This article was originally published by Ryan McMacken at The Mises Institute. 

Unless members of Congress intervene to prevent it, the food stamp program—also known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—will be suspended beginning November 1. If the federal partial “shutdown” ends before then, the program will likely send out the usual billions of dollars to the nation’s 41 million recipients on schedule.

Needless to say, lobbyists and activists who favor the food stamp program have been working furiously to make sure that the program is not interrupted.

Much of the narrative around food stamps has focused on the fact that millions of low-income households receive more than eight billion dollars in food stamps per month in the United States. The narrative usually works well given that total spending on food stamps has risen significantly in recent years with total inflation-adjusted spending up by nearly 100 percent since 2008, and up by six percent over the past twelve months.

[Read More: “41 Million (One in Eight) US Residents Are on Food Stamps“ by Ryan McMaken]

While the media narrative has focused on low-income recipients, it often ignores the role of corporate and industry lobbyists who work to increase food stamp spending and to ensure the program remains permanent. Farmers, “Big Ag,” grocery retailers, beverage companies, and other industry players are very active in lobbying members of Congress to ensure that food-stamp dollars keep flowing.

This should not surprise us when we consider that food stamps subsidize food and drive up demand for the sorts of products manufactured and sold by a variety of food-related industries.

Consequently, food stamp programs enjoy support from a well-funded alliance of industry lobbyists and “anti-poverty” pressure groups that ceaselessly push for ever larger amounts of tax-dollar funds to be spent on food stamps.

Food Stamps Are Subsidies and Push Up Food Prices 

To understand why private industry groups are such big fans of food stamps, it’s important to recognize how SNAP spending is a wealth transfer from non-SNAP recipients to both SNAP users and to industry groups.

SNAP funds can be used only for food. So, when taxpayer dollars are converted into SNAP funds, this takes dollars that could have been spent on anything and channels those funds into food-only purchases. Moreover, empirical evidence shows that SNAP recipients do not treat SNAP funds as fungible with money in general, and the funds are thus part of a “separate mental account.” Consequently, SNAP spending constitutes “extra” spending above and beyond what would have been spent on food without the subsidy.1

This leads to rising prices in the food and food-services industry because “nutrition programs expand the size of the food and agricultural sector through demand-side effects and act to raise agricultural prices.”2

Other empirical studies have also confirmed that SNAP spending does indeed raise prices and, therefore, constitutes a wealth transfer to SNAP recipients, food producers, and food retailers. Taxpayers and non-SNAP households, of course, are the ones left holding the bag. As Justin H. Leung and Hee Kwon Seo showed in a June 2022 empirical study of food stamps, the program does indeed benefit SNAP recipients the most, but “increased SNAP benefits also benefit producers at the expense of non-SNAP consumers.”

It is clear that by funneling wealth and spending power into a food-only benefits program, demand for food is artificially inflated, and with rising demand comes rising prices. This functions in a way similar to student loans, which have also led to relentless upward pressure in prices in that sector.

Food Stamps as Corporate Welfare

So, it’s easy to see why food-related industry groups would oppose any cuts to the SNAP program. The connection to private industry, however, is nothing new.

The food stamp program is now, and always has been, administered through the Department of Agriculture, and not through the usual home of welfare agencies, the Department of Health and Human Services. This is SNAP is as much a corporate subsidy program as it is a welfare program.

Programs similar to the modern food stamp program were founded during the Great Depression to induce low-income households to purchase “surplus commodities.” The early food stamp programs were justified on the grounds that they helped to stabilize prices by funneling additional dollars to farmers who might otherwise endure sizable decreases in prices for foodstuffs that had been “overproduced.”3 As with many programs that were developed during the New Deal, a goal of food stamps was to increase prices.

The program was discontinued after the Second World War, but the idea was reintroduced by the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations. As with earlier iterations of the program, the new food stamp program—which continues today—was sold in part as a means of subsidizing farmers and other agricultural sectors. Moreover, the program was pushed as a component of the so-called war on poverty.

Ever since, the food stamp program has enjoyed support from special interests and pressure groups that advocate for more federal spending on both low-income households and food-related industries. In a 2019 article for The MIT Press Reader, Andrew Fisher writes:

Throughout the 1960s and until recent times, food stamps have enjoyed strong support from the agriculture industry. As retailers and processors displaced farmers in capturing an ever-greater share of the food dollar, their importance as stakeholders for the program grew. In the 2018 Farm Bill, banks, refrigeration equipment manufacturers and even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce join food retailers, beverage companies, and manufacturers as key stakeholders in the SNAP program. These players have evolved into much more important participants in the program than farm groups, as evidenced by the amount of money they spend on lobbying.

Fisher also notes that total lobbying activity by food-related industries exceeded $171 million in 2018:

Source: MIT Press.

Corporate lobbying to protect SNAP spending has been on display in recent years in reaction to efforts to exclude soft drinks and sugary snacks from SNAP programs. For example, in 2018, when the Trump administration tried to limit SNAP spending in this way, a coalition of private sector groups quickly opposed the measure. In an article for the journal Society, the authors describe how a coalition of the American Beverage Association (ABA), the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), and the National Grocers Association (NGA) all launched a lobbying campaign against any restrictions on SNAP spending.

To this end, industry groups have long allied themselves with the Food Research Action Center (FRAC) which lobbies for more SNAP spending as an “anti-poverty” interest group. Industry groups such as the ABA have become substantial funders of FRAC, and this has helped industry lobbyists gain greater access to Democrats while FRAC has used its ties to corporate lobbyists as a means of influencing Republicans. The pro-SNAP approach is thus bipartisan:

When seeking to influence Congress on SNAP, the beverage industry works through Democrats as well as Republicans, particularly those representing minority districts…

The beverage industry first began appearing on FRAC’s list of funders in 2013, and at FRAC’s 2014 annual benefit dinner a number of industry donors were honored, including Coke, Pepsi, and the ABA. FRAC’s 2017 annual benefit dinner in Washington, D.C., with 300 guests, acknowledged contributions from PepsiCo, the Coca-Cola Company, the American Beverage Association, and FMI.4

Not surprisingly, recent FRAC materials opposing any restrictions on SNAP spending tend to emphasize the cost to retailers. For example, an October 1, 2025 policy paper from FRAC states how SNAP restrictions would negatively impact members of the “National Grocers Association (NGA), FMI — The Food Industry Association, and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).”

Although much of the lobbying is couched in terms of helping poor people, the overall argument made by both FRAC and industry lobbyists is that food retailers should not have to go through the inconvenience of distinguishing between SNAP-compliant foods and non-SNAP-compliant foods.

FRAC and the food lobbyists don’t mention, of course, that merchants who participate in SNAP already have to do this. Grocery stores already carry a wide variety of products that are not SNAP-compliant, including prepared foods and non-food items such as flower arrangements and auto parts.

Clearly, the real purpose of the FRAC/Food Industry position is simply to maximize the number of goods that are eligible for SNAP and thus to increase spending on goods provided by food producers and retailers.

Small retailers—such as corner stores and bodegas—often whine the most about any limits on SNAP spending, stating that merchants cannot absorb the administrative costs of accepting SNAP dollars.

Rarely mentioned, of course, is that participation in SNAP is not mandatory. Small retailers—and indeed, large retailers too—could simply choose not to participate in SNAP programs and avoid all the hassle of excluding soft drinks and sugary snacks from real food. In truth, of course, these retailers want access to the artificially inflated spending levels that come with the food-stamp subsidy. This is why retailers to prominently advertise that they accept food stamps.

The motivations of the beverage industry are even more transparent. We already know that soft drinks are among the most popular purchases among SNAP recipients. Without the SNAP subsidy, spending on soft drinks would likely fall substantially, and with it, soft-drink prices.

Taxpayers then pay twice. They pay the taxes to subsidize food producers, and then the taxpayers also pay higher prices at the grocery store. Consequently, the SNAP program is a way for Pepsico and the Coca-Cola company—as well as countless other food-industry players—to legally rip off the American taxpayer.

I have been hearing from a lot of people about the month of November. Many are convinced that things are going to get really crazy next month, and I think that it is quite likely that they are correct. Of course things are already starting to get crazy all over the globe and we haven’t even gotten to the month of November yet. One of the strongest hurricanes in recorded history just made landfall, renewed fighting has erupted in the Middle East, the streets of Rio de Janeiro have been transformed into a war zone, and the bird flu is absolutely ripping across Germany. Unfortunately, what we are experiencing now may just be a prelude to what is coming next month.

On Monday, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica with maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour.

The Daily Mail is referring to it as the “storm of the century”…

Hurricane Melissa made landfall across the Caribbean Monday afternoon as the terrifying storm is set to be the worst in history.

The Category 5 hurricane, which has been described as the ‘storm of the century’ that is now stronger than Katrina, is expected to unleash destruction across Jamaica with intense flooding and 185mph winds.

This storm suddenly became one of the strongest hurricanes that we have ever seen.

If a “Category 6” actually existed, it would have been classified as a Category 6 storm.

Personally, I think that it is time to update the scale.

If you can believe it, up to 40 inches of rain is expected to fall in some areas…

The National Hurricane Center is warning that up to 40 inches of rain could fall in southern Hispaniola and Jamaica through Wednesday.

That torrential rainfall is likely to trigger catastrophic, life-threatening flash flooding and landslides in Jamaica and Haiti, especially in hilly and mountainous terrain, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In eastern Cuba, up to 25 inches of rain could fall through Wednesday, with potentially catastrophic flash flooding and landslides. And in the southeast Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, up to 10 inches of rain could fall through Wednesday night, with flash flooding expected.

In my entire lifetime, I have never been anywhere that has received that much rain.

I can’t even imagine what that would look like.

The good news is that Hurricane Melissa is not expected to hit the United States.

Let us hope that our meteorologists are correct about that.

Elsewhere, the very fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be collapsing.

Renewed fighting erupted on Tuesday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered his forces to carry out “powerful strikes”…

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he has ordered the army to immediately carry out “powerful strikes” in Gaza, and Hamas responded by saying it would delay handing over the body of a hostage, putting new pressure on the tenuous U.S.-brokered ceasefire.

Associated Press reporters and witnesses heard tank fire and saw explosions in various parts of Gaza, including in Gaza City and Deir al-Balah.

The order from Netanyahu follows heightened tensions, as Israel reported Hamas firing on its forces in southern Gaza and after Hamas returned a set of remains that Israel said belonged to a hostage recovered earlier in the war.

If the ceasefire is not restored soon, things could quickly spiral out of control.

At this stage, Israeli leaders are already considering several drastic military options…

An Israeli official told CNN that among the options being considered are expanding the so-called yellow line – Israel’s withdrawal line in Gaza – reoccupying additional territory, or retaking the Netzarim corridor, which cuts across Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to bomb targets in southern Lebanon…

Despite a US-backed ceasefire having officially been in place for over a year in Lebanon, Israel has been steadily ratcheting its aerial attacks in southern Lebanon, against what it says are Hezbollah and terror targets, resulting in scores of casualties.

The latest attack came on Monday, with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) having confirmed an airstrike in the al-Biyad area of southern Lebanon, which killed two Hezbollah operatives.

One of the Hezbollah operatives that the IDF took out was named Abbas Hassan Karky.

According to the IDF, he was involved in “efforts to rebuild Hezbollah’s combat capabilities”…

ELIMINATED: Abbas Hassan Karky, the logistics commander of Hezbollah’s Southern Front headquarters, was struck & eliminated in the Nabatieh area of southern Lebanon.

Abbas led recent efforts to rebuild Hezbollah’s combat capabilities: Managing the transfer and storage of weapons and assisting in the reestablishment of terrorist infrastructure that had been dismantled during the war, south of the Litani River.

To me, it appears that the war in the Middle East is far from over.

In fact, I think that it is quite likely that we could see a major “surprise” in the weeks ahead.

Before I move on to my next topic, there is one more thing that I wanted to mention.

All of a sudden, Turkey is making a major push “to gain international recognition of its sovereignty over the Golan Heights”…

Syria, backed by Turkey and several Arab countries, has launched a diplomatic campaign to gain international recognition of its sovereignty over the Golan Heights and to return the territory to its control. The move runs counter to ongoing security negotiations between Syria and Israel.

Israel annexed the Golan Heights by law in 1981 and considers it fully sovereign Israeli territory. That sovereignty was recognized by President Donald Trump during his first term, through a 2019 presidential proclamation. As a gesture of appreciation, the Israeli government announced the establishment of the community Trump Heights.

Why is Syria choosing to do this at this time?

Could this spark a conflict between Israel and Syria’s new regime?

We shall see.

On the other side of the planet, the U.S. military just bombed four more narco-trafficking vessels…

The U.S. military on Monday struck four more vessels that were allegedly trafficking narcotics in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing 14 and leaving one survivor, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on X.

The four vessels were hit in three different strikes, Hegseth said. The strikes bring the total death toll in President Trump’s campaign against alleged traffickers in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific to more than 50.

“The four vessels were known by our intelligence apparatus, transiting along known narco-trafficking routes, and carrying narcotics,” Hegseth wrote. “Eight male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessels during the first strike. Four male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the second strike. Three male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the third strike. A total of 14 narco-terrorists were killed during the three strikes, with one survivor. All strikes were in international waters with no U.S. forces harmed.”

In recent years, hundreds of thousands of Americans have been killed by illegal drugs that have come pouring into this country from elsewhere.

So something had to be done.

But if all of this is leading up to full-blown war with Venezuela and/or Colombia, that won’t be good at all.

In Brazil, a government operation that is targeting narco-traffickers has turned the streets of Rio de Janeiro into a war zone…

Dozens are dead, including four police officers, following a major narcoterrorism operation targeting organized crime in Rio de Janeiro. The government operation comes less than two weeks before globalists gather for the COP30 global warming conference in Belem, Brazil.

“We stand firm confronting narcoterrorism,” Governor Claudio Castro wrote on X. He said 2,500 security personnel and 32 armored trucks were a part of the operation across the Alemao and Penha favela regions.

If you think that the term “war zone” is an exaggeration, just watch this video.

I can’t remember ever seeing anything quite like this in Brazil.

Hopefully order will be restored rapidly.

In the Philippines, Taal Volcano has suddenly roared to life…

Over the course of 24 hours spanning October 25 and 26, 2025, Taal Volcano reminded the Philippines—and the world—why it’s considered one of the most unpredictable volcanoes on the planet. Residents of Batangas Province woke to the sight of towering ash plumes and the faint smell of sulfur. At least four short-lived eruptions, classified as minor phreatic and phreatomagmatic events, rocked the northeastern portion of Taal’s Main Crater. These eruptions sent dense columns of ash and steam shooting 1,200 to 2,100 meters into the sky, casting a gray pall over nearby communities in Laurel and Agoncillo.

This is a really big volcano, and a full-blown eruption could cause a tremendous amount of destruction.

So let’s watch this one closely.

Over in Europe, they are dealing with a different sort of a crisis.

The bird flu has been ripping across the continent in recent weeks, and Germany has been getting hit particularly hard…

Over half a million hens, ducks, geese and turkeys have been culled in Germany since the start of September as a virulent strain of bird flu sweeps the country.

According to the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), the German government agency responsible for monitoring animal pestilence, there have been 30 registered outbreaks in poultry batteries and another 73 among wild birds.

“And we’re expecting more,” a spokesperson told the dpa news agency, explaining that another 23 suspected cases are currently being investigated.

Egg prices are likely to spike once again in the months ahead.

That would be a best-case scenario.

In a worst-case scenario, the bird flu would mutate into a form that can spread easily among humans and millions would die.

Last week, I wrote about how a team of researchers in the United States and South Korea has come up with a version of the bird flu that has a 100 percent death rate in mammals.

They are assuring us that this new version of the bird flu will never get out, but as we have seen, it is way too easy for accidents to happen.

In fact, a truck that was carrying rhesus monkeys that were infected with “hepatitis C, herpes and COVID” just overturned in Mississippi…

A truck hauling “aggressive” rhesus monkeys carrying hepatitis C, herpes and COVID overturned Tuesday in Mississippi, allowing them to escape.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said most of the escaped animals had been destroyed or remained in their cages, but one was still on the loose.

“The monkeys are approximately 40 (pounds), they are aggressive to humans and they require PPE to handle,” a sheriff’s spokesperson said on Facebook.

If you live in Mississippi and you see a diseased rhesus monkey running around in your neighborhood, it would probably be wise to avoid it.

One of these days, there will be an “accident” that they are not able to contain.

And that day may be coming a lot sooner than many people think.

Our ability to create deadly diseases is far greater than our ability to control them, and we will eventually pay a very great price for our reckless behavior.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post A Lot Of Really Crazy Things Are Starting To Happen And We Haven’t Even Gotten To The Month Of November Yet appeared first on End Of The American Dream.

It appears that this government shutdown could go on for a while, and that is not good news for the U.S. economy at all. On day 28 of the shutdown, the U.S. Senate failed to advance a bill to end the shutdown for the 13th consecutive time. They can keep holding more votes, but the outcome will remain the same. We are potentially just days away from a scenario in which approximately 42 million Americans will lose their food stamp benefits, and that could result in widespread chaos all over the nation. Meanwhile, the U.S. economy as a whole continues to move in the wrong direction very rapidly.

At this point, dissatisfaction with the economy has become so pervasive that even CNN is talking about it…

A collective angst is taking root. Maybe you feel it watching the news, scrolling social media, standing in line at the grocery checkout. Something’s off, and maybe it’s been that way for a while, but it hasn’t always been this tense, right?

I am sure that you can feel it too.

People are on edge.

Thousands of stores have been closing all over the nation, the cost of just about everything keeps going up, and shocking mass layoffs are being conducted from coast to coast.  The following are 9 signs that the U.S. economy is shutting down all around us…

#1 When the economy is booming, delivery companies are usually thriving and hiring lots of new people.  So it is a really bad sign that UPS has chosen to eliminate 48,000 workers…

United Parcel Service has cut 48,000 management and operations positions, the company disclosed Tuesday when it reported earnings.

Of those roles, 14,000 were management positions and 34,000 were jobs in operations. The reductions came through layoffs and buyouts, the company said.

#2 14,000 Amazon employees have been let go in “the first wave” of mass layoffs that are ultimately expected to reduce the number of workers by 30,000…

On Tuesday, Amazon confirmed plans to cut about 14,000 corporate jobs as the online retail giant ramps up spending on artificial intelligence.

It’s the first wave in a mass layoff that’s expected to slash 30,000 Amazon positions, or 10 percent of the corporate staff.

‘Some may ask why we’re reducing roles when the company is performing well,’ Beth Galetti, an HR lead at Amazon, wrote in a public note.

#3 Target has announced that approximately 1,000 highly paid corporate workers will be hitting the bricks…

Target is cutting about 1,000 corporate positions and eliminating 800 open roles in an effort to speed up business decision-making and drive growth under its new chief executive, Michael Fiddelke.

Fiddelke, who will succeed Brian Cornell as CEO in February, has been focused on ways to speed up the way corporate teams work, turning the company into a leaner and faster organization to drive innovation. This includes eliminating layers of management.

About 80% of the roles being cut are based in the U.S., with the majority concentrated in the Minneapolis area, where the company is headquartered, and in leadership positions.

#4 Chegg has fallen on really hard times, and so it will be slashing 45 percent of its entire workforce…

Chegg Inc., a Santa Clara-based online learning platform, said Monday it will cut about 45% of its workforce – roughly 388 employees – as it confronts what it calls “the new realities of AI and reduced traffic from Google to content publishers.”

In its official statement, the company said the restructuring plan reflects “a significant decline in Chegg’s traffic and revenue,” which it has attributed to shifts in generative AI and changing search patterns.

#5 Brighter days were supposed to be ahead for Paramount, but we have just learned that about 1,000 jobs are now on the chopping block…

Paramount will slash roughly 1,000 jobs on Wednesday, Fox News Digital has confirmed.

A headcount reduction has been expected since Paramount Global and Skydance merged earlier this year, putting CEO David Ellison in charge of the newly formed Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. Sources familiar with the situation said that “approximately” 1,000 positions will be cut as layoffs begin.

#6 The job cuts that are happening at Nestle are particularly brutal.  The new CEO has decided to give the axe to 16,000 loyal employees…

Nestle will cut 16,000 jobs, new CEO Philipp Navratil said on Thursday, as the world’s largest packaged food company seeks to cut costs and win back investor confidence.

The jobs being cut represent 5.8% of Nestle’s around 277,000 employees. Navratil said Nestle had raised its cost savings target to 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.77 billion) from 2.5 billion francs by the end of 2027.

#7 Have you ever heard of a candy company filing for bankruptcy right before Halloween?  Yes, that actually just happened…

A hugely popular candy company has filed for bankruptcy just days before Halloween — the biggest candy-buying week of the year.

Candy Warehouse, an online store that sells more than 6,000 types of sweets in bulk to families as well as other businesses, filed for bankruptcy protection on October 24.

The timing is especially striking, coming right before a holiday that’s all about candy.

#8 It is not a good time to be in the baby business.  Carter’s is telling us that it now plans to permanently close approximately 150 stores in North America…

Carter’s, the Atlanta-based baby clothing chain behind brands like OshKosh B’gosh, Otter Avenue, and Skip Hop, says it will shut down about 150 stores across North America.

That’s up from its earlier plan to close 100 underperforming locations.

#9 The Westminster Mall was once “the second-highest grossing retail site in the US”, but now it is being shut down forever…

In 1986, it was the second-highest grossing retail site in the US, according to the Times. Chains like Macy’s, Sears, JCPenney, Target, Best Buy, Old Navy, and Spencer’s all had a shop in the mall.

Its over 1 million square foot floor plan spanned two levels and even featured a carousel. It was developed on an old goldfish farm.

But, after 51 years, developers are ending most of the store’s leases and turning the property’s 100-acres into a 3,000-unit housing project.

The primary reason why so many retailers are going belly up is because most U.S. consumers are tapped out.

In fact, almost half of the average paycheck in the United States “is spent within 48 hours of payday”…

• Nearly half (48%) of the average American paycheck is spent within 48 hours of payday, with over a third gone in just 12 hours
• Millennials spend the fastest, burning through 40% of their earnings within the first 12 hours, which is more than any other generation
• Gen Z workers paid $275 in overdraft and late fees over the past year, compared to just $27 for baby boomers, a ten-to-one gap
• Among stressed workers, 62% say being paid daily or as they work would improve their financial wellness and cut stress by an average of 57%

We are a nation that is teetering on the brink, and it isn’t going to take much to push us over the edge.

So let us hope that the government shutdown is resolved soon.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that is going to happen.

In just a few weeks, things could look very different than they do now.

There is so much anger percolating under the surface, and we are rapidly approaching a boiling point.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post As The Government Shutdown Drags On, Here Are 9 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Shutting Down All Around Us appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

SAFETY AND LEGAL DISCLAIMER: Use this skill only in true emergencies on property you own or where you have clear duty or permission. When learning how to break down a door, wearing protective eyewear and gloves will reduce injury risk.

Quick Answers to Common Questions on How to Break Down a Door
Readers tend to ask the same practical things. Keep these information in mind when you train or teach others on how to break down a door:

Q: Can you kick open an interior door?
A: Sometimes. Expect multiple controlled strikes at the latch side.

Q: Should you kick or use your shoulder when trying to break down a door?
A: Kicking offers better reach and power. However, using your shoulder offers control and less ankle risk. Choose based on footing and space.

Q: When trying to break down a door, where do I aim?
A: Aim at the latch area beside the knob, a few inches from the edge. Make sure to avoid the knob itself.

It is a quiet Saturday morning. Water runs behind a locked bathroom door. Your teenager answered once, then went silent. You hear the tub filling and a dull bump against the porcelain. You have a compact pry bar in the car and basic tools in a drawer. You need a fast, safe way in. Should you just wait it out, or should you start planning an intervention?

Ignoring this scenario or any similar situation can sometimes lead to a bigger tragedy. According to the American Association of Pediatrics, most in-home child drownings happen in bathtubs during lapses in supervision. In many cases, a bathroom door locked from the inside can hamper any attempts to check in on children or attend to an emergency. Learning how to break down a door in an emergency can make the difference between a timely response and being too late to do anything.

This guide keeps you in that hallway and shows you how to act without wasting motion. You will start with low-damage methods. If those fail, you will use controlled force at the latch side. If the lock area will not give, you will work the hinges or choose another entry. After you get inside, you will control the swing, help the person, and secure utilities.

How to Break Down a Door in an Emergency: Immediate Assessment

Before you reach for tools, confirm that entry is necessary and choose the lowest-risk path. A quick assessment prevents avoidable damage and speeds the right choice.

Steps to verify and choose the method
Work through this short check so you do not break a door that would open with a simple fix.

1. Confirm the emergency. Call through the door. Ask the person to move away and answer. Listen for running water, a collapse, or any sign of distress. Feel near the top of the door with the back of your hand. If it is hot, do not open. Find another path.
2. Identify door type. Interior hollow-core that swings inward is common and easier. Exterior solid wood or metal is tougher. If the door opens outward, plan for hinge work or another entry.
3. Check the gap and hardware. Look at the latch line, strike plate screws, and hinges. Note anything loose or exposed that you can use.

Low-Damage Options That Work Fast

Many interior doors are locked by a spring latch, not a deadbolt. This makes it more difficult to break down a door by brute force alone. To save time and repairs, try these measures that allow you to pick the right method and minimize damage:

• Latch slip. Slide a rigid card or shim at the latch line, slightly above the latch, angled toward the strike plate. Wiggle and pull.
• Remove the knob. Use the release hole or exposed screws. Pull the knob and move the latch tab with a flat tool.
• Pop hinge pins. If the door opens inward and the pins are visible on your side, tap them up and lift the door.
• Unscrew the strike plate. Two to four short screws may be all that holds the latch.

If none of these work and the situation is getting worse, move to controlled force.

How to Break Down a Door: Controlled Force on Inward-Opening Doors

Once you start trying to break down a door, you become committed to entry. Remember that your goal is to fail the frame at the latch area, not to smash the center panel. As such, work with balance and short bursts of power instead of going all-out.

Principles for safe, effective force
Get stable, target the weak point, and reassess after short sets.

1. Set your stance. Feet shoulder width. Angle your body toward the latch side. Protect your eyes. Clear bystanders from the swing arc.
2. Choose a power method.
   • Heel kick. Drive the heel of a sturdy shoe into the panel line beside the lock. Reset your footing between strikes.
   • Shoulder check. Tuck your chin, forearm over your face, and strike the same zone.
   • Pry assist. Seat a pry bar in the latch gap and lever while you kick or lean.
3. Work in short sets. Deliver two to four clean strikes. Pause. Look for splitting near the strike. If you see movement, continue along the same vertical line a few inches higher or lower.
4. If the lock side will not give. Shift to the hinge side. Remove hinge screws if visible. If not, place controlled strikes near the top hinge first, then the bottom. The top hinge carries more load.
5. Control the swing. As the latch fails, catch the edge with a foot or hand to slow the door. Announce your entry and clear debris.

Mid-sequence visual: Water creeps under the threshold. Your first set flexes the frame. You reseat the pry bar at the strike gap, lean in, and deliver two clean strikes. The latch gives. You guide the door open and step in with control.

Outward-Opening or Reinforced Doors: Alternate Entry Paths

Some doors resist latch-side force or open outward. In these cases, pick the path that fails the fewest parts in the least time.

Options when the strike side cannot be forced
Use the simplest mechanical weakness you can reach.

• Work the hinges. If hinge pins or screws are visible on your side, pull them and lift the door.
• Choose another path. Interior drywall between studs is often faster to breach than a reinforced jamb. A small window covered with a thick cloth can allow safer entry with controlled glass.
• Call for help if needed. If nothing gives and a life is at risk, request professional assistance while you manage the scene.

What Usually Goes Wrong and How to Fix It

Most errors come from poor aim and wasted energy. Small changes prevent injuries and save time.

Common mistakes and simple fixes
Match each issue with a quick adjustment that improves results.

• Aiming at the knob. Aim beside the latch where the frame is weakest.
• Throwing wild strikes. Use short, repeatable power to protect ankles and shoulders.
• Skipping reassessment. After two to four strikes, stop and check progress. Change tactics if nothing moves.
• Forgetting simple tools. A mini pry bar, screwdrivers, and shims solve many lock-only problems.

After You Break Down a Door: Stabilize, Document, and Harden

Gaining entry is not the end. Secure people and hazards, then make quick repairs to prevent repeat failures.

Immediate steps after entry
Follow this sequence to prevent secondary harm.

• Victim care. Move the person from the hazard. Manage bleeding and airway. Call EMS if not already on the way.
• Utilities. Shut off water, power, or gas to the room if needed.
• Scene safety. Prop or remove the broken door so it cannot trap anyone.
• Document and repair. Photograph the damage. Replace strike plate screws with 3 inch screws and reinforce the frame.

After-action narrative
After the door gave, you shut off the water and confirmed your teenager was responsive. The room calmed. You propped the broken door so it could not trap anyone, placed the medical call, took two photos for documentation, and upgraded the strike plate on the spot. The controlled strikes at the latch side worked on the first cycle, which kept damage contained. From here, schedule a checkup, replace the rest of the interior strike screws with 3 inch hardware, and stage a mini pry bar in the hall cabinet so the next response is faster and cleaner.

Minimal Rescue Breach Kits for Real Homes

The right tools turn a hard problem into a short task. Build a staged kit so you always have a workable option.

Good, fits in a drawer
Safety glasses, work gloves, flat screwdriver, stout putty knife, duct tape, mini pry bar.

Better, lives in the vehicle
18 to 24 inch pry bar, #2 Phillips and flat drivers, adjustable wrench, compact folding saw, trauma shears, headlamp.

Best, for community responders
Halligan-style multipurpose pry, 2 to 4 lb sledge, door shims, window punch, heavy gloves, eye and ear protection, compact trauma kit with tourniquet and gauze.

Breaking Down A Door in an Emergency Requires Skill With Restraint

Knowing how to break down a door is a rescue skill. You learn it so you can act when seconds matter. You keep it in reserve the rest of the time. Use it for life and safety, not out of frustration or anger. The same discipline that carries you through a clean entry also tells you when to step back, try a less destructive option, or call for help. Mastery is the judgment to know when to act and when not to, and the confidence to execute cleanly when it counts.

To learn more skills and technique that can potentially save the day, check out our SHTF Skills page.

This article was originally published by Lipton Matthews at The Mises Institute. 

Lawrence Mead’s Political Breakdown (2025) is not a book of partisan skirmishing or quick diagnoses. It is instead a cultural meditation on why the United States, a society that once seemed uniquely dynamic, confident, and cohesive, now struggles to maintain the very norms that powered its rise. For Mead, the story of American decline is not simply about inequality, polarization, or stagnant wages, though these are real enough. It is about the erosion of the ethic of individualism that once held society together.

The United States—unlike many other nations—thrived because it demanded that its citizens take responsibility for themselves. Families, schools, and communities expected individuals to cultivate discipline, ambition, and civic responsibility. The problem today, Mead insists, is that these norms no longer command the same authority. What was once a shared cultural foundation has fractured, and the resulting void has left Americans unable to sustain progress or govern themselves effectively.

Education policy provides one of the clearest illustrations of this thesis. Mead revisits the landmark Coleman Report of 1966, which was intended to measure whether unequal school resources accounted for differences in student achievement. Its conclusions shocked policymakers: the quality of schools mattered far less than family background. Children from intact and disciplined households outperformed their peers regardless of school resources, while children from unstable families struggled even in well-funded environments. This finding challenged the assumptions behind the War on Poverty, which poured enormous resources into schools and early education programs in the belief that equalizing institutional conditions would produce equal results.

Head Start—the most famous of these interventions—appeared promising at first, as children displayed modest gains in early test scores. Yet by the third grade, those gains had evaporated, and participants had fallen back into patterns of underachievement. For Mead, the lesson is obvious but often ignored: when the family fails to transmit responsibility and discipline, institutions cannot fill the void. Culture matters more than the classroom, and policies that deny this reality are destined to fail.

This insistence on culture also shapes Mead’s interpretation of black progress. He argues that African Americans were advancing before civil rights legislation, albeit unevenly and under difficult conditions. In the first half of the twentieth century, blacks displayed high marriage rates, strong church involvement, rising literacy, and steady gains in income and employment. Segregation imposed cruel limits, yet within those constraints, family cohesion and communal discipline allowed steady improvement. The tragedy, Mead observes, is that after the civil rights revolution removed formal barriers, the cultural underpinnings of progress collapsed. Out-of-wedlock births soared, crime rates escalated, and dependency on welfare deepened. The sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan foresaw this unraveling in his 1965 report on the black family, warning that the collapse of paternal authority would jeopardize advancement. His predictions were dismissed at the time as racist alarmism, but history vindicated his insight. In Mead’s view, the paradox is stark: blacks were moving upward when family stability remained strong, and faltered when it disintegrated, despite the new opportunities that legal equality provided. Progress was less about the removal of barriers than about the preservation of cultural supports, and when those supports gave way, the results were devastating.

The family emerges here not as a private institution but as the essential transmitter of culture. Children acquire discipline, ambition, and the ability to delay gratification not from government programs but from the daily routines of family life. When the family disintegrates, schools cannot replace it, and the wider society must absorb the consequences in the form of crime, welfare dependency, and social disorder.

Similarly, Mead extends his cultural analysis to immigration, where the transformation wrought by the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act has reshaped American society. The earlier waves of European immigrants, though not perfectly aligned with the Anglo-Protestant culture of individualism, were close enough to adapt within one or two generations. They entered a society that demanded assimilation, and the pressure to conform produced remarkable results. The post-1965 influx, however, came primarily from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, regions with collectivist traditions that placed greater emphasis on kinship loyalty, hierarchy, or deference to authority than on individual initiative. At the same time, American society had abandoned its older insistence on cultural conformity, preferring instead to celebrate diversity and minimize assimilation. The result has been a profound divergence in outcomes.

Jacob Vigdor’s research on assimilation provides the empirical backbone for this analysis. Vigdor developed an index to examine how dissimilar immigrants are from native-born Americans across three dimensions: economic assimilation, cultural assimilation, and civic assimilation. His findings reveal a troubling picture. While immigrants generally perform relatively well in economic terms—employment, income, and wealth—assimilation in culture and civics lags far behind. Language acquisition is slower than in earlier generations, intermarriage rates are lower, and differences in marital patterns and family structure remain persistent. Civic assimilation is also weaker, with lower rates of naturalization and participation in activities such as military service. Most strikingly, overall assimilation today is much lower than it was a century ago, and among all immigrant groups, Mexicans remain the least assimilated. This persistence of cultural distance matters enormously, because it undermines the individualistic ethos that Mead regards as essential for American success. Immigrants are no longer compelled to adapt as earlier arrivals were, and the consequence is a society in which cultural fragmentation persists across generations.

Hispanics illustrate these challenges most clearly. Their familism generates warmth, solidarity, and resilience, but it also limits individual ambition. When loyalty to the family takes precedence over personal advancement, educational attainment suffers, and civic engagement falters. This pattern explains why, even after decades in the United States, many Hispanics continue to lag in measures of assimilation. Blacks and Hispanics thus reach the same point from different trajectories: both remain handicapped by the absence of deeply ingrained individualism. Blacks suffer from welfare dependency and family breakdown; Hispanics from a cultural inheritance that prizes kinship over ambition. In both cases, the result is diminished upward mobility in an environment that rewards independence and initiative.

East Asian Americans present a different case. They outperform other minority groups in education and income and often surpass whites. Their success reflects cultural traditions of discipline, respect for authority, and an extraordinary capacity for hard work. Christian Goldhammer’s 2012 study highlights the importance of non-cognitive skills in this process, showing that Asians score higher on measures of non-cognitive traits that yield a wage advantage even when environmental factors are controlled for. Yet their cultural orientation toward deference and harmony also curbs assertiveness in leadership roles. East Asians thrive in structured settings such as schools and corporations but are less prominent in executive and political life. Their success thus demonstrates that culture can equip groups for extraordinary achievement, but it also illustrates that not all cultural strengths align equally with the demands of American public life, which prizes assertiveness and self-promotion.

However, the larger theme that emerges from Political Breakdown is the uniqueness of Western culture. Shaped by Christianity and centuries of historical development, the West cultivated an ethic of individual responsibility, initiative, and voluntary cooperation that made democratic self-government and modern capitalism possible. Many other societies, by contrast, have organized life around kinship, hierarchy, or communal obligation. These systems foster solidarity but not the independent individual. Mead insists that the decline of American politics cannot be understood apart from the weakening of this ethic. Adverse social development—crime, welfare dependency, failing schools, and workplace dysfunction—is the result of cultural erosion. When families no longer transmit discipline, when immigrants are not assimilated, and when groups embrace grievance over responsibility, the cultural foundations of democracy collapse.

Political Breakdown is a powerful and unsettling book. Its strength lies in Mead’s refusal to evade cultural explanations, even when they offend prevailing sensibilities. Yet it would have been stronger had he engaged directly with the growing empirical literature on cognitive and non-cognitive group differences, which reinforces his central claims with precision. Nonetheless, Mead’s message is clear: America’s political crisis is not simply partisan polarization but the visible expression of a deeper cultural breakdown. Without a renewed commitment to individualism, responsibility, and assimilation, the nation will remain mired in division and decline.

This article was originally published by Jacob Thomas at Natural News. 

• • An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a real threat that can instantly destroy electronic devices and cripple modern infrastructure, originating from either a high-altitude nuclear detonation or an extreme solar storm.

• • Many common household items are surprisingly vulnerable, including refrigerators, electrical well pumps, landline phones, smart home devices, and the chargers for power tools.

• • Life-sustaining medical equipment like CPAP machines, insulin pumps, and pacemakers are at high risk, which could have fatal consequences for those who depend on them.

• • Proactive preparedness is essential and involves using surge protectors, keeping non-electronic backups (like basic thermostats and phones), and storing critical backup electronics in shielded Faraday cages.

• • Building resilience requires a layered approach, including maintaining stocks of simple replacement parts, installing specialized surge protection, and understanding your home’s specific vulnerabilities to mitigate the effects of an EMP.

In an increasingly digital world, your dependence on technology is absolute. But what if a single, invisible event could erase that progress in an instant? The threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a massive burst of electromagnetic energy, is not just science fiction; it’s a potential reality that could devastate the electronic infrastructure of modern society. While many are aware of the risk to smartphones and computers, the vulnerability of everyday household items is far more extensive and surprising.

An EMP generates a powerful electromagnetic pulse so intense that it can destroy a wide range of electronic devices. This pulse can originate from two primary sources:

• • The high-altitude detonation of a nuclear device

• • An extreme solar storm, such as the historic Carrington Event of 1859, which caused telegraph systems to fail and even spark.

As explained by BrightU.AI‘s Enoch, “when an EMP occurs, the resulting energy surge can fry sensitive circuitry directly or travel through the power grid, overloading and destroying anything connected to it.”

Your home’s hidden vulnerabilities

Beyond your phone and computer, numerous essential appliances and systems are at risk. Here are some of the most critical:

• • Refrigerators and freezers: The electronics controlling the compressor are highly vulnerable. A grid surge could bypass your kitchen’s circuit breaker, destroying the appliance.

• • Electrical well pumps: For rural homes, a destroyed well pump means no water. The pump is doubly vulnerable, susceptible to both the direct EMP effect and any grid surge drawn to its grounding.

• • Landline phones: Even traditional landlines are not safe. The EMP’s energy can travel more easily through phone lines than power cables, frying the phone’s circuitry. It can even spark and hurt you if you happen to be holding the phone to your face at the time

• • Smart home devices: Your Wi-Fi router, smart thermostat, and similar devices are easily destroyed. This could leave your furnace or air conditioner operational but uncontrollable.

• • Power tool smart chargers: The tools themselves may be safe, but the smart chargers for their lithium-ion batteries are highly vulnerable, especially when plugged in and actively charging.

Here are some prevention tips:

• • Plug your refrigerator into a high-quality surge protector. While the protector may be sacrificed, it could buffer the appliance, allowing you to run it on a generator later.

• • Install a dedicated lightning arrester for the pump to absorb the brunt of the surge.

• • Keep a simple, non-electronic backup or rotary phone. The overhead lines might survive, allowing you to reconnect and get service.

• • Keep a basic, $20 replacement thermostat in your emergency stocks to regain manual control of your HVAC system.

• • Unplug chargers when not in use and remove the battery. Prioritize tools with simple, “old-fashioned” chargers.

The most alarming vulnerabilities lie in life-sustaining medical equipment. If you rely on such devices, keep a backup stored safely, preferably unpowered and underground. For pacemaker users, do not delay scheduled upgrades to newer, better-shielded models.

• • CPAP machines and insulin pumps: These devices can be interrupted or destroyed by the intense electromagnetic interference.

• • Pacemakers: Older models are highly susceptible to damage or service interruption. An EMP could deliver a potentially fatal blow.

How to build resilience

The key to surviving an EMP is a layered approach to preparedness:

• • Maintain backup stocks: Store simple replacements for critical items like thermostats, landline phones, and medical devices.

• • Utilize Faraday cages: Store your backup electronics in these shielded enclosures to protect them from the pulse.

• • Install surge protection: Use high-quality surge protectors and lightning arresters for your home and well pump.

• • Consider specialized shielding: Products like protective cloths and vehicle-specific devices are marketed as military-grade solutions for safeguarding generators, radios, and car electronics.

The silent threat of an EMP forces a sobering evaluation of your technological dependencies. By understanding the surprising vulnerabilities in your own home and taking proactive, practical steps today, you can build a foundation of resilience for an uncertain tomorrow.

Watch this video to learn more about EMP and how it can affect your daily life.

This video is from the EMP for Dummies channel on Brighteon.com.

An absolutely gigantic space rock that has a mass larger than 33 billion tons will be making its closest approach to Earth on December 19th.  We are being told that this gigantic space rock does not pose a threat, but all of a sudden a “special training exercise” that is exclusively focused on Comet 3I/ATLAS has been scheduled for a two month period beginning on November 27th, 2025 and ending on January 27th, 2026.  Needless to say, Comet 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth during that two month period.  Could it be possible that they have just discovered something about this gigantic space rock that they aren’t telling us?

There has been so much speculation about Comet 3I/ATLAS in recent months, because it is unlike anything that astronomers have ever seen before.

We know that it originated outside of our solar system, and that means that it had to travel a vast distance to get here.

We also know that it is very large.

We are being told that it has a minimum diameter of 5 kilometers, and it is now being estimated that it weighs more than 33 billion tons…

New data from the International Gemini Observatory revealed the object has grown in its estimated size, with it now weighing more than 33 billion tons.

That is one big rock.

Can you imagine what would happen if something like that actually hit us?

Scientists continue to insist on calling it a “comet”, but if it is a comet it sure is acting very strangely.

At one point it had an “anti-tail”, and now it is being reported that it has just “performed a dramatic tail reversal”…

Astronomers tracking the mysterious interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS have revealed that the object has performed a dramatic tail reversal, now pointing away from the sun.

The change comes just months after Hubble Space Telescope images captured an unusual ‘anti-tail,’ a jet of particles streaming toward the sun instead of away from it.

New high-resolution observations from the Nordic Optical Telescope in the Canary Islands confirm that the anti-tail seen in July and August 2025 vanished and a new one formed in the opposite direction by September.

That is really weird.

Scientists are telling us that this tail reversal has happened because Comet 3I/ATLAS is now much closer to the Sun…

The shift occurred because the comet’s dust and ice particles react differently to sunlight.

Early on, large, slow-moving dust grains scattered light sunward, creating the anti-tail. But as 3I/ATLAS moved closer to the Sun, rising temperatures ejected more ice fragments and longer-lived dust particles, producing the tail that now points away.

Ground-based observations will be impossible through October as the object passes behind the Sun, hidden from Earth’s view.

The weeks ahead will reveal a lot about this colossal space rock.

It will be closest to the Sun in late October, and we shall see if that alters the trajectory of Comet 3I/ATLAS at all.

Hopefully it won’t.

Hopefully it will just keep flying out of our solar system and never return.

But many are alarmed that Comet 3I/ATLAS has just been added to a list of potentially dangerous near-Earth objects…

The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) works alongside institutions across the world that detect, track, and study near-Earth objects (NEOs) to assess potential impact threats to Earth.

3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object ever added to the list, triggering a worldwide drill aimed at improving detection skills for space rocks and preparing Earth for a potential incoming threat.

On Tuesday, officials with IAWN admitted that the object was causing ‘unique challenges’ for predicting its trajectory and decided to add 3I/ATLAS to the Comet Astrometry Campaign.

I don’t like the sound of that last sentence at all.

What do they mean by “unique challenges”?

Is there something that they aren’t telling us?

And why are they running a “special training exercise” that will be exclusively focused on Comet 3I/ATLAS from November 27th to January 27th?…

According to the release, scientists will be running a special training exercise from November 27, 2025, to January 27, 2026.

Telescopes and tracking systems around the world will focus on 3I/ATLAS to refine methods for pinpointing its exact location in the sky.

‘They’re calling it ‘a test of improved astrometry methods.’ In other words, the object isn’t behaving like it should,’ one person wrote on X.

Hopefully there is no cause for alarm.

But something about all of this doesn’t smell right.

It is currently being projected that Comet 3I/ATLAS will make its closest approach to Earth on December 19th.

If it behaves the way that it is supposed to behave, it shouldn’t come anywhere close to our planet.

Between now and then, let’s keep a very close eye on it.

There is one other thing that I wanted to talk about in this article.

During the first half of 2025, there were 14 “billion dollar disasters” in the United States, and they collectively did 101.4 billion dollars in damage…

Record losses for U.S. communities in the first half of this year were driven by the Palisades and Eaton fires in January, which tore through Los Angeles neighborhoods, destroyed thousands of homes and left a long road to recovery.

That conclusion is based on newly published data from a former NOAA scientist and the nonprofit research group at Climate Central, documenting 14 extreme events from January to June 2025. Each of these events caused more than $1 billion in damage.

Combined, communities lost $101.4 billion due to these weather events, underscoring the devastating impact these disasters continue to have on communities.

For the past two and a half years, we have been averaging a “billion dollar disaster” about every two weeks.

In other words, our nation has been getting hit by one extremely chaotic event after another, and that definitely is not normal.

And what we have been through so far is not even worth comparing to what is eventually coming.

But even though we just keep getting hammered by one thing after another, most people simply refuse to acknowledge what is happening.

The truth is that we really are living in apocalyptic times, but for the moment the vast majority of the population is still sleeping.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Why Will Astronomers Be Conducting A “Special Training Exercise” That Is Exclusively Focused On Comet 3I/ATLAS From November 27th, 2025 To January 27th, 2026? appeared first on End Of The American Dream.

Why would scientists purposely try to make the flu more deadly?  During the flu pandemic of 1918, it is estimated that somewhere between 50 and 100 million people died globally.  But apparently that is not good enough, and so they have come up with a far deadlier version, and they have published their findings so that any terrorist organization in the world could potentially copy their work.  As I have repeatedly pointed out to my readers, man-made pestilences are one of the greatest existential threats that we face.  What they are doing is literally insane, but nobody is going to stop them.

In a research paper that was recently published, a team of American and South Korean researchers reveal how they created a version of the bird flu that is “100% fatal in mammals”…

A September Science Advances paper confirms that U.S. and South Korean researchers have engineered a “Frankenstein” chimeric bird flu virus that is said to be 100% fatal in mammals, infect human immune cells, and spread throughout the body—including into the brain.

The international team—led by Young Ki Choi of the Korea Virus Research Institute and Richard J. Webby of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee—rebuilt and genetically modified the North American H5N1 avian influenza strain A/Lesser Scaup/Georgia/W22-145E/2022 (GA/W22-145E/22).

These mad scientists mixed Eurasian and North American bird flu viruses, and two very specific genetic changes were made to make the new virus “far more aggressive”…

The researchers focused on two specific genetic changes—PB2-478I and NP-450N—that together made the virus far more aggressive, able to infect a wider range of cells, and capable of spreading throughout the body instead of staying in the lungs.

So what happened when they tested this “Frankenstein” virus?

Well, it killed every single one of the mammals it was tested on, and the researchers discovered that it could infect human blood cells, that it could use human immune cells to spread, and that it could actually invade the brain…

• Killed 100% of mammals tested,
• Infected and replicated in human blood cells,
• Spread systemically through immune cells, and
• Invaded the brain.

The fact that this virus can infect human immune cells directly makes it a weapon of mass destruction that must not ever escape a laboratory setting under any circumstances.

But now that they have told the whole world how they did it, just about anyone could potentially recreate this virus.

What an exceedingly irresponsible thing to do.

Now that the cat is out of the bag, I am warning all of you so that you can get ready for what is ahead.

It is just a matter of time before someone decides to use this as a weapon.

Once it gets out, the death toll will be cataclysmic.

Of course even if a killer virus is not released any time soon, it is still shaping up to be a very rough winter.

In Japan, authorities have just officially declared a flu epidemic…

Most Americans are sick and tired of epidemics, pandemics or any other “emics.” Many people want to forget about face masks, vaccines and viruses. Sadly, though, the pathogens are not taking a break. Japan has just declared a flu epidemic!

That’s because public health authorities are reporting thousands of cases of influenza there. According to a report in Nature (Oct. 14, 2025), over 100 schools and childcare centers have closed. Over 6,000 cases have been reported from sentinel medical institutions. That’s way more than would be expected at this time of year. Influenza doesn’t usually take off in Japan until December, much like in the US. It generally lasts until March. Are you ready for a flu epidemic in the United States?

In the Midwest, we are being told that the bird flu is back with a vengeance…

Bird flu is spreading again, now that wild water fowl — geese, ducks and cranes — have begun their seasonal migrations. As the birds travel, they mingle at lakes and ponds and share viruses.

In poultry, bird flu cases are spiking earlier than expected. More than 4 million poultry birds have been culled in the last month, in states including Minnesota and Iowa, after members of their flock tested positive for the virus, called H5N1. The trend corresponds to a spike in infections detected among wild birds in northern states.

Some state officials are bracing for a challenging autumn, which is when cases have typically spiked in past years.

And in California there have been several cases of people with no recent travel history becoming infected with a severe strain of mpox…

Health officials in Los Angeles County said on Friday they are investigating a possible local spread of a more severe strain of mpox.

Two cases of the strain were identified among Los Angeles County residents with no recent travel history.

It comes after the first U.S. case of the more severe strain of mpox without known travel was identified in a patient from Long Beach, California, bringing the total number of cases in the state to three.

This strain of mpox can cause extreme pain, and it has a death rate in humans of up to 10 percent.

If it starts spreading all over the United States, there will be a tremendous amount of fear.

Interestingly, an outbreak of mpox has also suddenly erupted in the Namibian city of Swakopmund…

Namibia’s ministry of health and social services on Sunday declared an outbreak of mpox in the city of Swakopmund.

“Surveillance, contact tracing, and response teams have been activated to contain the spread,” the ministry said in a post on Facebook.

It has been estimated that 45 to 50 million people around the world died from disease in 2024.

The global death toll in 2025 will almost certainly be even higher.

But if a “killer virus” like the one that American and South Korean scientists just created ever gets out, hundreds of millions of people could be wiped out.

So enjoy this period of relative calm while it still exists.

Because it is just a matter of time before the next major global pandemic strikes.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Now They Have A Version Of The Flu That Has A 100% Death Rate In Mammals appeared first on End Of The American Dream.