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Friday, May 29, 2015

McDonald’s Now Losing So Much Money it Stopped Telling Us How Much

Over the past year, I’ve shared with you the continued decline of America’s most popular fast food giant. We’ve talked about the mass closing of McDonald’s locations, the attempts by the company to trick customers into thinking that it was ‘going natural,’ and we’ve even talked about how some economists predict an ultimate demise.
And now, as people continue to choose real food instead of plastic-filled junk, McDonald’s has publicly declared an answer: it will completely stop telling us how much it loses in profits each month. Quite an amazing solution, huh?
As Bloomberg reports in an article entitled “McDonald’s to Stop Reporting Monthly Same-Store Sales Data,” the move has come after 11 straight months of declining sales. Specifically, the fast food titan has even been forced to close more than 700 stores. Meanwhile, the sales of organic food continue to boom. It’s part of the new health paradigm that millions around the world continue to adapt — a system in which real, organic food reigns supreme.
And there’s no place for McDonald’s food in this paradigm, as we have seen by so many individuals around the world rejecting the chain at astounding rates. As Slate reports:
“Every month, McDonald’s announces how much sales have grown (or fallen) at restaurants open at least 13 months in its various market segments and across the globe. Lately, those figures have been nothing but dreadful. As of April, McDonald’s global same-store sales had shrunk for 11 consecutive months while its U.S. numbers had either declined or stayed largely flat.”
Time and time again we find that major corporations and even government organizations would rather ‘turn off’ their reporting and accountability than actually make real strides towards solving the issue at hand. From the EPA just ‘turning off’ the radiation counters following Fukushima, to the plant operating company TEPCO deciding to hide the true radioactive contamination reports. Isn’t it time that McDonald’s changes its game before even more people decide that they won’t be eating junk for any longer?
Do you still eat McDonald’s? Let us know in the comments if you think this fast food giant will survive through the ever-expanding health food movement.

 

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Preparedness Pop Quiz: If you score less than 20 points on this, you're probably already dead

Preparedness Pop Quiz

Instructions: Give yourself points according to the following list. This list is not a comprehensive list of preparedness strategies. There are far more things you can do beyond what you see here. However, this list covers the basics, and if you haven't covered the basics, you're probably not going to make it anyway.

MEDICAL SKILLS AND GEAR: (9 points possible)
+1 point if you know basic first aid skills such as CPR.
+1 point if you are trained as an EMT
+1 point if you are trained as a paramedic
+1 point if you are a practicing surgeon
+1 point if you own spare antibiotics.
+1 point if you own at least one tourniquet.
+1 point if you own at least 2 gallons of antiseptic liquid.
+1 point if you know how to stitch up a wound and have practiced it.
+1 point if you own a "medicine chest" of essential oils for first aid, including tea tree oil, oregano oil and thyme oil.
Your total points from this category: ____

COMMUNICATIONS: (5 points possible)
+1 point if you own an emergency hand-cranked radio that needs no electricity.
+1 point if you own at least one functioning pair of consumer-grade radios (hiking radios).
+1 point if you have a functioning satellite phone.
+1 point if you own a HAM radio, +1 additional point if you know how to use it and hold a current HAM radio license.
Your total points from this category: ____

PROXIMITY TO CHAOS: (8 points possible)
-2 points if you live within the city limits of a major metropolitan area; -1 point if you live within 50 miles of a major metropolitan area; +1 point if you live more than 100 miles away from any major metropolitan area; +2 points if you live more than 300 miles away from any major metropolitan area.
+1 point if you have already mapped out and practice an escape route ON FOOT.
+1 point if you have basic compass and navigation skills and can read a paper topo map (i.e. basic hiking navigation skills).
-1 point if you are so reliant on GPS that you can't even navigate your own city without relying on it.
+1 point if you already have a bug out bag prepared.
+1 point if you have at least 20 gallons of extra fuel stored.
+1 point if you keep your bug out vehicle at least 75% fueled at all times.
Your total points from this category: ____

CASH AND COIN: (3 points possible)
+1 point if you have at least $500 in cash on hand right now.
+1 point if you own at least 100 oz. of silver or 5 oz. of gold and have it in your physical possession.
+1 point if you have substantial savings in any currency other than U.S. dollars.
Your total points from this category: ____

HEAT AND SHELTER: (6 points possible)
+1 point if you have an alternate bug out location (i.e. cabin in the woods).
+1 point if you have your own source of off-grid winter heat (such as a wood stove); +2 points if you also have a local supply of wood to heat with.
+1 point if you have reinforced the entry points of your location, resisting break-ins via doors and windows.
+1 point if you have a safe room in your existing home.
+1 point if you have a metal cross-bar installed to block entry via your doors.
Your total points from this category: ____

FOOD: (13 points possible)
+1 point if you have at least 30 days of stored food on hand; +2 points if you have six months, +3 points for a year or more.
+1 point if you have at least a portion of your stored food hidden in such a way that it would not be easily discoverable by a search of your home.
+1 point if you own an off grid camp stove (any kind) that can boil water without using electricity.
+1 point if you've stored at least 100 pounds of salt.
+1 point if you have a home garden.
+1 point if you practice sprouting.
+1 point if you own and use a non-electric food grow system like the Food Rising Mini-Farm.
+1 point if you own and know how to use a food dehydrator.
+1 point if you possess food canning skills AND have canning equipment on hand.
+1 point if you know how to process animals into food (chickens, deer, cows, etc.)
+1 point if you know how to smoke or salt meat in order to preserve it.
Your total points from this category: ____

WATER: (5 points possible)
+1 point if you already practice rainwater collection as your primary water source, +2 points if you also have at least 2500 gallons of water stored right now.
+1 point if you live within walking distance of an open, year-round water source (such as a lake or stream).
+1 point if you own a gravity water filter such as the Big Berkey; + 2 points if you've already set it up and tested it.
-3 points if you live in a geographic region that's actually a desert. (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, etc.)
Your total points from this category: ____

FIREARMS AND GEAR: (17 points possible)
+1 point if you own any functioning firearm; +2 points if you actually remember how to use it and have proficient skills for doing so.
+1 point if you own a functioning rifle of any kind (hunting, battle or otherwise).
+1 point if you own any night vision monocular such as a PVS-14.
+1 point if you own 1,000 rounds or more of any ammo (any kind).
+1 point if you know how to reload your own ammo and have the reloading equipment to do so.
+1 point if you practice shooting at least once a year to maintain proficiency.
+1 point if you own a suppressor.
+1 point if you own a ballistic vest.
+1 point if you own a chest rig.
+1 point if you own a flashlight with functioning batteries; +2 points if you own a tactical flashlight with more reliable batteries such as CR123; +3 points if you also own a red light tactical flashlight suitable for navigating at night.
+1 point if you own a quality tactical knife and keep it sharp.
+1 point if you own a lightweight, high quality portable sleeping bag.
+1 point if you own a reliable fire starting device (beyond just matches).
+1 point if you own a quality, rugged pair of hiking boots.
Your total points from this category: ____

FITNESS: (6 points possible)
+1 point if you are somewhat physically active; 2 points if you extremely physically active; 3 points if you are actively athletic.
+1 point if you have some familiarity with camping; 2 points if you have strong familiarity with camping or outdoorsmanship; 3 points if you are an expert in wilderness skills.
Your total points from this category: ____

How'd you score?

Total possible maximum points = 72

0 - 20 points: You probably won't survive. Prepare to line up in front of a FEMA camp and beg the government for food, water and shelter.
21 - 30 points: You have a slim chance of survival, but only if you adapt quickly and improve your preparedness status immediately.
31 - 40 points: You have a solid foundation for survival but need to quickly ramp up your preparedness to be ready.
41 - 50 points: You are better off than most but still have a lot of preparedness tasks to complete. Seek to network with others who possess the skills you lack.
51 - 60 points: You are very well prepared, far better than most, and will likely survive just fine as long as you surround yourself with capable people who share your preparedness mindset.
61+ points: You are extraordinarily well prepared and are almost certain to live through the chaos if you stay alert.

A blunt message to those who scored very low

If you scored under 20 points on this Preparedness Pop Quiz, you're probably not going to make it.

Even worse, it's probably already too late for you to do anything about it.

In essence, you are clueless. As part of the non-prepared, you've been living in a dream world populated by cultural delusions. You've been watching cable TV and thinking you're seeing real news. You've been buying factory foods at the grocery store and thinking you're eating real food. You've been paying taxes, and working a job, and voting for candidates at the voting booths, all while thinking you're living in a real democracy run by the will of the People rather than the criminal intent of the corrupt elite. You have absolutely no clue of real American history, how politics really works and why all the people at the very top are the most criminally insane sociopaths ever produced by the human race.

And all the while, you've completely fallen for the delusion that everything your life has come to depend on will reliably exist, day after day, because it has always been that way in your experience: Water will always come out of the tap in your kitchen; cash will always be available at the local ATM; police will always respond when you call 911; fuel will always be available at your local gas station; your debit card will always work... and so on.

What you fail to understand is that you've been living in an artificial construct... an interconnected web of electronics, financial transactions, social contracts, industrial output, food logistics and other artificial layers that have created for you the illusion that everything you need will always be available, day after day, without interruption. You do not grasp the cultural chaos that's coming... the racial tension... the economic collapse... the ecosystem collapse and food shortages... the climate radicalization that will ultimately lead to mass starvation and mass death.

The day will soon come that many of the things you have come to depend on will experience severe disruptions, outages and in some cases even collapse. You will not be warned about that day from your "Matrix media" news sources like CNN. There will be no official acknowledgement of any problems at all... even as the disruptions begin to take hold and the riots begin to flood into the streets.

You will be lied to by your government and your local news station, both of which will insist they have everything under control (they don't) and that you have nothing to worry about (you actually do). You will be told to stay put even though you should probably bug out. You will be ordered to obey the commands of government even though you should probably think for yourself. You will be stripped of any means of self-defense even in the moment when you need self-defense the most.

And because you did not prepare, you have desperately few options to do anything other than obey. A year earlier, when your friends were learning how to grow their own garden vegetables and save seeds, you spent your free time clubbing and watching TV sitcoms. Two years earlier, when your friends decided to get fit and practice some long-distance walking so they could carry a backpack, you discovered the Domino's 2-for-1 pizza deal and began "saving money" by gorging yourself on obesity-inducing fake food. And three years ago, when your friends were spending their weekends learning CPR, emergency medicine skills, handgun self-defense skills, wilderness survival skills or herbal wildcrafting skills, you spent your time playing on your Xbox, the domain where your screen name "BADASSMOFO" announced to the world just how amazing you truly are.

But now, as the proverbial s### is about to hit the fan, instead of having real-world skills, some level of physical fitness, a pantry full of long-term storable foods and a collection of heirloom seeds, you have a high-level character on World of Warcraft, a case of type-2 diabetes, a massive overhanging beltline, a refrigerator full of processed junk food at a couple of bottles of insulin which will quickly run out once the pharmacies are overrun by looters (or burned to the ground as we saw in Baltimore).

Instead of betting on skills and preparedness, you bet on the empty delusion that society's current practices are entirely sustainable. You are now about to lose that bet, and the cost of losing it is dire. For starters, you now have very little time left to prepare for what's coming. The skills and resources you need to survive the societal chaos that's coming take time to put in place, but you spent your time watching TV and trying to impress your millennial friends rather than acquiring real-world skills that might save yourself (and maybe even a few friends, too).

You now face the uncertainty of the near future with the same terrified sense of a domestic poodle dropped into a Louisiana swamp. You have no idea how to survive in the real world, without your ATM, your iPhone, your internet access and your Doritos. You don't own a knife, you're afraid of guns and you despise the mere thought of committing any act of violence whatsoever, even in defense of your own life or property.

You, my friends, are the "low hanging fruit" of the criminal gangs who will confiscate everything you own as they sweep through your neighborhoods, looting and pillaging to their heart's delight. You have no way to stop them, of course. That silly pepper spray canister you bought in 1998 has no pressure left in it, and you don't know how to aim it anyway. By the time the bad guys have already reached your "pepper spray range," it's already too late. They're in your house, stealing your jewelry, shooting your dog and having their way with your family members. You can't stop them because you don't know how. You're "anti-gun" and "anti-violence" after all. You believe in a civilized society. You fell for the delusion that the government would always protect you.

So you try to dial 911, but the signal is busy. 911 is on overload, didn't you know? The police have announced they're only responding to murders now, and even that response time has stretched out to three hours. So you've got three hours with zero defense, in a house full of armed gang bangers who aren't even afraid of the cops, much less defenseless, unprepared citizens like you. If you're lucky, you might simply get beaten and robbed. If you're unlucky -- and they don't mind wasting the ammo -- they'll use you for target practice just to shut you up and stop your incessant pathetic screaming.

Or maybe you're lucky and the gangs don't find your place. So instead of dealing with armed intruders, you only have to deal with a cut-off water supply, no electricity, no heat, no air conditioning, no local groceries, no functioning gas stations and no 911 response. The ATMs are down, the land lines are dead, the cell towers are out of commission and you can't get internet access to work. This is actually a "good" scenario compared to what's happening to other people in other parts of the country. Do you have the skills and state of mind to survive it?

In either case, you have no way out because you don't have a vehicle with a full tank of gas. You can't read a map and a compass -- for your entire adult life, you've navigated at the command of voice-driven GPS -- and you have no idea how to leave your city on foot. You've never even been hiking beyond a gentle walk in nature followed by a night's stay in a hotel. You don't know how to pitch a tent, how to build a makeshift shelter, or how to start a fire without using a lighter. You don't even own a lighter anyway, because of course you don't smoke either.

You've screwed yourself out of options, essentially. And you didn't even know it.

But don't get mad at me for pointing this out. Get mad at yourself for letting yourself become so freaking pathetic and vulnerable in a world run by predators and criminals.

If this Preparedness Pop Quiz pisses you off, then GOOD! Maybe it will get you angry enough to improve your score and have a shot at surviving. On the other hand, if this Preparedness Pop Quiz gives you a large, confident grin, then even better! Maybe you'll help save lives, restore order in local communities, feed some hungry stragglers or prevent violent criminals from targeting your home or neighborhood. Maybe you'll be a force for good in a world of chaos, where the police state governments desperately seek to deny you any power at all, stripping from you all your constitutional rights and human dignity. Maybe you'll rise up and resist the criminal banker occupation of America, seeking to restore law and order, constitutional government and respect for human life.

If so, I hope I run into you one day. I'll be the guy at the local farmer's market wearing a loaded Glock on my hip and offering fresh organic lettuce and strawberries for barter. I look forward to hearing your story of how you survived the chaos and came out on top.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Quote De Jour

"You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the great struggle for independence." - Attributed to Charles Austin Beard (1874-1948) 

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Raid on Venice Beach Church Targets Illegal? Kombucha Tea

Once upon a time, a boy with a beautiful head of hair starred in a bunch of teen movies and then grew up to co-found a new-age spiritual movement. Tale as old as time. The actor-turned-guru, Andrew Keegan, set up Full Circle's headquarters in an old Venice Beach, California, church last fall, and this would all just be a charming little fact ripe for the Tweeting were it not for meddling state alcohol control agents. Last Friday, an undercover officer from the state's Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) "infiltrated the temple," Vice reports, "clearing the way for a 9 PM incursion by five officers." What manner of crazy bootlegged hooch were the agents there to confiscate?
Kombucha. Blueberry kombucha.
For the uninitiated, kombucha is a type of carbonated, probiotic tea, popular among hipsters and health foodies. It's made by mixing regular tea, sugar, and a "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast" known as the "mother" and letting the whole business ferment for a few days. The end result is a somewhat vinegar-like beverage that's packed with good bacteria (à la yogurt) and ever-so-slightly alcoholic.
Under federal law, beverages with more than 0.5 percent alcohol must state so on the label. In general, kombucha falls under this limit, though this can vary based on how it's made; and the longer kombucha is fermented—or, once bottled, the longer it sits on store shelves—the more the alcohol content may rise. For a brief while, in 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Alcohol, Tobacco, Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) looked like that they might crack down on kombucha, spurred by both widely-circulated rumors that Lindsay Lohan's alcohol-detection bracelet had been set off by drinking it and state tests showing some commercial brands were above the 0.5 limit. Most fell between 0.5 and 2.5 percent alcohol.

On Friday, Full Circle was offering kombucha on tap, provided by local brand Kombucha Dog, during an event to benefit Freedom Project and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. But because the tea contains slightly above 0.5 percent alcohol, it requires a special license to sell say ABC agents, who cited a Full Circle rep for misdemeanor selling alcohol without a license. "We’re a complaint-driven agency, so when someone notifies us about what might be an illegal activity, we respond to it," ABC Special Agent Will Salao told local newspaper The Argonaut. Keegan's response?
"They may be a complaint-driven agency, but we’re an intention-driven organization and our intentions are pure," Keegan said. "Kombucha is something we’d never imagine to be an illegal substance, and it’s frustrating the system has that perspective."
Jason Dilts, Full Circle's communications director, said drinking kombucha is part of the group's spiritual practice. "It's a sacred tea to a lot of people who come into our temple," Dilts told Vice.
But "despite the Kombucha Police raiding the layer, much awareness and love was shared" last Friday, one event-goer noted on Facebook. "Cheers to all who contributed their vibezzz."
Full Circle can't comment on legal issues surrounding the raid, Dilts told me via email. "Rather than put energy into the unnecessary disturbance that took place, we will instead focus on business as usual," he said. On Sunday, Full Circle is holding a benefit concert in honor of Brendon Glenn, a young man who was killed in Venice Beach last week during an altercation with Los Angeles police.

Atlantic City On The Brink Of Collapse As Millions In Debt Payment Come Due


(Atlantic City) The odds these day don’t look all that good for Atlantic City.

It’s not just that four casinos have closed. The city has a $100 million gap in its budget and tax appeals by at least five casino properties could dig that hole even deeper. Atlantic City’s property values have dropped by two-thirds in the last five years, its spending has increased, and millions in

The financial crisis in the resort town has led to a loss of faith by Wall Street, with major downgrades in the city’s bond ratings in recent months over fears the place could ultimately go broke.

But the Christie administration, which took over the city’s finances in January through the appointment of an emergency manager, is not yet talking about bankruptcy. In fact, it is not saying much of anything at all, as it works to figure out a way for the city to pay its bills.

“I do not see a need to file for bankruptcy,” said an official close to the situation, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak on the record. “I think they can negotiate their way through it.”

Driving the talk of bankruptcy from the start had been Gov. Chris Christie’s appointment of emergency manager Kevin Lavin, and his special consultant, attorney Kevyn Orr, who orchestrated Detroit’s bankruptcy filing. But a 60-day assessment report in March by Lavin does not even mention the work bankruptcy, nor does it say it is even being contemplated.

The governor’s office declined to make Lavin available for an interview. Orr recently leftto return to his former law firm. A spokesman for the governor, though, said had never been any hidden meaning behind the hiring of bankruptcy experts.

“Naturally, legal counsel with exactly this financial expertise would be engaged as part of the ongoing reform efforts underway in Atlantic City,” said spokesman Brian Murray.

Despite the city’s mounting problems, Mark Pfeiffer, former deputy director of the state Division of Local Government Services and now with the Bloustein Local Government Research Center at Rutgers University, believes bankruptcy in Atlantic City can yet be staved off.

“I think it can be done, but it requires the city to get its cost structure consistent with the new environment,” he said.
MOUNTING FINANCIAL WOES

Few consider Atlantic City’s long-term debt obligations to be unreasonable. What is really driving the city’s financial woes is the collapse of its casino industry and accompanying drop in tax revenues, along with the tax appeals that have cost $186 million in refunds.

The city’s labor contracts are also generally perceived to be out of line with it’s ability to afford them, said Pfeiffer, and analysts suggest the reason the Christie administration has not publicly ruled out bankruptcy is the leverage it provides in negotiating with Atlantic City’s unions. A lawyer for the city’s municipal unions did not return calls to his office.

The city’s payroll includes about 1,150 employees serving a population of 39,551—or about 29 workers for every 1,000 residents. That’s more than Newark, the state’s largest city, which has 11 employees for every 1,000 residents, and Jersey City, with about 10 employees on the payroll for each 1,000 people, based on a population of 257,341, according to an analysis of statewide municipal employee payrolls.

The mayor of Atlantic City, Donald Guardian, has proposed layoffs eliminating 228 jobs effective June 26, including a third of the fire department. But that still would leave a total per capita workforce larger than Newark. Guardian did not respond to requests for an interview.

Bankruptcy, though, would create fallout far beyond Atlantic City. No New Jersey municipality has filed for bankruptcy since the Great Depression, according to state officials. Indeed, the policies of every administration since then—along with the Legislature—has been to avoid such a nuclear option. While the city of Camden briefly attempted it in 1999, when then-Mayor Milton Milan filed for bankruptcy after the state withheld additional municipal aid until auditors were permitted to monitor spending at City Hall, the petition was later withdrawn.


Still, a day after Christie installed his emergency management team to take charge of Atlantic City’s troubled finances, the major ratings agencies downgraded the city’s outstanding debt to junk bond status.

“The situation is very acute,” said Josellyn Gonzalez Yousef, an assistant vice president at Moody’s Investors Service. “Certainly they have a massive budget deficit they have to grapple with. Whether they will spiral into bankruptcy is not something we’re positioned to say right now. It’s potentially a dire situation.”

While legislative leaders, as well as the city, have proposed a number of measures to address the situation, Yousef noted they all need to happen in a very short time period.

“They will run into liquidity trouble by the end of the year if they don’t pass some of the legislation they’ve discussed,” she said. “You need multiple pieces of the puzzle falling into position.”
A STALLED RESCUE PLAN

Some of those pieces include legislation now stalled in the state Senate. Orlie Prince, a vice president and senior analyst with Moody’s Public Finance Group, questioned the sustainability of any state commitment to local governments in New Jersey, in light of its own financial pressures.

Last month, the state gave Atlantic City a 60-day extension on a $40 million loan, temporarily easing the pressure, but marking the second time in the last four months that the state had to assist the city because it had difficulties accessing the capital markets. In December, Atlantic City attempted to issue $140 million in bonds to finance tax appeal refunds to casinos, but was forced to postpone the sale given market conditions.

Standard & Poor’s, in a report in April, believes the city is unlikely to pursue bankruptcy as an immediate course of action. But based on Lavin’s interim report, the ratings agency noted the possibility of debt service and other payment deferrals as early as fiscal 2015 as an option to address the city’s budget deficit. It also noted the failure of any short-term solutions now on the table could still introduce bankruptcy as a potential course of action.

Public finance attorney, David Fernández of Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney in New York, said unless there are serious considerations by creditors to restructure, the city will be boxed into a financial corner.

“They are on the express train for bankruptcy for sure. I don’t think the revenue stream is there to help them keep everybody happy,” he remarked. “Unless there is a restructuring, you’re going to be in a Detroit situation and perhaps that will be the better way to go. That will force restructuring.”

Long term, he said the city must find a way to reinvent itself, as its casinos fall like dominoes.

“Casinos are not going to be the answer,” he said.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Michigan Baby Dies, Pathologists Confirm Vaccines Responsible

Rachel French did what most parents do: she took her baby to the doctor to get vaccinated. She was unaware of the associated risks that come along with these drugs and learned the hard way. She lost her adorable son less than three days after he was given eight routine vaccines.
Her son’s autopsy report stated he died from asphyxiation from an undetermined cause. There was nothing obstructing his airways, nor did he have any physical signs of trauma at the time of his death.
The medical examiner and detective handling the case did not provide a good enough explanation for Rachel to understand what had happened to her baby. This led Rachel on her own journey to find out the truth. Rachel was told by the doctors that the vaccines had nothing to do with what had happened.
Years later, her lost son came through to her in a dream and eventually helped her uncover the truth. Her own investigation involving a child death investigator and pathologists proved the vaccines were responsible. This is their family’s harrowing story.

A Life That Will Never Be Forgotten

Elijah Daniel French was born on May 4, 2007, in Oakland County, Michigan. His parents and siblings called him “Danny.” He was always so happy, smiled a lot and was loved by everyone around him.
Like most babies in the United States, newborn baby Danny was given his first hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours after birth. When it was time to take him to the doctor’s office to keep receiving the vaccines on the CDC schedule, it wasn’t always easy for mom to make the appointments and she found herself rescheduling them.
On October 18, 2007, Danny was taken in for his unintentionally delayed well-baby checkup. During this visit, at five and-a-half months old, he was vaccinated for seven diseases. He received the DTaP, hepatitis B, polio, Hib and pneumococcal vaccines. He suffered some adverse reactions to the drugs and had difficulty breathing, while dealing with the high fever that also resulted.
On February 25, 2008, Danny was given the same injections he received at his last appointment. He was almost ten months old at this time. Afterwards, the breathing difficulties and high fever returned.
Danny’s pediatric well-baby visits left him unwell. Since the doctor never pointed out a connection to the vaccines and Danny’s reactions, his mother Rachel never made the connection, either. She trusted the doctor would inform her to stop vaccinating her son if he were at risk of injury from subsequent vaccines, but no warning was given.
Rachel consoled her baby and listened to the doctor by giving him Albuterol to deal with his asthma. He was also given Children’s Tylenol® to help ease the fever caused by the vaccines.
Not being made aware that further vaccines could harm her baby, Danny’s mother took him in for the next round. Danny was almost fourteen months old when his mother took him in to receive the routine twelve month shots.
On July 1, 2008, Danny received the MMR, Hib, Varicella, and DTaP vaccines. These eight vaccines were given in four injections.
His mother stated,
“That night, Danny was still eating and drinking but was cranky and slept more than usual.
By the next day, he was extremely fatigued, irritable and had a loss of appetite. He did not have a fever at this time. He was red and warm where they injected him. These symptoms only worsened.
By the third day, Danny was unable to stay awake for longer than thirty minutes, he had zero food intake, his fluid intake diminished and he cried excessively.
Seventy-one hours after his doctor visit, Danny developed a fever from the vaccines and was given Children’s Tylenol. His doctor was called but there was no answer from him because it was the July 4th holiday, the office was closed.
He was given Tylenol at 2:00 PM and was laid down on the floor, on a comforter in the living room, near the wall, where he took a nap. I checked on him while my other children played.
I checked on him at 4:00 PM to see if he felt feverish and he was cool to the touch. I thought he was just cold so I covered him up. He was sleeping, I thought. He didn’t look dead.
It was about forty minutes later when I discovered he was unresponsive and had passed away.
911 was called seventy-five hours post vaccination. The EMS sheet stated four shots were given four days prior. It was actually only 3 days prior that he was vaccinated.
A detective came out briefly and my son was taken to the hospital where he was left. Then his autopsy was to be done and I waited for answers.
I was told my baby most likely died within thirty minutes after he was given the Tylenol, at around 2:30 PM. This was based on lividity, rigor onset, and Tylenol levels in his blood.
I was told, “Oh, vaccines couldn’t have done this,” and I had no reason to question them because they were doctors and doctors don’t lie.
Danny died on July 4, 2008, the day he turned 14 months old, less than three days after he was vaccinated.”

Danny’s Reported Cause Of Death Raised Questions

After Danny passed away, an investigation took place. A detective came for a brief visit and nothing ever came of it. A short time later, Danny’s case was closed as solved, even though there was no resolution.
Danny’s autopsy report stated his death was ruled as position/compression asphyxia from an undetermined manner. This ruling suggests an outside force was responsible, but this didn’t make sense because Danny’s airways were not obstructed and there was no physical trauma to his body and there were no signs he had struggled. Danny had no petechial hemorrhaging in his face and his hyoid bone was intact when he passed.
Rachel decided to contact the medical examiner, L.J. Dragovic, M.D., to get a better understanding of what exactly happened to her son.
Rachel stated,
“I had one conversation in my life with L.J. Dragovic, the medical examiner that handled my son’s autopsy. We spoke over the phone. I asked him what the cause of death reported on the autopsy meant. The explanation he gave was that “it means some outside force put enough pressure on him that he could not breathe.”
He told me my son was too old to die from SIDS and he admitted he did not see pictures of the scene to determine what could’ve put pressure on him. He told me Danny did not die from his asthma, that his asthma was not responsible.
I asked, “Is there any other way this happened? It just isn’t making sense to me.” He said it could have been anything. “You have other kids, right? Probably one of them just laid on him or they stepped on him when they were playing.”
He then told me if I needed any more help that I should call the detective. So I did. I called the detective that day, completely distraught, and I begged him not to tell me if his investigation found it was one of my girls that stepped on him because I thought I could never deal with that.
He said he hadn’t even seen the autopsy yet and he would get in touch with me.
I called back a few days later and was told he was no longer a detective but a patrol officer and my son’s case was forwarded to the sergeant who had taken over the case.
The sergeant told me the case was closed and that I could retrieve the evidence, which included the comforter he was sleeping on. They also took the Tylenol, Albuterol and a sippy cup that was not given back to me.
Danny died on July 4, 2008, and I received his cause of death report on Thursday, September 4, 2008. I talked to Sgt. Troy that following Tuesday and on Wednesday, I picked up the comforter he was laying on when he passed.
The county medical examiner is the only one with authority over the sheriff, my son’s case was not even investigated thoroughly and on Sept 1st of that year, the sheriff’s detective was demoted to patrol duty and the case was taken over by the Sergeant, just in time for his cause of death to be released; the case was closed as solved, but I felt it was never solved.”

The Report Did Not Mention The Vaccines

The serum test performed revealed Danny had a level of 5.5 mg/L of acetaminophen in his blood, which would be from the Tylenol given to him just before he died. The vaccines Danny had just received were not on the report.
Each vaccine contains a large number of ingredients. Vaccines are medical drugs that are injected directly into the body and all of them are associated with life-threatening risks. Vaccines contain heavy metals such as mercury and aluminum that can harm the brain. Metals injected into a person can disrupt their nervous system, helping to shut down the respiratory system.
The vaccines Danny had just received are the most plausible cause of his death. These should have been mentioned on his autopsy report, but they were not. Other parents who have lost their child after vaccination, coming forward, are admitting the same thing, that the vaccines are not being listed on the autopsy.
The EMS sheet stated four shots were given four days prior, but the medical examiner who examined Danny and wrote up the autopsy report didn’t acknowledge this. There was no mention of the three-day illness Danny suffered after the shots, either. Parents want to know why this important information is being ignored.
Rachel then found out the medical examiner that performed her son’s autopsy had publicized his stance on SIDS years before, in 1997. [1]
From an article published in the Irish Times, the author who wrote about L.J. Dragovic had this to say:
“He stressed that he, like the SIDS lobbyists, wanted to see no more unexplained infant deaths.
"But I believe that everything that can be explained should be explained, and people taught how to avoid preventable deaths."
A lot of infant deaths were due to "positional asphyxia," where the child smothered, he said.”
“He acknowledged that some sudden infant deaths were not due to asphyxia and were apparently inexplicable. But he preferred the use of the term "undetermined," and the continued pursuit of explanations. He advocated constant contact with small babies, especially for the first 12 to 18 months, and particular attention to the possible role of older siblings and pets in sudden infant deaths.”
This means that in 1997, when this article was published in the Irish Times, the same medical examiner who performed Danny’s autopsy in 2008, L.J. Dragovic, featured in that article, is still blaming these deaths on older siblings or pets and telling parents sleeping too close to baby should be of concern. He makes no mention of the vaccines these children are being given, as a reason for the concern they are dying so young.
Rachel was tormented by this thought that one of her other kids could’ve caused Danny’s death. This is another horrendous tactic used to hide the truth, to blame other siblings or pets, but not the vaccines, and let the parents fend for themselves.
Elijah Daniel French's Vaccine Record

A Powerful Dream Of Danny Helped Lead To Answers

“I was told the vaccines were safe. I never did realize the vaccines could be responsible for what happened to my son. I was told it couldn’t be the vaccines and I trusted them.
I even continued to vaccinate my other children. I never denied vaccines until 2011 when I denied the HPV vaccine for my daughters and the Hep A vaccine for the son I had just after Danny died. I was seven months pregnant with him when Danny passed away.
This was before I knew about Danny, but these two vaccines didn't sit well with my mommy instinct.
I learned more in 2011. It wasn’t until more than a few years after Danny passed, that I had a weird dream of my son. He came to me in my dream and it is the only dream I know of him being in.
He was just sitting in his bouncy seat and a man’s voice said, "It was the ‘site-o-kin’ storm that killed me.”
I decided to Google the term and found the term cytokine storm. I was shocked at what I had found. This dream, combined with a few other bothersome details, led me to send off his slides and other things I had saved.”

Pathologists Confirm Vaccine-Induced Hypercytokinemia Caused The Asphyxiation

Rachel felt the need to do her own investigation and seek a second opinion. She shared with us,
“My family has cholesterol issues and all of my children get regular bloodwork done because we are at a high risk of heart disease from high cholesterol issues.
Danny had blood samples taken when he was twelve months old. On the day of Danny’s well-baby visit two months later, just before he passed, the day he was given that last set of shots, they had to take his blood again because of a previous lab mix-up.
I wasn't comfortable with the way things were going so I had requested that the samples be sent to a facility for storing.
I had kept a locket of Danny’s hair after he had passed away, some slides requested after his autopsy, and decided to send some teeth and bone fragments from his ashes to the pathologist, along with the stored blood samples I had requested be saved. I then made arrangements to have the evidence reviewed.
Everything was reviewed by three separate pathologists. All three confirmed the same findings. The pathologists stated vaccine-induced hypercytokinemia as the cause of my son’s asphyxiation.
They were able to determine this in large part to the blood panel taken prior to Danny receiving his vaccines, in contrast with the samples I had stored.
They also agreed encephalopathy was likely responsible, as it’s a cytokine storm syndrome.
Danny’s pathology report stated his cause of death was asphyxiation, secondary to hypercytokinemia, caused by vaccines received approximately 72 hours prior.
My son too had a brownish to pinkish colored mucous coming from his mouth when he died. My daughter witnessed this and I saw evidence of this on the blanket when it was returned to me, as well as on his unwashed clothing. I have since been made aware this regularly happens in babies passing after vaccination.”

Danny’s Airways Shut Down Because Of The Vaccines

Rachel stated,
“I know it was the vaccines that took my son’s life. A cytokine cascade caused his airway to swell shut, killing him. I no longer vaccinate because of what the vaccines did to my son.
Parents need to trust themselves and always get a second opinion. His life could have been saved if I was warned his earlier reactions were a sign that future vaccines could cause even worse harm.
No parent should ever have to go through this and that’s why I want to share our story.”
Danny is greatly missed and thought of every day. In honor of sweet Danny, his mother made this video to remember him.

A Child Death Investigator Gets Involved

Rachel informed the investigator of the time frame of Danny’s adverse reactions after the vaccines were given. The child death investigator admitted most parents are not made aware of this information before they take their child to get vaccinated. This is very true information and is worth understanding.
This was the investigator’s response:
“I’ve had cases where serious adverse events occurred within prescribed time frames according to the reportable events table and they were not reported. The most recent case was a 4 year old who developed encephalopathy within 5 days of receiving MMR and DTaP.
The Reportable Events Table (RET) states encephalopathy is a reportable event if it occurs within 7 days of DTaP and within 15 days of receiving MMR. The parents got the same answer you got from their doctor, “It couldn’t possibly have been the vaccinations.” Nevermind that what had occurred was required by law to be reported, whether or not the doctor thought it was the vaccinations.
I am so sorry for your loss. There is such a heavy bias by health care providers to ignore harm from treatments they give, and it colors every single aspect of vaccine adverse events and their aftermath.
It is so difficult to prove causality because of the ultra high standards they have set and barriers such as physician reticence to admit vaccines may have caused harm. It is a miracle that there are even any NVICP resolutions to cases as it is.
From what you described, your baby had an altered mental status, likely due to encephalopathy. I am so, so sorry for your loss. I’ve actually seen similar cases where the Medical Examiner (ME) determined encephalopathy, but claimed it was secondary to shaken baby and had the parents prosecuted. Horrible, horrible, things.”

Rachel Filed A Report With VAERS

Rachel took it upon herself to file a report with the Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) this year, since the doctor that should’ve done this did not. At the moment, she only has a temporary VAERS ID number. She is still waiting for the report to be finalized and it will then be viewable to the public, in the VAERS database. [2]
Based on the deadline of two years to file a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, when your loved one dies likely as a result of being vaccinated, it is now too late for Rachel to file. Had she learned the truth sooner, she would’ve been able to file a claim.
Exceptions should be made in cases like hers and she plans to pursue this. Parents should become familiar with the listed reactions to vaccines by reading the package inserts and the reportable events table. You must learn how difficult it is to receive any compensation should you or a loved one become vaccine-injured. [3]

A Friend Of Rachel Lost Her Own Child After Being Vaccinated

Rachel mentioned,
“A friend I had met before learning the truth about what happened to Danny went through something similar with her baby. The coroner called her and said her baby’s death was a SIDS case related to the DTaP vaccine he received at two months of age.
She called the next day, got a new medical examiner who said the other medical examiner was gone, she waited eight months for the autopsy report that was filled out by a different person and it stated accidental suffocation or something along those lines. She lost her other kids and had to fight tooth and nail to get them back.”

Certain Tests Should Be Performed To Help Prove Vaccine Injuries

Parents need to know what required tests should be performed during the autopsy to help prove their case, should they find themselves filing a vaccine injury claim. They should have their loved one’s cytokine and chemokine protein levels tested. Elevated amounts after vaccination can help prove the vaccines caused their death. Encephalopathy is a commonly suffered vaccine injury in children.
Mandated vaccines contain mercury and aluminum that can damage a person’s brain, causing death or disruption of development. "If brain tissue is taken, check for Hg and Al, which would indicate those metals crossed the blood brain barrier and may have been the precipitating factor in the child’s demise, as they are potent neurotoxins and can cause encephalopathy.” [4]

MMR- And DTaP-Associated Risks Include Encephalopathy And Death

Two triple vaccines, DTaP and MMR, out of the eight vaccines Danny received, are associated with these risks shown below. This list clearly shows Danny suffered injuries related to these vaccines given to him, but the medical examiner didn’t take notice. Parents need to read the vaccine package inserts and learn these risks. [5]
Vaccine injuries are ignored to protect the vaccine program. Giving more than one vaccine or a combination vaccine to a child helps vaccine manufacturers cover up related injuries because it is too hard to prove which vaccine harmed the person. Their is no way to prove which vaccine, or if all of the vaccines, caused the injury.
Instead of proving it’s safe to inject all of these vaccines together during these well-baby checkups, laws have been passed to grant immunity to vaccine makers which give them no incentive to make safer vaccines, but rather an incentive to add more vaccines to the schedule, without testing if it’s safe to inject all of these at once. This is being done while lobbyists are working hard to strip away your exemption rights.

Giving Tylenol After Vaccination Can Be Dangerous

Merck’s manual advises acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Children’s Tylenol®, is known to deplete glutathione levels in the body and can cause liver damage. [6] Glutathione is needed to help detoxify the body. It is a very important antioxidant that helps reduce oxidative stress which can lead to a large number of health problems, including brain damage. [7]
Doctors need to warn parents their child could be harmed more by giving them Tylenol after receiving vaccines, especially the MMR vaccine that Danny had received. Although Danny did not survive, he could’ve been at a higher risk of vaccine-acetaminophen-induced autism because no doctor told Rachel to avoid giving him Tylenol after receiving the MMR injection. “This preliminary study found that acetaminophen use after measles-mumps-rubella vaccination was associated with autistic disorder.” [8]
Vaccinations load the body with viruses, bacteria, heavy metals, foreign animal, plant and human DNA contaminants, synthetic chemicals, genetically modified organisms, etc. Some of these ingredients are documented to cause cancer. Glutathione is needed to help the body rid itself of this toxic buildup.
Danny showed classic signs he was reacting negatively to the vaccines, before he received the Tylenol. The levels of acetaminophen found in his blood during the autopsy were not at a level overdose is said to occur. Consuming acetaminophen after vaccination can add to the cascade effect, causing the body to not detoxify fast enough, thus making it harder to rid the body of the toxic chemicals injected from the vaccines.

Michigan Health Officials Make It Harder For Parents To Opt Out Of Vaccination

“As of Jan. 1, 2015, Michigan parents filing a non-medical exemption form for their children first will be required to ask a health department official to certify that they have received one-sided state vaccine “education.” Without that health department “certification,” a non-medical vaccine exemption will not be accepted by a day care facility, school or other state-funded activity program.” [9]
Michigan’s Republican governor, Rick Snyder, supported and signed off on this bill even though public input was clearly stifled. It’s likely the next step taken will be to remove the philosophical and religious exemptions altogether. This tactic is being played out in other states, including California.
Many parents have informed us their child suffered life-threatening vaccine reactions, including seizures and interrupted SIDS, within minutes to hours after getting vaccinated, but they were later denied a medical exemption from further vaccines. Parents need to get informed, protect and help strengthen their state’s vaccine exemption laws. It’s better to fight for those rights while you still have them, because it’s harder to get them back once gone.
Parents who do not vaccinate their children do not expect another child to get vaccinated to protect their child, even though the media likes to portray this. If health officials want to remove exemption rights, claiming that action protects others, they need to create a new exemption for parents to file to opt out of having any of their children further vaccinated if one of their children died or suffered injuries from the vaccines, protecting those children, too.
You can’t claim you want to protect one child more than another. Without creating a new exemption law for these families while trying to strip away existing exemptions, that is exactly what is being done.
Health officials cannot expect parents to further vaccinate any of their children when one of their children has already suffered an associated risk that comes along with any vaccine, including death, like what happened to Danny. Adding insult to injury, Danny’s death was covered up. It took his mother’s own will to find out the truth and do her own investigative work to get answers.
Please learn which vaccines your child is expected to get when you take them into the doctor’s office for their well-baby checkup. [10] Never leave without a copy of your child’s medical record, showing all of the vaccines given, batch numbers, vaccine manufacturers' information and where the injections were given. These records routinely go missing to cover up negligence by doctors and nurses and injuries caused by vaccines. It is much easier to get those files at each visit and store these records in a safe place for when you may need them.

Conclusion

It is very clear that vaccine-related deaths and injuries are being intentionally hidden. Parents of vaccine-injured children are doing their own investigations and coming forward more, seeking the truth denied to them by health officials.
Inform your friends, family and neighbors that this is going on, that children are dying from the vaccines. Be brave. Help preserve your fundamental right to choose what gets injected into you or your child’s body. Making good medical decisions can only be done when you are informed.
Our hearts go out to Danny and his family and all of the other precious children who have suffered the same fate. Their families are working hard for us to raise needed awareness about the harm vaccines can cause.
Elijah Daniel French “Danny”
May 4, 2007 - July 4, 2008
Passed away at 14 months old, less than three days after receiving eight vaccines.

LandOfTheFreeHah

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Elderly Couple Honk At Off Duty Cop; Cop Breaks Man’s Nose, Smashes Teeth Out With Gun

An elderly couple in St. Louis County found out what happens when you honk your horn at a cop this past weekend, when the officer drew his gun and pistol whipped the man in the face, while wrestling with the woman as she attempted to defend her husband.
Describing the harrowing incident to local reporters, Janet and Donald Akers noted that they were unable to pay their respects to Janet’s deceased mother on Mother’s day, as they were beaten up by the cop before they could get to the graveyard.
Mrs Akers was driving the car, when she was suddenly rushed upon by a large unmarked black truck. Fearing that the truck was going to collide with their vehicle, she honked her horn.
“To let him know, hey, you’re coming over to hit us, and then he backed down, got behind us, and honked and honked and honked, all the way through the intersection,” said Janet.
Not knowing that the driver of the truck was a cop, Mrs Akers pulled over to attempt to diffuse the situation, and suddenly found herself and her husband under attack at gunpoint.
“I didn’t know if he was going to shoot us or what,” said Donald, who admits he was in fear for both their lives.
However, the off duty cop used the butt of the gun to pistol whip Mr Akers in the face.
“He hit me right across the nose with it, broke my nose, my sinus cavities, broke my teeth.” Akers told reporters.
The officer then began fighting with Mrs Akers as she tried to stop the attack. Bystanders were alerted by the struggle, and jumped in to break up the fight.
Mrs Akers called the police, and officers arrived, but simply made the situation worse.
“The police came, and went over directly to him. And they were all talking, laughing, joking around,” she said, adding “We feel like they knew him right off the bat.”
Instead of calling for medical attention for Mr Akers, and reprimanding the attacker, the uniformed officers instead treated the couple as if they were criminal suspects, and searched their vehicle.
“They never searched that guy’s truck. He had the gun,” Donald said.
“I thought they were going to shoot my husband, and I was really scared for that.” Janet further noted, fearing the cops would seek retribution against the couple.
The St Louis County Police refused to release the name of the off duty officer, saying that an investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Friday, May 8, 2015

Propaganda Buster

17 Different Videos Showing Military Preparations for Obama’s “Martial Law” Exercises

If you doubted the seriousness and the scope of President Barack Obama’s Jade Helm 15 domestic military exercise, you need to look at these videos.
These 17 videos on YouTube show that Jade Helm 15 — a set of special operations exercises many believe might be a precursor to martial law — isn’t anything to sneeze at.

Here’s a video of just some of the military equipment being shipped into the American Southwest for the exercise:



FEMA Camps Series Part 1 of 3: Will They Happen?


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FEMA camps: Just reading those two words invoke an immediate sense of foreboding and anger in many Americans. Call such emergency government facilities resettlement camps or refugee camps if you like, but the freedom-infringing will be just the same despite the text on the entrance sign. If following a guy who introduces himself by saying, “Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” does not sound like a pleasant way to spend a few months or years, then you had better start preparing now.
A while back my husband Bobby was flipping channels and happened to land on Red Dawn (the original cult classic and not the cheesy remake) and we watched the scene where the townsfolk were herded into “re-education” camps by their new masters. Bobby turned to me and said, in all seriousness, “If you love me, you had better shoot me if I am ever ushered into a place like that.”
Now, I love my best friend with my whole entire heart and would surely rather use the expert target skills he taught me to rescue him than to put him out of his misery. Being captured and placed in a FEMA camp would be devastating, but feeling grateful that such a place existed and voluntarily walking behind the barbed wire because you felt it was you only option for survival would be far worse.
red dawn The likelihood of FEMA camps being created is an often-debated and highly controversial topic. Operation Jade Helm 15 theories have also included the idea of both government-run camps and “FEMA trains.” Although the mainstream media would like for you to ignore the possible existence of FEMA camps and see them as merely conspiracy theories surrounding recent headlines and part of the “whacko survivalist” mindset, a 2013 U.S. Army report and a U.S. Supreme Court justice appear to disagree.
An internment and resettlement camp “Army manual” went viral two years ago, yet still went largely unnoticed by the nightly news. The alleged military manual posted in PDF form shows a February 2010 creation date, but the text only found its way onto web in April 2013. The manual and an equally viral YouTube video about the FEMA camps has some concerned about history repeating itself.
preppers The diagrams of the internment and resettlement camps, often dubbed FEMA camps, are eerily similar to the concentration camps of World War II. The alleged Army manual also describes the design of the internment and resettlement camps, right down to the placement of a massive amount of barbed wire and guard towers.
The supposedly official Army manual defines the “civilian combatants” who would reside in the FEMA camps as basically anyone who disagrees with current government policies. The work titles of those in charge at the internment and resettlement camps allegedly include psychological operations officers. Such officers would allegedly be in charge of re-education of civilian combatants.
Those Americans identified as malcontents would allegedly be subjected to drug treatments and various forms of psychological warfare. The alleged Army manual is entitled FM 3-39.40. Agencies mentioned as partners in governing and operating the camps include FEMA, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Red Cross and the United Nations.
fema camps meme Excerpts from the internment and resettlement camps manual notes that the Department of Defense will offer support to civil authorities dealing with a civil emergency. Scenarios offered as examples of a civil emergency include terrorist attacks, man-made or natural disasters, accidents and “incidents” in the United States and its territories.
The alleged FEMA camps Army manual also mentioned the need to garner an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act before initiating the camp. The act became law in 1878. The legislation made it illegal to employ any part of the Army as a posse or to execute laws except in a case when force has been authorized by an act of Congress. The supposed internment and resettlement camps manual states that such an exemption could be achieved via an executive order from the president.
In 2014, two FEMA camp stories went viral. The first was statements by Justice Scalia saying that “internment camps” could happen again in the United States. The second involved FEMA spending a ton of taxpayer money on manufactured homes that can be “quickly built and deployed” anywhere in the country.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency release also noted that the manufacturers of the homes seeking to bid on the project needed to respond to the posted solicitation only with homes that have the “potential to become permanent housing.” The FEMA homes ad first appeared late last week on the FBO.gov website. The federal agency noted in the solicitation that multiple contracts will be awarded and worth up to a “half-billion dollars” for an “indefinite” quantity of manufactured homes. Homes which meet the Federal Emergency Management Agency needs can have from one to three bedrooms. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Housing manual lists the manufactured homes as their “top-tier” of housing choices.
During Hurricane Katrina, the term “FEMA trailers” became commonplace. The taxpayer-funded acquisitions of the portable temporary units were in short supply the days following the catastrophic natural disaster. The vast majority of the FEMA trailers have been sold to the public because the federal government allegedly did not have enough space to store the camper style dwellings.
Excerpt from a FEMA trailers for sale ad on a government auction website:
“Good News! FEMA Trailers are back on sale by the Government after a long hiatus due to issues of formaldehyde. Back in March 2007 the Government started offering FEMA Trailers for sale from the Katrina and Rita Disasters at fire-sale prices. After the destructive hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast in August and September 2005, FEMA Spent more than $2.5 billion to buy up nearly 150,000 trailers, campers, and mobile homes, many of which were never even used. In 2007, the government started to sell these travel trailers, and many were bought for unheard-of prices, as potential buyers began inquiring how to buy a FEMA Trailer, many were gobbling up the FEMA trailer deals rather that spending $25,000 to $40,000 for a brand-new trailer.”
If FEMA did not have enough space to hold the trailers until needed again after a natural disaster, where will they put all of the mobile homes currently being sought? That question, among many others about the new purchasing program, has prompted renewed interest in “FEMA camps” stories. A few weeks prior to the FEMA home ad that went viral, a different post by the federal agency sought bids for companies that could provide “motor coach evacuation of the general population in response to a government-declared emergency.”
fema camps America
US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said that internment camps can happen again in America. The longest serving justice also stated that the nation’s highest court would uphold such camps. Scalia made the shocking statements while speaking to a University of Hawaii law school class.
Justice Scalia had this to say during the discussion about the Japanese internment camp, which sparked a lawsuit in 1944:
“Well of course Korematsu was wrong. And I think we have repudiated in a later case. But you are kidding yourself if you think the same thing will not happen again. [Panic] that’s what was going on. The panic about the war and the invasion of the Pacific and what-not. That’s what happens. It was wrong, but I would not be surprised to see it happen again in time of war. It’s no justification, but it is the reality.”
During World War II, the US Supreme Court ruled that President Franklin D. Roosevelt did have the power to prosecute Japanese-American citizens who refused to enter internment camps. Roosevelt assumed such power via the signing of an executive order.
The Korematsu vs. United States case began in 1942 when federal law enforcement officers ordered folks of Japanese descent along the West Coast to move into “assembly centers” or relocation camps for national security reasons. The “evacuation” into what were deemed by many to be nothing more than concentration camps did not involve any type of due process or even a single hearing. Some Germans and Italians were also ordered into internment camps as well.
Fred Korematsu, a Japanese-American, refused to comply with the national security order and was arrested. He appealed the arrest on Constitutionality grounds. Korematsu steadfastly maintained that the forced internment was a Fifth Amendment violation. In 1944 the US Supreme Court upheld Korematsu’s conviction – the vote was six to three. 
Then Justice Robert Jackson had this to say in his dissent brief:
“No claim is made that he is not loyal to this country,” Jackson wrote in his dissent. “There is no suggestion that apart from the matter involved here he is not law-abiding and well-disposed. Korematsu, however, has been convicted of an act not commonly a crime. It consists merely of being present in the state whereof he is a citizen, near the place where he was born, and where all his life he has lived.”
If you believe there is even a remote chance that FEMA camps will one day happen in America, make sure to check out the rest of the series to learn what you need to do to prepare to survive on your own  outside of the government-controlled confines of any type of “camp.”

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

This Is Insanity: Killing innocents and thinking we can “kill our way to victory”

Since 9/11 the US government has spent more than 1.5 trillion dollars on the War on Terror. Fourteen nations have been bombed or attacked by the US military, and we are no safer today than we were one day prior to 9/11. As a matter of fact, we are probably less safe with the world being torn apart by US bombs and the spreading of anarchy throughout the Middle East, yet the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with the same results.

We have an insane policy of bloodletting and killing, thinking this will make the problem go away, but as any rational person knows the more people you kill the more enemies you create. Every time you kill someone with a drone bomb, you create 10 new enemies. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the onetime commander of all coalition forces in Afghanistan, created the phrase “Insurgent Math” when he rightfully pointed out “for every innocent person you kill, you create 10 new enemies.” Every rational person would probably agree with McChrystal’s assessment, but the US government doesn’t, and we continue to make the same mistakes of killing innocents and thinking we can “kill our way to victory”. The big question is; are we really as stupid as we seem by repeating a fruitless useless policy, or are the decision makers bright enough to realize that their policy only insures constant warfare, which just might be the game plan. Sound silly? Then think about a different policy, and the result, if we tried a sane approach to dealing with the world’s nations.

Let us assume that intelligent folk realized you cannot kill your way to victory and embarked on a completely different policy to fight the war on terror. What if the US government set aside 1.5 trillion dollars, the conservative estimate of our spending in the war on terror so far, and decided to build schools instead? Think about it. What if we built one hundred thousand schools in Afghanistan after 9/11? Do you think the Taliban would have the same kind of public support from Afghanis?
What if instead of spending 1.5 trillion on bombs and making war while killing well over 1 million people, we helped build infrastructure instead. Do you really think they would “hate us for our freedom”, probably the most asinine statement ever made by any US President, and try to kill us? Yes folks we have killed over one million people since 9/11, and using McChrystal’s accurate ratio, we have created over 10 million enemies since 9/11. This is insanity.


We bombed Libya for seven months, saying it was necessary for “humanitarian” reasons, another classically stupid expression which mainstream media, the mouthpiece of the US government, readily accepted and used,­­ ­without pointing out the total absurdity of bombing people for humanitarian reasons.
What would have happened, if instead of bombing Libya for 7 months and turning it into a failed state with chaos and anarchy resulting, which led to the emergence of ultra-extremist groups who now threaten the world with violence, we decided to use some of the 1.5 trillion dollars to build 5,000 hospitals in Libya?  Do you think they would still “hate us for our freedom”, and would want to kill us?
What if instead of encouraging Saudi Arabia to bomb Yemen, and supplying them with target information and the weapons used to bomb Yemen into oblivion, we used some of the 1.5 trillion to irrigate land so they did not have to import all their food. Would they hate us as they do now for using drones to kill innocent people in their country, for supporting brutal dictators in their country, for giving those dictators the weapons to keep Yemenis “in their place”, and for supporting Saudi Arabia’s massive bombing of their country?
And finally, we are able to find the money to “bomb” groups in Syria, but cannot find the money to help feed and supply the people of Syria, in one biggest humanitarian crises in the world.  We continue our insane policy of using drones in Pakistan, which is causing anti-American hatred in one of the largest nations on the planet and armed with nuclear weapons, while China quietly agreed to build a gas pipeline that will link Iran with energy starved Pakistan.  The gas pipeline will cost about $2 billion and China has agreed to pay for 85% of the project and it is to be called “the Peace Pipeline”. 

 NOW its starting in the US! Returning combat vets are first hire for police departments!

Hedge fund managers’ pay slashed to only $211,538 an hour

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Talk about stagnant wages. In the hedge fund industry, it’s worse. How about wage cuts?

Institutional Investor’s Alpha annual rich list was published Tuesday. And for the hedge fund billionaires and multimillionaires who mostly comprise it, the report is sobering. Massive pay reductions were recorded across the board. David Tepper, founder of Appaloosa Management, for instance, made only $400 million last year — he’s averaged $1.36 billion in the 11 years he’s made the IIA list.
As the publication put it, managers made only “$11.62 billion combined, barely half of the $21.15 billion the top 25 gained the previous year and roughly equal to what they took home during nightmarish 2008.”
To put that in perspective, the top 25 hedge fund managers made just a little more than half the annual economic output of Cyprus, a nation of 1.2 million people.
Kenneth Griffin, founder and chief executive of Citadel, topped the list. He made $1.3 billion, mostly on returns from his own investments in Citadel. His Kensington and Wellington funds returned 18.3%. That compares with a 14% return for investors in the S&P 500 Index SPX, -0.74% assuming they reinvested their dividends like Griffin apparently does.
MORE:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hedge-fund-managers-pay-slashed-to-211538-an-hour-2015-05-05

Monday, May 4, 2015

Economic Collapse: Major U.S. Retailers Closing 6,000 Stores

If the U.S. economy really is improving, then why are big U.S. retailers permanently shutting down thousands of stores?  The “retail apocalypse” that I have written about so frequently appears to be accelerating.  As you will see below, major U.S. retailers have announced that they are closing more than 6,000 locations, but economic conditions in this country are still fairly stable.  So if this is happening already, what are things going to look like once the next recession strikes? as I do right now.  If retailers are closing this many stores already, what are our malls and shopping centers going to look like a few years from now?
For a long time, I have been pointing to 2015 as a major “turning point” for the U.S. economy, and I still feel that way.  And since I started The Economic Collapse Blog at the end of 2009, I have never seen as many indications that we are headed into another major economic downturn
The list below comes from information compiled by About.com, but I have only included major retailers that have announced plans to close at least 10 stores.  Most of these closures will take place this year, but in some instances the closures are scheduled to be phased in over a number of years.  As you can see, the number of stores that are being permanently shut down is absolutely staggering…

180 Abercrombie & Fitch (by 2015)
75 Aeropostale (through January 2015)
150 American Eagle Outfitters (through 2017)
223 Barnes & Noble (through 2023)
265 Body Central / Body Shop
66 Bottom Dollar Food
25 Build-A-Bear (through 2015)
32 C. Wonder
21 Cache
120 Chico’s (through 2017)
200 Children’s Place (through 2017)
17 Christopher & Banks
70 Coach (fiscal 2015)
70 Coco’s /Carrows
300 Deb Shops
92 Delia’s
340 Dollar Tree/Family Dollar
39 Einstein Bros. Bagels
50 Express (through 2015)
31 Frederick’s of Hollywood
50 Fresh & Easy Grocey Stores
14 Friendly’s
65 Future Shop (Best Buy Canada)
54 Golf Galaxy (by 2016)
50 Guess (through 2015)
26 Gymboree
40 JCPenney
127 Jones New York Outlet
10 Just Baked
28 Kate Spade Saturday & Jack Spade
14 Macy’s
400 Office Depot/Office Max (by 2016)
63 Pep Boys (“in the coming years”)
100 Pier One (by 2017)
20 Pick ’n Save (by 2017)
1,784 Radio Shack
13 Ruby Tuesday
77 Sears
10 SpartanNash Grocery Stores
55 Staples (2015)
133 Target, Canada (bankruptcy)
31 Tiger Direct
200 Walgreens (by 2017)
10 West Marine
338 Wet Seal
80 Wolverine World Wide (2015 – Stride Rite & Keds)

So why is this happening?

Without a doubt, Internet retailing is taking a huge toll on brick and mortar stores, and this is a trend that is not going to end any time soon.
But as Thad Beversdorf has pointed out, we have also seen a stunning decline in true discretionary consumer spending over the past six months…
What we find is that over the past 6 months we had a tremendous drop in true discretionary consumer spending. Within the overall downtrend we do see a bit of a rally in February but quite ominously that rally failed and the bottom absolutely fell out. Again the importance is it confirms the fundamental theory that consumer spending is showing the initial signs of a severe pull back. A worrying signal to be certain as we would expect this pull back to begin impacting other areas of consumer spending. The reason is that American consumers typically do not voluntarily pull back like that on spending but do so because they have run out of credit. And if credit is running thin it will surely be felt in all spending.
The truth is that middle class U.S. consumers are tapped out.  Most families are just scraping by financially from month to month.  For most Americans, there simply is not a whole lot of extra money left over to go shopping with these days.
In fact, at this point approximately one out of every four Americans spend at least half of their incomes just on rent
More than one in four Americans are spending at least half of their family income on rent – leaving little money left to purchase groceries, buy clothing or put gas in the car, new figures have revealed.
A staggering 11.25 million households consume 50 percent or more of their income on housing and utilities, according to an analysis of Census data by nonprofit firm, Enterprise Community Partners.
And 1.8 million of these households spend at least 70 percent of their paychecks on rent.
The surging cost of rental housing has affected a rising number of families since the Great Recession hit in 2007. Officials define housing costs in excess of 30 percent of income as burdensome.
For decades, the U.S. economy was powered by a free spending middle class that had plenty of discretionary income to throw around.  But now that the middle class is being systematically destroyed, that paradigm is changing.  Americans families simply do not have the same resources that they once did, and that spells big trouble for retailers.

As you read this article, the United States still has more retail space per person than any other nation on the planet.  But as stores close by the thousands, “space available” signs are going to be popping up everywhere.  This is especially going to be true in poor and lower middle class neighborhoods.  Especially after what we just witnessed in Baltimore, many retailers are not going to hesitate to shut down underperforming locations in impoverished areas.

And remember, the next major economic crisis has not even arrived yet.  Once it does, the business environment in this country is going to change dramatically, and a few years from now America is going to look far different than it does right now.