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Salt is one of the most common and basic staples and one which every prepper should have in their pantry. While today salt is easily and cheaply purchased, it is also a valuable resource. When used in excess, salt can be harmful. However, it is also vital for maintaining health, as well as providing a […]
Anyone who has been camping with kids knows that when they get into the woods their imagination runs free. Children are ready to perceive information with an open heart. Just provide them with a debris hut that you build together and it will quickly become their castle where they can play and fight the enemies. […]
Ignoring long-term problems can work for a while, but eventually they catch up with you. Over the years, I have written many articles about alarming long-term trends in our society that desperately needed to be addressed. Of course the vast majority of those long-term trends never got much attention, because our political system tends to reward politicians that focus on short-term issues. As a result, many of the long-term trends that I have written about previously have now gotten to a point where they have started to become very serious short-term problems. In this article, I would like to share 9 examples of this with you.
#1 I have been warning about exploding debt levels for as long as I have been writing about the economy. Most people know that the U.S. national debt has now crossed the 28 trillion dollar threshold, but hardly anyone is talking about the explosion of corporate debt that we have been witnessing in recent months. According to the Federal Reserve, total corporate debt in the United States is now up to a whopping 11.2 trillion dollars…
Before the pandemic, U.S. companies were borrowing heavily at low interest rates. When Covid-19 lockdowns triggered a recession, they didn’t pull back. They borrowed even more and soon paid even less.
After a brief spike, interest rates on corporate debt plummeted to their lowest level on record, bringing a surge in new bonds. Nonfinancial companies issued $1.7 trillion of bonds in the U.S. last year, nearly $600 billion more than the previous high, according to Dealogic. By the end of March, their total debt stood at $11.2 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve, about half the size of the U.S. economy.
#2 Needless to say, this level of corporate debt is not even close to sustainable, and we are starting to see a lot of prominent names go bankrupt. In fact, one of the largest mall owners in the entire country officially filed for bankruptcy on Sunday…
Washington Prime Group, a major mall owner of more than 100 locations across the United States, filed for bankruptcy, citing pandemic-related shutdowns.
The Columbus, Ohio-based company filed for Chapter 11 late Sunday, saying Covid-19 “created significant challenges” and that the move is “necessary.” Washington Prime secured $100 million in new funding to support its day-to-day operations so it can “continue in the ordinary course without interruption.”
#3 The standard of living in the United States has been going down for a very long time. Here in 2021, inflation is growing at a much faster rate than wages are, and this is squeezing middle class families like never before. One of the ways that families are dealing with this is by putting off major purchases, and that is one of the reasons why the average age of the vehicles on our roads has now reached an all-time record high…
The average age of vehicles on U.S. roadways rose to a record 12.1 years last year, as lofty prices and improved quality prompt owners to hold on to their cars longer.
It was the first time the average vehicle age rose above 12 years, according to data released Monday by research firm IHS Markit. While the average vehicle age has risen steadily over the last 15 years, the trend accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic partly because of a drop in new-car sales, IHS said.
#4 America’s growing homelessness crisis has accelerated greatly during the pandemic, and the big cities in California are being hit the hardest. At this point, it is really difficult to navigate through the streets of San Francisco without stumbling over a tent or stepping in human excrement…
For a city as opulent as San Francisco, it’s long been jarring to see the extreme poverty of those experiencing homelessness on its streets. If you walk around downtown, tents, makeshift cardboard beds and human excrement can be seen littering the sidewalks. Impoverished people lie on the ground as a blur of highly paid professionals whiz by.
#5 The homelessness crisis is also one of the factors that is fueling the dramatic rise in crime rates that we have been seeing all over the nation. Once upon a time, millions of eager tourists would flock to Venice Beach, but now the phrase “like hell went to hell” is being used to describe conditions at that once pristine tourist trap…
Year-to-date numbers show that robberies have nearly tripled since the same period last year. Homeless-related robberies are up 260 percent; homeless-related assaults with a deadly weapon is up 118 percent; property crimes and area burglaries are up 85 percent; and grand theft auto is up 74 percent.
According to Embrich, felony arrests are up 68 percent, while misdemeanor arrests have grown by 355 percent. But arrests aren’t enough: Suspects are often released back onto the streets within hours.
#6 The police are the ones that are supposed to protect us from crime and restore order when things get out of control, but now they are leaving public service in record numbers. After being endlessly demonized by leftist activists and the mainstream media, police officers are either retiring or resigning at a staggering rate….
Police retirements have risen by 45 percent in the past year, with officers opting out of forces across the country amid Black Lives Matter demonstrations that fueled anti-cop rhetoric.
The alarming statistic was revealed by the Police Executive Research Forum on Sunday, with the organization also revealing that resignations rose by 18 percent during the same twelve month period.
#7 Have you noticed that many of our cities are becoming disgustingly filthy? When I was growing up, I often heard the phrase “cleanliness is next to godliness”, but you never hear anyone use it anymore. These days, filth and grime are everywhere, and that has resulted in widespread infestations. Many of our cities now have massive problems with rats and bed bugs, but Chicago is the worst of them all…
The Windy City is known for quite a few things: hot dogs, deep dish, baseball. But here’s one thing you probably don’t associate with Chicago: bed bugs. Turns out these tiny hitchhiking pests are quite fond of our city, according to the latest numbers available through Atlanta-based Orkin, a company that specializes in pest control services.
In fact, Chicago ranked no. 1 on the 2021 list, according to Orkin, reclaiming the top spot for the first time since 2017, when it slipped to no. 3, just behind Baltimore and Washington. For the sixth year in a row, Orkin also ranked Chicago the “rattiest” city in America.
#8 I have been writing about the drought in the western half of the country for years, but here in 2021 it is the worst we have ever seen. As I write this article, an astounding 88 percent of the West is officially in a state of drought…
Lakes at historically low levels, unusually early forest fires, restrictions on water use and now a potentially record heat wave: even before summer’s start the US West is suffering the effects of chronic drought made worse by climate change.
Eighty-eight percent of the West was in a state of drought this week, including the entire states of California, Oregon, Utah and Nevada, according to official data.
#9 When drought gets bad enough, it leads to water shortages, and we will want to watch developments in California very closely. Water supplies have gotten very tight throughout the state, and officials in Santa Clara County just officially declared “a water shortage emergency”…
Santa Clara County is in extreme drought. We can’t afford to wait to act as our water supplies are being threatened locally and across California. We are in an emergency and Valley Water must do everything we can to protect our groundwater resources and ensure we can provide safe, clean water to Santa Clara County residents and businesses.
To better deal with these threats and the emergency they are causing, today my fellow Board Members and I unanimously declared a water shortage emergency condition in Santa Clara County. This declaration, which is among the strongest actions we can take under law, allows Valley Water to work with our retailers, cities and the county to implement regulations and restrictions on the delivery and consumption of water. We also are urging the County of Santa Clara to proclaim a local emergency and join us in underscoring the seriousness of the threats posed by the extreme drought.
Over the past few years, America has been hit by crisis after crisis, and many are yearning for a return to the good old days. Unfortunately, that simply is not going to happen.
The United States is never going to be like it once was. Too many things have changed, and our culture has been radically transformed over the past several decades.
Many of the items that I have shared in this article are simply symptoms of much broader cultural problems. We are a deeply, deeply sick society, and it is getting worse with each passing day.
***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.
The post 9 Signs That Some Of America’s Long-Term Trends Are Starting To Become Very Serious Short-Term Problems first appeared on The Economic Collapse.
If you are shopping for a home right now, I really do feel sorry for you. Home prices in many areas of the country have officially crossed the line into “absurd” territory, and they just keep going higher. Thanks to wild spending by the federal government and the economic malpractice that has been happening at the Federal Reserve, we now have way too many dollars chasing way too few goods and services. Inflation is showing up in every sector of our economy, but it is not showing up equally in all sectors. One area where inflation threatens to spiral completely out of control is in home prices. Right now we are seeing the wildest bidding wars in U.S. history, and in many, many cases buyers end up paying way over listing price.
Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. When a fairly ordinary three bedroom home in Berkeley, California was recently listed for more than a million dollars, the real estate agent that listed the property was absolutely stunned by what happened next…
A three bedroom, mid-century home on a cul-de-sac in Berkeley, California, with an expansive view of the San Francisco Bay was nearly a one-of-a-kind property, said Jill Carrigan, an agent with The Grubb Company who listed it this spring.
“It ticked all the boxes for a lot of people,” she said. “I’ve never had a property with 29 offers and buyers were upping their offers without us even countering. The Bay Area is always competitive, but this was something I’d never seen before.”
This wasn’t a property that was particularly special. You can see a photo of it right here. In my opinion, there is no way in the world that such a house should ever sell for a million dollars.
Of course it didn’t sell for a million dollars.
When the dust finally settled, it sold for 2.3 million dollars…
Listed at $1.15 million, the home sold in two weeks for $2.3 million in cash, double the asking price.
You might think that such extreme bidding wars are rare, but they aren’t.
In fact, CNN is reporting that 940 U.S. homes sold for more than half a million dollars above listing price in March, and 310 U.S. homes sold for more than a million dollars above listing price in that month alone.
That is just one month!
Now that our leaders have turned the U.S. dollar into “wheelbarrow money”, this is the sort of thing that is going to happen.
In this sort of an environment, a “fixer upper” in Colorado Springs that was completely trashed by a former tenant can sell for $590,000…
A ‘formerly majestic’ Colorado Springs home left in ruin and covered in graffiti by an angry former tenant has gone on the market for $590,000.
Listed as an ‘investor special’ on Zillow, the 3,598 square-foot home is advertised as a fixer upper after it was destroyed by the prior tenant who covered the walls with spray-painted messages including ‘evict me b***h’ and left a pile of rotten meet in a freezer.
As long as this frenzy continues, I am going to recommend that young couples look to rent instead of buy, but rents are going up rapidly too. This week we learned that rental prices just increased at the fastest pace in 15 years during the month of April…
Single-family rents were up 5.3% year over year in April, rising from a 2.4% increase in April 2020, according to CoreLogic. That is the largest gain in nearly 15 years.
Rents for single-family detached homes (not townhomes), were up an even stronger 7.9% compared with a year ago, as millennials in particular seek more outdoor space. Nearly half of millennials surveyed by Corelogic, and 64% of baby boomers, said they, “strongly prefer” to live in a single, stand-alone home.
Yes, the U.S. has wrestled with inflation at various times in the past, but what we are witnessing here in 2021 is completely insane.
Just look at what is happening in the restaurant industry. In upstate New York, the cost of chicken wings has gone up 99 percent and the cost of fryer oil has gone up more than 120 percent so far in 2021.
How are you supposed to run a profitable restaurant with prices spiking like that?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, our leaders have pumped trillions and trillions of fresh dollars into the system, and all of that money is creating a tremendous amount of inflationary pressure. At this point, things have already gotten so crazy that pieces of “artwork” that Hunter Biden has created are selling for up to $500,000…
President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, has taken a turn into artistry and the first paintings he’s selling are going for as high as $500,000.
The first son’s first foray into the art world has seen his pieces picked up by art dealer Georges Berges, who has priced the younger Biden’s artwork between $75,000 and $500,000 depending on the size and scope of the collage artwork.
Now that Hunter Biden is trying to go clean and sober, I suppose that he has to try to make a living somehow.
But are there people that will actually be willing to pay half a million dollars for a piece of his “art”?
I find that hard to believe, but of course I find a lot of things hard to believe these days.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve finally took a few very small steps in the direction of acknowledging the crisis that we are facing…
As expected, the policymaking Federal Open Market Committee unanimously left its benchmark short-term borrowing rate anchored near zero. But officials indicated that rate hikes could come as soon as 2023, after saying in March that it saw no increases until at least 2024. The so-called dot plot of individual member expectations pointed to two hikes in 2023.
Though the Fed raised its headline inflation expectation to 3.4%, a full percentage point higher than the March projection, the post-meeting statement continued to say that inflation pressures are “transitory.” The raised expectations come amid the biggest rise in consumer prices in about 13 years.
Of course those moves by the Fed won’t actually do anything to get the “inflation monster” that they have created under control.
As long as our politicians in Washington continue their wildest spending binge ever, and as long as the Fed continues to pump more money into the financial system, the “inflation monster” will continue to grow.
So if you are looking to buy a home, there might not be any relief for the foreseeable future.
We are going down the same road that the Weimar Republic once did, but our leaders keep insisting that somehow we will get a much different result.
***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.
The post We Should Be Shocked By What Inflation Is Doing To Home Prices, Because We Have Never Seen This Before first appeared on The Economic Collapse.
This article was originally published by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead at The Rutherford Institute.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster.”— Friedrich Nietzsche
Almost every tyranny being perpetrated by the U.S. government against the citizenry—purportedly to keep us safe and the nation secure—has come about as a result of some threat manufactured in one way or another by our own government.
Think about it.
Cyberwarfare. Terrorism. Bio-chemical attacks. The nuclear arms race. Surveillance. The drug wars. Domestic extremism. The COVID-19 pandemic.
In almost every instance, the U.S. government (often spearheaded by the FBI) has in its typical Machiavellian fashion sown the seeds of terror domestically and internationally in order to expand its own totalitarian powers.
Who is the biggest black market buyer and stockpiler of cyberweapons (weaponized malware that can be used to hack into computer systems, spy on citizens, and destabilize vast computer networks)? The U.S. government.
Who is the largest weapons manufacturer and exporter in the world, such that they are literally arming the world? The U.S. government.
Which country has a history of secretly testing out dangerous weapons and technologies on its own citizens? The U.S. government.
Which country has conducted secret experiments on an unsuspecting populace—citizens and noncitizens alike—making healthy people sick by spraying them with chemicals, injecting them with infectious diseases, and exposing them to airborne toxins? The U.S. government.
What country has a pattern and practice of entrapment that involves targeting vulnerable individuals, feeding them with the propaganda, know-how, and weapons intended to turn them into terrorists, and then arresting them as part of an elaborately orchestrated counterterrorism sting? The U.S. government.
Are you getting the picture yet?
The U.S. government isn’t protecting us from terrorism.
The U.S. government is creating terror. It is, in fact, the source of the terror.
Consider that this very same government has taken every bit of technology sold to us as being in our best interests—GPS devices, surveillance, nonlethal weapons, etc.—and used it against us, to track, control, and trap us.
So why is the government doing this? Money, power, and total domination.
We’re not dealing with a government that exists to serve its people, protect their liberties and ensure their happiness. Rather, these are the diabolical machinations of a make-works program carried out on an epic scale whose only purpose is to keep the powers-that-be permanently (and profitably) employed.
Case in point: the FBI.
The government’s henchmen have become the embodiment of how power, once acquired, can be so easily corrupted and abused. Indeed, far from being tough on crime, FBI agents are also among the nation’s most notorious lawbreakers.
Whether the FBI is planting undercover agents in churches, synagogues, and mosques; issuing fake emergency letters to gain access to Americans’ phone records; using intimidation tactics to silence Americans who are critical of the government, or persuading impressionable individuals to plot acts of terror and then entrapping them, the overall impression of the nation’s secret police force is that of a well-dressed thug, flexing its muscles and doing the boss’ dirty work.
For example, this is the agency that used an undercover agent/informant to seek out and groom an impressionable young man, cultivating his friendship, gaining his sympathy, stoking his outrage over the injustices perpetrated by the U.S. government, then enlisting his help to blow up the Herald Square subway station. Despite the fact that Shahawar Matin Siraj ultimately refused to plant a bomb at the train station, he was arrested for conspiring to do so at the urging of his FBI informant and used to bolster the government’s track record in foiling terrorist plots. Of course, no mention was made of the part the government played in fabricating the plot, recruiting a would-be bomber, and setting him up to take the fall.
This is the government’s answer to precrime: first, foster activism by stoking feelings of outrage and injustice by way of secret agents and informants; second, recruit activists to carry out a plot (secretly concocted by the government) to challenge what they see as government corruption; and finally, arrest those activists for conspiring against the government before they can actually commit a crime.
It’s a diabolical plot with far-reaching consequences for every segment of the population, no matter what one’s political leanings.
As Rozina Ali writes for The New York Times Magazine, “The government’s approach to counterterrorism erodes constitutional protections for everyone, by blurring the lines between speech and action and by broadening the scope of who is classified as a threat.”
This is not an agency that appears to understand, let alone respect, the limits of the Constitution.
Just recently, it was revealed that the FBI has been secretly carrying out an entrapment scheme in which it used a front company, ANOM, to sell purportedly hack-proof phones to organized crime syndicates and then used those phones to spy on them as they planned illegal drug shipments, plotted robberies and put out contracts for killings using those boobytrapped phones.
All told, the FBI intercepted 27 million messages over the course of 18 months.
What this means is that the FBI was also illegally spying on individuals using those encrypted phones who may not have been involved in any criminal activity whatsoever.
Even reading a newspaper article is now enough to get you flagged for surveillance by the FBI. The agency served a subpoena on USA Today/Gannett to provide the internet addresses and mobile phone information for everyone who read a news story online on a particular day and time about the deadly shooting of FBI agents.
This is the danger of allowing the government to carry out widespread surveillance, sting, and entrapment operations using dubious tactics that sidestep the rule of law: “we the people” become suspects and potential criminals, while government agents, empowered to fight crime using all means at their disposal, become indistinguishable from the corrupt forces they seek to vanquish.
To go after terrorists, they become terrorists. To go after drug smugglers, they become drug smugglers. To go after thieves, they become thieves.
For instance, when the FBI raided a California business that was suspected of letting drug dealers anonymously stash guns, drugs, and cash in its private vaults, agents seized the contents of all the safety deposit boxes and filed forfeiture motions to keep the contents, which include millions of dollars worth of valuables owned by individuals not accused of any crime whatsoever.
It’s hard to say whether we’re dealing with a kleptocracy (a government ruled by thieves), a kakistocracy (a government-run by unprincipled career politicians, corporations, and thieves that panders to the worst vices in our nature and has little regard for the rights of American citizens), or if we’ve gone straight to an idiocracy.
This certainly isn’t a constitutional democracy, however.
Some days, it feels like the FBI is running its own crime syndicate complete with mob rule and mafia-style justice.
In addition to creating certain crimes in order to then “solve” them, the FBI also gives certain informants permission to break the law, “including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies,” in exchange for their cooperation on other fronts.
USA Today estimates that agents have authorized criminals to engage in as many as 15 crimes a day (5600 crimes a year). Some of these informants are getting paid astronomical sums: one particularly unsavory fellow, later arrested for attempting to run over a police officer, was actually paid $85,000 for his help laying the trap for an entrapment scheme.
In a stunning development reported by The Washington Post, a probe into misconduct by an FBI agent resulted in the release of at least a dozen convicted drug dealers from prison.
In addition to procedural misconduct, trespassing, enabling criminal activity, and damaging private property, the FBI’s laundry list of crimes against the American people includes surveillance, disinformation, blackmail, entrapment, intimidation tactics, and harassment.
For example, the Associated Press lodged a complaint with the Dept. of Justice after learning that FBI agents created a fake AP news story and emailed it, along with a clickable link, to a bomb threat suspect in order to implant tracking technology onto his computer and identify his location. Lambasting the agency, AP attorney Karen Kaiser railed, “The FBI may have intended this false story as a trap for only one person. However, the individual could easily have reposted this story to social networks, distributing to thousands of people, under our name, what was essentially a piece of government disinformation.”
Then again, to those familiar with COINTELPRO, an FBI program created to “disrupt, misdirect, discredit, and neutralize” groups and individuals the government considers politically objectionable, it should come as no surprise that the agency has mastered the art of government disinformation.
The FBI has been particularly criticized in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks for targeting vulnerable individuals and not only luring them into fake terror plots but actually equipping them with the organization, money, weapons, and motivation to carry out the plots—entrapment—and then jailing them for their so-called terrorist plotting. This is what the FBI characterizes as “forward-leaning—preventative—prosecutions.”
Another fallout from 9/11, National Security Letters, one of the many illicit powers authorized by the USA Patriot Act, allows the FBI to secretly demand that banks, phone companies, and other businesses provide them with customer information and not disclose the demands. An internal audit of the agency found that the FBI practice of issuing tens of thousands of NSLs every year for sensitive information such as phone and financial records, often in non-emergency cases, is riddled with widespread violations.
The FBI’s surveillance capabilities, on a par with the National Security Agency, boast a nasty collection of spy tools ranging from Stingray devices that can track the location of cell phones to Triggerfish devices which allow agents to eavesdrop on phone calls.
In one case, the FBI actually managed to remotely reprogram a “suspect’s” wireless internet card so that it would send “real-time cell-site location data to Verizon, which forwarded the data to the FBI.”
The FBI has also repeatedly sought to expand its invasive hacking powers to allow agents to hack into any computer, anywhere in the world.
Indeed, for years now, the U.S. government has been creating what one intelligence insider referred to as a cyber-army capable of offensive attacks. As Reuters reported back in 2013:
Even as the U.S. government confronts rival powers over widespread Internet espionage, it has become the biggest buyer in a burgeoning gray market where hackers and security firms sell tools for breaking into computers. The strategy is spurring concern in the technology industry and intelligence community that Washington is in effect encouraging hacking and failing to disclose to software companies and customers the vulnerabilities exploited by the purchased hacks. That’s because U.S. intelligence and military agencies aren’t buying the tools primarily to fend off attacks. Rather, they are using the tools to infiltrate computer networks overseas, leaving behind spy programs and cyber-weapons that can disrupt data or damage systems.
As part of this cyberweapons programs, government agencies such as the NSA have been stockpiling all kinds of nasty malware, viruses, and hacking tools that can “steal financial account passwords, turn an iPhone into a listening device, or, in the case of Stuxnet, sabotage a nuclear facility.”
In fact, the NSA was responsible for the threat posed by the “WannaCry” or “Wanna Decryptor” malware worm which—as a result of hackers accessing the government’s arsenal—hijacked more than 57,000 computers and crippled health care, communications infrastructure, logistics, and government entities in more than 70 countries.
Mind you, the government was repeatedly warned about the dangers of using criminal tactics to wage its own cyberwars. It was warned about the consequences of blowback should its cyberweapons get into the wrong hands.
The government chose to ignore the warnings.
That’s exactly how the 9/11 attacks unfolded.
First, the government helped to create the menace that was al-Qaida, and then, when bin Laden had left the nation reeling in shock (despite countless warnings that fell on tone-deaf ears), it demanded—and was given—immense new powers in the form of the USA Patriot Act in order to fight the very danger it had created.
This has become the shadow government’s modus operandi regardless of which party controls the White House: the government creates a menace—knowing full well the ramifications such a danger might pose to the public—then without ever owning up to the part it played in unleashing that particular menace on an unsuspecting populace, it demands additional powers in order to protect “we the people” from the threat.
Yet the powers-that-be don’t really want us to feel safe.
They want us cowering and afraid and willing to relinquish every last one of our freedoms in exchange for their phantom promises of security.
As a result, it’s the American people who pay the price for the government’s insatiable greed and quest for power.
We’re the ones to suffer the blowback.
Blowback is a term originating from within the American Intelligence community, denoting the unintended consequences, unwanted side-effects, or suffered repercussions of a covert operation that fall back on those responsible for the aforementioned operations.
As historian Chalmers Johnson explains, “blowback is another way of saying that a nation reaps what it sows.”
Unfortunately, “we the people” are the ones who keep reaping what the government sows.
We’re the ones who suffer every time, directly and indirectly, from the blowback.
Suffice it to say that when and if a true history of the FBI is ever written, it will not only track the rise of the American police state but it will also chart the decline of freedom in America: how a nation that once abided by the rule of law and held the government accountable for its actions has steadily devolved into a police state where justice is one-sided, a corporate elite runs the show, representative government is a mockery, police are extensions of the military, surveillance is rampant, privacy is extinct, and the law is little more than a tool for the government to browbeat the people into compliance.
This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls.
We can persuade ourselves that life is still good, that America is still beautiful, and that “we the people” are still free. However, as science fiction writer Philip K. Dick warned, “Don’t believe what you see; it’s an enthralling—[and] destructive, evil snare. Under it is a totally different world, even placed differently along the linear axis.”
In other words, as I point out Battlefield America: The War on the American People, all is not as it seems.
The powers-that-be are not acting in our best interests.
“We the people” are not free.
The government is not our friend.
The post The FBI’s Mafia-Style Justice: To Fight Crime, the FBI Sponsors 15 Crimes a Day first appeared on SHTF Plan – When It Hits The Fan, Don’t Say We Didn’t Warn You.
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For a moment, I would like you to take an imaginary tour of a major U.S. city with me, and I would like for you to try to guess which city I am talking about. As you stroll along the sidewalks in the heart of this city, it seems like tents have been erected everywhere. Homelessness is completely and utterly out of control in this particular city, and even though city officials keep making more promises the crisis just continues to get worse. As you continue your tour, you notice multiple addicts doing drugs right in front of you. Drug needles, human waste and other trash are strewn all over the place, and you wonder why nobody from the city has cleaned up the mess. All of this filth has created a stench that is overpowering at times, and you try not to gag. As you travel deeper into the urban core of this city, you are shocked to see two men with guns carjack a woman a couple of blocks away. Not wanting to get involved, you abruptly change direction. You are startled when a couple of addicts that look like they were pulled straight out of a zombie movie start asking you for money, and you begin instinctively walking faster without even thinking about it. Unfortunately, you have stumbled into an alley that you should never have gone down, and you now find yourself completely surrounded by curious street people. You try to make a break for it, but it is too late.
I’ll stop our imaginary tour right there.
Can you guess which major U.S. city I am talking about?
Sadly, the reality of the matter is that there are many U.S. cities that closely fit the description that I just gave you. For example, Los Angeles was once one of the most beautiful cities on the entire planet, but today it is being described as a “squalid cesspool”…
The Democrat-controlled city of Los Angeles has devolved into a squalid cesspool of rampant crime, uncontrolled homelessness and filthy streets littered with trash, drug paraphernalia and human waste.
That’s the observation of numerous Californians, including award-winning actor James Woods, who lamented on Monday that the picturesque city he once loved “is gone.”
If you walk through the streets of Los Angeles today, you will find that homeless people have erected tents literally all over the city. Jeremiah Babe has demonstrated this over and over again in his excellent videos, and the footage that he captures during his visits to the core of Los Angeles just seems to keep getting worse over time.
As conditions in Los Angeles deteriorate, it is fueling a dramatic rise in violent crime. The murder rate in Los Angeles is up 95 percent so far this year, and it is now the number one political issue in the entire city.
Further north, San Francisco officials are dealing with their worst drug epidemic ever. San Francisco has always had a big problem with drugs, but Dr. Christopher Colwell says that the widespread use of fentanyl has taken things to an entirely different level…
“Our most immediate threat right now is the opioid epidemic and the trauma we are seeing. We are seeing increases I haven’t seen in my career around dependency and overdoses, mostly involving fentanyl. We always had problems with opioids, specifically heroin, but fentanyl has changed the whole landscape of drugs.”
When we think of addicts, we tend to envision street people in our minds, but in San Francisco a lot of people that are overdosing these days are respected professionals…
A physician, two nurses, a professional athlete, a drug dealer and a lawyer who had nodded off in court. Teenagers, specifically a 14- and a 15-year-old. And a 7-year-old who got into a stash in her mother’s purse.
These are some of the types of people Dr. Christopher Colwell, the chief of emergency medicine at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, has recently seen in the emergency room for medical issues related to fentanyl use and overdoses.
Whenever you have large numbers of drug addicts in a particular city, you are going to have a problem with property crime. Addicts are always looking for more money to pay for their next hits, and shoplifting has gotten wildly out of control in the city.
What makes things even worse is that shoplifters in San Francisco face very light consequences if they are actually caught, and so at this point they have become extremely brazen…
Alarming video captured the moment a brazen robber filled a garbage bag with products at a San Francisco Walgreens and bicycled out of the store after no one tried to stop him.
The footage posted on Twitter by ABC7 Reporter Lyanne Melendez was filmed on Monday afternoon in a Walgreens at the corner of Gough and Fell streets in the Bay Area – where 17 of the pharmacy’s stores have been forced to close in recent years due to theft.
I watched the video, and the thief actually brushes right up against the security guard without any concern whatsoever.
On the other side of the country, police in the Atlanta area are operating under new rules that restrict them from chasing criminals. This is infuriating many residents, because now violent criminals can literally get away with just about anything if they just drive away fast enough…
This is the moment cops appear to do nothing amid a drive-by shooting in Atlanta as residents of the wealthy Buckhead area say it’s a ‘warzone’ and demand to secede.
The video, which was played on Tucker Carlson Tonight, shows people lining up near a dark-colored van that is parked on the side of the road when a white car passes by and shots ring out, with one going straight through the dark van, striking one of the passersby and sending people scrambling.
A few seconds later, blue lights could be seen reflecting off the windshield of the black van, symbolizing police cars passing by and not stopping at the scene in the wealthy Buckhead neighborhood.
By the way, the murder rate in Atlanta is up 60 percent so far this year, and officials in Atlanta say that they are desperate for solutions.
Here is a solution. Perhaps they should actually allow the police to chase down criminals that are shooting at people.
Just a thought.
Up north, New York City hasn’t seen this much degradation since the dirty days of the 1970s. Crime is wildly out of control, and filth is seemingly everywhere.
Earlier today, I came across a report from the local Fox affiliate that discussed the fact that the number of subway cars that are soiled by “feces, vomit, and blood” is increasing…
As people return to the subway system in New York City, they are finding more trash and filth, according to a new report.
There has been a rise in soiled train cars this year according to Daily News including cases of feces, vomit, and blood.
Do you ever wonder who gets to clean up those messes?
I hope that whoever has to do that job is well paid.
As our major cities degenerate into cesspools of crime, drugs and filth, vast numbers of ordinary citizens are fleeing for greener pastures. In fact, North American Van Lines has just released a report that confirms that there was a huge wave of migration from “blue states” to “red states” in 2020…
The pandemic saw people leave Democratic blue states in droves and head towards sunnier climes in the red states of the south to escape the strict lockdowns and spiraling crime.
A migration report from moving company North American Moving Services found those living in the states of New York, California, Illinois, New Jersey and Maryland headed for Arizona, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Idaho.
Unfortunately, this is just the beginning. As our cities continue to deteriorate, millions more Americans will be seeking to relocate.
Of course this ongoing mass exodus has already pushed home prices in many desirable rural and suburban areas to absolutely absurd levels.
If you are thinking about relocating, I would recommend doing it as soon as possible, because the collapse of our major cities is only going to get worse.
***Michael’s new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.***
About the Author: My name is Michael Snyder and my brand new book entitled “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America” is now available on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book, I have written four others that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing the books you help to support the work that my wife and I are doing, and by giving it to others you help to multiply the impact that we are having on people all over the globe. I have published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but I also ask that they include this “About the Author” section with each article. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Parler, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help. During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with as many people as we possibly can.
The post Many U.S. Cities Are Already Starting To Resemble Post-Apocalyptic Cesspools As America’s Collapse Accelerates first appeared on The Economic Collapse.
Anyone who stockpiles food for a future emergency owes it to themselves to invest in a quality grain mill grinder.
Why? Because it’s the only efficient way to turn whole grains into meals and flours for baking.
Basically, grain mills are an excellent tool if your a prepper OR someone who likes to control the quality of their bread and baked goods.
So today I’m going to share everything I know and I’ve learned about grain mills, specifically:
**Note: If you just want to know our top brands, feel free to SKIP AHEAD HERE.
If you’ve ever been to one of those “living history museums,” you’ve likely seen an old-fashioned stone grain mill. These ancient mills are all similar but turned by different methods:
These stone grain mills spin two close-fitting wheels of coarse stone against each other. This process crushes dried grains into some flour.
The coarseness of the stones and the gap between them controls the result, from a coarse meal to a fine powder flour.
These stone mills worked and served communities for hundreds (if not thousands) of years. But they had their drawbacks.
Building a mill was a very costly process and involved sourcing a lot of power to keep the big wheels spinning. Even a single homestead mill relied on stone wheels weighing a couple of hundred pounds.
And the stones, which ground against each other constantly, slowly wore away. So, they left tiny bits of stone in the flour.
Today’s modern mills are FAR easier to use. They take advantage of advances in materials and design to make them:
Electric power (or a finely machined hand-crank) turns the sharp, metal burr grinders. This process controls the texture of the grind at the twist of a knob.
One of my first jobs was working as a baker’s assistant in a local bakery specializing in bread. I learned two things very quickly:
First, there’s a difference between being a “morning person” and a “baker”:
Being a baker means being at work 3 hours before the morning person wanders in for their fresh baked bread.
Second, and far more importantly:
When working with so few ingredients, they must be of top quality if you want your products to come out well.
Nowhere is that more evident than in the time the bakery owner spends milling his own grains. We went through hundreds of pounds of flour each day.
But we never used processed flour. Instead, we ran 50lb bags of whole grains through an industrial flour mill.
At first, I thought it was a cost-saving technique. A way to make a little more profit on each baguette we sold.
But I did the math one day on my break. I quickly realized he was paying as much in labor as he was saving on bulk flour! So, why did we do this long, dusty chore every day?
Quite simply, the grains we milled to make flour each day made a difference in the:
And we milled the exact mix we needed for each type of bread instead of buying large quantities of the more exotic grains.
Trust me; you won’t find a couple of cups of amaranth or einkorn flour on the shelf at the supermarket.
And we had total control over the quality of grains that went into our flour. So it never had any fillers, preservatives, or additives.
So, if you don’t have a health foods bakery, why would you want to take the time to grind your own grains?
Well, we know eating whole grains can lead to:
We hear about these health benefits on the news, in food commercials, and any time you talk with your doctor. But if those aren’t good enough reasons to consider milling your own grains, here are a few more:
The price of whole grains can be drastically less than flour produced from the same grain.
If you’re not paying someone to mill hundreds of pounds of it for you, you can save some serious cash.
Milling your own flour gives you complete control over the contents of your flour.
From customizing mixes for flavor or nutrition to ensure you don’t get wheat gluten cross-contaminating your rice flour.
DIY milling allows you to know exactly what went into each bag of home-milled flour.
Speaking of flavor, fresh-ground grains have a more complex flavor profile, way more than the mass processed flour shipped throughout the world.
Many of these bland flavors and scents are due to organic compounds in the grain that degrade over time.
This fast degradation contributes to the flat, bland taste of most store-bought flour.
And if you really want to change the nutrition and flavor profile of the grains, try sprouting or malting grains.
This process involves soaking them in water and allowing them to germinate. At which point, drying them out again to stop the process.
Drying helps the seeds begin converting starches to sugars, which releases a totally different, richer flavor in the resulting flours.
Whole grain kernels last far longer in storage than whole grain or processed flours.
If stored properly, they can last months or years. This longevity was due to the cold, dry, and dark conditions of the deep rock tombs.
For many people, the homebrew store is their first introduction to a grain mill.
To make your own beer, you use ground malted barley and other grains for brewing.
If you’re far from a good homebrew store, milling your own grains at home makes sense.
It’s one of the best ways to ensure you have the ingredients needed for your next batch of beer!
There are three major categories of milling mechanisms found in most modern home grain mills:
The type used is directly related to the performance, cost, and longevity of your grain mill grinder, so choose wisely.
Stone burr mills come in a wide range of sizes and milling rates.
Unlike the old natural stone milling discs, modern “stone” burr mills use an engineered material. As a result, they provide a high level of durability, precision, and uniform milling texture.
The tight tolerances and fine texture allow stone burr mills to produce a wide range of products. They can make everything from “cracked” grains to ultrafine flours.
If you plan to do a lot of baking, a stone burr mill might be your best bet for the delicate textures of cakes.
But, due to the porous nature of the grinding surfaces, they’re not great for oily, wet, or fibrous materials.
Steel burr mills are like stone burr mills in capability and longevity.
The major difference is that very few of them can match a stone burr mill in producing the most refined flours.
On the plus side, due to their non-porous steel surfaces, they can grind oily, wet, and fibrous materials.
If you want to make homemade peanut butter, a steel burr mill is a far better choice.
In addition, they’re far less expensive than a premium stone burr mill. And they come with a wide range of options, including different power methods (more on that in a second).
Finally, the newest milling mechanism is the impact “micronizer.” It’s essentially a pair of stainless-steel discs with concentric rings of raised “fins.”
While one disc is held fixed, the other spins at extremely high speeds, this breaks the grains into smaller and smaller pieces as they pass through the gaps between rings.
They’re fast, loud, and only come in electric versions.
They produce a range of flour textures. But are not capable of either the coarsest or finest grinds that burr mills can achieve.
Additionally, an impact mill is not suited for oily, wet, or fibrous materials.
One of the major decision points comes from choosing between an electric mill and a hand crank model.
Each type has some benefits, so you’ll have to evaluate how they work in your plans.
And electric grain mill features a powerful electric motor to drive the grinder. This setup provides you with a low effort means to grind a LOT of grain into flour.
Most electric grain mills have a large hopper to feed in raw whole grains. And can be fitted with a similarly large container to collect your newly milled flour.
This scalability means your only real job is to keep the hopper full.
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Hand-cranked grain mills take a bit more effort. But they work even when the power goes out. So this setup is something to consider if a grain mill is part of your emergency preparedness plan.
In addition to keeping the hopper full, you have the added chore of spinning a hand-crank.
If you’re not up for that kind of an arm workout, some models also feature alternative attachments. Ones that allow you to drive the grinder wheels via a bicycle or other power source.
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If you’re looking at manual grain mills, the milling rate is directly tied to your own efforts.
A slower milling rate will take longer to produce the required amount for your recipe. It will also tie you up in the milling process for longer, keeping you from working on other tasks.
If you’re considering electric mills, the milling rate is far less of a factor. That’s because you can walk away and get other things done while the mill works through the grain.
Hand-cranked burr mills are relatively low noise.
Faster electric burr mills and impact mills can create a lot of extra sound due to their high speeds. If you’re processing a lot of grains, consider this when selecting your work area.
Many times, a covered outdoor space or garage is best for louder mills.
Most mills have a capacity rating based on how much grain you can load into the hopper for processing.
For most manual mills, the capacity is small. But you’ll appreciate the break from cranking to refill the hopper frequently.
For electric mills, a larger hopper is an excellent addition as it allows you to go hands-free for longer.
In larger consumer and light commercial mills, the batch sizes get much more extensive. And the hopper can hold far more raw whole grain.
As with any product, higher quality materials are a plus with grain mill grinders.
These are hard-working pieces of equipment and need to be durable.
Flimsy plastic or thin metal construction in high-stress pieces is likely to fail. And likely when you least expect it.
It’s best to invest in solid cast metal or a high-quality hardwood body. And engineered stone or stainless-steel grinding mechanisms are preferable.
There are hundreds of grain mills on the market today. And many of them make the same claims about efficiency, self-preparedness, and frugality.
In the end, the best grain mill is the one that meets your needs best.
We cover lots of options;
Note: We held back from adding any small commercial models. They’re out there as well if you have access to large amounts of grain. Or if you wish to purchase one as part of a community preparedness effort.
KitchenAid KGM All Metal Grain Mill Attachment
It fits ANY KitchenAid stand mixer model. Just pop off the front power take-off (PTO) cover and attach the mill directly to the mixer.
It’s got a solid aluminum body, auger, and front plate, with a stainless-steel burr grinder inside.
Selecting flour texture is easy with a large adjustment knob on the front, from “cracked” to extra fine.
However, despite the steel burr grinder, the KitchenAid Grain Mill isn’t best for wet/oily foods like nuts. So, if you’re planning your own peanut butter, you’ll want to look at another model.
Some users have noted that the Artisan line of KitchenAid mixers may be a bit underpowered. As a result, they claim they’re prone to overheating when processing harder grains.
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CHARD GM-150
The casting quality is better than some of the even less expensive models. But it’s still a little rough around the edges.
While it’s possible to mill from coarse to fine flour, the GM-150 seems to excel at the middle of the range. But, of course, we’re talking medium-grit flour, where it mills roughly 1lb per minute with a hand-crank.
If you want more refined flours, plan on multiple passes at successively finer settings. This multistep process works far better than trying to mill to the final texture initially.
Please give it a good cleaning when it arrives, though. The factory seems to coat things liberally in protective oil to prevent corrosion.
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CGOLDENWALL 300g
This setup makes for a swift processing electric mill. One that’s also capable of grinding wet or oily materials like nuts.
It has some good safety features which prevent the motor from starting while the lid without the lid. This feature is a crucial feature with a 28,000rpm spinning blade.
But like inexpensive coffee grinders, this mill can produce some uneven grind textures. You can go from fine to coarse in one batch.
Also, the motor is prone to overheating if used for long durations, so working in smaller batches is best.
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Wonder Mill Electric Grain Mill
The Wondermill electric grain mill comes highly rated, both by customers and critics.
It has an impressive milling rate due to a high-speed motor. And well-tuned impact milling mechanism can turn 2 cups of grain into fine flour in under a minute.
They even claim to be able to process over 100lbs per hour! Though that’s a chore likely best left to a small commercial mill.
With a lifetime warranty, you could give it a try, though! Unfortunately, like most impact mills, the Wondermill is on the louder end of the spectrum.
One issue noted, there are only three distinct texture settings (pastry, bread, coarse). So, dialing in the exact texture you need (and anything outside that range) isn’t possible.
Still, the self-contained, easy-clean system is excellent for most users—the combination of these features contributing to its overwhelming popularity.
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Victoria Manual High Hopper Grain Grinder
The adjustments to the milling texture are simple. But does take a bit of learning as there are no set points on the screw mechanism.
But this does mean that the texture is infinitely variable and can be fine-tuned to your exact needs.
One thing to note – the manufacturer states:
The milling mechanism needs 1-2 loads of dried hard beans run through it to remove any burrs left over from the machining process. And the whole assembly should be cleaned and oiled between uses to prevent corrosion.
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KOMO Mills Classic Mill
Most grain mills on our list look like they’d be at home in a commercial kitchen (or a workshop). Yet, the KoMo Mills Classic is designed to be both efficient and beautiful.
The beechwood housing is held together with tight finger joints. This craftmanship makes for a durable framework for the internal corundum-ceramic “stone” burr grinder.
It’s easy to adjust the grind texture from extra fine to barely cracked. And the results are consistent each time.
The large turned bowl hopper holds over 2lbs of grain, and a matching lid keeps down the noise and dust.
The drawback?
As a piece of kitchen art, the KoMo Mills Classic is expensive!
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Blendtec Kitchen Mill
The video series where they transform many objects into a fine powder in a Blendtec countertop blender.
Their Kitchen Mill doesn’t have the same flashy ad campaign. But it does quickly and efficiently turn dried grains into flour!
It features a simple design, with an:
The fast-processing rate (up to 24 cups of flour in under 6 minutes) does quick work and saves time in the kitchen.
It’s on the expensive side, but Blendtec has a reputation for quality and service that’s worth a bit extra.
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Roots & Branches Hand Wheat Grinder
The clean design and well-fit parts, and ergonomics make it efficient to use and easy to store.
The stainless-steel cone-shaped burr mills are precision machined. And ensure a consistent grind texture, which is easily adjustable on the front dial.
Country Living Hand Grain Mill
If you’re looking for a larger capacity, the Delux model has a larger capacity. And an optional electric motor attachment for a slight price difference.
But milling your own grains is a great way to control the cost and composition of the flours and meals.
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The taste, nutrition, and sense of satisfaction that comes with milling your own grain fresh can’t be beaten, especially if a run to the store for a cup of flour isn’t possible.
Article By Jason K.
You can experiment with wild or exotic grains. Or purchase more common whole grains in bulk with extended storage shelf lives.
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The post 9 Best Grain Mills (Electric & Hand Crank) For Wise Preparedness appeared first on Skilled Survival.
