When The S*** Hits the Fan

Archives for April 2016

What Will #Americans Do If Our Country Is #Invaded By Foreign Armies?

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This article is a continuation of How an Attack on America Would Probably Begin: Possible Courses Of Action By Foreign Military Powers

invasion-usa

In the last article we introduced the concept of an invasion by a foreign coalition on American soil.  Sure, we have all seen “Red Dawn” and other films that characterize an invasion by a foreign power or powers, and it is understandable that it is Hollywood.  That being said, what will happen in the United States if an invasion does occur, from the perspective of its citizenry?  Will there be a resistance, and if so, where?

We covered some potential actions of aggressor nations.  Hopefully everyone agrees on the fact that if we are invaded, the resources (in the form of food/crops, minerals, oil, and livestock) will be sought after.  Let’s turn our concentration of focus to geography, the second most important feature after human demographics.  Fortunately the United States is large and occupation will be extremely difficult.

The problem is twofold for an aggressor: how to kill off 90% of the population and enslave the rest without irradiating the whole shebang and obtaining only a Pyrrhic victory.  Firstly, let’s take a look at this photo that breaks down firearms ownership state by state:

gun-ownership

The way to make this photograph understood more readily is to take it further within your home state and multiply that percentage by the actual population of the state.  This will give you a “raw” number to estimate.  You can probably add about 10-15% to those numbers, as there will be plenty of weapons not recorded within the system.  Keep in mind: some states, such as Montana, are huge in area with a big percentage number, but the entire population of the state is just over a million people.  Twenty percent of California means a lot more guns than 60% in Montana.

Next, find those big cities in your home state that will probably be taken out, such as Washington, D.C., or New York City.  There are a number of different sites that allow you to enter in a city and the size of a weapon used against it to estimate the ring of destruction and the fallout patterns.  You can use these tools to come up with an idea of what will remain in your state after the initial strikes have been completed.

Geography has a huge say in the equation.  As I have mentioned in previous articles, the area of Northwestern Montana where I live is extremely remote; however, it holds a high level of strategic importance.  The East-West rails here for rail freight is a key crossing area of the Continental Divide.  Also, the Flathead Valley can be turned into a huge staging point for air operations with only minimal modification to existing airfields.

The mountainous regions of the United States will be areas that resistance elements will form up, hopefully with the aid of/aiding our own military.  The Appalachian Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Catskills, the Rockies of Colorado and Montana will be areas where citizens will gather, hide, and stage bases of operations to conduct reconnaissance and fight.  There are many urban locations of strategic importance (such as Indianapolis and New Orleans) that an invader can’t really afford to bomb that would also become centers of resistance.

A factor that also comes heavily into play is the time of the year that all of this is initiated.  Food larders and supplies are highest just before the wintertime, and the “tail” end month of winter with the first two months of spring are “shortage” months.  Traditionally there are hiatuses with campaigns to allow for the harvest in the fall and the planting in the spring.  Another factor is energy: as the winter draws to an end, fuel supplies such as oil and coal will not be in such high demand, and supplies will be on the rise.

The largest question has to do with the human factors: a desire to defend, the resolve to stick it out for a long period of occupation, and the shortages of men, materials, and supplies that may weaken the resolve of the citizenry.  There will probably be a great outpouring of people from the urban and suburban areas into the remote and rural areas.  The vast, open areas of the Midwest will be very difficult for us to hold onto, but fighting will most likely be conventional, as both sides will not want to destroy the nation’s breadbasket and a large portion of domestic oil production.

What may also be a factor to consider is the percentage of the alien population here illegally that will turn against the citizenry.  An angry “fifth column” that is equated more to a sea or flood of humanity can do a great deal of damage.  Surely their sympathies would lie with their countries of origin, if they were here illegally.  Once again, this will pose a major problem in the border states of Texas and the Southwest.

We have no way of monitoring what is currently coming across our borders, let alone what has crossed over in the past five decades or so.  As many readers have mentioned, a tremendous amount of materials (firearms, suitcase nukes, and so forth) have undoubtedly found their way across the borders (Southern and Northern) to be cached and used in a future operation or invasion.

The swamps, mountains, and forests will be paramount to any resistance that is undertaken.  During the Revolutionary War, there was that “3%” estimate of actual resistance.  Things will be a little different this time, as there are technological hurdles to overcome, such as drones, cameras, satellites, and other “niceties” in a society where almost everyone has their own little tracking “chip” in the form of a cellular telephone right in their pocket.  During the initial ouster of Viktor Yanukyovich in Ukraine the government was utilizing the cell phones to find out who was gathered and protesting their actions.

A fight would definitely be a long-term contest with the potential for years before either side secured a victory.  We will also discuss and explore what our own government would do in the event of an invasion: whether they would fight it or further enable it, the latter being the more probable of the two choices.  Your views and opinions on such possibilities are both welcomed and valued.

Jeremiah Johnson is the Nom de plume of a retired Green Beret of the United States Army Special Forces (Airborne).  Mr. Johnson is also a Gunsmith, a Certified Master Herbalist, a Montana Master Food Preserver, and a graduate of the U.S. Army’s SERE school (Survival Evasion Resistance Escape).  He lives in a cabin in the mountains of Western Montana with his wife and three cats. You can follow Jeremiah’s regular writings at SHTFplan.com or contact him here.

This article may be republished or excerpted with proper attribution to the author and a link to www.SHTFplan.com.

Also Read:

How an Attack on America Would Probably Begin: Possible Courses Of Action By Foreign Military Powers

How To Survive Occupied America: “Red Dawn Just Started… And You’re In It”

Collision Course: As Obama Weakens America, The Russians And Chinese Prepare

Report: Is China Preparing For a Land Of Invasion Of the West Coast Of the United States?

Russia’s Attack Posture: “The Enemy Must Be Destroyed Or Conquered; The Ultimate Soviet Objective Is Total Victory”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Venezuela Rations #Power to Avert Collapse: “Do You Think It Can’t Happen Here?”

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power-grid-attack

This article was written by Daisy Luther and originally published at The Organic Prepper.

Editor’s Comment: It is indeed difficult to imagine life in the United States without power, and with such severe shortages that the government would have to excuse away the shortfalls, and divvy out what remains with an iron fist… or is it?

On a daily basis, we here about how divided the world has become, how impoverished, and how close the economic system to collapse. Could it… really… happen here?

Venezuela Shows Us What an Electricity Shortage Looks Like

by Daisy Luther

The SHTF might be a lot more subtle than an EMP or a massive natural disaster. We preppers tend to think in black and white, but there are some gray threats out there that few are considering. What if, instead of a total power outage, our country suffered a serious electricity shortage?

That’s exactly what has been going on in Venezuela, since they don’t have enough problems running out of food and other supplies in a previous development of the excruciating economic collapse of the country.

In the latest installment of collapse propaganda, bus-driver-turned-Venezuelan-President Nicholas Maduro offered some beauty advice. He wants the women of Venezuela to stop using hair dryers to save electricity aside from special occasions. He said, “I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally. It’s just an idea I have.”

This sage advice came along with announcements of further cuts and suggestions. State employees will now have Fridays off for at least the next two months, and he also recommended that citizens make small changes, like “embracing the tropical heat and hanging clothes out to dry instead of using tumble dryers.” (source)

The electricity shortage has been going on for almost a year.

This isn’t a new issue, but a worsening one. In May of 2015, they tried to sugar coat the rationing of electricity by saying they were just being green. Vice President Jorge Arreaza explained:

 This is, of course, linked to global warming and the excessive industrialization of capitalism, which never stops, nor has ever stopped, for the effects that it can have on the climate, on society and on Mother Earth.

When the electricity concern began, public employees saw their work hours cut to 6 per day. Businesses were required to reduce their usage by 10% and new laws permitted police visits to inspect the businesses to ensure that they weren’t exceeding their allotments.

In February, citizens who were already facing shortages and long lines for items like cooking oil, laundry soap, diapers, and food were absolutely stunned when shopping centers were forced to shut off power from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and again from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in a measure to save electricity.

The rationing in Venezuela is a cautionary tale.

Here’s why we need to pay attention to what’s going on in Venezuela: It provides a modern-day glimpse into what an economic collapse really looks like, much like the collapse of Greece was a cautionary tale. These are both direct case studies of what happens to the middle class during an economic collapse.

Previously, I wrote about how it could happen here. (Excerpt)

These mandated power rations, the limited amounts of food, the government-funded snitches, the tracking, and most of all, the propaganda, are all what await us in an economic collapse situation. While the Venezuelan government will be facing no limits on their use of electrical power, the people will only be allowed allotted amounts.

Do you think it can’t happen here?  Consider the forced rationing of water amidst the drought in California. Rationing that only applies to regular folks, not wealthy people or massive corporations.

It’s obvious that the state really is in the midst of an epic drought. But conservation mandates are not applied equally, much like the electricity rationing in Venezuela.

Golf courses for the rich and famous remain lush and green, while wells across the state run dry. Ordinary people aren’t allowed to have lawns or to even have vegetable gardens, and newspapers are calling upon “good Samaritans” to snitch if they feel someone is wasting water. There’s even an app for that, and Smart Meters are in place to target wasters. (Unless they happen to be wealthy corporations, of course. They have different rules and snitching on them will do no good.)

One small community, Outingdale, just received word that strict rationing is now in effect. Residents will be allowed only 50 gallons per day, per person, and no outside watering of any kind will be permitted. This is not good news for folks who rely on their vegetable gardens for food. Meanwhile, the Nestle corporation is busy pumping out the state’s remaining water, bottling it, and selling it back to people for an enormous profit.

Anyway, back to electricity.

I’m reminded of the series, The Hunger Games, in which residents of the outlying districts are only allowed power when the Capitol deems they should have it, such as when they want to air propaganda “entertainment” to keep people in line.  In the movie, citizens of the Districts were relegated to cooking over open fires and lighting their rooms with candles.  No one had transportation or power.  They were not allowed to hunt to supplement their meager food allotments and in the heroine’s District, they were not allowed to use the coal the area was rich with.  Uniformed “peacekeepers” patrolled the districts to ensure that the rules were strictly adhered to and that the excruciating poverty was the standard for all residents.

With the widespread installation of mandatory Smart Meters, how difficult would it be to forcibly ration our electricity here?

They can already remotely turn off appliances they deem are using too much energy. At the press of a few keys on a central computer, our electricity usage could be monitored to make sure we stay within the designated limits, strictly slotted to only certain hours of the day, or even cut off entirely if we exceed our rations. It may not even be direct rationing that cuts us off, as it is in Venezuela. As prices of electricity keep climbing, how extreme is it to think that one of these days, electricity might only be for rich people?

However it goes down you can be sure that no one in the government will admit to mismanagement or a desire to enhance control and dependency. It will be couched in warm, fuzzy terms of saving the planet from carbon emissions, much like the propaganda coming out of Venezuela.  It’s easy for us to see it when it happens to them, but many people here are so deeply entrenched in cognitive dissonance that they’ll swallow the green pill with a smile, moving into their Agenda 21 microhomes and martyring themselves for the good of Team Green. (Find the original article HERE)

So…what if electricity was only for rich people?

It’s not that far-fetched, and if you don’t fall into the category of “rich people” it is definitely something you should prepare for.

What if the Big Event isn’t an EMP, but that no one could afford to pay the electric bill?  Power prices are going up – what if they rise to the point that it’s a choice between food and electricity?  What if the lights in the middle-class neighborhoods just start going out?

Let’s face it, if you really had to pick, you’d choose to feed your kids over having the lights on, right?

What a control mechanism that would be.

What better way to return to a “Lords and Serfs” lifestyle than the strong visible delineation of who has power and who does not?

The rationing of electricity or the lack of affordability would change life as we know it. Our society is incredibly dependent on the power grid, not only to keep us comfortable, but also to keep us entertained. We’ve grown soft.  As well, we depend on others having access to electricity to make our lives easier by keeping us fed and clothed, and by making the things we purchase easily accessible to us.

Here’s how to maintain your independence throughout an electricity shortage.

You don’t have to return to serfdom, though. The steps you take and the things you learn now can help you overcome any hardships presented by the lack of affordable “necessities.”

Learn to provide your own food.

If the stores are closed or supplies are limited because manufacturing plants can’t produce food, you’ll have to provide for yourself.

  • Grow a garden
  • Raise chickens and rabbits,
  • Join a food co-op,
  • Try hydroponics or aquaponics
  • Sprout seeds for added nourishment
  • Grow salad veggies in the windows
  • Preserve your harvest through canning and drying
  • Save your seeds so you can do it all again next year!

For more self-reliance information, be sure to check out this round-up manifesto with more than 300 resources!

Reduce your dependence on the power grid and use less.

If prices skyrocket, there are lots of things you can do to cut your usage. Before anyone starts arguing that this is “caving in” to the demands of those who are rationing power, (because there’s always someone who says that) sometimes it’s a matter of personal economic survival. Whoever survives, wins.

If it’s a matter of the price of power skyrocketing, your ability to use minimal electricity may allow you to still afford to use a freezer, a laptop, or a medical device. It only makes sense that the less dependent on the grid you are, the less you will be affected by a shortage.

  • Lights:  Solar garden lights, candles, kerosene lights
  • Cooking: Wood stove, nutritious home-canned meals that only require reheating, stock up on buckets of meals that only require the ability to boil water, cast-iron dutch ovens to use on the wood stove, sun oven, outdoor fireplace, meals that don’t require any cooking.
  • Refrigeration: Pack a large cooler with snow in the winter and use it indoors, get a plastic storage bench that is lockable to be used outdoors in the winter (the lock is to keep 4 legged critters out of it), root cellar for summer, using a spring or creek to keep perishables cool, change of eating habits in summer.  (See how this family lives without a refrigerator entirely.)
  • Water:  Back-up manual or solar pump for your well,  1-month supply of drinking water stored, water filtration system with extra filters, buckets along with a wagon or wheelbarrow for hauling water from a nearby source, rain barrels to collect water, direct the gray water from your washing machines to reservoirs for flushing or watering plants (Here’s a link to my book on water survival.)
  • Laundry: Hand wash, hang dry.
  • Entertainment: Solar chargers for small devices, read books, play games, engage in productive hobbies.
  • Heat: This assumes you have power. Without electricity, see the suggestions in the next section. Run the heat briefly to take the chill off. Keep blinds open if there is some solar gain, otherwise keep windows insulated against drafts to keep the heat in.
  • Keeping cool: Check out this article for ways to stay cool without using an air conditioner.

Find other ways to stay warm.

If you can’t afford to run your central heat, it’s important to have back-up methods for staying warm.

This article was written by Daisy Luther and originally published at The Organic Prepper.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

$3 #Trillion Black Hole Could Destroy Economy: “True Extent of #Pension Problem Has Been Obscured”

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global crisis

Yet another reason why taxes are going up,  cities and states are going broke, and the world is approaching financial implosion…

As if the world needed another dangerous and volatile factor in the mix of looming economic downturn.

Unfunded liabilities for pensions have been a problem for a while now, but as investors continue to face fleeting returns, many states and cities are facing the music… and when it stops, there won’t be enough money to go around.

Someone will lose their savings, their standard of living, their retirement and maybe their future. Others will be taxed to death to clean up the mess of the many places were the system is cracked, fissured and falling apart.

According to FT:

The US public pension system has developed a $3.4tn funding hole that will pile pressure on cities and states to cut spending or raise taxes to avoid Detroit-style bankruptcies.

[…] the collective funding shortfall of US public pension funds is three times larger than official figures showed, and is getting bigger.

Devin Nunes, a US Republican congressman, said: “It has been clear for years that many cities and states are critically underfunding their pension programmes and hiding the fiscal holes with accounting tricks.”

Mr Nunes…  added: “When these pension funds go insolvent, they will create problems so disastrous that the fund officials assume the federal government will have to bail them out.”

Large pension shortfalls have already played a role in driving several US cities, including Detroit in Michigan and San Bernardino in California, to file for bankruptcy. The fear is other cities will soon become insolvent due to the size of their pension deficits.

The inevitable result is, of course, tax increases and spending cuts – potentially on important and vital services.

Regardless, it is likely that many more governments will face bankruptcy and difficult choices… with the prevailing wisdom to kick the can down the road and pretend that funds will make extraordinary returns in the years to come despite continue misuse in schemes leveraging pensions in various funds and schemes….

Olivia Mitchell, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania said: “I do believe that US cities and towns will continue to suffer, and there will be additional bankruptcies following the examples of Detroit,” she said.

[…]

Mr Rauh’s study claims the “true extent” of funding problems in US public pension system has been obscured because plans calculate both their costs and liabilities on the assumption they will achieve returns of between 7 and 8 per cent a year. The academic believes this rate is “wildly optimistic and unlikely to be achieved”.

In a perfect world, all this stuff would have been responsibly managed, and the returns would be modest and predictable.

But in the real world, pension managers have run with Wall Street sharks; they invest in derivatives together, and when things turn upside down (as they tend to do), it isn’t the fund manager who is out, but the diffuse and de-personalized millions have their retirement built into a dangerous system.

As negative interest rates are still trending, it is an atmosphere that ripe for disaster.

If you have your nest egg in a pension, it might be a good idea to take a look at your options for getting out… if you even can.

The problem is that so many are held captive by this financial system, and the lot of us will face the consequences, while the usual suspects head for the exits.

Read more:

Warning: You May Be Next: 400,000 People Just Had Their Pensions Cut By 50%: “Going to Happen To The Rest Of Pensions in the United States”

Swelling State Debt and “Pension Tidal Wave” May Engulf Economy

Here Comes the Pain: Detroit To “Significantly Cut Vested Pensions” For Retirees

Pension Fund Ultimatum: A Haircut Looks Better Than a Beheading

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#NASA’s #Propaganda Campaign Wants You to Embrace the Militarization of Space

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Jake Anderson
April 11, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) We’ve seen quite a bit of NASA in the news recently. The latest photos of Pluto rattled up considerable excitement — and why not? The celestial body was dead not too long ago, heartlessly stripped of its 9th planet status. Now it’s back with a vengeance.

NASA made headlines again on Friday, when it announced a watershed mission to Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter that many scientists believe could harbor life in the oceans under its glacial surface.

Last year, coinciding with the cinematically poignant, if not propagandistic film, The Martian, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) unveiled its “Visions of the Future” project, a set of 14 posters meant to instill a new generation of Americans with a renewed interest in traveling to other planets and moons in the solar system and beyond.

The posters, made by the design company Invisible Creature, are fascinating. They depict a future in which advanced space travel has allowed humans to freely hop around the solar system; it is intrasolar space tourism of the highest order.

nasa-1-titan

The project saw NASA officials, scientists, engineers, public relations experts, and artists collaborating to imagine what the future of humanity could entail.

truth-cancer-ad

One particularly beautiful poster features humans in advanced hot air balloons touring Jupiter. The description reads:

“The Jovian cloudscape boasts the most spectacular light show in the solar system, with northern and southern lights to dazzle even the most jaded space traveler. Jupiter’s auroras are hundreds of times more powerful than Earth’s, and they form a glowing ring around each pole that’s bigger than our home planet.”

Other posters include an illustrative future history of Mars exploration; a journey through the clouds of Venus; a boat ride on Titan’s rivers and lakes of liquid ethane and methane; an undersea exhibit of the life forms under the ice of Europa; exoplanets with red vegetation; a dark orphan planet flying through the galaxy without a sun (“where the nightlife never ends”), and many more.

nasa-2-jupiter

The posters are undeniably inspired and sure to delight space buffs, science fiction fans, and children alike. More than a few people have noticed the strangely propagandistic feel of the posters. One writer even compared them aesthetically to the Atomic Age posters from the 20th century.

One of the artists responsible for creating the posters admitted the influence. “We were inspired by vintage travel posters, WPA-type posters from the 1930s and then all the way up to mid-century modern— 1940s, 1950s, 1960s,” he said.

There is certainly no denying that while these posters have an altruistic goal of getting a new generation interested in space travel, they are also greasing the wheels for new NASA budget proposals and the new age of the space-industrial complex. The agency, which many mistakenly believe has been on essential furlough since the moon landings, has actually been prolific in recent years, with unmanned missions to Jupiter, Pluto, and Mars. Currently, NASA is running very exciting, groundbreaking projects, including JUNO, DAWN, and the New Horizons mission to Pluto, which garnered over 10 million visits to the NASA government homepage.

That said, there have been considerable budget cuts in the last decades, with more to come. Since 1966, NASA’s budget has fallen from 4.41 percent of the federal budget to just 0.5 percent.

Despite the recent fantastic recent discoveries and NASA’s robust social media presence, there has been the perception that the agency’s missions have become “boring.” Rocket launches barely even make the news these days, and, until this decade, the only space endeavors that truly got people talking were images from Mars and speculation about life there. Many believed space travel was dead.

That is the perception NASA wants to overcome. Movies like The Martian — which NASA influenced heavily — and the “Visions of the Future” space tourism posters can be seen as ambitious moves to get the public excited about space exploration again. An excited public is a powerful leveraging tool for requesting more funds.

Some have noted that efforts by NASA to infiltrate popular culture are nothing new. The agency launched an entire series of novels called “NASA-Inspired Works of Fiction,” for which they conscripted science fiction authors to produce novels amenable to the new eclectic age of federally sponsored space travel. One of these novels, William Forstchen’s 2014 science fiction novel, “Pillar to the Sky,” for example, argues that bureaucratic slashes to the NASA budget are one of the biggest threats to humanity.

For the record, this is a textbook example of a psychological operation (psyop) — or a planned operation by the government meant to manipulate public opinion. Specifically, this would be classified as a “white psyop,” which is an official statement or act associated with a government source. To put it bluntly, it’s the nicest form of propaganda, as contrasted with grey and black psyops, which use varying gradations of subterfuge and covert operations. There are thousands of psyops being conducted around the world, some acknowledged, some top secret with classified government budgets.

The release of both the “Visions of the Future” series and The Martian coincided with NASA’s request of $19 billion to fund a manned mission to Mars. The request comes at a time when NASA is increasingly partnering with private companies to bolster the United States space apparatus. Earlier this year, the agency issued massive contracts to three companies — SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and Sierra Nevada Corporation — that will complete six cargo resupply missions for International Space Station (ISS) by 2024.

SpaceX, of course, is run by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk, who has openly said he wants the company to help enable the colonization of Mars. Last year, the company released its own Mars propaganda posters. Over the weekend, the company made headlines by successfully launching and delivering the first inflatable room for astronauts.

SpaceX-Valles-Mariners-4-12[Savy]

Orbital ATK is an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company that produces tactical missiles, defense electronics, and medium and large-caliber ammunition.

Sierra Nevada Corporation is an electronic systems provider and systems integrator specializing in microsatellites, telemedicine, and commercial orbital transportation services. In addition to the NASA contract, the United States Army contracted them to manufacture Mobile Tower Systems (MOTS) and help fund Gorgon Stare, a remotely controlled, aircraft-based Wide-Area Persistent Surveillance (WAPS) system. Since 2006, the United States military has awarded the company 65 contracts, totaling nearly $3 trillion.

That NASA’s functions are interwoven with the military-industrial complex should come as no surprise. Since its inception, the Pentagon has controlled the agency through an oversight committee, with the open goal of utilizing the space between Earth and the moon for strategic military operations. Space is widely considered to be the next frontier of warfare. The militarization of space in the coming decades will see tactical satellites capable of launching nukes, disarming weapons, and collecting vast amounts of surveillance data. Noam Chomsky calls it one of the biggest threats facing humanity.

How does this connect back to the “Visions of the Future” posters? To be fair, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting excited about space. We live in an incomprehensibly large universe with billions of galaxies, each one containing billions, and even trillions of stars. Our species has finally stepped off its front porch and is looking to venture out into the cosmos. While some might question whether the human species is safe — both to ourselves and others — leaving its home, we must colonize other planets in order to ensure the long-term survival of the species. We’re set to render our home planet uninhabitable, but that doesn’t mean splinter groups of humans might not someday live sustainably on a colony world (think big, folks!).

Though we are likely centuries away from traveling to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, there is a very real chance we will explore other planets in the solar system in the coming decades. As we rekindle our excitement about space, let’s keep in mind that NASA’s space technology will also allow us to wage wars and engage in planetary surveillance. With great promise comes great peril. As with artificial intelligence, biotechnology and countless other burgeoning fields with revolutionary potential, we must proceed with great caution. With space, especially, we must carefully consider the people to whom we’ve entrusted our explorations — or the human race could end up like George Clooney’s character in Gravity, metaphorically speaking.

This article (NASA’s Propaganda Campaign Wants You to Embrace the Militarization of Space) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Jake Anderson and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: NASA/SpaceX. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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This Viral #Green 4/20 #Moon Meme Is Everything That’s Wrong with the Internet

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One wonders about the education system…a funny joke that takes on a life of its own.

Claire Bernish
April 11, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Apparently, the internet can’t take a joke. After weathering an increasingly cynical and cantankerous general populace on April Fool’s Day, a friend of mine crafted a satirical meme about a Green Moon ostensibly occurring on April 20 — but once the meme began to go viral, it quickly became clear the joke had gone, well, laughably awry. Along with the image of an intensely green-tinted moon, the meme reads:

“On April 20th 2016 several planets are going to align which will cause the Earth’s moon to appear green for about 90 minutes. This phenomenon is known as ‘Green Moon’ and only happens once every 420 years. Please share this event.”

green-moon

Intended as satire for what’s known by cannabis enthusiasts as Weed Day, the internet, for the most part, missed the obvious reference — though that didn’t entirely surprise the meme’s creator, Johnny Liberty (yes, that’s an obvious pseudonym, but in light of the topic at hand, I feel it must be said).

What began as a request from his brother for a cannabis-themed green moon meme — in the same vein as common memes heralding Blood Moons, Pink Moons, and the like — turned into a humorous challenge when he jokingly suggested I share it to see how many people would be fooled.

I bet him it would take three minutes for someone to take it seriously — it took twelve — but that wasn’t the end of it. Not by far.

truth-cancer-ad

Without rhyme or reason, the meme went viral. Incredibly viral. Posted in the evening on April 2, in just five hours the meme had been shared from my personal Facebook profile over 900 times. When it hit the eleven-hour mark, the number had jumped to over 2,300 and was growing exponentially — with a rather embarrassing number of people taking it seriously.

In fact, we were so astonished at its ‘success’ rate, Johnny opted to post the Green Moon on a Facebook page with millions of followers — just to see what would happen. In eight days, the meme had accumulated more than 10,000 shares from my timeline and well over 400,000 from the large page — but even that wasn’t the end of it.

To our mutual bewilderment, the Green Moon meme became the subject of ostensible debunking by the mainstream media. Yahoo News, International Business Times, CNet, Inquisitr, Mic, and others have now all printed articles supposedly hoax-slaying the meme that was never a hoax to begin with. Though some of those outlets appeared to grasp the funny, the fact a joke meme necessitated such articles is a terribly troubling commentary far beyond people’s gullibility. All joking aside, it unintentionally turned the meme into a telling social experiment.

“I can’t believe it. I still can’t believe it,” Johnny told me, laughing, when I interviewed him for this article. When he created the cannabis-themed meme, he hadn’t been aware of an unrelated moon meme arbitrarily claiming the moon will turn green on May 29, which had been posted by a Facebook user on March 25 — though we both learned of that meme when people posted its debunking by Snopes on the cannabis version.

Incidentally, Snopes has since included the April 20 date from Johnny’s meme in its post about Green Moons, but failed in its research by assuming it was simply another derivation of the post with the May 29 date.

“You know, I made the moon meme right in the wake of that whole April Fool’s thing, and The Free Thought Project, Anti-Media, and several outlets put out joke stories — and people were very, very mad. There was a lot of anger in response to the April Fool’s jokes,” he explained. Past experience with a mathematically-inaccurate meme going incredibly viral and satirical April Fool’s Day articles being shared tens of thousands of times appeared to prove, he explained, that people will share anything — without even reading an article or critically considering information presented in a meme.

Asked whether he views this more as a symptom of the so-called dumbing down of our society or just unadulterated laziness, Johnny theorized:

“In my opinion … there’s a part of this that’s just intellectual laziness. A lot of people watch television, and they get information just spoon-fed to them — so they see a meme or they see a headline” that catches their eye, and people will blindly share it “without doing any independent research, whatsoever; and that’s got to change, as a society.”

People, he lamented, seem to have lost the drive to bother with researching information for themselves — and that’s likely due to the education system’s emphasis on regurgitating information and agenda-driven corporate media’s regimented, governmental narrative.

“I made [the Green Moon meme] so it would be blatantly obvious it was a joke,” he continued. “I could not have made it any more obvious it was a joke.” Johnny said he even captioned the meme on the large Facebook page, “Seems legit,” and included three laughing, tear-faced emojis for emphasis — but the top comment, itself garnering over 1,000 likes, was made by someone who had taken the meme seriously.

“I find it incredibly funny that this joke, my little joke — which maybe took me five minutes to throw together — turned into a pretty hilarious social experiment,” Johnny said.

Mic thought itself clever with its theory on the motivation for his meme, saying, “Perhaps out of preemptive excitement, a Weed Day partaker got high and decided to spread an astronomical rumor about the moon turning green on April 20 — as if the cosmos wanted to vicariously celebrate the wonders of marijuana with us.”

When I asked Johnny to comment on this notion, he stated, er, bluntly, “Why does there always have to be some deep-seated reasoning? Don’t people just tell jokes anymore?”

‘Nope,’ the internet apparently replied.

This article (This Viral Green 4/20 Moon Meme Is Everything That’s Wrong with the Internet) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Claire Bernish and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

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Rich Flee #Chicago Amid Racial Strife, Civil #Unrest: “Turning Into A Crime Infested Hell Hole”

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This article was written by Joshua Krause and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Editor’s Comment: Those who pull the strings are apt to push racial division and general chaos, as the economic avalanche falls in on the population at large. Uncertain about why finances and money become so difficult, most will fall into the trap of faction-vs-faction on the streets, as the elite helicopter away on profits derived from our general demise.

Taxpayer bailouts, harsher regulations, and more and more policing of every aspect of life would soon follow. If Chicago goes the way of Detroit, it will be not only because of crime and racial tension, but because the jobs, the opportunity and the future have all been shipped overseas and sold off to the highest bidder.

Millionaires Fearing Civil Unrest Are Fleeing Chicago By The Thousands

by Joshua Krause

As time goes on the city of Chicago is rapidly turning into a crime infested hell hole, rife with poverty, debt, and racial tension. The city is well on its way to joining the likes of Detroit, and there may be no escaping that eventuality. That’s why many of the city’s wealthy elites are getting the hell out of there.

The Chicago Tribune reports that roughly 3,000 millionaires have left the city over the past year alone, which amounts to about 2 percent of their wealthy population. This is the largest exodus of wealthy people in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. Paris and Rome are the only cities that lost more millionaires than Chicago in the same time period.

According to research, many of these elites are relocating to other cities in the United States such as Seattle and San Francisco, which saw a net inflow of millionaires over the past year. When asked about why they were leaving Chicago, most of these millionaires cited racial tension and rising crime rates.

If you happen to live in Chicago, take a hint from the people with insider knowledge and connections, and get out while you still can.

—–

Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger .

This article was written by Joshua Krause and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

 

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Venezuela Shows Us What an #Electricity Shortage Looks Like

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April 11, 2016

The SHTF might be a lot more subtle than an EMP or a massive natural disaster. We preppers tend to think in black and white, but there are some gray threats out there that few are considering. What if, instead of a total power outage, our country suffered a serious electricity shortage?

That’s exactly what has been going on in Venezuela, since they don’t have enough problems running out of food and other supplies in a previous development of the excruciating economic collapse of the country.

In the latest installment of collapse propaganda, bus-driver-turned-Venezuelan-President Nicholas Maduro offered some beauty advice. He wants the women of Venezuela to stop using hair dryers to save electricity aside from special occasions. He said, “I always think a woman looks better when she just runs her fingers through her hair and lets it dry naturally. It’s just an idea I have.”

This sage advice came along with announcements of further cuts and suggestions. State employees will now have Fridays off for at least the next two months, and he also recommended that citizens make small changes, like “embracing the tropical heat and hanging clothes out to dry instead of using tumble dryers.” (source)

The electricity shortage has been going on for almost a year.

This isn’t a new issue, but a worsening one. In May of 2015, they tried to sugar coat the rationing of electricity by saying they were just being green. Vice President Vice President Jorge Arreaza explained:

 “This is, of course, linked to global warming and the excessive industrialization of capitalism, which never stops, nor has ever stopped, for the effects that it can have on the climate, on society and on Mother Earth.”

When the electricity concern began, public employees saw their work hours cut to 6 per day.Businesses were required to reduce their usage by 10% and new laws permitted police visits to inspect the businesses to ensure that they weren’t exceeding their allotments.

In February, citizens who were already facing shortages and long lines for items like cooking oil, laundry soap, diapers, and food were absolutely stunned when shopping centers were forced to shut off power from 1:00 to 3:00 pm and again from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in a measure to save electricity.

The rationing in Venezuela is a cautionary tale.

Here’s why we need to pay attention to what’s going on in Venezuela: It provides a modern day glimpse into what an economic collapse really looks like, much like the collapse of Greece was a cautionary tale. These are both direct case studies of what happens to the middle class during an economic collapse.

Previously, I wrote about how it could happen here. (Excerpt)

These mandated power rations, the limited amounts of food, the government-funded snitches, the tracking, and most of all, the propaganda, are all what await us in an economic collapse situation. While the Venezuelan government will be facing no limits on their use of electrical power, the people will only be allowed allotted amounts.

Do you think it can’t happen here?  Consider the forced rationing of water amidst the drought in California. Rationing that only applies to regular folks, not wealthy people or massive corporations.

It’s obvious that the state really is in the midst of an epic drought. But conservation mandates are not applied equally, much like the electricity rationing in Venezuela.

Golf courses for the rich and famous remain lush and green, while wells across the state run dry. Ordinary people aren’t allowed to have lawns or to even have vegetable gardens, and newspapers are calling upon “good Samaritans” to snitch if they feel someone is wasting water. There’s even an app for that, and Smart Meters are in place to target wasters (Unless they happen to be wealthy corporations, of course. They have different rules and snitching on them will do no good.)

One small community, Outingdale, just received word that strict rationing is now in effect. Residents will be allowed only 50 gallons per day, per person, and no outside watering of any kind will be permitted. This is not good news for folks who rely on their vegetable gardens for food. Meanwhile, the Nestle corporation is busy pumping out the state’s remaining water, bottling it, and selling it back to people for an enormous profit.

Preppers Market

Anyway, back to electricity.

I’m reminded of the series, The Hunger Games, in which residents of the outlying districts are only allowed power when the Capitol deems they should have it, such as when they want to air propaganda “entertainment” to keep people in line.  In the movie, citizens of the Districts were relegated to cooking over open fires and lighting their rooms with candles.  No one had transportation or power.  They were not allowed to hunt to supplement their meager food allotments and in the heroine’s District, they were not allowed to use the coal the area was rich with.  Uniformed “peacekeepers” patrolled the districts to ensure that the rules were strictly adhered to and that the excruciating poverty was the standard for all residents.

With the widespread installation of mandatory Smart Meters, how difficult would it be to forcibly ration our electricity here?

They can already remotely turn off appliances they deem are using too much energy. At the press of a few keys on a central computer, our electricity usage could be  monitored to make sure we stay within the designated limits, strictly slotted to only certain hours of the day, or even cut off entirely if we exceed our rations. It may not even be direct rationing that cuts us off, as it is in Venezuela. As prices of electricity keep climbing, how extreme is it to think that one of these days, electricity might only be for rich people?

However it goes down you can be sure that no one in the government will admit to mismanagement or a desire to enhance control and dependency. It will be couched in warm, fuzzy terms of saving the planet from carbon emissions, much like the propaganda coming out of Venezuela.  It’s easy for us to see it when it happens to them, but many people here are so deeply entrenched in cognitive dissonance that they’ll swallow the green pill with a smile, moving into theirAgenda 21 microhomes and martyring themselves for the good of Team Green. (Find the original article HERE)

So…what if electricity was only for rich people?

It’s not that far-fetched, and if you don’t fall into the category of “rich people” it is definitely something you should prepare for.

What if the Big Event isn’t an EMP, but that no one could afford to pay the electric bill?  Power prices are going up – what if they rise to the point that it’s a choice between food and electricity?  What if the lights in the middle-class neighborhoods just start going out?

Let’s face it, if you really had to pick, you’d choose to feed your kids over having the lights on, right?

What a control mechanism that would be.

What better way to return to a “Lords and Serfs” lifestyle than the strong visible delineation of who has power and who does not?

The rationing of electricity or the lack of affordability would change life as we know it. Our society is incredibly dependent on the power grid, not only to keep us comfortable, but also to keep us entertained. We’ve grown soft.  As well, we depend on others having access to electricity to make our lives easier by keeping us fed and clothed, and by making the things we purchase easily accessible to us.

Here’s how to maintain your independence throughout an electricity shortage.

You don’t have to return to serfdom, though. The steps you take and the things you learn now can help you overcome any hardships presented by the lack of affordable “necessities.”

Learn to provide your own food.

If the stores are closed or supplies are limited because manufacturing plants can’t produce food, you’ll have to provide for yourself.

  • Grow a garden
  • Raise chickens and rabbits,
  • Join a food co-op,
  • Try hydroponics or aquaponics
  • Sprout seeds for added nourishment
  • Grow salad veggies in the windows
  • Preserve your harvest through canning and drying
  • Save your seeds so you can do it all again next year!

For more self-reliance information, be sure to check out this round-up manifesto with more than 300 resources!

Reduce your dependence on the power grid and use less.

If prices skyrocket, there are lots of things you can do to cut your usage. Before anyone starts arguing that this is “caving in” to the demands of those who are rationing power, (because there’s always someone who says that) sometimes it’s a matter of personal economic survival. Whoever survives, wins.

If it’s a matter of the price of power skyrocketing, your ability to use minimal electricity may allow you to still afford to use a freezer, a laptop, or a medical device. It only makes sense that the less dependent on the grid you are, the less you will be affected by a shortage.

  • Lights:  Solar garden lights, candles, kerosene lights
  • Cooking: Wood stove, nutritious home-canned meals that only require reheating, stock up on buckets of meals that only require the ability to boil water, cast-iron dutch ovens to use on the wood stove, sun oven, outdoor fireplace, meals that don’t require any cooking.
  • Refrigeration: Pack a large cooler with snow in the winter and use it indoors, get a plastic storage bench that is lockable to be used outdoors in the winter (the lock is to keep 4 legged critters out of it), root cellar for summer, using a spring or creek to keep perishables cool, change of eating habits in summer.  (See how this family lives without a refrigerator entirely.)
  • Water:  Back-up manual or solar pump for your well,  1 month supply of drinking water stored, water filtration system with extra filters, buckets along with a wagon or wheelbarrow for hauling water from a nearby source, rain barrels to collect water, direct the gray water from your washing machines to reservoirs for flushing or watering plants (Here’s a link to my book on water survival.)
  • Laundry: Hand wash, hang dry.
  • Entertainment: Solar chargers for small devices, read books, play games, engage in productive hobbies.
  • Heat: This assumes you have power. Without electricity, see the suggestions in the next section. Run the heat briefly to take the chill off. Keep blinds open if there is some solar gain, otherwise keep windows insulated against drafts to keep the heat in.
  • Keeping cool: Check out this article for ways to stay cool without using an air conditioner.

Find other ways to stay warm.

If you can’t afford to run your central heat, it’s important to have back-up methods for staying warm.

Methods that use fuel:

  • Wood Heat: Everyone’s favorite off-grid heating method is a fireplace or woodstove. The fuel is renewable and you have the added bonus of an off-grid cooking method. If you have wood heat, make sure you have a good supply of seasoned firewood that is well-protected from the elements.
  • Propane Heaters:  I own a Little Buddy heater.  These small portable heaters are considered safe for indoor use in 49 states.  They attach to a small propane canister and use 2 oz. of fuel per hour to make 100 square feet extremely warm and toasty.  A battery-operated carbon monoxide alarm provides an extra measure of safety when using these heaters indoors. This isn’t a great long-term option though, since propane might also be hard to come by.
  • Kerosene/Oil Heaters:  Kerosene heaters burn a wick for heat, fuelled by the addition of heating oil.  These heaters really throw out the warmth.  A brand new convection kerosene heater like this one can heat up to 1000 square feet efficiently.  Click here to read more information about the different types of kerosene heaters that are available.
  • Natural Gas Fireplaces:  Some gas-fueled fireplaces will work when the electrical power is off – they just won’t blow out heat via the fan.
  • Pellet Stove:   Most pellet stoves require electricity to run, but there are a few of these high-efficiency beauties that will work without being plugged in.

If you have no secondary heat source, no fuel, or limited fuel, the following options can help.

  • Heat only one room.  One year, our furnace went out the day before Christmas. We huddled into a small room with just one window.  We closed the door to the bedroom and used a folded quilt at the bottom to better insulate the room.  If you don’t have a door to the room you’ve opted to take shelter in, you can hang heavy quilts  or blankets in the doorways to block it off from the rest of the house.
  • Cover your windows.  You can use a plastic shower curtain and duct tape, topped by a heavy quilt to keep the wind from whistling through your windows.  Take down the quilt if it’s sunny outside for some solar gain, then cover it back up as dark falls.
  • Light candles.  Even the small flames from candles can add warmth to a small area.  Be sure to use them safely by keeping them out of the reach of children and housing them in holders that won’t tip over easily.
  • Use kerosene lamps.  Those charming old-fashioned lamps can also add warmth to the room.
  • Use sleeping bags.  Cocooning in a sleeping bag conserves body heat better than simply getting under the covers.
  • Have a camp-out.  This works especially well when you have children because it adds an element of fun to an otherwise stressful situation.  Pitch a tent in your closed off room, get inside with a flashlight, and tell stories.  When you combine your body heat in a tiny space like that, you’ll stay much warmer.
  • Get cooking. If you have a propane or gas stove in the kitchen, your cooking method may not require electricity.  So bake a cake, roast a turkey, or simmer a soup. You can use it to warm the room while making a hot, delicious feast.
  • Heat some rocks.  Do you have a place outdoors for a campfire?  If so, put some large rocks around the edges of it.  They retain heat for hours.  When it’s bedtime, carefully place the rocks into a cast iron Dutch oven and bring this into the room you’re going to be sleeping in.  Be sure to protect your floor or surface from the heat of the Dutch oven. The stones will passively emit heat for several hours without the potential of a fire or carbon monoxide poisoning during the night.

Prep.

An electricity shortage doesn’t end with lack of lights at the flick of a switch. It can have very broad ramifications, such as a harsh cutback on manufacturing, transportation, and retail outlets. Make sure you have your preps in order with long-term emergency food, a well-stocked pantry, back-up plans, and non-food necessities. Take lessons from the way folks survived the last Great Depression and use their hard-won wisdom to survive the next one.

The great thing about prepping is that your general efforts will see you through a wide variety of disasters, even those which gradually creep up on you, like energy shortages.

Do you have any suggestions about reducing your reliance on the utility system? How would you foresee an electricity shortage affecting the average person? Share your insights in the comments below!

Preppers Market Brick Wall LB Disaster

CEO Keith #Neumeyer Warns: “There’s Going To Be a Major Revolt… We’re Going To See Riots”

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With negative interest rates now the order of the day in much of the Western world, it’s only a matter of time before financial institutions start charging American depositors for the privilege of keeping their money safe in the U.S. banking system.

And according to Keith Neumeyer in his latest interview with SGT Report, that could spell disaster for socio-economic stability. Neumeyer, who is the CEO of one of the world’s top primary silver producers First Majestic Silver and the Chairman of mineral bank firm First Mining Finance, says that should The Fed and government policy makers implement negative interest rates and continue on their current course of bailing out big business while impoverishing average Americans, we could well see riots in the streets.

Negative interest rates are a way that governments are trying to tax the people… it’s going to start with big corporations that have a lot of cash sitting around in the banks and then it’s going to trickle down to the average person on the street… the people that get hurt are the small investor… the people that could least afford it…  the retired people that rely on their interest on their savings that they expected to have… this is all changing… the world is changing…

I think there’s going to be a major revolt… If we actually do see negative interest rates in North America…  we’re going to see riots. 


(Watch At Youtube)

The Fed has lost credibility. And that has left the average person on the street with an air of uncertainty and concern over the stability of the system.

This, says Neumeyer, is why many investors, both large and small, have started turning to tangible assets as a safe haven.

The Fed is losing credibility… there’s talk of negative interest rates… people are looking to gold now as a safe haven to be in as protection against these major forces that are occurring in the world.

But it’s not just the retail investor that is terrified of the consequences of Fed policy.

We’re seeing State mining companies go on an acquisition spree looking around the world for gold mines to buy. They are very bottom-up players… very long-term players… a lot of the people we’re talking to are actually looking to buy gold mines…

Of course there’s the institutional investor and retail investor who wants to have the physical gold…

Last year Neumeyer warned that a global reset is in the cards for sure and urged investors to start positioning themselves for that eventuality. He also famously penned an open letter to the CFTC highlighting the rampant manipulation in the system in which he claimed that a small concentration of market players were attempting to control the price of silver through paper trading.

But that manipulation will eventually become ineffective, he says, because industrial and retail demand for physical silver will overwhelm the paper markets:

I’m a believer in the market. We go through phases where we have imperfections… and that’s one of the areas now that we have a price fixing mechanism that is very inefficient… it is very damaging to the miners… it’s damaging for investors who believe the metal should be at higher prices… so as long as the regulators allow the banks to sell unlimited amounts of silver and gold, I’m not sure if the system can ever be fixed on its own.

What I think is going to happen is there will simply be a physical shortage of metal. We’re consuming more silver today than we ever have as a human race. The use of silver is climbing each year. We’ve seen production in 2015 drop from 2014 in silver. It looks like 2016 is going to be another year for lower silver production as well.

Silver is a very rare metal and people don’t understand that. We’re currently mining on a global basis 10 ounces of silver for every 1 ounce of gold.

That’s a shocking number.

We’re trading at 80-to-1 [silver-to-gold]. So how can you possibly trade at 80-to-1 and be mining at 10-to-1. That relationship cannot possibly last.

… The regulators are sitting on their hands… the banks are making too much money… there’s no incentive to change the system… but it will be a supply squeeze that will eventually change the system.

As SGT Report echos, there is no incentive for them to change the system except for the time when people actually do reach their boiling point and start to march in the streets because they’ve been thrown under the bus for much too long.

And when those riots do start, just as Zero Hedge previously reported during the Greek riots, the price of physical precious metals versus the bank manipulated paper prices will skyrocket. In 2010 the price difference between the two was as high as 40% above the paper spot price as Greeks scrambled for real money in the midst of their country’s collapse.

Things will be no different in America when a jobless, hungry, and marginalized majority takes to the streets. When that comes to pass we will see the real value of physical silver and gold emerge, and you can be almost certain that it will be significantly higher than the suppressed paper prices the banks want us to believe.

For more interviews, breaking news and commentary visit SGT Report.

Click here to learn more about CEO and Chairman Keith Neumeyer.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Japan to Force Tourists to Use “#Fingerprints As Currency” For All Transactions

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This article was written by Melissa Dykes and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Editor’s Comment: Tourists –not suspected terrorists – will have to give their fingerprints to travel, shop and stay in Japan, making clear that the future will use your own body to control your actions in society. Control is the future, unless we avert it.

There is every attempt to force a global society into using biometrics to ID and complete all transactions. If they succeed, it is a society where rights will be abolished, every transaction is monitored and privacy is an insider’s joke about the past. Subsequently, the population will become completely dependent on the system for their livelihoods.

More Cashless Society: Japan to Force All Tourists to Use Fingerprints as Currency

by Melissa Dykes

Ever wanted to visit Japan?

Well be prepared to give your fingerprints as currency practically everywhere you go when you do.

According to fresh reports like this one out of Japan News:

Starting this summer, the government will test a system in which foreign tourists will be able to verify their identities and buy things at stores using only their fingerprints.

The government hopes to increase the number of foreign tourists by using the system to prevent crime and relieve users from the necessity of carrying cash or credit cards. It aims to realize the system by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The experiment will have inbound tourists register their fingerprints and other data, such as credit card information, at airports and elsewhere.

japanesefingerprintcurrency

Some banks, like the Aeon Bank, already forgo ATM cards for fingerprints in Japan.

Now everywhere a tourist could spend money, from the hotels they sleep in to the stores they buy stuff in, will come equipped with a special device that will require them to place two fingers on a pad and have their fingerprint scanned and verified as if they are a criminal in order just to buy something.

The data, managed by the government, will be converted to “anonymous big data” to “devise policies on tourism”.

The government hopes “the experiment,” which will start in 300 hotels and shops, will be successful and spread across the entire country by 2020 when people from all over the world will be visiting Japan for the Olympics.

Related Reads

PayPal Uses Slick Super Bowl Ad to Promote Cashless Society

Cashless Control Grid: 25% of Australians Would Get a Chip Implanted in Them to Pay for Stuff

Here It Comes: Denmark Moving to a Totally Cashless Society

——-

This article was written by Melissa Dykes and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Melissa Dykes is a writer, researcher, and analyst for The Daily Sheeple and a co-creator of Truthstream Media with Aaron Dykes, a site that offers teleprompter-free, unscripted analysis of The Matrix we find ourselves living in. Melissa also co-founded Nutritional Anarchy with Daisy Luther of The Organic Prepper, a site focused on resistance through food self-sufficiency. Wake the flock up!

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

The Real Reason American Cities Have #Lead in the Water Supply: “Humans Have Been Written Off”

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Image: Luuva, Creative Commons

Yet another public water supply has been found tainted with toxic lead from corrosive pipes.

It is no surprise to watch crumbling rust belt cities under siege by corrosive, tainted and dangerous lead pipes, though it is tragic.

Cincinnati, like Flint, has a major lead issue in its public water supply. Cassius Kamarampi writes:

Cincinnati city officials sent out letters to 16,000 residents this week, informing them that much of the city’s water transporting pipes are still made of lead.

The message is kind of contradictory, admitting the pipes are problematic, while assuring residents that it’s safe because they have a “successful lead corrosion control program.”

According to Cincinnati.com:

City leaders here in Cincinnati don’t want citizens to panic. Greater Cincinnati Water Works closely monitors its water and has never had a lead violation, according to officials. Cincinnati has had a successful lead corrosion control program that has protected customers for years.

But the pipes’ mere existence can cause a threat, officials confirm.

[…]

The elected bureaucrats of Flint, Michigan hesitated to inform residents about contaminated water for as long as they possibly could; knowing how officials can be, is this a sign that Cincinnati water is already dangerous?

The corruption is inherent. Shady politicians, crumbling infrastructure, diverted funds and negligence, pure and simple.

They don’t care about these people whatsoever.

The impoverished people in these cities don’t just lack clean water, necessary to basic life, they do so in the face of mounting evidence of lead’s toxicity, in particular to the brain, where it is has often been associated with inducing violence and reducing IQ dramatically.

As you can see in this report, Cincinnati officials have known for some time, but insist that the lead pipe situation is under control:

Yet, unsurprisingly, these institutions have failed to care about the tainted water they are delivering to their constituents, and only reluctantly dealing with it after it becomes a scandal. They are the same agencies who have insisted that fluoride is safe and necessary, patronizingly grinning that it is good for teeth and patting the heads of riled up disagreers who don’t know any better.

These powers that be, which go well beyond mere agencies and institutions, don’t care. These cities are filled with people they have written off. Underemployed, often desperate, many of them minorities. Useless eaters. The kind of harsh words they reserve for their smoke-filled back rooms, while promoting welfare and handouts for everyone. It doesn’t seem to do much to help around here. The papers wrote openly of putting a sterilant in the water supply in these cities.

The manufacturing base of the United States was based there, and in boom-time in the 50s and 60s, it was one of the most decent places to be. Seemingly, just about everyone had a good job, including minority communities. Assembly lines in the factories was hard work, and people weren’t always respected, but it was nothing compared to the sudden implosion that happened to cities like Detroit and Cleveland when all the jobs went overseas. The tainted water supply is just a symptom of that.

The politicians and corporate bosses all made excuses and promise of future prosperity under NAFTA, GATT, WTO and similar agreements. But with the Trans-Pacific Partnership underway and the race to the bottom a foregone conclusion, it is evident that the terms of “free trade” have tended towards those constructing global jurisdiction and carving out transaction flows at the worldwide and digital levels.

Ordinary people are watching themselves get squeezed. There’s no reason to think the jobs are coming back. The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing dollars accounted for 94% of market action since 2009, and most of that money went straight to the top of the biggest banks and trans-national corporations.

Immigration has been weaponized to destroy jobs and divide Americans along ideological fissure points, so that they aren’t paying attention to the larger shafting by the monetary powers, who hold the true control over society. Ferguson and related events show us how far that divide goes today.

Robotics and automation are poised to wipe out every meaningful opportunity for mass employment, while tax structure and infrastructure investment have discouraged entrepreneurs.

In short, society is collapsing, and they don’t care about us anymore.

The entire system is corporate creating a channel of power over the functions of government. The rules are quickly changing, and almost no one is prepared to handle the challenges ahead.

Human labor has been declared obsolete, and people are being reported as a negative asset. Someday they won’t be maintaining the suburbs, either.

Stay or become vigilant, dynamic, prepared and self-reliant for whatever is ahead.

Read more:

“Man Made Water Disaster”: National Guard Take Water Door-to-Door in Contaminated Michigan

Water Wars: What It Will Be Like When Your Tap Runs Dry

“It’s Spreading”: US Census Reports Nearly 100 Million Poor in America; Worst Conditions in Fifty Years

The Age of Machines and Unemployment: “Robots Could Steal 80 Million US Jobs”

Our City Water Supplies Aren’t As Secure As You May Think

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Prepare For #Market Shock And Awe: Three Ways To Take Advantage Of The Coming #Silver Surge

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silver-eagles

Mass layoffs and closures aren’t just a phenomenon in the oil industry. In a new micro-documentary from Future Money Trends trend analyst Daniel Ameduri explains that anemic economic demand has driven major mining companies around the globe to reduce operations in the mining of copper, zinc and other base metals. And because these operations are responsible for the secondary mining of one of the world’s most necessary precious metals, as mines close their doors we will see a massive supply crunch in silver.

Coupled with silver’s demand as a hedge against monetary instability, Ameduri says silver is set to rise to $100 per ounce or more over the next 24 months. Those who understand that economic calamity is set to pillage wealth across the globe once again can take advantage of this opportunity and not only protect their assets, but grow them significantly. In the following must-see video you’ll learn why core fundamentals and investor psychology will drive silver to new highs, as well as three strategies you can implement now to take advantage of the market shock and awe to follow:

When you look at the driver for demand… industrial and monetary… it is only going to increase dramatically between now and 2020… The equation is simple for prudent investors. Silver supply over the next two to three years could decline dramatically. And in all likelihood physical demand is going to hit records.


(Watch at Youtube)

With around 800 million ounces being mined yearly and over one billion ounces in demand, precious metals and silver specifically could see monstrous gains in an environment where everything else is wiped out.

After the Panic of 2008 investors and concerned citizens around the world began shifting capital into precious metals. Within a few years silver rose to $50 an ounce, a level not seen since the fallout of the economic recession of the late 1970’s. Earlier this year, as stocks around the world tanked and investors sold everything that wasn’t nailed down, precious metals companies actually rose in value, with some seeing 100%-plus gains in just a couple months.

The trend is clear. When the world goes into panic mode, money flows into the safe haven assets of last resort. This bodes well for silver for a number of reasons:

If we remain at current prices with silver below $20 per ounce, the world is going to face a major supply disruption in a key resource that we all use on a daily basis… we are all silver dependent since this precious metal is in your phone, computer and even the electrical lines that are powering all of your technology.

Silver is used for health care, pharmaceutical, water treatment, solar electrical grids, vehicles, bandages, RFID, weaponry and thousands of other every day uses.

However, the biggest increase in demand is coming from physical investment demand. With negative interest rates and a global depression unfolding, physical demand is surging.

Future Money Trends highlights three specific strategies for taking advantage of the coming surge in silver and includes a notable insider strategy that is being gobbled up by some of the world’s most well known resource investors:

1. A silver portfolio must start with physical silver. This is either in coins like the American Eagle or Canadian Maple Leaf, or bullion bars and rounds, ideally from a government mint or a long-standing bullion company. To get the best price avoid any numismatic coins or higher priced premium products. Buy as close to the spot price as possible by acquiring silver in 100 ounce to 500 ounce increments.

2. Own high quality primary silver producing companies. Our top suggestion is First Majestic Silver trading on the New York Stock Exchange under AG. They have six silver producing mines, two advanced stage silver projects, and are soon set to achieve an annual production of 20 million ounces of silver. AG is one of the lowest cost producers with an all-in sustaining cost of approximately $11 per ounce. First Majestic is the purest publicly traded silver producer, generating 69% of its revenues from silver.

3. Do what the insiders are doing. Our third recommendation is truly an insider’s play in the industry. This includes shareholders like Eric Sprott, Rick Rule, Doug Casey, and Marin Katusa. This may not be for everybody, so we suggest viewers go to FutureMoneyTrends.com/Silver2016 to learn more.

Looking at silver’s past moves and history we are expecting to see shock and awe in the markets as our forecast for the rising silver price plays out.

We’ve seen the trend repeated throughout history. When uncertainty grips the investment world and most are left without any idea of how to protect their assets and wealth, those who have positioned themselves in precious metals ahead of crisis have benefited greatly.

For more videos like this one visit Future Money Trends.

Learn the strategy being used by top investment insiders to profit from the coming bull market in silver.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Survival Saturday: Income #Tax Is Our Biggest Expense, Tech Addiction Soars, and Monsanto May Be Collapsing

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April 9, 2016

It’s Survival Saturday! Welcome to America, where the government gets more of your money where you do and technology has invaded our brains to the point that they are physically changing.  But there’s also some good news this week – Monsanto is losing money hand over greedy fist and Vermont has stubbornly forced some of the biggest players in the food industry to label GMOs.

i listed the federal government as a dependent

^Buy It Here^

Survival Saturday is  a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.

This Week in the News

The Mastodon in the Room: Taxes

Most of the time when people discuss what takes the highest percentage of their income, they ignore the colossal mastodon in the room. We spend more of our income on taxes to fund things we do not approve of than we do housing, food, and clothing combined.  

Think about it: with anything else you purchase, you have a little bit of a choice. You can opt for a splurge of a home with a big house and property, or you can choose to be frugal with a small little cottage.  You can eat thrifty beans and rice, or you can go for the filet mignon. And either of those choices is fine if you can afford them because we’re supposedly free.

However, taxes are collected at the threat of time behind bars (nearly a hundred different taxes!) and you have no options whatsoever about how that money is spent. Do you want your money supporting the fools in Congress? Do you want it subsidizing GMO corn and soy?  Paying for the FDA to crack down on small businesses while allowing Big Pharma to poison us? Paying for wars or welfare? (Our tax dollars helped the US to become one of the top executioners of human beings in the world in 2015.) Perhaps it will go toward luxurious vacations for the President and his family that cost more than we’ll make in 10 years?

Preppers market survive disaster

As far back as the 1950s, a few brave thinkers were pointing out that income tax was a complete violation of our individual rights, particularly the right to own private property. Frank Chodorov wrote in 1956 that income tax was the root of all evil and presumed government control over all things. Frank had it right, but no one listened. His book is short at only 90 pages, but so worth the read if you want to understand more about the giant fraud that is forcible income tax.

It doesn’t matter if you like it or not, your money is stolen at gunpoint and you have no say in what is purchased with it. You merely get to try to survive off what they leave you with, which could be why more people than ever are without money for basic necessities like groceries. (Here’s how to live off the supplies in your pantry in a pinch.)  I’m sure you can determine my strong feelings about the legalized Mafia at the IRS.

Monsanto Profits Plummet While Little Vermont Forces Big Food to Label GMO-Containing Products

Are we watching the end of an empire? Monsanto reported a drop of 25% for the last quarter, and a decline of 34% for their cancer-causing product, Round-up.  The company blamed the plummeting profits on “less-than-ideal harvests” and “pressures in overseas markets.” However, one might suspect that the grassroots backlash against their GMO offerings and their blithe violations of the protocols of science may have had something to do with it. I’m sure that the WHO’s bombshell statement last year that Round-up “probably causes cancer” probably didn’t help their bottom line, either. The free market is speaking, as people are overwhelmingly seeking organic options in response to the questionable products. Farmers must change to meet this demand if they want to stay in business. This could very well mean the collapse of one of the most hated corporations in the world.

It looks like individual states have done what Congress will not. You may start seeing GMO labels on products at your local grocery store because the state of Vermont requires that they be labeled for sale in that state. Large companies like Kelloggs, General Mills, and Mars are now planning to “voluntarily” label their products because they can’t separately label only the products destined for that state without a dramatic increase in costs. This makes Vermont the little state that could. The labels will read “produced with genetic engineering.”

Related Note: With our knowledge that Round-up causes cancer, damages the environment, etc., I was pretty surprised to see that the Conservative website, The Blaze, had a sponsored ad on their homepage for the toxic product. A sponsored ad is not like an ad network, with which something mentioned in an article ends up being advertised randomly on a page. It’s an advertisement paid for by the company that puts money directly into the pocket of the media outlet. I believe in some circles, they call that “selling out.” Here’s the screenshot from this morning. Shame on you, Blaze.

round up ad on blaze

Tech Addiction: The New Drug?

These days, more and more people are completely addicted to their smartphones.  Maybe it’s the feeling of connection through social media, the access to instant information, or the constant stimuli provided by the tether that is in the hands of most Americans. One study says that it’s related to poor impulse control.

“Mobile technology habits, such as frequent checking, seem to be driven most strongly by uncontrolled impulses and not by the desire to pursue rewards,” said Henry Wilmer, a psychologist and an author of the study. “

Another study says that the average American spends a whopping 90 minutes per day on their phones – which adds up to four entire years of your life! To make matters worse, a direct link has been proven between the excessive consumption of social media and depression. What’s more, it can actually cause physical changes in the human brain. According to Nicholas Carr in his Pulitzer-prize nominated book, “Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. The technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways.”

We were recently forced to completely unplug for 10 days and it was pretty eye-opening, especially since we aren’t glued to our phones the way many of our contemporaries are. No phones, no internet, no Netflix….and we discovered we were a lot more productive with less of these things.

Classrooms to Invade the Brains of Students – It’s Educational!

Technology is doing a lot more than addicting us – it’s also spying on us and telling us it’s for our own good. DARPA wants to put EEG readers in every classroom in America to record the brainwaves of the kids. 

According to the benevolent and loving Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, “there is a great need for inexpensive and easy to use neural recording devices” aka a cheap EEG brain electrical activity recording smart app “to allow widespread use by schools and average citizens” because “having EEGs in every classroom in America would engage students in science and technology in a way not previously possible in the field of neuroscience…” and with it “students could record their own brain activity and download the data to their iPad” right there in the classroom!

Watch this chilling video and see how technology is about to invade the very brains of our children.

Are You Prepared?

Do you have the supplies on hand that your family needs to survive (and even thrive) in the aftermath of a disaster? Disasters come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is an issue that only affects your household, like a job loss or major medical expense. Other times, it’s a natural disaster, such as a storm that keeps you trapped at home and unable to get to the store. Civil unrest, pandemics, and terror attacks can all interrupt our way of life, forcing us to rely upon the products that we had the forethought to stock.

You don’t want to buy just anything though – emergency food should not be a health crisis. Shop for high quality emergency food without all of the chemicals in other buckets. Take care of your family tomorrow by taking action today.

Preppers Market 650x450

Anything to add to Survival Saturday?

Do you have any news links you want to share? Now’s the time! You are absolutely welcome to post your links in the comments below. (Your participation is what makes this feature so unique out here in Bloggerland!)

Jailed #Bankers Freed Early as #Icelandic Government Implodes Over #PanamaPapers

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Carey Wedler
April 7, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Iceland — The world watched in admiration last year when over two dozen Icelandic bankers who played a role in causing the 2008 financial crisis were sentenced to prison. Less than a year later, three of those bankers have been released — years earlier than expected. Their release was predicated on a change to current law regarding maximum penalties, but at least one lawmaker has suggested those who pushed the change through “handcrafted” it precisely to help bankers. News of their highly reduced sentences coincides with an ongoing scandal revealed by the Panama Papers this week regarding the Icelandic prime minister’s previously secret, offshore holdings in banks implicated in the collapse.

Icelandic outlet Stundin reported Thursday, as translated to English by the Icelandic Review, that three bankers from the Kaupthing Bank who were sentenced last year have been released. Former Kaupthing Chairperson of the Board Sigurður Einarsson, former Kaupthing Luxembourg CEO Magnús Guðmundsson, and former investor and 10% owner of Kaupthing Ólafur Ólafsson were convicted last year for their role in market manipulation and fraud. As the Reykjavík Grapevine summarized, “they artificially inflated the value of the bank, deliberately deceiving investors and depositors alike, and contributed significantly to the late 2008 collapse of the Icelandic banking system.”

They have each served roughly a year of their prison sentences, which ranged between four and five years, but because of a change to the law made March 16 regarding maximum penalties, they were released Thursday.

The Icelandic Review explained:

“The main part of the law change is to allow prisoners to double the amount of their sentence they serve at home, under electronic surveillance (i.e. tagged). The parliamentary bill was changed in committee to allow five days of electronic monitoring for every month of a prisoner’s sentence, instead of 2.5 days as it has been. This means that a prisoner sentenced to one year in prison can now spend the last 60 days electronically tagged and in the community, instead of 30 days. The rule change means criminals can now be released earlier from prison.”

Stundin reported they will be able to finish out their sentences at a “halfway house,” where they will be expected to spend every evening but will otherwise be free. After they have completed this phase — Stundin did not specify the exact length — they will be allowed to finish their sentences via electronic surveillance as determined by the new five-day guideline established by changes to the law.

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The change to the law was, according to Stundin’s sources, pushed through the legislature by Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir, chair of the Alþingi (Parliament) General Committee and MP for the Independence Party.

But not all lawmakers viewed the decision in a positive light.

“I don’t think this is a good time for this legislative change, in light of the situation surrounding these particular prisoners,” Left-Green MP Bjarkey Olsen Gunnarsdóttir said of the modification. “This seems to have been handcrafted for them. I generally support the increased use of electronic surveillance [as opposed to prison]. But we need to have a discussion about what crimes this new law would apply to.”

Though the world celebrated the sentences of the bankers last year, the financial convicts complained of unfair treatment at their low-security prison, in spite of, as the Grapevine noted, “all evidence of their wrongdoing, their lenient sentences, practically idyllic living conditions, and – most galling of all – their continued assertions that they did nothing wrong.”

In a televised interview with the bankers from prison conducted this January, they expressed disbelief they had ended up behind bars.

“We made a big mistake, our lawyers and us, in trusting the system. We trusted the courts, and put our trust in the Supreme Court to sentence according to the law. There is our mistake,” Ólafsson claimed. The ex-banker, who has been called a “corporate Viking,” also complained of the ongoing backlash against bankers. “The community is responding to a certain social group. They are subjecting a certain social group to bullying,” he said. Twenty-six bankers were sentenced last year, receiving a combined total sentence of 74 years — an average of slightly less than three years per banker.

Regardless, the Kaupthing bankers have been now released from jail. The news comes the same week Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson came under fire amid evidence of corruption highlighted in the Panama Papers leak; Gunnlaugsson was revealed to have holdings in an offshore company — one tied to the banks implicated in the financial collapse for which the bankers were convicted. He initially refused to officially resign, instead “step[ping] aside for an unspecified amount of time.” Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, deputy chair of the Progressive party Gunnlaugsson chairs, will now serve as Prime Minister. Gunnlaugsson will remain chair of the party.

The Panama Papers revelations inspired mass protests in Iceland as 22,000 gathered in the capital city of Reykjavík on Monday evening, many demanding new elections to wipe the slate clean after corruption reached the highest office. The protests have continued throughout the week, though the size of the crowd has grown smaller.

As the current government remains mired in scandal and attempts to salvage its image, news of the freed bankers highlights deep-rooted issues with accountability in Iceland prior to the Panama Papers scandal; Stundin also reported that last week, before they were released, the bankers were allowed to leave their confinement center to go out for ice cream.

This article (Jailed Bankers Freed Early as Icelandic Government Implodes Over Panama Papers) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Carey Wedler and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article at edits@theantimedia.org.

 

From theantimedia.org Team

#SHTF Skills Every American Needs: “Improvise With What You Have”

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Does the future hold prolonged economic collapse? Electric outages? Food shortage? Civil unrest? EMP attacks? Looting and the general descent into madness?

Whatever may come, you and your family will be extremely vulnerable unless you have prepared for continuity and self-reliance without the aid of society. The vast majority have made no attempt to prepare, or decrease their dependence upon government agencies for basic needs. In an emergency, they will have no one else to turn to either.

But you will be ready.

Every American who values his/her independence, and hopes to survive and thrive in an after-math economy that will be very different needs to develop and hone their SHTF skills.

There are too many to list in one article, and most of the basics are well known to this audience, but here is a good resource for starting your prepping, and expanding to cover all important areas.

But it is equally important to tailor your plans around your actual situation in a way that will give you the optimal support in a crisis, and fit around the freedom lifestyle you actually want to lead.

Reallybigmonkey1 is a great example of unique prepping. He has invented devices around his needs – and improvised with what he has one hand.

In this video, he explains a homemade stove that is also designed to store & boil water, as well as cook without the need to use a pot or pan. It might be the best solution in a bug out situation.

His inventions make prepping, camping and surviving a fine art of creativity and style, and prove that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get ready:

“If you do have to leave your house and bug out, this is the kind of things that happen. You need to have the ability to make things… and improvise and make do with what you have.

He also addresses the top items he carries that aren’t in the bug out bag of others.

After the basics, this guy has included a host of homemade and improvised devices that serve his potential SHTF needs and will make his chance of survival better than the average suburbanite.

What do you carry in bag, and what have you figured out on your own to make off grid living even better?

Read more:

The Prepper’s Blueprint: The Essential Starting Point for Survival Planning

95 Survival Tips For When the SHTF: “Carry These. Do This. And Don’t Ever…”

The Six Laws of Survival: Strategies For Beating the Worst Case Scenario

12 Bad Strategies That Will Get Preppers Killed

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Bill #Clinton May Have Just Cost #Hillary the #Black Vote

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Nick Bernabe
April 8, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) Philadelphia, PA — Hillary Clinton has been performing well with minorities so far in the 2016 Democratic primary, but that could soon be changing. Bill Clinton may have just severely damaged the former secretary of state’s reputation among African Americans by committing a major gaffe — one he is now “almost” apologizing for.

At a campaign stop in Philadelphia on Thursday, Bill was interrupted by protesters — a common theme this presidential election. The protesters, mostly young black Americans, interrupted Bill’s speech to air their grievances about his sweeping 1994 crime bill — the largest ever passed. The bill, sold as a way to effectively fight inner-city crime, actually helped expand an already developing trend of mass incarceration that had an overwhelmingly negative impact of the black community.

Signs reading “Clinton Crime Bill destroyed our community,” and “Hillary is a murderer” could be seen waving in the audience as Bill was interrupted Thursday. He caused a major backlash in the the African-American community when he decided to comment on the people who were incarcerated because of his crime bill.

“I don’t know how you would describe the gang leaders who got 13-year-olds hopped up on crack and sent them out in the streets to murder other African-American children.“Maybe you thought they were good citizens…You are defending the people who kill the lives you say matter. Tell the truth. You are defending the people who cause young people to go out and take guns,”  he said at the campaign event.

Hillary Clinton was a major supporter of her husband’s crime bill when she was First Lady. As we reported previously:

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“Hillary Clinton lobbied Congress to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. Bill Clinton signed the act into law in 1994… The largest crime bill in history, it provided $9.7 billion in prison funding. From 1992 to 2000, the amount of prisoners in the U.S. increased almost 60%.”

In another recent incident, Hillary came under scrutiny for alluding to young black males as “super-predators” in a speech in 1996. She, like Bill, has been confronted by activists for her contribution to the nation’s mass incarceration problem.

Hillary is facing eroding support from the Latino community, as well. Recent polling shows her previous popularity among this key demographic has evaporated — leaving Bernie Sanders with a slight lead of 48% to Clinton’s 47% in Latino support.

Ironically, though he defends it now, Clinton previously disowned the crime bill, admitting in an interview with CNN last year that it had “too wide a net” that resulted in “too many people in prison.”

Regardless, Hillary Clinton is still raking in major cash from the private prison industry despite her haunting past with mass incarceration.

This article (Bill Clinton May Have Just Cost Hillary the Black Vote) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Nick Bernabe and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

From theantimedia.org Team

Untethering: 10 Days without the #Internet

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April 8, 2016

So, recently, it probably seemed like I vanished off the face of the earth. Well, it turns out I only vanished from the virtual earth because we were without the internet.

No, I didn’t get buried under a mound of moving boxes. We’re alive and well here in the mountains, although we were somewhat disconnected for a while.   This was a huge move – while I thought moving as a prepper was an enormous undertaking, it was nothing compared to moving as a prepper/homesteader. Moving the contents of a barn, chicken coop, and house was a tremendous amount of work, even though we hired a moving company for the majority of the big stuff.

There was a great deal to coordinate on either end, such as getting the new shelters ready for the animals, getting the animals themselves over here, and making sure nothing ate them on their first night here. (We’re up in Bear Country here.) Unfortunately, we had an escapee that was never seen again: my daughter’s beloved cat that she raised from a bottle-fed, abandoned kitten.  He managed to push a screen out of the window and vanished into the forest. While we hope he found a nice home with someone, we know that was probably not his fate.

Our biggest lesson didn’t have anything to do with the shuffling of boxes, though. It came from our disconnection. The first 10 days in our new home were spent without the internet.

We rely on the internet a lot.

  • My daughter’s homeschool curriculum is online.
  • My work is online.
  • We watch movies on Amazon Prime.
  • We listen to music on Amazon, too.
  • I’m a compulsive Googler because I always want to know the answers to my questions immediately.
  • Our phone doesn’t work without an internet connection.
  • Our relatives are pretty far away, so we use the internet to communicate with them.

I honestly had no idea how much we used it until we didn’t have it.

Insert Rant: Customer service is dead.

To ice the cake of our disconnection, I dealt with probably the worst customer service experience of my entire life getting my internet service up and running. I would so much prefer to deal with small businesses, because they actually care and provide real service, but in the case of internet out in the mountains, that wasn’t an option.

We’re talking about days and days on the phone. Literally, entire days, wasted while going from one representative to another, trying to set up a simple DSL service to a home that already had previous DSL service a week before I moved in.

First, I was told it was all working just fine. I plugged in the modem – you know, the one that worked in this very home 4 days previously, and it no longer worked to receive their signal. They wanted to send me a new modem at my own expense. However, since my cell phone (with the same company) won’t work here without the modem, I got them to agree to send me a new one at their expense.

So, I waited for 2 days for the UPS guy to arrive with my new modem. When he never did, I called back.

“Oh,” said the hapless representative who picked up my call. “Um, I’m sorry to inform you that modem never got sent. I am happy to send you a new one at no charge.”

I narrowly controlled my rage. After all, it wasn’t this guy’s fault.  “The modem was already at no charge. I am working from home and educating a child with an online curriculum. I need you to expedite the delivery of a modem.”

“That’ll be an additional $10.”

“ARE. YOU. INSANE?????”

“Sorry, ma’am, but expediting is always at the customer’s expense.”

Unfreakin’believable.

Customer service is dead. The giant corporations that are in control of our options for cell phone service, internet service, utilities, and television know that they are the only game in town, especially in rural areas. I have been gob-smacked at how horrible what passes for service really is.

These representatives who live far away and are ruled by quotas really don’t care that you didn’t get what you were promised. It isn’t their fault, either. When you have no stake in a company, why would you really care about what the customer thinks of you? When you aren’t empowered to make things right, when you have 12 bosses listening to your every word, checking to see if you’re adhering to the rules, you really only care about keeping your job.  When you are in another country, halfway across the world, earning 50 cents an hour providing service to people in the Promised Land of America, you care even less.

We live in a world that is constantly connected – often to our detriment.

So, for 10 days, there I sat, waiting for the elusive package from AT&T that I couldn’t go anywhere local to pick up. Heck, I’d have driven two hours to get us back in action.  I couldn’t even leave the house, since the package required my signature.  Aside from the fact that we had electricity, it made me think about life without internet after some kind of massive disaster.

The upside to this is that my stuff got unpacked in record time. I was incredibly productive with regard to non-work stuff.

Since my work is all internet-based, I was forced into a vacation. (I really, really enjoy researching and writing, so this was less fun than it sounds for me.) The good news is, I was able to get our entire house unpacked and settled, get the livestock moved over into their new locations, and recover from lugging all that stuff with my poor, aching 40-something body.

For the first day or so, my daughter felt like she was camping, and not in a good, vacation-y kind of way. She was unable to chat with friends, look up information at the spur of the moment on Google, and see what everyone else was up to. She couldn’t watch Netflix or even listen to music, since most of her music consisted of playlists on a streaming system.

This really got me thinking about how much many of us rely on the internet. I’m new to the whole farming/homesteading thing, so I frequently turn to the ‘net to answer my many questions.  It’s our main source of entertainment too, since we ditched the cable long ago and switched to Amazon Prime and Netflix. Even many of the things we enjoy reading are online. Our phones don’t work without Wi-Fi out here in the boondocks, so communicating with the outside world required a 10-minute drive up the hill, where we loitered on the side of the road and quickly check our messages, using up our data.

But the problem with all of this connection is that it isn’t actually that good for us. This book considers our relationship to technology an addiction, and asserts that our constant tether  is causing such ills as anxiety, depression, loneliness, attention disorders, and many more concerns. Another good read is this one, which is the journal of a guy who disconnected – his lessons were pretty fascinating. We’ve all seen reports of people walking off cliffs while they’re glued to their phones or seen groups of kids who are supposedly together, yet all isolated, staring at their own devices and ignoring the friend right next to them, breathing the same air.

Going low-tech can be fun

After a week, we got somewhat used to it, although I still welcomed my new modem with open arms and perhaps some champagne.

We dug out the old DVD player and the movies to sit down and have some quiet relaxation time before bed.  We found our old CD collection to get some tunes going during the day. We’ve spent a lot more time talking, playing games, and reading. I’ve cooked some fabulous, time-consuming meals, and my daughter taught herself how to make cheesecake from scratch using one of my cookbooks and the ingredients we have on hand.

I started using books as references again. I made great use of my Encyclopedia of Country Living and my copy of Chickens from Scratch when setting up my hen habitat.

We spent several pleasant hours exploring the woods and the creek behind the house, we bathed and brushed the dogs, and never have I had a more organized closet. I slept better, felt more relaxed, and accomplished a lot of those things I just never found the time for during my “connected” life.

Maybe with all its alluring convenience and entertainment value, the internet is actually not a good thing. Perhaps the reason why Americans are no longer a productive people is because we’re constantly connected to some invisible computer or cellphone tether.

We’re going to take a lesson from this and unplug a lot more often, voluntarily this time.

Well, after I catch up on my emails.

Shock: Man Who Called #911 To Report #Walmart Threat To Be Charged After #POLICE Shoot and Kill Suspect

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john-crawford-walmart

“See Something, Say Something.” That’s the motto of the Department of Homeland Security. If you see suspicious activity or believe there is a danger to the general public you’re supposed to call police.

When Ronald Ritchie saw what he believed to be a man wielding a gun at an Ohio Walmart that’s exactly what he did. There’s no way Ritchie could have known the gun John Crawford was playing around with was a BB-gun.

Raw footage of the incident shows Crawford walking around the store with the BB-gun shortly before being shot by police. At the time, Ritchie, who had no idea the man was playing with a BB-gun, called law enforcement, like any concerned citizen would have:

The witness who phoned police, ex-marine Ronald Ritchie, reportedly told 9-1-1 he saw Crawford “walking around with a gun in the store,” and that he was “loading it right now,” and pointing it at customers and children.

He “was just waving it at children and people. Items…. I couldn’t hear anything that he was saying. I’m thinking that he is either going to rob the place or he’s there to shoot somebody else,” Ritchie said.

Now Ritchie, not the police officer who shot and killed Crawford, is facing charges of making a false alarm, which could land him in prison for six months:

Fairborn Municipal Court Judge Beth Root ruled that probable cause exists to prosecute the 911 caller in the John Crawford III police-involved fatal shooting after reviewing affidavits submitted by Greene County residents.

Root found probable cause that Ronald T. Ritchie, the lone person to call 911 from Beavercreek’s Walmart before shots were fired Aug. 5, 2014, could be prosecuted for making false alarms, a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by maximums of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

There is uncertainty as to what legal steps may happen next, but Root wrote that the case should be referred to a prosecutor.

But even the attorney for the family of John Crawford can’t make any sense of it, arguing that Ritchie simply called the police and had nothing to do with the shooting:

Attorney Michael Wright, who represents the Crawford family in their civil suit against Beavercreek police and Walmart, said Wednesday evening that, “based on the video we do know that he was making assertions that were not correct. However, it wasn’t his fault that John Crawford is dead.”

Apparently, this is what happens when you say something in the hopes of keeping the public safe.

Raw Footage:

Also Read:

Cop Charged with Second-Degree Murder After Killing Sobbing, Unarmed Man Begging for His Life

Must-See Police State Video: “You Are At My Door With Guns And I Fear For My Life… I Have Committed No Crime”

Shock Video: Police Execute Man With His Hands Up

Cops Who Flash Banged Infant’s Crib Are Blaming the Baby

Cops Shoot and Kill Naked Woman in Her Bed After They Order Her to Show Them Where She Keeps Her Gun

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Australian Dad Charged With #Murder for Self-Defense: “#Rapist Found Near Daughter’s Room”

by

double-barrel-shotgun-wikimedia

It’s every family’s worst nightmare, and it’s the reason to have self defense tools and preparations in your home.

But many governments around the world don’t hold the same basic protections for home defense that the United States does in most states (and clearly, there are forces at work to undermine that as well).

This father was charged with murder in Australia for fighting and killing a rapist who was entering their home in attempted robbery… and found close to his daughter’s room. Ask yourself, would you do any differently?

via the International Business Times:

A young dad in Australia has been charged with murder after he confronted a burglar inside his home. Father Benjamin Batterham, 33, discovered convicted rapist Ricky Slater, 34, near his daughter’s room inside their family home in Newcastle, New South Wales, at 3.30am.

With a 32-year-old friend, Batterham confronted Slater and the resulting skirmish sent Slater to hospital where he later died of his injuries, believed to include brain damage.

Batterham also suffered facial injuries and bite marks to his body and some reports say he had to be tested for HIV. Reports that Slater suffered a broken neck have been ruled out. After Slater was taken off life support Batterham handed himself in at a police station and was charged with murder.

The details of the incident are no doubt importance, but in essence, Batterham has lost his liberty on charges of murder for defending his family inside his home.

Australian law is crazy – apparently there is no right to self-defense?

Well, typically of laws, it is a bit vague, but killing an assailant in self-defense is only a partial justification in the eyes of the law, where excessive force considerations will still hold the man accountable to murder. In the case of Benjamin Batterham, it seems ridiculous.

That’s why more than 100,000 people have petitioned for his release:

Now an appeal on the apprentice chef’s behalf has attracted over 110,000 signatures (as of 6 April). However, a planned protest march on behalf of Batterhamwas called off when a teenager organising the protest said he was threatened by members of the Slater family.

But the family of rapist Ricky Slater have torn down signs and intimidated supporters out of holding a rally:

“So we ripped them off the poles and then my son-in-law saw this young bloke putting up more banners and just said ‘that’s not right’ and ‘can you give me the rest of them, sorry’” said Dickson. “He never assaulted him or anything. We’re just upset that they were going up. People have been saying so much about Ricky, it’s very painful for our family.”

Newcastle police are investigating the incident. The case has divided opinion across Australia, with most appearing to support the actions of Batterham.

So not only has the concept of self-defense been turned on its head, but the powers that be are again sowing division between racial groups in a case that is reminiscent of Trayvon Martin, and likely to split communities and debates along ideological lines.

But if you can’t defend yourself, you also can’t be free.

Read more:

Home Defense: “If You Can’t Protect It, You Don’t Own It”

A Green Beret’s Guide To Low-Budget Home-Defense Techniques 101: “Early-Warning Systems and Fortifications”

Empowering Citizens and Deterring Crime, One Free Shotgun At a Time

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Apparently Wearing an #Anonymous #Mask in America Can Get You Arrested

by

AnonWatcher
April 8, 2016

(ANONHQ) A man in an Anonymous mask, who was sitting peacefully, was harangued by police and arrested. All caught on camera, bystanders recorded the event while a multitude of witnesses yelled out that he did nothing wrong or illegal. The incident took place in the House Gallery, during the Maricopa County hearing over the suspected election fraud.

Two officers attended the arrest of the man. Although the man in question didn’t have his face concealed by the mask—the mask had been resting on the top of his head—the first arresting officer approached from behind and kicked at him lightly until he left his chair.

Bystanders went to the man’s defense, with several phones filming the event. One bystander even said the arrest was made because the man was sporting an Anonymous mask.

In the video, another bystander accuses the police of choking the man as the officers unduly restrained him while he was quietly sitting between the chairs. Chants of “shame” and “the whole world is watching” were cried as the man was forced to his feet and escorted away.

After the removal of the man, one of the bystanders states: “you promised us if we were silent you wouldn’t remove us.” Officials then began to plead with the crowd. At the end of the video, one official agreed that the man with the mask did nothing wrong.

Janet Higgens, who uploaded one of the videos, stated: “We were at the point of chaos. All brought on by the police. For a man sitting quietly. With dreadlocks. His name is Jonathan S. McRae. He is currently in jail, charged with trespassing and resisting arrest. I disagree. He was harassed, held to the floor for over 5 minutes, and kidnapped. I don’t know if he was injured in the attack.”

truth-cancer-ad

“We the people of the United States are tired of this stuff,” another witness yelled as a bystander warned that this would all end up on YouTube.

Arrested for wearing an Anonymous mask…

You can view the long version of the video here.

This Article (Apparently Wearing an Anonymous Mask in America Can Get You Arrested) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Erik Christensen. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org

From theantimedia.org Team

#Economist Warns: “A Tidal Wave Is Coming… #Recession Indicator Has Turned Red”

by

economy-tsunami2economy-tsunami

With corporate earnings for the first quarter of 2016 set to be the worst since the Great Recession, Societe Generale economist Albert Edwards is warning that the United States is about to be hit with a tidal wave.

A tidal wave is coming to the US economy, according to Albert Edwards, and when it crashes it’s going to throw the economy into recession.

…the profit recession facing American corporations is going to lead to a collapse in corporate credit.

“Despite risk assets enjoying a few weeks in the sun our fail-safe recession indicator has stopped flashing amber and turned to red”

…

He continued:

Whole economy profits never normally fall this deeply without a recession unfolding. And with the US corporate sector up to its eyes in debt, the one asset class to be avoided — even more so than the ridiculously overvalued equity market — is US corporate debt. The economy will surely be swept away by a tidal wave of corporate default.

Giving us further confirmation that something is amiss we need look no further than the brain trust known as our Federal Reserve. Earlier this week current Fed Chair Janet Yellen joined her predecessors Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan and Paul Volcker, all of whom argued that the U.S. economy is not only not in a bubble, but is on solid footing and a good trajectory.

Via Zero Hedge:

So, I think we’re making progress there as well, and this is an economy on a solid course, um, not a bubble economy. Um, we tried carefully to look at evidence of potential financial instability that might be brewing and some of the hallmarks of that, clearly overvalued asset prices, high leverage, rising leverage, and rapid credit growth. We certainly don’t see those imbalances. And so although interest rates are low, and that is something that could encourage reach for yield behavior, I wouldn’t describe this as a bubble economy.”

Keeping these latest comments within the context of mid-2007 when Chairman Ben Bernanke vehemently argued that the U.S. economy was not headed into recession and that the crisis was contained and would not spread to other sectors, we’d say that there is no better indicator for what comes next.

At this juncture . . . the impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime markets seems likely to be contained.

Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve Chairman
March 28, 2007

Once again our best and brightest – the very people who caused the problems to begin with – are telling us that everything is fine and there is no bubble.

The takeaway?

You’d better be prepared and have an evacuation route because a Tsunami is inbound.

Also Read:

How to Prepare For Any Disaster

Intelligence Insider: How To Protect Your Assets From Critical Infrastructure Failure: “Power Grid, Banking System, Cyber Financial Warfare”

Government Is “Simulating the Collapse of Our Financial System, the Collapse of Our Society and the Potential for Widespread Violence”

Worst Case Scenario = 73% Down From Here

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Already Under Crushing #Debt, #Arizona College Forces Students to “Fund #Illegal Immigrants”

by

college1

Will students at colleges across the country soon be forced to pay for the higher education of illegal immigrants, even as most will already have to struggle for years to repay expensive and burdensome student loans?

That’s what is happening at Prescott College, a private institution in Arizona, and it could become the trend everywhere.

Unbelievably, as good jobs become more and more scarce, the next generation will be forced to support foreign workers who will also serve as competitors in the market place.

via Campus Reform:

 Prescott College in Arizona has decided to charge students a $30 annual fee to finance a scholarship fund for illegal immigrant students.

The fee was originally proposed by students and faculty from the Social Justice and Human Rights program, according to Fox News, and will automatically be added to each student’s $28,000 tuition bill starting next semester unless they take advantage of an opt-out provision.

[…]

Prescott College is a private institution, and does not receive either state or federal funding, but some experts warn that the school may yet face pushback over the new fee and scholarship, even as it seeks to bolster the fund through private donations.

College campuses have become sanctuary grounds for many undocumented immigrants seeking a better life, and liberal academics and students have often been willing to back their interests.

But for the average student legally born in this country and attempting to build a better life, it is a slap in the face from both sides – as mandatory contributions for scholarships to illegals pile onto the extreme levels of debt that education imposes, all while the competition for decent employment becomes stiffer.

“It is beyond absurd that this college is going to force all the students to subsidize the education of a student who is in the country illegally,” added Jessica Vaughn, director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies. “It’s a shame these students and faculty don’t have the same drive to help some of their fellow citizens who can’t afford college and who are forced to compete with illegal workers for job opportunities.”

“At a time when student loan debt is over $1 trillion it is irresponsible for Prescott College to offer this privilege at the expense of other students,” Andrew Kloster, a legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Legal & Judicial Studies, told Fox News. “While the dollar amount seems small per student, the fee does send a message to potential donors to Prescott College that the administration is less concerned with sound financial management than it is with making a political statement.”

Like President Obama, these colleges have put a premium on a protected minority group at the expense of ordinary Americans who have seen their living standards decline significantly with economic decline and globalization.

At what point does the plight of the American aspirant become as a important as a “special” group that has been favored by politically motivated interests on campus, and what does that mean for the quality of “education” at such an institution?

Read More:

U.S. Marshals Collect Unpaid Student Loan Debt At Gunpoint: “Isn’t The First And Won’t Be The Last”

Why Is Obama Encouraging Illegal Immigration When We Can’t Take Care Of Millions Of Our Own Citizens?

Owned: How Student Loan Debt Is “Producing a Perpetual Serf Class”

Immigration End Game Revealed: New Law Would Give Illegal Immigrants The Right To Vote, Collect Government Benefits

 

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Yes, the #PanamaPapers Could Really End Hillary #Clinton’s Campaign

by

Op-Ed by Jake Anderson
April 6, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) With Senator Bernie Sanders winning seven of the last eight delegate battles — the most recent was Tuesday night’s Wisconsin victory — there’s a feeling in the air that most progressives haven’t felt since the Iowa caucus. It speaks to a hard truth Hillary Clinton and her choleric campaign staffers will encounter when they wake up in the morning: Bernie really could still beat Clinton and become the Democratic nominee for president.

No way, some of you are saying. The television faces said the delegate math was too hard. The superdelegates make it impossible. Hillary wins the primaries, Bernie only wins caucuses; America won’t elect a socialist; the nation won’t rally behind free healthcare and college tuition.

Despite the supposedly ineluctable logic of Sanders’ unelectability, many pundits now believe there has been a seismic shift in the 2016 presidential race. It is becoming increasingly obvious that Americans are sick to death of the two corporatist political establishments and will do anything to send them a message. The evidence of this is that the two most popular candidates in the 2016 election are a Jewish democratic socialist and a reality TV star who referred to his penis during a nationally televised debate.

Then there’s the matter of the Panama Papers. In case you haven’t heard about them over the roar of mainstream media’s ‘round-the-clock anti-Trump coverage, it’s being referred to as the biggest data leak in history. For the last year, 400 journalists have been secretly decoding 11.5 million documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The 2.6 terabytes of data show billions of dollars worth of transactions dating back 40 years.

Acquired from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the documents present a jaw-dropping paper trail of how the upper echelon of the 1 percent has used shell companies and offshore tax havens to avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes. In less than a week of exposure, the Panama Papers have already implicated 140 world leaders from 50 different countries. Top executives and celebrities who appear in the leaked emails, PDFs, and other documents may also be indicted in money laundering, tax evasion, and sanctions-busting activities.

Though the source of the leak opted not to do a Wikileaks-style data dump and is instead allowing media outlets to curate the information, international tax reform could be imminent.

truth-cancer-ad

The revelations are relevant to the 2016 presidential election because they once again illustrate the stark contrast in judgement between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. The transgressions documented in the Panama Papers were directly facilitated by the Panama-United States Trade Promotion Agreement, which Congress ratified in 2012. In 2011, Sanders took to the floor of the senate to strongly denounce the trade deal:

“Panama is a world leader when it comes to allowing wealthy Americans and large corporations to evade US taxes by stashing their cash in offshore tax havens. The Panama free trade agreement will make this bad situation much worse. Each and every year, the wealthiest people in this country and the largest corporations evade about $100 billion in taxes through abusive and illegal offshore tax havens in Panama and in other countries.”

Clinton, on the other hand, completely ignored the tax haven issue, and instead, regurgitated the same job-creation platitude she used to peddle NAFTA, which has decimated American manufacturing jobs and led to an economic refugee crisis in Mexico.

Beyond just exposing her unwillingness to understand how modern free trade agreements benefit the rich and punish impoverished countries, Clinton may have a more nefarious connection to the Panama Papers.

In lobbying for the Panama-United States Trade Promotion Agreement, Clinton paved the way for major banks and corporations, most notably the Deutsche Bank, to skirt national laws and regulations. After she resigned as Secretary of State, the Deutsche Bank paid her $445,000 for a speech. While criminality can’t yet be definitively established, this may change when the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” publishes its comprehensive list at the end of the month. In addition to the aforementioned connection, Clinton’s name has already surfaced in connection to a billionaire and a Russian-controlled bank named in the files.

The fallout from the Panama Papers is being felt around the world. On Tuesday, Iceland’s Prime Minister resigned after it was revealed his family had used a shell company to hold millions of dollars worth of bonds in a collapsed bank. After an interview in which Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson had a meltdown when asked about the company’s assets, over 20,000 citizens of Iceland protested. For context, that’s approximately 10% of the country’s population.

How does this lead to Bernie Sanders defeating Hillary Clinton? The Sanders campaign has been run on the premise that Clinton is inextricably linked to political corruption, disastrous military interventions, and collusion with Wall Street. If it can be shown that Clinton was involved in criminal improprieties exposed by the Panama Papers, this will constitute yet another major line of attack for Sanders headed into the April 14th debate in New York. If Sanders wins the New York primary a few days later and scoops up its 95 delegates, the narrative of the election will dramatically shift.

When added to the myriad other Clinton scandals and political vulnerabilities, the Democratic party’s gatekeeper superdelegates could decide that Clinton is too big of a liability going into the general election. It all comes down to New York, though — Sanders must win New York. If he does, you will see historic chaos unleashed upon the American electorate. And if the Panama Papers leak sets off an unstoppable domino effect, the DNC may soon find its fractured party looking just as ghoulish as the clown’s autopsy being conducted on the Republican Party.

This article (Yes, the Panama Papers Could Really End Hillary Clinton’s Campaign) is an opinion editorial (OP-ED). The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of Anti-Media. This article is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Jake Anderson and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11 pm Eastern/8 pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, please email the error and name of the article to edits@theantimedia.org.

 

From theantimedia.org Team

#Serfs! Americans Pay More In #Taxes Each Year Than “Food, Clothing, and Housing Combined”

by

taxman-cometh

This article was written by Joshua Krause and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Editor’s Comment: This tax season, as you settle your debt with Uncle Sam, remember that nothing else in life cost you as much as your contributions to the federal government – the expense of policies you quite possibly don’t agree with at all are taking up more of your financial capitol (or energy) than anything else!

In the current context, taxes do a great job at regulating individuals who might become independently wealthy, or seek to operate on the basis of unique ideas and hard work, and instead, gruelingly punish the average American, and mold him into a subservient and compliant member of the crowd who does and pays what he is told on punishment of retribution, fines and debtor’s prison for failure to pay one’s proper share.

Meanwhile, the monetary system itself operates on the basis of a parasite, sucking off interest from every Federal Reserve note issued, making all those living by the dollar also subjugated to the ultimate control of the banks. Each man a serf, happiest when he is consumed with iPhones and entertainment, and easily reformed, if he errs, through the punishments of greater taxes and greater scrutiny over his transactions and any possible means of personal advancement, enrichment or entrepreneurship.

You Probably Spend More On Taxes Than Food, Clothing, and Housing Combined

by Joshua Krause

Are you familiar with Tax Freedom Day? No, it isn’t the day after April 15th. According to the Tax Foundation, it’s the day of the year when the average American has earned enough money to pay for all the income taxes they will accumulate throughout the rest of the year. In 2016, that day will fall on April 24th. Or put another way, if you work during all 52 weeks of the year, more than 16 weeks of your labor are going to the IRS.

According to the Tax Foundation’s annual report, Americans are going to spend a total of $5 trillion on federal, state, and local taxes this year, which amounts to about 31% of our nation’s income. That’s almost $1 trillion more than we spend on food, clothing, and housing put together.

Tax Freedom Day happens to fall one day earlier this year than it did last year, but when you consider our government’s deficit spending, the day lands on May 10th. It also varies from state to state. Tax Freedom Day falls on May 21st in Connecticut, but arrives as soon as April 5th in Missouri.

Historically speaking we’re paying way more than our parents and grandparents did. A hundred years ago Tax Freedom Day was in late January. While most Americans will complain about how much they’ll have to fork over on April 15th, they largely have no concept of how much they are paying in a historical context. And to think our ancestors revolted against the British Crown when 1-2 percent of their income was taxed.

Joshua Krause is a reporter, writer and researcher at The Daily Sheeple. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and is a freelance writer and author. You can follow Joshua’s reports at Facebook or on his personal Twitter. Joshua’s website is Strange Danger .

This article was written by Joshua Krause and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Not Even Police Were Told About This “Active Shooter” Drill…

by

active-shooter-drill

So secret that it’s for your safety…

It isn’t the first time that military, SWAT teams, FBI, police and Homeland Security officials have conducted large scale emergency exercises inside cities and frightened the locals.

Joint task force mock disasters, raids and response teams now routinely takeover local areas in order to prepare for martial law and a thorough police state, and people are often riled by the sounds of explosions, gunshots, helicopters and teams of men in black uniforms.

But this time, even the local police weren’t told about the drill taking place – even though it was happening within their own department.

As NBC reported:

Bystanders didn’t take long to call police last month when they spotted a couple of suspicious men skulking around a New Jersey train station taking photos of security cameras. Port Authority cops turned on lights and sirens and rushed to the scene in hour traffic.

But when they got there, the officers were shocked to find that the emergency they had rushed to was only a test. The suspicious men? Port Authority’s own security analysts.

According to an incident report obtained by the I-Team, the two men said they were “testing the system.” But what made this test different than the regular drills practiced is that none of the officers in the police department — not even the supervisors — knew it was a test. According to president of the Port Authority police union, the consequences could have been deadly.

[…]

The Port Authority spokesman … said it is customary not to tell officers about active shooter drills in the terminals.

Port Authority police in New Jersey were startled to respond to calls that led to an active shooter training scenario that ultimately involved their own security team running a “test.”

This video breaks down the possible implications of this unannounced test – which may seem paranoid to some, but it likely a routine part of managing crises in the public eye.

Port Authority Accused By Law Enforcement For Intentionally Perpetrating A Hoax Terrorist Drill

A “test” in order to keep the public “safe” from these and other threats.

But is it “safe” or is it just police state?

It seems even the police are questioning these eerie training scenarios which seem to foretell a future full of crisis events and greater government controls:

“It’s dangerous,” said Paul Nunziato, president of the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association. “What would this interview be right now if my guys hit somebody? What if some woman or a little child got killed?”

It’s not the only time Port Authority officials have conducted security drills that the police union says posed risks to their officers and the public. On the day of the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Port Authority conducted a nine-minute active shooter drill at JFK airport.

[Nunziato asked] “Would you scare the crap out of every person in that terminal with cops running in, lights and sirens, with heavy weapons, thinking something was going on.”

To make matters worse, history shows that many real life terror attacks took place during drills by government agencies, raising serious questions about the real motives and perpetrators behind some of the most well known events in recent history.

If the drill is that secret, what are they really hiding? And where is it that someone is planning to hit next?

Read more:

Shock Report: Police Were Engaged In Active Shooter Drill JUST BEFORE San Bernardino Massacre

Unannounced Shooter Drill Terrifies Students: “I Thought He Was Going to Shoot Me”

Surviving a Terror Attack: Strategies To Save Lives If the Worst Happens: “Run, Hide, Fight”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#WikiLeaks Spokesperson Says #PanamaPapers Should Be Made Available to Public

by

Michaela Whitton
April 6, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) United Kingdom — A spokesperson for WikiLeaks has called for the Panama Papers to be published in full in order to ensure the public is fully informed of the revelations. In a snippet of an interview set to air on RT’s “Going Underground” Wednesday, the Icelandic investigative journalist-turned-Wikileaks representative criticized the media’s current coverage. “When they are saying this is responsible journalism, I totally disagree with the overall tone of that,” he said.

Kristin Hrafnsson, who became a spokesperson for WikiLeaks after Julian Assange became engulfed in legal battles, also told RT’S Afshin Rattansi:

“I do have a sympathy towards stalled releases, we certainly did that in WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011 with the Diplomatic Cables and we were actually highly criticised for holding back the documents. But in the end the entire cache was put online in a searchable database.”

Saying this is what he wants to see with the Panama Papers, he said the leaked data should be available to the general public — not just the group of journalists directly working on reporting on the revelations. He added that while he understands there may be a slight delay in the release of the information — in order to maximise impact — ultimately, the public should have full access to it. “That’s the new way, it’s the way that WikiLeaks operates and it is highly appreciated by the general public.” Hrafnsson insisted.

In an attempt to combat what appears to be a mainstream news monopoly on the biggest data leak in history, by Tuesday evening WikiLeaks had made 149 of the of 11.5 million Panama Papers available to the public by sharing them via DocumentCloud.

In a Twitter poll, WikiLeaks asked people if the Panama Papers should be made public and searchable. Of the 85,000 who responded, 95% said they should be.

truth-cancer-ad

This article (WikiLeaks Spokesperson says Panama Papers should be Made Available to Public) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whitton and theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. If you spot a typo, email edits@theantimedia.org.

 

From theantimedia.org Team