Free Republic

You May Be A Dangerous, Paranoid Doomsday Prepper If… Tom Chatham April 15th, 2013 Project Chesapeake Commentators are always quick to link guns and emergency stores to dangerous and paranoid actions that they consider to be tell tale signs someone is going to commit a crime. They always focus on these areas because it is a trait mostly seen in conservatives that know enough to question the governments’ ability to take care of every problem that emerges. In short, if you are not a Liberal that needs the government to make all of your decisions for you and care for...

1. Thou Shall Live 2. Thou Shall Be Free 3. Thou Shall Be Self-Reliant 4. Thou Shall Be Fruitful 5. Thou Shall Seek Simplicity 6. Thou Shall Gather Your Resources 7. Thou Shall Seek Redundancy 8. Thou Shall Increase Your Skills 9. Thou Shall Be Charitable 10. What Thou Cannot Defend, Thouest Does Not Own

Cyprus Triggers Preference For Goods, Gold And Silver Commodities / Gold and Silver 2013April 02, 2013 - 07:10 PM GMT By: Alasdair Macleod Almost certainly prices for goods in Cyprus will rise as a result of its banking crisis, because the imposition of capital controls will restrict imports, leading to supply bottlenecks. In addition residents will no longer be complacent about keeping money on deposit, but seek other alternatives. Large depositors may be trapped, but smaller local depositors will draw them down for cash to stock up on things needed tomorrow while they are available.Cypriots will therefore change their preferences...

In recent conversations about girding for the uncertain future I have often suggested that folks accrue the means of productivity, beginning with water, dirt, and seeds to grow food, followed by skills, tools, and raw materials to fix and create useful things. I am not certain if I have mentioned a helpful reference in this matter but it does reflect the course I am following. Thirty years ago I discovered the book "The Alpha Strategy" (available in its entirety at several web sites including http://zombieprepdotnet.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/book2-preface.pdf) and have found it to be instrumental in forming my thoughts. Pete Ferron featured it...

A whole two-level home in Arkansas is on the market for less than the cost of many brand new cars, but there’s a reason. It’s only 128 square feet settled on 43,124 square feet of property. The Dover home, which is described on the listing as like a “doll house,” has its living room, full kitchen and bathroom in the first level. A bedroom is in a lofted upper level. The house is on the market for $22,900....

Staten Island residents already suffering from the ravages of Hurricane Sandy say they are now seeing their neighborhoods infiltrated by squatters and looters. As CBS 2’s Dick Brennan reported Wednesday, when darkness sets in on Wavecrest Street in New Dorp, people say squatters make their move – crashing empty homes wrecked by the hurricane.

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — First responders from across Los Angeles County are practicing for the “big one” Thursday in a drill designed to measure the response to a magnitude-7.8 earthquake. The exercise is hosted by the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management and will take place downtown from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. “It’s our game day. The NCAA basketball tourney is starting, it’s their game day. It’s our game day for the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Offices, Office of Emergency Management,” Emergency Manager Kenneth Kondo told KNX1070. This year’s functional exercise will feature the California Integrated Seismic...

1. King of the playground SHTF, and there are no rules anymore, and you can go out and do whatever you want. You can use force in order to do whatever you want. You can fulfill your dreams. Everyone is gonna be scared but you are powerful and dangerous, you are the king of the playground. 2. SHTF and what the f… am I going to do? You wake up one morning and SHTF, you are devastated, waiting for electricity to come back to see on TV what is going on, while people outside demolishing local mall and taking home...

The point here is not one of doom and gloom, and that everyone should be amassing food in great store, digging underground bunkers, collecting water by the 100’s of gallons; of which we have done none of these things. It is simply to illustrate that if one is still wearing rose-colored glasses, as I was, now may be the time to take them off and consider what is really happening around us. It is not only gas prices; it is the exponential increase in any number of items that the rising fuel prices have caused. Take a moment, although I...

prepping present participle of prep (Verb) Verb Prepare (something); make ready. Prepare oneself for an event.

If we keep talking about it, one day we might actually jinx Hormel's (HRL) stock -- but we're not there yet. Shares of the Austin, Minn., food company were up 1.6% Thursday to $36.74, a level that, if it holds, would be an all-time closing high. This came after the maker of Spam, bacon and canned chili raised its full-year profit forecast following a first quarter in which it met estimates of 48 cents a share. Sales of $2.12 billion were slightly under the $2.14 billion consensus.

BlackRock: It's Way Too Early To Worry About Inflation Sam RoFebruary 10, 2013, 8:20 AMThere's no shortage of people who are freaking out about inflation, thanks to the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy. However, convincing evidence of inflation has yet to appear in the economic data. Russ Koesterich, Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock, has a new post on the iShares blog titled When to Worry About Inflation. He says concerns of inflation are premature for at least two reasons (verbatim): 1.There is no wage inflation. Overall wage growth in the United States remains sluggish. The reason: The labor market is healing...

Prepare For The Coming Cyber Wars: US Government To Launch Pre-Emptive Cyber Strikes Robert Richardson February 5th, 2013 Off Grid Survival For years we have warned our readers about the dangers that a full scale cyber-attack could have on our infrastructure; now those dangers are even higher as the Federal Government prepares to launch Pre-emptive cyber strikes against rogue nations. According to the New York Times, President Barack Obama has just concluded a secret legal review of the administration’s new cyber war guidelines. The guidelines give President Obama the power to order pre-emptive cyber strikes to protect national security interests....

1. Of course I look familiar. I was here just last week cleaning your carpets, painting your shutters, or delivering your new refrigerator. 2. Hey, thanks for letting me use the bathroom when I was working in your yard last week. While I was in there, I unlatched the back window to make my return a little easier. 3. Love those flowers. That tells me you have taste... and taste means there are nice things inside. Those yard toys your kids leave out always make me wonder what type of gaming system they have. 4. Yes, I really do look...

The coming new year brings intensified shipping difficulties for barge operators on the stretch of the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis. With ice on the river's northernmost stretch reducing water levels already seriously affected by the drought, traffic on the nation's largest waterway could come to a halt by Friday of next week. "While the drought is at the core of the current issues on the Mississippi, this situation also highlights the dire need for infrastructure improvements," said National Corn Growers Association Chairman Garry Niemeyer, a grower from Auburn, Ill. "At NCGA, we have been pushing for upgrades...

What Does It Mean To “Prepare For The Economic Collapse”? Daisy Luther December 24th, 2012 The Organic PrepperLast week I wrote an article in response to the media’s vilification of preppers in the aftermath of the horrible tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. The article was quoted in an article on Yahoo.com, to my great astonishment, and that is when I saw how little most people understand about prepping. You can see in most of the 4492 comments the article received that many folks just don’t “get it”. My inbox was filled with a barrage of hate mail and a number of...

As believers across the globe prepare for the forecast Mayan apocalypse, a Chinese villager says he’s going to save humanity with his giant tsunami proof survival pods. The pods are made using a fiberglass casing over a steel frame, cost $48,000 each to make and are equipped with oxygen tanks, food and water supplies. They also come with seat belts – essential for surviving in storms. “The pod won’t have any problems even if there are 1,000 meter high waves, its like a ping pong ball, its skin may be thin but it can withstand a lot of pressure,” the...

The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets Stock-Markets / Financial CrashDec 05, 2012 - 04:24 AM By: John Rolls John Rolls Submits, Michael Snyder writes: When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy. Just remember what happened back in 2008. The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest. Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic. Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are. Unlike stocks and bonds, a...

Most preppers should be familiar with the ‘rule of three’ – this means having one main method of an important function and a backup for it and a backup of the backup. It doesn’t necessarily entail 3 versions of the same thing but distinctly different ways of accomplishing a priority task. In the case of personal security arrangements, the main or level 1 version would be firearms within easy reach within a structure. These would be the primary weapons used for hunting and defence. And while it’s been said that the time to hide weapons is the time to bring...

The Dallas Observer published a report1 recently that Texas has worst electric grid in the nation. This was based on a North American Electric Reliability Corp report2. That’s not very encouraging. They are also reporting that there is the possibility of rolling blackouts in 2013. For a couple of years I have had the interest in setting up a backup power system for home use. There is a mobile system that provides power for work a couple of times per month, and is a backup system when at home. It provided power for 2 freezers, a refrigerator and a fan...

Freedom Outpost has previously reported on the fact that gun sales represent at least one booming sector of the American economy since the re-election of Barak Obama. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to interpret that piece of data in terms of sociology: What must people be thinking? That’s a legitimate question, and it’s easy to think of an answer. Horror icon, Stephen King, has a theory that the same sort of “weather vane” indication of the public mood can be discerned from the popularity, or lack thereof, of current scary movies. In his nonfiction book about creating horror fiction, Danse...

Mississippi River barge operators and shipping groups on Tuesday asked U.S. President Barack Obama to declare a state of emergency on the river and direct the Army Corps of Engineers to keep the drought-lowered waterway open to commercial traffic to avert an "economic catastrophe." Water on the Mississippi River along the busy stretch from St. Louis to Cairo, Illinois was expected to recede to record-low levels by mid-December, effectively halting the flow of barges that carry billions of dollars worth of grain, coal, steel, fuel and other products. In a letter to the White House and the Federal Emergency Management...

‘Gang fight’ at Black Friday sale… Man Punched in Face Pulls Gun On Line-Cutting Shopper…Shots fired outside WALMART…Shoppers smash through door at URBAN OUTFITTERS…Customers run over in parking lot… [Scroll down -TSR]Woman busted after throwing merchandise…Thousands storm VICTORIA’S SECRET…VIDEO: Insane battle over phones… [Theme from "Superjail" started to run through my head as I watched this -TSR]Mayhem at Nebraska mall where 9 murdered in 2007…Shoplifter tries to mace security guards… [Scroll down -TSR]Men Steal Boy’s Shopping Bag Outside BED, BATH & BEYOND…

What's in your bug out bag? My eldest calls them Good bags, Get out of Dodge. My second daughter (see home page) calls it her apocalypse crate, a rubber maid container filled with all the stuff she'll need, and has it in her car. It has all her old army stuff that couldn't be returned. For example, gas masks, mre's etc. Ours has the normal stuff, blankets, food, flashlights, water, clothes, fire, ammo, etc. It might be a good thread to have input, suggestions, what's good, what's frivolous.

[Note: This editorial published on Nov 10, 2012] We are now rushing down a course that is going to create incredible economic hardships for millions of Americans. The increase in the amount of debt that has been added to our economy is astronomical. And there is no end in sight. We now have over $16 trillion of debt, and with Obama’s policies it will be almost impossible to reverse that course. Debt is the problem. Big debt is a big problem. There are only four ways to tackle it: increase taxes to bring in more dollars, reduce spending to save...

On a clear morning in May, Ron Douglas left his home in exurban Denver, eased into his Toyota pickup truck and drove to a business meeting at a Starbucks. Douglas, a bearded bear of a man, ordered a venti double-chocolate-chip Frappuccino — “the girliest drink ever,” he called it — and then sat down to discuss the future of the growing survivalist industry. The fact that Douglas not only told me where he lives but also invited me to visit him would be considered a huge mistake by many in the prepping world. Revealing your location runs the risk of...

Just saw this in breitbart.com. You may want to check your gas can supply.

I am considering picking up a slingshot, or wrist rocket for plinking and possibly hunting small game. I thought I would solicit the advice and commentary of my esteemed fellow FReepers on the subject. I am especially interested in your thoughts on the type of device to purchase and on ammo. I am thinking of something a bit more sophisticated than a forked stick, old bike inner tube and rocks.

How do you know when government is broken and rife with incompetence? A good indicator could be when Federally managed workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency are lining up for food handed out by an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy Sandy. Last week, FEMA shut down its New York centers set up to respond the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy because of… bad weather. This left a disaster aid void that was filled by independent volunteer groups, including Occupy Sandy. Many residents in the region reported feeling abandoned by the Federal helpers sent to aid them....

The Ebola virus can spread through the air from pigs to macaques, a new study suggests. Transmission of the virus — which causes an often fatal hemorrhagic fever in people and primates — was thought to require direct contact with body fluids from an infected animal or person. But in the new study, published online November 15 in Scientific Reports, piglets infected with Ebola passed the virus to macaques housed in the same room even though the animals never touched. “The evidence that the virus got from a pig to a monkey through a respiratory route is good,” says Glenn...

Ok, I come here looking for help and advice.

I have found that when starting your preparedness measures, it is best to start at the beginning in order to ensure you have everything you need to build up your foundation. Start your preparations with a 72-hour kit and then create a vehicle 72-hour kit. Once that is complete, you can begin ensuring your basic needs are met for longer periods or begin targeting other layers of preparedness. The 52-Weeks to Preparedness series offers a complete list of getting your home and family ready for unexpected disasters. Having multiple emergency plans is another example of layering up. Not only do...

Most conservatives believe that the re-election of President Barack Obama is going to bring dire economic circumstances over the next four years, which could possibly drive the Nation into total collapse.The belief is likely not far-fetched considering the current state of affairs in American economics as the United States hurls toward a “fiscal cliff” which will combine rising tax rates and government shutdowns, the government prepares to raise its debt limit again to the tune of $2.4 trillion and the number of Americans out of work continues to trend at dismal levels.All of the ominous headlines about the shape of...

In an emergency evacuation, there will always be people who stay behind to protect their personal belongings. People who ignored evacuation warnings had to be rescued and some lost their lives in one of the worst storms in the history of natural disasters in the United States.The biggest challenges were hunger and cold because of electrical outages. More than 8.1 million homes and businesses lost power.In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, city leaders across the country are asking how their city would respond to a similar disaster and examining their preparedness and self-reliance needs. Sandy would have resulted in much...

While three monthsÂ’ worth of preparedness may seem like a long time, history confirms that it takes a combination of only a few emergencies for things like power, water and health services to be overloaded and run-down for weeks on end.For instance, New Orleans is still being rebuilt years later, and Japan was still cleaning up their nuclear meltdown more than six months after the tsunami. Should a severe snowstorm or forest fire cut you off from the grid, it certainly has the potential to last longer than a week. Thus, as you progress in your preparedness lifestyle, you will...

It is a glorious day The Lord has given us. This morning I extend an honest “Thank you” to the American electorate, for they provided a snapshot of themselves with unusual clarity. Six weeks ago I declared that the election was not a choice between two candidates as much as it was a verdict on us as a nation, and with near ubiquity and persuasive forcefulness that verdict has been rendered. From coast to coast the electorate chose debauchery and an expanding welfare state. (they may not have thought that was what they were voting for, but make no mistake...)...

(AP) - Government leaders are turning their attention to the next crisis unfolding in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy: finding housing for potentially tens of thousands of people left homeless. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it has already dispensed close to $200 million in emergency housing assistance and has put 34,000 people in the New York and New Jersey metropolitan area up in hotels and motels. But local, state and federal officials have yet to lay out a specific, comprehensive plan for finding them long-term places to live, even as cold weather sets in. And given the scarcity and...

Being prepared for disaster is a way of life for many American preppers, but there are also many people throughout the Nation completely unprepared for the unthinkable. Those who are unprepared become easy targets for victimization. Since Superstorm Sandy struck New York, there have been hundreds of reports of price gouging in the area as frantic city-dwellers rush about in search of basic supplies. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday that he was in the process of investigating more than 400 possible cases of price gouging as prices on things like gasoline, food, bottled water, generators, batteries...

Grid-Down Collapse: Hard Assets Soar In Value Mac Slavo November 5th, 2012By all accounts, the residents of many hurricane stricken areas of the north east are in the midst of a collapse. While FEMA, the National Guard and private relief organizations are in place and providing some level of assistance, the fact of the matter is that for tens of thousands of Americans, the world as they knew it has completely collapsed around them. What we are witnessing are the immediate after-effects of what is referred to as a grid-down scenario, where utility infrastructure like water and electricity, transportation infrastructure...

Whether you’re a prepper or an outdoor enthusiast who likes to get away from the modern world for days at a time, you know that there are still a pesky few electronic devices that you would like to keep charged even when a power source is miles away. There are several options like solar panels and hand cranks for providing off-grid power; but often — for preppers and backpackers alike — space is a major concern when already packing a heft of gear. A new camp stove design by a company called BioLite, however, can help you keep your pack...

In darkened neighborhoods, people walked around with miner's lamps on their foreheads and bicycle lights clipped to shoulder bags and, in at least one case, to a dog's collar. A Manhattan handyman opened a fire hydrant so people could collect water to flush toilets. "You can clearly tell at the office, or even walking down the street, who has power and who doesn't," said Jordan Spiro, who lives in the blackout zone. "New Yorkers may not be known as the friendliest bunch, but take away their ability to shower and communicate and you'll see how disgruntled they can get."

A wave a looters followed the Sandy storm surge in Coney Island, creating a double-whammy for business owners trying to pick up the obliterated pieces. The thieves started down Mermaid Avenue Tuesday morning as the chest-high water receded, turning the seaside community known for its hotdogs and tourist attractions into a lawless free-for-all. "People were running in and out of Rent-A-Center carrying these big flat screens. They were holding on tight," said witness Aisha John, 20. "I couldn't understand how someone could steal a big TV in broad daylight, but no one cared.” She said people were running out of...

Water is everywhere in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy – in basements, on the streets and in transit systems – but the one place that flood water is most dangerous is in your body. ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser collected floodwater and drinking water in some of the areas hit hardest by Sandy and had them tested at The Ambient Group lab. The floodwater collected in Lower Manhattan tested positive for gasoline and two types of bacteria found in sewage: E. coli and coliform. “Very dangerous,” Besser said. “Make sure you wear protective gear if...

Just how prepared should you be to ride out a disaster, man-made or otherwise? For purposes of this thread, we'll define the various levels of "prepping" as follows, mostly dependent on how long you can "ride it out" before needing to leave your home or receive aid from the authorities: Level 0: Nothin'. Your emergency supplies consist of half a box of Cheerios and a cigarette lighter. In case of disaster, you'll be first in line for some government-issue MREs and a seat at a football stadium. Level 1: While you don't keep things at home with disasters in mind,...

Tempers Flare: Residents Complain Government Is Too Slow Distributing Food And Supplies Mac Slavo October 31st, 2012 Hurricane Sandy made landfall just 36 hours ago and already we’ve received reports of looting in hard-hit areas with some people brazenly taking to Twitter to post pictures of their new found wealth. Ahead of the storm panic buying left grocery and hardware store shelves empty as concerned residents stocked up on food, water, batteries, flashlights, and generators. With the run on supplies over the weekend, tens of thousands of people were inevitably left without essential survival items due to shortages across the...

This Is What You Should Have At Home When The Frankenstorm Hits Adam TaylorOctober 27, 2012 There's a real possibility that Hurricane Sandy, aka the "Frankenstorm", could cause serious disruption to major metropolitan areas in the North East states in the next few days. As such, its better to be over-prepared than under-prepared. NYC.gov has some suggestions for a Emergency Supply Kit that you can keep at home: One gallon of drinking water per person per day Non-perishable, ready-to-eat canned foods and manual can opener First aid kit Flashlight* Battery-operated AM/FM radio and extra batteries (you can also buy wind-up...

According to the United Nations, world grain reserves are so dangerously low that severe weather in the United States or other food-exporting countries could trigger a major hunger crisis next year.Check the labels on the food you buy the next time youÂ’re in the supermarket; youÂ’ll see that it has traveled a long way to get to you. The sad truth is that the majority of food products we buy are not produced locally. They came from countries such as China, Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, Peru and Italy. This has significant consequences for us because it makes us dependent on these...

A giant wave of super-hot solar plasma larger than the Earth erupted from the sun on Friday (Oct. 19) in a spectacular display captured by a NASA spacecraft. The huge solar prominence occurred at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 GMT) and was recorded in amazing detail by the high-definition cameras aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory before escaping the sun. "Once it started breaking away, the process only took 10 hours before it was out of sight," NASA media specialist Steele Hill explained in a photo description. "The prominence stretched out many times the size of Earth." The Solar Dynamics Observatory showed...

The “Twitter-verse” erupted this week with threats to riot or assassinate Mitt Romney should President Barack Obama lose the Nov. 6 election.This brings up a few questions. Is this a reflection of real outrage being felt in the black community? If it’s real, does it reflect the sentiment of a small or a large segment of the black community? Or is this manufactured outrage being used for a broader purpose?Americans have rioted before for lesser reasons. Simply having their favorite team win the Super Bowl or World Series has led to riots in cities like Boston, Detroit, Denver and Los...

Regardless of who the President is after this close election, the equity markets and the U.S. economy are in trouble. Debt has spread throughout the Western world. The fallout is political dissonance, growing economic hardship and, in some places, mob violence.Ground zero for the spreading fear and panic is Greece, which was once the worldÂ’s greatest civilization and the birthplace of democracy, poetry and philosophy.There is violent evidence of the contradiction from what the ancients taught and what is unraveling in Greece. It would all just be another boring story at the end of the news day, except there is...