I can’t remember a time when we have seen such widespread “panic buying” all over the nation.  Today I spoke with someone that just visited the closest Wal-Mart in this area, and I was told that there are empty shelves all over the store.  There are very few canned goods left, some of the most essential medications have been cleaned out, and there was nothing left in the long-term storable food section at all.  Of course similar things are being reported at major retail stores all across the United States.  All of a sudden, fear of COVID-19 has motivated thousands upon thousands of Americans to start prepping like crazy.  But most of the population is still not taking this crisis seriously enough.  As the number of confirmed cases all over the world continues to rise at an exponential rate, what are the stores going to look like when most of the country finally realizes that they should be prepping for an extended pandemic?

Over the past several days, this coronavirus outbreak has escalated significantly.

From Saturday to Sunday, the number of confirmed cases in Italy jumped by 50 percent…

Italy reported a 50% increase in coronavirus cases Sunday, as the US further restricted travel and the famed La Scala opera house closed.

Italy’s Civil Protection Authority reported the country now has 1,694 confirmed coronavirus cases, up from 1,128 confirmed cases on Saturday. Thirty-four people have died.

And in Germany, the number of confirmed cases actually doubled in just 24 hours.

Here in the United States, confirmed cases are now popping up all over the nation, and we are being warned to brace for a “boom” of confirmed cases…

A “boom” of confirmed cases of the coronavirus that has now killed more than 3,000 people around the world — including two in the U.S. — could already be racing across America despite ramped-up efforts to contain the outbreak, experts say.

The spread of the virus by “community transmissions” is an indication that we could indeed be looking at the tip of the iceberg,” Ogbonnaya Omenka, an assistant professor and public health specialist at Butler University’s College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, told USA TODAY on Sunday.

Overall, the number of confirmed cases outside of China has more than tripled over the past week.  If we continue to see that sort of a growth rate, there will be more than a million confirmed cases outside of China just five weeks from now.

I don’t think that it will happen that quickly, and let us pray that we don’t hit that number at all, but right now this outbreak is starting to spiral out of control.

As fear of this virus rises, grocery stores from coast to coast are stocking up on essential supplies in an effort “to prevent shortages”…

Now grocers are working to prevent shortages and preparing for a spike in demand for disinfectants and long-lasting items such as pasta and canned food. Some are ramping up orders from suppliers.

“This is like a natural disaster, but it’s an illness,” said Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations at FMI, a trade group for food retailers.

In the short-term, hopefully things won’t be too bad.

But without a doubt global supply chains are becoming extremely strained due to the widespread shutdowns inside of China, and that has led one analyst to predict “empty shelves in Target and Walmart as early as April”…

“Literally, empty shelves in Target and Walmart as early as April,” predicts David Iwinski, a local China business consultant who once ran a factory in China.

Most retail stores are likely to have shortages because the coronavirus in China is hampering the manufacture of products shipped to America.

If there are things that you need to go buy, you need to do it now, because thousands upon thousands of Americans are already storming the stores.

In Los Angeles, a local Costco was quickly raided of the most essential supplies when the store opened on Saturday morning…

At a Costco Wholesale market in Los Angeles Saturday morning, a swarm of shoppers loaded up carts with essential items to prepare for a possible period of quarantine.

According to the chain, water, paper towels and Clorox disinfecting wipes were the most in-demand products.

And up in northern California, photos of completely empty shelves over the weekend were rapidly shared on social media…

On social media, residents further north shared shocking photos and videos from Costco centers in San Francisco.

Shelves were depleted of tinned food, while some shoppers climbed up onto shelving in order to reach remaining supplies of rice.

Of course the exact same thing is happening in other states as well.

In Washington, one local resident claimed that “thousands of people” have been descending on the local Costco centers…

I live in the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Washington State. My advice for those elsewhere – go to Costco now. Thousands of people at local stores yesterday – not where you want to be if there is a virus spreading. Glad I went a week ago.

And one video that has been very widely shared shows hundreds of people lined up at a Costco in Brooklyn before it even opened in the morning.

Up to this point, only two people have died from the virus in the United States.

So what will things look like if thousands of people start dying?

Already, there is a worldwide shortage of protective face masks.  In fact, things have gotten so bad that Surgeon General Jerome Adams posted a tweet demanding that people stop buying them…

The surgeon general has a message for people who want to run out and stockpile masks to combat the coronavirus – don’t.

“Seriously people – STOP BUYING MASKS!” Surgeon General Jerome Adams tweeted. “They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”

Personally, I don’t understand his logic.  If the masks are not effective, then why do healthcare providers need them?

Yes, the masks have limited effectiveness against a virus that is so easy to catch.  But at least they are better than nothing.

The time of “the perfect storm” is here, and this virus has the potential to greatly accelerate our problems.

We still don’t know if this will be the great global pandemic that so many have warned about, but Bill Gates certainly seems to believe that this may be the “once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about”…

Billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said the coronavirus that has killed at least 2,859 people and infected more than 83,700 globally may be the “once-in-a-century pathogen we’ve been worried about.”

“I hope it’s not that bad, but we should assume it will be until we know otherwise,” Gates wrote in an article published Friday in The New England Journal of Medicine.

Personally, I am still hoping that this outbreak will start to subside once warmer weather arrives.

But so far nothing is slowing this virus down.  As I mentioned above, the total number of cases outside of China has more than tripled over the last seven days, and that is a huge red flag.

If you need to get to the store, do it now.  Because at the rate that people are raiding the stores, there could soon be shortages of some of the most important supplies.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of 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 have written four books 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 those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The post All Of A Sudden, People All Over America Are Prepping Like Crazy appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

We have roughly 12 hours of natural light from the sun and the rest of the time we simply flip a switch and out pours a flood of artificial light. But what happens when the switch doesn’t work anymore?

Since the advent of electric lights, candles have become more of a decorative item than a tool. But anyone that has ever been caught in a blackout knows the real value of a candle.

You can purchase many “survival candles” that last 12-120 hours, but did you know that you can create a candle that will last for up to 45 days using something that you probably already have in your kitchen?

All you need is:

a 48oz tub of Crisco or smaller. The large tub will get you the 45 life span and anything smaller will burn significantly less
a spoon an old candlestick or something else that can be used as a wick

There are a few options when it comes to creating a Noah candle.  One of the first things you need to decide is if you want a candle that will burn brighter or one that will last longer.

For a longer lasting candle you will use only one wick and for a brighter candle you will use anywhere from 2-4 wicks depending on the size of the container.

Regardless of how many wicks you decide to use or the size of the Crisco tub that you choose, the directions are the same.

Take your spoon and remove a small portion of the Crisco directly in the center (for a single wick candle) if you are using an old candlestick. Then simply press the candlestick down into the shortening until it touches the bottom.  Use the shortening that was removed previously to fill in any divots.

Smooth the top of the Crisco down until it is completely flat, then trim the excess candle and wick until you only have about 1/4” of wick sticking out above the top of the shortening.

Light and enjoy.

If you are using a standalone wick, you may need to dig down to the bottom of the can in order to get the base of the wick to lie flat against the bottom of the tub.  Then simply melt the shortening and use it to fill in the hole that was left.

As a caution: the container of the Crisco is made of a paper material and as such may catch on fire if you place the wick too close to the outer edge of the tub.

Want to know more? Check out these related articles from our site:

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Originally posted on: November 12, 2012 @ 3:45 AM

This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge. 

Nothing says ‘we’ve got this under control’ like confirming that a handful of your government’s most senior officials have caught the virus at the root of a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe.

Update (0940ET): FARS news agency reports that for former Iranian Ambassador to The Vatican has died from Covid-19.

*  *  *

After confirming on Thursday that its ‘official’ death toll from the outbreak had reached 22 with 141 cases confirmed (lawmakers have claimed that the death toll as of Monday was up to 50 in Qom alone), Iranian state media reported that the country’s vice president for women and family affairs, Masoumeh Ebtekar has tested positive for the virus.

Will A Face Mask REALLY Protect You From The Coronavirus?

She is the third senior official to be infected, alongside the Deputy Health Minister and Cleric Hadi Khosroshahi, who succumbed to pneumonia due to his advanced age.

In a recent tweet from Ebtekar’s twitter account (because seemingly every senior Iranian official including the Ayatollah is on twitter), Ebtekar, an immunologist by training, criticized hysteria and panic being propagated by news reports.

As an immunologist, the important point I would like to make is that #COVID-19 outbreak is a health issue that requires experts evidence based observations. Fake, politicized news or posting can be life threatening…
WHO & Health Ministry protocols should be taken seriously. https://t.co/mzYLYgCft4

— Massoumeh Ebtekar (@ebtekarm) February 25, 2020

Iran canceled Friday prayers in Tehran on Friday as the virus spread further in the capital city. With Iran’s economy badly damaged by sanctions that have also contributed to shortages of essential supplies including medicine and medical products, it is uniquely vulnerable to the virus’s devastation.

And the more the regime scrambles to try and contain it, the further it spreads, as Iran’s neighbors close their borders to its citizens and turn away from the Middle East’s worst virus ‘”hot spot”.

And as more government officials fall ill, we can’t help but wonder how much longer until the Ayatollah gets sick?

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR HOME (QUARANTINE) FOR A PANDEMIC

Will A Face Mask REALLY Protect You From The Coronavirus?

Prepping For The Coronavirus: Hand Washing Is Vital

This article was originally published by Mike Adams at Natural News. 

 Following San Francisco’s state of emergency declaration yesterday, now Orange County has declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus, reports Fox 11 out of Los Angeles:

Orange County officials declared a local health emergency Wednesday in response to the coronavirus, which has now infected more than 81,000 people worldwide.

Michelle Steel, chair of the County Board of Supervisors, and board Vice Chair Andrew Do made the announcement at an early afternoon
news conference.

She was quick to note “there are no current incidents reported in the county of Orange,” adding yet more confusion to the pattern that an increasing number of cities and counties are declaring emergencies for a global pandemic the entire establishment media claims will never hit America and is no big deal.

Also from Fix 11 LA:

San Diego County officials declared a local emergency in response to the coronavirus on Feb. 14. Officials there stressed that the declaration was not an indication of a greater risk of contracting the virus locally, only an effort to ensure the county was prepared to respond should an outbreak occur.

The CDC has so far tested just 445 people in the entire United States since day one, a number now being tracked in real-time at Pandemic.news, with links to CDC.gov.

Pandemic.news is also putting together a detailed list of public health departments for all 50 states, along with the number of people being tested in those states. The current number for nearly all states is zero.

Korean Air flight attendant working LAX tests positive for the coronavirus

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR HOME (QUARANTINE) FOR A PANDEMIC

Prepping For The Coronavirus: Hand Washing Is Vital

CBS News out of Los Angeles is now reporting a Korean Air flight attendant has tested positive for the coronavirus after working the LAX flight route, spanning “several flights” out of LAX.

Before being diagnosed with the coronavirus, she worked:

– A flight from Tel Aviv, Israel to Seoul, South Korea
– Multiple flights from Seoul to LAX

It’s not yet known exactly how many passengers were on those flights, but international flights typically carry 300+ passengers on each flight.

The coronavirus fiasco with the Diamond Princess cruise ship — and its ill-fate evacuation charter flights that spread the infection even further — proves the coronavirus is especially adept at infecting people who share enclosed spaces such as ships or airplanes.

It’s abundantly clear there is an uncontrolled outbreak in California right now, and only 200 people have been tested so far

What we are witnessing here is a steady increase in the number of cities and countries declaring emergencies while claiming there is no emergency.

We are told there are no community outbreaks in California, but according to the state’s Dept. of Health website page on the coronavirus, only “approximately 200 persons have been tested to date.”

Note that California doesn’t even know the exact number, and if it’s anywhere near 200, that’s shockingly small.

More than 8,000 people are currently under self-quarantine in California. Apparently, almost none of them have been tested at all.

It begs the obvious question: How is anyone going to detect coronavirus outbreaks if virtually no one is being tested for the coronavirus in America?

This is all covered in my new podcast below. Hear all podcasts, see the latest CDC numbers, and download audio MP3 files at Pandemic.news:

Knot tying has always been one of those key outdoor skills that even the most experienced survivalist’s often take for granted. Any time outdoors can often show you just how much your success or failure can depend on your ability to tie a decent knot

A good knot can save lives when you’re dealing with a survival situation, performing first aid, and when working over heights or water. But, you have to know how to tie it correctly.  Below I have listed a few very basic knots that are extremely helpful to know regardless of if you are in a life or death survival situation or simply pitching a tent on a family camping trip.

Square (Reef) Knot 

 
This Knot is a classic for connecting lines and tying knots and is often the first knot taught in cub scouts or boy scouts. Whether you are tying two ropes together to make a longer rope, or you are securing up a bundle of firewood to carry, the Square Knot is a timeless and easy knot for the job.

While this knot is as ancient as they come, it was coined as the reef knot in the late 1700’s by sailors and used in the reefing and furling of sails.

When made with cloth the knot lies very flat and for this reason it has been used in the tying of bandages for millennia. As a binding knot it was known to ancient Greeks as the Hercules knot and is still used extensively in medicine.

It has also been used since ancient times to tie belts and sashes. A modern use in this manner includes tying the obi (or belt) of a martial arts keikogi(uniform).

How to Tie:  Square knots are extremely simple to tie. You can tie a solid square knot by lapping right over left, and then tying again in the reverse direction (you will essentially create two entwined loops) See the example below:

Bowline

 

The Bowline creates a loop at the end of a rope that cannot shrink or expand.  The bowline is well known as a rescue knot for such purposes as rescuing people who might have fallen down a hole, or off a cliff onto a ledge. They would put it around themselves and sit on the loop. This makes it easy to heft them up away from danger. This knot is often taught using the story of the rabbit coming out of the hole, in front of the tree, going behind the tree, and back down his original hole.

How to Tie: Form a loop on top of the long end of the line.  Pass the free end of the line through the loop and around behind the line. Bring the free end down in the original loop, while maintaining the secondary loop which becomes your Bowline loop. Once the “rabbit” is back down his hole, pull the “tree” up and the Bowline is tightened.

 

Figure 8

 

The Figure 8 makes a stopper knot at the end of a line, and it’s necessary to use this knot in order to tie several other more complex knots. This knot is crucial for keeping a line from slipping completely away and even though it may jam when pulled tight, it is typically quick and easy to untie.

How to Tie: To tie a Figure 8 simply pass the free end of a line over itself to form a loop. Continue under and around the line’s end, and finish the knot by passing the free end down through the loop

 

 

 

Sheet Bend

 

Nothing works better for tying different types of material together and joining different thicknesses of rope. This knot even joins together lines or materials that normally couldn’t be joined together.

This is a crucial knot in a survival situation as you often will not have enough of one length of rope and may need to tie multiple lengths together.

With enough time and material this knot can also be used to create nets for catching fish.  It is so essential that the Ashley Book of Knots lists the sheet bend as knot # 1.

How to Tie: With the sheet bend, you bend the thicker or more slippery rope into a “j” shape (like a fish hook).  You then pass the other rope through the fish hook from behind, wrap around the entire fishhook once and then tuck the smaller line under itself.

 

Taut Line Hitch 

 
The Taut Line Hitch takes the place of a slide to tension or loosen a loop in a line (like a tent guy line). This knot grips well, as long as there is tension on the “taut” side of the loop. If the tension is released from the line the knot can quickly slip.  Once snug and set, the hitch can be adjusted as needed.

To tighten the line with respect to a load attached to the standing part, grasp the standing part with one hand inside of the loop and pull towards the anchor object. Grasp the hitch with the other hand and as slack develops within the loop slide the hitch away from the anchor object, taking up the slack and enlarging the loop. To loosen, slide the hitch toward the anchor object, making the loop smaller and lengthening the standing portion.

How to Tie: Create a loop by wrapping around something like a tree or tent stake. With the free end of the rope, wrap towards the stake twice.  Then wrap the free end of the rope over everything, towards you one time around the rope and cinch these wraps down tight. Pull on the standing line and the Taut Line Hitch should grip the loaded line.

These are just five knots that I find essential. I know I left many knots out and there are literally thousands of knots, each having different variations and uses.  What knot would you consider the most important in a survival situation?

P.S.  To learn more knots than I could ever hope to teach you check out the Ashley Book of Knots by clicking here. This book is a bit pricey for me so I would recommend checking the library for it first.  This book contains over 4000 knots and is considered by many to be the bible of knot tying.

Also, if you want something that you can keep in your pack to help you just in case you ever forget how to tie a certain knot or what one of them is used for, Proknots makes an outdoor knots flashcard set that contains the 17 different crucial knots that you may need. This nifty gadget comes in at around $5.00 on amazon.  Click here to check it out.

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Originally posted on: November 8, 2012 @ 3:45 AM

The CDC has announced that there is a newly confirmed coronavirus case in northern California, and authorities have no idea how the victim was exposed to the virus.  This particular individual had not traveled to a foreign country lately and also had not had any contact with a known infected patient.  In other words, it appears that this individual was infected by someone that the CDC does not know about yet.  As soon as this news dropped, financial markets started freaking out and there was an explosion of speculation on social media.  Have the efforts to contain the coronavirus in the United States failed?  And if people are going this crazy even though not a single American has died from this virus yet, what is going to happen if people start dropping dead in the streets?

The global tipping point we have been waiting for has now arrived.  The number of new coronavirus cases outside of China is now surpassing the number of new coronavirus cases being reported inside China each day, and this virus continues to pop up in even more countries.  On Wednesday alone, Norway, Greece, Romania, North Macedonia, Pakistan and Brazil all reported their very first cases.  In fact, the case in Brazil was the very first to be reported in all of South America.

But most Americans don’t care too much about what is going on in the rest of the world.  What they do care about is what is happening within our own borders, and a lot of people are extremely concerned that there is now a confirmed case of “unknown” origin in northern California…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday confirmed an infection in California that would represent the first U.S. person to contract the virus despite not visiting a foreign country recently or coming in contact with an infected patient.

“At this time, the patient’s exposure is unknown,” the CDC said in a statement. “It’s possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States. Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. It’s also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.”

This announcement came just one day after Dr. Nancy Messonnier of the CDC warned that the U.S. should get prepared for a widespread outbreak of this virus…

Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Tuesday the agency expects a sustained transmission of the virus and called for businesses, schools and communities to brace themselves and plan for potential outbreaks.

Also on Tuesday, San Francisco Mayor London Breed declared a state of emergency even though there were no publicly confirmed cases in San Francisco at the time…

“Although there are still zero confirmed cases in San Francisco residents, the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step up preparedness,” Breed said. “We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm.”

Is it possible that they already knew about this case of “unknown” origin in northern California on Tuesday?

And could it be possible that there are already many more cases that have not been publicly announced yet?

I understand that one of their top priorities is to keep the public calm, but the American people deserve to know if they are at risk of potentially catching a very deadly virus.

We have already seen how rapidly this virus can spread.  A week ago, there were hardly any confirmed cases in South Korea, and now there are 1,595.

In Italy, the number of confirmed cases has now risen above 400, and approximately 100,000 Italians have essentially been placed under quarantine…

Italy now has 400 cases — the largest outbreak outside Asia. And the virus is spreading across Europe, with several countries reporting their first cases, including Norway, Romania, Georgia, and North Macedonia. Many European countries are now implementing emergency measures, with Italy effectively placing 100,000 under quarantine with travel restrictions.

But as this virus continues to spread all over the planet, what are we going to do to try to contain it?

After all, we can’t exactly quarantine the entire world.

On Wednesday, President Trump continued to insist that this coronavirus outbreak is “under control”…

Trump has repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus threat, saying it was “under control.”

“The people are getting better. They’re all getting better,” Trump said Tuesday. “I think that whole situation will start working out. A lot of talent, a lot of brainpower is being put behind it.”

Hopefully his very optimistic assessment is 100 percent correct.

Hopefully this outbreak will start to fade when warmer weather arrives, and hopefully we won’t even be talking about it by the time the election rolls around in November.

But a number of experts are insisting that we truly are facing a worst case scenario.  For example, one Harvard epidemiologist is projecting that “40 to 70 percent” of the entire population of the world will get the virus…

But here’s one forecast that caught our eyes from The Atlantic. It is titled, “You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus.” That piece quotes extensively a Harvard epidemiologist. The article describes him as a cautious professional, the kind of person who carefully considers every word and then backs it with data.

What the professor told the magazine is this: “I think the likely outcome is the coronavirus will ultimately not be containable.” He went on to predict that in the next year 40 to 70 percent of the people on Earth will be infected with coronavirus.

If his projection is accurate, tens of millions will die.

So let us hope that he is dead wrong.

And Zero Hedge has just reported on a brand new study that was just released that has discovered that this coronavirus has “an ‘HIV-like mutation’ which allows it to bind with human cells up to 1,000 times stronger than the Sars virus”…

While mainstream scientists continue to perform mental gymnastics to insist that the new coronavirus wasn’t man-made, new research from scientists in China and Europe reveal that the disease happens to have an ‘HIV-like mutation’ which allows it to bind with human cells up to 1,000 times stronger than the Sars virus, according to SCMP.

Recall that at the end of January, a team of Indian scientists wrote in a now-retracted, scandalous paper claiming that the coronavirus may have been genetically engineered to incorporate parts of the HIV genome, writing “This uncanny similarity of novel inserts in the 2019- nCoV spike protein to HIV-1 gp120 and Gag is unlikely to be fortuitous in nature,” meaning – it was unlikely to have occurred naturally.

Fast forward to new research by a team from Nankai University, which writes that COV-19 has an ‘HIV-like mutation’ that  allows it to quickly enter the human body by binding with a receptor called ACE2 on a cell membrane.

If this information is accurate, that would help to explain why this virus spreads at lightning speed once it hits a particular area.

At this moment, you might not have any confirmed cases in your area.

But by this time next week you could potentially have a thousand people walking around with the virus in your community.

So use the time that you have now to make preparations, because in the not too distant future you might be avoiding going out in public as much as possible.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of 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 have written four books 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 those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

This article was originally published by Ron Paul at The Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

One thing we’ve learned from the Trump Presidency is that the “deep state” is not just some crazy conspiracy theory. For the past three years, we’ve seen that deep state launch plot after plot to overturn the election.

It all started with former CIA director John Brennan’s phony “Intelligence Assessment” of Russian involvement in the 2016 election. It was claimed that all 17 US intelligence agencies agreed that Putin put Trump in office, but we found out later that the report was cooked up by a handful of Brennan’s hand-picked agents.

Donald Trump upset the Washington apple cart as a presidential candidate and in so doing he set elements of the deep state in motion against him.

One of the things candidate Donald Trump did to paint a deep state target on his back was his repeated praise of Wikileaks, the pro-transparency media organization headed up by Australian journalist Julian Assange. More than 100 times candidate Trump said “I love Wikileaks” on the campaign trail.

Trump loved it when Wikileaks exposed the criminality of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party, as it cheated to deprive Bernie Sanders of the Democratic Party nomination. Wikileaks’ release of the DNC emails exposed the deep corruption at the heart of US politics, and as a candidate, Trump loved the transparency.

Then Trump got elected.

The real tragedy of the Trump presidency is nowhere better demonstrated than in Trump’s 180 degree turn away from Wikileaks and its founder Julian Assange. “I know nothing about Wikileaks,” he said as president. “It’s really not my thing.”

US pressure and bribes to the Ecuadorian government ended Assange’s asylum and his seven years in a room at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. After his dramatic arrest by London’s Metropolitan Police last April, he has been effectively tortured in British jails at the behest of the US deep state.

The Trump administration argues that the Australian Assange should be tried and convicted of espionage against a country of which he is not a citizen. At the same time the Trump administration argues that the First Amendment does not apply to Assange because he is not an American citizen! So Assange is subject to US law when it comes to publishing information embarrassing to the US deep state but he is not subject to the law of the land – the US Constitution – which protects all journalists and is the backbone of our system of government.

It is ironic that a President Trump who has been the victim of so much deep state meddling has done the deep state’s bidding when it comes to Assange and Wikileaks. President Trump should preempt the inevitable US show trial of Assange by granting the journalist blanket pardon under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The deep state Trump is serving by persecuting Assange is the same deep state that continues to plot Trump’s own ouster. Free Assange!

The Democratic establishment has officially shifted into panic mode.  In 2016, they watched a bold political outsider shred a divided field of establishment Republican candidates on his way to winning the White House.  Now they have one and only one shot of denying Donald Trump a second term, and the same thing that happened to the Republicans in 2016 is now happening to them.  So far, Bernie Sanders is trouncing a divided field of establishment Democratic candidates, and that is a huge problem for party leadership for a number of reasons.  For one thing, most top establishment Democrats absolutely detest Sanders.  Secondly, most of them don’t believe that he has a prayer of actually beating Trump in November.  So they are desperate to find a way to deny Sanders the nomination, but with each Sanders victory that is going to become increasingly difficult to do.

At this point, an all-out civil war has just about erupted on the left.  Establishment Democrats are all in a tizzy about potentially nominating a “socialist”, but of course the truth is that America has been drifting toward socialism ever since FDR first entered the White House.  Yes, there have been a few times when we have attempted to change course (the Reagan administration for example), but in general the federal government has just gotten bigger and bigger over the decades.  Today we have the biggest government in the entire history of the planet, and the Democrats are primarily to blame.

Ultimately, what this conflict is about is power.  Bernie Sanders may have won the hearts of the voters, but he isn’t supposed to actually win the nomination, and the Democratic establishment will pull out all the stops in order to keep that from happening.

All of a sudden, operatives on the left can’t stop talking about how the Russians want Bernie Sanders to win.  This is coming from the same people that spent years trying to find evidence that President Trump colluded with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 election and that accused Tulsi Gabbard of being a “Russian operative” in order to derail her quest for the Democratic nomination.

Are there people out there that actually believe this stuff?

Apparently there must be, because establishment Democrats just keep going back to the same playbook over and over again.

In the weeks ahead, we should expect the attacks on Sanders to continue to escalate.  The following are 11 of the most outrageous things that establishment Democrats have said about Bernie Sanders so far, but this is probably just the beginning…

#1 Rahm Emanuel: “Putin and Trump are picking their opponent.”

#2 Joe Biden: “The Russians don’t want me to be the nominee,” Biden said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” later adding, “they like Bernie.”

#3 James Carville: “Right now, it’s about 1:15 Moscow time. This thing is going very well for Vladimir Putin. I promise you. He’s probably staying up watching this right now. How you doing, Vlad?”

#4 MSNBC’s Joy Reid regarding the tremendous enthusiasm of Bernie’s voters: “Democrats need to sober up, and figure out what the hell they’re going to do about that.”

#5 Democratic House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn: “If you know how well we did the last time and look at the congressional districts, these are not liberal or progressive districts. These are moderate and conservative districts that we did well in. And in those districts it’s going to be tough to hold on to these jobs if you have to make the case for accepting a self-proclaimed democratic socialist.”

#6 NPR’s Maria Hinojosa: “As somebody who has been around for a while…I want receipts. What has he done in all his time to actually deliver for Latino/a voters?”

#7 Pete Buttigieg: “Before we rush to nominate Senator Sanders in our one shot to take on this president, let us take a sober look at what is at stake for our party, for our values and for those with the most to lose.”

#8 Joe Lockhart: “In any political campaign, candidates need to know what they stand for, and who — or what — they’re up against. At this stage in the game for Bloomberg, that enemy is not Trump. It’s Sen. Bernie Sanders and the election calendar.”

#9 James Carville: “If you’re voting for him because you think he’ll win the election, because he’ll galvanize heretofore sleepy parts of an electorate, then politically, you’re a fool.”

#10 Hillary Clinton: “Nobody likes him, nobody wants to work with him, he got nothing done,” Clinton said of Sanders in a documentary about the campaign, released this year. “He was a career politician. It’s all just baloney and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it.”

#11 MSNBC’s Chris Matthews: No pundit on the left has been more critical of Sanders than MSNBC’s Chris Matthews.  In the aftermath of the vote in Nevada, Matthews actually compared the Sanders campaign “to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940″…

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews is under fire after comparing Sen. Bernie Sanders‘s (I-Vt.) decisive win in the Nevada caucuses to the Nazi invasion of France in 1940, with some on social media calling for the “Hardball” host to resign.

“I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940,” Matthews said during MSNBC’s live coverage of the caucuses on Saturday. “And the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over.’ And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.’”

Needless to say, that comment sparked a tremendous backlash.

In addition, Matthews suggested that the Democrats might be better off waiting four years and then putting in “a Democrat that they like”…

“I’m wondering whether the Democratic moderates want Bernie Sanders to be president. That’s maybe too exciting a question to raise. They don’t like Trump at all. Do they want Bernie Sanders to take over the Democratic Party in perpetuity?” he said.

“I mean, he takes it over, he sets the direction of the future of the party — maybe they’d rather wait four years and put in a Democrat that they like.”

Matthews must not understand that the only reason he has a job is because the radical left has embraced MSNBC over the years.  Now Matthews and the other commentators on MSNBC are greatly alienating their core viewers, and that could potentially be absolutely disastrous for the network.

But Matthews is not likely to back down.  Earlier this month, he explained why he detests socialists so much…

“You know, I have my own views of the word ‘socialist,’” Matthews said earlier this month. “They go back to the early 1950s. I have an attitude about them. I remember the Cold War. I have an attitude towards Castro. I believe if Castro and the Reds had won the Cold War, there would have been executions in Central Park, and I might have been one of the ones getting executed, and certain other people would be there cheering, OK? So, I have a problem with people who took the other side.”

This is coming from the same guy who was so giddy about the candidacy of Barack Obama in 2008.

Very strange.

In any event, I think that President Trump did a great job of summarizing the current state of the race for the Democratic nomination when he tweeted the following…

Looks like Crazy Bernie is doing well in the Great State of Nevada. Biden & the rest look weak, & no way Mini Mike can restart his campaign after the worst debate performance in the history of Presidential Debates. Congratulations Bernie, & don’t let them take it away from you!

None of the establishment candidates currently in the race has a prayer of winning enough delegates to secure the nomination before the convention.

So at this point the Democratic establishment has two options if they want to prevent Sanders from becoming the nominee.

Firstly, they can encourage everyone to stay in the race and try to divide the delegates enough ways so that Sanders cannot clinch the nomination prior to the convention.  Then once the convention rolls around, they could try to put forward a “compromise candidate” as an alternative to Sanders.

Secondly, they could try to convince the one person that could actually beat Sanders during this process to enter the race.  But Michelle Obama has said over and over again that she will absolutely not run for president.  Unfortunately for the Democrats, she is probably the only one that could pull off such a miracle at this point.

Assuming that Michelle Obama is out of the picture, the Democratic establishment’s only hope of stopping Sanders is probably at the convention.

Usually the conventions are rather sleepy affairs, but this year might be an exception.

So you might want to stock up on popcorn, because a contested Democratic convention would be very strange, but it would also likely be very entertaining.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of 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 have written four books 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 those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

Headlamps are like flashlights. And flashlights are like knives. Ergo, headlamps are like knives. Where I’m going with this is to highlight the fact that we are rarely completely satisfied with our current selection. We are always looking around, even if just out of the corner of our eye, for the next better one.

By Doc Montana, contributing author to Survival Cache and SHTFblog

Fortunately, or perhaps not, depending on how you personally handle choices, is the fact that companies today rarely leave a design untouched for long. There’s always something better. Something new. Something more powerful, lighter, stronger. It never ends until you end it personally. To be truly content with an outdoor tool, the very existence of the tool must become invisible in the presence of its task. The object itself must melt into the background completely overshadowed by its capabilities.

Invisible ‘Till It’s Visible

The BioLite HeadLamp 200 is quickly becoming one of those pieces of gear that disappears when you use it. In fact, that is one of the headlight’s best features. At only 49 grams and a svelte thickness nowhere exceeding 18 millimeters, the BioLite HeadLamp 200 wears a cloak of near-invisibility when not in use.

The specifications of the BioLite HeadLamp 200 include light weight, four lighting modes including a dimmable white spotlight, a dimmable red colored flood, and red and white strobes. Powering the BioLite HeadLamp 200 is a USB rechargeable 700mAh lithium ion battery, which for reference, is about a third or forth of the capacity of an iPhone battery depending on phone model.

Also Read: Survival Gear Review: The BioLite Prep Kit

I’ve been a big fan of headlamps ever since my first one that used four D-cell batteries carried in a red plastic belt-mounted case with a heavy wire leading to a rubber headband containing a large plastic flashlight-like head.  Although that particular light worn on the head (or helmet) was heavy, dim, and had a short runtime, it opened up the world of hands-free lighting.

When at full speed, the BioLite HeadLamp 200 will pump out lumens for about three hours. On low that range extends to 40 hours. But unlike battery-fed headlamps, you can leave home or camp with a full charge rather than whatever is left in the little disposable alkaline tanks.

Where this BioLite HeadLamp 200 fits into the userspace is with its tiny forehead footprint stressing comfort and bounce-free lighting. By keeping the weight low and the headband wide, you will forget you’re wearing the BioLite HeadLamp 200 regardless of which of the four colors you have on. So confident is BioLite in the comfort of this headlamp that they have a 30-day HolyFit Guarantee.

The microUSB charging port on the BioLite HeadLamp 200 is at the nine-o’clock position (facing forward). A green light breathes in and out, pulsing gently as the battery drinks in the electrons. The onboard lithium cell takes about two and a half hours to go from bone dry to stuffed to the gills. Plus, the BioLite HeadLamp 200 gives a brief blip of green light when powering down that indicates good or low battery life.

As a comparison, my other superlight headlamp is the Streamlight Bandit LED headlamp. However, the Bandit has never seemed to be much of a performer outside of it’s tiny footprint and low weight. The light it casts is bland and shallow, and the on-off button is troublesome with bare fingers and near-impossible with gloves. Until new interfaces are discovered, the finger-push button will remain the industry standard as long as the finger is also the standard. That fact limits how small or sensitive a headlamp interface can be. Black Diamond does have some touch control headlamps, but only minor systems like brightness. The main I/O is still a rubber-covered index-finger-ready switch.

The Streamlight Bandit weighs about a tenth of an ounce less than the BioLite, but throws much less light than the 20 lumen difference between them in the specs. I find the Bandit to be less comfortable with its narrow band, and the light from the Bandit has much less reach. Great for reading in a sleeping bag, but not for forest travel any faster than a walk. The BioLite HeadLamp 200 provides enough of the right kind of light for an easy jog through the woods, and a full on run across the flats. Plus the wider “Smart Fabric” headband is vastly more effective at holding the light in place. However, it did seem to loosen over time a little under certain conditions.

Illumination Education

The Bandit actually contains 10 individual LEDs in a row across the front of the headlamp window. Rated at 180 lumens, I suspect that it means that each of those individual LEDs is about 18 lumens thus totaling 180. You can do that. But the human eye does not agree. Two 50 lumen flashlights do not appear as bright as a single LED 100 lumen one. So lumens are only one kind of reference point. Imagine fighting a fire with a garden hose that sprays water at 10 gallons per minute. Now get nine more hoses giving you 100 gallons per minute output. Compare that to a single hose blasting out 100 gallons per minute. While not quite the same as our eye’s logarithmic interpretation of brightness, you can see that there is more behind the lumen number than just quantity. The initial single-point brute force lumen number is appears greater than the sum of multiple lesser lumens with an equivalent total.

Also Read: Survival Gear Review: Fenix HMR50 Headlamp

Both the BioLite HeadLamp 200 and the Bandit tilt downward. It seems that around 60 degrees down (a little more than half way) is about right for most close tasks and is the limit of theBioLite HeadLamp 200. Any more and the glare off your nose will be a problem. But that doesn’t stop the Bandit. Since it uses a dual clip mechanism to allow it to attach (and shortly thereafter fall off of) a baseball cap brim, it can fold 180 degrees allowing you to point the light directly into your own eyes. But the big difference is the operation of the on/off switch. Both the BioLite HeadLamp 200 and the Bandit have the switch in the center of the light, but while the BioLite HeadLamp 200 button points up, the Bandits is on a slope pointing about 45 degrees forward. That minor point makes the Bandit much harder to ignite especially with gloves. And again with both, the switch rotates with the light so it must be indexed with the lens rather than the headband. This is a common situation with headlamps, but in most other cases there is considerably more mass and volume to push back when operating the switch. While a little practice is helpful, operating the BioLite HeadLamp 200 requires attention to the fact that the switch is also the handle to pull the light downward.

Beyond lumens are features. The BioLite HeadLamp 200 has two outputs; a minimum of 5 lumens and a max of 200. Burntime is about 40 hours on low and three hours on maximum output. However, while maximum output begins at 200 lumens, the number drops over time. Essentially, any maximum output runtime just means that the lamp is giving its all until death even if that means an hour of very low output.

For fans of a red light, there is both a red flood (solid on) and a red strobe option. Red light is the longest wavelength our eyes can see. Anything longer is infrared or beyond (microwaves, radio waves, etc.). By using a red light source, the retina stays within its scotopic (rods) black and white vision mode. A white light would cause the retina to transition into the photopic (cones) color vision mode which is much less sensitive in low light. So even though you are using an artificial light source, the red wavelengths are as close to dark as possible meaning when you turn off the red light, you still have dark-adapted vision. There is little to no time delay between seeing under the red light, and with ambient moon light.

The BioLite HeadLamp 200 weighs about 1.7 ounces. And that gave me an idea. What if I used the sub-2 ounce rule to build a quick survival kit. Of the four big ones of knife-water-fire-light, I found that my Benchmade Bugout knife weighs in at 1.8oz, my LifeStraw at 1.6oz, and my Bic Lighter inside a waterproof Exotac FireSLEEVE was a scant 1.5oz. All four combined weigh in at under seven ounces. Not a bad footprint for a grab-and-go set of kit.

BioLite retails the BioLite HeadLamp 200 for about $45,which puts it in about the middle of the cost spectrum for general purpose headlamps. You can spend half that or twice that and still get what you pay for. But when cutting weight and size is important, the price dynamic becomes nuanced since both less is less and less is more are at play. And with the BioLite HeadLamp 200, less is more.

 

All photos by Doc Montana

The post Survival Gear Review: BioLite HeadLamp 200 appeared first on Survival Cache.

When was the last time that we witnessed a disaster that severely disrupted the supply chains of over 5 million companies around the globe simultaneously?  Looking back over the past couple of decades, I can’t think of one.  In recent days I have written a number of articles about the economic impact of this coronavirus outbreak, and what we have seen so far could be just the beginning.  With each additional week that much of the Chinese economy remains at a virtual standstill, things are going to get even worse.  Today, China accounts for approximately 20 percent of global GDP, but that doesn’t tell the entire story.  At this point the rest of the world has become so dependent on Chinese exports that any sort of an extended shutdown for Chinese manufacturing would be a complete and utter nightmare for global supply chains.  In fact, a brand new study that was just released by Dun & Bradstreet has concluded that the coronavirus outbreak in China “could impact more than 5 million businesses worldwide”…

The new coronavirus outbreak and subsequent shutdown of huge swathes of China could impact more than 5 million businesses worldwide, according to a new study.

A special briefing issued by global business research firm Dun & Bradstreet analyzed the Chinese provinces most impacted by the virus, and found they are intricately linked to the global business network.

Many people may assume that we could just “make these things somewhere else”, but that isn’t so easy.

New factories would have to be built, workers would have to be trained, etc.

And as Harvard Business School’s Willy Shih has pointed out, there are “some things that are only made in China these days”…

There are some things that are only made in China these days, and not just the usual electronics and toys — consumer products — it’s active pharmaceutical ingredients that go into pharmaceutical supply chains worldwide.

So what is going to happen if economic activity in China does not return to normal any time soon?

That is a very good question.  Unfortunately, there will be shortages, and global supply chains will become incredibly strained.

According to the brand new study from Dun & Bradstreet that I mentioned above, 938 of the Fortune 1000 companies have at least a “tier 2” supplier in the region…

Dun & Bradstreet researchers found that at least 51,000 companies worldwide, 163 of which are in the Fortune 1000, have one or more direct or “tier 1” suppliers in the impacted region, while at least 5 million — and 938 in the Fortune 1000 — have one or more “tier 2″ suppliers.

The impact on businesses in China and around the world is already dragging down economic growth forecasts for the year.

In some cases, the breakdown of global supply chains will simply lead to higher prices for western consumers.

But in other cases there will come a point when certain products are not available at all.  The following comes from Zero Hedge…

A new poll via Shanghai’s American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) discovered that 50% of US firms operating in China say shutdowns of factories have impacted their global operations due to the Covid-19 outbreak, reported Reuters.

About 78% of these firms warn that their staffing is currently short at the moment, which would prevent the resumption of full production, leading to massive shortages of products in the next several months for Western markets.

Massive shortages of products?

That doesn’t sound good at all.

Hopefully this outbreak will start to fizzle out and such an ominous scenario will not materialize.  But at this point even Apple is admitting that revenue will be well below expectations this quarter.  In explaining this to the public, Apple cited a couple of reasons…

• The first is that worldwide iPhone® supply will be temporarily constrained. While our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province — and while all of these facilities have reopened — they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated. The health and well-being of every person who helps make these products possible is our paramount priority, and we are working in close consultation with our suppliers and public health experts as this ramp continues. These iPhone supply shortages will temporarily affect revenues worldwide.
• The second is that demand for our products within China has been affected. All of our stores in China and many of our partner stores have been closed. Additionally, stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic. We are gradually reopening our retail stores and will continue to do so as steadily and safely as we can. Our corporate offices and contact centers in China are open, and our online stores have remained open throughout.

Needless to say, U.S. financial markets are not responding favorably to this announcement.

But what is happening elsewhere is nothing compared to the economic nightmare that is unfolding inside of China right now.

Because of the virus, very few people even want to leave their homes.  As a result, consumer spending has almost entirely disappeared.

In fact, one CEO claims that there is virtually “no domestic consumption” in China right now…

Alan Lim of E-Services Group says there is “completely no domestic consumption” now and “factories are, at best, this week at 25% production … you need approval by the government to say you [can] work.”

Of course it is entirely possible that what is taking place in China could start happening elsewhere if this virus continues to spread.

The total number of confirmed cases outside of China is rapidly approaching the 1,000 mark, and that isn’t something to be extremely alarmed about yet.

But if that number continues to rise at an exponential rate, we will soon see a tremendous amount of panic all over the globe, and that will be extremely bad news for the entire global economy.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of 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 have written four books 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 those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. 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. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The post Shocking New Study Says The Coronavirus “Could Impact More Than 5 Million Businesses Worldwide” appeared first on The Economic Collapse.