Free Republic

TAMPA — Federal authorities sought doomsday prepper Martin Winters for two days in the woods of east Hillsborough County, attempting to arrest him on weapons charges. On the third day, agents didn't need to look far at all. Winters, soggy-shoed and hungry, waited with a daughter in a car outside the FBI field office on Gray Street in Tampa on Wednesday morning as his attorneys stepped up to a reception desk and arranged his surrender. In trade, he got cheeseburgers, fries, Gatorade, dry shoes, praise from the FBI and a morning free of gunfire — all this from the agency...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Preparing for the worst by setting yourself up with only the best. As CBS 2′s Maurice DuBois reported Thursday, luxurious kitchens, swimming pools, even gyms are being added to bunkers built just in case of an emergency. Bomb shelters were a common site in backyards in the Cold War 1950s. But as one bunker promotional video shows, today’s backyard survival bunker looks more like a five-star resort, equipped with everything from an indoor pool and state of the art movie theater, to a dog run and even an interactive classroom — all underground. “The overall scope of the project was...

Author Lewis Dartnell poses an interesting question in his new book, The Knowledge: How To Rebuild Our World From Scratch: If our technological society collapsed tomorrow, perhaps from a viral pandemic or catastrophic asteroid impact, what book would you want to press into the hands of the survivors?Just over a decade ago, I was living in Texas and taking occasional trips out to the hill country for camping, hiking, and climbing. There’s a whole-lot-of-nothing out there, if you’ve never been. It’s beautiful, but you can go days without seeing another human being if you’re in the right spot. Bringing...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve should be willing to let inflation temporarily run above its target level so as to more quickly bring the economy back to health, a top Fed official said on Friday, even as a second policymaker signaled the very idea left him cold. The debate, between Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, underscored a fundamental disagreement over the central bank's optimal approach to policy under new Fed Chair Janet Yellen. To Evans, one of the Fed's most dovish policymakers, allowing inflation to run above the Fed's 2-percent target would...

There are certain factors you should consider when living through an extended emergency. It is common for your physical, mental and emotional state to be affected following a disaster. On top of that, you are hungry due to rationing food portions and still have to continue daily activities, physical labor, parenting, etc. If you haven’t put thought into the right types of food and the amounts needed to see you through the ordeal, then you could be setting yourself up for deficiencies in your diet. Repeatedly, I have told readers interested in leading a self reliant lifestyle to simulate a...

If an ice storm can cause this much panic in our major cities, what will a real crisis look like? The biggest news story in the United States right now is the "historic ice storm" that is hammering the South. Travel will be a nightmare, schools and businesses will be closed, and hundreds of thousands of people will lose power. In fact, it is being projected that some people could be without power for up to a week. But at the end of the day, the truth is that this ice storm is just an inconvenience. Yes, the lives of...

ItÂ’s not too difficult to understand that we are well on our way to a paradigm shift in America; in fact weÂ’re in the midst of it right now. The writing is on the wall and can no longer be ignored. The US government has run up trillions of dollars in debt, and given the recent debates over the countryÂ’s debt ceiling, we can rest assured that neither Congress or the President will act to curtail spending and balance the budget. We will continue adding trillions of dollars to the national debt clock until such time that our creditors no...

I’ll be honest: for years, I never considered the survivalist/prepper crowds as target audiences. I mean, we’re on totally different ideological wavelengths, right? I’m not into shooting things, and they likely think I’m a touchy-feely hippie who wouldn’t survive a week after SHTF. What could we possibly have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out – apparently, ideology ain’t everything. As we’ve started doing more DIY/upcycling/self-sufficiency content, we’ve seen a steady rise in readership from sites like The Homestead Survival and Knowledge Weighs Nothing. And, as you might expect, I’ve spent more time checking out these sites and those...

Gold bugs, rejoice. After taking a pounding last year, gold looks set for a big rally, although chart watchers say it still needs a little push higher before it takes off. A gain of about 1.5% from current levels would take gold above a key chart level, which could spark a further rally of 13% to the August highs, technicians say, and possibly much higher. After tumbling 28% in 2013, gold futures have gained 4% so far this year. On Friday, futures were up 0.9% at $1,251.60 an ounce in recent trading, and were trading above the widely-followed 50-day moving...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)BOUNTIFUL -- It sits in the parking lot of the Emergency Essentials store in Bountiful, all but daring you not to stop and stare. The massive, bright yellow, corrugated metal section of pipeline is 10 feet across and thrice that length, with a few smaller sections of pipe sticking out at various angles. And just in case that's not enough of a draw for the terminally incurious, there's even a banner on the side -- at least there was until the last Bountiful windstorm -- that reads "Tour a 'Bomb Shelter' ... Atlas Survival Shelters." Bomb shelter? Trust us, you...

Wealthy families across the country are shelling out millions to protect their loved ones from intruders, natural disasters or the apocalypse as home security goes increasingly sci-fi. Companies that provide concerned homeowners with futuristic gadgets - and a priceless peace of mind - have revealed the growing demand of costly bunkers, passageways, panic rooms and recognition software. Chris Pollack - president of Pollack+Partners, a design and construction adviser in Purchase, New York - told Forbes that, while security has always been important for the wealthiest clients, the spending on home security has noticeably grown in the past five years. And...

No text just a link: Noah (Official Trailer)

Zombie aficionados debate whether the living dead should be fast- or slow-moving. But there's no denying that the Zombie Apocalypse Stock Portfolio — companies that should do well in a zombie outbreak — has been lightning-fast. The zombie portfolio of seven stocks — SolarCity (SCTY), Generac (GNRC), Sturm Ruger (RGR), Smith & Wesson (SWHC), Cabela's (CAB), GNC (GNC) and Pall Corp. (PLL) — has soared by 230% since "The Walking Dead" premiered on Oct. 31, 2010. That compares to 50% for the S&P 500 index. So far this year, the Zombie Apocalypse Stock Portfolio has jumped 63% vs. the S&P...

Four days before Halloween, on Sunday morning, October 27, 2013, terrorists in Mexico's Michoacan state blacked out the electric grid, leaving some 420,000 powerless and thirteen dead. That same Sunday night, National Geographic aired the docudrama American Blackout. This fictionalized account of a cyber attack on the electric grid depicts some of the horrific consequences of a nationwide blackout lasting 10 days.

For some investors, it feels a lot more like 1999 than 2013. Third-quarter earnings have not been spectacular. The U.S. isn't expected to grow at anything close to breakneck speed next year. And there are few industries experiencing huge profit expansions. Despite all that, a number of high-profile—mostly technology—stocks are soaring. The heady advances are making shareholders of these companies big money, but they're also raising serious questions among some analysts about whether the unusual trading is a troublesome sign for the overall market. Last week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average set a record on Tuesday, but closed up just...

WASHINGTON — Inflation is widely reviled as a kind of tax on modern life, but as Federal Reserve policy makers prepare to meet this week, there is growing concern inside and outside the Fed that inflation is not rising fast enough. Some economists say more inflation is just what the American economy needs to escape from a half-decade of sluggish growth and high unemployment. The Fed has worked for decades to suppress inflation, but economists, including Janet Yellen, President Obama’s nominee to lead the Fed starting next year, have long argued that a little inflation is particularly valuable when the...

EXCLUSIVE: Terry McAuliffe has promised voters he is committed to transparency, but in the final days of a Virginia governor’s race he leads, the Democrat has steadfastly refused to explain a complicated financial arrangement involving several family trusts and a union-owned insurance and investment company. For the arrangement... Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/24/mcauliffe-silent-on-union-connected-loan/#ixzz2ijYL0ikj Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

"The question is not tapering. The question is at what point will they increase the asset purchases to say $150 [billion] , $200 [billion], a trillion dollars a month," Faber said in a " Squawk Box " interview. The Fed-which is currently buying $85 billion worth of bonds every month-will hold its October meeting next week to deliberate the future of its asset purchases known as quantitative easing . (Read more: Treasury yields will still spike to 5%: Societe Generale ) Faber has been predicting so-called "QE infinity" because "every government program that is introduced under urgency and as a...

The barriers to urban farming don't end at zoning ordinances and neighborhood politics. Not everyone has rooftop access, and arable lots can be far and few between. City soil often contains chemicals and contaminants, like lead. Sometimes the air is just as dirty as the dirt. And like traditional farming, there are seasons to deal with. You simply can't grow tomatoes in an outdoor garden in the middle of winter. Those aren't reasons to stop outdoor urban farming, but they do make it difficult to scale the model up. But what if you didn't need dirt? Or much water? Or...

If you ever wondered why we recommend prepping, and stockpiling food and emergency supplies, one look at what happened this weekend Springhill and Mansfield, LA should tell you everything you need to know – and will give you a glimpse at what this country will look like during a nationwide crisis. Over the weekend, the debit system that allows people on government assistance to buy food, temporarily went down. The resulting chaos is a small glimpse at what I believe will happen, should the government plunge this country into some sort of economic collapse. A couple of Walmarts in Louisiana...