Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheMilitantLibertarian/~3/WUnHbO6KnVs/

from The Whited Sepulchre

My employer, Jukt Micronics, recently opened a west coast warehouse to serve our customers in that region.

Where did we go – L.A.?  Long Beach?  San Diego?  San Fran?
Nope.
We opened our west coast warehouse in Phoenix, Arizona.  That’s a long way from the coast, where the shipping containers come in, but it’s worth the drive.

No one in his right mind will open anything in California.  The place is a regulatory hell.  The taxes are ridiculous.

Here’s something from Bloomberg News:

California (STOCA1) Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to balance the state budget in part with higher taxes on the wealthy depends on a group of top earners that shrank by one-third from 2007 to 2009.

Tax returns with adjusted gross incomes topping $500,000 fell to 98,610 in 2009, the latest year available, from a recent peak of 146,221 two years earlier, according to data from the Franchise Tax Board, the state agency that collects income and corporate taxes.

Once again, here’s the good part:

California (STOCA1) Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to balance the state budget in part with higher taxes on the wealthy depends on a group of top earners that shrank by one-third from 2007 to 2009.

It’s called Going Galt.  May the trend continue until Jerry Brown changes his ways.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheMilitantLibertarian/~3/4Dv7C91Tw_k/

by Silver Shield

Listen to Carnegie Mellon University Professor Jesse Schell get all excited about a new SIMS future where corporations and governments manipulate the masses through game play.  The explosion of game play in our daily lives is something that has crept into the human experience.  We have gas point, free sub points, friends on FaceBook, but  Jesse Schell lays out a dream world where the Elite can manipulate the masses through technology and game play.  He says that humans play hours of games to gain experience points to somehow fill a psychological void in our real world.  I am of course a victims of this as I am on my 6th Prestige Level in Modern Warfare 3.  (SilverShield76)  Had these games like Farmville not had the experience points and leveling up ability they would not have been so successful in garnering the attention of the masses and making billions in return.  Ultimately to keep a population distracted by the very real issues we cover here at DTOM and TGTNT.  Too bad we don’t have the resources to get people to gain experience points for becoming totally free from this doomed paradigm…  Maybe we do, we just call the Silver Eagles. 

The real nightmare is that technology is becoming so cheap and online marketers have found a way to monetize every action in the virtual world, that we are not too far off from a real world where we are going to be motivated (controlled) by experience points.  Brush your teeth… +10xp. Brush your teeth for the recommended 3 minutes… bonus +30 xp.  Your kid gets good grades… +6,000 xp that you can redeem on your taxes for being a good little indoctrinated citizen.  He goes on and on about how everything will be monitored and that you will embrace all of this because you can win the future game of life.  The CIA’s interest in Bitcoin plays into this.  (Read about Bitcoin here.)

So what could be the interest of the CIA in Bitcoin? Gavin says that there is a intelligence technology conference this year and the main issue is money. He says that they are, “very interested in money.” That is probably because that they know the dollar is going to die and their power is derived off of that dollar. They are looking for alternatives to keep their power going.  I am of the opinion that there is a huge black ops part of the government that has huge interest in illegal activities like drug importation fromAfghanistan. Could Bitcoin be used as an alternative currency outside the banking system? After all, our banking system is going to collapse and when it all goes down there are going to be a lot of bankers squealing about illegal activities to cover their ass. Here is a Swiss Banker blowing the whistle on how an assassination of a President of a third world country was paid through his bank.These highly intelligent, forward thinking guys are trying to find a way to deal with a new paradigm. Collapsing dollar, freedom movement, hacktivism, and blow back from decades of illegal and immoral activities. It is too bad these guys don’t listen to the Oath they took to preserve and protect the Constitution. Maybe they think technologies like Bitcoin can serve as model for a new Dollar? Maybe they can set up other schemes that the fascist corporate power can use as currency when the dollar collapses?  Maybe they will simply use the unlimited power of the government to generate more Bitcoins? Who knows? All I know that is all of this will end, and not well for those that are most dependent on the dollar paradigm.

I guess when we all realize that the dollar is not longer a good carrot to waste our lives chasing after that digital illusion, we can then be conned into chasing after experience points.  The Elite could introduce SDR’s as the one world currency for their corporate minions and governmental institutions and give the masses XP to chase after as they laugh at the little Webkins they control in this very real world they control. Regardless of what the Elite try to pull once you are awakened to the reality of how the world really works you are immune to these social predators that seek to manipulate you to their ultimate ends.

I hope my projects like the Sons of Liberty Academy, The Ultimate Exit Strategy, and now The Greatest Truth Never Told provide you with the generational wealth of becoming immune to these social predators.  It has been a wonderful year serving you and I am very excited to see what happens as we continue down this path, aware and prepared.

The technocrat’s wet dream starts at 17:30

I will be addressing this much more in The Greatest Truth Never Told very soon, so stay tuned.

I am also trying to get a expert on exposing these manipulators for the Silver Shield Report.

Here is a teaser…

Listen closely to how these two marketers purposely lie and use psychology to pitch their projects.  This is the same type of psychology that is used to march nations into war.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheMilitantLibertarian/~3/w4h8pO1OliQ/

by H. Hunter, SurvivalBlog

The recent SurvivalBlog article on a home invasion robbery reminded me of a situation I experienced a couple of months back. I attribute my successful evasion of a possibly harmful or even deadly situation to my preparations, long before the fact.

Part of my work involves the inspection of in-service bridges to ensure they are structurally sound. This is by far the most dangerous work that I do because many of these bridges are in bad neighborhoods and I am sometimes by myself. I have been in dangerous neighborhoods before and observed literal word of mouth travel up the block that an “outsider” is in the area. Within minutes foot traffic in the area increases dramatically and a general unease settles in on me.

A couple of months back I had to run out and take a quick measurement on a bridge that my partner and I had forgotten to measure when we were there the day before. I would be out of my truck for no more than two minutes. The bridge was in an area that would be considered relatively safe, so I will admit that my awareness was not what it should have been. However, I did have my [.32 ACP] Kel-Tec P32 pocket pistol that I carry religiously. I hopped out of my truck, climbed under the bridge, performed my task and was climbing back up when I noticed a shady-looking character on the bridge sidewalk above me. I remember a feeling inside me that simply said “… be careful ”. When he saw me, he made contact:

Stranger: “I’m in distress. Call 911.”

A quick assessment led me to believe that this guy was not in any “distress”. He was moving normal and showed no signs of pain.

Me: “I’m sorry man, I don’t have my phone,” I lied. (As I said this, I was backing up towards my truck (Approx. 50 feet off) “What is wrong with you?”

Stranger: “I said I’m in distress, call 911.” (He rounded the bridge guardrail, left the sidewalk, and was briskly approaching me.)

I felt that it would be more hazardous to myself to show weakness by apologizing or making any concessions to him. I decided to continue to escalate what was becoming a very tense situation by being very firm.

Me: “Look, I just told you I don’t have a (censored) phone. I will call as soon as I’m back at my office but there’s nothing I can do for you here.”

Stranger: (He pointed to Leatherman case on my hip and became extremely angry. His pace picks up and he begins swearing profusely at me.)

“I see your phone on your hip, call 911 now or I will take it and call myself.”

Me: (I’d finally reached my truck, but there is no way I will feel safe turning my back to open the door. He was by then only about 20 feet in front of me, visibly angry and moving closer. I decides I had no other options, so I drew my gun from my pocket with one hand and steadied it towards his chest. My other hand opened the door and I slid in, strong arm still outstretched between the open door and the truck frame. My free hand goes for the center console and [the more capable] 9mm pistol that is in it. I exchanged pistols, always keeping a barrel on him. I started the truck’s engine, hit the auto window down, and finally I was able to shut the door, with the strong arm still outstretched. I dropped the truck into reverse and backed up about 100 feet. “Tell me what is wrong with you and I will call 911 right now.”

Stranger: (He made no response. I left and call the police to inform them that someone may need medical assistance, but was also acting extremely suspiciously. I do not mention anything else. I will never be convinced otherwise that this man had anything other than nefarious intentions, but I still felt the need to end the situation with a clear conscience.)

From the time that I drew my pistol until just before I left, there were no words exchanged. We were finally communicating on the same primal level. I responded to his threat of violence in kind and no words were needed. What did amaze me is that my mind was as clear as it had ever been; I heard no other sounds but his words and footsteps, I felt no other presence but him and my truck behind me. I am surely not the “high speed, low drag” type, but I believe I was able to perform under pressure because of mental preparation.

Situational Awareness (SA)

One area that I failed in was Situational Awareness (SA). Proper SA would have likely dictated that I circle the site and assess any threats. I did not do this; like I said before, I was in a “decent” part of town, traffic was not far from me, I’ll only be a minute, etc. I did take a moment before I got out of my truck to scan the area for perceived threats; I did not see anyone in the area.

I’ve heard LEO joke before about being able to pick a comrade out of a crowd simply by looking for “cop eyes”. “Cop eyes” are wide open and aware. They dart from car to car to check for occupants and take a quick glance to the rear as they walk in the parking lot. They scan the room as they enter, assessing the situation as a whole and then individuals that seem out of place. They look for primary and secondary points of egress. I’ve practiced this to a point where it usually comes naturally now, especially if I’m in strange surroundings. SA is only one tool in your chest, and often leads to:

Trust Your Gut

When I popped up from under the bridge and saw this guy mere feet from me (Almost side by side, but I was about 10’ below him so I was able to gain some standoff room before he rounded the bridge rail.), my instincts actually said: “You just scanned the area and no one was near, how did this guy get to you so quick – be careful .” My subconscious knew something did not equate in the situation. By listening to my gut, my alert was heightened and I was able to react accordingly. I’ve been in situations before where a general feeling of unease overtakes me. This may result in me hanging a left where I should have a right and taking the long route around, or stepping back in the store with my wife because I “forgot” something and wanted to browse a minute more. I don’t know if this has saved me from trouble or not. That’s the thing about your gut: when it works, you usually don’t know. Read the book “The Gift of Fear” by Gavin de Becker, and learn to trust your intuition. God gives us gifts so that we may use them.

Wargaming

Many of us cannot go off to some self defense boot camp for a weekend and expend several thousand rounds practicing the high art of the tactical pistol. Wargaming does not by any means replace proper training. It does however, help prepare your mind for situations beyond your control that seem to happen within the blink of an eye.

I’ve always done this, but didn’t always refer to it as “wargaming”. It was just something I did when I was about to face a stressful situation. In college, if I had a presentation the next day, I would take turns with buddies practicing the speech. If a Q&A was to follow (usually it would), we would try to throw the speaker with questions they may have not prepared for. By the end of our wargaming, each of us had thoroughly thought through our topic and could defend our position very well. I often do this for work as well, running possible scenarios through my head of what may happen in a meeting later in the day. I try to map out how I should react to varying positions and how to properly articulate my opinion so that I come across well prepared and knowledgeable.

I have wargamed many encounters in my head: being approached by someone in parking lots, while in my vehicle, while out on an inspection, coming home to a breached door, with or without my wife, phone, gun, and so forth. Wargaming works best when you have someone to offer counterpoints, so I’ll discuss this with someone that I trust. We’ll go through scenarios until we think we have planned for as many unknowns as we can. I believe this simple exercise helped me remain calm and collected during the above encounter. I feel I did not react too quickly, yet I did not allow my personal security zone to be compromised.

Muscle Memory and Training

Practice! Practice until the act is a natural extension of yourself. Whether it is typing blazing speeds or operating your handgun as if it is a big clunky metal/polymer extension of your hand, practice what you think you need to know, so that when you need it, you execute without even knowing it. I carry my gun in the same position as much as possible. I practice drawing my gun when I’m doing target shooting as well as drills. How do you know you’ve practiced enough? You don’t until you need those skills in a real time situation, so do not become complacent in your training.

My brother and I developed a [dry practice] drill [with an unloaded pistol] where he would approach me from the side (perpendicular to firing stance). I react as if someone is approaching head-on. This way he is never in the line of fire. He will run through different scenarios (visibly angry from the beginning, sudden hostile change in behavior once he is within close distance, etc.). My weapon stays holstered until I perceive a threat. We try to run through scenarios that include talking out of a situation, drawing and retreating and of course use of force. The purpose of the drill is not to “win” but to mimic your actions in real life. This drill requires both parties to operate on the honor system and stay “in-character”. It is an eye opener when you, as the “victim”, read the “hostile” improperly and “lose” several times in a row. Several lessons learned include:

* The instant you perceive a threat is usually much later than the time in which the threat actually began.
* Distances can be cleared very quickly by a determined individual. Keep your weapon easily accessible. [JWR Adds: Any practice with the Tueller Drill will show you that seven yards is a scant minimum safe distance!]
* There is a time for racket and a time for silence. When your gun is out, you are wasting “brain RAM” by focusing on conveying a message. At this point it is only fight or flight. Shut off all other programs in your head, so that all of your “brain RAM” is being focused on those two options.

In writing this article, it forced me to think through my actions on that day. I don’t remember making decisions on how to react in my head, I just remember reacting. If I didn’t listen to my intuition, I may not have entered the situation on high alert. If I had not previously thought through what I would do, I may have frozen up. If I didn’t carry in the same position every day and practicing drawing and firing, I may have reached for the wrong carry position, only to find nothing. A failure in any one of these areas might have cost me dearly.

Thank you for this site and what you do. God Bless you.

by Dr. Bones, SurvivalBlog

As a recently-retired physician who is married to a nurse-midwife, my preparedness group looks to us as the post-TEOTWAWKI hospital and medical staff. Medical progress has been exponential and even just the last decade of scientific breakthroughs can equal a century of improvement in medical treatments, surgical techniques and pharmaceuticals. However, in the years (months?) ahead, the crumbling of the infrastructure and devolution of society in general will very likely throw us back to a medical system that existed in the 19th Century.

Let’s take an example: When the U.S. was a young nation, the average woman could expect to be pregnant 10-12 times during her reproductive lifetime (no reliable means of birth control). One out of four women would not survive the pregnancy, either from issues relating to blood loss from miscarriage or childbirth or Infection (no antibiotics) following same. A myriad of other complications occurred which are treatable today but weren’t back then. I collect old medical books, and even relatively modern obstetric textbooks devoted entire chapters on how to crush a fetus’ skull in order to expedite its removal from a critically ill mother, with instruments that clearly had no other purpose. When childbirth was successful, she could expect perhaps 3-4 of her children to survive to become adults, on average, with many minor children succumbing to simple infections that had no known effective treatment at the time.

This is the grim reality that we, in modern times, will face when the inevitable happens and current medical technology and treatments are unavailable to us.

There is an interesting post-TEOTWAWKI series by History Channel called “After Armageddon” which can be viewed on YouTube. Interestingly enough, it doesn’t appear on History Channel’s list of shows). In it, a family seeks refuge in the aftermath of an apocalyptic event. The father of the family, who is a trained EMT, falls sick and dies from a simply cut on his hand because the antibiotics ran out. It shows that the lack of accumulated stores of antibiotics could mean a shortened life span for even the most prepared individual.

Given the new situation that we will have thrust upon us, it behooves every aware individual to begin to stockpile medications that will be needed in the future, and to become trained one way or another in basic and disaster first aid. Even if your group has a designated “medic”, you have an obligation to be able to handle medical issues in a catastrophic scenario for the sake of your group and your family. Just as the designated “medic” should be trained to handle security issues and should accumulate food and other supplies, so should you accumulate medications and medical supplies. Cross-training is essential for when the medic needs a medic!
Accumulating medications may be simple when it comes to procuring aspirin and other non-prescription drugs but may be problematic for those who cannot write their own prescriptions or don’t have a relationship with a physician who can. I would like to focus on the issue of procurement of antibiotics for the treatment of infection in this essay, as there are already a number of good essays on this site that discusses various aspects of medical care in the post-SHTF era. I heartily recommend that everyone read these in detail.

For all intents and purposes, it is highly unlikely that even basic antibiotics like Penicillin will be actively manufactured in an apocalyptic scenario due to the complexities in said manufacture. Those who say, “it’s just bread mold” are naïve if they think just making prepper bread and letting it sit will produce anything That would cure an infection (penicillin is actually made from liquid that the mold produces under certain man-made conditions. And, no, Ginger Root and other “home antibiotics” probably won’t either.

The reason that I consider this a major issue is that there will be a much larger incidence of infection when people start to fend for themselves, and injure themselves as a result. Simple cuts and scratches from chopping wood can begin to show infection, in the form of redness, heat and swelling, within a relatively short time. Treatment of infections at an early stage improves the chance that they will heal quickly and completely. However, many preppers, being the rugged folk that they are, are most likely to ignore the problem until it gets much worse and spreads to their entire body, causing fever and other systemic problems that could eventually be fatal. Have antibiotics already on hand in their retreat would allow them to deal with the issue until medical help (if available at all) arrives.

Now, what I am about to tell you is contrary to standard medical practice, and is a strategy that is best used in the event of societal collapse that causes the unavailability of conventional medical care for extended periods of time. This line of thought that I am presenting is that “sumpthin” is better than “nuttin” and is not meant to serve as official medical advice for any circumstance but a catastrophic breakdown of our infrastructure and ability of our country to provide medical care for its citizens. If there is modern medical care available to you, seek it out.

Small amounts of medications such as antibiotics could be procured by anyone who is willing to tell their physician that they are going out of the country and would like to avoid “Montezuma’s Revenge”. Ask them for Tamiflu for viral illness and Z-packs, Amoxicillin or Keflex for bacterial diarrhea. Stockpiling of these antibiotics is more of a problem. After searching far and wide, I have come across the best option for the prepper: Aquarium Fish antibiotics.

For evaluation purposes (and because I am an aquarium hobbyist), I decided to purchase online a variety of these products and found them to be identical (unlike some Dog and Cat medications) to those used to treat humans with a doctor’s prescription. I was able to purchase them without any demand for medical licensure, etc. The drugs are listed below and the bottles list the antibiotic as the sole ingredient. They are:

• FISH-MOX (amoxicillin 250mg)
• FISH_MOX FORTE (amoxicillin 500mg)
• FISH-CILLIN (ampicillin 250mg)
• FISH-FLEX Keflex 250mg)
• FISH-FLEX FORTE (Keflex 500mg)
• FISH-ZOLE (metronidazole 250mg)
• FISH-PEN (penicillin 250mg)
• FISH-PEN FORTE (penicillin 500mg)
• FISH-CYCLINE (tetracycline 250mg)

These medications are available usually in plastic bottles of 100 tablets for much less than the same prescription medication at the pharmacy (some come in bottles of 30 tablets). The dosages are similar to that used in humans, and are taken two to four times a day, depending on the drug. The 500mg dosage is probably more effective in larger individuals. Of course, anyone could be allergic to one or another of these antibiotics, but not all of them. (Note that there is a 10% cross-reactivity between “-cillin” drugs and Keflex, meaning that, if you are allergic to Penicillin, you could also be allergic to Keflex). FISH-ZOLE is an antibiotic that also kills some protozoa that cause dysentery.

NOTE: It should be emphasized that FISH-CYCLINE [and other tetracycline antibiotics of various names] can become toxic after its expiration date, unlike most of the other medications listed. So consider acquiring the other ones listed, first.

Which brings me to a question that I am asked quite often and to which my answer is, again, contrary to standard medical recommendations but appropriate in a post-TEOTWAWKI environment where no medical care is otherwise available. The question is: What happens when the medications I stockpiled pass their expiration date?

Since 1979, pharmaceutical companies have been required to place expiration dates on all medications. Officially, this is the last day that the company will certify that their drug is at full potency. Some people take this to mean that the medicine in question is useless or in some way harmful after that date. With few exceptions (tetracycline being one previously mentioned), this is what I delicately term as “a bunch of hooey”!

Studies performed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that 90% of medications tested were perfectly fine to use 8-to-15 years after the expiration date. There was apparently no danger in the grand majority of cases. The FDA tested more than 100 medications, both prescription and non-prescription, and continues to study the issue today. The exceptions were mostly in liquid form (antibiotics included, but also insulin, nitroglycerine and some others). What is true is that the potency of an antibiotic could possibly decrease over time, so it is important that your medication cache is in a cool, dry place if at all possible. Refrigeration is an excellent method to maintain the full potency of many drugs.

Many people gauge their preparedness on the number of full ammo boxes in their closet. I’ve got them too. However, preparedness doesn’t mean going out in a blaze of glory; it means going on, in the best health and condition, to re-establish a peaceful and productive society. Every prepper should have antibiotics as part of their medical supplies. They’re available, they’re cheap and they could save your life.