Sticks and stones may break my bones. But names will never hurt me.
That old rhyme has been conventional wisdom for those bred in common sense and thick skins. But that world is fading away.
Its replacement is a now-cemented system of political correctness, ideological division, egg shell floors and, of course, always listening, always watching “big brothers” and “parental supervisors” who keep a look out, even if they assume you are doing nothing wrong.
Be that as it may, what you say, and what is said about you is now more likely than ever to land you in trouble with the law, or disqualify you for employment, promotion, government benefits or other opportunities.
The Washington Post reports:
Perhaps the most controversial and revealing technology is the threat-scoring software Beware. Fresno is one of the first departments in the nation to test the program.
As officers respond to calls, Beware automatically runs the address. The searches return the names of residents and scans them against a range of publicly available data to generate a color-coded threat level for each person or address: green, yellow or red.
Exactly how Beware calculates threat scores is something that its maker, Intrado, considers a trade secret, so it is unclear how much weight is given to a misdemeanor, felony or threatening comment on Facebook. However, the program flags issues and provides a report to the user.
In promotional materials, Intrado writes that Beware could reveal that the resident of a particular address was a war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, had criminal convictions for assault and had posted worrisome messages about his battle experiences on social media.
[…]
Rob Nabarro, a Fresno civil rights lawyer… said the fact that only Intrado — not the police or the public — knows how Beware tallies its scores is disconcerting. He also worries that the system might mistakenly increase someone’s threat level by misinterpreting innocuous activity on social media, like criticizing the police, and trigger a heavier response by officers.
“A police call is something that can be very dangerous for a citizen.”
It now matters if you are labeled by the mental health system with a “condition.” It also matters what you say on Facebook to aloof “friends” – the mere suggestion of wrong-doing counts towards your score as a threat to the system.
Not only has your permanent record been kept and used against you, but the informal chatter and “keywords” that fill up the spaces of life previously reserved for leisure and private life is now fair game for law enforcement “threat assessment.”
For some time now, police have followed up on threats of violence posted in comment threads, particular if they threaten violence against a high profile politician or celebrity.
But now, they are armed with the “buzz” of background minutia about a person, too – which may or may not legitimately characterize intended criminal and illicit behavior. Guilt by association prevails. Like so many other surveillance technologies, they scan in the background, with little or no presence in the lives of the people it watches.
The Washington Post gave an interesting intro to this feature piece on Beware, noting how much surveillance already goes into routine police business. Society is already in murky waters.
This is a peep into the modern day “fusion center” where associations are everything, and investigations are frequently preemptive, following profile models:
On a recent Monday afternoon, the center was a hive of activity. The police radio crackled over loudspeakers — “subject armed with steel rod” — as five operators sat behind banks of screens dialing up a wealth of information to help units respond to the more than 1,200 911 calls the department receives every day.
On 57 monitors that cover the walls of the center, operators zoomed and panned an array of roughly 200 police cameras perched across the city. They could dial up 800 more feeds from the city’s schools and traffic cameras, and they soon hope to add 400 more streams from cameras worn on officers’ bodies and from thousands from local businesses that have surveillance systems.
The cameras were only one tool at the ready. Officers could trawl a private database that has recorded more than 2 billion scans of vehicle licenses plates and locations nationwide. If gunshots were fired, a system called ShotSpotter could triangulate the location using microphones strung around the city. Another program, called Media Sonar, crawled social media looking for illicit activity. Police used it to monitor individuals, threats to schools and hashtags related to gangs.
One thing is certain: this is the near-future world of “Minority Report” has arrived on scene. It is already in its first phase of life, and most of the public still hasn’t imagined its form or capabilities. The government they fear has dawned upon us, but its face is not the familiar one of the opposing political camp, or the aspiring totalitarian despot. It is a hive army of technological and bureaucratic soldiers, come to eat out our substance and the Declaration of Independence warned in the long-train of abuses.
The whisper campaign at its most dreadful. A world where a random police call could become a Gestapo nightmare. Where thought crimes are bred. Orwell, P.K.D., etc. were right (but what else is new?).
Read more:
Fusion Centers, FEMA Camps and Martial Law: Conspiracy Fact or Theory?
Suspicious Activity Reports From U.S. Malls Being Processed By Police State Fusion Centers
Threat? Little ‘ol me? NAH!
Hell, they probably got my name highlighted in ‘fire red’ and underlined 16 times.
Lol Patriot , I’m there with you Bro . Veteran , anti gov crap , Prepper well hell they should be knocking at my door soon lol
I’m AR or AK armed when I travel, so yes, I am a threat to them. It evens things up a bit, as they are a threat to me.
IN THE HOLY BIBLE,(numbers 30:2)MOSES made it real clear why ALL government employees were given an OATH TO GOD,to defend the Us constutition,SADLY they all think its a joke,NONE of them understand when they leave this world,THEY AIN’T going to heaven,their going to spend a thousand years with their BELOVED LEADER SATAN,and it won’t be a party where their going either……….
Funny, I didn’t think the USA was even around when the book of Numbers was written! In all seriousness though, to most people today the Bible has little to no meaning. Faith has been replaced with mindless, pleasure-seeking consumerism. Thus swearing an oath on the scriptures of any faith has as much meaning to them as would swearing an oath with your hand on a copy of Twilight or Harry Potter. It’s just the world we live in and the biggest reason why Western society is dying from it’s own hedonism. There is no center anymore and no sense of anything greater than the self.
(I am a Christian BTW.)
Hear, hear!
Nu 30:2 If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
Posting anything on social media that would become a threat to the morons ruining our country would be like putting signs on your front lawn that your house is a gun free zone, or the opposite that you are a prepper and you have tons of food in storage.
Leave social media to the kids that get to check Facebook every day to see what they were left out of……
Posting anything at all on a site like this literally highlights your geographical position. Using TOR and a good VNP might help disguise who/where you are – if you don’t use at least one of these tools you may as well hang a sign outside your front porch saying “HERE I AM!”
Just logging onto any site like this starts alarm bells ringing in HQ. Social media is not the only way that you’re tracked.
The day they come is the day they lose 1 team of traitors and their equipment, no matter what happens after that. Some of us will have to die in order for our home to survive.
Caucasian, it’s the same way for me. No one is taking anything I have nor taking me to any gulag. If it’s my time to leave this world, then so be it. I’ll do so standing up.
You should not fear your government. They should fear you.
I can’t figure out how busy working adults have time left for social media. I stick to personal emails which is not often. Social media is useless for those whose friends are local, not all over the planet. Phone calls or emails and reading internet news is enough, incl. seldom long dist. phone calls. Cooking meals, shopping, paying bills, and house/yard work, travel shows, old westerns, movies fills up my time.
People get irritated when I don’t answer an email within minutes. I don’t run my email program all day, and I only turn it on and check it once every day or two. If I’m busy with other things, I may go a few days without checking it.
This is why I do not have any social media accounts. I probably shouldn’t even post here or read articles here as doing so still paints me as an independent minded person who does not put all their trust in the system.
WS, I’ve had a peek at social media previously and rejected it after what I saw. People are morons to put all their personal and confidential info on there and then wonder why they suffer from identity theft. I know there’s other ways to get hit on it, but at least make the ID thieves work for the info if they can’t be stopped altogether.
I used it a long time ago, before the rise of Facebook. The thing that scared me about Facebook is that they required an actual picture and a real name to sign up. That broke the wall of anonymity that I had come to expect online. At the time I did not really consider the government to be much of a threat but could see how criminals could use my information to go “shopping”, with my data and possessions on their grocery list. I still have people begging me to get a Facebook account, but no thanks. If someone wants to communicate with me, my tracking device…errr… smartphone is almost always with me and they can contact me with that.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/21/1172661/-How-to-Ban-Guns-A-step-by-step-long-term-process
They were talking about it back in 2012…
Daily KOS voters were 80% NO.
That about as left wing as you get. 12% YES.
Gun confiscation is not supported in our country. When it happens it will be against the will of the people.
It’s up to “We The People” to put a stop to all this. My fears are “We The People” no longer exist. Right now and to the end it will be “We The Few”. Be safe friends and stay focused on GOD and FAMILY.
“We The Few”
Infidel,
I agree with you. There is no we the people. It is we the sheeple. We live in a nation full of idiots that has already accepted their shackles. Heck, it is even worse than that. We have morons pushing for their own enslavement (socialism).
Kfilly @ Infidel,
YUP, those FEW have been able to completely brainwash the majority into being sheeple and they did not even know there have been brainwashed!! it is a VERY sad state of affairs our people have become, and I fear there is NOT enough of us that are awake to get the others to see anything before it is too late, our only hope maybe that when others do wake up there will be enough to do something!!
take care and don’t give up yet!
apache54,
If anyone at this point doesn’t know that nefarious people are enslaving them they won’t be much use to us anyway. They have their heads in the sand because most are lazy, greedy slugs and as long as they have enough to fill their bellies and numb their brains they are content on their knees. Best use for them may be cannon fodder. Won’t bother me too much since they have done nothing to earn any other consideration anyway.
“We the Few”, that’s a great and sadly true observation.
My first thought to reading this article was, “what did you expect”?
I’ve always thought that those that post about every coffee cup, every errand, every thought (positive or negative) online have been inviting this trouble on themselves.
Some may argue it’s “their right or if you don’t like it, ignore or don’t read it” but I can’t help but wonder if the eyes watching you were in your face all day everyday in reality vs via an electronic device, would you really feel the same?
We’ve created this, it started with “reality shows” and has unfolded ever since.
I think it actually started in the 60’s with the “cultural revolution” and the loosening of moral restraints(“if it feels good do it”). Now that God and all his moral guidance has been deep sixed we will see the true nature of man. The hippies didn’t bring in utopia, they brought the totalitarianism that was foreseen and foretold by many.
Totalitarianism has been around as long as there have been governments. To date, there has been no form of government that not become totalitarian.
I agree with “To date, there has been no form of government that not become totalitarian”. The American experiment/idea was intended to end the cycle. There have been many attacks to attempt to end the dream. I believe my comment is the attack that but the final nail in the coffin of the American dream.
And “loosening of moral restraints” only means women. Men never had moral restraints. The advent of reliable birth control for women created the sexual revolution, where many women became as promiscuous as men had always been. I am 61 and men still harass me… how about a little moral restraint by men? I went to the library last week and some old married boy hit on me so heavy I had to hide in the ladies room until he gave up. Dog, I went grocery shopping and he waltzed in with his wife. Not an ounce of shame on him.
Totalitarianism is not bottom up because women got a sex life, it is always top down because some psychopath gains control. It is about lies, manipulation, and force. It is a form of rape… and rape did not show up in the 60s.
“Hippies” are not manning the vast banks of monitors and keyboards in police stations and government agencies.
They likewise did not “bring” totalitarianism.
The conditions described in this article owe far more to paranoid law-and-order zealots like J. Edgar Hoover, Harry Anslinger, and Richard Nixon than to Abbie Hoffman.
The protesters of today, calling for an end to Middle East involvement and bailouts for Wall Street, are not the ones who are eager to install surveillance cameras on every street corner and indeed, in every automobile.
As always, it is the authorities who can’t get enough of spying, data accumulation, and privacy erosion. The earnest fellows with the sober suits and the short hair and the career ladders in government “service” are responsible for these conditions. Blaming “hippies” for NSA surveillance policies is ludicrous.
Thanks Karl V. The my baby mama’s aren’t doing NSA Surveillance either. They are just silly little idiots. Fact of the matter it is always the power hungry paranoid types like Nixon that go that route. Nixon who also opened trade with China. Trump is scary on the face of him, look how he responded to Macy’s 4500 layoff, and how he responds to any differing opinions. He would be a Stalin. Cruz reminds me of Nixon, intelligent and creepy. Hillary is like that too, unlikeable with a neverending drive to power. Obama wants everyone to “like” him while he does the masters bidding, he reminds me of Hugo Chavez who was cold in his execution but wanted to be “liked”.
“we The Few” – It has always been The Three Percent, especially since the days of The American Revolution.
Hog – good to see you’re out and about. I have not been able to hear your perspective on things……since I left “that” group in which you, OKL and I had membership. Actually, they have lost many members since that debacle. Hope your endeavors in Texas are moving along!
Problem is we the people have no guts and don’t care. As long as people get their free shit and weed /alcohol people will comply because they are fucking lazy brain dead bums. There are a few of us but not enough to make difference. People will not wake up and tptb doesn’t want them too either. As long as there is a greater population of brain dead freeloaders the wise folks have no chance. We will keep being exploited till we die. Have fun working while the useless eaters go to the beach for free. This is fair to tptb but injustice to me. This is the thing I have the hardest time in life with wife tells me don’t worry about it. I said what are you nuts people living off the fruit of my labor and enjoying their lives while I’m working. I want the system to collapse to put a stop to all this. Kill all the useless bums.
Those programs are designed to keep those on the bottom from rebelling against tptb, until the process is complete. At which time there will be no middle class to support those programs. You may be out of your misery soon enough, unemployed with no social net. Social net goes away when the oligarchy completes destroying the middle class. They are working on it.
Yup, this is a real problem. It even happened on this site for a while. The currency of the “LIKE” button. It’s the equivalent of high school clicques on steroids.
It’s an odd phenomenon. If a large number of folks “LIKE” what you say, you feel better. If they don’t, you feel worse. And, it’s that risk that gets everyone in trouble.
Think about it. Posting a comment is like gambling. After you press Enter, the thrill begins…..will the people like what I have to say or not. Let me check the results. It’s like a lottery in some respects.
Do You Like My Comment? I’ll check back in 4 hours (if it gets unmoderated by then of course….snipe)
I gave you a thumbs up…
…..I liked it . …
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Get the fuck off facebook people. That is a good start. I don’t have a page and never going to get one. Quit handing over the info and doing their jobs for them. Make them at least work for the intel. Damn.
Many of the patriot groups use facebook – even for their state chapters!!! What is wrong with you people….? Ever hear of secret societies?
Gonetoolong, spot on about social media which I never use and not interested in at all. I remember the movie “Minority Report” all too well, and thought at the time that even when the technology becomes available it will have no legitimate basis whatsoever. A certain percentage of what is called “police work” these days has no legitimate basis to it at all. Look at what recruits are taught in the academies about us. They are taught to hate us, that we are nothing more than cattle or vermin or whatever, to be trod upon, to be terrorized, to be stolen from, to be killed, etc. They have been taught that the law does not apply to them or any other government officials. They’ve been told that they’re above the law and can literally do anything with impunity. That’s totally different from what my retired cop relatives were taught back in the “old school”. They became cops so they could HELP people, not HURT them. They served the public, not the government. The role of law enforcement in our society today is not a proper one at all. Considering their contempt and hostility toward us, we have to expect conflict with them eventually and they will lose because they don’t have the numbers to subdue us.
For someone who doesn’t like Hollywood you sure do watch a lot of the garbage they put out!
Anonymous troll, how’ve you been? When that movie came out, that was the last time I’ve even been in a movie house. I’ll still watch some old movies on occasion, but primarily on youtube. I got rid of TV service 4 years ago. BTW, the theme of that particular movie is now already real life to a large degree. And guess what, YOU’RE just as vulnerable to it as all the rest of us. How about that! I missed you during the holidays. You and the other trolls don’t come around attacking me like you used to. I don’t think you lost interest because you’re back now. Now I have a troll to jump on again. WOOHOO! Come back when you can. [I’M EXTREMEMLY SARCASTIC TODAY.]
No, I have not lost interest as I never had any in the first place! I simply find your dribbling, swivel eyed comments slightly amusing, you’re so easy to wind up!
Unlike you (who does not seem to do anything productive, apart from whinge, complain and talk hard), I have to work for my living, that means not wasting my life justifying why I spend every waking hour moaning and groaning about how hard done by I am on a site like this!
Oh, by the way, this is not your personal web site. It’s an open forum where all types of opinion is welcomed. It’s part of the world wide web, which was invented by an Englishman. The clue, is world wide, if you didn’t get it first time.
Bravefart, you couldn’t jump to your feet, let alone jump all over me! You’re too old, too fat and past your sell by date.
Anon, you’d be surprised, but I also work for a living and pay taxes into the system just like you and a lot of other people. I know this is Mac’s site and an open forum which I’m grateful for. I do produce something useful and important in return for my bread and butter. I have self-respect, self-confidence, self-awareness, and am self-reliant. I don’t live for anyone’s approval, i.e. I don’t live my life according to other people’s opposing viewpoints of me. That’s not living. I don’t bow down to anyone. I don’t get on eggshells for anyone. I don’t allow anyone to bully me, try to control me with fear or any of that crap. Yes, I do have an attitude and have my reasons for having it. Everyone has an attitude for one reason or another. That’s just part of human nature. I do my best to treat other people with respect because I like to be treated the same way. Any way someone treats me I’ll treat them in return; that’s just the way I was raised. If I don’t get respect from a certain person, well so be it. I know how to live with that and just move on. I didn’t make it to 58 years of age by having bad intentions toward other people. BTW, I wasn’t really jumping on you in my earlier post, just having some fun with you. I could’ve been worse and you know it. I just chose not to be this time. I’m not even interested in getting into any fight with you; you’re not worth my time or effort. You say I whine and complain? since when was speaking out against what the government is doing ‘whining and complaining’? If that’s true, you’d have to label everyone else here the same way. At least I know I’m at a good site with like-minded people. Sure, you can look at me any way you want, I don’t care. I’ve had people against me for one reason or another for my whole life and never cared about their opinions either. Plus, I’m not here every waking minute of the day which is physically impossible for me. So go ahead and keep being against me, it doesn’t matter to me. Good night to you, SIR!
Braveheart, I enjoy reading your comments and viewpoints. Thank you for giving us a portion of your time. Your light teasing was taken poorly, it was gracious and the response was vulgar. You are appreciated.
Rebecca, thank you for that. Last night I decided I’m going to ignore the trolls from now on. It is a waste of time dealing with them.
That is why I ignore most of what Acid Etch says to me. He talks like a Muslim troll. I am not much interested in his Muslim experience of women!
If I’m not worth your time and effort why go to such trouble to justify yourself to me? You may be an old man but you still sound like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
The number of comments you make, at all hours (and on any and every subject), suggests you spend far too much of your employers time telling the world what a great guy you are. No wonder America is in a parlous state with time wasters like you.
Now, if you’ll excuse me for a week or or so, I have a plane to catch to go to a real job!
Just before I go. At the time of writing, 94 comments on this subject had been made. You, bravefart, contributed 10 per cent of them.
You’re a classic time waster/windbag, with more on your mind than in it! Go back to your job as a CCTV operator.
Nice try
We all know who and what the treats are
And when they make their move , we make ours
Just how many people are employed to watch everyone?
Pretty much the only full time jobs with benefits, of course.
Rebecca, they have their lists and we have ours. Lists work both ways.
Braveheart, you are right on that one. Maybe rural areas will get the rollout slower than cities. Maybe I should sell this property and buy something more remote with the equity. Not a yurt!
Rebecca, the BOL I’ve been going to is in the mountains of north GA and all my family lives on homesteads within a 10-square-mile area of it. I already have most of my supplies stored there and can be back over in only a half-day of driving. Yes, rural areas will be the last ones to see a rollout and we will be ready for it. We won’t give up our rural homes.
Braveheart, sounds very nice, especially having family all around. Good to be able to look out for each other and share skills.
My place is not rural, it is more like a 5 acre subdivision. It is about 30 miles out and was within driving distance of work. Definitely a pretty property. People in town seem to consider it way out and rural but I don’t, I grew up in the sticks!
Rebecca, my cousin who owns the BOL has 30 acres. One side borders on a year-round creek as an extra source of water. She has a full solar system for backup but can become primary whenever the grid goes. There’s an insert in the fireplace for heat/cooking and the cabin is surrounded by a lifetime supply of firewood. also has a nice deep well on site. Nearest town is 10 miles away. Once I bugout, that place will be my new home. No more cities.
Good job. You are well set up. Have you considered selling your house on a lease back? My friend and her husband just did this in Texas. They are looking for acreage in Kentucky where his family lives. They are considering keeping the money because they also can live on family land. His parents are older and need help, too.
I am looking around Washington and Oregon, farther out but closer to my son and his family. They expect to come here, but it is 22 hours away. Now that I don’t have to be close to work, I have more freedom. I bought very low and might be able to pull equity enough to buy a little place in the Spokane area mountains. If so, I need to jump right away, before it gets worse. They would be a half day away. A long trip if they did not get out quick enough.
The USA will probably end up like East Germany, in which the Stasi watchers and snitches made up a significant percentage of the population:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi#Personnel_and_recruitment
“By 1995, some 174,000 inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (IMs) Stasi informants had been identified, almost 2.5% of East Germany’s population between the ages of 18 and 60. 10,000 IMs were under 18 years of age. From the volume of material destroyed in the final days of the regime, the office of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU) believes that there could have been as many as 500,000 informers. A former Stasi colonel who served in the counterintelligence directorate estimated that the figure could be as high as 2 million if occasional informants were included.”
Uncle Okie’s Words Of Wisdom
.
There must be a balance between the Urgent, the Important, and the Eternal.
.
The “Urgent”—
Term used to identify momentary needs in day-to-day life. These come in degrees of urgency but all fall into the category. Turning left when the traffic light changes is relatively minor but still must be done. Otherwise the folks behind you start honking their horns and become impatient. If you still don’t go, they start loading their Glocks and then it’s MUCH more urgent.
Grabbing the fire extinguisher at the first flare-up is obviously urgent. Otherwise you’ll burn down the house. (remind me not to dry fresh cut lumber in the oven again)
Urgent has it’s hold on us constantly. Alarm clock sounds, must go to work or won’t get paid. Don’t get paid, then kids get no new shoes and cable is cut off just before the big game.
You see? Urgent has it’s degrees of severity but is an all-consuming gobbler of our time.
Then, there is the “Important”—
Term used to identify things of greater significance than those merely ‘urgent’ items.
For instance, if I postpone some urgent matter (like paying the cable bill) and use the money instead to buy Mrs Okie a nice little necklace (accompanied my a mushy hand-written love note), I forfeit the pleasure of watching the game on tv, but gain the much greater pleasure of a better relationship. (by the way, the love letter is always cherished more than the flowers or gift it accompanies).
It’s a matter of degrees. I value the relationship more than the cable service. She values my hand-written expression of love more than the material one.
Likewise, if I forsake the ‘urgent’ need of working overtime (and lose the extra pay) and, instead, spend that time chasing rabbits around the homestead with my grandson, I have lost a bit of money but gotten some great memories, and a better relationship with him instead. By the way, if you’ve never hunted rabbits with a 6 year old armed only with a rubber band gun, you should try it. It’s a blast! It’s all about what you value the most.
Then, there is the “Eternal”—
Term used for that which is of infinite lasting significance.
This gets into faith, personal beliefs and world view. For my friends here who have a different outlook, I’ll try not to preach at you.**
There are some here at Mac’s place who are agnostic, atheist, or recognize some other divine entity (or none at all). Others, including Mac himself, hold to the Roman Catholic faith while I am a Protestant. In terms of belief, I disagree with you on that topic. And it is, in my opinion, the most important one.
That does NOT mean we can’t hold a civil conversation. If you wish to respond with any opposing views, feel free to do so. I’ll gladly, and respectfully, consider anything you say. Even if I continue to disagree. Be as passionate in your rebuttal as you wish, but let’s try not to attack one another, okay?
Now, back to the “Eternal”.
As we watch the continuing decline of society, and the early death-throes of the nation we love, it’s easy to fall prey to cynicism. Or even despair. And as we struggle to keep from losing more and more of our living standard, we find ourselves working harder, and much longer hours, just to stay even. We can get really stressed by the demands of these Urgent, and even Important needs.
That’s where the Eternal comes in. If we wish to maintain an even keel emotionally, we must keep all things in their proper context. For myself, that means putting my sons and daughter, my grandchildren, and certainly Mrs Okie, ahead of the income producing job.
Over the past year or so, I’ve had more failure than success in this area. I’ve worked more hours, been away from home longer, and driven the truck more miles than ever before. Still, I recognize the failure and haven’t lost sight of what’s truly most valuable. (and it definitely ain’t the job!)
I know that family is more valuable than work. And my eternal destination is more valuable than anything. Therefore, I cling to the faith I have. And pray often for greater faith. That’s what has kept me sane and given me the strength to keep going each day.
I hold to traditional, historic Christian beliefs. That there is a God. A coming judgement. And a heaven and a hell. I believe I am a sinner in desperate need of a saviour. That there is only ONE saviour and it is the crucified, risen Jesus. The Son of Man, the very Son of God.
I believe I am forgiven of all sins and have been given the imputed righteousness of Jesus, who is the Christ. Therefore, the eternity which follows my brief time on this earth is not to be feared but, rather, something to look forward to with hope. I have NO fear of the future. The short term future in this life, even with the ongoing collapse of America, nor the eternal future. “I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.”
I’m not a very good Christian, but that doesn’t matter. I wasn’t saved because I was good, but because He was. I bring nothing to the bargaining table with God. No works, no material things, no honors, not even any of my own ideas or opinions. Only my complete and unconditional surrender. That’s all I can bring. And it’s all He wants from me.
I wish we could fix the problems with America’s economy, stop the moral decline in society, and imprison most of the yahoos in Washington. But we can’t. Someone here recently wrote that ‘we the people’ are actually ‘we the few’. Sadly, I think that’s true. The majority will have, and in fact already have, the government and social conditions they deserve. And things WILL get worse as we continue on this path.
For those here at shtfplan (and other similar sites), we see things differently than the majority. ‘We the few’ understand that we’re in a mess politically. We’re in a mess economically. And socially. We get frustrated at current conditions.
And we see the need to be reasonably prepared to face the uncertainties of tomorrow. So we stock up on necessities in case of job loss. Or natural disaster. Or, especially, man-made disasters.
We know that power rests in the hands of evil little groups of sick, twisted individuals. We know of their desire for absolute control. And that they will stop at nothing in their attempts to get it.
We own the means to protect ourselves and those we love. And we detest their attempts to disarm and enslave us.
Even as we may disagree on religion, and debate about the best remedies to straighten out the current mess, we are still of like mind on these basic issues. It’s what we have in common and why we come to this site.
In conclusion, I’d say to everyone here- don’t let the calamities of the day get you down. When the headlines make you angry, go find some kids to play with. Or someone to whom you can express your love. Laugh out loud every chance you get. Smell the roses. Or the barbecue. Or the Nascar exhaust fumes, whichever you like! And, remember- we’re only here for a little while.
And to those of faith I’d say: Don’t forsake the Eternal for the Important. Nor the Important for the Urgent. Keep all in proper perspective.
** To the non-believers- I said I’d try not to preach at you. Evidently I didn’t try hard enough. You know I love you anyway. Thanks for your patience. 🙂
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Keep stacking the preps and…. Amen.
Satan is using Obama and the Libs.
Governors do the bidding of ALEC, and most of them are Republican. Governor Abbott was a keynote speaker in 2014, he must be very obedient to their will.
Amen Smokin, we are all looking for the ‘true truth’.
Hard to find nowdays.
I question everything, searching always.
Why, who, what, how and where did humanity start?
Deep questions for those who want to know.
Be well all…
Amen Okie…
Wish Mac would bring back the thumbs. 🙁
Till then… Here’s 1 up. 🙂
Y’all play nice now.
Thanks Okie: I read it all and your post speaks to my heart.
amen
This is quite an epistle, Smokin’Okie– hope you don’t mind, I printed out your post so that I’ll always have it. My “better half” (?) is a freight hauler and several of our friends are drivers too. God bless, and keep the topside up. Especially on I-80 and all the other
roads in our great nation.
Smokin’, those are also Braveheart’s words of wisdom. I love the way you expressed them. I’m also still stacking and praying.
Okie,
Over fifty years of seeking I’ve been on a variety of paths, Western and Eastern. Raised agnostic, took a close look at becoming a Trappist brother, and for awhile now have been
something else.
Have noticed that, (and there are exceptions to this) individuals tend to worship a supernatural deity or they tend to deify government authority. As annoying as Rev. Billy Bob might be, he doesn’t have the authority to tax me. He isn’t going to kick my door in at 3 a.m. and murder me ifn I don’t grovel fast enough.
“Before time began, I knew you, loved you, and called you by name” is an important milestone in the history of individual liberty. It says the individual is important in and for himself, not for what he can do for another, not for being part of a faceless mob prey to a warlord. The eternal god who created everything knows and loves you.
There is a big difference between religion with unitary ethics based upon the Golden Rule, treat others as you would be treated, and a “religion” based upon ethical dualism that treats believers one way and everyone else much more harshly. My concern is that
“religion,” insofar as its believers treat us more harshly than they treat each other, is a political system that endangers our lives and liberty. Simply calling it names doesn’t do anything to thwart it; understanding what it teaches does.
Since the late 60s, when I dissented from the corporate fascists making war on Vietnam, I figure there’s been a file on me somewhere. It’s instructive that the aristocrats who made our secession from Great Britain did so openly, under their real names. The Britsh knew who they were, and certainly would have hung them if they could. I won’t be frightened into silence.
SmokinOkie:
Seems rather ‘odd’ to me that there is more truths in your few paragraphs that most of the ‘headline’ subjects put up for our perusal here at shtf.
Thanks Smokin!
Amen Bro SmokinO~peace
@ Smokin Okie :
Wow…you said a mouthful. While a much different post than the humor you are famous for on this site, I think you are spot on. While we are compelled to prepare for the unknown, we must make sure to find some pleasure in everyday living, as the flock is running & we don’t know the score. And, while we are preparing with physical items for what lays ahead, we must also each prepare mentally & spiritually. It was good to hear from you again. Be safe out on the highway.
Standing by in Montgomery County TX
Amen Brother!!!
it is these type of people we need to be paying attention to ,, and holding them accountable
“If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban (on so-called semi-automatic ‘assault rifles”), picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn ’em all in, I would have done it.” – Senator Dianne Feinstein, CBS-TV’s 60 Minutes, 5 February 1995.
and all those like this, in seats of power
Its easy to see who the problems are
Hang them ALL from the lamp posts on Pennsylvania ave
EOTS, I’ve seen that video and I think it’s still on youtube. That filthy member of the tribe and everyone else in congress are definitely problems.
(Fourth Generation Warfare) uses all available networks — political, economic, social, and military — to convince the enemy’s political decision makers that their strategic goals are either unachievable or too costly for the perceived benefit. It is an evolved form of insurgency. Still rooted in the fundamental precept that superior political will, when properly employed, can defeat greater economic and military power, 4GW makes use of society’s networks to carry on its fight. Unlike previous generations, it does not attempt to win by defeating the enemy’s military forces. Instead, via the networks, it directly attacks the minds of enemy decision makers to destroy the enemy’s political will. Fourth-generation wars are lengthy — measured in decades rather than months or years. . . Strategically, 4GW attempts to directly change the minds of enemy policy makers. This change is not to be achieved through the traditional method of superiority on the battlefield. The first- through third-generation of destroying the enemy’s armed forces and his capacity to regenerate them is not how 4GW enemies will attack . . . Both the epic, decisive Napoleonic battle and the wide-ranging, high-speed maneuver campaign is irrelevant to them. Their victories are accomplished through the superior use of all available networks to directly defeat the will of the enemy leadership, to convince them their war aims are either unachievable or too costly. These networks will be employed to carry specific messages to our policy makers and to those who can influence the policy makers. — COL Thomas X. Hammes, USMC, The Sling and the Stone, p. 208
It can also be waged by killing off the higher ups,
“As I awoke this morning, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024, from restless dreams, I found the insect-sized sensor implanted in my arm was already awake. We call it a ‘bug.’ U.S. citizens have been required to have them since 2022 to access government health care.
“The bug knew from its biometric monitoring of my brain wave frequencies and rapid eye movement that I would awake momentarily. It was already at work launching systems, including the coffee maker. I could smell the coffee brewing in the kitchen. The information screens on the inside of my panopticon goggles were already flashing before my eyes.
“Images of world leaders were on the screen. They were issuing proclamations about the fine health of their economies and the advent of world peace. Citizens, they explained, needed to work in accordance with the New World Order Growth Plan to maximize wealth for all. I knew this was propaganda, but I couldn’t ignore it. Removing your panopticon goggles is viewed with suspicion by the neighborhood watch committees. Your ‘bug’ controls all the channels…”
It was a thought experiment, not a prediction. But it went viral about six months ago. Clearly, it touched a nerve. And in light of current headlines, still does…
– from famed financial analyst Jim Rickards
And STILL not answered, after 2000 years, is the question, “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” asked by Roman satirist Juvenal: Who will watch the guards?
Maybe it will be serial rapist Slick? Obama buddy/former Dem Senator Jon “Sorry, I lost your 1.6 billion” Corzine? Accomplished liar and computer expert extraordinaire Hilary”
Test: interesting proposition and thanks for the quote! I have been thinking along similar lines for a while. I did a search to see which country had the most people in prison and was stunned to find out that country is the USSA. I about fell off my couch. I thought all of that stuff was coughed up by conspiracy shows and what have you. I figured certainly China had the highest prison population followed by Russia and then Mexico. Nope. The good ‘ol USSA was number one. My question is this: what happens when 51% of the population is paid to incarcerate or watch 49% of the population? What happens when there are only the Watchers and the Watched?
like they don’t just show up and shoot. ooooops wrong address….supposed to be next door….neighbor used your wifi….sorry about your dead dogs…and dead husband….and your broken ear drums from the concussion grenades….and the mace…and tazer thing….our bad…
This is so accurate! Last winter I was driving home in a heavy snowstorm, after dark, and got stopped and searched because I had snow covering part of my license plate. Scared me because police here are well known for just killing people and the young officer was acting bizarre, like he caught some big fish. Lucky me I lived to tell the tale.
It might have gone much worse for you if you were male; not to mention if you had dark skin.
Also ~ one of the (very few) advantages to being older is that the authorities tend to be dismissive of you instead of being instantly combative.
The Dry Baltic Index has crashed
I read this message, went to see what the BDI is today, and my computer crashed. The mouse froze, the screen went black, and then I got a blue screen of death telling that the computer was going to do some kind of dump. I don’t care for that, so I cut the power.
I hate when that happens. Mr. Gates swore years ago that the blue screen of death was gone forever. He lied.
The only time I got the blue screen of death was when I tried to access a government website on FEMA camps.
Little do people know that the DEA spies on your texts and phone calls through a sleazy agreement with AT&T and the major carriers.
Done under the aegis of the “Hemisphere Program” the DEA’s Special Operations Division look for indicators for cash or drugs being transferred through the States.
Once a lead is formed about cash being transferred, AT&T contacts the DEA with the owner’s information and location. The DEA then gets a description of the owner’s vehicle and passes it on to the State Police where the cell phone is at. The police then use any pretext to pull over the vehicle and search it for the cash.
If this ever goes to court, the whole involvement of AT&T snooping is never revealed. The DEA uses a process called “Parallel Construction” to hide where they got the information from. Likely they will say an “anonymous tip” led them to search the car.
They’d get bored hearing about my wife’s tuna salad and the fact the E string needs replaced on her violin. That said, it really sucks because there is a fine line between paranoid government entities logging our conversations and someone eventually being able to purchase my conversations by keyword in transcript or audio. That’s the eventuality if we can’t stop the snowball. I’d rather some stalker not be able to hear about the color of my truck or the name of my dog. You know, debt collectors can have the totally wrong person and yet buy up all the info they can so they can badger the heck out of someone right now, right? It’s not phone data yet, but it’s any data the infobots can find. I’ve heard of people being threatened with arrest and paying debts that were never theirs. BTW a bill collector can’t send the police to get you that way. I think they can sue you and you can be held in contempt for ignoring them, but their faking that they’ve called police is a bluff. I heard they’re doing that crap on the news btw. Lucky for me, I don’t have bills or debts or answer my phone, so they can just whine to my voicemail if they think they’re going to try to scam me.
Here’s a threat, BDI is at 415 today! Every day it goes lower than we thought it possibly could. Ship owners claim they can’t leave port. They lose money as soon as they go out. That’s threat. Not us.
Sigh. We must me awfully scary to tptb for them to go to this trouble.
Rebecca, TPTB are more scared of us than they’ll ever admit. They don’t have the numbers necessary to take us on.
Then, there is this. This, too, is America. Thankfully.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Durnil pulled a man over Monday in Indianapolis for speeding. But after talking to the distraught truck driver, Durnil decided to let the man off, not with a warning, but a with prayer.
Rodney Gibson, a 60-year-old man who had just received news that his daughter was dying of breast cancer, was so devastated that he did not realize he was speeding, WRTV-TV reported. Durnil was inspecting Gibson’s vehicle when he noticed an angel pin tucked into the truck’s visor that was identical to the one he keeps in his cruiser. The officer told WRTV that Gibson told him ”with tears in his eyes” that the pin was a gift from his daughter to help keep him safe while driving. Gibson then told Durnil about the unfavorable cancer diagnosis.
Durnil told WRTV that instead of issuing a ticket or even a warning, he planned on asking his family and church to pray for Gibson.
With all the bad news, here is a very nice one. This, too, is America. We need to pray for, and work for, more stories like this.
Cited from http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/01/08/on-one-of-the-worst-days-of-his-life-dad-gets-pulled-over-by-a-cop-first-he-was-agitated-but-hell-never-ever-forget-what-occurred/
Rebecca, I think you are right. I think a better use would be to keep an eye on our elected officials. If found guilty of wrong doing, well you know the rest.
I realize this stuff sounds creepy but give it a thought: we now live in a totally different society than, say, the 1950s. Back then, most people lived in dense networks of community – dad would coach the little league baseball team and run the Scout troop, mom would bake cookies every Friday and have all the other mothers around for coffee, little Jimmy was a Beaver, his older sister volunteered for the Red Cross. All were known members of the community and trusted by many people.
Now fast-forward to today’s typical ‘community’: Juan, formerly an unemployed man from Mexico who beat his first wife, now lives with his second wife on welfare: he spends his days watching TV and fantasizing about raping the 15-yer-old across the street; Marcus is a video game addict and supports himself by selling weed from his grow-up: the local kids hate Marcus because he is a douche and not beyond sleeping with your sister to cover weed debts; Asma and Ahmad seem like an old-fashioned family with their two kids but both are militant Islamists and are just biding their time until they get a ping on Skype to launch a mass casualty attack; Jim is a convicted three-time pedophile in New York State but moved to your neighborhood because nobody knows who he is; Poon is a nice, delicate Asian woman who is actually a madam running a network of 100 prostitutes from her house; Wing-Phook is a ‘businessman’ who runs two sweat shops off the books and never pays any tax and employs illegals from Nicaragua; and then there is Winny, sweet Winny, super-high IQ and a computer nerd who is generally just fine and sometimes asks people to feed her cat when she is away but is actually a hacker who works for a Russian cyber crime syndicate.
In short, you wouldn’t lend any of these people 5 dollars let alone let them run the Scout troop. Anybody who lives in a major urban area knows the number of sketchy people walking the streets has exponentially increased in the last 15 years with open borders and globalization. The police need to know what is behind that door if they have any chance of coming out of a call-out alive.
There are a few things missing from society today that they had back then. One is common sense. Another pride. Shame is third, and often a strong sense of self (Who a person is). The creator is also disappearing fast. Punishment, which is the brother of accountability jumped off a bridge a while ago. In the society of everyone wins, there is no longer a reason to excel. Commitment seems to be scarce while we all long to see truth come out of his bipolar bed again. Meanwhile these things have been replaced by:
Envy, Narcissim, A lack of dedication, Hedonism, and deception are all well rooted in our communities. There are so many answers to the question of where we all went wrong, I couldn’t even begin to break them down.
SHTF TEMPORAL MARKER.
Watch Video. My scientist friend recomends Dutch Sinse.
http://dutchsinse.com/
http://allnewspipeline.com/N_Korean_H_Bomb_Is_Super_EMP.php
Aka,
HCKS..
No comment. I know my comments are not acceptable. Go back to your comfort zone.
Usasecurityguard?
Meh I’m not on Social Media sites, and I use Ghostery, Privacy Badger, and Noscript to keep the nosey sites from keeping a record of the things I read online. When the networks first began, I admit it was fun to check up on people from the past, family, friends. . . but then something changed.
Maybe it was the urgency with which people would cling to trendy things, their highlight reel, even pictures of whatever they picked up to eat at a restaurant. Maybe it was how the site began badgering people to label everyone in the pictures and link to their connected accounts to make recognition easier. It dawned on me, this was not reality and the people we were dealing with on there were starting to get downright annoying. Instead of feeling cheerful after visiting the site, I felt crappy. My wife felt crappy. It was like “reality tv” – no more real than a paperdoll in vintage book of punch-out valentines.
Plus, Facebook had several oopsies that publicized our info to everybody- even that crappy relative you’ve been hiding from because they’re always in trouble. I haven’t had any of those accounts in years. Now we find out that Facebook wasn’t a harmless way to reconnect either. They messed with people psychologically at least twice that they admit to, and they create huge dossiers on anyone who clicks on a website that whored out tracking cookies to the site. Google is just as bad, and Bing about takes over your whole computer.
Don’t even get me started on all the nagging of Windows 10, the hidden clauses in the TOS framework, etc. I know why lots of people pray for an EMP. Thing is, its too late to get Pandora’s box shut again. All the naive things I did when I trusted the web is out there. Heck, I deleted my linked in account, so they republished all my info for whoever wants to read it. Any utility company I have services through sells my address and phone number to information harvesting sites so someone I dated when I was 16 can pay $9.95 to find out I’m happily married and don’t remember them much. And no, they don’t let your info go away long when you have it removed from their sites.
My trio of kids (adults btw) all have informed me there will be no grandchildren. This world is not a place they would want to sentence another human to. It’s paranoid, intrusive, annoying. You know the saying, “Stop the world. I want to get off.” It’s too late. They’ve strapped you in tight. Try not to puke on the other riders, but if you do, be sure the whole world will record it and make you infamous for it.
The smart folks make fake misleading information, but I don’t even want to bother. I’m tired, feeling old, and about had it with prying governmental paranoia and intrusive internet companies ready to sell my DNA if they could get a drop of it. (Ancestry has a great new program by the way. You can find out what kind of mutt you are, and all it will cost you is a tiny drip drop of DNA for them to test and probably share.)
A sack of beans and a .44. Take ’em to the woods and go huntin’. Lots of critters out there, KRM.
Burn the rest, gadgets first.
Absolutely brilliant rant! You said so much with humor and brevity.
I agree: it is nothing but a giant trawl for everything on everyone. Full disclosure: we worked on the first prototypes for the data profiling software used by the big five eyes. It started rough but by 2006 it was like something out of Scanner Darkly. Analysts could swipe through screens and mash and package profiles on everyone. We were missing the rest of the planet and so we launched Total Grab that year and have now pretty well everyone on the planet who is alive today. Jim (who is the floor manager over-watching the analysts) would have this hearty laugh when he saw the data clusters showing the migrants flood across Europe. Jim had been in Mossad and most of his family were exterminated in the Holocaust, so he hates Europeans. But, then, Jim pretty well hated everyone. Nice guy, though: always got the beers in.
I guess you can not use dry humor, or sarcasm anymore ?
ETC. ETC. ETC.
Pretty soon we with be whipping are assess with sea shells.
( From the movie JUDGE DREAD )
Another minority will follow Hillary into the black white house. Asian, Mexican, Muslim as long as they are not white. The dark browning of America. Illegals can vote. Sickening!
I don’t use social sites…most I do is leave forum comments. Social sites have ruined people imho…people think online unknowns are their friends…people in the real world don’t get calls or text anymore…
Anyways…let the feds scan this….DEATH TO THE TYRANT OBAMA..DEATH TO THE TYRANNY OF THE AMERICAN GOV….
SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS
Please stay off ancestry tracking web sites. They provide relational contacts to an amazing detail level. Even worse are the sites that provide DNA ancestry tracking. Both of these venues sell your data and the Government actively buys data they normally can’t collect by law.
For the record, I’ve traded my guns and ammo in so I could put that money towards my experiments in attempting to cross breed unicorns in an effort to create a rainbow unicorn with golden horn. The rest of the money I donated to the free hugs foundation.
Bctruck, good choice! The world needs a golden horn unicorn and it will make your fortune in a happy way. I know the rainbow coalition will approve.
Government SHOULD FEAR the people. Not the other way around. If it is the other way around you should get rid of that government.
You wouldn’t believe how quick and easy it is, if you know how, to gather information on almost anyone. Even when people don’t post much about their family connections, you can still piece it together by following all the relations they do post and cross-reference it.
If you subscribe to Ancestry, you can find a ton of information. I once, out of curiosity, wanted to find out someone’s ethnicity, as they didn’t look 100% white European. When I don’t have a current project, I sometimes trace the ancestors of an acquaintance just for practice.
First, I put his first and last name into Family Tree Maker. I knew nothing else about him, but I immediately got his full name, birth date, and a number of previous addresses, including his current address and home phone number.
I added his birth date to the software, and then found his birth record in another state. That record only gave the mother’s maiden name, but I was eventually able to find her naturalization record and exactly where she was born.
It turns out the person I was investigating was 1/2 Japanese. I was also able to trace all of his maternal ancestral lines back a good number of generations and found that he is a distant cousin to someone else I had already done research on.
I’m certain the government can do hundreds of times more. It’s interesting exactly how much information a regular person can dig up on the internet in just a few hours.
I would advise anyone to check their privacy settings on social media sites and limit the information they post.
Be assured the government has vast and detailed information on everyone in real time. They even geolocate you: wi-fi signals monitor which room you are in and create a ‘shadow’ of you that can be viewed at any time. All pretty creepy.
But there is one positive: all those rapist and head-chopping, international law-breaking Muslim migrants who are currently invading Europe are going to have a very hard time getting anyone to hire them for much more than under-the-table work. If an employer or human resources person can easily do a background check and find said individual has various sexual assault charges pending on top of having been involved in various war crimes, then I would think the lawyers might advise against hiring such a person. Can you imagine placing such a person in one of the many typical female-majority office environments, where most jobs can be found these days? Or making a man who comes from a culture where it is the norm to acquire young boys for sexual satisfaction (Islam) a teacher?
Police are in trouble with the People.
Anonymous, hear hear.