Post Collapse Book Review: Going Home

 Just finished a collapse and survival tale called Going Home, written by A. American. I know, I know most of you have already read this book, but I am impressed by it enough and I am writing this short review and recommendation for it.

From the get-go, when the main character, Morgan, discussing his Get Home Bag concept where he has two different packs and takes one according to his requirement for that trip.  Basically how far from home he is going and what he wil ned to get back home, as well as packing additional items just in case - I think if this as mission specific packing.

While Morgan did not carry any firearms bigger than a Springfield XD in .45 ACP, spare mags - this may be a practical consideration depending on where you are going and applicable state laws.  He also carried a host,....I mean a butt load! of additional items.  And as the story goes, this character soon procured other firearms taking them from would be robbers or being gifted a rifle from good folks.

Anyway the premise for the story is a prepared individual working 250 miles away from his home and family when an EMP event, either externally or internally caused, placed im in a situation where he had to walk home since modern vehicles were all crapped out.  The story implicates a possible internally caused event - meaning caused by the US Government in order to manipulate the necessities of martial law for cover in dealing with political adversaries.

I really liked the story for several reasons:

1. Plausible survival story - alternatively walking and riding over 250 miles (no route is ever in a straight line) and being faced with what we would expect to see, and that is people taking advantage in the deteriorated security conditions enforcing their will.

2. The author, A. American (probably not his real name -haha), knew his kit and had prepared well, although I suspect the back pack/ruck sack load was heavier than most of us would want to carry.  Read about his gear load and determine if that was something you would have in your Get Home or Bug Out bag.

3. While the storyline is somewhat far fetched about possible US Goverment initiation of the EMP and the subsequent pitting of DHS personnel against DOD personnel and the secretive vetting of county sheriffs if they will support the heavy handed Federal Government, ....I have friends and acquaintances who believe whole heartedly that this is not only possible it is probable.......scary thing indeed.

This branch of the story gains credibility when ModernSurvivalBlog.com reports "the establishment of a federal authority framework that will enable Secret Service agents (not just those guarding the president), and others of the U.S. Secret Service including uniformed division officers, physical security technicians and specialists, and other ‘special officers’, to arrest and remove an elected sheriff for refusing to enforce the law (or anyone breaking the law).  The bills being introduced defines law as including any rule, regulation, executive order, court order, statute or constitutional provision."

4. This is a story without giant gun battles in each chapter and without the fanciful exploits by the hero with are sometimes found in other survival novels. I don't want to ruin the book for anyone who has not read it, so I'll stop here by saying I found it as enjoyable as any of the post collapse novels and more readable and believeable than most. I recommend it and am awaiting the next novel in this series.

Collapse By Design? Deliberate SHTF?

This is an article posted on the CanadaFreePress.com by Douglas J. Hagmann who with his son, Joe Hagmann, host The Hagmann & Hagmann Report, a live Internet radio program broadcast each weeknight from 8:00-10:00 p.m.

Douglas Hagmann, founder and director of the Northeast Intelligence Network, states that he runs a multi-state licensed private investigative agency and that he is using his investigative skills and training to fight terrorism and increase public awareness through his website. The premise of his article is that our current financial situation was not bred out of incompetence, but by design.

I do not yet have an final opinion on his credibility nor the credibility of his article.  Push come to shove, I'll believe that this is a crock.  But Hagmann claims he has a source inside Department of Homeland Security.

I am concenred about countries like Cyprus, the financial situation in Europe which willl affect the U.S., the fiscal cliff situation inside the U.S., a possible dollar collapse, but I am not yet ready to believe it is all planned. Anyway, the article, you decide, here is the article:

Much like my high-level source within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security outlined in a series of interviews beginning last year, the orchestrated collapse of the U.S. dollar and the entire world’s economic system has begun. The first shots in a global economic take-over were fired in Cyprus as my esteemed colleague and founding editor of Canada Free Press, Judi McLeod laid out in frank detail in her column yesterday and her follow up today.

Please read it and heed her advice, or suffer the consequences of your own normalcy bias that such an event will not happen in the United States, Canada, or from wherever you might be reading this. It will, and the plan appears to be on schedule for a shot across the bow later this spring here in the West, with a more aggressive take-over starting sometime this fall, according to my source.

The Plan
To those needing a quick refresher, the plan is quite simple and can be summarized by the Clinton-era quip attributed to political strategist James Carville, “the economy, stupid” and the June 9, 2010 statement by former Obama czar Van Jones, Socialist extraordinaire, “top down, bottom up, inside out.” It is a plan for a one world Communist economy where the “middle class” will be wiped out through a series of events that will have the same ultimate effect as we are seeing in present day Cyprus.

Based on the events in Cyprus, it should be quite clear to even the most vocal critic of the legitimacy of the information provided to me by my source within the DHS as published on this web site is no longer at issue. The U.S. dollar, the backbone of world currencies and the proverbial firewall preventing the erosion of our national sovereignty, is the ultimate target of a takedown by the global banking interests controlled by a handful of banks and families of the “royal elite.”

The plan for a global currency or a one world economic order is a matter that transcends political parties. Those who continue to argue in the Republican-Democrat meme are doing nothing more than providing entertainment to distract people from the real issue, that of the global elite versus the rest of us. The top of the pyramid in this Ponzi scheme is filled with members of both U.S. political parties who are systematically pillaging us and our future generations into financial debt, bondage and slavery. It is a plan that has been in the works for centuries. The problem, however, is that we have been conditioned not to think that big. Yet, the lie is that big.

The Parties
Our current financial situation was not bred out of incompetence, but by design. The occupancy of Barack Hussein Obama as the putative President of the United States was a plan in the making long ago, to usher in this oppressive system where we will be left at the mercy of the global ruling class. It is not by accident that we have been prevented from knowing exactly who this man is, from the controversy of his birth records to his college transcripts and even his social security number. Contrary to what the state-controlled media wants you to believe, these questions have never been answered with any measure of authenticity.

For example, does anyone honestly believe that it is merely a coincidence that Obama’s alleged mother, Stanley Ann Dunham-Soetoro, just happened to work with Timothy Geithner’s father, Peter Geithner, at the Ford Foundation in Indonesia? Is it reasonable to believe that the Republican party had no knowledge of the background of Barack Hussein Obama? Yet not one word from the Republican establishment as they not only watched, but facilitated the takeover of the United States from within. As I’ve written before, our nation is a captured operation.

The plan was set into motion long ago, stemming back to the founding of the United States and the temporary resistance to the central banking system. In 1913, the creation of the Federal Reserve set the countdown clock in motion for the complete subjugation of the United States to the interests of the global bankers and the global elite. The secret supra-governmental cabals such as the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission worked behind the scenes, under the cover provided by the complicit media, to bring us to this point in history. Perpetual wars were induced to occupy the masses while the chess pieces were placed into their current positions. We are now about to pay the price for our inability or unwillingness to confront the establishment and incremental advancements leading to our own demise.

DHS source: Everything is not “coming up roses”
According to the most recent information provided to me from my source within the Department of Homeland Security known as “Rosebud,” the final preparations are being made to deploy heavily armed federalized forces onto the streets of America. They will be deployed under the pretext of “restoring and maintaining order from the chaos brought about by the economic collapse,” adding that “many will demand and embrace their deployment on the streets of America. They will get what they ask for, and more.”

Much like the security theater we have seen following the attacks of 9/11, we will be subjected to the jack-booted control of a federal army whose allegiance is not to the American people, but to the very architects of the chaos.

“This is the reason that drones are flying over U.S. cities and farmland, and gun control legislation is on the fast track for complete implementation,” stated this source. “How can people look at the situation in Cyprus and not think it won’t happen here? It will, and the blowback will be unlike this country has ever seen. Surveillance, disarming the public, and conditioning the people to believe it’s for their own safety is and has been part of the plan all along. Anyone owing a gun will be demonized and described as contributing to the problem.”

“What happens when the middle class loses much of their wealth, or it is confiscated, by the stroke of a pen or a keyboard? What will the stores look like when people, unprepared due to the damn lies of the corporate media and the shills for the ruling elite, run to empty out everything they can get their hands on as the world, as they know it, collapses around them?”

It was during my most recent contact with my source yesterday that he admitted that the situation will be blamed not on the bankers and the elected leaders who are raping us of our wealth and buying power, but on “right-wing, gun-toting Conservative ‘militia’ groups who believe that the situation is orchestrated.” And, of course, it is orchestrated.

“There is no Republican-Democrat argument to be made anymore. It’s all political theater to keep the majority of the masses occupied while the true enemy has already captured both parties,” he added. “They are all in on it, either knowingly or unwittingly, the takeover, that is. And it’s getting harder to believe that there are any who are unwitting accomplices at this point.”

“When the curtain is pulled back to reveal the true agenda of a single digital world currency, the people who have been yelling the loudest about such ‘conspiracy theories’ will be specifically singled out and demonized. They will be blamed for causing the panic we will see, and of course, dealt with by the army we asked for, accepted and even tolerated.”

Anyone who still believes that the information provided by this insider is “doom porn” or some self-created fantasy need to look at the events taking place in Cyprus. It’s coming to America. It has already begun.

Time for a Survival Garden

We're getting an early spring in some of the country. Time to get prepared for planting some crops. Even if you are in a holding location and plan to Bug Out to a more secure location either just before or during the collapse, planting a few vegetables to gain the experience, get the fulfillment of growing something useful,...flowers are most often not useful,.....and eating the product of your labors is really a cool thing to do, not to mention a key to your survival in a collapse unless you're sitting on a warehouse of food in a secure location.

Many neighborhoods in urban locations are collaborating together to develop roof top gardens on high rises; use former grass or landscaped areas to grow crops; and develop unique methods of gardening such as hydroponic and container gardening, all in order to make the shrinking dollar go further and actually develop a surival skill set - feeding yourself.

Throughout the winter I have been composting organic material so that next month when I start my first vegetable plants I'll have some nutrient rich, clean soil for planting. Using regular hybrid seeds for the local Home Depot, so if I am forced to Bug Out, I won't be leaving behind any of my precious non-hybird seeds nor anything else that can't be replicated with a little time.

By my calendar, sometime in late June, I'll be able to trade some cucumbers and squash to my neighbor who has a chicken coop and regular gets 8 to 10 eggs a week. In fact, I have been trading .22 LR ammunition to him for the eggs lately. At 500 rounds per dozen eggs, he's getting the better part of the deal and I do that to develop a good relationship with him. But who knows what the value of eggs or ammunition will be in the collapse.....probably depends is your highest priority was security/hunting or eating.

Survival Mom from Survivalmom.com also has the same idea, that it is getting close to planting time. I read a great tip on her site pertaining to soil preparation. The whole article is here, but in short the part that taught me something I did not know was:

6. If your planting season is still a month or more away, solarize your garden area. This is very easy, and I wish I had done this last month. Water your garden area very, very well and cover it with a huge sheet of clear plastic. I’ve seen some gardeners use black plastic, but this site recommends otherwise. Weight the plastic down around the edges to make sure that it doesn’t fly away, even in a good sized gust. Wait for 4-6 weeks. This allows the weeds to sprout, thinking, “Yaaay! We can begin adding hours of backbreaking work to this poor gardener’s week!” However, the joke is on them because once the seeds have sprouted, they will quickly die, either from the heat beneath the black plastic or from being smothered with no air or sunlight. Some seeds won’t sprout at all but will still die from being overheated.

Great tip. Sure beats the hell out of pulling weeds several few days.

Another good resource is the book "The Backyard Homestead".  It is advertised as teaching you how to grow 2,000 pounds of vegetables in as little as a ¼-acre backyard.  And not just a gardening book, this book includes how to raise chickens and bees for honey.   

Real Life Unintended Consequences

Some of you may remember, in the last week, seeing the report on the Colorado Prison Warden who was shot and killed at his home. The subsequent on-line article, from Yahoo by P. Solomon Banda and Nicholas Riccard outline several murders of officials across the country, 35 in the past 3 years, which is as much as the preceding 10 years. This brings to mind a real life imitation of the novel "Unintended Consequences".

I am NOT an advocate of taking "justice" in one's own hands. However, with the reality or perceptions of an out of control Federal (and sometimes State) governments impacting negatively on the individual freedoms of Americans,....some backlash has to expected, especially when coupled with a failing economy.

When the New York papers published names and home addresses of local gun owners, then someone responded with the names and addresses of the Newspaer staff of the offending paper, a lot of people including me, thought that there would be at least one or two cases of deliberate targeting of these media folks. I guess that goes to show you that most gun owners, certainly the ones who have state permits, are a law abiding group.

And certainly not all of the 35 murders in the last three years can be linked to government mis- or mal-feasance. In fact, one the leading suspects early on in the investigation of the Colorado Warden's murder is a Saudi Arabian national, or his associates, who the Warden refused to transfer to Saudi to serve out the remainder of his sentence.  Now, authorities are pretty sure the murderer was an ex-con killed in a shootout in Texas a few days ago.  And to be fair, some of the reported 35 murders of government officials are attributable to the ex-Los Angeles Police Officer who recently went on a revenge rampage.

Still the lack of situational awareness, whether at home, the office, a restaurant or while driving is annoying to say the least.

The article, Colorado Corrections Dept. Chief shot, killed at home, by Solomon Banda and Nicholas Riccard of the Associated Press:



MONUMENT, Colo. (AP) — In the weeks before Colorado's top prisons official was fatally shot after answering his front door, he carried out a variety of functions including requesting execution chemicals and speaking to legislators about security issues.

It's unknown what role Tom Clements' position as executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections might have played in the shooting Tuesday, but investigators said they aren't ruling out any possible motives, including whether it was random or a work-related attack.

Colorado corrections spokeswoman Adrienne Jacobson would not comment on whether Clements had security at his home. Security was stepped up for other state officials, including Gov. John Hickenlooper, who was ashen-faced as he addressed reporters at the Capitol before signing bills placing new restrictions on firearms.

"Tom Clements dedicated his life to being a public servant, to making our state a better place and he is going to be deeply, deeply missed," Hickenlooper said Wednesday.

Authorities are looking for a late-model car, possibly a Lincoln or a Cadillac, that a neighbor spotted outside Clements' home around the time of the shooting Tuesday, El Paso County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Jeff Kramer said in a report carried by the Denver Post.

Kramer also said investigators want to speak with a woman seen speed-walking near Clements' home not long before the shooting because she may have seen the suspect. The woman was wearing light pants, a dark windbreaker and possibly a hat.

While small in numbers, similar attacks on officials have been increasing in the U.S. in recent years, said Glenn McGovern, an investigator with the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office in California who tracks such incidents worldwide. He said there have been roughly as many in the past three years — at least 35 — as the entire prior decade. Revenge is usually the motive, he added.

"It's often taking place away from the office, which makes sense, because everyone's hardening up their facilities," he said, adding that he advises prosecutors to constantly assess the safety of their residences.

On Jan. 31, Texas prosecutor Mark Hasse was gunned down as he left his car in the parking lot to the county courthouse. McGovern also counts the rampage by an ex-Los Angeles police officer who killed the daughter of a retired city police officer as part of a plot to avenge his firing.

In Colorado, a prosecutor was fatally shot in 2008 as he returned to his Denver home. In 2001, federal prosecutor Thomas Wales was fatally shot by a rifleman while he worked on a computer at night in his Seattle home. Both cases remain unsolved.

Attacks on legal officials are still extremely rare, said Scott Burns of the National District Attorneys Association, which counts 11 prosecutors as having been slain in the last 50 years. But he acknowledged that legal officials are vulnerable outside of protected offices and courthouses.

"If someone wants to truly harm or kill them, it's very difficult, frankly. There's not a lot we can do," he

Mike McLelland, the district attorney in rural Kaufman county east of Dallas, is a 23-year military veteran. Since his prosecutor, Hasse, was killed on his way into the office, McLelland has warned his staff to be vigilant about their surroundings and possible danger.

"The people in my line of work are going to have to get a lot better at it, because they're going to need it more in the future," McLelland said, adding that he carries a gun everywhere he goes.

Clements came to Colorado in 2011 after working three decades in the Missouri prison system. He began a review of Colorado's solitary confinement system and closed a new prison built specifically to hold prisoners being held in solitary — Colorado State Penitentiary II.

He lived in a wooded neighborhood of large, two-story houses on 2-acre lots dotted with evergreen trees in an area known as the Black Forest. Long driveways connect the homes to narrow, winding roads that thread the hills. After word of the shooting spread Tuesday night, some residents slept with shotguns at the ready, fearful the shooter would return.

It would have been simple to find Clements' house. It took two clicks to get his street address through a publicly available Internet locator service Wednesday morning. The listing also included his previous address in Missouri.

McGovern said he tells his prosecutors to assume that any possible assailants can find their home addresses online and to check for areas they may be especially vulnerable such as neighboring alleys and poorly lit porches.

There is no central database of attacks on legal officials and senior law enforcement executives like Clements.

McGovern has documented 133 of them in the U.S. since 1950 by searching news accounts and court cases. The total includes 41 killings of judges, prosecutors and other justice and police officials. The assaults usually come with little warning, he said.

Steven K. Swensen, a former U.S. Marshal who runs a business consulting on security for court officials, said attacks on legal staff used to occur in courtrooms. As security has been expanded to protect those rooms, then courthouses, the attacks have spilled out further and further.

"Now we're having more violence off-site, in judges' houses, on their way to and from work," Swensen said.

Clements' survivors include two daughters and his wife, who is director of the state Office of Behavioral Health.

While Clements generally kept a low profile, his killing comes a week after he denied a request by a Saudi national to serve out the remainder of a Colorado prison sentence in Saudi Arabia.

Clements also recently requested chemicals to execute Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted of killing four people in a 1993 shooting rampage at a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant and is scheduled to become the second person executed in Colorado since the death penalty was reinstated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1976.

Clements' father-in-law, Carroll Smith, told The Denver Post (http://bit.ly/YX6lLN) that Clements opposed the death penalty.

Earlier this week, Clements spoke to legislators about the need for more security staff in the department's food service areas, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Alison Morgan said. Last year, a kitchen worker at a state prison was killed and another was injured in an assault involving an inmate.

Clements is at least the second state prisons chief killed in office. Michael Francke, director of the Oregon corrections department, was stabbed to death outside his office in 1989 in what prosecutors described as a bungled car burglary. A former Oregon prison inmate was found guilty of aggravated murder in 1991 and sentenced to life in prison.