A Veteran Policeman’s Observations on The Golden Horde | SB

James:  A lot has been written warning us of what will happen when the City Dwellers find their homes are untenable and vacate [en masse as The Golden Horde] for “the country”, but I haven’t seen anything on what the make-up of these hordes will be. The generic term “city dwellers” encompasses a lot of territory. Who will they be,what kind of shape will they be in, how will they be armed…all of these need to be examined.One category needs to be examined, I feel, more closely than others. Since I have seen posts on your site lately dealing with the nitty-gritty, unpleasant aspects of prepping, I think this is a needed look into what’s out there. I’ve been a cop over 20 years, my last uniform assignment before moving to Investigator being a two year stretch of Anti-Crime patrols in the Section 8 Housing projects of my city. This put me into contact with some of the “Worst of the Worst” that will be fleeing the cities in time of trouble. Gang-bangers, common street thugs, dope dealers and users, all have a place in the hierarchy of the streets. And they will certainly be part of what preppers will be facing in times of troubles. Here’s some of what I have learned:

The bottom rung is occupied by the drug addicts and users. They exist, not live as we understand the word. They have no assets, no goals, no drive. But they do have an almost animal instinct to continue living. They will be armed with anything they can steal or lay hands on. Most will have a knife of razor box cutter, and some sort of cheap pistol, or they will not live to get out of the city. Since they have no resources or assets, they will be on the edge of starvation and desperation almost within a day of an event. With no fixed residence or place to defend, they will be hitting the road and coming towards us. They will become violent without any provocation and there will be no negotiating or bargaining with them. They don’t want to hear your story or excuses. All they want is what you have. And have no doubts: They will do anything to get what they want. And this does include catering to their most base instincts of rape, murder and mutilation. Letting someone like this even close to you and what you have is flirting with death.

No inflation here folks, just move along | H/T ZeroHedge

click to go to “Why You Feel Poorer” at ZeroHedge

Build an easy potato tower | HumbleLore

Venezuela issues ID cards to curtail food hoarding | AP

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Battling food shortages, the government is rolling out a new ID system that is either a grocery loyalty card with extra muscle or the most dramatic step yet toward rationing in Venezuela, depending on who is describing it.

President Nicolas Maduro’s administration says the cards to track families’ purchases will foil people who stock up on groceries at subsidized prices and then illegally resell them for several times the amount. Critics say it’s another sign the oil-rich Venezuelan economy is headed toward Cuba-style dysfunction.

Registration begins at more than 100 government-run supermarkets across the country Tuesday, and working-class shoppers who sometimes endure hours-long lines at government-run stores to buy groceries at steeply reduced prices are welcoming the plan.

Risk Expert: GMOs Could Destroy the Global Ecosystem Washington's Blog

Olduvaiblog: Musings on the coming collapse

Risk Expert: GMOs Could Destroy the Global Ecosystem Washington’s Blog .

Posted on March 26, 2014 by WashingtonsBlog

Risk analyst Nassim Nicholas Taleb predicted the 2008 financial crisis, by pointing out that commonly-used risk models were wrong.  Distinguished professor of risk engineering at New York University, author of best-sellers The Black Swan and Fooled by Randomness, Taleb became financially independent after the crash of 1987, and wealthy during the 2008 financial crisis.

Now, Taleb is using his statistical risk acumen to take on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Taleb’s conclusion:  GMOs could cause “an irreversible termination of life at some scale, which could be the planet.”

Sound crazy?

Sure it does … but only because we don’t understand statistics, and so we have no handle on what’s risky and what’s not.

Taleb and his 2 co-authors write in a new draft paper:

For nature, the “ruin” is ecocide: an irreversible…

View original post 943 more words

THE MOST RADICAL OF ACTS….

Aspartame Side Effects

The Ultimate Prepper Asset – Land | Prepper Nation

Land…

Pros: Tangible, useful, divisible, finite
Cons: Non-portable, confiscatable, taxable

Why do we all need to acquire a piece of true wealth in the form of owned land? There are several reasons we’ll discuss. For today we’ll leave the whole, “you never really own the land because of taxes” argument off the table and focus on the land attributes that we can control.

The first reason I want each of us preppers to own land… It’s our fundamental right as a United States citizen. Our ancestors didn’t have this right as most nations of the world restricted the land ownership to royalty and the elite of society.

Aging canned goods: Why time and heat can make your canned tuna and Spam even more delicious | Slate

click the pic to read the whole schtick

… Standard canned goods aren’t generally deemed age-worthy. Food technologists define shelf life not by how long it takes for food to become inedible, but how long it takes for a trained sensory panel to detect a “just noticeable difference” between newly manufactured and stored cans. There’s no consideration of whether the difference might be pleasant in its own way or even an improvement—it’s a defect by definition…

via Slate Magazine.

Should You Be Hoarding? | Laissez-Faire Bookstore

click to jump to full article

…Historically, government has frowned upon hoarding. In an economic collapse or disaster, that frown turns into a scowl in a flash. Anti-hoarding laws are passed or miscreants are arrested under frivolous laws like transporting gasoline in unapproved containers. Again, government criminalizes hoarders not merely in order to assert its control, but also to deflect blame from the policies and inefficiencies actually responsible for empty shelves. By stirring up public resentment toward those who own one more can of peas than their neighbors, politicians avoid the full and just brunt of the anger…

via Should You Be Hoarding? | Laissez-Faire Bookstore.

Why Is There Corn in Your Coke? – YouTube

Why Is There Corn in Your Coke? – YouTube.

Some Of The Really Bad Things That Could Happen If You Do Not Prepare For The Coming Economic Collapse

… none of our “experts” really know what they are doing, and they are definitely not looking out for our best interests. The blind are leading the blind and we all need to finally admit that the emperor is not wearing any clothes. Unfortunately, most Americans will repeat the mantra of “if that was true I would have heard about it on the news” until it is way too late. Most people are waiting for the “authorities” to tell them what to do instead of thinking for themselves… via SHTFPlan.

and here too:

… Once people understand that the economy has been collapsing and will continue to collapse, then the next step for most of them is that they want to get prepared for the storm that is coming.  So where should someone get started?  Well, the truth is that no two people are facing the exact same set of circumstances, so preparation is going to look different for each individual.  But there are certain core principles that we can all benefit from… via Economic Collapse Blog

Complete Disaster Non-Preparedness: DC Grocery Stores Out of Food, Gas Unavailable, Grid-Down As Summer Heat Rages | SHTFPlan

Click picture to jump to Mac Slavo’s terrific site – SHTFPlan.com

It Isn’t The Soda, And It Isn’t The Size | HealthNewsDigest.com

…The real driver of obesity in this nation is the volume of food available. As a nation we produce too much food and it’s cheap. Recently, food costs have risen, but we still spent less than 10% of our total income on food, down from 23% in the late 1920s.

If food were not so inexpensive there wouldn’t be a restaurant chain on every corner and there wouldn’t be 99 cent value meals. Because raw food costs are low, restaurants can offer more food at lower prices. We are enticed to super-size or buy a value meal, even when we don’t need all that extra food. We can get endless beverage refills, so we drink more. As a nation, we are super-sizing ourselves…via HealthNewsDigest.com.

Was Doomsday Preppers used to convict another Prepper in Court? | OGS

… The Basis for the Search Warrants states:

Mr. Dutton, a military veteran, has been preparing for the economic collapse of the world. In addition to gathering a large supply of non-perishable items, he also has a modest collection of firearms and ammunition. And he makes fireworks.

During the trial, the prosecution played clips from the popular National Geographic Channel show, “Doomsday Preppers”. The prosecution used images of various “crazy ass preppers” from the T.V. show to successfully paint a picture of Mr. Dutton, as someone on the fringe of society that posed an extreme danger to his community… via off grid survival

Food on Demand – The Zombies are Already Here | Ammoland

According to every Hollywood movie I’ve seen, zombies are flesh-eaters with the prime delicacy being the brains.

I don’t know what’s so special about the brains, as an entree’ they seem rather distasteful to me, but then I haven’t succumb to a secret government experiment gone awry or some strain of the super-flu that altered my DNA.

Nonetheless, I would offer that the zombies are already among us and the prime sustenance is the Big Mac or perhaps the Whopper. Take your pick.

Just In Time: When the Trucks Stop, America Will Stop (With Immediate and Catastrophic Consequences) | Mac Slavo, SHTFPlan

Most Americans take for granted the intricate systems that make it possible for us to engage in seemingly mundane day to day tasks like filling up our gas tanks, loading up our shopping carts at the local grocery store, obtaining necessary medications, and even pouring ourselves a clean glass of water. When we wake up each morning we just expect that all of these things will work today the same way they worked yesterday. Very few have considered the complexity involved in the underlying infrastructure that keeps goods, services and commerce in America flowing. Fewer still have ever spent the time to contemplate the fragility of these systems or the consequences on food, water, health care, the financial system, and the economy if they are interrupted.

What is President Obama so afraid of? (NDRP Executive Order) | Sovereign Man

Quietly, and with little fanfare, President Obama signed a “National Defense Resources Preparedness” Executive Order on Friday. As the name suggests, the order intends to shore up the country’s national defense resources in advance of a national emergency.

To be fair, this is not the first time that such an order has been written. Presidents Bush (II), Clinton, Reagan, and even Eisenhower provided directives in the same spirit as President Obama’s order– providing some level of government commandeering in times of national emergency.

In the past, these orders have related to things like production capacity for defense contractors, or giving FEMA authority to resolve disputes between other departments in federally designated emergency areas.

President Obama’s order, however, takes things much, much further.

How prepared are you? | The Retreat

“...In my opinion becoming self reliant is by far the most important thing to concentrate on. Total self reliance is the goal of most preppers that are in the community for the long run. Remember that prepping is a change in lifestyle and not just something you do just for emergencies. If you look at how dependent we are on a system that can not even sustain its self then you see how important it is to wean your self from that system...” via The Retreat.

Who Owns Organic | Cornucopia Institute

The latest update of major corporate ownership and involvement in the organic food sector is now out. The chart graphically focuses on the organic brands with ties to the top 25 food processors in North America. You can view a full-size version of the latest chart by clicking here.

  via Who Owns Organic | Cornucopia Institute.

Food Price Inflation, CPI and Expenditures | ERS/USDA Briefing Room

via ERS/USDA Briefing Room – Food CPI and Expenditures.

Overview The Consumer Price Index CPI for all food increased 0.8 percent between 2009 and 2010 and is forecast to increase 3.5 to 4.5 percent in 2011.

Also – see here for data  –  Food CPI and Expenditures: CPI for Food Forecasts