Uncategorized – Page 7

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

April 9, 2016 by contributing author

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.

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.

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

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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!

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

April 9, 2016 by mac slavo

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.

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

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

April 9, 2016 by mac slavo

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.

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

April 9, 2016 by daisy luther

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.

^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?

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.

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.

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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.

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!)

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

April 8, 2016 by mac slavo

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?

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

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

April 8, 2016 by nick bernabe

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.

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

“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.

Untethering: 10 Days without the #Internet

April 8, 2016 by daisy luther

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

April 8, 2016 by mac slavo

“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

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

April 8, 2016 by mac slavo

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.

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

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

April 8, 2016 by admintam

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.

[embedded content]

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.”

“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

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

April 8, 2016 by mac slavo

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

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

April 8, 2016 by mac slavo

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?

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

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

April 7, 2016 by contributing author

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.

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

April 6, 2016 by michaela whitton

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.

Should we release all 11 million #PanamaPapers so everyone can search through them like our other publications?

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) April 3, 2016

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.

“#KKK Member With Whip” Panics #College Over Race… Oh, Wait. It’s a Priest With Beads

April 6, 2016 by mac slavo

Image: Maxwell GS, Flickr, Creative Commons

If you already thought most leftists have no idea what they’re talking about, then this story will probably make your head explode.

The safe space movement to take over college campuses with fantastical grievances over “microaggressions” and reality-bending tortured-language meant to police thought and sow division has now officially gone bat-shit crazy.

These confused young adults are so fearful that they are hallucinating attacks of “hate speech” and hurt feelings.

The Washington Examiner reported:

College students panic after someone reports ‘KKK member holding a whip,’ turns out to be a priest with rosary beads

The delusion of widespread racism and culture of politically correctness on college campuses has hit a fever pitch when a priest in a white robe can be mistaken for a Klansman.

Reportedly, students were so paranoid and so out of touch with the real world that they believed they were not only under siege by the Klan, but that the white supremacy wrecking crew was descending upon them over the outcome of a basketball game:

One student even claimed that she suspected the Klan descended on campus because Indiana University lost in basketball.

The Tab broke down how a false report led to a near-campus-wide lockdown at Indiana University, with dorm leaders calling for residents to stay inside unless they had a “dire reason.”

Last night around 9:15 PM, social media became a furious storm of confusion regarding a man in white robes roaming along 10th St. and purportedly armed with a whip.

Students thought the white robes indicated Klu Klux Klan affiliation… [s]tudents were quick to look out for each other by spreading word of this potential safety risk.

… Eigenmann RA Ethan Gill notified his residents via email of the perceived threat…

After sending out a warning over a false report, the Residential Assistant

“This is what happens when there is miscommunication. So what happened tonight goes like this: a person saw white robes and what looked to them like a weapon, got scared (rightfully so), warned people, warned staff, which in turn caused me to warn my residents because I need to look out for my residents, which in turn made it spread.

“Then my residents, terrified, come running to me, saying yeah the report must be true, they saw him and couldn‘t believe there was a klansmember with a whip. And I see this picture. It’s a priest. With a rosary.

“Now, I get it why a person would be scared. There in fact HAVE been klansmembers on the campus spurting hate speech, but never have they been reported with a weapon. So yeah, if it was in fact a weapon and a threat, it’s a good thing to warn a friend. So when someone warns other people, we need to be cautious. However, what I’ve learned from this is to take anything with a grain of salt. In the future, I’m still sending my residents warnings of threats, crime, hate gatherings, and all that but I will wait for a confirmation. But now that there is no danger I can say: this is a hilarious miscommunication.”

This RA and the students in his dorm might have wished instead that the police would intercept the priest for wearing robes and carrying a rosary bead, when the eyewitnesses were unable to tell the difference between religious garb and ‘hate groups,’ or between someone who is a threat, and someone who isn’t.

Dangerously naive.

Not only was this situation based in ignorance and fear of a violent racial takeover of campus (which was not taking place in reality), but the narrative seemed tailor-made for a conflict between ‘protecting’ the safe spacers from the tyranny of free speech – and resulting calls to weaken 1st Amendment protections because some childish college kids wet the bed.

This message, which seemingly initiated the panic after it was shared with hundreds of people seems to imply that “because” campus police can’t arrest someone based on perception of ideology, the students were somehow in danger. In fact, it may be the whole point of this race-scare-gone-hoax.

the priest mistaken for kkk didn’t start with me simply warned my peers about a warning that was going around campus pic.twitter.com/cRTm6yCY45

— sanchez (@babyynini_) April 6, 2016

Indeed, even after the incident turned out to be a hoax, students still questioned why the priest was even allowed to go about campus after dark, potentially frightening the large populations of tender-hearted souls:

“OK seriously why the f__ was a priest walking around campus at night?”

Maybe they are still just jumpy because of all the Trump 2016! slogan drive-by chalkings going on across campuses everywhere – gasp, in the heat of campaign season.

The #TSA Spent $1.4 Million on an #App That Only Cost This Guy $10 to Reproduce

April 5, 2016 by clarice palmer

Clarice Palmer
April 5, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) The International Business Machines Corporation, commonly known as IBM, has been named in a series of reports tied to the TSA’s “randomizer” app. Though many news sources have focused on the cost of the app, few have looked deeper into the relationship between Washington D.C. and IBM’s powerful lobbyists.

Geek.com reported the Department of Homeland Security’s TSA awarded IBM with a $336,413.59 contract for the production of an app that randomly chooses a left or a right arrow. The function is used in U.S. airports, and its goal is to make lines more efficient by randomly choosing which travelers get to skip the extensive security checks.

The information was made available promptly after web developer Kevin Burke filed a Freedom of Information Act request. As a result of the query, Burke received a copy of the contract between IBM and the TSA, which shows the app cost taxpayers at least $336,000 (in a Twitter reply to Burke, Time Magazine’s Partheek Rebala advised that a summary of the total cost tied to the app could be also found online.)

That summary shows that between September of 2014 and August of 2015, IBM was awarded at least seven contracts, all of which were tied to software development. All services and products add up to $1,444,315. According to Geek.com, “It could be IBM supplied all the iPads and training as well as the app itself.” But even then, “the cost of the project is crazy.” After all, the product is just “an app that is [sic] just randomly selects left or right.”

To Chris Pacia, a Bitcoin expert and lead backend developer for OpenBazaar, the cost the TSA paid for the app made no sense. After all, how expensive could an app that acts like a digital a coin flip actually be?

To demonstrate how easy — and cheap — it is for anybody to come up with an app just like TSA’s randomizer, Pacia posted a video on YouTube demonstrating the entire process. Pacia’s app took him less than 10 minutes to develop, according to his video’s description. It cost about $10 worth of labor to build.

[embedded content]

Though Pacia demonstrated the TSA’s inefficient budgeting, the underlying cause of these indulgent expenditures can be understood through the agency’s relationship with IBM.

While important details regarding the contracts between the Department of Homeland Security and the company are not listed on the government’s accounting website, the tech giant is no stranger to the establishment’s favoritism game.

According to the Center for Responsible Politics, IBM Corp. spent over $9 million on lobbying efforts between 2014 and 2015 alone. Defense and information technology, the group claims, are some of IBM’s top issues. In many cases, IBM also lobbied for anti-privacy measures.

One of the bills IBM lobbied to pass was H.R. 1731, also known as the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act of 2015. The law places the information gathered via both the federal government and the private sector in the hands of the Department of Homeland Security. IBM also lobbied for the Cybersecurity Disclosure Act of 2015, a bill turned into law that “trump[s] possibly forthcoming federal regulatory efforts and state privacy laws” and that broadens “powers of network operators to monitor and disclose” online information.

Considering IBM’s apparent lack of respect for privacy — and its efforts to influence government policy, it is unsurprising the multinational corporation is working so closely with the Department of Homeland Security.

This article (The TSA Spent $1.4 Million on an App That Only Cost This Guy $10 to Reproduce) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Clarice Palmer 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.

50 Ways to Eat from Your #Pantry When You Have No Money for #Groceries

April 5, 2016 by daisy luther

April 5, 2016

When things go wrong and we have more month than money, it can be difficult to keep the family fed, the bills paid, and a roof over your heads. However, if you have built a well-stocked prepper’s pantry, you have one less thing to worry about when you have no money for groceries.

Some Practical Reasons Why You Might Need a Food Supply

The best investments in these questionable times are those which are tangible. Having a food supply, purchased at a good price during good times, can be invaluable if things become more difficult. And by “more difficult” I’m not necessarily talking about a massive, national economic collapse or an epic natural disaster.

Anyone can have a difficult week (or month or year). Maybe an unexpected expense arose, like a trip to the emergency room or a car repair. Perhaps a job was lost or hours were cut at work. It’s possible that something happened that made the primary breadwinner for the family unable to work for a time. Whatever the case, having some supplies put back can really help you through a rough spot. While some folks have room in their budgets for these shortfalls or added expenses, a growing number of Americans are one paycheck away from disaster.

The key is this: when times are good, you should focus on loading up your pantry for when times are not so good. It’s not a new idea. It’s how our ancestors did it because they never knew when a fluke cold snap would kill their crops, when a predator might get the animal they were depending on for food or when a drought would occur.

What You Should Have in Your Pantry

Much has been written about the specific items to stock in your pantry, so this is just a general list.

(If you’re new to prepping and stockpiling you can learn more about building a pantry in this book or in this article.)

The best case scenario is to store what you already eat. If you generally eat meals with a lot of meat and little plant protein, you’re going to feel deprived if you suddenly switch from steak to beans. If you tend to eat lots of protein and vegetables, you’re not going to feel your best if you suddenly switch to a diet loaded with starches and high in carbohydrates.

One really good way to see what you’re already eating is to write down everything your family consumes for a couple of weeks. You can probably remember most of what you had the past week to give yourself a guideline.

Now, while everything is normal, take a long hard look at your consumption. Are these foods that you can stock up on or do you focus on things that require a couple of trips to the store per week for freshness. If the latter is the case, you might want to make some simple adjustments so that it will be easier to maintain your diet in difficult times.

How to Eat from the Pantry When There’s No Money for Groceries

When people hear the question, “How long could you survive on the food you have on hand?” they tend to think of the math. “I have 472 servings of grain divided by 4 people and…”

Stop.

You need to think in terms of meals. Those who think in individual components like this are the ones who will end up near the end of the pantry stretch eating canned peaches, stale saltines, and pureed pumpkin for dinner. Not the most enticing combo, right?

One really great way to stock up and have familiar food on hand is to think about 7 meals that your family enjoys. Then, purchase for your pantry the ingredients for 4 of each of those meals. Here are a few quick tips.

Look for non-perishable options, like freeze dried mushrooms and bell peppers for your spaghetti sauce.
Repackage meat carefully for your freezer in meal-sized servings.
Learn how to make baked goods from scratch and stock up on the ingredients you need for them.
Keep fruit and veggies on hand in frozen, dehydrated, and canned form.
Have some quick meals on hand so that you don’t end up breaking the budget on takeout food on a super busy day. (I can entire meals for this very reason. Click here for some of my recipes, or check out my book, The Organic Canner.)
Use emergency food to extend a small amount of leftovers to feed the whole family.

Pantry Friendly Adaptations

Lots of folks say things like “I only buy fresh XXX at the store – everything else came from the pantry.” That’s awesome – truly – but if you were in a situation in which you couldn’t buy fresh XXX, you probably wouldn’t want to go without it right? Here are some things to stockpile so that you can make adaptations to fresh XXX

Milk: Powdered milk (I use this hormone-free milk powder – it’s delicious and creamy and much better quality than the other dry milk on the market. Organic dry milk is also available, but it’s a bit of out my personal budget. )
Bread: Stock up on the ingredients to make it yourself. Store-bought bread is usually loaded with additives so learning to bake your own is a worthy skill regardless of whether you intend to survive from your pantry. It couldn’t be easier – check out this 5-minute recipe for artisan bread.
Fresh fruit: Frozen fruit is pretty yummy. In fact, my (slightly odd) kids enjoy gnawing on it right out of the freezer. You can also use it in smoothies, thaw and top yogurt or pancakes with it, or bake with it. We are huge applesauce fans, so I can a few dozen jars of this each fall. I also can peach and pear slices in honey for a sweet treat, and loads of homemade jam which can be used in a multitude of ways that do not include toast.
Salad: If you have a sunny windowsill you can grow salad greens all year long to sate your craving for fresh greens. There are lots of delicious microgreen kits on the market, and even some kits that are soil-free. Other alternatives are home-canned coleslaw or lightly cooked veggie salads made from freezer vegetables.
Vegetables: You really don’t have to have fresh asparagus in February, contrary to what the grocery stores portray. While I do can some vegetables, canned veggies are really NOT my favorite. I prefer fresh cooked al dente. The closest I can get to that with my food storage is frozen veggies, lightly steamed. I also keep dehydrated veggies on hand for cooking with: mushrooms, bell pepper, onion, etc. If you have a root cellar, lots of good veggies can be stored there.

Sample Menus from Our Food Storage Pantry

After a big move, lots of fencing, shelters for animals, etc., etc, etc., I’m deliberately sticking to a month of food from the pantry in order to catch up. A normal grocery bill can be anywhere between 75-200 per week around here, depending on what’s on sale, whether I’m stocking up on a bargain, or if it’s garden season. Here are some of the meals I’m creating from my pantry and freezer.

Breakfasts

We have an unlimited supply of eggs with 10 hens laying enthusiastically, so most breakfasts center around them.

Omelettes with leftover veggies from the night before and a bit of cheese sauce to make our cheese go further
Eggs with sausage or bacon (we recently bought half a hog, so we have plenty of that)
Homemade pancakes topped with fruit syrup made from home-canned jam
Homemade granola or granola cookies
Eggs and roasted veggies (One of our weird favorite breakfasts)
Oatmeal topped with warmed jam
Homemade bread (or cornbread) and jam
Smoothies

Lunches

In our house, lunch is often leftovers from the night before. I usually try to cook enough for this very purpose. We do have some other standbys, though.

Homemade chicken strips from the freezer with oven fries
Beef patty with oven-baked carrot “fries”
Roasted veggies topped with parmesan cheese
Soup (all kinds: chicken, beef and vegetable, creamy cauliflower)
Refried beans and rice topped with home-canned salsaTop a frozen gluten-free pizza crust with home-canned pizza sauce, toppings that are leftovers, and
Top a frozen gluten-free pizza crust with home-canned pizza sauce, toppings that are leftovers, and cheese from the freezer
Yogurt topped with fruit from the freezer and homemade granola

Dinners

The crock pot gets a whole lot of use in my house. I love the fact that the meal is almost completely hands off while I’m busy doing other things. Of course, not all of our recipes are crock pot ones! Here are some of the dinners we have had over the past couple of weeks.

Roast beef and vegetables (crock pot)
Carnitas (pork roast slow cooked with green tomato salsa, lime juice, and cilantro)
Spaghetti and meatballs
NuManna Pasta Primavera with some broccoli from the freezer
Stir fries from the freezer
Pork chops and roasted vegetables sprinkled with parmesan
Beef BBQ (slow cooker) and home-canned sweet and sour cole slaw
NuManna rice pilaf and brown rice (from the Defender’s Bucket) cooked, then stir-fried with a small amount of leftover meat and egg to make a tasty bowl of fried rice
Roasted chicken and vegetables
Baked beans with gluten free mac and cheese
Beef and vegetable stew
Pot Pie made with leftover roast duck and NuManna potato casserole
Homemade chili (crock pot)
Split pea soup made with home canned ham broth
Roast duck (raised here) with potatoes, onions, and carrots
Potato soup (it’s a family favorite and super-thrifty!)
And of course, no list of frugal meals would be complete without breakfast for dinner

Looking for more inspiration for pantry-based recipes? Check out The Prepper’s Cookbook by Tess Pennington. It’s absolutely loaded with ideas for delicious and nutritious meals from your preps. For even more ideas, check out my Instagram page to see exactly what we’re eating.

What Are Your Favorite Pantry Meals?

Now, this list is just one of ideas from my own kitchen. How can you adapt your own family favorites to be pantry-friendly? Do you have some pantry standbys for rough times? How would you fare if there was no money for extra groceries for a month or longer? Share your ideas and inspiration in the comments below.

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

April 5, 2016 by contributing author

We’re going to take a look at a potential attack scenario against the United States. We’re going to analyze it strictly from a military-economic perspective and weigh possible courses of action by a foreign power or powers in an attack.

Firstly, it is my belief that there will be foreign powers involved, yet one will initiate the entire thing: North Korea. Let’s start up the scenario.

1. North Korea launches an EMP attack, via ICBM or satellite.

This will be the “kickoff,” and enable the game to begin. As of right now, the Chinese and Russians are already positioning themselves. The Chinese are moving naval assets into the South China Sea and also into the Pacific. The Russians are prepping their naval assets in the Med, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and in the Arctic region.

The EMP attack will effectively shut down the entire U.S. economy and infrastructure. Many non-hardened elements of the United States armed forces will suffer loss, and the response time for a conventional incursion will be drastically reduced.

2. Command and Control Areas of the Government, the Military, and the Economy will be nuked.

The most probable cities that will be taken out will be as follows:

(East Coast) – Washington, D.C., New York, NY, Baltimore, MD, Norfolk, VA, Philadelphia, PA, Dover, DE, and Sarasota, FL. This will effectively cripple 90% of all command and control by government and the economic hubs of the country. The latter city is home to Special Operations Command, SouthCom. Additional targets will be Ft. Meade, MD (home to the NSA), Ft. Bragg, NC (home to the 82^nd Airborne Division, and Special Operations Command), Camp Lejeune, NC and Virginia Beach (home to Seal Team 2).

(West Coast) – Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA. Strikes will also be conducted on Ft. Lewis, WA because of the Ranger and Special Forces unit & group there. The weapons will be airburst of fairly low-yield in the attempt to not irradiate with the prevailing westerly winds.

(Interior) – Denver, CO, and Ft. Carson, CO [the latter emphasized for Cheyenne Mountain, recently reactivated, as well as 10^th Special Forces Group (Abn) and 4^th Infantry Division].

This may seem to be “light,” in terms of targets, and there is a reason for this: they want to take the land and resources, not irradiate them into uselessness.

3. The invasion begins with Special Forces, followed by airborne units and then conventional forces.

The Special Forces units of the invading nations will have already been inserted weeks earlier by drops, by sea, or allowed to reach their destinations in a clandestine fashion disguised as civilians and traveling from different locations, separately. Those special units that will be utilized on the initial invasion (for strike missions against targets of varying degrees of importance, such as generators and hydroelectric plants) will be held at the line of departure on a leash until the attack begins.

When the EMP renders a “lights out scenario” it will probably occur at night, and immediately afterward will come drops of airborne troops and Special Forces assets. These will be shock troops to secure areas assigned until the main bodies come ashore.

4. Areas of Responsibility:

The Chinese will take the entire West Coast, the Russians will take Alaska and drive southward, securing the coastline for their naval assets and taking control of the pipeline (which neither side will bomb or irradiate). The Russians will either halt at the southeastern corner of Alaska, or they will drive downward through Canada until they can perch themselves just across the border on the state lines of Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The Russians will also mount an invasion on the East Coast, bypassing “hot spots” of irradiated cities previously mentioned in the initial nuclear strikes.

Later the two nations will coordinate for their drives into the interior. Meanwhile the armies of Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, and Cuba will make their way into the unguarded underbelly of the United States into Texas and the Border States via Mexico. Their objective will be to seize the cities of the Gulf of Mexico. Airborne and Special Forces units of their respective countries, along with the Chinese and Russians, will aid them: all of these will be inserted into the interior.

Their targets to seize and occupy will include Indianapolis, IN (the central railway “hub” of the entire U.S.), and New Orleans, LA (the critical port city where the Mississippi river empties into the Gulf of Mexico; critical for shipping and transport).

5. The Russians will amass submarine assets in the Atlantic with secondary nuclear targets if needed.

At this point, it is worth mentioning that all U.S. naval assets abroad, such as carrier groups, will be nuked. The attackers have the advantage of no nuclear reprisals being the policy of the Obama administration when the EMP is initially delivered. There are several reasons for the limited nature of the nuclear strikes.

Firstly, the West Coast would be subdued without damaging the Imperial Valley, the breadbasket of the U.S. that produces almost 1/5 of the fresh, domestic produce in America. In addition, these nations do not want to irradiate the Midwest due to the corn and wheat, as well as the cattle industry and other segments of domestic food production.

With the EMP, there will be a 24 – 48 hour window of almost stultifying confusion that will lead to semi-paralysis. There are many cities (especially the ports) that will be kept intact due to the desire of these nations to take our resources and ship them by rail to the ports and then back to their home countries, minus a percentage to upkeep the foreign troops. This follows Sun Tzu’s principle of resupplying your troops with the enemy’s supplies and provisions.

In the next article, we will cover what areas of the U.S. hold what particular interests for invaders, and outline what the U.S. responses and courses of action will be, from both a military (active duty and national guard) and civilian perspective.

[Click here to be alerted when this analysis is available]

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.

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

Also Read:

Obama Pushes For Widespread Surveillance State: “At This Rate We’ll All Be In Cages… Either Electronic Or Literal”

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

Forced Economic Free Fall the Precursor to Collapse: “The World Is About To Enter A Global Depression Unlike Anything Seen Before”

The Trigger: If This Ever Happens You Know You’re Days Away From Nuclear War

Jeremiah Johnson’s Green Beret Survival Guides

The Lock Down Has Begun: #JPMorgan Restricts #ATM Cash Withdrawals

April 4, 2016 by mac slavo

Last month All News Pipeline warned that major banks were preparing to tighten the screws on American account holders starting April 1st.

It appears that the lock-down of cash has begun.

Citing criminal activity as a factor, JP Morgan is limiting cash withdrawals at ATM machines.

The bank said there doesn’t appear to be fraud involved. But partly due to heightened regulatory scrutiny, banks are paying more attention to large cash transfers that could be a sign of money laundering or other types of shady activity. Typically, the card-issuing bank sets withdrawal limits, not the bank owning the ATM.

The move by the largest bank in the U.S. doesn’t affect J.P. Morgan Chase’s own customers, whose maximum daily withdrawals are set depending on the client’s account type. The bank has seen high-dollar withdrawals at both new and old ATMs, said bank spokeswoman Patricia Wexler.

J.P. Morgan Chase’s change last month affects roughly 18,000 automated teller machines nationwide and followed an interim step earlier this year limiting noncustomer cash removals at $1,000 per transaction. The earlier move was made as a temporary fix while the bank could make software changes to roll out the more stringent daily limit, Ms. Wexler said.

She added that the bank “felt it was prudent to set withdrawal limits on all of our ATMs” after identifying some large cash withdrawals from noncustomers.

In 2015 we warned readers to divest some of their assets out of bank accounts for this very reason, noting that bank glitches and arbitrary holds would begin to affect more and more depositors. And while the recent move by JP Morgan Chase appears to only affect non-customers, a recent report indicates that the Justice Department has advised bank tellers nationwide to keep any eye out on cash transactions. Suspicious activity, which by the government’s definition is as little as $3000, should be reported to law enforcement and under existing guidelines police can then seize those funds without charge or trial:

“[W]e encourage those institutions to consider whether to take more action: specifically, to alert law enforcement authorities about the problem, who may be able to seize the funds, initiate an investigation, or take other proactive steps.”

After the massive bailouts required to save the system following the crash of 2008 bank and regulators worked together to ensure that all deposit accounts in the United States are no longer the property of depositors, but rather, the banks themselves.

all customer funds in the United States are now the legal property of JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, BNYM, or whichever megabank is the counterparty on the loans the FCM or depository institution takes out in order to fund its mega-levered proprietary in-house trading desks.

In a recent interview intelligence insider Jim Rickards discusses this recent trend and provides insights into how susceptible the banking system is to not just cyber warfare or power grid failure, but confiscation in the form of bank bail-ins or outright government seizure.

Also Read:

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

This is Why You Need Your Money Out of the Bank: Freeze Outs, Glitches and Holds Increasingly Locking Customers Out of Funds

How to Hide Your Money Where the Bankers Won’t Find It

What Guns? What Gold? Prepper Tips On “Hiding Your Guns in Plain Sight”

Man #Fined for Vegetable #Garden: “Harassed Over Growing His Own Food”

April 4, 2016 by contributing author

This article was written by Lily Dane and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Editor’s Comment: This personalized and local form of tyranny is becoming all-too-familiar. It is utterly clear that the powers-that-be hope you and yours never become self-sufficient and able to feed your family. How many towns have cracked down on this simple and uplifting activity that used to be encouraged by the government, but is now enough to initiate a SWAT raid, fines or worse?

Few things are more empowering and important in a situation where your income is cut off, or food simply becomes unavailable at the stores in your area. Despite the attempt to intimidate individuals out of gardening, there is every reason to start growing your own, and encourage others to do so as well.

Man Harassed and Fined for Planting Vegetables in His Own Garden

by Lily Dane

A family in Sugar Creek, Missouri grew the beautiful vegetable garden in the photo above.

They’ve been given four days to tear out the entire garden or face a fine.

Why? Because it is in their front yard, and city officials and a few neighbors don’t like it.

Nathan Athans said he planted the garden in his front yard because it gets optimal sunlight. His backyard only gets sunshine for about two hours per day, and only in certain areas.

Athans told KSHB that he grows several different types of vegetables on his lawn and loves tending to his garden.

I’d probably say about 300 hours [so far this year], I spend all my free time out here.

I want my family to know where their food is coming from, I don’t want to have to go to the grocery store and worry about what was done to that food.

Last summer, the city cited Athans for weeds in his garden, and he complied with the order to clean things up, and paid the fine.

But now, the city has passed a shiny new ordinance – one that Athans believes is part of a witch hunt against him.

The family started an online petition, which explains why they feel targeted:

The city of Sugar Creek, Missouri passed an ordinance two days ago on March 28th, forbidding front yard gardens to grow food, within the first 30 feet of front yard space from the street. Mayor Matt Mallinson both passed and approved this ordinance. They gave us until April 1st to comply. We are the only house in the city with a front yard garden, and just happen to be exactly within those first 30 feet. They have been targeting us since we moved in last year, because we grew a garden in the front yard.

The city’s building official, Paul Loving, told KSHB that city received many complaints and that the ordinance is their solution.

The petition goes on to explain the reasons the garden is so important to Athans and his family:

We believe in sustainability, growing our food locally without pesticides and excessive fertilizer use, reducing our need for fossil fuels to import produce from other countries, countries that have little or no regulations on pesticide use. Sugar Creek is also prone to flooding, as it is located next to the Missouri River, so using our yard for growing plants instead of grass is beneficial because our garden takes in water as well as holding the soil together to prevent erosion, all while filtering out pollutants. It has helped our basement not flood during storms, prevented storm water runoff pollution, reduced fossil fuel use, helped us eat healthier, and prevented us from consuming pesticides and GMOs.

Unfortunately, Athans isn’t the first to be subjected to harassment over growing his own food. People have been charged with crimes, threatened with jail time, and had their property destroyed for growing gardens in their own yards.

Remember, in the US, you never truly own anything.

This article was written by Lily Dane and originally published at The Daily Sheeple.

Could You Escape Your #Vehicle In a #Disaster? “The Potential Is All Too Real”

April 4, 2016 by mac slavo

Disaster could come anytime, anywhere. It could be a widespread, system-wide event, or it could be a personal crisis.

Hopefully you have your home and family as prepared as you can be for any and all such SHTF situations.

But what about your vehicle?

Countless hours and miles are covered in our cars and trucks, and the road can lead us anywhere.

What happens in the event of a natural disaster that could sweep your vehicle into flooded waters, or turn your vehicle over in a ditch or a road side?

Obviously the potential for serious injury or death is all too real. The open road is one of the single most dangerous factors in the American lifestyle, and car accidents are one of the leading causes of premature death.

Worst of all, auto accidents and severe road hazards are completely unpredictable in most situations.

Son of Liberty shares some very prudent and important preps that he has installed in his truck to deal with the many possibilities that could arise while on the road and in the vehicle:

Of course, a emergency medical kit, a tourniquet and a bug out bag are all essentials to keep in your car, and take with you everywhere you go. These devices can and will save lives when first responders are still on their way, or even unavailable.

But here are a few additional installations that can be added to your vehicle to protect you and your loved ones:

– Auto Escape Strap Cutter and Glass Breaker Tool: Simple and inexpensive devices like Auto Escape Strap Cutter and Glass Breaker Tool this one made by Gerber Gear could save your life. This man installed one on each side of the vehicle so that any passenger could easily reach and uses it to cut their seat belt strap and break out a window to escape, even if the worst should happen to the driver or alpha member of the group.

Here’s a demonstration of how it would work:

– Tactical Visor: This inexpensive organizer goes over your existing sun visor and allows you to keep much more than just sunglasses. This simple solution can hold scissors, medical supplies, communications devices and other tools you may need in an emergency.

– Raptor Emergency Medical Tool: These scissors and multi-tools are designed to fold up for tight storage and protect sharp edges in case it flies loose in a moving vehicle or other situation. Its applications are numerous, but obviously it could help to administer first aid, or free you from being trapped in a wrecked vehicle.

– Mobile HAM Radio: This device can be mounted in your vehicle and independently powered for emergency communications with police and emergency workers, or other individuals in situations where your cell phone has no service, or is dead, lost or forgotten. It can and will save your life and keep you from being stranded in an already-bad situation.

–Locking Gas Cap: In the event of a SHTF collapse, zombie apocalypse or even a stranding situation, fuel may become scarce, and you’ll want to keep any gas you have in your tank. A simple and inexpensive locking gas cap can deter thieves and looters from siphoning off the fuel in your vehicle’s tank. If the supply chain does break down, or you have to bug out into the wilderness for help, it will be essential to keep whatever is left for when you might need it. This won’t make stealing your fuel impossible, but it will significantly deter those looking for a quick score.

–Fire Extinguisher for Electrical/Gas Fires: If a serious collision or impact takes place, fire could easily engulf your vehicle – and having a fire extinguisher rated to put out electrical and gas fires is critical, as they are the most common fires in vehicles. This one is compact and handles all these contingencies.

Of course there are many other supplies and preps you may want to consider for your vehicle, and there are obviously many situations where your car could become inoperable or impractical to use.

Nevertheless, having these items installed and ready in your transportation will keep you ready to survive and save the lives of others in numerous possible circumstances.

Stay vigilant, and please add any other important preps you have considered for your car, truck, boat or RV.

#PanamaPapers: #British Elite Linked to #Corruption, yet Media Only Focuses on Putin

April 4, 2016 by michaela whitton

Michaela Whitton
April 04, 2016

(ANTIMEDIA) United Kingdom — Believed to be the largest leak of secret documents in history, the Panama Papers are the latest revelations exposing global corruption. The worldwide investigation supposedly exposes the secretive offshore industry the world’s elites use to hide assets and swerve rules. Based on a library of more than 11 million leaked files, it claims to have exposed a host of characters using offshore companies to facilitate bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, financial fraud, and drug trafficking.

Few will be surprised that the global rich and famous hide their money offshore, regardless of their country of origin. While the Panama Papers are set to identify a cast of characters, from the stars of pitch and screen to political establishments, it’s worth pointing out that the 2.6 terabytes of data hail from just one law firm in one tax haven. They are the tip of the iceberg in spotlighting the shadowy corners where elites stash their cash.

Though much of the public reveres whistleblowers, as author and human rights activist Craig Murray points out, this particular leaker has made the mistake of turning to the Western corporate media to publicise the results. The crucial part of this story, according to Murray, is who is managing the leaked information: the “International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.” He explains they are funded and organised by the U.S.A’s Center for Public Integrity, which includes sponsors such as the Ford Foundation, Carnegie Endowment, Rockefeller Family Fund, W. K., the Kellogg Foundation, and the Open Society Foundation, which is owned by George Soros.

All roads lead to Putin

Considering those guarding the information, it is unsurprising that here in the U.K., corporate press coverage has shown an overarching focus on official enemies like Putin and Assad. With the media dominated by glaring close-ups of Putin and misleading headlines, it seems the British public are only privy to information about official establishment foes while the misdemeanours of tax dodgers are practically ignored. From what Murray says, the identities of those behind managing the leak could also explain the deafening silence on the hundreds of Israeli companies and shareholders implicated.

With the enemies of the West paraded by British news outlets, by mid-morning only the Mirror and the Metro had given brief mention to the fact that David Cameron’s father and a host of senior Tory figures had reportedly used tax havens for the rich and powerful. David Cameron’s late father, Ian, is allegedly named as a client of Mossack Fonseca, the firm at the centre of the scandal. Using it it to protect his investment fund from U.K. taxes, he is said to have built up a significant legacy, part of which was inherited by the Prime Minister. The irony is not lost on many, especially in view of Cameron’s previous pledges to clamp down on tax dodgers and havens. He has described them as “morally wrong.”

Few will hold their breath for any of the rich and powerful named in the files to be held to account for the details released the latest data splurge. Undoubtedly, it will soon become clear whether there will be any real consequences of a leak of this size, particularly when most of the information will remain private. While tumbleweeds blow through the corporate media on the fact that the Tories were up to their necks in global corruption, Twitter users didn’t hold back.

Quelle Surprise! David Cameron’s father and senior Tory figures named in Panama Papers https://t.co/gouwDD9V4A

— Chris Down (@PlingetheElder) April 4, 2016

What David Cameron said about tax avoidance in 2013 – and what he did https://t.co/iT79LxFG6k pic.twitter.com/FDx6mdxNL1

— غدير السلامة (@alslamag19792) April 4, 2016

Panama Papers reveal UK at heart of facilitating tax avoidance https://t.co/HrQpHVLVno

— David Mortimer (@ukfathers) April 4, 2016

Panama Papers allege offshore link with notorious #British heist https://t.co/P37Rcg1Ltv #ZippedNews https://t.co/D1EsVKr7Kq

— News in Summary (@news_in_summary) April 4, 2016

Google #Panama: Panama Papers: David Cameron’s father linked to Mossack Fonseca behind leak: Tory MPs, donors … https://t.co/7tmqn86OV7

— CoolPanama.com ♥ (@CoolPanama) April 4, 2016

Get the popcorn… Cameron’s dad & top Tories named in leak about tax haven firm. #bbcdp https://t.co/YIbPELLf7e pic.twitter.com/XoXS025QE8

— Jim AK (@jamesak47) April 4, 2016

@BBCNews makes no mention of UK tax dodgers such as Camerons dad. Shocking journalism#statemedia

— scott c forbes (@thiajock) April 4, 2016

#panamaleaks @guardian why are you talking about putin when there are other world leaders and david camerons dad who have actually dodged

— viren patel (@viren2468) April 4, 2016

Gideons family firm and Camerons dad – we knew they had dodgy tax deals so where the hell was HMRC? #panamapapers

— PamCrossland (@PamCrossland) April 4, 2016

The Sins of the Father.https://t.co/LsyAxJRIfT

The Sins of the Sonhttps://t.co/qsosE9rKXX

— Kanjin Tor ™ (@xugla) April 4, 2016

This article (Panama Papers: British Elite Linked to Corruption, yet Media Only Focuses on Putin) 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.

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

April 4, 2016 by mac slavo

Intelligence insider Jim Rickards has previously warned of asymmetric attacks using cyber warfare, financial warfare and domestic disasters involving chemical, biological or radiologicial events. The threat is multi-faceted and the consequences of such an attack, whether it takes the the form of state-sponsored cyber financial warfare or a rogue terrorist group detonating a dirty bomb, could act as a destabilizing event that wipes out everything from our power grid to the wealth stored in your digital financial profiles.

Having worked directly with intelligence agencies simulating and war-gaming the potential fall-out that could result, in his latest interview with Crush The Street Rickards explains the distinct Doomsday scenarios that could instantly collapse life as we know it in America today… and how to prepare for them.

These things are actually happening and your digital wealth is vulnerable to a number of calamities… critical infrastructure failures… whether it’s power grid, banking system, cyber financial warfare, etc.

(Watch At Youtube)

Last month cyber thieves figured out a way to steal $100 million from the central bank account of Bangladesh via the U.S. Federal Reserve. They could have gotten away with $900 million more had it not been for a small typo. The point, as Rickards notes, is that there is a realistic possibility of a much larger-scale attack that targets not a central bank, but the direct holdings of every bank account in America.

The only tool you have at your disposal to protect from such an attack, says Rickards, is gold:

You never want to go all in… I am saying that 10% of your wealth… put it into physical gold… put it in a safe place and that will be immune from power grid outages, exchange closures, digital asset seizures and cyber financial warfare.

And while the potential for a serious calamity that would affect our digital monetary systems is a compelling reason to own gold, in his book The New Case For Gold Rickards explains that a global monetary collapse is also in the cards. And that means gold could one day become the de facto global currency as confidence in a global economy awash in fiat money is lost.

In the interview Rickards takes on analysts who say that a currency cannot be backed in gold, arguing that supply of the precious metal through current official holdings, private holdings and existing gold mining operations is sufficient to support well managed currencies. And countries that refuse to follow sound money policies, he says, will simply have worthless currencies that will not be accepted on the world economic stage.

That’s the whole point of the gold standard… it’s to force governments and countries to do prudent things.

As it is now there’s no standard… there’s no enforcement mechanism… there’s nothing.

I’ve spoken to Ben Bernanke and the head of the IMF about it and they both used the same word to describe the international monetary system… it’s incoherent.

It appears that a gold standard is the end-game for countries like China and Russia considering that they have been aggressively accumulating the metal in recent years. And while the United States may maintain a monetary hegemony over global affairs right now, there will come a time when that will no longer be the case. With gold being used to back currencies, prudent monetary policy will be rewarded.

If people had confidence that you were doing the right thing they would happily sell you the gold… if they lack that confidence [in your currency] they wouldn’t sell you the gold… but that is a market signal telling you you’ve got the wrong policies… you’ve lost the confidence of your citizens.

But we’re not there yet. A global monetary reset needs to happen first. And that means the government and Federal Reserve are going to stay the course, including quantitative easing for the people, no matter how disastrous the next round of policies may be.

As Rickards suggests, this makes the case for $10,000 gold quite strong, because they will continue to push low or no interest rate policies while printing even more money to stem off a potentially deflationary environment.

Deflation is good for citizens… inflation is good for government. But if you’re fighting the government, the government will win in the long run even though it’s taking longer than they thought.

At the end of the day they’ll get the inflation… and you’ll be glad you have some gold.

Check out Jim Rickards’ latest book The New Case For Gold.

For more interviews like this one visit CrushTheStreet.com. To learn how the smart money is positioning for gold’s bull run by acquiring precious metals assets click here.

“This Is America” – Watch As #Secret#Service Agent Slams #Turkish President’s Body Guard Goons For Trying To Silence Protesters

April 2, 2016 by mac slavo

It may be completely legal for Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s minions to silence the voices of journalists, bloggers and other outspoken critics when in Turkey.

But when you’re in America, Jack, your autocratic tendencies and dictatorial inclinations are fair game for protesters, the media and our citizenry.

That’s the message the Turkish President’s body guards got from a Secret Service agent on President Obama’s security detail in Washington after Erdogan’s goons started ripping anti-Erdogan flyers out of peoples’ hands, physically assaulting them and throwing them the middle finger.

A video of the incident captures the Secret Service agent making it clear to Erdogan’s body guards that while free speech may be prohibited in the progressive European Union state of Turkey, America is a bit different.

Stay on this side [of the road.] Do you understand? You tell him to calm down, this is America.

Act like an adult, stay on this side of the road. End of story. By going over there and flipping the bird you’re causing more problems for me, and for your protection.

Denial is a River in the USA: No to Tiny Homes, #Veggie #Gardens, the Words “Islamic Terror,” Old Remedies

April 2, 2016 by daisy luther

April 2, 2016

In this week’s Survival Saturday round-up, the news topics are all about denial: saying no and burying our heads in the sand here in the good old US of Nay. Steps toward personal independence? NO. Saying the words “Islamic terror?” NO. Using an ancient remedy Big Pharma can’t patent? NO. Calling a shovel a spade and discussing the real cause of antibiotic resistance? NO. NO. NO. Personal freedom and awareness are positively radical, folks. Cognitive dissonance, that’s what is encouraged.

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

Here are the stories that caught my attention this week. You may notice a bit of a theme.

Will tiny homes and gardens become illegal?

If you don’t live the 9-5, consumerist, processed-food-soylent-green, compliant lifestyle of the majority of Americans, you can look for the things you do to become increasingly illegal. Who knew that living on the road or growing veggies would make you an outlaw one day? Here are two examples of overreaching laws meant to quash independence that are getting attention this week:

Soon it may be illegal to live in your RV or tiny house. HUD wants to pass a law requiring manufacturers to label tiny homes and RVs that they are not for full-time occupancy. Everyone who knows how the government works knows that this is merely a slippery slope. Once they’ve been declared “not homes” then a precedent has been set to make it illegal to live in them. (How dare you avoid paying 40% of your income to remain sheltered, peasant? You’ll stay indebted to your overlords for your housing!)

With another spring comes another front yard vegetable garden to be destroyed. A Missouri man is under pressure to rip out his vegetable garden or face the consequences. Last year he was fined for having weeds in his garden, and this year, he’s being fined for having it at all due to a brand new city ordinance aimed at him. (How dare you grow your own food, peasant? You’ll eat what we dole out!) If you want to be all brassy and grow food out there where everyone can see it, apparently you need to be stealthy. (This book can help.)

The Antibiotic Resistance Apocalypse Approacheth

Did you even know that there was a “national action plan” to fight antibiotic resistance? No? Neither does anyone else, and for good reason. President Obama’s carefully chosen “council” is ignoring the number one cause of antibiotic resistance while developing their plan: agricultural antibiotic use. “There are no targets—none—to reduce agricultural use of antibiotics, even as the council presses for reductions in the amount of antibiotics prescribed to people.” Emphasis mine. As politicans (and people in the pockets of politicians) it’s anethama to tick off the big spenders in Big Agri.

Back in 2014, blogger Lizzie Bennet from the UK warned that this was the biggest threat to mankind, bigger, even, than a nuclear holocaust, an asteroid strike, or societal collapse. “Children will die of tonsillitis, any type of orthopaedic surgery will become a lottery as infection in the bone is most unlikely to be survivable without antibiotics. Most forms of chemotherapy will be useless as antibiotic therapy is run alongside the treatment. Organ transplant patients are plagued by infections, none of which would be treatable. People would once again become insane as a side effect of syphilis, and other sexual transmitted diseases would run rampant through society.” (Read the rest of her well-thought-out warning HERE.)

There are options, of course. Did you know that a thousand year old Anglo-Saxon potion was found to be extremely effective against deadly, antibiotic resistant MRSA? It could be worrisome that the ingredients are unlikely to be patented by anyone in Big Pharma. The potion is a combination of simple things like onion, garlic, wine, and oxgall (cow bile.) Have you noticed that unless Big Pharma can make Big Money, effective remedies get hushed up? The remedy was rediscovered last year and the deaths from MRSA, particularly prevalent in hospital settings, just keep piling up. You simply can’t rely on these corporations. It’s time to begin learning how to make your own remedies whenever possible.

If you don’t say “Islamic Terror” there is no Islamic terror

Remember on Scooby Doo back when we were kids how Shaggy and Scooby would huddle in a corner, scrunch their eyes shut, and Shaggy would chant, “I don’t believe in ghosts, I don’t believe in ghosts” over and over, even though there was a giant apparition looming over them? That seems to be the reaction of the White House to Islamic terrorism. In fact, they won’t even let anyone else say it. Check out how they edited a video of French President Hollande denouncing Islamic terror by removing those words. They are carefully nurturing a culture of cognitive dissonance, and unfortunately, the greater majority of the public will only wake up when something irrefutable happens in their own backyard.

Author Salman Rushdie says this is a terrible mistake. “…if you have a group of murderers who say–all of them–that they do it in the name of a particular prophet and a particular ideology, to say it’s not about that is just self-evidently evading the truth.”(You may recall that Rushdie’s irreverent depiction of the Prophet Muhammed in his book, The Satanic Verses, prompted the Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa for Rushdie’s death in 1989.)

Anyway, we should all stop being silly about the Muslim immigrants. They’re working hard to assimilate. To prove it, click here to see a quick video of them marching through the streets in Germany, chanting, “With Allah’s help, we shall conquer you!” They just want to be loved and accepted, duh.

The Bookshelf

I’ve been slacking on The Bookshelf lately because, well, I haven’t been reading as much, what with our recent move. Thankfully, things have settled down and I got to curl up and do some reading. (It didn’t hurt that I was without internet for a week and a half!) Here are this week’s picks for the books you need to have on your own bookshelf.

Prepper’s Natural Medicine: Life-Saving Herbs, Essential Oils and Natural Remedies for When There is No Doctor

Remember how we were just taking about antibiotic resistance and simple remedies that you can make yourself, since you sure won’t get them from the doctor? Well, here’s your guide. You don’t have to pour over dusty archaic texts and try to figure out what oxgall is. Cat Ellis did it for you and she wrote this incredible book about home remedies. The ingredients are accessible, and you can grow many of them yourself. This book is loaded with safe, effective, and tested remedies that you can use to treat yourself if you find yourself in a situation in which professional medical care is not an option. The author is a long-time herbal practitioner and her advice is expert, easy-to-follow, and perfect for preppers. Get this book, then make a list of what you can grow and what you need to acquire.

Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal

First, let me say this right off the bat. I have the world’s biggest brain crush on Joel Salatin. I admire his work, his libertarian views, and his farming skills. This book sealed the deal for me. And considering the first topic of the discussion today, it couldn’t be more appropriate. It’s an enjoyable read that holds your interest while providing the facts about the food industry and exactly WHY everything we want to do is illegal. (SPOILER: It’s money. It’s always about the money.) Even if you never intend to plant a seed, you need to read this book, because you eat food, don’t you? ????

Straw Bale Gardens Complete

I’m strongly considering straw bale gardening this summer, and a book by Joel Karsten that I just picked up is pretty compelling. It’s relatively inexpensive, it doesn’t matter what your soil is like, and it’s apparently incredibly effective. “Straw Bale Gardens Complete contains all of the original information that has set the gardening world on fire. But it also goes much deeper, with nearly 50 pages of all-new advice and photos on subjects such as growing in a tight urban setting, making your straw bale garden completely organic, and using new fertilizers and conditioning products. There is even information on using straw bale techniques to grow veggies in other organic media for anyone who has a hard time finding straw.”

The Self-Reliance Weekly Report links you to all the best articles relating to prepping, homesteading, DIY, and independence.

This week, the topic is setting up your homestead as quickly and inexpensively as possible. Whether you’ve just moved (like me) or you want to turn your existing property into a more self-sufficient one, these tips from experts around the web will help you get the job done on a dime.

Click here to check out The Self-Reliance Weekly Report!

The Shopping Cart

This is the area for bargains, things I bought, and cool places to shop.

This week I ordered some signs from Amazon to increase the security of my homestead I’m posting these on my gates, and posting regular no-trespassing signs on the perimeter of the property.

This one is meant to warn strangers about the potential of being eaten by my 160 pound guard dog, Thor. I thought of putting up a regular “beware of dog” sign, but people aren’t always smart and I decided to be a little more blunt. My dog isn’t vicious, but he’s territorial, and no one gets past him without an invite from his mama.

Order it here

I don’t have a camera pointed at my gate just because I want to take pictures. I want people to KNOW I’m taking pictures. My home is pretty remote, and out here, a lot of people are serious about security. Therefore, having a camera at the gate is not a big red flag that says “There’s lots of stuff to steal here!”

A sign announcing a video camera is proven to be a better deterrent than signs that say your home is monitored by a security company. (Especially if you actually have a video camera.) A criminal will often head for a house to rob where they are less likely to see themselves on the evening news.

Order it here

Anything to add to Survival Saturday?

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