will once more put on their denial dunce hats and start looking for a national savior by pushing the R button on the machines that are pre-programmed with the results.

Your enemy is at war, and your faith in a foundation you know has already been destroyed is silly. Seriously, it’s like watching a Benny Hill skit, and you’re the object of the caricature. Please stop; you look foolish. National politics is an open failure for all the world to laugh at in derision, and your religious adherence is making it worse. Unless you have the money and a plan to conduct a counter-communist revolution, then today should be the day you end your fantasy. Rend your clothes, stomp up and down, flop on the floor and beat your fists as much as you must, get angry and scream, cry and wail, eat a bowl of ice cream in your PJs sobbing, but end it today, no more whining and no more denial. Your country needs you, not Washington but your real country; the people who know you and love you are counting on you.

Sorry for calling you names, but seriously, stop being dodo birds.

No more politics. I love the direction that TCJ is taking;  you need a plan, practical knowledge, friends, tools, and the right spirit for what’s coming. Every moment you spend on politics is time wasted you could be spending on praying, training the young, teaching yourself craftwork, making practical application of pioneer, homestead, or survival skills, family team building, firearms and self-defense training, sharing the Gospel, deepening commitments among local trusted allies, etc., etc., etc.

Be a self-sufficient Christian. Nothing is more subversive than self-reliance, declaring Christ is King.

The first rule of drone club is…

Yuneec, H520 commercial drone. Photo via RotoDronePro.com

If you need a drone, and you will, the place to start is with lots of reading and comparison. First, consider your use case(s) for which you have primary, secondary, and tertiary purposes. Consider what you must accomplish, what would be worthy of performing, and what would be added benefits. Perhaps jot down some notes with a list. Then look for the craft that suits your needs based upon your priority scale of needs.

Some drones are tiny and almost useless in any weather, including a light breeze, but they are quiet and less detectable. As with most products, there are trade-offs. Some don’t survive crashes with as much resilience as others, which seems essential when starting. Some have neat-sounding features that get a premium price markup, but when considering the practicality of the feature versus your actual needs, the cost may not be worth adding.

The best feature is automatic obstacle avoidance. Second is an Auto-Home feature that returns the unit to a specified location under certain circumstances; out of range/push button home/battery level. Flight time and range are critical considerations. Ability to move the camera while holding the drone geo-stationary may interest you. Made in America is a concern with the history of some electronics having Chinese backdoors.

Other trace-off aspects: remember, a drone is a vehicle. The vehicle should serve an objective which is to accomplish specific purposes. A lesser vehicle with a better camera may serve you better, but a greater range with an inferior camera may suit you. We’re not against hobbyists that love a specific vehicle (think car owners), but keep to the purpose of your needs.

There are some licensing considerations, although asking permission seems, well, you decide for yourself. Nonetheless, here’s a basic FAA registration guide.

Are there kinetic applications for racing drones? Do your geotagging and mapping well in advance and print on hard copy, correlate with land nav.

There’s a ton of information on youtube, especially about professional drone types of service, but you have to weed through the hobby and commercial channels. If you have a mind for it, examining the technical applications of drones for civilian utility planning, mapping, zoning, surveying, agriculture, construction, property inspection, and other industries can teach valuable information about how to use your drone for recon, including geotagging. These can be a worthwhile resource not only for recon but also for defensive position planning and battlefield shaping plan objectives.

DroneU might interest the serious-minded who can take general civil applications information and apply it to their own purposes.

Source One:

Whether you’re a videographer, vlogger, or just want to have some fun, the best drones let you fly around with ease, shoot breathtaking photos and videos, and not worry about crashing into things.

The best quadcopter drones now all cost less than $2,000, with many excellent models at $1,000 or less. But there are a lot of things to consider, including flight time, what you want to do with the drone, and more. That’s where our guide to the best drones comes in. We’ve flown all the top models, evaluating their handling, controllers, endurance, camera quality, and more. Below are our top picks for drone pilots of every feather.

[…]

How to choose the best drone for you

Drones aren’t just fun to fly. They can let you capture breathtaking footage, some in high-resolution 4K video. They’re also more affordable than ever, as quality beginner models now cost less than $60. Good camera drones start at a few hundred dollars, and they’re great for simple tasks like checking your gutters for leaves. More complex drones, starting at less than $1,000, offer customizable and programmable features, turning them into truly autonomous devices that can make their own decisions.

Drones aren’t that complicated, but there are a few key features you should consider when you are shopping. There are also some key rules you need to follow when you take to the air.

Remote Control

Most drones use a remote control with two joysticks — a bit like one of the best PC game controllers. One stick controls what’s called the attitude of the quadcopter, including roll (tilting left and right) and pitch (tilting up and down). The other stick controls throttle and the rotation of the quadcopter. A good remote control should fit well in the hand, with sticks resting comfortably under your thumbs and providing a smooth, responsive feel that allows you to guide the quadcopter by touch.

Some less expensive models skip the remote control, or offer it as an extra-cost feature, and instead use a smartphone connected via Wi-Fi and a flying app. These apps often provide a live video view from the quadcopter camera. However, apps don’t allow the precision of real controllers: It is easier for your thumbs to slip, possibly causing a crash.

Repairability

Despite what the ads tell you, drones crash all the time. A good drone will take an unplanned descent and ground interface (aka: a crash) in stride, without damaging the frame. It will also include shields to protect the rotors and electronics from harm.

Regardless, things still get broken sometimes, particularly racing drones. A good model will offer a ready supply of cheap parts like rotors and struts to replace the broken ones, and will make it easy to swap these parts out when required. The same is true of batteries.

Battery life

Most drones will last between 20 to 30 minutes on a charge, and are designed so that you can quickly swap out batteries. To ensure that you can keep filming, it’s a good idea to purchase extra batteries. Just make sure to charge them beforehand!

Camera quality

Want to show off your aerial exploits? A camera, either built-in or add-on, can capture those dramatic vistas for posterity. The best drones will have cameras that can record video at resolutions of 4K or higher, but even budget models are getting better, able to capture video at 1080p. However, they tend to use smaller image sensors, so the quality won’t be as good.

While not covered in this guide, there are professional drones which let you attach mirrorless or DSLR cameras, which provide even greater image quality that built-in cameras. However, these drones typically cost upwards of $2,000.

The best camera drones will also mount their cameras on a gimbal, so that your image stays steady as the drone is flying around. If video is your priority, look for a drone that has a three-axis gimbal; that will give you the most stable image.

Some drones also offer first-person view (FPV), sending a pilot’s-eye view from the drone itself to a phone or tablet. Some models offer video goggles for the ultimate pilot-seat flying experience.

Features

Drones are getting smarter; now, instead of just flying around based on manual inputs, you can program drones to fly pre-programmed routes, or even follow specific objects, such as people and vehicles. Depending on your needs, it’s worth examining what features a drone has before buying one.

How we test drones

When we take a new drone out for a spin, we evaluate it based on a number of factors:

• Design: How well is the drone built, and does it look good? If it comes with a controller, we take a look at its ergonomics.
• Durability/Repairability: Face it. You’re going to crash your drone at least once, but a good model should be able to survive a few mishaps without a problem. And, if something happens to break (it’s usually a rotor), how easy is it to repair?
• Flight Performance: How easy is the drone to fly? Is is stable when hovering, or does it require a lot of stick work? How does it respond to your commands?
• App: How intuitive is the app? What sort of features are available?
• Camera Quality: If the drone has a camera, then how good are the photos and videos it takes?
• Flight time: How long can the drone stay in the air before its battery runs out? This varies a lot based on the size of the drone, but the best drones have batteries that last up to 25-30 minutes.
• Price: Obviously, we don’t expect a $50 drone to perform as well as a $1,000 drone, so we take its cost into consideration when rendering a final verdict.

Can drones fly for hours?

Camera drones are purpose-built to take video and photos. They will have a gimbal-mounted camera and software that allows them to track people or objects, or fly predetermined routes. These drones will generally have the longest flight times.

Source Two: Lots of tech specs comparing vehicles.

Source Three: Youtube channels. Again, most must be understood in a commercial or hobby context while making your own application scenarios.

Source Four: Mitigating the Drone/RDF Threat, Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

From Part One:

Drone technology is here to stay and drones will increasingly become problems in many ways. They can be used to gather intelligence visually, day and at night. Thermal imaging can be used both during the day and at night. And now affordable drones have Radio Direction Finding (RDF) capabilities. Drones are increasingly used for intelligence gathering, and kinetic (offensive) measures. An ability to use doppler RDF technology, allows drones to locate a potential target. Learning how to deal with such a growing threat will be an ongoing process. As technology advances, we can adopt low-tech practices that can help us conduct a more secure communications plan. To better understand the threat and the measures proposed, we need to understand how drones are used in RDF operations. There is an excellent video on how RDF using drones works. Please first view this instructional video from S2 Underground, and then come back to this article:

Radio Direction Finding: AKA How “They” Can Find You

Roto Drone Pro is worth browsing. Other industry online magazines may help as well.

These three sources here, here, and here tell the story. In Oregon, a functioning coal plant with 20 years of service life left was shut down and demolished. Excerpts from all three are below:

“There was a lot of work put into it and it didn’t take long to bring it down,” Aldritt said. “It’s kind of sad to see that much infrastructure wasted, because it was still a functioning plant when they shut it down.”

Instead, power companies will rely on renewable sources — which will be good for the environment — but not as dependable. Experts say we will have a one in four chance of blackouts by the year 2026.

The plant shut down in October 2020, and the decommissioning had been planned since 2010, when PGE agreed to shut the plant down 20 years early as part of a settlement in an environmental lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club.

If the government didn’t hate you, the lawsuits would never have been accepted for filing.

Boardman is the first but not the last coal plant to close in the West. Over eight years, 12 plants will shut down, taking down enough dependable electricity to power 3.8 million homes.

But as we [WE] transition away from coal and gas as energy demands increase, PGE customers will also have to do their part by reducing how much they use.

“We” will just have to be cold. “We” will just have to live like the third world.

DEMOLITION VIDEO: Oregon’s last standing coal power plant comes down in a controlled implosion.

This plant, in Boardman, was decommissioned about 2 years ago – symbolic of a shift to more renewable energy sources in Oregon. @KGWNews pic.twitter.com/9RZ9x2BGlE

— Evan Watson (@EvanWatsonNews) September 15, 2022

First, your blessings are being removed by God. The Bible tells you what to do about that, but you’ll be busy all week pretending elections still matter; we doubt this post will even be read. But, your blood is upon your own head; you’ve been warned over these pages.

Second, related to point one, the Republicans won’t and can’t help. The Global Oligarchy runs the permanent bureaucracy. The coal plant was shut down under Donald J. Trump, and for two years of his presidency, Republicans held both chambers of congress and the SCOTUS. Quit wasting time on politics.

Thirdly, you must plan. We don’t know what you’re going to do to keep your family fed and warm, but the days of depending on national infrastructure run by reasonably caring fellow American men are over. What they won’t tell you is that coal saved the trees. Perhaps buy land and fell one large tree every year for wood? Maybe a better plan is for a wood, propane, gasifier, and oil mix? Think multiple sources, antifragile. Prepare your home accordingly. 2030 is seven years away!

Digging up info for this post started with a tip at SurvivalBlog.

He seems nice:

Former Senior Intelligence Service officer at the CIA, Marc Polymeropoulos published a Sunday piece declaring that that techniques once used to fight radical Islam should be turned against the against the right-wing in America.

Polymeropoulos’ piece for NBC News Think warned that propagandists, whether Islamic terrorists or Republicans, should be subject to counterterrorism and counterradicalization techniques.

“I worked in counterterrorism operations for nearly my entire career at the CIA before retiring in 2019. The battle we engaged in with international terrorist groups like Al Qaeda wasn’t just with their legions of foot soldiers but with their highly effective propaganda arms as well,” he wrote. “The U.S. and our allies considered those propagandists fundamental cogs in a terror group’s machinery, and just as culpable as any other terrorist. So we held them accountable when innocent civilians were killed.”

Polymeropoulos suggested that the attack of Paul Pelosi was evidence that the American government needs to take a firmer approach to its own citizenry.

“Lone wolves are a thorn for domestic U.S. law enforcement as well, as we saw last week when a man not affiliated with any known group but immersed in right-wing propaganda attacked Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” he wrote. “While the authorities have taken appropriate action against him, there are few signs that the government is taking the big-picture approach needed to combat the violence-inducing propaganda behind his crime.”

He appeared to lament that the U.S. Constitution gives American citizens more rights than foreign enemies.

“The Constitution confers certain free-speech protections for extremist propaganda in the U.S. that prevent authorities from exactly replicating our foreign counterterrorism strategy here at home. But there are important lessons we can and should apply,” he said. “For one thing, we can exercise free speech to proclaim that the normalization of violence against politicians is dangerous and unacceptable. Some violent rhetoric might not be illegal, but it is all morally repugnant.”

Polymeropoulos also seemed to equivocate demonizing an opposing politician with calling for violence against them.

“To start with, we need to clearly identify what crosses the line into the realm of dangerous rhetoric. That means calling out those in the right-wing ecosphere who for years have demonized, and at times even promoted and encouraged, attacks on Pelosi,” he claimed.

There are more bizarre, rambling, semi-coherent, partially partisan political ravings at the source. He seems to have spent just a little too much time inside the intel machine. All a hammer sees, after all, are nails.

Via WoG.

Part of the thrust behind Social Media was to break the barrier of number 36 (below), which every American used to have.  Imagine creating the world’s largest intelligence collection system and then convincing people to surrender their critical information to it for free. Nobody teaches their children to keep household matters private anymore, and because of social media, the natural discernment to be private about family is gone.

Keep your mouth shut, appear the least out of place in situations, and observe more than divulge. The only thing that should make you stand out is that you fit in well.

Keeping your mouth shut and eyes & ears open, this election cycle should once again prove to be an excellent opportunity to collect free intel on enemies, foreign and domestic. The election “results” are largely inconsequential. Observe carefully what all groups say for certain, but more so what groups and individuals do over the next several weeks and months. Local intel matters most.

Speaking of which, there’s a new billboard, in the most Lefty part of town, for the upcoming holiday season Gun Show. We’ve been warning for a while now that it isn’t only the right that’s buying all the guns.

Numbers 12 and 13 are big. The throw-away society is like an infection that spreads into the mindset, crippling long-term thinking, and planning. The value proposition for especially people, but also equipment and other things, is being degraded wholesale. It’s easier to train somebody you know than to find other people you can trust.

What is Self-Sufficiency?

Depends on who you ask. Does that sound like a cop-out?

Well, die-hard doomsday day preppers would likely say that self-sufficiency is providing for all of one’s needs without any outside help or resources; there is no need to buy food, clothing, water, power, sanitation, medicine, etc. This would be the most literal interpretation of “off-grid.” That’s at one end of the spectrum.

Others take a more balanced approach to the idea of being self-sufficient. For them, self-sufficiency is about how well you can provide for the needs of yourself and your loved ones for the long haul. For example, you grow a percentage of what you eat, or you have a backup power source for outage situations. Perhaps it’s about having a bartering agreement with someone wherein you exchange eggs for honey, bringing community in as an element of independence and control in taking care of yourself.

However, let’s take a broader view of what it means to be self-sufficient. Let’s think about it as a mindset. In that vein, I offer these principles of self-sufficiency from Don McIlvaney.

McIlvaney’s Principles of Self-Sufficiency

1. Change the way you look at everything. Rethink your entire lifestyle.

2. Develop discernment about people.

3. When you invest, invest first in the right people.

4. Look at yourself honestly. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

5. Seek the counsel of others you trust.

6. Find like-minded people who can be part of a mutual support group and who you can cooperate with.

7. Find alternate methods for doing everything.

8. Develop an instinct for what doesn’t feel right. No matter how good something looks or sounds on the surface, go with your gut feeling, your instinct, and your intuition.

9. Eliminate non-essentials from your life. Eliminate all time wasters and money wasters, and things you don’t need, i.e., clothes, furniture, junk, etc. Eliminate television from your life.

10. Simplify your lifestyle. Learn to say no to things and activities that don’t make you self-sufficient.

11. Develop physical, mental, and spiritual discipline.

12. Learn to treat everything as if it were irreplaceable.

13. Buy things that will last, even if they cost more.

14. Acquire tools that do not depend on electric power.

15. Learn to spend time alone with yourself in total silence. Think, reflect, reminisce, and plan (or strategize) in silence.

16. Learn to spend time with your family without any superficial entertainment and distractions.

17. Make sure your trust is in the Lord and not your own preparedness. Pattern your preparedness according to the guidance of the Lord. Listen to what He puts in your heart. Don’t use only your reasoning power.

18. Learn something from every situation you are in. Everything you hear, see, touch or feel has a lesson in it. Learn a principle from every mistake you make and from everyday life situations.

19. Store up memories for times of isolation or separation from your loved ones.

20. Learn to enjoy simple pleasures from the smallest things. Have a measure of joy and happiness that doesn’t come from creature comforts or entertainment.

21. Establish priorities for all areas of your life, including relationships and current and future needs. Set goals for areas to become proficient or self-sufficient. Set a schedule or a timeline to reach those goals based on the money and available time.

22. Examine the concept of civil disobedience from Bible times throughout history. At what point should the people of Egypt have said No to killing the male babies in Moses’ day? At what point should the people of colonial America have said No to King George? At what point should the people of Germany have said No to Hitler? At what point do we say No to the despots of our day when they take over our money, property, guns, our children, and our freedom? Decide what is your choke point. When do you move toward civil disobedience? For many throughout history, it was when evil leaders handed down edicts that were directly contrary to God’s Word or commands. Don’t set your choke point too early or too quickly, too late or never. Think through and calculate a strategy. Then never look back.

23. Learn to ask the right questions in every situation.

24. Bring orderliness into your life. If you live in disorder, it will pull you down and break your focus. Think focus vs. distraction.  Eliminate the distractions from your life.

25. Self-sufficiency or survival principles are learned on a day-to-day basis and must be practical.

26. Always have more than one way to escape, more than one way to do something. Have a plan B and a plan C.

27. Everyday life, and especially life during a crisis, requires up-front systems and backup systems if the first line of defense, or the up-front system, fails.

28. Real education only takes place when change occurs in our attitudes, actions, and way of life.

29. Wisdom is making practical applications of what you know. It is not enough to know everything you need to know. It will only serve you and others if practical application is made of that knowledge.

30. Fix in your own mind the truth about your capabilities. In a crisis situation, this will keep you from being too cocky and will provide you with confidence.

31. Decide ahead of time, before a crisis arrives, how you will react in a given situation so that you are not swayed by the circumstances, the situation, or your emotions.

32. Beware of being spread too thin in your life. Decide on the few things in life that you must do and then do them well. Think focus versus distraction. Make sure that unimportant, non-essential distractions don’t keep you from achieving your important objectives.

33. Learn to quit wasting things. Be a good steward of all that God provides.

34. Buy an extra of everything you use regularly and set that extra one aside for the time when such items may be difficult or impossible to obtain.

35. In every situation, train yourself to look for what doesn’t fit, what’s out of place, and what doesn’t look right.

36. Teach your children, and learn this yourself, that you are not obligated to give information to strangers. You don’t have to answer questions that are none of their business, not even to government officials.

37. Sell or give away things you don’t use or need. Consider giving away or selling half of your stuff, the non-essentials. Simplify and streamline your life, lifestyle, and possessions.

38. Find someone who lived through the Great Depression and learn from them. Find out how they became self-sufficient, how they made do with very little, and how they found joy and contentment amid hard times.