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We have had a number of open discussions here at FR for quite some time about the importance of personal emergency preparedness. Many of us have taken an interest in this subject for a long time, and have been working steadfastly toward being prepared for a real emergency, and this evening I thought I would share my progress on one phase of our plan, food. Anyone who knows anything about preparedness will tell you that the first thing you should do is make a plan that fits your personal needs. A bachelor has much different survival needs than a family...

No one will ever compile a top ten list that everyone will agree with. The subjective criteria used here is based on price, range required, caliber required, history of use and reliablity, and commonness of ammunition, not necessarily in that order. This is not to suggest that a person needs every gun listed. A large caliber rifle, .22 rifle or pistol, 9mm or .45, and pump shotgun are the basics. There will be lots of other opinions, but here is my list that I came up with after 50 years of shooting… not necessarily ranked in order. 1. We know...

Many in the survivalist community like to focus on what I call the “Hollywood Disasters”. This includes things like a total economic collapse, an unstoppable virus, a biological weapons attack or perhaps a complete shut down of the electrical grid. Now please do not misunderstand me, each of these threats is real and honestly could happen. My question to you is how likely are any of them to occur in the next 30 days, how about the next 10 years? Now answer these questions for yourself… What is more likely to happen tomorrow morning, you lose your job or we...

"The end of the world as we know it" scenario. Might be worth watching. Starts tonite.

I think as a boy my favorite stories were always about epic journeys or quests. I always saw myself as the lone hero; bravely making his way through a barren landscape overcoming impossible obstacles and having fantastic adventures along the way. As preppers I think many of us still believe that WTSHTF our trip to “Get out of Dodge” will be an adventure such as those we read in books. I’m afraid however; the reality will be much grimmer than we can imagine. I fear that it will be more like The Road by Cormac McCarthy or the recent novel...

(CNN) -- Young and old, poor and prosperous, sick and healthy -- residents of Pakistan's Swat Valley continue to flee the violence that has erupted there as the military clashes with the Taliban. {Cut} Khan, who estimates his age at between 65 and 70, told CNN life around Mingora was so desperate, he cannot put it into words. Both he and the 50-year-old man said no food or water remain besides what has been stockpiled. There is no power, and all land lines and cell phones have jammed, and citizens have been confined to their homes by military curfews.

Bread Lines, Food Riots, Revolts: Apocalyptic Economic News Draws Eyeballs Online People are logging onto the Internet to read all sorts of dire economic predictions: a new Great Depression, bread lines, riots, you name it. And with the recession taking hold, many have become addicted to apocalyptic news about the economy. This sky-is-falling content online has the same sort of can't-look-away quality as a car crash or porn, for which New York magazine has coined the term "pessimism porn." One of the stars of this new genre is Gerald Celente, a trends forecaster who's credited with predicting the fall of...

BELLEVUE, Wash., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on April 7 acknowledged that gun registration is on her agenda, days after Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in Mexico that the Second Amendment would not "stand in the way" of administration plans to crack down on alleged gun trafficking to Mexico. "These are alarming remarks from Speaker Pelosi and Attorney General Holder," said Second Amendment Foundation founder Alan Gottlieb. "It appears that the Obama administration and Capitol Hill anti-gunners have dropped all pretences about their plans for gun owners' rights, and it looks like the gloves are...

This essay as well as other survival articles can be found on: http://www.buildanark.net/ As someone living and surviving a current real SHTF situation there are tons of insight and information to be gleaned from this man. Read and heed folks - READ AND HEED!! Final note: I've done some minor editing for clarity only. FerFal's words speak volumes. Everyone should copy this and many of his other entries to get a clear insight of what we will be dealing with WHEN the SHTF. Thanks FerFal! My brother visited Argentina a few weeks ago. He’s been living in Spain for a...

Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases...

We’re all (quite possibly) doomed David Cox on the social consequences of recession Wary of sparking panic, politicians are neglecting to acknowledge the true scale of the catastrophe that may await us, says David Cox By David Cox FIRST POSTED JANUARY 15, 2009 There is something oddly muted about current discussion of our economic difficulties. The Government fears we may have to wait until the second half of the year for an upturn. The Opposition warns that counter-recessionary measures may mean higher taxes in future. We should be so lucky. Doubtless those in charge of our destiny are wary of...

Scientists monitoring an asteroid have warned it could collide with Earth in just over a decade. The newly discovered asteroid, known as 2003 QQ47, is around two-thirds of a mile wide and has been classified as "an event meriting careful monitoring" by astronomers. It is around one tenth fo the size of the meteor that is thought to have wiped out dinosaurs on Earth 65 million years ago. In the event of it hitting the Earth, the rock would have the force of 350,000 mega tonnes - around eight million times more powerful than the bomb dropped at Hiroshima at...

I am seriously thinking of taking to steps to go to a survivalist approach planning to survuve total chaos and financial and institutional break down. Some one please help me see why this is not going to happen. Thanks

The Washington Post article is already being commented upon here in Free Republic. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202414 The purpose of this thread is to help Freepers and lurkers decide upon what the best mode of self defense would be in the case of the breakdown in social order such as happened with the Rodney King riots. Joe Brower owns one of the RKBA (Right to Keep and Bear Arms) ping lists. I tried to convince him to open this vanity because he and his friends are more knowledgeable about guns. He says, "there have already been threads on the subject you mention right...

MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Mexico's leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a small lead in the final vote count being conducted by the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, based on results from 35.2% of polling stations, The Associated Press reported Wednesday afternoon. Lopez Obrador, of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, is ahead with 37.1%, while conservative Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, has 34.3% of the vote, according to IFE. A quick tally the night of Sunday's vote proved too close for IFE to call a winner, so election officials Wednesday started a...

Thoughts On Urban Survival (Post-Collapse Life in Argentina) My brother visited Argentina a few weeks ago. He’s been living in Spain for a few years now. Within the first week, he go sick, some kind of strong flu, even though climate isn’t that cold and he took care of himself. Without a doubt he got sick because there are lots of new viruses in my country that can’t be found in 1st world countries. The misery and famine lead us to a situation where, even though you have food, shelter and health care, most of others don’t, and therefore they...

The scenario: You are on a business trip to a major city on the coast. At 3:00 AM you wake up to screams and yelling. You look through the peep hole and see tens of other hotel guests running through the hall in various stages of dress. You go to the window and look from your 14th floor window and see water swirling through the streets. Just then the lights go out. In the distance you hear sirens and then a knock on your door followed by someone yelling that you have to get out as the building is on...

Whatever your politics, you have to be oblivious to reality to deny that America today is torn by ideological divisions as deep as those of the Civil War era. We are, in fact, in the midst of the Second American Civil War.Of course, one obvious difference between the two is that this Second Civil War is (thus far) non-violent. On the other hand, there is probably more hatred between the opposing sides today than there was during the First Civil War. And I am not talking about extremists. A senior editor of the respected center-left New Republic just wrote an...