By Daisy Luther
Survival Saturday is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.
This Week in the News
This week, the Survival Saturday round-up suggests we’re all being punked by the US Ministry of Propaganda. Nothing is quite as it is portrayed in the mainstream media. Are we actually on the edge of the doomsday scenarios that the preparedness community has been warning about for years? Why are the cops in Oklahoma legally allowed to commit armed highway robbery against us with no evidence of a crime? And are all of the threads unraveling in the carefully woven government-approved narrative about our land of abundance?
I wonder how much it costs to buy positive search results from Google.
Let me preface this by saying, I’m not a fan of any of the presidential candidates. (Are these folks truly the best that America has to offer?) But even I, with my jaded viewpoint on truth in the media, was surprised by this one.
A new video has emerged about how Google is nudging search results to be more positive about Hillary Clinton. Watch here. It’s short, but it will blow your mind.
Right????
Google responded to The Washington Times with a firm denial.
“Google Autocomplete does not favor any candidate or cause,” said a Google spokesperson in an email to the Washington Times.
“Claims to the contrary simply misunderstand how Autocomplete works. Our Autocomplete algorithm will not show a predicted query that is offensive or disparaging when displayed in conjunction with a person’s name. More generally, our autocomplete predictions are produced based on a number of factors including the popularity of search terms,” said the statement.
That response is pure BS (Baloney Sandwiches), though, as the video thoroughly proved when searching for information about Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Google’s warm and fuzzy algorithm had no issue offering “a predicted query that is offensive or disparaging when displayed in conjunction with” those candidate’s names, did it? They are blatantly manufaturing the consent of people who can’t see through what they’re doing. Critical thinking is a lost art, and that is purposeful. You won’t see books like this in schools anymore, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s part of my own daughter’s homeschool curriculum.
Beware the Google, folks. It’s also come to light that they black out places they don’t want you to see on Google Maps. Don’t use the autocomplete if you want a relevant answer. Better yet, you might want to consider other search engines. If they’ve been busted doing this, it’s entirely likely they’re doing something much worse, like hiding news from alternative sources. *cough*
Oklahoma has taken highway robbery by cop civil asset forfeiture to a whole new level.
If you have a road trip planned this summer, you might want to go around the state of Oklahoma.
Civil asset forfeiture, which is nothing more than legalized theft, has been in the news for years now. Even if you end up being completely innocent, you end up spending vast amounts of time and money to get back your own money or possessions. Here’s a quick explanation of how this roadside piracy at the hands of the cops works.
Did you know that the government can seize your property – cash, jewelry, cars – and even your home – without charging or convicting you with a crime?
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit the governmental takings of life, liberty or property without due process of law.
But the government has found a way around that.
In civil asset forfeiture cases the government proceeds directly against your property. An individual doesn’t need to be convicted of a crime, so criminal procedure does not apply. And because the forfeiture is against the property, the owner is a third party claimant in related court proceedings. (source)
Here’s an example of how this works:
A police officer pulls a car over for speeding. The officer thinks he smells marijuana and seizes money and perhaps other property from the vehicle. The officer (or other law enforcement agent) writes and signs a statement or affidavit explaining the situation and reasons for the seizure of the property. That statement is used to show the courts the link between the alleged criminal behavior and the seized property.
Now, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol has taken it one shocking step further. They are the proud possessors of devices that can empty your bank accounts and credit cards, right there on the side of the road, because that money could be the “proceeds of crime“. And since they’re armed, they get to rob you and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you defend yourself, you’re truly screwed, because then you are assaulting a police officer on top of anything else they “suspect” you of. One must wonder if they simply “suspect” you of having money.
Keep in mind that there is no due process involved in this. You have no rights. You have no recourse. If they say they suspect you of a crime, they can take everything you have, including things you don’t have in your possession. If you are traveling and need gas soon, tough luck if they *say* you *may* be guilty of something. They require no proof, no evidence, no judge, and no jury. You aren’t allowed to defend yourself.
Read the entire sickening story here.
Did you hear about that massive EBT card “glitch”?
If you didn’t, don’t feel bad. It appears the news of this is being effectively squelched by the media.
According to the website called Down Detector, there have been a lot of issues with EBT cards since the first of the month. People who depend on assistance for food are becoming desperate since they receive their benefits only once a month. For these folks, it has been more than 5 weeks now since they last had money to purchase food. Regardless of your thoughts about the welfare system, one has to wonder if this is a computer glitch, as the government is portraying it to be, or if they are simply out of s money.
If our country actually is running out of money, it won’t be long before the poor in America are living through a Venezuela-style crisis of hunger and desperation. And the numbers are staggering. Michael Snyder wrote an excellent article about how many people would be affected if the EBT system actually went under.
…There are well over 40 million Americans that receive EBT benefits.
However, when you factor in all government programs, more than 100 million Americans get some form of money or benefits from the federal government each month.
So what would happen someday if suddenly the spigot was turned off?
What would those 100 million people do?
How would they survive?
Hopefully this current EBT outage is just a temporary technical glitch, and hopefully the government will get it fixed in short order.
But someday there will be a major crisis that will cause food stamp benefits to be cut off either permanently or for an extended period of time.
When that day arrives, what will that do to our communities?
What do you think? Temporary glitch or an indicator of a crisis looming closer than we think?
If you recall, the Venezuelan government denied their own financial crisis until they couldn’t hide it anymore, and now there is chaos in the streets, people are starving, massive hyperinflation makes it impossible to get necessities, and there are shortages of just about everything. Here’s a list of supplies that I compiled based on the shortages in Venezuela. It really is time to get prepped, if you haven’t already done so.
Is something coming? Even the US government is urging us to get prepared.
The US government, much like the ones in Venezuela and Greece, likes to paint a rosy picture of life in our country, often to the point that those who are awake are incredulous that others accept the propaganda. Sort of like when Obama said that anyone who claimed there was something wrong with the US economy was a peddler of fiction. Or when Venezuelan President Maduro said last year that they were merely being environmentally friendly when they began rationing electricity.
But what does it mean when that rosy picture gets a huge rip down the center? Particularly when the rip comes straight from the government, whose usual job it is to photoshop the rips so no one sees them?
Our government has issued two recent warnings that seem completely out of character, and I don’t know about you, but that’s enough to get those little baby hairs at the bottom of my hairline to stand straight up. President Obama and the DHS have both stated in now uncertain terms that if a disaster strikes, we need to be responsible for sustaining our families and safely evacuating a danger zone. (Read more about these unsettling warnings and why this should seriously concern you.)
Of course, as preppers, we know this, but it has to be a shock to the Kardashian-Keeper-Uppers to hear that Papa Government expects them to handle a potential crisis. Can you imagine the chaos when the safe-space-loving public discovers that they are completely on their own? Pair that with the EBT story above and we’ve got a recipe for societal breakdown.
Be honest. Are you really as prepared as you need to be?
It’s time for a long, hard look at your level of preparedness. I really think we’re getting to a critical turning point. All of the indicators point toward a crisis of massive proportions. Are you really, truly prepared for a Venezuela-style breakdown? What if we had an event that left us without power for a month? Don’t just guess whether or not you have what it takes to keep your family safe and healthy. Really look at your readiness for a disaster.
Assessing this is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I’ve been working on a way to directly help others get prepared with my friend Lisa Bedford, the Survival Mom. I feel sincerely compelled to assist as many people as possible because I have this horrible feeling that time is running out.
Lisa and I have been putting in 12 hour days lately putting together an intensive training course with a lot of personal attention. Please, if you can’t honestly say that you are ready, take a look at the curriculum and see if it might benefit you. We’re nearing our cut-off for participants, since we need to limit numbers in order to be able to provide personalized advice to everyone.
If you decide the course is not for you, please heed this important advice:
Get. Prepared.
Because it looks like time is running out.
The Bookshelf
Media Control, Second Edition: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda
The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media
The Art of Deception: An Introduction to Critical Thinking
Federal Asset Forfeiture: Uses and Reforms
Triple family pack of non-GMO long-term storage food
Emergency Evacuations: Get Out Fast When it Matters Most!
Anything to add to Survival Saturday?
Do you have any news links you want to share? Please post your links in the comments below. Do you have that funny feeling too, about the situation declining rapidly in the United States? And how about that civil asset theft zapper the cops in Oklahoma have? I’d love to hear what you think in the comments section!
I inquired of our local store and ETB cards seem to be working in Alaska. What would really cause the refuse to hit the fan is if a bunch of Social Security recipients checked their bank accounts and found they didn’t have a deposit on their Wednesday. I always check before I write checks and I have some limited resources if the deposit doesn’t show but it would mean going to extreme conservation measures. I am certain many retired people don’t have enough preps and reserve to get by. Yes “It” would hit the fan.
Also I had the impression that the EBT money was distributed through state welfare accounts rather than directly from the national government.
In any case these problems are what we prepare for.
One thing about the current EBT problem that doesn’t scan is that the last time I heard about such problems was a year or so ago when main stream media talked about rioting and looting in a Walmart store because the cards wouldn’t work but nothing now.
Hi Daisy,
I think you should decide whether you want to publish anti-government rants or useful prepping info. I enjoy your writing (used to, really) and I hope you decide for useful prepping info. But unless and until that happens, I won’t be reading your blog any longer. I’m only one (ex) reader, true.
But I think you’re probably not pleasing either camp at the moment and losing readers from both camps.
Pat Meadows
Hi, Pat. I’m sorry that you aren’t pleased with the content of the website. But, if you look back, it’s been a mixture of the two for as long as I’ve been publishing it.
I believe it’s absolutely essential to make clear the propagandizing, the brainwashing, and the dissolution of our freedom. What is survival if we are not free women and men? Tying these together with preparedness is a mission I take very seriously. I dedicate many hours per day writing about this, researching it, and hoping to cause others to question the status quo. I hope to do this before it’s too late and we slide down the slope and end up at the bottom like Venezuela.
It’s possible that I am losing some readers, but my statistics show that each week, the popularity of Survival Saturday is growing.
At this point, I don’t have plans to revamp my content. There are many excellent blogs that stick to one topic or the other. I’ll continue to post a mixture of current events that remind us WHY we need to be prepared, stories about encroachments on our liberty, and how to prepare for whatever crises lie ahead. I must go with what inspires me, because therein lies my passion and sincerity for what I write.
I do appreciate your input and wish you all the best.
Daisy
Oklahoma has had a second year of revenue failure. It’s not a surprise this is happening. The legislators are using the backs of middle and low income tax payers.
I find your blog very helpful and enlightening. Thank you for your posts.
Wow, Pat Meadows, I don’t know how else to say this, but: could you BE any more of a gobermint ass-kisser? Or, is that, military idolatry? It’s so hard to tell these days, which is which.
Reminds me of the old saying about your chains resting lightly on you,… or, something like that.
Anyway, ‘Do I have any news links I want to share?’ Yah, I do. Well, ‘news’ anyway;
I was listening to the local AM radio, the guy said the county near me was going to try to (had already?) outlaw butchering your own chickens.
As I recall, he said Minneapolis, MN and Cedar Rapids, IA were two cities with similar Stasi laws already on the books. He thought the law was nutz and made fun of the whole mess: talking about secret chicken butchering, hiding feathers, and about having to tell busy-body people, ‘the fox and the cat got the hen which could no longer lay eggs’. Yeesh. The world Has gone mad, hasn’t it? Sunday chicken dinner Can Be a crime these days.
Funny thing is, how do ‘they’ enforce such a law? I think this has more to do with squashing competition to Big Ag – and expanding control over everyone – more than anything. People who Love Big Goobermint would likely cheer such moves. I mean, This – IS – ‘The freedom’ our troops are fighting for, right? A chicken in every pot, but Only if it comes from a goobermint sanctioned source, and fed goobermint sanctioned GMO Monsanto feed, and killed in goobermint sanctioned facilities (pay-offs) prior to getting goobermint sanctioned vaccines and/or antibiotics plus hormones etc. etc. etc..
In other news, my local beef farmer had to switch from using an Iowa locker, to an out of state locker, because Der Fuhrer The State is clamping down on all the small time lockers and the lockers are responding by telling The State to go-pound-sand! I took that to mean that the lockers would rather go out of business than to kiss the golden ring?
That’s all Very cool (the lockers telling the bully to pound sand) only problem is, it hurts the family farms, the local producers, and the consumers.
Yah, count on goobermint to make things worse, for everybody except the turtles at the top of Yurtle’s stack of turtles stretching to see everything. Until it All. Falls. Down.
– FCTF! (Family Chicken Tractors Forever)
One final thought:
‘Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs’, which is taught in Every coed-prison camp – er, I mean, school – is flawed, and from a Socialistic perspective.
At the bottom of the pyramid should be Liberty – without it – a person is nothing more than a well fed, well dressed, educated and well conditioned slave.
I suppose that’s the intent of indoctrinating everyone with that flawed pyramid, getting everyone to accept being a slave to the state and willingly being its property. Again, as Marine Corp. General Smedly Butler has written, to paraphrase: ‘it’s what the troops are fighting for’!
Pardon me, this just occurred to me, when Pat wrote, ‘I think you should decide whether you want to publish anti-government rants or useful prepping info.’ I wondered, what does the phrase, ‘anti-government’ really mean to people?
Is it like a made-up phrase from the CIA to discredit individuals and groups, as part of social conditioning. Or, is it a phrase which means, ‘lack of trust in bullys’. Or, is it like a native American term to connotate, ‘one who points out truths and corruption’?
Or, is it a term which means, ‘You better submit, toe-the-line, and obey, or else!’?
See also; ‘They Thought They Were Free’
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/511928.html
– And, the beat goes on…
Really good info. This is why I have been using DuckDuckGo for a long time. That and because DuckDuckGo doesn’t track you. I for one appreciate your blog!
Here’s some HAPPY prepper info!
I found non-GMO , organic cornstarch. …..made in Austria!
https://jet.com/product/Lets-Do-Organic-Organic-Cornstarch-6-Ounce/32f7ec5dc16346ebb333b6758beea7ce
Happy shopping!
Daisy –
I also appreciate your site. And, I thank you for links to the info you publish. I also think being aware of what is going on around us helps us to prepare.
About the EBT cards being down. I had read about this on another site and decided to check it out myself. (I do this quite often when I read something “bad” as I want to see a possible “other side” to the story) Anyway, I went to downdector myself. What is strange is that on the EBT link I can’t see any comments, nor any map of the outage areas. I checked other links and all those have the comments etc. If I were an EBT card holder, I would not be able to “leave a message in the comment section” as the site says. I wonder why? Any thoughts?
Daisy,
Excellent article. Thank you.
Re: Pat Meadows comment. Encouraging folks to prep without explaining why they should prep is like telling Noah to build an ark but not mention the flood.
Thank you for getting the truth out because it won’t be long before you get a letter like this.
Dear Daisy,
You should decide whether you want to stay in business or publish anti-government rants.
Department of Homeland Security
Spooky and all too possible comment, Diane D.
We’re definitely on the same page, maybe not the same paragraph, but definitely the same page.