Conspiracy Fact and Theory

#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.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

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

April 6, 2016 by mac slavo

So secret that it’s for your safety…

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

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

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

As NBC reported:

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

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

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

[…]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

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.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

29 Essential Tips for the New #Prepper: “Start Small. Develop Your Skills. Create a Plan”

March 25, 2016 by mac slavo

Whether you are just starting out with prepping and are figuring out what to focus on first, or whether you are a veteran prepper tracing over your plans for potential flaws, you can always make improvements.

These videos can help you cover the essentials, boil down to the most important factors and start actually putting your preps into action.

Don’t wait until the trouble starts, because it will already be too late.

How would you survive if the food supplies stall out, the economy and digital grid crashes, or para-government forces unleash a round-up plan?

Have you made your family as secure as they can be with stored goods, equipment and a fool proof bug out plan for continuity of life off the grid?

There are some good answers on where to start and how to account for just about everything, but the point is that you must start somewhere.

For beginners, the best tip may be to start small and build up from there as you learn what you’re doing:

10 Tips for New Preppers: Supplies, Survival food and Emergency Essentials

Survival Know How explains his Top 10 Tips For New Preppers:

1. Start small. There is no need to prepare for the zombie Apocalypse if you don’t have enough supplies to last you 3 days without power.
2. Start with Food and Water. To often new preppers want to focus on guns, knives and ammo. It may not be as glamorous but your first preps should be food and water.
3. Develop your skills. Prepping is not just about what you buy but is also about developing your skill set and expanding your knowledge.
4. Build a prepper community. Talk about prepping to your friends, co-workers and family.
5. Tailor your preps to your geographical location. If you live up north you need to focus on keeping warm in the winter, if you live down south you need to focus on staying cool in the summer.
6. Develop a plan B. AKA a Bug Out Bag. Bugging in should always be your plan A. Only Bug Out if you absolutely need to.
7. Practice with your preps. Having preps is not enough, you need to be proficient with them and know how to use them when shit hits the fan.
8. Use List to stay organised. Create prepper supplies list, emergency food list and anything else. This will help you stay organized and buy everything you need.
9. Get into shape. When the shit hits the fan and you are forced to fend for your self you want to be in the best shape possible.
10. Learn First Aid. Skills in first aid will literally save your and your family life.

Even if you have everything you need to survive at home, there are many bad situations that could force you to leave your home and seek survival somewhere else – if you can make it.

Here are some important factors to consider when planning to bug out. What will the roads and highways look like during disaster? Likely they won’t be easy to travel on, and could be downright dangerous. Foreknowledge of the back roads and other alternative means of travel are essential if you are in a serious situation.

Setting up cache sites along your bug out route could also be vital to your survival plan, particularly if your travel plans hit a snag.

Bugging Out: What to Know Before You Go! 19 Tips for Preppers for SHTF Escape Planning!

The Healthy Prepper explains her 19 Tips for Preppers for SHTF Escape Planning:

1. Know your routes.
2. Have multiple forms of travel. (car, bike, foot, zodiac etc.)
3. Preload car with bug out bag
4. Bury caches along routs.
5. Know your final destination.
6. Lay low and blend in.
7. Choose off roads, back roads etc.
8. Sleep in a different location than you cook your food or build a fire.
9. Have back up fuel on the car.
10. Keep bug out vehicle maintained and full of gas.
11. Know when it is time to go.
12.Learn to use maps, compass, star navigation
13. Expect to get lost forced off route.
14.Avoid ridge lines and tops of hills.
15. Have alternative bug out locations in mind if the first one does not pan out.
16. Practice you bug out plan with your family.
17. Know where water, food, fuel can be found along your bug out routes.
18. Be prepared for interactions with others.
19. Be prepared someone may have already pillaged for bug out location or has already set up camp there.

Realistically, you may not be able to cover all of these points, and may find some of them to be contradictions with your real world situation. Regardless, you must prepare for all eventualities.

The point is to consider the best information you can, match it up with the realities of your area, your home, your financial situation and the reliability of the people around you (or lack thereof).

Plan ahead, and avoid becoming paralyzed by fear and inaction if and when the SHTF.

5 Mistakes Every New Prepper Makes

12 Bad Strategies That Will Get Preppers Killed

Report: Feds Take Down Preppers Accused of Stockpiling Guns and Ammunition: “Federal Conspiracy Charges”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Surprised? #Belgium Knew Terror Attack Was Coming: “Advance and Precise Intelligence Warnings”

March 24, 2016 by contributing author

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

Editor’s Comment: If the true facts were to come out, they would so totally contradict the official narrative that the entire paradigm of NATO and the whole of the conflicts in the Middle East would look completely different. If people only understood how manufactured and targeted the terrorism was – in serving as a cattle prod to action – the population would revolt over night.

Instead, the weight of tragedy, of tears and loss and the psychological impact of fear and shock take over logical thinking and, of course, all the world’s headlines. Instead, the reality of these attacks are deceptively spun as an enemy instead of as a deliberate catalyst. Then again, no one is buying the red pill, and they just can’t seem to keep enough blue in stock to keep everybody going. The will of the people seems to be to keep riding along with their abusers and captors, even when escape is possible and even likely. The people have learned helplessness, and become conditioned to action only through fear…

Surprised? Belgian Government Knew Terror Attack Was Coming

by Joshua Krause

On the surface, there really isn’t anything mysterious about Tuesday’s terrorist attack in Brussels. Belgium carried out a small bombing campaign against ISIS last year, and roughly 100 of their military personnel remain in the Middle East in advisory roles. Couple that with the fact that Belgium has a sizeable migrant population from the Middle East, and many of their urban neighborhoods have become no go zones for the authorities, and it becomes shocking that an attack like this didn’t happen sooner.

The country is so out of control, that it has become a breeding ground for Islamic terror groups who use the country as a staging area for future attacks against Europe. In fact, the assailants who committed the brutal terrorist attack in Paris last November were originally based in Belgium.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a terrorist attack was attempted in this country, and it isn’t first time this has happened. The only thing that’s unique about it this time around, is the scale of the devastation. What is surprising however, is the fact that the Belgian government couldn’t prevent this attack. According to some sources like Haaretz, Belgian authorities should have known this was coming.

The Belgian security services, as well as other Western intelligence agencies, had advance and precise intelligence warnings regarding the terrorist attacks in Belgium on Tuesday, Haaretz has learned.

The security services knew, with a high degree of certainty, that attacks were planned in the very near future for the airport and, apparently, for the subway as well.

Despite the advance warning, the intelligence and security preparedness in Brussels, where most of the European Union agencies are located, was limited in its scope and insufficient for the severity and immediacy of the alert.

And that’s not all. Turkey’s President recently said something along similar lines.

Belgium had been notified of the terrorist links of one of the suicide bombers involved in the deadly Brussels attacks when he was deported from Turkey last year, according to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Belgian citizen was detained in Turkey’s southeastern Gaziantep province, which borders Syria, in July of 2015, and was subsequently deported, Erdogan said.

“One of the attackers in Brussels is an individual we detained in Gaziantep in June 2015 and deported. We reported the deportation to the Belgian Embassy in Ankara on July 14, 2015, but he was later set free,” Erdogan said, as cited by Reuters.

“Belgium ignored our warning that this person is a foreign fighter,” he added.

Similar accusations were hurled at the Belgian government following the Paris terror attack. They had all the intel they needed to foil the terrorists, but completely bungled their counter-terror efforts. For many of you reading this, I’m sure alarm bells are ringing in your head. You may be wondering if a conspiracy of some kind is afoot. It almost seems too convenient for Belgium to repeatedly drop the ball on these attacks.

However, it’s just as likely that Belgian authorities are simply incompetent. That’s certainly what many U.S. intelligence officials believe.

News of Tuesday’s attack was met in some parts of Washington with resigned frustration.

“There was only so much we could do to help,” one official explained to The Daily Beast.

“Belgium has been stepping up the amount of people they’re devoting to intelligence and law enforcement but they’re playing catch-up and we’re seeing the terrible results of that today,” Rep. Adam Schiff, the senior Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said on MSNBC.

Indeed, an official said there were warnings as recent as this weekend.

A frustrated U.S. intelligence official bemoaned the state of the counterterrorism apparatus in Belgium and across Europe.

“Even with the EU in general, there’s an infiltration of jihadists that’s been happening for two decades. And now they’re just starting to work on this. When we have to contact these people or send our guys over to talk to them, we’re essentially talking with people who are—I’m just going to put it bluntly—children. They are not pro-active, they don’t know what’s going on. They’re in such denial. It’s such a frightening thing to admit their country is being taken over.”

So what do you think is going on? Is the Belgian government completely incompetent, or are they letting these attacks happen? Honestly, neither would surprise me at this point.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

The Bubble Will Burst, But #Fed Is Waiting For Politics “With #Trump Lurking Around”

March 24, 2016 by mac slavo

It’s no conspiracy. The music will soon stop and the economy will take a big hit when the bubble bursts – even the timing has been chosen.

The Fed has been pumping easy money and buying time with future pain for years now, but the worm is turning. Only, the turn is taking a pause so as to avoid helping – yes – Donald Trump and his bid for the presidency.

SHTF just reported on the startling revelation that not only has quantative easing changed the financial landscape in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, but it has been directly responsible for a full 93% of market action since that time.

The Federal Reserve is a leviathan if there ever was one. Even its whispers float boats and sink ships. Easy credit has gone so far beyond the logical extremes, and the proverbial roadrunner has pointed out that we are all hanging out over a cliff.

Contracting the money supply (by raising interest rates) is the snap reaction, but it will hurt. So they are prolonging the pain in order to shift the blame and distract everyone from the real problem as much as possible.

Like everything else, it is now somehow Donald Trump’s fault. This time, because the Fed is a in a position where it supposedly “can’t” raise markets and stabilize the economy.

Via the New York Post:

Like it or not, the Federal Reserve will play a big role in this year’s presidential election.

The Fed last week pulled back on its economic outlook for 2016 and beyond. […]

The upcoming election and, especially, the surprising strength of Donald Trump also make it almost impossible for the Fed to boost rates. If Trump gets elected, the Fed will almost immediately be hit by audits that will reveal lots of secret, sinister things.

So Fed Chair Janet Yellen and her fellow central bankers can’t do anything — like raise the cost of money — that might slow the economy down and give Trump a better shot at winning the presidency.

[…]

But then the Fed gets boxed in by politics, especially because of Trump. Even though it eased policy in a controversial move right before the re-election of President Obama, the Fed will probably use the November election as an excuse to freeze policy until after the vote. It doesn’t want the economy to weaken or, worse, the stock market to tank.

Wow.

Sounds like the Fed, which so often claims not to be political, is admitting to the political weight of its station – which is, incidentally, private and quite powerful indeed over American life. The “politics” are over calls to make it accountable, a task which is apparently insurmountable and somehow detrimental to economic stability, itself a fragile ghost.

The Federal Reserve’s power over monetary policy and the power it derives from issuing currency to the nation at interest are at the heart of why former Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul has called for auditing and ultimately ending the Fed:

Allowing a secretive central bank to control monetary policy has resulting in an ever-expanding government, growing income inequality, a series of ever-worsening economic crises, and a steady erosion of the dollar’s purchasing power. Unless this system is changed, America, and the world, will soon experience a major economic crisis. It is time to finally audit, then end, the Fed.

Donald Trump, who has proven to be a lightning rod on all issues, has pointed out that Janet Yellen is likely holding off on raising rate because it is clear from basic policy dynamics that the massive recession that has built up like a puss-filled sore would burst, and in turn, Obama’s Administration would appear culpable for the decline.

Instead, Trump has charged, the Fed is putting that off in order to avoid giving his candidacy a boost – nevertheless, the recession is probably inevitable, and a clear result of Federal Reserve monetary policy.

Yellen is “keeping the economy going, barely,” Trump told The Hill. “The reason they’re keeping the interest rate down is Obama doesn’t want to have a recession-slash-depression during his administration.”

He added: “Janet Yellen is highly political and she’s not raising rates for a very specific reason: because Obama told her not to because he wants to be out playing golf in a year from now and he wants to be doing other things and he doesn’t want to see a big bubble burst during his administration.”

They’ve got everyone at gun point, but the gun is concealed, and they won’t let anyone looking in their pockets or question their moves.

‘Don’t anybody get political around here, or the economy gets it…’

The problem with gun control is that criminals don’t follow the laws, and the rest of the economy is totally disarmed and unable to do anything about the hostile actions of the nation’s central bank, save the few who have a bit of gold or silver to turn to. This is economic autocracy in action.

Ron Paul: Unless the Fed is Stopped, America Will “Soon Experience Major Economic Crisis”

“Fed Risks Triggering Panic and Turmoil”: World Bank Warns Against Raising Rates

Federal Reserve Insider Alan Greenspan Warns: There Will Be a “Significant Market Event… Something Big Is Going To Happen”

Proof It Is Rigged: “Fed Moved 93% of Entire Stock Market Since 2008″

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

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

March 23, 2016 by mac slavo

Terrorism is a fact of life.

The political causes and effects of it are complex, and the reaction is often used in politically expedient ways. In other words, the default is to use fear to sell an agenda – perhaps for war, security measures, diplomatic pressure.

Regardless, the chances of being caught up in the scene of an attack is very low.

But if you do find yourself in such a situation, here are some strategies to maximize your chances of survival, avoid disaster, fight back or flee and hopefully help other would-be victims get out of the way.

Hone your skills of assessment and situational awareness to make quick life-or-death decisions and avoid at all costs becoming a victim or statistic. Obviously police, SWAT and/or other forces won’t be there until after the fact, once all the victims have been killed or injured. Individuals must do something while they can.

Via Paladin Press:

How to Survive a Shooting Attack: LIVING SAFELY IN DANGEROUS TIMES

If an attacker shows up on scene, your first response should be to get out of his line of vision and avoid the assailants ability to lock eyes with and target you.

If armed, consider the reality of the situation (hopefully from cover) to decide whether or not it is your fight – quickly, but with good judgement. Sometimes it is simply better to walk away, but if you are in a position to stop a shooter and save other lives, then it may be the right decision.

Meanwhile, some police are now being trained to take out active threats…wait for it… without waiting for back-up to arrive. This is a good sign that things are turning back towards common sense, and perhaps our civilization has a chance:

No strategy will be foolproof in every situation, but this kind of training can improve your chances if the worst happens unexpectedly.

Do you have any advice to add?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

The View Hosts Admit #Trump Was Right About #Brussels: “I Can’t Believe It, He Seems Reasonable”

March 23, 2016 by mac slavo

Is Donald Trump really the voice of reason the day after the attacks in Brussels?

These left-leaning women from The View are besides themselves in having to admit that they agree with The Donald on his foreign policy and ISIS views.

He apparently called months ago that something was going on in Belgium, and that new waves of terror attacks were forthcoming.

As The Blaze reported:

The co-hosts of ABC’s “The View” appeared to soften a little on GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump on Tuesday, admitting that his foreign policy positions don’t seem all that outrageous in the aftermath of the deadly terror attacks in Brussels.

Joy Behar, an outspoken critic of Trump, pointed out that the Republican was “right” about the Iraq invasion being a “huge mistake” and everyone seemed to be in agreement that Trump accurately noted in January that “there’s something bad going on” in Brussels.

“He was right, so his foreign policy isn’t so outrageous,” co-host Sunny Hostin said. She later added, “I can’t believe I’m feeling this way, but he seems reasonable today.”

Watch this incredible clip as Joy Behar and some of the other co-hosts come to terms with their unlikely agreement with Trump:

Is this any indication that Trump would really be a president to bridge the partisan divide and actually address the real problems going on, and deal with them in a strong way?

That’s up for debate, but I’m sure this isn’t the last surprise defection in this election season. There have to be some very uncomfortable Democrats who see Hillary’s presidency as a greater threat than Trump’s.

Trump Video From 25 Years Ago Will Shock You: “I’m Tired of Seeing This Country Ripped Off”

Trump is Riding a “Rising Tide of Discontent Within the U.S.,” But Can He Really Change Things?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

#Trump Video From 25 Years Ago Will Shock You: “I’m Tired of Seeing This Country Ripped Off”

March 18, 2016 by mac slavo

The Donald has completely taken over the news cycle.

His path of victory after victory in GOP primary states has the establishment freaking out, and every major media outlet scrambling for a way to stop Trump, or at least to damage his reputation.

But why is he being compared to Hitler and inducing aneurysms among the political elite?

Obviously it isn’t the name-calling or fiery rhetoric that has the system’s minions losing sleep and openly-plotting his demise.

No. It is for one basic reason: his rhetoric and campaign promises have centered around restoring American sovereignty.

Economically, he has talked about undoing globalism and free trade, bringing back good American jobs, protecting the border (and yes, building the 10+ foot high wall) and saying no to a culture of exploiting illegal immigrant workers at the expense of American employment.

Never mind if he can keep any of those promises, because just hyping them up has been enough to cause mass panic and hysteria in the corporate halls of Washington, Wall Street and the lapdog media.

But what might surprise you, even shock you, is that he has been talking this way for decades.

Just listen to what he told Oprah and her audience more than 25 years ago (circa 1987):

“I’d make our allies pay their fair share” “I’m tired of seeing what’s happening with this country.” “I’m tired of seeing this country ripped off.”

And there’s much more than that. The Daily Caller rounded up several examples of his consistent appeals for a “strong negotiator” on trade and foreign affairs.

Promising to balance trade and fight for American workers is NOT what the prevailing elite – who are losing control of the political establishment – want to happen.

Their plan, as voiced at exclusive think tanks and confabs like Davos, Bilderberg, the Council on Foreign Relations and many others, has been to level the prosperous American middle class and force workers in the United States to whittle their way down to complete serfdom – and absolute dependence upon government handouts and a meager place in the grand pecking order of world domination.

Trump won’t be a savior, but things now are looking like they might bump him off just for even reminding the American people of how far things have fallen and little anyone else on the political stage has done to stop the free fall of the American Dream.

To the contrary, most of the political tools on stage have been only too willing to play a hand in the destruction of this once strong and vibrant country in exchange for favors and kickbacks.

2016 is about one thing: how fed up and angry people are at the system which has operated on behalf of the interests of a handful of insiders and the expense of everyone else.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

This Man Stops Police From Illegal Search in Just 7 Seconds: “Honor Your Oath, Scumbag!”

March 18, 2016 by contributing author

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

Editor’s Comment: When people are too lazy and complacent to stand up for their rights, tyranny creeps right in. Despite the fact that police abuses have been in the spotlight during the past few years, little has been done to reassert the basic and cherished rights of free speech and privacy. In fact, the 4th Amendment has been totally trashed by the NSA, the TSA and quite possibly your local police department and law enforcement community.

Refuse searches without warrant, or even a basis of suspicion. Don’t cooperate with fishing expeditions or attempts to condition slave-like masses at public events. Take a page from this guy – who put police in their place right away, and spared no time for niceties or politically correct language. And guess what? The cop respected his stand and realized the wisdom in backing off.

“Honor Your Oath, Scumbag!”: Watch This Unlawful Search by Police Get Defeated in Just 7 Seconds

by Melissa Dykes

Sick and tired of beings asked for papers, please or other Fourth Amendment violations when you, as an innocent citizen not suspected of any crime other than walking down a city street, are just trying to mind your own business?

Well, so is this guy.

This video is brief and to the point.

(Warning: language)

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

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Proof It Is Rigged: “Fed Moved 93% of Entire Stock Market Since 2008″

March 18, 2016 by mac slavo

Fact: The Federal Reserve has screwed over the country.

Monetary policy has been the single most important factor in the economy for some time.

A new analysis from economist Brian Barnier shows that while future GDP, household debt from credit cards and tech accounted for past bubbles in American history, the bubble that has risen since Obama became president is due to one – and only one – factor: the Federal Reserve.

And the private banking cartel – which masquerades as a public government institution – has become plenty controversial for its ties to elite hidden agendas and its debasement of the economy.

However, few Americans realize just how huge – and detrimental – this institution has become.

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the Fed, then chaired by Ben Bernanke, began an unprecedented quantitative easing (QE) program that literally changed everything.

During the last eight years, monetary policy has completely upended the economy, and concentrated wealth into fewer and fewer hands, while making it more and more difficult for ordinary people to stay afloat. This intervention has gone way, way too far and has driven up a particularly unstable bubble that is ready to burst.

Through QE and bond purchases, the Fed managed to double the S&P 500 value, while more than doubling its own balance sheet in the process.

Yahoo! Finance reported:

The factors behind that and previous bubbles can be illuminated using simple visual analysis of a chart.

The S&P 500 (^GSPC) doubled in value from November 2008 to October 2014, coinciding with the Federal Reserve Bank’s “quantitative easing” asset purchasing program. After three rounds of “QE,” where the Fed poured billions of dollars into the bond market monthly, the Fed’s balance sheet went from $2.1 trillion to $4.5 trillion.

This isn’t just a spurious correlation, according to economist Brian Barnier, principal at ValueBridge Advisors and founder of FedDashboard.com. What’s more, he says previous bull runs in the market lasting several years can also be explained by single factors each time.

[…]
As the financial crisis reached a fevered pitch in 2008, the Federal Reserve took to flooding the financial market with dollars by buying up bonds. Simultaneously, interest rates fell dramatically, as bond yields move in the opposite direction of bond prices. Barnier sees the Fed as responsible for over 93% of the market from the start of QE until today. During the first half of 2013, the Fed caused the entire market’s growth, he said.

Barnier, who compiled this data analysis, dubbed this the “Era of the Fed” – as this ill-reputed institution has been more responsible than any other factor (including the 2008 financial crisis) for how bad the economy has gotten for average Americans, college-graduates seeking careers and small businesses.

The above chart is simplified from others before it to show that the Fed was the single most important factor during the last era – overlapping Obama’s presidency – and that a staggering 93% of the economy has been dictated by the Federal Reserve. See the Yahoo! article for more data and charts.

As many analysts have discussed before, this unprecedented intervention has distorted and warped the American experience. Savers, pensioners and investors have all take harsh blows as the interest rate held at zero and even dipped into negative – forcing some customers to pay for deposits and others to take a haircut on their life savings and retirement packages!

Federal Reserve About To Do “Tremendous Amount of Damage” To U.S. Dollar

Trump Accuses Fed of Not Raising Rates Because Obama “Doesn’t Want a Bubble Burst” Until He Leaves

Ron Paul: Unless the Fed is Stopped, America Will “Soon Experience Major Economic Crisis”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

GOP Insider Admits: “That’s Just the Way It Is… We Choose the Nominee, Not the Voters”

March 17, 2016 by mac slavo

This GOP official made a brazen admission that, well, voting doesn’t matter.

If you haven’t come to terms with that fact, then it’s probably about time that you did.

Given the complex and deliberately obscure rules that the Republican and Democratic parties create for themselves, it is clear that it is not the voters of this country, but the insider party officials who actually determine who our leaders will be.

This system is hardly a democracy, but it is reality.

Many have surmised as much, as they watch the country going down the tubes year after year, but now their suspicions have been confirmed. CNBC reported:

Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.

“The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That’s the conflict here,” Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.

[…]

This could lead to a brokered convention…

“It could introduce Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, or it could be the other candidates that have already been in the race and are now out of the race [such as] Mike Huckabee [or] Rick Santorum. All those people could eventually become candidates on the floor,” Emineth said.

[…]

“The rules haven’t kept up,” Haugland said. “The rules are still designed to have a political party choose its nominee at a convention. That’s just the way it is. I can’t help it. Don’t hate me because I love the rules.”

They make the rules, they break the rules, everyone else follows their decision.

It’s not like the Democrats even offered a real choice against Hillary Clinton – instead, the illusion of voting has moved forward, while the party tightly locked around super delegates and byzantine procedures to ensure that the decision had already been made before a single vote was cast.

Power tends to corrupt, and create institutions for holding onto power. That cycle repeats, intensifies and expels excrement, corruption and tyranny.

This network of control had allowed connected insiders, rich billionaires and elite, global architects to steer elections, select candidates and tilt the system in their favor.

As Mark Twain keenly noted: “If voting made any difference they wouldn’t let us do it.”

Shocking Hidden Video: America’s Voting System is a Complete Farce

Election Results: “What’s Going To Change Is Only Who Is Going To Screw You — Not Whether You’ll Get Screwed”

Hostile Takeover: Ron Paul Delegates Barred From Voting at the Republican National Convention *Video*

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

‘Thunderstorm Spiral’: Pentagon Trains for Underground War/Disaster In Densely-Populated MegaCities

March 16, 2016 by mac slavo

As populations grow into cities across the globe, and increasing majority of people will live in urban areas – places which quickly become very desperate and vulnerable during a major crisis.

Every prepper knows the dangers of being stuck in a major metropolitan city in the event of a major hurricane, a grid down scenario or civil unrest and societal collapse.

In such a situation, as every prepper knows, food, water and other vital resources will quickly become scarce or unavailable. The gridlock of survivors trying to get out, or get their hands on assets.

Increasingly, the Pentagon is looking at the likelihood – perhaps the inevitability – of war/conflict inside of a destabilized or decimated megacity urban center like New York.

According to the Daily Mail:

The Pentagon is calling for help from technological innovators to take on the future of warfare.

In the program titled ‘Thunderstorm Spiral,’ the US government solicits demonstrations to tackle the challenges of megacities and underground environments, which will become increasingly prevalent as populations continue to grow.

[…]

A megacity is defined as a city with more than 10 million residents. To put this in perspective, there are currently over 8 million people living in New York City.

As these numbers continue to grow within defined areas, infrastructure will have to adapt, pushing megacities toward the development of subterranean – or underground – environments.

In 2014, there were 23 megacities with ‘vast subterranean structures’; in 2025, it’s expected this number will reach 37.

To meet these needs, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Emerging Capability and Prototyping, Rapid Reaction Technology Office (RRTO) Technology Demonstration Program is sponsoring the request for information (RFI) issued by the Pentagon.

‘As the world’s population grows, the probability of the U.S. needing to conduct combat and humanitarian assistance / disaster relief (HA/DR) operations within a megacity (defined as a city with more than 10 million residents) also grows,’ the solicitation states.

[…]

The ‘desired capabilities’ in focus of the program include GPS techniques for underground and dense urban environments along with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance sensors for use in tunnels.

As major American, Asian and European cities grow with extreme rapidity, urban planners have been expanding large underground facilities. Increasingly, it is not just subway systems, but shopping malls, parking lots, utilities and perhaps even residential units that are being built underground.

While this may be practical to facilitate crowded above-ground conditions, it brings new dangers for populations who could be trapped underneath in the event of a bombing, terrorist attack or major natural disaster.

Inadequate design to accommodate flooding and allow evacuation for people underground is perhaps the biggest threat facing these quickly expanding facilities.

The United Nations University has studied many of the disaster scenarios that could occur in underground spaces, noting the rapid growth of underground facilities in mega-urban areas across the world:

The rapid and extensive underground expansion of mega-cities – for subways, malls, parking and public utilities – takes place often with too little knowledge of associated risks and too few plans to minimize the effects of a natural disaster, United Nations University experts warn.

With growing land pressures in cities (which contain about 50% of all people today, seen rising to 65% by 2030), creating new space underground becomes increasingly attractive. In many places, however, studies of potential natural disaster risks are often neglected, says Srikantha Herath, UNU Senior Academic Programme Officer.

While many underground shelters can withstand earthquakes and other disruptions, flooding stands as one of the biggest and untested underground disasters cities may face in the near future:

Modeling a variety of catastrophic events is essential for building contingencies into underground infrastructure designs, including evacuations and the emergency containment and transport of flood waters, for example.”

Via underground interconnections, water can travel considerable distances away from the flood source. However, there are often no subsurface maps; underground space is usually mapped in relation to a building overhead.

Strategic relocation expert Joel Skousen and other prepping experts have warned against allowing yourself to be trapped in a major city – particularly on the East Coast – where evacuation may be nigh impossible. Being trapped underground in such a megacity only adds another layer of disaster to that recipe.

If you have your own underground structure, make sure that its design has accounted for flooding, because the possibilities are all too real.

Strategic Relocation: Where To Go When It Hits the Fan (Full Movie)

How This Man Converted “Underground Shelter Using a 20 Ft. Shipping Container”

Elite Hiding in Bunkers to Escape War with China: “Intended Survivors Are Moving Underground”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Self-Driving Cars Programmed to Sacrifice As They Hit the Road: “Someone Is Going to Die”

March 16, 2016 by mac slavo

Self-driving cars are poised to take over U.S. roads and destroy American jobs… and they will also kill people, even if by accident.

Right now, they’re makers are in the process of convincing Congress that they can handle their own regulations – even as they continue working out the kinks.

The U.S. Senate subcommittee for Commerce, Science and Transportation heared testimony from Duke University roboticist Missy Cummings, who admitted that fatalities and accidents are inevitable as self-driving cars attempt to integrate with a busy and complex society.

The London Guardian reports:

The robot car revolution hit a speed bump on Tuesday as senators and tech experts sounded stern warnings about the potentially fatal risks of self-driving cars.“There is no question that someone is going to die in this technology,” said Duke University roboticist Missy Cummings in testimony before the US Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation. “The question is when and what can we do to minimize that.”

Automotive executives and lawmakers sniped at each other over whether universal standards were necessary for self-driving cars….

Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal, who have cosponsored legislation that proposes minimum testing standards for automated drivers… “The credibility of this technology is exceedingly fragile if people can’t trust standards – not necessarily for you, but for all the other actors that may come into this space at this point.”

These “standards” reflect the programming that will make sometimes fatal choices in the mix of situations that may involve innocent by-standers and no-win situations.

In these cases, is there a “moral” gradient that computers and people can see eye-to-eye on?

If the self-driving car is designed to avoid children at all costs, does that mean it could be programmed to kill (or sacrifice) you if/when you are caught inside of a car headed for disaster, or on the opposite side of the road as the child? There are no clear answers.

The standards are already becoming morally complex. Google X’s Chris Urmson, the company’s director of self-driving cars, said the company was trying to work through some difficult problems. Where to turn – toward the child playing in the road or over the side of the overpass?

Google has come up with its own Laws of Robotics for cars: “We try to say, ‘Let’s try hardest to avoid vulnerable road users, and beyond that try hardest to avoid other vehicles, and then beyond that try to avoid things that that don’t move in the world,’ and then to be transparent with the user that that’s the way it works,” Urmson said.

But the “morality” of the decision-making structure of the computer’s processes, and the inevitability of chaos for at least some individuals is only part of the story.

Autonomous vehicles will, ironically, also be quite vulnerable to hacking – as Internet-connected devices in the car can be manipulated and used to takeover the commands and data of really any of the newer “smart” cars on the road. The problem will be even bigger as self-driving cars become a bigger part of our life.

“We know that many of the sensors on self-driving cars are not reliable in good weather, in urban canyons, or places where the map databases are out of date,” said Cummings. “We know gesture recognition is a serious problem, especially in real world settings. We know humans will get in the back seat while they think their cars are on ‘autopilot’. We know people will try to hack into these systems.”

“[W]e know that people, including bicyclists, pedestrians and other drivers, could and will attempt to game self-driving cars, in effect trying to elicit or prevent various behaviors in attempts to get ahead of the cars or simply to have fun,” she said.

Back in 2013, a couple of white hat hackers demonstrated how vulnerable a number of newer cars are to hacking. The possibilities are down right frightening – everything from the stereo and windshield wipers to the brakes can be hacked and remotely controlled – or shut off when you need them most. Just imagine what is possible in 2016.

What happens when these self-driving cars of the future disagree with the human passenger about the priorities, or what is allowed in a critical situation – like escaping a car jacking assault or avoiding a cop in pursuit?

It isn’t hard to see how trusting technology on the roads is going to complicate the future, and restrict our human ability to make decisions about important factors on the road. Let’s just hope somebody programs these intelligent machines with some common sense.

“Government Wants to Control Your Car” and Prevent You From Tinkering Under the Hood

How Smart Devices Could Take Out Power Grid: Hack “Air Conditioners, Turn On/Off Repeatedly”

Cyber Attack May Be To Blame For Deadly Amtrak Crash ‘Throttling Speed’

Infrastructure Cyber Attack: “We Don’t Know How Many Utilities Are Compromised”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Putin to Withdraw Russian Forces in Syria: “Objectives Achieved… Terrorists Have Been Forced Out”

March 15, 2016 by mac slavo

Now it is Putin’s “Mission Accomplished” moment in the Middle East.

Who can say what Putin’s long term objectives are, but regardless, he has won this round.

His decision to bring Russian troops into Syria has weakened ISIS, secured Assad’s regime (for now) and put American aggression into check.

Perhaps the ceasefire in Syria means that WWIII has also been averted, or at least delayed.

RT reports:

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to start the withdrawal of forces from Syria starting Tuesday. Russia will however keep a military presence at the port of Tartus and at the Khmeimim airbase to observe ceasefire agreements.

“I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow,” Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“In a short period of time Russia has created a small but very effective military group [in Syria]… the effective work of our military allowed the peace process to begin,” Putin said, adding that with the assistance of the Russian Air Force “Syrian government troops and patriotic forces have changed the situation in the fight with international terrorism and have ceased the initiative.”

The global chess game is hardly over, but President Putin managed to time his moves with the precision of a master. For all its heightened rhetoric, the other side blinked on the supposed “red line” in Syria.

After Vladimir Putin spent considerable effort politely calling out the hoax behind the ISIS crisis in Iraq and Syria – which has been covertly supported by the U.S. and 40 other countries, many of whom belong to NATO – the White House eventually seemed reticent to even go on pretending that it has a case against Assad, or a moral position in the rise of ISIS.

Seemingly, the entire broiling situation has been defused… for the moment anyway.

Erdogan, not Putin, has been caught engaging in a charade, pretending to fight against ISIS while in actuality funding and fueling their rise in the Middle East. It was Turkey who lost all legitimacy as a result of shooting down Russian planes, not the other way around.

The double game was revealed, and Assad is clearly relieved at the “save” on Putin’s part. For Assad, it can’t take much imagination to watch Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi go down, and know that they had plans for him next.

[During a] phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Syria’s President Bashar Assad … [t]he two leaders agreed that the actions of Russia’s Air Force in Syria have allowed them to “profoundly reverse the situation” in connection to fighting terrorists in the region, having “disorganized militants’ infrastructure and inflicted fundamental damage upon them.”

[…]

Moscow launched its anti-terror campaign in Syria on September 30 last year. Russia’s participation in the operation, according to a previous statement by Putin, has its basis in international law and has been conducted “in accordance with an official request from the president of the Syrian Arab Republic [Bashar Assad].”

The Russian Air Force has been carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist targets in the region, eliminating military equipment, communication centers, vehicles, arms and fuel depots.

As many recall, Putin’s war on terrorism quickly made a mockery out of Obama and Bush’s War on Terror, which has raged on for 15 years only to face setbacks and blowback that has created many fold more terrorists than the region started with.

As RT reported, Putin’s air forces have essentially liberated Syria from terrorist domination, destroyed ISIS petroleum routes to Turkey and ousted them from 400 populated areas… while the U.S. hyped up the threat of ISIS but did little to nothing to stop them:

“Backed by our aviation, Syrian forces have freed 400 populated areas and over 10,000 square kilometers [3,860 square miles] of territories,” Shoigu said during a Kremlin meeting with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Terrorists have been forced out from Latakia and Aleppo, and Palmyra has been “blocked,” the military official reported to Putin, saying that military actions to free the UNESCO heritage site from militants continue. Hama and Homs Provinces in central Syria have been largely mopped up, and Kuweires airbase that had been besieged by terrorists for over three years was retaken.

Saying that Russia’s Air Force in Syria has conducted more than 9,000 sorties starting from September 30, 2015 […] “As a result of airstrikes, terrorists’ resources’ provision has been largely cut,” Shoigu told Putin, saying that petroleum trade routes with Turkey, as well as main routes of weapons provisions to terrorists have been blocked.

Nevertheless, the world is hardly peaceful, and with so much angst over the sour deal with Iran and the rise of Trump-lican politics, people would be best to stay on watch for nasty tricks and devilish surprises.

US Complains As Putin Bombs its Terrorists: “ISIS Is An Intentional Creation of U.S.”

Watch Putin Hammer Obama: “Not Grounded In The Real World… Absolutely Unprofessional Politics”

New Patch for U.S. Troops Fighting ISIS… Looks Like ISIS Logo

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Law Enforcement Turn to NSA Surveillance Data to Track Crime: “It Was Only A Matter of Time”

March 14, 2016 by contributing author

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

Editor’s Comment: Once the system has tilted towards concentrated and unaccountable power, the abuses and tyranny become inevitable. Americans stood down as the NSA on the 4th Amendment and stoked terror threats in order to justify its wholesale cataloging of the American people.

From here, the data collection will only increase. The next wave of technology will do even more to read into our actions and behaviors, and the data on that will become part of the effort to track everything and create a dominion over the nation. Beware, things are going dark.

It’s Official: NSA Data Will Soon be Used by Domestic Law Enforcement

by Joshua Krause

If you’re reading this, then I’m willing to bet that you’ve been called many different names throughout your life. If I were to hazard a guess, I would say they were names like kook, paranoid, conspiracy theorist, alarmist, insane, or gullible. And after this week, you can go by a new name: Vindicated.

I’m of course talking about recent revelations from the NSA. Long before Edward Snowden came along, it was no secret that the NSA was spying on everyone without good cause. Anyone who believed that fact was called a conspiracy theorist, but their fears were eventually validated.

These same people also understood that the NSA’s surveillance powers would never be used exclusively against terrorists and hostile governments. The power they have is just too tempting for any government. If various government agencies weren’t using the NSA’s surveillance apparatus to solve domestic crimes, it was only a matter of time before it was used for just that.

And again, they called us conspiracy theorists for believing that. And again, we were right all long.

A while back, we noted a report showing that the “sneak-and-peek” provision of the Patriot Act that was alleged to be used only in national security and terrorism investigations has overwhelmingly been used in narcotics cases. Now the New York Times reports that National Security Agency data will be shared with other intelligence agencies like the FBI without first applying any screens for privacy. The ACLU of Massachusetts blog Privacy SOS explains why this is important:

What does this rule change mean for you? In short, domestic law enforcement officials now have access to huge troves of American communications, obtained without warrants, that they can use to put people in cages. FBI agents don’t need to have any “national security” related reason to plug your name, email address, phone number, or other “selector” into the NSA’s gargantuan data trove. They can simply poke around in your private information in the course of totally routine investigations. And if they find something that suggests, say, involvement in illegal drug activity, they can send that information to local or state police. That means information the NSA collects for purposes of so-called “national security” will be used by police to lock up ordinary Americans for routine crimes.

Anybody who knows anything about how governments work, should not surprised. You can’t give them any kind of power, and expect them to use it responsibly. You can’t give them any stipulations. Eventually they’ll find a legal loophole to work around any limitations that have been placed on them.

In other news, the Pentagon admitted this week that they’ve been deploying military drones over the United States for domestic surveillance purposes. Much like the NSA’s surveillance apparatus, we were assured that drones were for terrorists in faraway lands. Nothing so Orwellian would ever be used against ordinary American citizens at home. Yet here we are, with more to come.

Perhaps you’re beginning to see a pattern. Everything our government uses against foreign enemies, eventually makes its way back home. Every war is an opportunity to try out new technologies, before turning around and using them against American citizens. It just goes to show, that war really is the health of the state.

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

How to Dress to Avoid Suspicion, Blend In During a Crisis: “Be a Grey Man”

March 14, 2016 by mac slavo

Survival is all about blending in.

If you stand out, you could become like the unhammered nail, begging for unwanted attention.

Whether you are carrying concealed or attempting to negotiate your way through a post-apocalyptic SHTF scenario, take notice that you don’t appear “militaristic” or tactical, as it will work against you.

Mark Twain long ago observes that “clothes make the man” – and the last man you want to be in an emergency scenario is a conspiracy theorist, an obvious doomsday prepper or an overzealous gun-toting idiot who beams controversy and strange looks wherever he goes.

Camouflauge fatigues, “fishing” vests and militia-gear will all work against your efforts, and put an exclamation mark over you while interacting with whatever remains of society, and potentially put a spotlight on your prepping efforts, your stores or retreats, and deflate your hard work to survive.

The last thing you want to do is look like someone who wants a fight, someone who could be stolen from or someone who could become a target or mark.

TheOl1911 explains his philosophy on finding common and even “trendy” clothing with muted colors and enough style to pass the “sniff test” that also offers advantages for concealed carry and tactical preparedness. There’s no one right answer here – but there are certainly wrong ones.

Author Jeremiah Johnson recommends in his Green Beret’s Guide:

Cargo pants. These are preferred because of what you can stash in them. You can hold an infinite combination of gear in them…a polar-tech cap and a balaclava, a “drive-on” (do) rag – the o.g. Army cravat. You can carry shooting gloves (leather for all-weather) and ear plugs (radians do tell!). With all of these things in the cargoes, there is still plenty of room for the main function: when you change your mags or speed loaders, you can shove the empties in your cargo pockets.

Loosely fitting clothing will break up the outline of your body. Also, remember all of the caps and do-rags I mentioned before? A quick disguise is where you find it; need I say more. An old Russian saying: “Do not be a white crow among black crows or you’ll be pecked to death!” Make sure that you blend in as best as you can. Earth tones in your dress if you have to dee-dee into the woods. Balance your tones with the discretion of common sense. Do not try to be a walking Realtree monster right next to downtown city hall.

Blend in and be inconspicuous; be the “gray” man in the crowd.

Police and most trained marksmen know the techniques to spot someone carrying concealed, and otherwise looking shifty. Tell-tale signs of behavior, including subconsciously checking pockets, and changes in the gait, shifting weight to one side, or uneven clothing (from the weight of the weapon in a pocket) are all give away to the professionals. You’d do best to know them, too, so you can spot others, and avoid giving yourself away.

Be aware of how your behavior can give you away, and dress to blend in with the local population. The styles will change depending upon what part of the country you live in, and whether or not you live in or near a city, or out in the countryside.

Psychology of Survival- Gray Man Concept

Instead, you should have the “uniform” of average clothing and accessories for your area, so that no one would notice you in a crowd, and few would remember you after the fact based upon your demeanor and any “give away” actions.

Civil Unrest: You’re Pretty Much on Your Own If You Are Caught In a Riot or Other Violent Demonstration

A Green Beret’s Guide To Planning Your Personal Posture: “First Things First: Always Be Armed”

How Can You Tell If Someone is Hiding a Gun?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Don’t Blow Your Cash On These Overrated #Survival Items: “There Really Isn’t A Good Reason For It”

March 11, 2016 by contributing author

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

Editor’s Comment: Not only are there lots of prepping items that are overpriced and expensive, but you may not even need it. There is quite possibly a better strategy that is usually learned only through experience and thoughtful planning– and recognizing what not to do after things go wrong.

With that in mind, the newbie prepper, as well as the veteran, should remember that blending in, lying low and adopting the “grey man” strategy may serve you better than hot-headed stockpiling of military surplus gear, and overpriced survival toys. Pace yourself, and invest in the equipment that will truly serve you in times of need, and avoid drawing too much attention to your efforts.

Five Alternatives to the Most Overrated Survival Items

by Joshua Krause

If you’re new to the prepping scene, you should probably know right off the bat that you’re about to waste a lot of money. I’m so sorry to break it to you, but it’s true. We’ve all done it. It’s practically a right of passage by now.

You’ve just become aware of how fragile our society really is, and all the horrifying ways the shit can hit the fan, and you think you have to rush out and buy a bunch of supplies and gear to survive the inevitable looting spree. There’s something you should know first though. If there is one thing that is practically guaranteed to part an otherwise smart person from their money, it is fear.

So stop, take a deep breath, and realize that in all likelihood the world is not going to end tomorrow. There may not be any serious crises for months or years. I know this (as do many other preppers) because I couldn’t possibly count the number of times I’ve heard someone I would consider reputable, sound the alarm on a possible threat.

Don’t get me wrong I’m glad they do, because it’s good that we have people who are dedicated to looking for these threats, but you should know that most of them never come to fruition. If anything, they are usually signs that our society is in a slow decline towards oblivion, rather than an explosive last hurrah. There’s still danger ahead, but when it’s all said and done, there may never be a single day that will go down in history as the day the world ended.

So now that I’ve assuaged your fears, hopefully you’re gripping your wallet a little tighter than you were before. That state of mind you’re experiencing, the one that isn’t an anxiety riddled mess, is the correct state of mind you should be in for prepping. It’s time to take a critical look at that list of supplies and gear you’re thinking of purchasing, and be prepared to cross a few items off, because some of them are highly overrated.

Canned Food and MRE’s

I don’t want to completely bash canned food. It certainly has its merits. In most cases it will last a very long time, longer than the expiration date in fact, but most canned foods aren’t very healthy. The whole canning process tends to degrade the nutritional value of the food, and most cans are laced with toxic preservatives and BPA. They’re also heavy and somewhat awkward to store. If you want to can your own food, that’s a worthy endeavor for other reasons, but to go to the store and max out your credit card on canned food is a terrible idea.

After realizing the folly of cans many preppers turn to MRE’s, but they also come with their own set of problems. For me personally, I find them to be utterly disgusting and unhealthy. They usually taste great when you’ve been hiking all day and you’re starving, but in that condition anything can taste good. I remember the first time I tried an MRE. I thought, “wow, this tastes familiar.” After looking over the ingredients, I realized that I was basically eating the same stuff that is served at McDonald’s and 7/11.

What Should You Get Instead?

Freeze dried food. Mountain House brand is the most popular, but there are several other good brands out there. It’s arguably healthier than most packaged food, and has a shelf life of 10 years or so. It’s small and lightweight, and to me at least, has an excellent flavor. The only downside is that it’s not perfectly edible out of the package. You have to add water (preferably hot), but I consider that a fair trade-off compared to the downsides of the other options. If you live in an area that would have a severe lack of water after the collapse, then maybe canned food is for you. Otherwise, freeze dried is the way to go.

Generator

This is a tough one, because I have to admit that generators can be useful for many short-term disasters. If you need to keep the lights on for a couple of days it’s a viable option, but generators may be completely useless during any long-term disaster. In that case, they become a logistical nightmare. Since it’s safe to assume that there will be gas shortages during any major disaster, do you really want to store enough gasoline to last you six months? And keep in mind that gas has a limited shelf life, and generators are usually really noisy.

Another thing to consider is energy efficiency. The majority of the electricity you use in your home goes toward appliances that provide heat. But the process of turning the combustion from your generator into electricity, and then back into heat, is incredibly inefficient. We don’t normally think about this because the power grid provides electricity at such a low-cost, (relative to a generator) so it’s not a big deal.

What Should You Get Instead?

If you live in a rural area, you might be able source wood from your environment. Otherwise, You should probably use propane for all your heating needs. There are portable stoves, lanterns, and space heaters that all run on propane. You can buy those tiny Coleman tanks for your stove, or you can buy an adapter to connect it to a larger tank. Most of the lanterns have to take the Coleman tanks, but many of the space heaters are designed for the 20lb tanks as well. It’s a pretty versatile option, and best of all, propane has a much longer shelf life than gasoline. If you have to stock up on fuel, this is definitely the superior option.

The rest of your energy needs will probably go to electronics, which will be minuscule compared to your heating needs. For that, I would take a thin and flexible 100 watt solar panel over a generator any day.

Camelbak Canteens

I’m an avid backpacker, so I think I have more experience with this than any other item on this list. For such a simple task, there is a wide variety of ways to carry water. Nowadays the most popular way is with any kind of soft, flexible canteen. They’re lightweight, easy to store, and since you can squeeze the air out of them the water doesn’t slosh around and make a lot of noise.

Over the past 10 years it seems that the Camelback and the Platypus canteens have come to dominate the market. But frankly, I’ve never been a big fan of those drink tube apparatuses, due to their maintenance needs. You have to keep the tube and the drink valve very clean if you don’t want to get any mold. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, but personally, I don’t want to put any more work than I have to into my canteen, and I don’t see the Camelbak giving me a huge advantage in any way.

What Should You Get Instead?

For a while I tried using bota bags, but honestly I don’t think they make them like they used to. Maybe I’m just unlucky, but I’ve tried using three different bota bags over the years, and none of them worked very well (they always leak).

If you want a really simple soft-shelled water carrier, I’d recommend the military issue bladder canteen. It holds two quarts, and has all the advantages you’d come to expect from a flexible canteen, but without any of the fuss.

Camouflage

I’d have to say, the most overrated item a prepper could buy is military camouflage. There really isn’t a good reason for it unless you live way out in the sticks, in which case you probably don’t need a military pattern. A good hunting camouflage pattern should be sufficient. And since only 18 percent of the US population lives in a rural area, it’s safe to say that camouflage isn’t really that important for most preppers. If anything, that would just make you stand out in an urban or suburban area.

Even camouflage that is specifically designed for an urban area is a bad idea. Even if it helps to conceal you in a tactical situation, it will still make you stand out in literally every other situation.

What Should You Get Instead?

Instead of camouflage, just get something that is durable, comfortable, and is dyed in solid, muted earth tones. I’m sure there’s more than one opinion on what that entails, but in this case I’m referring to brown, tan, olive drab, and gray, or at least something similar.

These colors have the advantage of being versatile. You can wear them on city streets or in suburban parks without standing out, but on the off-chance that you wind up in a rural area later on, you won’t be too obvious there either. Basically, it’s not the best you can use for any single environment, but it’s the best you can use in most environments without looking like a stereotypical survivalist.

Your best bet would probably be something made by Dickies. They make great civilian looking clothes that are just as durable as their military counterparts, and it’s not hard to find Dickies shirts and jeans that come in earth tone colors. Wrangler and Carhartt brands are also great choices.

Ballistic Plates

This one has a lot of the same problems as wearing camouflage. It’s pretty much impossible to wear these bullet proof plates without it being painfully obvious. They’re so big and heavy, that every soldier who wears them looks like some kind of sci-fi mashup with a Roman legionnaire.

That’s not to say it’s stupid. It’s probably just unnecessary. These plates are made for stopping rifle rounds, and considering the fact that only 2-3 percent of murders are committed with rifles, it’s safe to say that ballistic plates are overkill for civilians.

Keep in mind that the violent criminals you might face after the SHTF aren’t that different than the ones you might run into now. There will probably be an increase in murders committed by rifles since there would be no cops to stop people from carrying them openly, but I suspects that pistols, shotguns, bats, and knives will still be the most common murder weapons.

What Should You Get Instead?

If you even need ballistic protection to begin with, which I don’t think most people will, just an ordinary kevlar vest will do. At most you won’t need anything that is rated above level IIIa, which should stop pretty much all handgun rounds, and some shotgun rounds. They’re also lighter, breathe better in hot weather, and some are designed to be concealable. There’s no need to overdo it with a hulking rig of ballistic plates.

Now I’m sure a lot of folks will disagree parts of this list, but does it sound reasonable to you? If not, then for the benefit of anyone reading this who is new to prepping, let’s hear your opinion in the comments. And if you have any overrated boondoggles from your early prepping days that you’d rather forget, now is a good time to get it off your chest!

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Drought-Stricken L.A. Admits to Using Weather Modification “To Produce More Rain”

March 10, 2016 by mac slavo

The weather patterns have become cruel and extreme.

For California, it has meant outright desperation as water reserves disappear and needs for cities and farms have created a standing crisis.

Water and rainfall remain consequential to life as we know it. Mankind is no longer leaving it up to just praying for rain and waiting for a miracle.

Now, a company in the Los Angeles area has admitted that it was hired to seed the clouds and make it rain:

Via Daily Mail:

El Niño has brought some much needed rain to California in recent months, but a Los Angeles storm earlier this week may owe some credit to unnatural modifications.

For the first time since 2002, the Department of Public Works has turned to cloud seeding, using generators to shoot silver iodide into the clouds to produce more rain.

The county estimates that this produces roughly 15 percent more rainfall…

Cloud seeding is a weather modification process that aims to increase the amount of rain in a particular area.

According to the L.A. Times, this method has been used in the county to boost the amount of rain produced by clouds since the 1950s, taking a hiatus during heavy rains or periods of potential flooding from wildfire devastation.

And so, rain has increased in California by something like 15%, and L.A. is happy to get all the water it can.

But cloud seeding is not without its consequences – it could keep it from raining in the area downwind, or have other potentially disastrous effects:

The company says the method has no significant environmental effects, as the amount of the seeding materials used are very small in relation to the affected area.

[But…]

It could have unintended consequences, including a change in precipitation or other environmental impact downwind of the target area, though such effects have not yet been demonstrated.

An earlier cloud seeding contract from 2009 was terminated in L.A. after the Station Fire, which destroyed about 250 square miles of the Angeles National Forest, L.A. Times writes.

Technology and money can make it happen, and there is reason to think much more is going on than just seeding clouds to bump the rainfall.

When it comes to blame for the drought and the environment in general, many are quick to point to the hyped-effects of global warming and climate change, which are supposedly attributed to the every day activity of people in mass.

But few are daring enough to look up at the sky and question the weather manipulation programs that have become common place and which are being carried out covertly on behalf of a shadowy agenda to control the weather, and the economic cloud that surrounds it.

Researcher Peter A. Kirby explains how a secret project on the scale of the Manhattan Project may have been incubated under government research projects to engineer the weather:

After so many years of watching airplanes produce the lines in the sky, largely without knowing of what this Project consists or why, we have recently gained an understanding. Evidence suggests that today’s chemtrail spraying operations consist of airplanes saturating our atmosphere with nano-sized particles influenced by electromagnetic energy for the purpose of weather modification.

U.S. patent #4,686,605 “Method and Apparatus for Altering a Region in the Earth’s Atmosphere, Ionosphere and/or Magnetosphere” shows how stratospheric and tropospheric aerosols can be manipulated using electromagnetic energy in order to modify the weather. The ground-based antennas (known as ionospheric heaters) needed to produce the appropriate electromagnetic energy exist. For a detailed discussion, please see the author’s previous article “Smoking Gun: The HAARP and Chemtrails Connection.”

The 1996 U.S. military document “Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” outlines a program using aerosols sprayed from airplanes which are then manipulated with electromagnetic energy in order to modify the weather.

[…]

Controlling Earth’s weather would necessarily require a gigantic scientific effort. Oddly enough, when one looks for a National effort in weather modification, one finds a lot. Specifically, if one looks, one can find a history of weather control programs involving electromagnetic energy and atmospheric particles; all in a coherent chronological order.

It is stunning to learn that there are means for manipulating aerosols with electromagnetic energy in effort to change weather patterns. But there are many scientific papers on the topic, and experiments to boot.

Many of these agencies are likely compartmentalized and don’t understand how they fit in to the larger project… but the truth is that most don’t want to know – along with the rest of the general public.

They don’t look up at the sky for the same reason they drag to work, and live an empty life. Most are too conditioned by fear to face the truth, whatever it proves to be.

For now, it is enough to point out that California is admittedly altering the weather in the hopes of catching up on its lost water.

But what are the true causes of the drought in the first place, and what other aspects of weather are being changed for the benefit of a few, and the detriment of entire populations?

NASA Warns California Drought Could Threaten U.S. Food Supply: “There will be some definite changes”

Water Wars Loom Over California As Farmers Lose Thousands of Jobs: “Wrestling Match Over Who Gets the Water”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Schiff: Obama Caught “Peddling Fiction” to Hide Pre-Election Recession

March 10, 2016 by mac slavo

Despite the extent to which the officials in the White House, and the talking heads in the media and on Wall Street deny that the economy is faltering, it is this very issue that is driving voter outrage in the direction of Trump and Bernie.

It’s the jobs, stupid!

And since Obama can’t fix it, he’s lying about it to maintain appearances.

Because so many have become so ill-adjusted to the unforgiving job market, there is great talk about why our national policy is directed towards destroying employment, income, savings and the American dream in general.

After 8 years, it is a problem that Obama may have inherited, but will now have to own.

Peter Schiff claims that:

In his seventh, and final, State of the Union address this January, President Obama, clearly looking to bolster his legacy as the president who vanquished the Great Recession, boldly asserted that “Anyone claiming that America’s economy is in decline is peddling fiction.” Unfortunately for the President, more and more Americans seem to believe (with an adequate basis for proof) that the fiction is emanating from the White House.

It’s hard to imagine how anyone can really assert with a straight face that the economy is currently “strong.”

[…]

Companies have been incentivized to cut their full-time work force… The view from the street looks quite different, as workers prefer one good job to several bad ones. This is why rallies for Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are so well-attended. The underemployed are fed up with platitudes from the elites and they flock to these outsider candidates, who seem to understand their pain.

Never mind these two as individuals, but what they represent as symbols. Americans are completely fed up with establishment – and they aren’t ready to accept being pushed back in for another round.

I don’t expect that the President will ever officially acknowledge that the economy has weakened, let alone relapsed into recession. He has walked out too far on his rhetorical branch to walk it back. As a lame duck, he really has no incentive to do so.

The Obama White House has been hiding an economic holocaust during his two terms. Symbolically elected to dispose of the mess created by George W. Bush’s administration and the economic collapse that was engulfing people already drowning in debt.

Instead, he has cheered on the illusion that “recovery” is near, while the bankers have accumulated more wealth than ever, and are waiting for the next wave of the crash to come down on the population.

Meanwhile, critics have accused Yellen – publicly very silent about policy decisions – of timing the blow of the recession.

The recession itself is presumably inevitable, but the announcement and reaction to it could change the major issues of the election cycle, and potentially swing even more votes into those camps who are running as anti-establishment. Trump has previously accused the Fed of waiting to raise rates in order to avoid embarrassing Obama:

But Janet Yellen is in a very difficult spot. If she continues to ignore the growing signs of recession, she runs the risk of letting one develop prior to the election. This would favor the Republican challenger, whether that is Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, neither of whom would be inclined to reappoint her as Fed Chairwoman if elected. Allowing the Greenspan bubble to bust on Bush’s watch sealed John McCain’s fate, allowing Obama to ride a wave of voter outrage into the White House in 2008. Yellen does not want Trump to catch a similar wave in 2016.

As a result, I expect the Fed to soften its rhetoric in the very near future.

As Schiff himself has pointed out many times before, the entire situation is made worse by the prolonged and belabored attempt at cushioning the impact. For better times to be had by all, the Fed out to stop propping up a market of speculators driving a bubble in real estate and other over-priced assets.

Since that isn’t going to happen, pay attention to the handling of the “political football” as Obama & co. try to pretend that job growth is happening and stability is here to stay.

Ron Paul: Unless the Fed is Stopped, America Will “Soon Experience Major Economic Crisis”

NYT Jokes About Trump Assassination: “Good News I’ve Figured Out How Trump Campaign Ends”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Who Is a Threat To You? “Dangerous People to Avoid After the Collapse”

March 9, 2016 by mac slavo

Who can you trust, turn to or rely upon during a collapse?

Morals are effectively suspended in the midst of a great crisis. And, as the Canadian Prepper explains, you will want to consider and profile high risk people, dangerous personalities and groups to avoid during a disaster – well in advance.

Those with nothing else to turn to will act in desperate ways, and could act unstable during a collapse, during martial law or civil unrest. Many will turn to the system, and go willingly into FEMA camps – but others may drag, steal or lean on you. Worse, they may expose your hideout and compromise your carefully laid survival plans.

Just a few of these types are discussed below:

– MEDICALLY DEPENDENT/DRUG ADDICTS: People who are dependent on medication may become desperate for drugs when prescriptions fall through, and could become unstable, dangerous or a liability to your survival plan. Most wouldn’t mean

– PANICKED/WEAK MINDED: Emotionally unstable, prone to upset, who can’t keep their cool under pressure and those who are temperamental are difficult to trust, and who put your life in danger

– GANGS/CRIMINALS/LOOTERS: Then of course there are always going to be violent gangs, looters and outright criminals. It’s pretty obvious what they want, but it may still surprise you how far they are willing to go to get it. Only, some criminals won’t be as easy to spot, and historically they have taken advantage of hard working, prepared and ultimately naive individuals using any and every tactic they can think of. Keep in mind, this includes color-of-law rogue government agents, too; historically the appearance of authority will be used to gain entry, take advantage and catch you off guard. During Hurricane Katrina, some cops were caught on tape looting Wal-Mart… just imagine the type of stuff that wasn’t seen by cameras.

– WANNA-BE LEADERS: Narcissists, selfish, egotistical, grandiose and those willing to use psychology and tactics to gain advantage of your group and your resources, let you down when a plan needs to come to fruition, or turn tail when the going gets tough. These people are in it for themselves, would create a mutiny if they thought they had the leverage to do so, and will be even more undependable than the easily panicked and the addicted.

– ALSO BEWARE OF: The above category is closely related to those who are overly macho, those who hold obvious and disproportionate gun fetishes, those prone to uncalled for paranoia, the weaselly and conniving salesman types, and the foregone-conclusion doomsday nihilist who secretly wants to fulfill his entimes fantasy and die in a fight, rather than living to fight another day. There are other variations of these types, but few of them will be all that helpful when reality sets in, regardless of how big they talk as things gear up.

– PARASITES AND NOSY PEEPERS: Perhaps the most dangerous type of person, at least immediately when the SHTF, is the one who knows about your prepping, your supplies and stocks, and expects to come over to your place and join you without contributing any skills or having prepped in advance. Even worse, if a reward or a position of power is offered, this person is far-too-willing to turn you in and turn you over to a FEMA camp if they can derive any benefit. Though this individual may be a nosy neighbor or family friend during times of normalcy, they are a very dangerous liability for you and your family during times of emergency. Here’s what to do when those types come knocking…

Good character and common sense just aren’t as plentiful as they used to be, so be careful about who you willingly associate with. These kind of mistakes could easily cost your life.

There are many people worth working with, trusting and helping during a collapse, but you should be very judicious in determining who these people are – and careful to keep away from the rest as much as possible. If you find yourself in captivity in a government facility, many of these same types will cause you just as much or more trouble inside the system.

Ideally, you want to be working with those people already, and eliminate anyone from the group and from your confidence with unstable and dangerous personalities. Moreover, you should be able to read and identify people to screen out these traits and avoid the people who will endanger or prey upon you.

Above all, don’t lose sight of the fact that they are all still human beings, and unless they are physically attacking you, should be treated as such. Nonetheless, they can and will work against you if you trust the wrong people. It is simply human nature.

5 Mistakes Every New Prepper Makes

If you don’t use a bank, where should you stash your cash?

“I’ll Come To Your Place When SHTF” – No You Won’t

10 Prepping Mistakes That Could Get You Killed (And How To Avoid Them)

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Clamp Down on Cash Is the Ultimate Surveillance State: “Citizens Shouldn’t Be Under General Suspicion”

March 7, 2016 by mac slavo

The war on cash is more than just a currency war to clamp everyone down on the electric grid. It is also a war on your privacy, and the nail in the coffin for the free market of low level transactions.

Soon, restrictions on cash will become so severe that even spending $100 will arouse suspicion, despite the constant inflation on the value of such a denomination. One day, physical currency may become obsolete.

When that day comes, they will know everything you do.

Conducting transactions in anything but digital creds will be not only increasingly difficult, but seen as outright criminal behavior. It might even make you a terrorist.

Don Quijones argues on Wolf Street:

There are two sides in the global war against cash. On one side are many of the world’s governments, central banks, fintech firms, banks, credit card companies, telecommunication behemoths, financial institutions, large retailers, etc. According to them, the days of physical currency are numbered, so why not pull the plug already, beginning with the largest denomination bills such as the $100-note and particularly the €500-note?

On the other side are people who like to use cash – most of whom, according to the dominant official narrative, are either criminals or terrorists. After all, they must have something to hide; otherwise, why would they use a private, untraceable (not to mention archaic, dirty, dangerous and unhygienic) form of payment like cash?

Although it may seem like a foregone conclusion, cash still accounts for a majority of transactions in many European countries, and still factors in significantly in the U.S., though use of cash is in decline.

Many leaders overseas are calling out the moves to kill cash – albeit in slow motion – as nothing more than an attempt to impose a police state where every transaction, every purchase and every activity is monitored and databased.

Likewise, the use of cash is linked with terrorists and criminals, every bit as much as using pagers was linked with drug dealers in the pre-cell phone days.

Don Quijones writes:

[I]n recent weeks the unlikeliest of defenders of physical money has emerged: the national central bank of Europe’s biggest economy, the German Bundesbank.

“I have my doubts that introducing a cash limit or getting rid of bigger denominations can really prevent terrorists or criminals from engaging in illegal activities,” Carl-Ludwig Thiele, Bundesbank board member in charge of cash issues, said in a speech last week. “We also should ask ourselves: what sort of an understanding of government forms the basis of these proposals? Citizens should not be put under general suspicion.”

[…]

And in Germany and Austria, the EU’s plans to suppress cash have already provoked a backlash.

“We don’t want someone to be able to track digitally what we buy, eat and drink, what books we read and what movies we watch,”said Austrian Deputy Economy Minister Harald Mahreron on Oe1 radio. “We will fight everywhere against rules” including caps on cash purchases, he said.

The NSA surveillance has never been limited to just ferreting out terrorists, its mass surveillance of every conceivable communications device has created a Big Data tracking system that can hone in on specific behaviors of anyone in the country, or can track the mass patterns of human society like a school of fish.

Standing by complicit with the elimination of cash is surrendering yourself to a society based upon nothing more than Big Brother teamed up with the Big Banks – and what good could come from all of that?

Banning Cash “Necessary to Give Central Banks More Power”

Americans Face Impoverishing War on Cash: “More Big Banks Are Shunning Cash”

‘Cash Is Being Eradicated’: Digital Payments Take Over Western World

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Incoming Asteroid Passing Extremely Close: “If It Doesn’t Hit Earth, May Strike Something Around Us!”

March 4, 2016 by mac slavo

It’s not worth panicking over, but it is at least worth mentioning the “chance” that a giant asteroid could hit the planet.

Its calculated trajectory varies, with reports claiming it will arrive March 5, or between the 7th and 8th, and will hurl as close as 11,000 miles away from Earth, but that’s about as close as anything close to its size has come on record.

Lexi Morgan at Intellihub.com explains:

NASA has now updated its Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s close approach data to reflect a 22 hour window of uncertainty regarding asteroid 2013 TX68, which is currently set to nearly graze Earth.

NASA hopes the massive chunk of rock will pass safely by Earth at a distance of around 18,000 miles between the dates of Mar. 7, at 1 p.m. and Mar. 8, until 11 a.m. Eastern Time.

It’s also worthy to note that even if the asteroid safety passes the planet, it still has the potential to collide with the moon, orbiting satellites, the International Space Station or other space-based platforms.

The Sun story adds additional details:

NASA has admitted there is a chance the asteroid 2013 TX68, a 100ft-wide rock which is currently heading towards us, could impact earth.

The asteroid is due to pass earth on March 5 by as close as 11,000 miles however NASA says there is “a chance” it could actually hurtle into our planet on September 28, 2017.

But NASA puts the odds of this happening at “no more than 1-in-250-million.”

[…]

NASA has said it could be anywhere between 9 million miles and 11,000 miles. This large range is due to a wide range of possible trajectories since it was tracked for only a short time after discovery.

Though there’s only a fraction of a chance that we will be entering a doomsday scenario ripped from the pages of Hollywood in a period of just a few days from now, scientists also point out that it could wreak havoc on the moon, or satellite and man-made space infrastructure.

So, there could be noteworthy damage. Maybe.

Regardless, it is a reminder of the fragility and mortality of our condition here. There are many disturbing forces, and there is little reason to remain well adjusted to them.

Russia has just unveiled a plan to use ICBMs to blow up smaller asteroids/meteors that more frequently pelt their homeland. Chelyabinsk took an unexpected hit last year.

NASA has previously announced a nearly identical plan for United States defense against possible threats from space. The Daily Mail reported:

Dramatic proof that any of these can strike Earth came on 15 February last year, when an unknown object exploded high above Chelyabinsk, Russia, with 20 – 30 times the energy of the Hiroshima atomic bomb.

The resulting shock wave caused widespread damage and injuries, making it the largest known natural object to have entered the atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska event, which destroyed a forest area of Siberia.

The Daily Caller reports:

The Russian government is going to revamp some of its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in order to blow up asteroids before they reach Earth.

[…]

Apparently, the nuclear-armed ICBMs would be used to target asteroids with a 20 to 50 meter diameter (approximately 65 to 164 feet). Asteroids of these sizes are difficult to detect, and using an ICBM to take them out before they hit Earth would be the last line of defense preventing a potential catastrophe.

In an age where space has been weaponized, along with weather and climate, and foreign relations have returned to Cold War tensions, that could have layers of hidden intention as well.

“Unfortunately, we only know about roughly 1% of those asteroids that get down to the 30-meter size, so there’s a tremendous amount out there that we have yet to discover,” said Jason Kessler, NASA’s man in charge of identifying potential asteroid threats, to CNN.

Anyway, there could be surprises. Russia has certainly taken note of what could and has happened.

H/t Intellihub.

Is NASA Covering Up a Devastating Meteor Strike In Iran: “Destruction On An Unimaginable Scale”

The US Government Is Prepping For Unlikely Events Like War, Catastrophic Collapse of Society, and Even Asteroids – Are You?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Expert Warns That Unparalleled Financial Destruction Is “Just Six Months Away”

March 4, 2016 by mac slavo

The time is nigh.

The crash is coming. It’s waves can be felt pulsing through the system, foretelling its arrival.

But how long will it be until it hits, and how big will its magnitude be?

According to Yale’s Vikram Mansharamani, it is only months away.

Via London Express:

FINANCIAL bubbles across the globe are imploding and the problem is only set to get worse... Prices are falling around the world thanks to the collapse of China’s debt fuelled economic growth and this has triggered a succession of disastrous events that are starting to be realised, according to Vikram Mansharamani, an author and, lecturer at Yale University.

Fears are growing that the world could face a financial crash of unprecedented levels and could even be just six months away.

Bubbles created by the mountain of cheap money made available by low interest rates since the last financial crisis are now starting to burst, said Mr Mansharamani.

[…]

Mr Mansharamani added: “We’ve got a bubble bursting, I would argue, in Australian housing markets — that is beginning to crack; South Africa — the whole economy; Canada — housing and the economy; Brazil. We can keep going on and on.”

The details have come out in warnings posted here at SHTF and elsewhere, but the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program changed the metabolism of the global economy.

Like a diabetic or a heroin addict, people in the United States, and in countries abroad all borrow on cheap credit, and face a debilitating spike now that repayment is being demanded – all while oil prices have bottomed out and destroyed the fragile livelihoods of those who depended upon these and other commodity prices.

Nightmares are surfacing. Entire sectors are being destroyed. New technology is causing extreme upheaval in jobs, and economic warfare is subtly sucking away life and stability from the ranks of the hard working, aspiring and once prosperous. It is punishing and leveling out all those who haven’t learned to work inside the system.

All the rest will end up on welfare, until that collapses too.

Robots will replace millions of jobs in the next few decades:

That’s ok, though, according to the guy in the video, because we’re supposed to live in some technologically-planned future where computers figure out how to address the needs of everyone. But that’s not OK, because that leaves no room for freedom.

When you lose the ability to support yourself independently, you become a government serf overnight. And the rest is history. We are being pushed and shoved into a new collectivist state with strikingly few liberties.

The criminals who orchestrated the last round of looting in 2008 have grown in power and wealth in the years since, and are now poised to come back for the rest – and use finance as a tool to condition societal behavior. Puppeteer bankers Goldman Sachs admitted that we are entering the third wave of a debt-supercycle that has been unleashed through predatory policy:

This wave is characterised by rock-bottom commodities prices, stalling growth in China and other emerging-markets economies, and low global inflation, Goldman Sachs analysts led by Peter Oppenheimer said in a big-picture note.

This triple whammy has its roots in the response to the first two waves of crisis — the banking collapse and European sovereign-debt crisis — and it is all part of the so-called debt supercycle of the past few decades.

Central banks all rushed to lower interest rates in response to the first two debt-fueled crises, encouraging investors to lend in emerging markets such as China for a decent return.

Now that interest rates are looking as if they might go up, lenders are heading for the exits and investors are pulling out of commodities, which are closely linked to the fate of the emerging economies.

Once they are done, everyone you know will be either working for the government, or under close government regulation. Wall Street crimes are instituted as policy, and competition and free enterprise from the little guy is yanked out of the system, and his salary is capped at the level befitting a modern day serf.

The borg is assimilating the economy and taking everyone as an asset/hostage now.

Time to make your final preparations, and place any wealth you have in carefully considered positions.

Goldman Sachs: The Third Wave of the Financial Crisis Is Upon Us

Global Economy Grinds to a Halt: We’re “Already in a Recession”

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

Here Is Why Trump Will Win: Americans “Want Somebody With Balls”

March 3, 2016 by mac slavo

You may not agree with everything this guy stands for, but you have to respect his candor and principles for blatantly calling out the system for what it is.

But this epic rant explains in 4 minutes why Trump is unstoppable, and Americans are done with the way things have been.

Common sense has been sacrificed for a whiny, liberal la-la-land where the State can arrest or silence anyone it pleases for hurting someone’s feelings or saying “taboo” words.

But Outlaw Morgan doesn’t give a F-@* about that. His viral and foul-mouthed rant is close to the sentiments of the people. They are fed up, and pissed off – and for that reason, Trump will win.

Disclaimer: This video is filled with foul language and politically incorrect observations. “So just cry about it!”

And the primary results are proving that. The establishment can pull out every empty suit in their line up, but people inside the GOP and across the country are sick of all of it.

Donald Trump is quite obviously not perfect, and has yet to earn any trust. His record has sometimes blown in the wind. But it doesn’t matter.

In 2016, he has done nothing but tell it like it is, and that is why is resonating with Americans everywhere, regardless of party or creed, and despite the outrageous and incendiary comments that Trump has made.

And that’s why wimps like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney and the other phonies can’t even buy their way into office anymore.

What do you think will happen next in 2016?

SHTFplan and Mac Slavo www.shtfplan.com

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