This could turn out to be an interesting year, as most election years are. Regardless of your political leanings, there are a few facts we need to admit to:

1. We have not had an un-challenged or universally accepted election result in this century. Whichever team has lost has been made up of a significant number of people who have screamed “shenanigans” and have sincerely doubted the results. Don’t put on your stupid team uniform here and scream at me – realize that I’m just pointing out facts. Ever since George Bush and Al Gore in the year 2000, we have had a significant portion of the populace who have been “election deniers,” and this includes both major political parties. I’m not making a comment on the veracity of any particular position, I’m trying to get past the kneejerk Pavlovian reaction and the stupid barking so I can make a larger point… election years are going to be interesting, and no one but an idiot would believe that this election will be any different.
2. The major political parties have a vested interest in point #1, encourage it, wargame it, and intend to weaponize it.
3. At some point, if something miraculous doesn’t happen, the tenuous threads of our peace and harmony will give way and there will be disruption and hard times that result.

All of that is just to say that preparedness and survival instincts are not unnatural or extreme. Consider well your responsibilities in a time such as this.

Now, 90% of the population, when reading this, will shut down intellectually and spiritually. They will say “My safety, the safety of my family, etc. is not my responsibility. I pay people and I trust people to make decisions for me and to keep me safe. We have governments to stop bad things from happening to ME. Besides, I am special. I am of the cult of people who bad things cannot happen to. Someone will fix things. And if they don’t, so be it. Sorry, children, grandchildren, and next generations. Sucks to be you! I expect nothing bad will ever happen, and if it does then… *shrugs*.”

Those 90%… I will address what happens to them in a bit. To the rest, you might consider looking into the idea of loving your neighbor and your families enough to prepare yourself.

But here’s the catch. Most of the information out there is bad.

Somewhere around 40% of Preparedness/Survival information, advice, and comments you run across today, especially online, are hearsay from people passing on stuff they heard somewhere. This is stuff they haven’t even read deeply about. Another 40% is from people who have ONLY read about the topic somewhere, probably online, and they are passing the information on without any practical experience. Think of any Facebook or social media group of which you are a member. How does it go? Someone new posts a message… “What is this thing I found in my grandfather’s garage?” Then there are 47 wrong answers, guesses, or jokes. Sometimes no one gets the answer right, but all commentors will speak with the same level of authority, regardless of how much they actually know.

That’s a reality of today we need to identify and recognize. Everyone is an expert.

After have lived an off-grid life for over 18 years, and after having taught real world, practical, survival and preparedness – I listen to people talking about preparedness and sometimes I can do nothing but shake my head. Lord, forgive them for they know not what they do.

Everyone has advice. Everyone has read something, heard something, or even “studied something.”

I read a fiction “apocalypse” book some years ago. Having lived – legitimately and extremely – the lifestyle most assume we would have to live if there were to be a long-term interruption in the availability of utilities, goods, and services, I can tell you that the author of the book didn’t have the first clue what it would take to live even a month without readily available utilities, goods, and services. This is why many experts, me included, have predicted as high as a 90% die-off within the first year (due to violence, starvation, and other causes) if there was to be a long-term and serious interruption in our “Just-in time” delivery of utilities, goods, and services.

And most of the advice out there is unlearned, unpracticed, and unrealistic.

Yep. I get it. I’m telling you two things. 1. You should be prepared to face hardships. 2. Don’t trust the things you read or study if you haven’t practiced them and tested them in the real world over a substantial amount of time.

That doesn’t mean that any particular item, practice, or advice isn’t true or accurate – it just means that it is a speculative unknown, a timebomb of possible error and failure. I said that 40% of the information out there is hearsay only, and another 40% is impractical or untested. This means that only 20% or less of the information you read about online comes from people who have actually tested the information in the real world over a substantial amount of time enough to have practical knowledge of how things really work.

Then there is the reality that just because a tactic/hack/practice/method might work well in one environment and set of conditions does NOT mean that it will work for you in your environment and set of conditions. That is why any trick, tactic, practice, knowledge, skill, tool, plan, etc. that you intend to use that isn’t actively practiced in real-world conditions over a long enough period of time to allow you to become adept at it, is just a fanciful speculation, a practical fiction. This includes much of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction. The world of preparedness and survivalism is in most cases, for the most part, a hologram. A delusional cosplay.

Preparedness is a way of life. It is a holy responsibility. It is not alarmism, hysteria, or craziness. It is the practical shoe-leather of loving thy neighbor.

A friend of mine who came to America from El Salvador was telling me last night that his father taught all of the children responsibility. That it was up to them to work and provide a stable family situation for the next generation. He taught them they had to find work, work hard, learn, and be responsible for the next generations. The country he came from has suffered greatly over the past 40 years or so. Gangs, dictators, civil wars. America is not immune from these things. In fact, some would say we are DUE to suffer them.

If any of you, your families, your groups, churches, etc. ever want input or consultation from an expert… who knows. I might be too busy, but you can always drop me a line. This isn’t an advertisement, although I’m generally for sale or rent.

Alright, that’s the warning for today. Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.