According to the US Ministry of Propaganda…

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!

The Pantry Primer

The Prepper’s Blueprint

 

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!