Last Minute Survival

California’s Water Shortage Will Lead to a Spike in Food Prices and Economic Peril

February 19, 2014 Last Minute Survival Danger Alerts!, Economy, Food and Water Comments Off

As California’s drought stretches into years, the situation according to California’s Governor Jerry Brown is becoming dire. “Today I’m declaring a drought in the state of California,” said Brown. “We’re facing perhaps the worst drought California has ever seen since records began being kept about 100 years ago.” As a result, incremental actions to restrict water use have been placed into effect. Most recently, Governor Brown announced last Friday that they won’t send any water from the state’s vast reservoir system to local agencies beginning this spring, an unprecedented move that affects drinking water supplies for 25 million people and irrigation for 1 million acres of farmland. The restrictions in water use will be particularly detrimental for anyone involved in agriculture where irrigation is vital for California’s crops raised primarily in arid regions. The result of this drought and necessary restrictions to California industry and agriculture will mean a spike in food prices and even greater job losses in California.

People fall over themselves lauding the wonderful weather Southern California offers its residents. However, what Southern California doesn’t offer is adequate fresh water to support the state’s massive population. Fresh water is the most basic resource for life; yet, over 38.3 million people call it home even though natural sources of freshwater are far inadequate. Historically, the snow pack in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains has filled reservoirs to supplement California’s water demand, but with record low snowfall, no relief is in sight or expected. More alarming is the fact that climatologists are warning that this drought could continue anywhere from a couple decades to two hundred years based on California’s historical climatic cycles. If indeed this drought persists unabated, it could mean that California will be entering a historic dust bowl situation that could effectively collapse the state.

Further compounding the problem is that California leads the country as the largest producer of agricultural products (crops and livestock), accounting for more than 11 percent of the national total, based on the 2007 Census of Agriculture. To support this, approximately 80% of California’s freshwater is used for irrigation. Given the shortages, California cannot provide freshwater for its inhabitants and agriculture and industry. As such, the tap will be turned off first for California’s farmers. In fact the mere threat of water rationing has already forced many farmers to leave fields fallow and write off this year’s crops as a total loss. The situation is even worse for fruit and nut orchards where the water restrictions could kill productive trees that take years to grow to fruit bearing size. Livestock too will not survive without water so cattle, swine, and poultry populations will be slaughtered and not replaced. As farmers shutter their operations until conditions improve, the businesses that sprung up around California’s agricultural industry are also going out of business. This will cost California billions of dollars in lost revenues and further exasperate the already high unemployment in California.

The result of the drop in California’s agricultural production will restrict food supplies even as demand globally is growing causing food prices to skyrocket this year. This will result in major shortages of products that California produces for the United States such as artichokes, lettuce, spinach, peaches, and strawberries. Many other products such as tomatoes, bell peppers, and carrots, which California produces 1/3, 1/2, and 2/3’s of respectively, will see major price spikes. Meat prices will also spike after cattle, swine, and poultry populations are slaughtered since herd numbers are already at historic lows. If not already bad enough news, inflation will continue to erode the purchasing power of the dollar compounded by the dollar’s weakening status globally as a currency. Add this to a nation with an economy already in collapse and its citizens watching any remaining disposable income vanish as their quality of life descends down a toilet bowl lined by socialist and Marxist economic policies and we have a very real recipe for social unrest.

In case the impact of California’s drought hasn’t caught your attention yet and you still don’t see why it matters, let me be clear. The drought in California will cause your grocery bill to double again this year. If you are an average, struggling, middle class American, you will be forced to cut even more from your already bone thin budget and for the first time actually have to go without when it comes to many food items so that you can pay your most basic bills. This will further reduce the disposable (what if any is left) income Americans have to spend, which will put even more retailers out of business this year. This will lead to a cycle of more layoffs and higher unemployment as the US economy enters into a collapse of historic proportions.

Taking a page from the government, this impending disaster offers opportunity for those savvy enough to foresee it and take action. For starters, it would be wise to enter into direct agreements with cattle and pig farmers for set amounts of beef/pork now before prices spike. Buying a steer or hog now at current prices that will be slaughtered later in the year will save you hundreds of dollars if not more later in the year when prices spike. To illustrate the already rising prices, the prices of beef have already spiked 16.8% this year and bacon is up 22.8%. Further, if you haven’t started a sustainable garden you need to begin now. Invest in a large quantity and variety of heirloom seeds suitable for your growing conditions. Gardens are not something that happen magically after tossing a few seeds into the yard. As we have said many times, gardens take time (years), work, and experimentation to perfect. Anyone waiting to the last minute to plant a garden “when things get really bad” will fail miserably. Invest now in a garden that will produce beyond the needs of your family and it will reward you handsomely with tasty, healthy food at a price you can afford. If you don’t have the land, make a deal with someone who does so that you can gain access to fresh produce. Further, any additional produce not needed can be sold or bartered at a premium price later this summer when the shortages and price hikes really begin to be felt.

In summary, California is entering a period of drought that may last beyond our lifetimes or end next year. Either way, the water shortage will cause grocery bills to spike to record high levels. This will further destabilize the already sick US economy. To protect oneself, the smart prepper will invest in food products and sustainable food production capabilities such as good land, farms, livestock, and gardens to insulate his family from the upcoming price hikes and shortages and turn misfortune into a money making opportunity.

By Guiles Hendrik

February 17, 2014

The Rise of the Islamic State of the Levant: As Iraq fractures so does the Middle East

February 1, 2014 Last Minute Survival Al Qaeda, Iran, Israel, Syria, Terrorism Comments Off

Al Qaeda(AQ) is more powerful today than it was over a decade ago when then President George W. Bush declared his nebulous, ill-fated war on terrorism. Ironically, one could strongly argue it was the war against AQ that made AQ more popular and resilient than it could have ever hoped to be autonomously operating in the shadows. Nothing is more demonstrative of this than the situation today in Iraq. AQ has become a conventional military force and effectively dissolved the border between Iraq and Syria merging it into the Islamic State of the Levant almost completely absent of media attention in the west. In fact, in its first major test as a state like entity, the Iraqi Army conducted a full scale assault on the AQ held portions of Ramadi and Fallujah only to suffer a decisive defeat leaving AQ firmly in control of the traditional Sunni areas of Iraq. The ramifications of this transformation of AQ from a stateless terrorist organization to a conventional army with a defined geographical territory right in the heart of the Middle East are extremely dire even if the Western Media has all but ignored the disaster borne of Bush and Obama’s failed foreign policies.
President Obama has cited again and again how AQ has been defeated and dismantled, yet AQ has repeatedly proven the president either ignorant or a liar as we predicted. As a result of the US conducting its insane policy of intervening in the Syrian Civil War (not to mention creating the war) and then providing military grade weapons to AQ aligned rebels in Syria, AQ fighters now have a conventional military capability compliments of the US taxpayer whether directly supplied by the CIA or indirectly via Saudi Arabia and Qatar. In fact, the heavily armed AQ rebels have crossed into Iraq for sanctuary and taken over large stretches of the western portions of Iraq. As I warned, the insurgencies in Syria and Iraq could merge and create massive unrest in the Middle East. This perfect storm has emerged. With the firepower supplied by not just the US, but Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey, the AQ elements are not stopping in western Iraq and instead have pushed on toward Baghdad. The Shia controlled Iraqi government has so far been unable to retake the areas already captured by AQ and has now been defeated in direct conventional combat operations in both Fallujah and Ramadi. If the Iraqi military is unable to check the advance and growth of the AQ Army, it is indeed possible that portions of Baghdad will be captured by AQ. This in effect will mean that Iraq has effectively splintered into three autonomous nations, one Sunni, one Kurd, and one Shia as I have predicted for years. It will also herald the emergence of the AQ organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, into the actual Islamic State of the Levant.
Even if Baghdad is not taken by AQ the situation is already quite dire. An all-out sectarian proxy war has begun between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The battlefield to date has been confined to the Middle East, but it soon will spill over onto other continents with Africa already suffering the worst from growing Islamic extremism. Each side has gained victories and neither is done fighting. Iran has so far managed to maintain its ally Syria against the concerted efforts of the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, and even Turkey. Iran maintains strong influence over the Iraqi government, which remains predominantly Shia. Iran has also diplomatically outmaneuvered the US, which based on the accomplishments of Secretaries Clinton and Kerry should not come as any surprise, and forced a deal over its nuclear program to include reducing sanctions. However, Hezbollah leaders have been assassinated in Lebanon and AQ backed Sunnis have taken over western Iraq.
This sets the stage in Iraq for a winner takes all fight that will become very bloody. Iran has strategic interests in maintaining its newly minted proxy government in Iraq, compliments of the shortsighted US policy that toppled the Sunni-Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein. In particular, the Iraqi government allows Iran to move weapons and troops through its territory to support President Assad’s forces in Syria and is colluding with Iran on oil production to undercut Saudi oil revenues. However, Iraq’s government is vulnerable so Iran will support the Iraqi military with Iranian units against AQ. Iran is well aware that by defeating these AQ elements in Iraq, it will severely weaken the rebel forces fighting its traditional ally Syria. Saudi Arabia knows that an Iranian win in Syria or Iraq will most likely mean a strategic win across the board for Iran. Saudi Arabia will view a nuclear Iran with control of both Iraq and Syria as an existential strategic threat that it won’t be able to ignore. As such, Saudi Arabia has to escalate the proxy war it in part created by doubling down and backing the AQ aligned Sunnis in an attempt to weaken Iran. This will lead to greater, prolonged bloodshed throughout the Middle East, a disintegration of borders, and further destabilization of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Yemen.
Dangerously, almost any conceivable conclusion to the Iran-Saudi proxy war now seems to point to greater war in the Middle East that will be difficult to deescalate. A stalemate or major breakthrough in favor of Iran may force the countries into direct conflict. Saudi Arabia may also lobby for and overtly support a devastating Israeli strike against Iran, which will have global repercussions. It will also signal Saudi Arabia to move forward with purchasing its own nuclear weapons from Pakistan setting off the dreaded cycle of proliferation across the region. However, if Iran is defeated, the results could be far worse. An Iranian defeat means an AQ victory. In the event of victory, AQ will solidify what amounts to the Islamic State of the Levant. This newly emerged state will turn on the corrupt regimes that spawned it and attack Jordan, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia potentially toppling those regimes. Further, AQ would solidify their control of the region and make it effectively off limits for any US interests short of another war. The new Islamic State of the Levant would be a breeding ground for attacks against the US and a safe haven for terrorists that have emerged into a legitimate army. Saudi Arabia, in particular, will be very vulnerable to the AQ fighters and could be destabilized to the point oil production is severely disrupted. Israel will come under even greater pressure as the Palestinians receive increased support from AQ leadership. These are just a few of the first order regional effects without even touching the greater global implications and how it would affect major powers like the US, Russia, and China.
The US will regret that it armed, trained, and equipped AQ elements in Syria for short sighted policies designed to undermine Iran. The ramifications of the chain reaction Washington’s policy set in motion will be dire and far reaching. Already, the world must begin to recognize it created a defacto AQ state in the Levant even if the western media has not grasped this new reality. Nonetheless, one cannot predict with certainty how this will end, but one can be certain that much greater blood will be shed before this new regional war concludes.

By Guiles Hendrik
January 31, 2014
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The stage is set for final economic liquidation of the United States: Detroit request 50,000 immigrants

January 30, 2014 Last Minute Survival Big Government, Economy, Jobs, Politics Comments Off

What does a corrupt and dysfunctional government due with its constituents after it has sucked every last drop of blood from them? Replace them of course. Detroit is not liquidating its population in the sense of Mao or Stalin, but even a quick study of Detroit’s demographics will reveal it has undergone a mass exodus. Detroit, the once vibrant industrial city is now no longer able to pay its bills, which has led to bankruptcy and an inability to maintain its infrastructure. As the lights permanently go dark and packs of wild dogs roam the streets, entire portions of Detroit have been turned into gangland ghettos reminiscent of the prescient 1987 film RoboCop. To “fix” the problem our “enlightened” elites created, Detroit’s government is planning to import 50,000 new workers (slaves) to Detroit. However, what they aren’t telling you is that their idea of a “fix” and your idea of a “fix” are radically different and you are not going to like it. The elite fix will be the final act in the economic liquidation of the United States…or in layman’s terms, an engineered economic collapse. The collapse of Detroit wasn’t destined. It could have been averted if responsible fiscal policies had been instituted and a total takeover of the political system by unions and global corporations prevented. However, this was not to be. The marriage between government and big business was allowed to occur without protest and was actually welcomed much like President Obama’s dictatorial declarations in his 2014 State of the Union address. Soon though, greed took control of Detroit as handouts became preferred over earned paychecks. It wasn’t long after that the powerhouses of American industry lost their competitive edge. As one business after another closed its doors, Detroit was stripped of its vital tax revenues it had reliably pilfered from the middle class and left with massive debts to cover the costs of the remaining non-productive elements within the city. ’s huge and now growing debt became a time bomb with a short fuse that sealed its economic destruction. In the wake of Detroit’s demise, the city has left an older generation of workers stripped of their pensions and retirements and a younger generation of unemployed. As for its industry, well, it of course left the US. The propaganda pipedreams sold to the people of Detroit were simply dressed up lies that are designed to appeal to the masses, the “working classes,” the average hardworking Americans, but are pure economic poison designed only to solidify the status quo of the elites at the expense of competitive businesses and true economic growth. This type of snake oil appears in many ways such as a minimum wage. These policies sound great in the near term because they claim to insulate and protect jobs, but are doomed to fail over the longer term because they strip away a company’s need and or ability to be competitive in the true global market. Without the need to compete, laziness and apathy creep into a business. Innovation, research, and development are shelved because they detract from maximizing profits. Instead of building better products and operating more efficiently, companies found it easier to simply control the market bureaucratically. As this incestual, economic disease metastasized throughout government, laws were passed to further “protect” the “established” businesses and enrich the elites. This biased the market against new and competitive businesses making it impossible for them to compete and killed any residual business initiatives. As a result, only large, non-competitive, and highly inefficient businesses that could afford to buy politicians were left. Of course this system was flawed, but by the time the Detroit woke up to realize the market was a global one, more competitive industries at home and abroad put the Motor City out of business. This self-destructive economic cycle ultimately killed the host…the hard working middle class of Detroit. Once the middle class were decimated, the tax revenues collapsed and Detroit effectively became economically insolvent. Elites tend to like to keep and expand their power and wealth. As soon as the elites realized they no longer could maintain the status quo within the United States, they took their businesses overseas where they could find cheap labor to exploit for maximum profit. This is often a result of centralized economic controls associated with leftist economic policies and unions that favor such things as an artificially high minimum wage and unmanageable pension plans. These policies make it impossible for even a healthy company to compete against lean companies with low overhead. As such, with the help of fancy marketing to the public and highly paid lobbyists, “fair” trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were passed. The trade deals were written and designed to benefit the proverbial 1% and not the middle class. The real effect would be to destroy national borders and tip the balance of “fairness” against the US worker. The elites knew this meant that the American standard of living would plummet as industry and jobs flowed out, but not into the US. This Machiavellian decision was made because America was becoming a saturated, stagnant market with high overhead costs due in no small part to union demanded benefits, high taxes, and oppressive government regulations. In order to expand profits, the companies needed access to the global market and the fastest growing segments of the world population, such as in Asia. NAFTA and the current, emerging, and highly secretive Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement have and will, respectively, decimate the living standard in the US. Detroit’s demise should be a warning to anyone that believes globalist policies will lead the US to new levels of economic prosperity. These same mechanisms that brought down Detroit are at work and in advanced stages now across the entire US. BOTH political parties are to blame for this. The Republican President George H.W. Bush signed into law the NAFTA and Democratic President Obama has unrelentingly forced a radical socialist/Marxist agenda upon the US to complete the globalist designs oft referenced by the former President Bush as the “New World Order.” President Obama is also nearing completion of the super-secret TPP agreement with China, which if NAFTA is any indicator, will be catastrophic for the US economy. Nonetheless, even without the foreign trade sellouts agreements, the economic and regulatory policies of the progressive left alone will be enough to crush the last remaining vibrant elements of the US economy. The bottom line is centrally planned economies have never worked historically anywhere in the world and will not work in the US. So one may ask what does importing 50,000 immigrants have to do with helping Detroit. The answer is it won’t help you and it won’t help Detroit; it will help the 1%. The elites and their paid politicians have set the stage for the perfect storm of economic collapse in the US. Detroit is the first pilot test. Detroit will get a temporary boost of cheap labor that will be sold to the public as a way to produce tax revenue and rejuvenate the city’s ailing population. However, it will further disenfranchise American workers, increase domestic unemployment, and diminish the US standard of living. The guest workers will not be paying taxes because their income will be below the taxable limit, but they will certainly benefit from social welfare programs such as free healthcare, food stamps, subsidized housing, and welfare. This will be a huge net loss financially for Detroit and the US, but that doesn’t matter to the globalists expecting windfall profits and living abroad. In exchange for the sellout, the bought politicians get a readymade pool of new constituent votes via “amnesty” and more campaign donations from the global corporations to keep them in power. In the end it will only be the wealthy elites of the global corporations that increase their profits, which from their offshore perches and beach front mansions in Monaco seem like a good idea. The overriding premise of this is that cheap labor increases the profit margin of big globalist corporations allowing them to put anyone else not enjoying the same type of special favors out of business. The paradox of this logic was noted ironically by Karl Marx in that if no one has money to buy the goods, the capitalist system will collapse. However, that is the future and this is the now. So how does this perfect storm work? Global corporations will have a new pool of what amounts to domestic slave labor that maximizes their profits. They accomplished this by lobbying (paying off) politicians to pass amnesty, not enforce border security, and approve the 50,000 work visas for Detroit. Detroit will be the first city to undergo this transnational corporate takeover. This will put more Americans out of work because other “good” businesses paying legitimate wages can’t compete. As the American workers lose their jobs and remain unemployed, non-Americans will be brought in to assume those American jobs, which will further increase the pool of under or unemployed. Tax revenues will plummet as social welfare and public service costs sky rocket. This will spread to more cities and put more and more people out of work. As more cities collapse like Detroit, they will be next in line for “help” and will receive hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers. As each city falls, the global corporations will continue to transition their workforce to cheap labor and continue to increase their profit margins. Bought politicians will look the other way and proclaim the benefits of diversity. This business model is only possible because our once free Republic has been turned into a complete social welfare state. As such, the burden of paying a living wage is no longer on the corporations, but on you the taxpayer. You, the dwindling middle class worker, will be responsible for paying the immigrant workers’ healthcare (Obamacare), food stamps, welfare, education/tuition, costs for municipal services, and housing subsidies to name some of the major welfare programs. This burden will be unsustainable for a solvent country. Thus finite, it will lead to the final economic collapse of the US even as key stocks soar from record corporate profits. There simply will not be enough tax paying workers to support the welfare state leviathan and just as Detroit collapsed as its tax revenues to payouts went negative, so too will the US. To complete this logic, one must ask then what good it does the companies to collapse the US economy. To understand, one must remember the corporations are “global.” They don’t operate in a world of boundaries and borders. Their practices are parasitic and predatory and operate for maximum profit now. That means as our nation is bled of every last cent and economically destroyed, they will just move on to a new market like they did in Detroit. The money the corporations make will be used to dominate the next emerging market and the cycle will continue with the American worker now the cheap labor supporting the more advanced economies in other parts of the world. This leaves you stuck with the debt, poverty, and the tyranny of near absolute dependence on the government. This dependence equates to government control (by the very same bought politicians that got you in this situation), which means you are no longer free and ruled by a corrupt elite. You are now a slave and the globalists control you.

By Guiles Hendrik

January 30, 2014

Image © Albert Duece

Organic Food Shortages and Why You Should Smile

January 21, 2014 Last Minute Survival Food and Water Comments Off

Today as I browsed news headlines from around the world I noticed that news outlets were reporting on organic food shortages due to high demand. I could interpret this headline in both positive and negative ways, but generally speaking, I read this as good news. I see this as proof people are becoming aware of the poisonous food being sold to us by industrialized agricultural corporations like Monsanto and rejecting it. I see this as proof that we are winning the war against a centrally controlled monopoly of the global food supply. Even if the bought politicians in Washington have done all they can to silence critics of genetically modified organisms (GMO) and forced organizations that are supposed to look out for food safety like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to certify poisons as “safe” for consumption, people are rejecting the faux science of overpaid lobbyists. Instead, people are opting for natural and organic foods. Remarkably, this has not been because of market and government pressure, but in spite of it. Rather than accepting that GMO crops are just as “healthy” and “safe” as non-GMO crops, consumers have overwhelmingly opted to purchase far more expensive produce because of health, taste, and nutritional value. In this regard, the consumer has passed its verdict against the evil profiteers at Monsanto and similar corporations in spite of what the bought media may try to tell you.

This phenomenon demonstrates that in spite of corporate and government lies, dirty legal tactics, fancy marketing, and paramilitary raids designed to intimidate and scare farmers, the consumers can still think for themselves and back down billion dollar global corporations. If it can be done at the supermarket, it can be done on other fronts such as domestic surveillance, illegal wars, and the demonization of firearms. This should give us all hope. It should also give Monsanto sponsored politicians like the current head of the USDA, Tom Vilsack, a man that has done immense damage to the health of millions in the US by forcing GMO crops into the grocery stores of America, to pause because their legacy will be one of dishonor and disgrace. They will be seen and remembered as vile creatures that poisoned our children for profits.

The shortage in organic food also signals that the market for healthy, natural, and organic foods is growing and is profitable. Anyone with good agricultural land should consider even small scale farming of organic crops as a way to supplement your diet and offset food costs during good and bad times. Further, on a larger scale, investing in organic farming will be a lucrative enterprise. As demand grows, these local farms will reap greater and greater profits. After all, as the world population grows, so does the demand for good food. However, land suitable for farming is inversely related to population growth so as the world becomes more crowded and requires more food, farmland acreage decreases. This creates a classic example of economic supply and demand where higher demand for dwindling supplies of organic foods will continue to drive the cost of produce higher and higher. Those of you able to capitalize on this basic business principle stand to handsomely profit as well as feed your community.

In summary, I welcome the growing demand for organic food because every cent redirected from industrialized, GMO farming to local growers weakens Monsanto and their despicable lobby while strengthening local communities and the health and security of our food supply. I recommend all of you become informed on these topics and support your local organic and native food growers employing sustainable agricultural practices. Even if organic food currently costs you slightly more, your health and taste buds will make it worth every dollar.

By Guiles Hendrik

January 21, 2014

For more see: http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24501646/organic-food-shortage-hits-us

Why Edward Snowden Threatens the US Government

January 21, 2014 Last Minute Survival Big Brother, Big Government, Liberty and Freedom, Police State, Resistance to Tyranny Comments Off

Recently, there has been talk in political circles entertaining the notion of granting amnesty for Edward Snowden under the condition he doesn’t release anymore secrets respective of the activities of the National Security Administration (NSA). However, although there is significant public support for his amnesty inside the United States and abroad, it is highly unlikely the US Government will grant Snowden amnesty. The reason for this is not because the US is worried about further damage to our national security. This damage was complete shortly after Mr. Snowden arrived in China and certainly by time he was debriefed by Russian intelligence officers. Further, many of the programs and capabilities Snowden purportedly exposed were already known by foreign intelligence and had been leaked in domestic alternate media outlets. No, it is not the fear of what foreign governments may glean from the revelations, but what the American people will learn that is driving the angst at the White House. The bottom line is that controlling elites within the US Government are angry and want revenge for Snowden’s official exposure of some of their most valuable and potent tools to surveil, track, and control the citizens of the US. The real damage Snowden did was to expose and weaken the secret police state that had been quietly built over decades in a dramatic fashion and for that he should be applauded as a hero irrespective of the obvious collateral security damage exposing the programs required, which was unfortunate and no doubt costly. Nonetheless, the need to uphold an oath to the Constitution superseded any in-house whistleblower policies and procedures that are more far more appropriately designed to silence dissent and protect political careers than to ensure freedom and liberty are preserved.

The government is now on the defensive trying to cover up and hide its illegal and unconstitutional surveillance activities that up until now were effectively hidden behind the curtain of secrecy. The President’s inside circle is undoubtable worried that if the full scope of the surveillance activities to include what the President himself has ordered and authorized ever gets out to the public, the Administration would be finished and the President could possibly be impeached. President Obama is feeling so much pressure he was forced to address the nation over the NSA’s spying in a manner intended to be perceived as reigning in the excessive surveillance. However, the President’s statements and actions show he has no intention whatsoever of curtailing the unconstitutional domestic surveillance. Instead of curtailing the domestic spying apparatus, President Obama has hypocritically acted and doubled down to protect the crown jewel of his police state, which he vehemently criticized when it was in its infancy under the control of former President George W. Bush. The White House has forced the NSA (as well as broader intelligence and defense communities) to hide programs even deeper and review the vetting of anyone associated with these programs. It has launched witch hunts for leakers with the intent to not just find and punish anyone willing to uphold their oath to the Constitution, but instill fear in anyone contemplating outing a classified, illegal, government program. It has also launched disinformation campaigns with the collusion of its controlled media to convince people the programs have actually been effective at thwarting domestic terrorism even though reports released from Congress state the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on these programs over the last two decades have not prevented a single attack. Further, the White House has spared no expense pressuring politically appointed judges to throw out lawsuits. President Obama has also used all of his political capital to collude with Congress (not just Democrats) to stifle any hint of legislation that would restrict, defund, and or stop the unwarranted, mass, domestic surveillance of the American public. Make no mistake, if President Obama and the elites have their way, the police state will only grow more powerful.

The notion that the government must know about every detail of every citizen’s life is enemy of freedom and liberty. This power is the holy grail of any police state and the information derived from this wide net of surveillance will be stored, analyzed, and used for near unlimited control of any population. We have written often about the false and dangerous logic behind the oft cited statement, “If you are not doing anything wrong you don’t have anything to worry about.” Simply taking an opposition standpoint to this government has already resulted in a number of people killed by drones and historically speaking, simply being literate was enough for the Soviet “Progressives,” also known as the Bolsheviks, to execute millions. Logic would conclude that if the government was indeed not interested in this information for control, then the programs would have little to no value and it would happily cease these extremely expensive programs. However, the government has doggedly pursued these programs at an immense cost and in secret violation of the law to satisfy what historically has been shown to be any government’s unquenchable desire for more power. Only the most naïve and ignorant citizens could feel comfortable with this type of excessive, unconstitutional violation of one’s privacy. For those supporting these programs from within the government, only through extensive manipulation of reality could one justify these programs for “good” and even then this would require a nearly blind (stupid) belief that those senior policy makers telling them that these programs are “legal” and “authorized” are genuinely, good, honest, trustworthy, and have the public’s best interests at heart. In fact, the mere notion that a person that shuns expansive power would also be the same person that seeks political office is contradictory and the notion of an “honest” politician is plain ridiculous. In fact next to no one would say they “trust” politicians, but yet when one is ordered to conduct an illegal government operation, these employees act as if they are robots carrying out the orders because the system “told them to do it.” Further, although their work may seem to be legitimate on the surface and focus on what they “are told” is a real terrorist target, these programs are so compartmentalized, there is little or no way for those subordinate minions to know the full scope of how the information being collected is being used and to what end it serves. Those of you that believe you are justified because someone with “rank” ordered you to conduct a certain act should remember the lessons of Nuremberg. You cannot hide behind orders and you must answer to a higher law.

If you value your freedom and liberty, you must demand your privacy is respected. You must demand the domestic spy state is permanently dismantled and defunded. Inform your neighbors. Organize and rally the masses to force bought politicians to act. You must bring cases to court and doggedly sue the government for violating your Constitutional Rights. Vote out any and every politician not aggressively acting to stop this spying regardless of party affiliation. If that is too much for you then at least donate money to those organizations and individuals that are working to stop the police state. These groups are numerous and growing such as Campaign for Liberty http://www.campaignforliberty.org/ and the Rutherford Institute https://www.rutherford.org/. Your support to organizations like these is invaluable and does have an impact. Both of the above institutions have already forced legislative debate, bills, and successful suits against the government on behalf of your civil liberties and freedoms.

By Guiles Hendrik

January 21, 2014

As We Predicted: Syrian and Iraqi Civil Wars Merge as President Obama’s Claims of a Defeated Al Qaeda Crumble

January 10, 2014 Last Minute Survival Al Qaeda, Global War, Iran, Israel, Military, News and Intelligence, Terrorism Comments Off

Disturbing news continues to poor out of Iraq as it appears Al Qaeda forces in Iraq have transformed from an insurgent force to conventional military force. This is considered the last stage of a guerilla war by Mao Tse-Tung’s guide to guerrilla warfare. The successful takeover of the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi by Al Qaeda forces prove they have continued to organize and gain strength contrary to the lies emanating from President Obama respective of Al Qaeda being nearly destroyed. None of this should come as a surprise. For years I have been tracking this trend and warning that the Islamic radicals fighting in Syria would soon destabilize Iraq and merge the wars. Reference:

If not already bad enough, the Sunni extremists have gained much of this power by way of Washington’s covert aid. Using arms and money from Saudi Arabia and Qatar funneled through Jordan and Turkey the CIA has covertly provided a host of supplies, equipment, and weapons to the rebels. Further, CIA officers on the ground are advising Al Qaeda affiliated rebel factions and providing them with command and control support. With this added lifeline the rebels have regrouped across the non-existent border in Iraq and gained a foothold by seizing the major cities of Anbar Province as well as numerous border towns in Northern Iraq. This sets the stage for a pan-Sunni front rising against Iranian backed Shia forces for a large scale outbreak of warfare in the Middle East.

Make no mistake, by no means is this Iraqi Al Qaeda uprising an organically generated situation. It is merely a symptom of much bigger strategic issues at play in the Middle East. These divisions are deep, complex, and overlapping. Some of these divisions are political, some are economic, some are religious, some are ethnic, but all are divisive. Sunni versus Shia; Saudi Arabia and Qatar versus Syria; Kurd versus Iraqi; Turkey versus Kurdistan versus Syria; Iran versus Israel versus the United States versus Saudi Arabia; the United States versus Russia; and so on. The Middle East has become a chessboard of pawns being manipulated by strategic players from around the world in a very dangerous high stakes game.

The result of this will be, as I have previously predicted, ever increasing violence and bloodshed across the Middle East. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki will most likely be forced to open up greater political and military cooperation with Iran to put down the Sunni uprising in the western portion of the country. This will allow the Kurds to further cement their autonomous nation to the north and possibly absorb Kurdish portions of Syria. This would ethnically redraw the map of the Middle East much to the fear of Turkey, which under those circumstances, might militarily intervene to prevent such a Kurdish unification. Contrary to Washington’s plans to weaken Iran by toppling Assad, the rise of Obama’s Sunni proxies will cause the plan to backfire. Maliki’s requests for support will actually lead to increased Iranian influence and potentially new and more direct military supply lines through Iraq to Iran’s besieged ally Bashar Assad in Syria. This will force Saudi Arabia to become even more overt in its support to Sunni extremists, which will fuel even greater global terrorism and bloodshed in Syria. Saudi Arabia will begin importing greater numbers of foreign jihadists for the fight and likely buy its own readymade nuclear arsenal from Pakistan, which will greatly increase world instability and increase the chances of a larger regional war. Nonetheless, Assad’s government forces will most likely continue to maintain the upper hand for at least the next six months dealing Washington a decisive strategic setback that will weaken Washington’s alliances with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and Turkey. This will also weaken Washington’s negotiating position with Iran on its nuclear program forcing Obama to pursue appeasement. A peace deal with Iran is not in and of itself disastrous and likely good, but Israel will see this as the last straw and likely initiate unilateral strikes against Iran designed to set back its nuclear progress while forcing the US into an unwanted and unnecessary war. This will be an unparalleled disaster for the US. See:

As for the biggest players, the US and Russia, Russia will continue its unbeaten streak of foreign policy victories against the amateurish American lineup. Obama and John Kerry are simply outclassed by Putin and Sergei Lavrov. Specifically, Russia and its grand chess master Putin will continue to play all sides against each other for its maximum political and economic profit. Russia will continue to pick off long time US allies such as Egypt as Obama continues to alienate everyone. Russia will also handsomely profit and leverage any outbreak of war to further corner the oil and gas market while enjoying a spike in prices before global economies crash taking the price of oil to lows not seen in years. For Russia, losing Syria is not optional as long as the threat of a Qatari-Saudi gas pipeline through Syria to Europe exists. Russia would lose immense geopolitical leverage over Europe and billions in revenue in the event Assad was deposed without hard guarantees Washington is not likely able to deliver. In the event Obama doubles down and provides enough military support to bring about Syrian regime change, expect the Russians to triple down and bait the US into another disastrous war in the Middle East designed to economically break the back of the US and force us out of the Middle East.

All considered, 2014 is shaping up to be a violent and climatic year across the Muslim Crescent. The civil war in Syria will likely reach a tipping point and Iran’s nuclear program will have to be accepted or destroyed. Iraq will descend into full scale civil war. Jordan will be weakened by growing unrest and Lebanon could once again be split by sectarian violence. As for Americans, expect an increase in Islamic terrorism against US targets. This is a near certainty since vast numbers of radical Islamists have been recently armed, trained, equipped, and organized to fight in Syria by our very own CIA. This latest generation of jihadists will be armed with much more advanced weaponry compliments of the US taxpayer and will ultimately go on to attack the US after they have had their fill of fighting in Syria. Specifically, expect to see the use of improvised nerve gas manufactured by Syrian rebels, man portable surface to air missiles smuggled out of Libya, and antitank missiles provided by Saudi Arabia against US targets. These are just some of the highlights to expect in 2014 so make sure you buckle your seat belts.

For further reading:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/04/al-qaeda-iraq_n_4541855.html

http://www.dw.de/al-qaeda-allies-take-over-fallujah-iraq/a-17341342

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10320523/Al-Qaeda-linked-group-takes-over-Syrian-border-town.html

By Guiles Hendrik

January 10, 2014

Former Maryland Congressman Roscoe Bartlett Becomes a West Virginia Prepper

January 5, 2014 Last Minute Survival Uncategorized Comments Off

Following up on our article on prepper communities and West Virginia as the go-to location for preppers east of the Mississippi, it appears former Congressman Roscoe Bartlett agrees. In fact he has left his more conservative constituency in western Maryland and headed for the mountains of West Virginia just as we recommended. Congressman Bartlett has established a beautiful self-sufficient, off grid sanctuary any of us would be happy to have. Whether you agree with Congressman Bartlett’s political actions, we can all agree he is right about his chosen style of living and opted out of our fragile grid and poisoned food supply.

Once again, West Virginia has proved a haven for preppers like none other. Please join our growing communities and help us rebuild our nation from the ground up starting with West Virginia.

For more information: http://www.politico.com//magazine/story/2014/01/roscoe-bartlett-congressman-off-the-grid-101720.html

By Guiles Hendrik

January 5, 2014

An Act of War: CIA Leak Gives “Incontrovertible Evidence” That 9/11 was sponsored by Saudi Arabia

December 18, 2013 Last Minute Survival 9/11, Big Banks, Big Brother, Danger Alerts!, Domestic Terrorism, Terrorism, TSA One comment

What happens when conspiracy theory becomes conspiracy fact? It turns out 2013 has been the year for the conspiracy theorists to say, “I told you so.” Unfortunately, even when the bald face lies are exposed and the truth finally makes its way to the public, there seems to be little outcry. This apathy is the saddest materialization of a republic in decay. From the scandal over the Internal Revenue Service targeting political enemies of President Obama (conservative groups terrorized by the government) to Edward Snowden’s disclosure of the scope and scale of the National Security Agency’s domestic spying programs (Orwellian police state), the Obama Administration has been rocked by one scandal after another. As if these actions didn’t already break a multitude of laws and provide grounds for criminal actions and impeachment, the US government does it again! This time it’s the 9/11 “conspiracies” that have been verified. As Congressional inquiries reveal, the government of Saudi Arabia was directly involved with planning, supporting, and carrying out the 9/11 attacks. This was an act of war, yet the US government not only concealed the fact from the public, but also helped the Saudi’s cover it up in one of the most overtly treasonous acts of the century.

Specifically, the Saudis deny any role in 9/11, but CIA memos reportedly found “incontrovertible evidence” that Saudi government officials — not just wealthy Saudi hardliners, but high-level diplomats and intelligence officers employed by the kingdom — helped the hijackers both financially and logistically. The intelligence files cited in the report directly implicate the Saudi embassy in Washington and consulate in Los Angeles in the attacks, making 9/11 not just an act of terrorism, but an act of war. A pair of lawmakers who recently read the redacted portion say they are “absolutely shocked” at the level of foreign state involvement in the attacks. Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) can’t reveal the nation identified by it without violating federal law. So they’ve proposed Congress pass a resolution asking President Obama to declassify the entire 2002 report, “Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.”

The New York Post investigation reveals that Saudi agents, officials and operatives in Virginia, Florida, California and D.C. provided direct support by way funding or intelligence to those involved in bringing down the towers. Nonetheless, President Bush censored 28 full pages of the 800-page report while the US government actively supported evacuating high level Saudis from the US including members of the bin Laden family even as the government claimed they didn’t know who was responsible for the attack. Logic only allows for a narrow set of conclusions that all point to the fact that a nation state (Saudi Arabia), which is purportedly an ally of the US, launched an unprecedented attack on the US and the US at minimum covered it up and at worst, knew of the attack in advance. Making matters worse, President Bush then lied about the origins of the terrorist attack and sent American troops into harm’s way in Afghanistan and then Iraq in what most now consider an illegal war and a disaster.

Americans must unite behind Representatives Jones and Lynch and provide vocal support for their action to get the documentation declassified. Their contact information is as follows:

http://jones.house.gov/ http://lynch.house.gov/

District	Name	Party	Room	Phone	Committee Assignment
3	Jones, Walter B.	R	2333 RHOB	202-225-3415	Armed Services
8	Lynch, Stephen F.	D	2133 RHOB	202-225-8273	Financial Services Oversight and Government Reform

Concurrently, we as Americans must pressure the Justice Department to open terrorist investigations against numerous named Saudis to include senior political leaders and indict them. The Departments of Defense and State should immediately cease cooperation and funding support for the Saudis and move to realign US alliances in the region with countries not directly attacking the US homeland and killing thousands of Americans. America must reevaluate its entire relationship with Saudi Arabia now that the dirty truth of these despicable terrorists in our midst has been leaked. Failure to act by our government officials would all but prove that the “War on Terrorism” has been and still is a completely fabricated hoax to control the population through fear while extorting trillions of dollars from the middle class.

How could our government, after knowing that our “ally” sponsored the 9/11 attacks, not take action? How could our government cover up this act of war? How could our government, knowing who actually conducted this attack, pretend it was actually a nebulous terrorist entity and send us to war against a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11? How could our government manipulate the truth and claim for “security” you must surrender your privacy and rights so that TSA officers can grope you and NSA collect and analyze every aspect of your most personal activities. The answer has been obvious all along. Our government is run by elites that seek total power. These elites…the heads of banks, the titans of the military industrial complex, big oil, media moguls, their political puppets, etc…all have consistently manipulated world events to destroy any vestige of a free republic and control you, plain and simple.

After the Cold War ended there was no longer a threat to create fear that could be used to control the peoples and nations of the world. A new threat had to be created and this new threat was to be called “terrorism.” This new enemy was seemingly everywhere and nowhere. It could strike without warning and employ even the most sophisticated weapons of mass destruction. It could be anyone, a foreigner, your neighbor, even your elderly grandmother. It had killed thousands on the homeland and would surely strike again if we didn’t create a massive surveillance state and pour trillions into needless wars and defense contracts all while driving the price of oil up three fold. The elites all profited enormously while the average man was killed in war, lost his job, watched his retirement evaporate, and his free nation become enslaved. Conspiracy theory be damned because this is the truth. The raw, uncensored reality is that most Americans choose to ignore and pretend this problem doesn’t exist as long as they can watch football on the weekend and have their beer. YOU, not your neighbor or someone else, YOU, must shed all apathy and take action. YOU must organize and take to the streets, the airwaves, to Congress and demand redress. YOU must force these traitors from office and hold those accountable to the fullest extent of the law.

Or you can sit and do nothing. Sit in denial as you are dispossessed of your nation, freedom, and liberty. Hope that those ambitious and craving power will somehow reform themselves and leave you alone. Hope that they will protect you once they have assumed total power. No you fool, you will be a slave and deservedly so.

By Guiles Hendrik

December 18, 2013

Earthquakes on the Rise in Oklahoma: A new theory to explain seismic activity in areas once considered geologically stable.

December 17, 2013 Last Minute Survival Earthquakes, Energy Security, Exclusive Story, Food and Water, Oil and Gas, Uncategorized Comments Off

Many of our readers have noticed and been tracking an uptick in the number of earthquakes in areas previously not known for seismic activity. Oklahoma, in particular the Oklahoma City area, has been experiencing an unusually high number of quakes in recent years. Many have speculated that fracking is causing these quakes. However, fracking alone doesn’t appear to be a viable explanation because the quakes often happen where there is no fracking and where there is fracking no quakes occur. Correlation isn’t necessarily causation, but in the case of fracking the evidence seems to directly contradict claims it causes earthquakes. Seismologists agree that fracking can for the most part be ruled out as a cause of the quakes. Nonetheless, scientists have been baffled by seismic activity in places like Oklahoma and are at a loss to explain what is going on.

After reviewing the information, I would like to propose an admittedly anecdotal theory. Empirically speaking, it seems that there is a strong correlation between the quake concentrations and the Central Oklahoma aquifer, which has been significantly drawn down over the last few decades. Theoretically speaking, major quakes have occurred along the New Madrid Fault due to the Earth’s crust rebounding after the glaciers receded in the last ice age. Using this as a rough corollary, it is conceivable that as a major aquifer is emptied, a similar action may be occurring. In fact, these quakes may be the result of the earth settling into voids created when the water is removed combined with the fact that billions of tons of water pressure have also been removed as the water has been pumped from the ground. The combined effect has created tensions (or more specifically, released tensions) in the crust great enough to cause quakes as the crust resettles.

To further test this theory, one must look to other areas that have begun to recently experience seismic activity where historically it has been rare to nonexistent. The recent 2011 DC earthquake centered near Charlottesville, Virginia may have also been due to similar causal mechanisms even though there are known faults that run through the area that have been quiet for centuries. A closer look at the geology around the fast growing city of Charlottesville (much like the population of Oklahoma City) shows that its water is fed from a central aquifer not directly associated with other larger aquifers. Like the Central Oklahoma Aquifer, Charlottesville seems to be sitting on more of an isolated underground lake than a river. As such, both can be drawn down considerably with heavy water usage. In fact, a reduction in the water level of Charlottesville may have also caused the large and unforeseen quake that shook much of Virginia and Washington, DC. Note that this theory is not targeted at areas that are known for seismic activity due to other known causes such as volcanism and active faults. It is however an attempt to explain why certain areas are suddenly having seismic activity.

Considering the above, one should ask the “so what” question. Your answer to why you should care is that much of the construction in the United States is built to codes that do not take into account major seismic events due to the low frequency of their occurrence. However, as we have briefly discussed, more and more areas are now experiencing earthquakes where none had previously occurred to any great scale. This means that you may be living and working or your kids may be attending a school in a structure that isn’t designed to survive an earthquake. If my theory is correct, more and more cities drawing directly from concentrated lake-like aquifers may experience new and continued quakes that could potentially damage and or destroy structures not designed to withstand the shaking of an earthquake. If you have any concern, access the US Geological Survey’s aquifer maps online to determine if you do in fact live in one of these areas. If so, earthquake preparedness may be something you want to consider more seriously.

By Guiles Hendrik

December 17, 2013

Why are Armored Guard Posts in Target’s Parking Lot?

December 15, 2013 Last Minute Survival Big Brother, Big Government, Constitution, Exclusive Story, Justice Department, Liberty and Freedom, News and Intelligence, Police State, Politics, Surveillance State, Terrorism 4 comments

Today while shopping at Target I noticed something unusual in the parking lot. Rising above the middle of the parking lot was a large, mobile guard post. It had many cameras, dark tinted windows, and appeared armored. Further, there was a police cruiser parked at its base. Seeing this, I wondered, what could possible justify making the parking lot of Target look like a federal penitentiary. Perhaps it was just a new “Supermax” Target? Was there some imminent terrorist threat against Target? Should I pack my kids up and flee now for safety? No one in management seemed to have any comment so it must have just materialized out of thin air.

The reality is the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is becoming ever more overt in its actions toward implementing a complete police state. As the tower attests, DHS has been working overtime to militarize our local police forces. In fact, DHS has spent billions of taxpayer dollars to provide local police with equipment designed for full scale warfare. In short, they are using your money to build the infrastructure to totally control you and every aspect of your life. The DHS provided equipment includes items like Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles, microwave and ultra low frequency emitting “crowd control” devices, high tech intelligence and surveillance equipment to include drones, and mobile guard towers. Previously these items were only seen on overseas battlefields and used against America’s most unsavory enemies, but now in keeping with the militarization and takeover of local police, DHS has handed these items out like candy to local cops. The unstated, but nonetheless real effect of the change in police demeanor from peace officers to storm troopers has been to imbalance the delicate Constitutional balance between the power of the State and the collective power of the people to challenge the State effectively in the event the State becomes illegitimate.

There are neither credible threats against Target to justify this militarized checkpoint nor is there any chance this waste of tax payer dollars would prevent an attack should there actually be one. This ominous icon of a war zone is designed to desensitize the population to the fact they are monitored, spied on, recorded, and no longer free to even shop for socks without the government’s all seeing eye prying upon their every move. This type of emerging soft tyranny must be identified, highlighted, resisted, and ultimately shut down at every single emergence.

This particular tower in Potomac Yard Shopping Center (Alexandria, Virginia) was procured by wasting taxpayer dollars and put into use by the Alexandria, Virginia Police Department. After discussing the tower with local law enforcement the consensus seems to be that the tower was emplaced to thwart a rise in thefts during the holidays around store parking lots. After all, who wouldn’t want better “public safety?” However, that rationale fails the logic test. First of all, after follow-on observation it appears the tower is an overpriced scarecrow because it wasn’t manned and perhaps the video monitoring wasn’t even active. As such, there was no one actually present to “prevent” a crime. At best this would only support follow-on investigation if the cameras were operational and pointed in the right direct. Thus, an unmanned tower provides no more security than store cameras already in place. Second, the policing is being done on commercial property with your tax dollars. If Target parking lots are not safe, it is incumbent upon Target to bear the burden of the cost of making their premises safe and secure for shoppers and not Alexandria Police Department. If the threat is really that high to shoppers as the government would like to scare you into believing, then where is the data to support this and why would we dare take our families out Christmas shopping? Third, the cost of purchasing, maintaining, moving, emplacing, monitoring, and manning these towers must run into the millions of dollars. This is an extremely high price tag for what the tower provides and approaches a complete waste of tax dollars. Fourth, to actually make it effective for its purported purpose of preventing thefts in parking lots during the holiday season, it would have to be manned with a minimum of two officers for at least two shifts a day to cover the shopping hours. This surveillance would effectively remove significant manpower from a police department’s normal shifts and result in a reduced ability to respond to actual calls for help and criminal activity. Finally, one must ask whether they want this type of life. People must use their god given mind to envision where this leads in the future. A life where the pettiest of crimes results in a justification for a police state is abhorrent to a free society. There is no freedom of anything when on every corner, at every moment of our lives, armed government goons are ready to swoop in and enforce the smallest of infractions with overwhelming violence.

I ask all of you to contact Target and demand these icons of our emerging police state be immediately removed from their premises or we will boycott their store. We have already begun a local campaign and to date, Target management has only officially responded by email with a generic “sorry for the inconvenience.” This is unacceptable and we must make our voices the loudest in the room. Further, we need to educate the management of Target and other retail stores on what is unacceptable to us as their customers in respect to further police state actions. By combining our efforts and getting the word out to other internet outlets, talk radio, TV, and our friends and family about these excesses we can expose these tyrannical actions and stop them. Please take action today and use all your personal clout to impress others to action.

Target’s contact information is as follows:

Potomac Yard Shopping Center

Target

3101 Jefferson Davis Hwy

Alexandria, VA 22305-3042

(703) 706-3840

https://www-secure.target.com/HelpFormLinkPageView?catalogId=10051&langId=-1&storeId=10151&krypto=cQcHDksCxhgmutHxyjlq48%2BIHqzAFPvRjj%2BCK5QVyor4h0nGk1rMzeFOGnDn4aO%2FNM%2F4KjfHQ4%2BK%0AdgJRkZ2wBjKToFcNk5ho24f6ObC44dg%3D&ddkey=http:HelpFormLinkPageView

By Guiles Hendrik

December 15, 2013

The Next Manufactured War: China and the Pacific Theater Take Center Stage

December 11, 2013 Last Minute Survival Big Banks, Big Government, Department of Defense, Economy, Exclusive Story, Federal Reserve, Global War, Iran, Military, Military Industrial Complex, News and Intelligence, Politics Comments Off

As we have exhaustively written and warned in previous articles, a new war will need to be manufactured to continue to justify the continued redistribution of billions of taxpayer dollars to the military-industrial complex financed by the big banks. The titans of the defense industry and the loan sharks of the banking world cannot afford peace and will stop at nothing to create fear and war to ensure their wealth is secure. The United States economy has not made a true comeback as has been touted by the media and falsified government reports and soon the bubble the Federal Reserve created will have to be deflated. To keep the public distracted and the money flowing, a new plan to create fear, instability, and possibly war in the Pacific has now begun.

It is becoming increasingly clear that no matter what deal is or is not struck in Afghanistan respective of continued troop deployments, NATO and the US forces are going to be forced to retreat within the next 12 to 18 months. The Taliban’s (Pakistan’s) strategic victory is all but assured now, which will make future occupation by U.S. personnel impossible. Further, the movement toward war with Iran by way of Syria has been temporarily checked by Russia until Israel can build enough clandestine support behind the scenes to sabotage any future peace deal or unilaterally attack Iran. As such, the military-industrial complex has turned back to its fear mongering and war propaganda to begin conditioning the public that North Korea and China are again dire threats that must be stopped at all costs and that war could break out at any moment. Of course this hyperbole is used to justify the “need” for new advanced weapons, continued funding of obsolete, redundant, or unnecessary defense systems, and to generally control the masses. As a nation we have witnessed this ploy over and over resulting in unnecessary wars from Vietnam to Iraq that have cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars worldwide. The wanton destruction wrought by these industry power plays can’t be understated. For example, as we reported in the spring of 2013, North Korea was rebranded as a strategic missile threat overnight and then only weeks later forgotten after the defense-aerospace industry scared Congress and the public into refunding their missile defense programs that have been wasting billions of tax dollars and were rightfully on the sequester chopping block. The fact that the bankers and defense propagandists nearly started World War III didn’t matter a bit because no matter whether or not war broke out, it was you and I that would have to bleed, pay, and die for their fortunes. This process of fear mongering and dangerous brinkmanship is a trademark defense industry ploy used to make sure you continue to write them checks for billions of dollars without question. Without question, it is one of the most diabolical, destructive, despicable, and immoral of all lies repeatedly pushed on the citizens of nations.

Fortunately, the American people have to some degree grown war weary and have been sensitized to the lies of war propaganda. This is good and bad. It is good in that the simplest of lies will no longer suffice to convince the American people to once again go to war and bleed and pay for the elites to become wealthier. However, the elites recognize this and will conduct even more aggressive and despicable acts to create the conditions for war. For illustration, just this year in Syria, a false flag chemical weapons attack was launched against innocent civilians in an attempt to frame the Syrian regime and justify the US becoming involved in yet another war in the Middle East. It is important to note that this attack using weapons of mass destruction was resorted to after numerous lesser attempts to “convict” the Syrian regime in the minds of the public and precipitate a war had failed. This included launching mortar rounds into Israel and Turkey, launching air attacks into Syria directly from Israel, directly providing training and weapons to known terrorists operating in Syria, repeatedly violating Syrian airspace so that they would shoot down a NATO jet, and persistently trying to brand the radical Islamic jihadists of the revolutionary forces as a peaceful, unified, pro-US, Free Syrian Army. All of these acts were designed to either directly or indirectly illicit a defensive response from Syria, which Washington could then spin into an act of “aggression” to justify retaliation and war. The Syrian example is just one of many illustrating to what deranged extremes our hijacked government will go to to force the US into another unnecessary war and is a cautionary tale of things to come.

Relative to the recent wars in the Middle East, a war in the Pacific promises to be far more devastating and has the real possibility of involving nuclear weapons and electromagnetic pulses designed to wipe out all unshielded electronics. However, “devastating” translates to windfall profits for the defense industry and their financiers on a scale not seen since World War II. A war or even the threat of war with China would mandate trillions of new defense spending financed through loans to the US government (ironically, this new debt would probably be bought by China). New high tech weapon systems would have to be fast tracked into service and even more draconian surveillance and cyber warfare systems would also be justified to “protect” the homeland. The Defense Department would once again get a blank check unlike any before from Congress to pursue an entirely new portfolio of overpriced defense programs, many of which, would target the American people as much as foreign entities as the current “War on Terror” has demonstrated.

The march toward war in the Pacific will be far more costly and devastating than even the worst case scenarios for the Middle East if allowed to move forward. Not only will the US suffer a total economic collapse, but unprecedented death and destruction if the game of brinkmanship is overplayed and China and or North Korea call our bluff. China is not an ally of the US, but is also not any more of a threat than we decide to create. If you want to check China, it will be best done through effective economic competition and by strengthening our freedoms and liberties at home. Runaway defense spending will only weaken the US. Stop giving China preferential trade status, stop creating massive debt at home, stop educating China’s military scientists, stop allowing China to steal our most sensitive secrets, stop providing China and North Korea aid, and hold the line on our sphere of influence. At home we have to cut taxes on citizens as well as reduce the overwhelming bureaucratic weight of endless regulations and taxes on businesses. We need to protect our workers, our products, our technology, and our industry by not undermining them with imbalanced trade deals favoring offshoring and overseas manufacturing. We also need to secure our borders, dismantle the surveillance state, cut the size of government, wean the population from state dependencies, and become as individuals and a nation much more self-sufficient. Cutting the Defense Budget will go a long way to neutralizing the financial influence the military-industrial complex has over US policy and would strengthen, not weaken the security of the US. All of these actions will go far toward reigning in massive and unnecessary spending and debt. The media must also be returned to its watchdog status of the government and be purged of its recently assumed role as the public relations arm of the political parties. No American interest is served by a biased media. Failure to provide honest, unbiased, and factual news to the American people will lead to further deceit, loss of liberties, degradation of our quality of life, and potentially devastating wars.

Once again we are here warning the public of what is transpiring behind the scenes and are the first to bring it to you. The best way to battle this latest escalation toward war is to become informed, know the facts, and make sure others are educated as well. Neither the media nor the government can lie to you if you independently have sought out and found the truth. Take this truth to the internet, the airwaves, the cable news programs, your local clubs…anywhere you can find an audience. By exposing the lies and replacing them with knowledge and facts you can collectively disrupt and stop the plans of the defense and banking industries and their puppets within the government. Those of you who serve the government; especially in the military, have an obligation to the American people and the Constitution to also speak out, to refuse to become an active participant, and to stop these unconstitutional and thus illegal and immoral actions. Only through action can we overcome these true threats to the US, the gravest of which, have originated internally.

By Guiles Hendrik

December 11, 2013

The Disenfranchisement of America and the Plan to Reverse It

December 11, 2013 Last Minute Survival Big Government, Congress, Constitution, Exclusive Story, Liberty and Freedom, Organization, Support, and Advice, Police State, Politics, Resistance to Tyranny One comment

The Constitution says that the number of representatives shall not exceed one representative for every 30,000 constituents. This ratio was roughly equal to the actual ratio of representatives to the population at the time the Constitution was ratified. However, today, most states have less than one representative per 700,000 people. The result of this massive dilution of federal representation in Congress has been a near total disenfranchisement of the population and consolidation of power within two establishment political parties. In order to begin restoring the balance of power to the people, breaking the party gridlock within Congress, and restoring liberty we must build popular support to overturn the arbitrary limit of 435 representatives set in 1929. The sooner we build awareness and draw media attention to this issue, the greater the pressure will be on Congress to increase its size and begin to return the power to their constituents.

To begin, for a republic such as the United States to have a functioning representative government, there must be adequate and real representation of the citizen body. The representatives must be answerable to their constituents and not political parties. The notion today that a single representative can adequately represent the interests of over 700,000 people is lunacy normalized through decades of slowly eroding the individual’s political value to the point of nonexistence. Further, the faux representation perpetrated upon the American people today has only been possible because politicians realize that their power is proportional to the number of people they represent. The exact opposite is true for citizens. The fewer citizens that are represented by a single representative, the more direct representation and influence the citizen possesses.

The Founding Fathers of the United States had much to say on the topic of what fair representation at the federal level would look like. James Madison understood the danger of too few dictating to the many and adequately summarized his thoughts as the smaller the House, relative to the total population, the greater is the risk of unethical collusion or myopic groupthink. In contrast, “Numerous bodies … are less subject to venality and corruption.” [James Madison, 14-August-1789] Federalist Paper Number 56 (February 19, 1788) describes this ratio stating, “…it seems to give the fullest assurance, that a representative for every THIRTY THOUSAND INHABITANTS will render the [House of Representatives] both a safe and competent guardian of the interests which will be confided to it.” Note that the number “THIRTY THOUSAND” was capitalized in the papers for emphasis.

Melancton Smith’s observations deserve special attention as he, perhaps more than any of the other delegates to the Federal Convention, understood the gravity of the situation. He knew that the power to determine the number of representatives could not be left to the ruling elite, which all too often become addicted to power. This would be “a power inconsistent with every principle of a free government, to leave it to the discretion of the rulers to determine the number of representatives of the people. There was no kind of security except in the integrity of the men who were entrusted; and if you have no other security, it is idle to contend about constitutions.” [Melancton Smith] Smith elaborates on his valid and time proven point that we cannot expect the House to unilaterally increase the number of representatives. “To me it appears clear, that the relative weight of influence of the different states will be the same, with the number of representatives at sixty-five as at six hundred, and that of the individual members greater; for each member’s share of power will decrease as the number of the House of Representatives increases. If, therefore, this maxim be true, that men are unwilling to relinquish powers which they once possess, we are not to expect the House of Representatives will be inclined to enlarge the numbers. The same motive will operate to influence the President and Senate to oppose the increase of the number of representatives; for, in proportion as the House of Representatives is augmented, they will feel their own power diminished. It is, therefore, of the highest importance that a suitable number of representatives should be established by the Constitution.” [Melancton Smith]

Alexander Hamilton, an opponent of writing limits on representation into the Constitution, provides interesting insights into his logic. For starters, it appears he neither conceived nor intended the federal government to have the sweeping powers that it possesses today. “The subject on which this argument of a small representation has been most plausibly used, is taxation. As to internal taxation, in which the difficulty principally rests, it is not probable that any general regulation will originate in the national legislature.” [Alexander Hamilton] How Hamilton would have reacted to the reality of the Federal Income Tax, Obama Care, and the litany of other internal taxes levied since the ratification of the Constitution is anyone’s guess, but based on his above statement, one could surmise he would have altered his position on the need to include specific representational limits in the Constitution. This conclusion is further supported by Hamilton’s statements respective of his belief that the federal government’s powers were limited and would never extend into one’s private life. “The powers of the new government are general, and calculated to embrace the aggregate interests of the Union, and the general interest of each state, so far as it stands in relation to the whole. … Were the laws of the Union to new-model the internal police of any state; were they to alter, or abrogate at a blow, the whole of its civil and criminal institutions; were they to penetrate the recesses of domestic life, and control, in all respects, the private conduct of individuals,—there might be more force in the objection; and the same Constitution, which was happily calculated for one state, might sacrifice the welfare of another.” [Alexander Hamilton] Of course we know now that the federal government has grown so oppressive and omnipresent as to invade every aspect of one’s private life. As such, Hamilton’s grounds for objection, however implausible he may have believed them to be at the time, turned out to be the very grounds that time has proven most required the Constitution to dictate an equitable ratio of representatives to constituents.

Based on the rather clear intent of the individuals ratifying the Constitution, one may wonder how did the number of Representatives become fixed at 435? The answer is rather simple; because Congress passed a bill in 1929. The bill sought to prescribe a national policy under which the membership of the House shall never exceed 435 unless Congress, by affirmative action, overturns the formula and abandons the policy enunciated by this bill. Respective of the number 435, there is no real reason other than that was the number of representatives at the time and the House found it advantageous to their political power to limit the growth further. Of course the population of the United States has massively grown since 1929, which in effect increased the representation ratio to such an astronomically large number that the mere notion of representation was utterly destroyed. However, this has only bolstered the power of the representatives and political parties, which have gerrymandered districts to the point of making the election of independent, grassroots connected representatives nearly impossible. Except for those who are independently wealthy, election and reelection campaigns in super-sized districts require that the representatives raise huge sums of money on a nearly continuous basis. This makes representatives beholden to the parties and big donors that funded their campaign instead of the constituents they purportedly are there to represent. In short, this allows special interests, lobbyists, and other corrupting elements to highjack the representative.

To put the state of disenfranchisement in perspective, it is worth noting that Russia as compared to the United States has over 50% better representation of its people. In fact, the United States has the second worst ratio of population to House representative in the world. Surely as the “leader of the free world” the United States could muster better representation.

Challenging this notion one may surmise that a larger House would result in even more gridlock in Congress. However, with an approval rating consistently below 10% and the inability to so much as even pass a budget, it would be hard to imagine a more dysfunctional Congress. Further, if the above maxim that a smaller legislative body would be much more productive held true, then the Senate would certainly be very efficient. However, the Senate is as dysfunctional as the House when it comes to operation. In fact, there are rarely more than a handful of Congressmen from any chamber present during session and even fewer actually engaged in meaningful debate. In part, this is because the work of the Congress is broke down into committees, which would be no different if the House increased its numbers. As for anyone that doubts a large body could pass legislation, California is often used as proof this is untrue. In fact, California has for decades effectively voted on hundreds of propositions. If the millions of people in California can effectively vote on legislative initiatives, it should be simple for even ten thousand representatives to vote on similar legislation. Naysayers may also point out that the government is too big already and adding more Congressmen will just make it worse. This is also untrue and in fact just the opposite would most likely be the outcome. As the number of representatives increase, Congress will have to become more representative of the people. The House will be more, not less motivated to reduce the size of the government. This is because the representative will be far more accountable to their constituents, which will be much better able to monitor their actions. It is also worth noting that an increase in actual representatives may be closer to an overall neutral growth in government employees because fewer staff members are required to support smaller districts, which would balance against larger staffs to support larger districts.

Each state is guaranteed at least one representative, no matter what its population. States with a single member in the U.S. House of Representatives are Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. The District of Columbia has a non-voting delegate in Congress who has all the powers and rights of a representative, but is not permitted to vote. Currently, the approximate number of constituents to a representative is around 705,000. If the ratio was closer to 1:50,000 we would have a House with about 6,100 representatives. This increase could be dealt with by regionalization of Congress much like the Federal Court Districts, which could have interactive debate via the web and electronic voting. It would also mean your vote once again counted and you would have real influence at what approximated to what most experience at the state level of politics. It would once again be difficult for any one party to control Congress. It would be even more difficult for special interests, big businesses, and lobbyists to buy off Congress simply due to the sheer number or representatives, which would require immensely large sums of money and unavailable financial and manpower resources to gain a majority of support for pork legislation. The result would be a more accountable, more effective, and more representative Congress.

The notion that we could once again have realistic representation in Congress is not a pipe dream. It is an obtainable goal that is well within the feasible realm of effective change initiatives liberty minded citizens can unite around. We must build the awareness of the population that the status quo is unacceptable and that the 1929 law that disenfranchised us today must be overturned. We need to all write our Congressmen, get on talk shows and radio, use social media, and empower the grassroots movements around this nation to take this goal on as a part of the platform.

By Guiles Hendrik

December 9, 2013

The Debates in the Federal Convention

August 6, 1787

As the proportions of numbers in different States will alter from time to time; as some of the States may hereafter be divided; as others may be enlarged by addition of territory; as two or more States may be united; as new States will be erected within the limits of the United States, the Legislature shall, in each of these cases, regulate the number of representatives by the number of inhabitants, according to the provisions herein after made, at the rate of one for every forty thousand.

— Reported by James Madison

Overcoming the Greatest Prepper Weakness: The Individual versus the Community and a Plan for the Future

December 2, 2013 Last Minute Survival Big Brother, Big Government, Constitution, Domestic Terrorism, Liberty and Freedom, Organization, Support, and Advice, Police State, Politics, Prepper Organization, Resistance to Tyranny, Special Skills, Survival Skills, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures One comment

One of the greatest assets to preppers is that they are self-reliant and able to independently operate. However, it is also their greatest vulnerability. No matter how tough, how well-trained, how well armed, or how well prepared an individual is, there is only so much one person can do. Numbers matter. As an individual, you must eventually sleep and can’t stand guard indefinitely. You can only be at one place at one time. A second set of hands on nearly any labor intensive task is better than one. If sick or injured it is very difficult or impossible to provide prolonged self-aid or surgery. If directly confronted by an organized and numerically superior force, the odds are decidedly against the individual. You can only accurately fire one weapon, at one target, at one time. Further, your best odds of survival if attacked by superior numbers would be to try and escape, but even then it is pretty easy for a larger number of pursuers to head you off and corner even the craftiest of evaders. As such, for any realistic, long term survival plan, one must build a prepared community. A community is the foundational bedrock of a society and a nation. The community is where the individual can truly make a difference and build a better life. Today’s article is my appeal to you to take action to improve your life, to create new and better communities, and to take back our nation. I will provide each of you with the template to not just resist, but triumph. Each one of us has the ability to change the status quo in the present day and no longer be at the mercy of the state, which at one time, represented us as citizens. Make no mistake, survival is a long term struggle against both nature and tyranny that comes with sacrifice, but we can overcome the odds best through collective action.

Man is neither designed nor equipped to be a solitary animal. Individually we are weak and vulnerable and would have long ago become easy prey and gone extinct if it wasn’t for banning together. Since the earliest prehistoric times, man has grouped together in bands and tribes to survive. Modern man is no exception as we live today more interconnected than ever. This interdependency has allowed us to specialize, to survive, and to even have leisure. Man was designed with neither the long claws and fangs of apex predators nor the acute hearing and swift speed of prey. We don’t come with fur to protect us from temperature extremes and have long since lost our immunities to many parasites commonly found in food and water. Man’s greatest asset, his mind, combined with strength in numbers has demonstrated that he can overcome nearly any extreme and challenge. This maxim is as crucial for survival today as it was ten thousand years ago when small bands of Ice Age hunters and gathers grouped together to fend off ferocious predators and take down massive game.

Communities and villages sprang to existence out of the mutual need for security and distribution of labor. Someone always needed to tend to the fire and be on the watch for predators so that others could safely sleep. While some hunted the others cooked and farmed. In modern times, these families became bands, then tribes, and then nations. As nations grew, man’s greatest threat ceased to be lions and tigers, but his fellow man. Nation state violence led to the need to collectively organize in even greater numbers or risk being numerically overwhelmed by a neighboring nation. Internally, the rise of nations led to the rise of brutal tyrants and the further need organize the masses in resistance in order to escape slavery and death at the hands of the king’s mercenaries.

Today, the modern prepper faces all of these challenges. At the most local level, the prepper must find a way to accomplish the daily tasks of a subsistence existence. The chores of simply acquiring and preparing food and water, staying warm or cool, maintaining shelter, and creating or fixing the means to accomplish the former are enough to rapidly overwhelm anyone. However, the prepper must also provide for his common security against potentially large bands of hostile people and what appears to be an increasingly hostile government. Individually, or at least as a family, it is certainly possible to scratch out a subsistence level of existence as long as you are never confronted by a hostile group. However, it is simply not realistic to believe that one could independently sustain for the long term when faced with hungry bands of violent, armed, thugs or a hostile, state sponsored tyranny.

As previously stated, I don’t care how prepared you “think” you are; if you are trying to subsist with just a handful of people, an organized group of basically trained thugs with a proclivity for violence will quickly overwhelm you and certainly seize whatever preps you have stored. This is not a situation of maybe, but an absolute. The preppers that fail to learn and internalize this are living in a fantasy world. Preppers that ardently stick to their small groups in remote and isolated areas only delay the inevitable. This paradigm may be best illustrated by how law enforcement represents a small percentage of the population, but effectively controls the masses by being able to quickly mass and achieve local (tactical) numerical superiority against any resistance. Individually, there have been literally millions of people arrested that were tough, prepared, and well-armed, but I can’t think of any in recent memory that have successfully fought off a determined attempt at seizure by the police. Sadly, government has never proven capable of leaving individuals alone and hungry mobs have never shown the proclivity to take the moral high road and starve when the option to loot for food existed. Eventually, preppers that failed to organize BEFORE a collapse or crisis and build communities will each be independently identified, targeted, and wiped out by thugs or hostile government forces.

The solution to this is not a new one. It is as old as mankind. Like minded individuals will once again need to band together to collectively survive. This is and will be an essential, critical, FACT that preppers must accept. Preppers need not build communes or cede their independence, but do need to build communities. These communities need to be aware, prepared, and organized in a manner that they are effectively self-sustaining and self-governing. It is equally essential to also build the population numbers in a concentrated manner that will change the voting demographic so that elected representatives will not only properly represent, but be of the same mindset of their constituents. We have seen some of these successes in Montana and Idaho, but are failing to coalesce in an organized manner nationwide. Only by achieving, at minimum, at first, tactical numerical superiority in targeted regions will free, independent, liberty minded individuals be able to live a life of freedom with liberty in something more than their imagination.

Communities built around self-sustainment are by their very nature resilient to natural disasters, grid failures, and crime. By locally producing food, water, and power a community can almost completely eliminate the major vulnerabilities of today’s societies. The society is healthier, happier, and more connected. By once again localizing industry, the community can build, fabricate, or repair nearly anything and have a vibrant localized economy. Further, by having a large pool of like-minded citizens, the community can fend off both political and physical attacks. One threat can be defeated through the ballot box and the other through tactical numerical “superiority.” To illustrate this point, 100 groups of eight preppers could disperse across the 50 states (two groups to a state). These small groups have zero political influence or protection and could be rounded up and wiped out in a single night by either hostile thugs or government forces operating in groups so small local law enforcement could field them. However, if you combined these groups in one area, you would have the local tactical strength of upwards of 800 people. This is a sufficient number to not just swing, but control elections in smaller districts, install a like-minded sheriff and deputies, and present a unified defense requiring at least a battalion of military regulars to engage with any chance of success. Imagine getting back to a time and place where instead of fearing police, the local police actually acted to “defend” the locals and keep the peace with the full weight of the people and the law behind it. Imagine a place where you could walk down the street and not be filmed, photographed, tracked, and fined for violating one of a seemingly infinite number of overbearing regulations. Now consider the literally millions of like-minded “preppers” that exist in the cities, towns, and the rural expanses of America. If the media is to be believed, tens of millions of these people are already organized under the nebulous title “Tea Party.” By concentrating these numbers we not only make being prepared and living free mainstream, but the lifestyle sells itself. Don’t waste your strength and try to fight the numbers in states like California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and New York. Let those states wallow in their own filth, debt, and ever increasing taxes. Instead, take charge and opt out of them. Stop paying into those defunct systems and move away. Concentrate in places where we can control the elections, the schools, the local law enforcement, and ultimately empower our way of life. To use the cliché, “if we build it, people will come” is justified. As we set ourselves apart and demonstrate a workable better life, more and more people will turn away from their current unsustainable, rat race existences and seek something better for themselves and their families. People want this and are thirsty for leadership, but to date, few have stepped up. If we lead, the masses will follow.

The model outlined above is feasible, suitable, and something that could be quickly accomplished in the near term. Much debate surrounds the “optimum” prepper retreat location, but it is unnecessary because few states truly fit the bill. Further, most of the debate is academic because true survival will not come from hiding and hoping tyranny will overlook you. Instead, we must recognize “prepping” is not just an action but a way of life that must be protected and nurtured. To truly survive, we must come to terms with reality and engage in an effective course of action with a chance of long term success. We must change the debate and public perception of preppers. We need to show the public we are absolutely no threat, peaceful, and reframe ourselves as a persecuted minority requiring protection, much like the Amish or Mennonites. To effect this we must concentrate our numbers in specific localities. The best prepper locations to concentrate at first will be areas of low population density, but ample natural resources. Further, it is only reasonable to first target locations within states that predominately tend to support freedom, liberty, and independence or in short, support a prepared lifestyle and are not burdensome with respect to taxes and regulation. This means that an ideal state probably will not have a large, leftwing, urban center like New York City, Philadelphia, or San Francisco that disproportionately biases the elections. That immediately rules out states such as California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York. You would also want to avoid locations with staggering debt or other lingering problems that would be materially detrimental to building new communities. Out west, states such as Idaho, Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming offer the best options to concentrate. Idaho has long been recognized as an ideal redoubt and is already demonstrating that this model works. Not only have local and state leaders been elected, but representatives at the federal level have been elected and are now insulating Idaho from many of the problems facing the rest of the nation. In fact, businesses are also moving to Idaho. Gun and ammunition manufacturers in particular have found Idaho a great place to set up business.

In the east, West Virginia may well be on its way to becoming the prepper redoubt of choice. West Virginia’s topography is well suited to the defense and has a very low population density. There are entire areas of West Virginia that have zero electronic emissions. The federal government has also recognized West Virginia’s suitability for surviving an apocalypse and has built various “hollow mountains” throughout the state. Unlike many other potential redoubts, West Virginia is a realistic location to bug out to from most areas along the East Coast and is not prone to natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, or large earthquakes. It is also well protected from potential nuclear blasts and is not seen as a high value target for terrorists. Further, West Virginia really doesn’t have any major metropolitan areas that will spill millions of refugees into the surrounding hinterlands. The climate is very suitable for growing a variety of crops and the state is rich in natural resources that range from salt and coal to timber and natural gas. West Virginia tends to not be heavy on regulation and the people are generally conservative minded and live already as semi-preppers. West Virginia also has the potential to be a leader in alternate energy. It has endless ridgelines for wind and solar power as well as many streams and rivers suitable for various scale hydroelectric systems. West Virginia is an outdoorsman’s paradise, yet is still located close enough to eastern population centers that it will have increasing influence. Given the low population density and the affordability of homes and property in West Virginia, it would be relatively easy for preppers in the mid-Atlantic to relocate and take up residence in a few targeted counties such as Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, and Grant counties in the eastern panhandle. By concentrating in these counties and gaining a strong percentage of the voting block, like minded preppers could essentially establish a food hold in the heart of the mid-Atlantic and establish their own model community. Note that it is not necessary to even gain a voting “majority” in these counties because the influence of a well-organized and active electorate will be more than sufficient to sway, skew, and control any local election. Further, voter turnout; especially at the local level and during primaries, tends to be extremely low so it would be possible to not only oust incumbents on tickets, but stack the local and state governments with our candidates. From those initial gains, we could fundamentally change how local and then state governments operate in the near term and demonstrate a better way of living to the nation. Ultimately, we will fundamentally change the thinking nationwide and to this end, achieve our goals of independence, liberty, and sustainable living.

I challenge each of you today to disseminate this message as widely as possible, to as many people as possible. Sow the seeds of liberty and freedom again in people’s minds. Let them know that they don’t have to accept the status quo and can change their situation now. There are no longer empty frontiers to escape to and waiting till the SHTF will be too late. We must pick our ground wisely now so that we can stand our ground later. By doing something as simple as moving your state of residence (even if that doesn’t mean you physically move) so that you can (and must) vote in Idaho or West Virginia, we absolutely can improve our lives and the lives of others. Follow my lead and begin the process of stacking the deck in these two states where as little as a hundred votes can control the officials elected at the local and state level. Idaho and West Virginia are not the end, but the beginning. From these two localities we can expand our communities to the surrounding regions and states, but we have to begin somewhere and we have to begin now.

By Guiles Hendrik

November 3, 2013

Wind Call, An Introduction

November 13, 2013 Last Minute Survival Special Skills Comments Off

Getting rounds on target while the wind works against you is not the easiest of challenges to overcome. Doing so becomes more difficult when using a relatively small cartridge like the Remington .223 or its military brother, the 5.56 mm NATO. Fortunately, this author has spent hundreds of rounds and countless hours figuring out the basics of dealing with wind and will share that info below. The dark art and science of compensating for the effects of wind can be extremely complex and is full of opinions along with facts. To simplify this complexity, the 5.56 mm NATO AR-15 will be our reference firearm.

The first step in overcoming the effects of wind is to learn about your chosen ammunition and how your firearm works with it. For example, 55 grain .223 caliber Remington and PMC ammo will will perform differently even if fired through the same rifle. This difference has many causes, fortunately we don’t need to jump into that tar pit. The ‘American Eagle’ 62 grain 5.56 mm cartridge will be our reference cartridge.
Learning how this ammo and firearm work together has been simplified thanks to digital ballistic calculators. My favorite calculator is run by Hornady and is free to use on their website. This calculator, and others like it, will ask you for data such as your ammunitions muzzle velocity, ballistic coefficient, and bullet weight. Hairs can also be split for those of us desiring greater precision. In this case one can input data like wind speed, temperature, altitude, barometric pressure, blood type, SSN, and more.

Providing a calculator with enough info will result in a chart or list detailing ammunition performance and how much effect the wind has on it at ‘x’ distance.
The calculator will NOT read ‘at 500 meters the wind will blow your bullet 11 inches left or right.’ It will read something similar to ‘500 meters…5 mph wind…3.75 MOA.’
This means that a target 500 meters away with a 5 mph wind perpendicular to your firing position/target line will require an adjustment of 3.75 minute of angle.

Readers who survived Marine boot camp may recall their range data book. This small green book took the mysterious “MOA/minute of angle” data and translated it into “click’s” on the M16 windage knob. The term ‘click’ is used because turning the windage knob produces audible clicks. Converting from MOA to clicks on iron sights requires simple division, see your rifle/carbine manual to find its MOA per click.
In no time you will have a personalized chart worth it’s weight in gold. The example below shows how many clicks of windage are required to compensate for bullet deflection over various distances for a specific ammo/firearm combination.

Now the easy part, estimating wind speed. This part is so easy that it will only cost you a few hundred rounds and countless days at the range, yay! Reading this wont do much for you in terms of learning how to ‘call’ or ‘dope’ wind speed. You must go out and practice to get anywhere, but here are a few pointers:

A 3 MPH wind will be hardly felt on your face
A 5 MPH wind will be noticeable on your face and leaves will rustle
A 10 MPH wind will kick up dust
A 100 MPH wind will toss you around, stop shooting, go home.
*Beware, wind speed at the shooting position may not equal wind speed down range, it’s only a starting point.

Take a shot at calling the wind. It’s safe to assume that you will overestimate the wind at first. Next find the intersection of your target distance and wind velocity on your snazzy little chart. If the wind is perpendicular between you and your target (from 3 or 9 o’clock) then apply the number of clicks indicated, this is called a ‘full value’ wind. If the wind is blowing at a 45 degree angle (from the front or rear) then apply half the stated clicks, this is called a ‘half value’ wind. A wind direction that is head on is called a ‘head wind’, duh. A wind direction from behind you towards the target is called a ‘tail wind’. Head and tail winds require no windage and elevation corrections for iron sight AR shooters at 500 m or less, unless you want to be extremely technical. What about a wind direction that is less than 45 degrees but more than a head or tail wind? One can treat them as 1/4 values, but can also ignore them if using AR irons as they prohibit long range shooting where this would be an issue. These finer points will affect the long range (aka 1000 meter) shooter, more on that later.

This article is only the ‘tip of the iceberg’. One needs a solid grasp of basic topics like trigger control, natural point of aim, sight alignment, zeroing, focusing, and more to achieve good results. Getting lead on a 12×20 inch target at 500 meters against wind with iron sights is easy, if you practice. Grab a buddy, head to the range, and be safe.

Gear Review: SOGFARI 18” Machete

November 3, 2013 Last Minute Survival Equipment Reviews, Special Skills, Survival Skills Comments Off

Machetes come in a wide range of shapes and sizes, which adapt the tool for a variety of chopping and cutting tasks. In particular, machetes are so well adapted for tropical environments that they are considered a necessary tool for basic survival. Being that machetes are used worldwide, I thought I would try out a modern design in the woodlands of North America while hunting in the mountains.

I first had to select a machete. I was able to quickly find a host of different machetes for sale ranging from the very basic to the exotic at a local outdoors store. At the most basic, there were plain steel blades with wood handles. At the other extreme, there were machetes targeting what appeared to be the zombie apocalypse crowd, which sported a rubber neon green handle and radical blade angles. I chose a model that seemed to follow the traditional machete design with an 18” blade, but incorporated modern technologies like a black powder coated steel blade, saw teeth along the top edge, a ballistic nylon sheath, and an ergonomic Kraton handle. The brand I purchased was a SOGFARI 18” Machete. SOG’s website lists this machete for $33.00, which seemed reasonable for what the tool appeared to offer.

The tool felt comfortable in my hand and came with a nice edge so I had high expectations for it going into the wilderness. Once afield, I first ran it through some tests on tasks considered standard for any machete. I used it to cut back dense undergrowth along a river bank to open a path and then to attack high grass obstructing a 100 yard rifle range used to check zeros on our hunting rifles. I found that for the task of clearing brush it performed as one would expect. I was able to get into tight areas and still swing with enough force to completely cleave most brush up to about an inch in diameter. It handled thicker green brush with a few axe like chops. However, when paired against dead, woody brush, the machete seemed to almost bounce or stick, but not chop cleanly. Its performance on high grass was at best par. It was too short to cut the grass without being perpetually bent over and it tended to push the grass (even with a factory sharp edge) rather than cut it. A handheld weed-whacker would be a far superior tool for this task. On a positive note, I did find the handle to provide a comfortable and secure grip when swinging the tool. Nonetheless, I would always recommend wearing gloves when using a machete. The SOGFARI’s performance overall on standard machete tasks such as cutting through green brush, vines, and foliage appears to be par. I certainly wasn’t overwhelmed, but it managed the basic cutting chores.

After the initial machete specific field trials, I decided to test the machete against the forests of North America. Although the machete is essential in the tropics, I was curious to see if that usefulness was as applicable for general tasks confronted by most Americans. As one might have expected, it was of limited use. I was able to cut kindling for a fire, but found it of next to no use trying to chop any dry, dead wood thicker than a couple inches. The blade was simply too thin and light even at 18 inches.
A machete made from thicker steel with a heavier belly may have proved more useful, but would still be far inferior to a good axe for these type chores. I also used it to try and cut some roots and dig out a small fire pit. The rocks in the ground were brutal on the blade even though it performed okay against green roots. For prying tasks it was near useless and too weak. The softer steel bent far too easily. I found that there were at best very few realistic tasks for the saw along the spine of the blade and its cutting performance was subpar. If anything, the saw proved to be a liability because it was all but destroyed if you attempted to hammer the machete’s blade through a log to split the wood and the teeth tended to snag on any piece of fabric within a foot of it. However, I did find that it was suitable for rapid construction of a lean-two shelter in a pine forest. I was able to cut green pine boughs rapidly from larger limbs to use as bedding and thatching for a roof with relative ease. Overall though, the machete was not suited for woodsmen tasks in the North. When weight matters, it was not a tool worth carrying.

The final battery of tests I performed was on actual animal flesh and bone. I wanted to see if it was viable to gut, skin, and butcher large game with a sharp machete. Consequently, it was also a good test of the machete’s potential as a close combat weapon. After making a few attempts to field dress a deer with the machete, I gave up and just used my hunting knife. Although I had low expectations for this and would say it is “possible,” a machete is just too big, dull, and unwieldy to make fine cuts through hide while not nicking the intestines or the stomach and causing a huge mess and potentially ruining good meat. For skinning, I attempted to use the belly of the machete and found that it would be viable in a pinch, but again, definitely not the preferred tool. The machete is simply too long and unwieldy to follow the angles of the meat. In fact, using the machete was only slightly more helpful than simply pulling the hide off by hand. My deep bellied hunting knife performed far better on this task. Next, I used it to quarter the deer. The blade did slice through the large muscle reasonably well, but failed to cut through the bones. When I attempted to chop through the leg, the steel in the blade proved sub-standard. The chop actually bent a quarter size divot into the blade perfectly around the deer’s femur as if the blade was made of clay. The manufacturer claims to have used high quality 3Cr13 steel in the blade, but the facts on the ground suggest weak, recycled, bumper steel. The final test for butchering was to attempt to remove the head from the deer carcass. The machete was able to sever the head nearly completely in one strong chop. In this regard, it would definitely prove to be a vicious weapon against any attacker, but could only be used to slash and chop. The machete offers little to no stabbing qualities.

Overall, unless one is intending to use the machete as a defensive weapon or for cutting some small, green vegetation in tight quarters, I would not include it in my kit. The SOGFARI looked good in its packaging, but proved to be subpar in nearly every task I would conceivably use it for in the woodlands of North America. I also found it subpar in respect to other machetes I have used in the past. To date, the best machetes that I have used were of good quality carbon steel with a thicker spine and deep belly, which shifts the weight and balance of the blade toward the end. For North America, the SOGFARI is just above useless and the steel is junk. I was disappointed in SOG after testing this tool and lost plenty of respect for what used to be a company that produced very high end edged implements. In response to those who would argue that I didn’t use a machete for what it’s intended, I would agree. I did not test it in a tropical jungle. Instead, I tested what has proved to be a very useful tropical tool in an environment I am likely to operate in against tasks I routinely need to accomplish. In this regard, the traditional tools of woodsman such as an axe and deep bellied hunting knife proved far superior to the range of tasks “I” needed to accomplish. The “essential” tool of the jungle is neither designed for, nor adequate for the heavier chopping tasks one routinely faces in northern woodlands.

Manufacturer’s website: http://www.sogknives.com/sogfari-machete-18-black-powder-coated-straight-and-saw-back.html

By Guiles Hendrik

November 2, 2013

Obama’s Latest Asymmetric Attack on Guns Poses Major Threat to Gun Owners: EPA henchmen close last lead smelter in USA leaving gun owners and military without a domestic source of lead for ammunition.

October 30, 2013 Last Minute Survival Big Brother, Liberty and Freedom, Second Amendment / Gun Control Comments Off

The Doe Run smelting facility, the last primary lead smelter in the United States, will close down at the end of December 2013 after over a century of operation. Doe Run was forced to close down after President Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated Doe Run implement over $100 million in emissions controls as required by the Clean Air Act. The costs of the updates made future operation impossible and forced the company and at least 145 employees out of work.

The smelter is currently the only smelter in the United States which can produce lead bullion from raw lead ore that is mined nearby in Missouri’s extensive lead deposits, giving the smelter its “primary” designation. The lead bullion produced is then sold to lead product producers, including ammunition manufactures for use in conventional ammunition components such as projectiles, projectile cores, and primers. However, several “secondary” smelters, where lead is recycled from products such as lead acid batteries or spent ammunition components, still operate in the United States. Nonetheless, they do not provide the domestic capability to mine and smelt lead from raw ore meaning remaining stockpiles of lead will be quickly exhausted.

The closure of Doe Run marks a milestone in Obama’s asymmetric war on private firearms. Obama correctly recognized that he would be unable to pass his coveted gun control legislation through Congress and so has sought to circumvent the will of the people and his constitutional authorities. He has accomplished this by creating a mountain of defacto legislation via executive regulations administered through various agencies such as the EPA. In this case, Obama has sought to attack and limit gun ownership by depriving gun owners of critical raw materials for the production of ammunition through intense and crushing regulation of lead. This should come as no surprise since lead has been a prime target of anti-gun advocates in California for years. Just this year, lead was all by outlawed for use in bullets in California.

In Obama’s relentless clandestine attack on gun rights, he has stopped at nothing. By closing Doe Run, Obama has also jeopardized our military’s ammunition supplies. Doe Run’s location was one of the prime reasons that the Lake City Arsenal (a primary manufacturer of ammunition for the US military) and other ammunition manufacturers have established themselves nearby. This proximity allowed them to keep ammunition manufacturing costs low. However, with the closure of Doe Run, the US military will have to source its lead from potentially hostile nations like China. This creates a critical vulnerability in our military supplies (lead is a strategic natural resource) via a reliance on a nation (China) we may go to war with for something as basic and essential as ammunition. The fact that the US no longer has the industrial capacity to produce its own ammunition without importing raw materials is truly a shocking milestone that should have Americans outraged as the President has acted in dereliction of his duties as Commander in Chief. The military cannot be left at the mercy of none other than China for its ammunition! One needs little imagination to see how this will go horribly wrong.

The immediate effect on the citizen gun owner will, without doubt, be a jump in already very high ammunition prices. Further, in an already artificially scarce ammunition market (due to massive purchases of ammunition by the Department of Homeland Security, which were clearly intended to buy up and deprive gun owners of affordable ammunition) there will likely be even greater ammunition shortages. The situation could become so acute that all remaining lead supplies are seized by the federal government for the military and DHS. This was all intended and planned by the Obama Administration and provides just one more reason why the EPA should be drastically reduced in scope and power if not totally dissolved as an agency. In summary, the result of the closing of Doe Run will make it impossible for the US to manufacture ammunition from materials sourced domestically and drastically reduce ammunition availability while driving prices to new, unaffordable levels just as Obama’s rabid anti-gun gestapo planned.

By Guiles Hendrik

October 29, 2013

References:

http://fox2now.com/2013/10/17/last-us-lead-smelter-closing-in-missouri-145-jobs-lost/

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/doe-run-workers-to-be-cut-at-end-of-december/article_56182c9f-0413-59a5-865e-e864715f3c2d.html

Damning Letter on State of Afghanistan War to Secretaries of Defense and State Leaked: Office of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction Confirms US will lose control of most of Afghanistan by 2014 and US has no oversight of nearly $100 million in Afghan infrastructure development projects.

October 29, 2013 Last Minute Survival Department of Defense, Department of State, News and Intelligence, Terrorism Comments Off

October 10, 2013: Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John F. Sopko, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel about serious concerns about the impact of the drawdown on security and the related implications for ensuring adequate oversight of the U.S.-funded reconstruction effort in Afghanistan. In brief, SIGAR is projecting that even in a “best case” scenario the US will have access to barely 21 percent of Afghanistan in 2014. This represents almost a 50 percent loss of access from current estimates. Making matters worse, SIGAR estimated that nearly $72 million in infrastructure projects were now inaccessible. This means that nearly $100 million is “currently” being spent on projects in Afghanistan with NO oversight.

Specifically, earlier this year SIGAR was unable to visit infrastructure projects in northern Afghanistan valued at $72 million because they are located in areas that could not be reached by U.S. civilian employees. SIGAR is referring to these inaccessible reconstruction sites as areas outside of the “oversight bubbles.” The areas covered by these “oversight bubbles” are defined by the ability of the U.S. government to provide both adequate security and rapid emergency medical support to civilian employees traveling to the area. In effect, these “oversight bubbles” represent areas controlled by Taliban forces and are growing daily. As such, this document gives a rare glimpse behind the curtain of just how badly the US/NATO forces are being routed in Afghanistan. Further, one can only assume that in a country that is ranked third from last in the world for corruption (only North Korea and Somalia ranked worse http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2012/12/05/map-the-most-and-least-corrupt-countries-in-the-world/) that hard earned US tax dollars are being squandered. Not only are the tax dollars being wasted, but they are being spent in areas controlled by the Taliban and being paid out often directly to our enemies, which takes reckless spending to the ridiculously absurd. Only in the minds of politicians and inept generals could one ever think the US could win a war by funding its enemies and building up their infrastructure!

The situation on the ground in Afghanistan has gotten so bad, “significant portions of Afghanistan are already inaccessible to SIGAR, other inspectors general, the Government Accountability Office, and other U.S. civilians conducting oversight, such as contracting officers.” SIGAR believes this constraint on oversight will only “worsen” as more U.S. and coalition bases close. The map illustrates just how little access the US is projected to have next year in Afghanistan as the US military completes its retreat.

At this juncture it is worthwhile to quote an entire excerpt that illustrates exactly how bad the situation is even through the politicized lens of a high level letter written between senior agency leadership. SIGAR writes in his letter:

“Although it is difficult to predict the future of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, it is likely that no more than 21 percent of Afghanistan will be accessible to U.S. civilian oversight personnel by the end of the transition, a 47 percent decrease since 2009. We have also been told by State Department officials that this projection may be optimistic, especially if the security situation does not improve. The 21 percent figure may be too high. The oversight access shown on the attached maps presents a best-case scenario where weather, terrain, and security conditions pose no serious threat to helicopter medical evacuation missions.”

The implications of Mr. Sopko’s letter are profound. Even an unlikely “best case” scenario projects the US to maintain only a very small foothold in some of Afghanistan’s major cities. However, the security situation is currently very bad and projected to get worse. Just as our analysts have predicted, since the failure in Tora Bora when the US lost the initiative during the early stages of the war, the true extent of US failure in Afghanistan is finally being revealed. In fact, we project a rapid decrease in access to around 10% as Helmand and Kandahar Provinces rapidly fall back under complete Taliban control. By 2015 we are predicting a near total loss of access and a likely collapse of the regime in Kabul.

See the actual letter at: http://www.sigar.mil/pdf/alerts/SIGAR_14-4-SP.pdf

By Guiles Hendrik

October 28, 2013

The Forgotten War: Afghanistan 12 Years Later

October 18, 2013 Last Minute Survival Military, News and Intelligence, Terrorism Comments Off

America’s war against Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan began over 12 years ago last week. This grim milestone came and went with no media coverage even as some of America’s best men and women were killed there in combat this week. Now, in the lead up to a complete US military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014, it is blatantly clear our pessimistic analytical forecast for Afghanistan has proved accurate. Today we will recap the state of affairs of the War in Afghanistan and what to expect in the coming months.

The Obama Administration is quick to broadcast anything it can spin as good news. The opposite is true of bad news so it is telling that it has maintained a near total media blackout on Afghanistan. Making President Obama’s whitewash of the dire state of the war even feasible has been a complicit media and their absolute dereliction of a social responsibility to be the watchdog of the government. This is the same biased media that broadcast images from the Iraq War around the clock during the Bush Administration, but now suddenly has nothing to report respective of the on-going Afghanistan War. The truth the Obama Administration and his media henchmen are hiding is that the war has gone horribly wrong and the US is rapidly retreating in defeat.

I for one hate the notion of defeat and am incredibly ashamed of even the notion that the US could allow itself to be defeated in a war. One would think that our nation’s leaders learned something from the Vietnam catastrophe, but then again, most of our leaders on both sides of the aisle were draft dodgers, cowards, potheads, and never served a day in the military. Considering this, one should not be surprised to find out the Taliban are alive and well. Not only have the Taliban weathered the full onslaught of a combined US, NATO, and Afghan military force for over a decade, but they are now more numerous, control more territory, and are better armed, trained, and equipped than they were when the US entered the war in 2001. The Taliban still have the will and capability to fight and still take to the battlefield. By any measure of warfare, if an invading army is forced from the battlefield and ultimately from the land which it invaded while the opposing army still holds that ground, the army that retreated was defeated. If the media and the Obama Administration were honest and upfront with the American people, they would report that they never so much as fully secured a single province in Afghanistan. As quickly as the US has handed over these still contested provinces to the “Afghans,” they have been taken over by the “Afghan Taliban.” The latest sign of this came on September 13, 2013 when Taliban insurgents nearly overran the US Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan. Not only was this attack just 48 hours after the anniversary of the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, but it was in a far western area of Afghanistan that previously was thought to be immune from Taliban influence. Soon there will be no more US military forces in Afghanistan to come to the aid of these diplomatic enclaves. When that day comes in just a few months, the US will be forced to quickly withdraw its last remaining diplomats in defeat.

Afghanistan has been an unsustainable war from the very beginning due to the lack of genius in our senior military officers, our unwillingness to pursue the actual enemy into Pakistan, self-defeating strategies, and the ultimate failure to recognize the strategic importance of sealing the Afghan-Pakistan border. Our failure to neutralize and or destroy the Taliban safe haven across the border in Pakistan, has allowed the Taliban to wait out the US just as they did the Soviets. Inside Pakistan’s safe haven, the Taliban fighters receive arms, training, funding, and sanctuary from the Pakistani government…the same government we give over $5 billion in annual aid to (read self-defeating strategy). While the Taliban organize, train, and equip in Pakistan, the US has spent over a trillion dollars vainly setting up forward operating bases all over the desolate wasteland where the sole mission has become clearing roadways of improvised explosive devices so that the troops can get supplies to their remote bases so they can clear the roads so they can get in supplies, etc. etc. etc. At no point in this ridiculous slow bleed strategy did our troops ever come close to strategic and decisive gains against the Taliban. Instead, we spent and bled our nation to defeat without the Taliban having to do more than push an occasional button on an explosive device produced in Pakistan or shoot one of our soldiers in the back while dining together. This absolute disaster of a war is a testament to the massive amount of money the US taxpayer has been forced to waste on a military bureaucracy so large and unwieldy that defies description. Until the Department of Defense (DOD) can show that it can actually win a war the budget should be slashed, slashed some more, and then cut in half again. If the politics won’t allow for a war to be fought, then we shouldn’t fight wars and waste money on our massive and dysfunctional military. We don’t need smart bombs, we need leaders with the will to fight and win. That said, without any doubt, for probably under what the DOD spent in a week on the Afghanistan War, a small contingent of country boys sporting nothing but scoped deer rifles, good leadership, and freedom of action could have decisively defeated the Taliban and ended the war in Afghanistan in just a few months.

Not only is the war unsustainable for the US, but also the Afghan government. Over a hundred Afghan soldiers a week are killed, many times more are wounded, and even more defect to the Taliban. The situation is so bad that the Department of Defense made it official policy to no longer report the number of Afghan casualties out of fear of losing all moral in the Afghan National Army. Remember too that the mauling the Afghan military is incurring is with the help of NATO/US forces in Afghanistan to include air support. Once the US and NATO pull out, the Afghan National Army will face total defeat as it dissolves into a more formalized Taliban Army.

Collapse is now imminent in Afghanistan. Perhaps six months to a year separate the current state of affairs from a Taliban takeover of most of the country. As the US accelerates its withdrawal, the Taliban will begin to operate more overtly in Afghanistan seizing at first greater footholds in the regional villages and towns and then overwhelming major cities. Kandahar may again be one of the first cities to fall to the Taliban as soon as the spring of 2014. Once Kandahar and surrounding provinces fall fully back into the Taliban’s (Pakistan’s) hands, it will only be a matter of months before Kabul falls under heavy attack and is overrun. President Karzai will most likely do what he did before and flee his country to save his own skin. This time though Karzai will flee with over a billion dollars (compliments of the US taxpayer by way of the CIA) hidden away, rather overtly, in Swiss and Dubai bank accounts to live out his days in Europe as his countrymen suffer the aftermath of his corrupt regime. One can only hope he is forced to stay and weather whatever consequences the war may bring as the captain should either save the ship or sink with it. In the interim, Afghanistan will exist as the world’s premier narco-state with President Karzai the undisputed cartel leader.

Make no mistake that any notion the US will be able to maintain a footprint in Afghanistan once the pull out begins is an illusion. I can’t say for sure whether our leadership in the US is just that dumb to believe we will be able to stay (they are building a billion dollar embassy in Kabul) or is simply lying to provide top cover while we retreat. Nonetheless, the result will be the same. Think Saigon circa 1975. To say the least, we will be lucky to have an exit as orderly as the Soviets. If we are so lucky, it is only because the Taliban correctly assessed that it was in their best interests to simply let us leave as soon as possible while saving up their strength for a full offensive. Once NATO has gotten out of the way, the Taliban will move to finish the civil war they started before the US invasion.

As the last troops retreat out of Afghanistan in defeat the military-industrial-complex will be faced with a dire situation. The situation will be one of reduced budgets and no pressing war to sell their wares. This means the titans of defense will lose billions of dollars and tens of thousands of Americans will be put out of work. As such, we predict the military-industrial-complex will work closely behind the scenes with Congress to engineer a new war before the complete end to operations in Afghanistan. The most likely candidate for this will be a war with Iran via Syria. This war, as we have repeatedly warned, will be a complete disaster on a scale unprecedented in American history. In fact the consequences could be so dire that historians may very well point to the folly as the end of the Republic.

Please remember our troops on the ground fighting in Afghanistan…they are the real victims of bad leadership, yet bravely stand their posts.

By Guiles Hendrik

Shame on the US Park Police Gestapo: Punishing the Citizenry into Compliance

October 10, 2013 Last Minute Survival Big Brother, Constitution, Economy, Liberty and Freedom Comments Off

Before the showdown in Washington began over Obamacare and the Debt Ceiling, one would have been unlikely to see the US Park Police as particularly political. In fact, a whole list of goon squads from the Executive Branch come to mind long before the rather jovial looking park rangers when it comes to being the enforcers of ridiculous, unnecessary, and oppressive Obama policy. Nonetheless, the US Park Police have vaulted ahead of the pack as the leading minions of the police state. This short article details some of the major outrages and hypocrisies related to the actions of the Park Police.

Since the “government shutdown,” the Park Police have demonstrated new levels of absurd and heavy handed government oppression. In fact, the park police officers have spent more time, manpower, and energy ensuring that the public is prevented from obtaining any gratification from our National Parks than if they had just kept them open. Only in government could such a ludicrous situation be created. For example, it takes far fewer officers to allow people to drive by Mount Rushmore and continue on their way after a few minutes of photos than it does to try and seal off an entire mountain from public view. Without doubt, the Park Police are operating on orders from Washington designed to punish the people the government is supposed to serve. The abuse of American citizens is a thinly veiled attempt to punish the citizenry into compliance with a tyrant’s edict and is ample grounds for impeachment proceedings. This situation is further proof that the government is an entity apart from the citizens it was solely created to serve and instead now operates as a separate entity serving only the elites.

The parks are owned by the people, not the government. A legitimate government only exists to serve the best interests of the people and is not an entity upon itself. It is impossible for the “government” to “own” anything and wield authority over it contrary to the public’s interests. Therefore the notion of “government” property is an illusion created by corrupt tyrants in an effort to seize greater power from the people they falsely pretend to represent. As such, the Park Police have no authority to refuse the public access to public property. However, based on Park Police actions against the citizens from which it derives its funding and legitimacy, it appears that the “government” is acting as an independent entity. The Park Police are taking actions as if they own the parks. Based on this, one must logically conclude a few unsettling facts. First, if the government owns the parks and can unilaterally deny access to “national” parks, then the government is an independent, private entity and not an organization of the citizenry designed to support the good of the people. Second, this entity mimics a criminal enterprise calling itself the government and has fraudulently seized taxpayers’ dollars and spent them for their own corporate interests contrary to their stated purpose. As such, the government has seized (arrested) citizens that attempted to view, visit, or pass through what was purported to be “public” property that now has been nationalized by a socialist corporate entity.

The Park Police are also glaring hypocrites and or idiots. The notion that park police officers would “follow orders” and bar the few remaining World War II Marine veterans from visiting the Marine Corps War Memorial (aka The Iwo Jima Memorial), a memorial that was built to honor these same men, defies all reason. It is bluntly a damn disgrace. In fact, you would have to be a complete dip$%&! to actively prevent citizens and tourists from passing by monuments, memorials, and desolate tracts of natural acreage that on any other day, people quietly milled past without a second thought or park police officer anywhere nearby. If President Obama hoped to cause outrage in the public, he succeeded, but that outrage is not targeted at the Republican Party. It is targeted at his petty, childish, tantrum and he deserves impeachment.

Another interesting case of hypocrisy I have found relates to the inability of the Park Police to observe obvious lessons and project them into their day-to-day lives. Rangers and park police will post signs throughout our national parks that read “don’t feed the wildlife because it creates dependency.” They will even ticket/fine any violator and counsel them on how dangerous and destructive it is to give free handouts and food to the wildlife because it makes them overweight, lazy, and dependent. This dependency ultimately leads to problem bears demanding more food and stealing it from homes or dying of starvation since they lose their ability to acquire food on their own. One would think that with their very own signs staring them in the face that at least a few park police officers would realize this whole budget debate is about creating dependency. Sadly though, it appears these Obama goons blindly support the edicts of a government regime that has made creating dependency its cornerstone policy even in light of knowing the disastrous effects it will have on the animal species, which humans are not exempt.

One must also address the constitutionality of this whole showdown. In terms of the constitution, the President is wrong and holds no cards. Contrary to his statements respective of not negotiating, if the Republicans hold firm, President Obama MUST negotiate. The Constitution very clearly and explicitly gave the power to fund or not to fund ALL federal programs to the Congress. This power was explicitly given to Congress (specifically the House of Representatives) as a means to check the Executive and Judicial branches and countermand actions of previous congresses that were presently seen as unnecessary or contrary to the wishes of the public. It was in fact for just this type of situation, where an unchecked executive attempts to act contrary to the wishes of the people and jam a law through, that Congress was given the power to financially defund that action to stop it. Further, President Obama is wrong in stating “Obamacare” is the law and must be funded. There is ZERO constitutional obligation on Congress to fund any program unless the people/states it represents deem it. Furthermore, President Obama’s statements far exceed the constitutional authorities vested in the executive. Remember, the executive doesn’t make or interpret laws. The executive’s primary purpose is to “execute” the laws passed by Congress. With this in mind, the President has no authority to demand any law be enacted and enforced that Congress doesn’t want or has killed through defunding.

Respective of funding, both Congress and the President do have an obligation to pass a balanced budget and to prevent the US from defaulting. However, they do not have an obligation to provide “free” healthcare. Spending trillions more on socialized healthcare programs only serves to bankrupt the entire nation and should be stopped by a responsible Congress. In fact, the US is so far in debt from egregious spending habits, that nearly all government programs, including entitlements, will need to be cut to prevent what now appears to be a certain default whether sooner or a bit later. If the Park Service continues to act in the present manner, I for one will be voting their entire existence to be defunded permanently and the parks turned over to the states and or private business to operate. After all, we are their bosses and they do work for us. It’s time we demand what is ours and mass on the parks and impeach President Obama for the abuse of power. The public…veterans, cops, truckers, students, tradesmen, factory workers, teachers, outdoor enthusiasts, tourists…all of us need to join together and crush this tyranny. In closing, Park Police, don’t be douche bags or we are going to fire all of you.

By Guiles Hendrik

October 8, 2013

Sgt G’s Story Time: SHTF Marksmanship, Pt. 1

October 9, 2013 Last Minute Survival Entertainment, Special Skills, Survival Skills, Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures Comments Off

America fell apart after the October 2013 Debt Ceiling/Obamacare fiasco. The politicos ‘running’ the country agreed-to-disagree and inevitably kicked off the national default. The pain of endless magical government money disappearing had no ripple effect, it was more like all the dominoes falling down at the same time. Thousands of honorably disabled military veterans, some just home from Afghanistan, took the hit straight to the gut when the VA ran out of money. Many of these vets depended on these hard earned monthly checks from the VA to keep up with bills and keep themselves and family fed. Poverty quickly moved their way. Thousands of vets using the GI Bill to pay for college also got the ‘sorry but…’ letter from the VA as they too became victims of their government’s inability to do anything efficiently, responsibly, and honestly. Welfare recipients were not exempt from the economic crash. Honest blue collar workers down on their luck and barely making ends meet lost the financial aid, they knew nothing more than to take it on the chin and keep pressing on. The equivalent of career politicians in the welfare receipt world suffered the most from the demise of welfare. These individuals, able bodied masters of ripping off state and federal governments, depended on welfare for every aspect of their lives. Food stamps, free medical coverage, etc., they had it all but lied to get it. Ms. Karma struck with a vengeance as they would soon become very hungry able bodied individuals with no free rides to keep them alive.

Our imaginary friend Kenny was around for all this drama. He was smarter than the average bear and relatively prepared for a short term nationwide crash. Days spent on YouTube guided his emergency preparedness buys like food and water storage, ammunition and firearms, and barter items. Unfortunately, he was never able to buy common sense and sound judgment, especially when it came to using his ‘Prepper/SHTF’ toys. Kenny saw the news coverage of big city riots where hungry maddened people took to the streets in a Rodney King-esque fashion. He understood their looting of grocery stores as they were not OK with starving. Eventually the looting grew to include murder and rape on a grand scale. The bloody snowball was going wild and rolling out of big cities into not so big cities. Martial law by way of the military became the norm but fell apart when troops could not be paid and decided to head home to care for their families. Organized banditry was the new threat to be fought and Kenny was part of fighting the good fight. Refugee camps sprang up along the US-101 north of LA (aka: Hell-A) as the thuggery got worse in the city. The better organized gangs occasionally raided these camps a la Viking with typical raping, pillaging, and burning. Although a citizens defense force was forming to keep the criminals at bay, Kenny preferred to play the lone-wolf card. Bad idea.

So there goes our dumb friend Kenny into the beautiful rolling hills of southern California in search of ‘bad guys’. Along the way he befriends a fellow lone-wolfette, Ms. Stone of the ‘Green Hill Rangers’. Stone eventually dropped out of the operation due to unseen ‘blisters’ on her feet, “I just know they are there” she said. Her exodus had nothing to do with his creepy stares and insistence on walking behind her while they hiked uphill. As a parting gift, Stone gave our idiot hero Kenny a scoped SR-25 rifle, magazine inserted and ready to rock and roll. Now he would really ‘bring it’ to the marauding scum that prowled what he called the “Central Southern Highlands.” The next morning Kenny rolled out of his 13 pound modular sleeping system and got ready for breakfast. From his half-ton Alice pack he produced a bag of powdered eggs, some pancake mix, a bottle of maple syrup, a cigar, a cast iron skillet, and a propane stove. This guy traveled in style. His stove didn’t work so he fired up some twigs and branches to get his breakfast cooked, bad idea. Hours later he got back to work and found what he was looking for, one platoon sized unit of motorized thugs stretching their legs just off the US-101. From behind absolutely no cover and concealment, Kenny flipped the SR-25 to fire and pulled the trigger on his nearest target. He heard a quick ‘pfffft‘ sound and saw no effects on target. He thought, “Ms. Stone said nothing of an internal silencer?”. He sat up for a second shot at his 500 m target and was annoyed at the wind pushing dust into his side and rustling leaves. ‘Pfft‘ again, then the lack of recoil woke him up. He removed the magazine and saw a white pellet near the top. He cried, “DAMN YOU GREEN HILL AIRSOFTERS!” His loud objection drew the attention and incoming fire from his would be targets. Kenny had one good thing going for him, a Colt 6920 Carbine. The 5.56mm firearm was nearly stretched to its limits at 500 m but more than capable of accurately engaging his targets. Kenny chambered a green tip round, set his rear sight elevation to 5, and began engaging his targets. He had no idea that his centered rear windage was allowing the wind to move his rounds almost one foot to the left of his targets. Three magazines worth of zero hits later and Kenny was toast. The thugs had common sense and bounded towards him at a steady pace. He was eventually suppressed by their fire and one well aimed AK did him in.

Slowly, Kenny’s soul drifted up from his cooling lifeless body. He noted the following:

“Why was I carrying so much unnecessary gear?”

“Why don’t my clothes match the terrain?”

“Why did I shoot from an unconcealed/uncovered position?”

“Why did that cute girl give me an airsoft gun?!”

“Why did I miss?”

Kenny’s last drifting soul question is what we will cover in our next post. One reason why Kenny missed was due to his lack of a wind call. An accurate wind call is one of the factors that separate hits from misses. Our dearest Kenny would have had a fighting chance if he applied the fundamentals of marksmanship. Don’t be fooled by anyone that tells you wind can’t be beat. If a platoon of Marine recruits can punch holes in a man sized target at 500 meters against wind, so can you! Put yourself in Kenny’s shoes. What you have done about your surprise SR-25 airsoft rifle? Best comment gets a t-shirt courtesy of Guiles Hendrick.

Sgt. G, LMS Contributor

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