The battle starts with how food is cooked. We’re all familiar with the government’s war on gas stoves, one of the most popular methods for cooking food. Knowing full well that outright bans won’t work, the Biden administration is rolling out increased “efficiency” standards for new models that are effectively impossible to achieve. The push is to electrify everything, despite the increased strain this agenda places on an already fragile grid.
Now it’s being hinted that cooking food itself is bad. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a quarter of all air pollution comes from cooking food. “If you can smell it, there’s a good chance it’s impacting air quality,” we’re told. At fault are “primarily oxygenated VOCs, or volatile organic compounds.” It’s not farfetched to conclude that if a government agency says something is impacting air quality, then soon it will be under tighter regulation. “[B]ased on the new findings, cooking emissions could be the single largest missing source of urban VOCs in current air quality models, which could have important ramifications for air quality management,” notes the article.
Let’s consider the plethora of mysterious disasters impacting food production facilities. The latest is a fire at one of the nation’s largest free-range egg facilities that killed millions of chickens. But this is just one of a long, long, long list of similar disasters that are destroying, one by one, the business of feeding humans.
Now, of course, we’re dealing with the whole avian flu panic, in which millions upon millions of chickens are being destroyed on the basis of questionable testing methodologies. Right now the news headlines focus on commercial facilities; what’s less well-known is that backyard flocks are also being tested. We all know where this will lead. Already in the U.K., all chicken owners will soon be forced to register with the government or face up to six months in prison or a £5,000 fine. The state of Maryland also requires poultry registration. And in Wisconsin, if you own poultry or other livestock, you must register your land.
Of course, the potential for bird flu leaping to cows is putting the dairy industry in the crosshairs at a time when America’s dairy cow replacement inventory is at a two-decade low.
Even home-grown food is not exempt. Most people are familiar with Pennsylvania’s vicious war against Amish farmer Amos Miller for the crime of selling fresh food to eager customers. Attorney Robert Barnes sums it up succinctly: “Let me explain what the #AmosMiller case is about after a court conference. The @PAAgriculture claims ALL food is ‘illegal’ – as illegal as illegal drugs – unless it was made by a government-approved facility, and they can destroy it at will.”
But don’t think your backyard gardens are immune. A Guardian piece entitled “Carbon footprint of homegrown food five times greater than those grown conventionally” strives to conclude that backyard gardens are bad for the planet, and suggests farming should be left to the professionals.
Additionally, a couple years ago, “experts” at the University Medical Center Mainz in Germany suddenly issued an “urgent” warning that gardening can cause heart disease by exposing people to harmful soil pollutants.
According to The Sun, “Gardeners have been warned that their habit could leave them at an increased risk of heart disease. Medics found that pollutants in the soil could have a ‘detrimental effect on the cardiovascular system.’ The results of the analysis pushed experts to recommend that people wear a face mask, if they are in close contact with the soil. Experts at the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany said pollution of air, water and soil is responsible for at least nine million deaths each year. They highlighted that more than 60 per cent of pollution-related deaths are due to heart issues such as strokes, heart attacks, heart rhythm disorders and chronic ischaemic heart disease.”
In fact, Europe has spent the last few years embroiled in violent protests against increased government regulations that were putting farmers out of business. The Netherlands planned to “compulsory purchase” and close up to 3,000 farms to comply with EU environmental rules. Ireland is set on cutting its dairy herds by 10%, meaning about 200,000 cows will be culled for no other reason that cow farts are bad for the environment.
And who can forget the disastrous collapse of Sri Lankan agriculture after the government forcibly scaled back the use of non-organic fertilizer?
To top it off, did you know the United Nations is working with banks to destroy the American farming industry? Their method is to impose ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) criteria to score and penalize farmers. The U.N.-organized Net-Zero Banking Alliance is demanding net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in agriculture. Farmers who can’t or won’t comply are being de-banked by having their accounts shut down without notice or explanation.
And on and on it goes: headline after headline after headline. Agriculture, in which humans have been engaged for thousands of years, is now being deemed dangerous and wrong in the eyes of well-fed bureaucratic idiots who are determined to make food unaffordable and/or unavailable for the huge majority of the global population who aren’t wealthy. Oh, and if the U.N. has its way, anyone who criticizes the anti-human agenda will be silenced.
But that’s OK. The vast majority of the global population is, in the eyes of the elites, useless eaters anyway. The sooner they are removed from the picture – by whatever means possible – the better they’ll like it. If this isn’t the epitome of evil, I don’t know what is.
Should the majority of useless eaters be phased out of existence, who will serve the elites after the planet is depopulated and returned to some mythical Eden? Who will grow the food, manufacture the goods and clean the toilets for the overlords? When I posed that hypothetical question to my husband, his answer was succinct and accurate: “These are the people who would rather rule in hell than serve in heaven.”
Hell on earth may be coming a lot sooner than most people realize, if the global war on food continues. The need for food is something even the elites cannot escape.
Sound off about this article on The Liberty Daily Substack.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>“What’s behind the increase in homeschooling?” Weingarten posted on X (formerly Twitter), referencing an article on Axios with the same title. This apparent cluelessness drew snorts of derision from parents all over the nation, who didn’t hold back on their responses by the thousands – so much so that Weingarten turned off replies to her post.
After stating, “The answer is in your mirror,” Townhall columnist Phil Hollaway questioned why Weingarten turned off comments.”Are you afraid of the answers you’ll get? You and the teacher unions with help from [former CDC director Rochelle Walensky] sent public schools into a death spiral from which they may never recover.”
Another poster responded: “A person touted as the country’s top teacher asks a question then turns off replies to keep people from answering it. That sums up pedagogy in public schools right now.”
It wasn’t so much the refusal to acknowledge the problems endemic in public education that homeschooling parents found objectionable in Weingarten’s remark; it was the deliberate playing dumb: “Golly gee willikers, little ol’ me has NO IDEA why anyone would want to homeschool their kids!”
In the past, various prominent politicians have been dubbed “Gun Salesman of the Year” after involving themselves in gun-control legislation. The same sentiment can be applied to the upper echelons of public education officials, who cannot seem to grasp the concept that parents want their children educated, not indoctrinated. When public schools were closed during COVID, millions of parents learned they could educate better at home, and never looked back. New meme: “Randi Weingarten: Homeschooling Sponsor of the Year!”
The numbers are impressive; and the bluer the state, the higher the interest in homeschooling. In California alone, over 1,400 public K-12 schools lost more than 20% of their students since 2020, with homeschooling up 78% between 2017 and 2022. Upending the narratives that homeschooling is done only by religious or wealthy families, a 2023 analysis by the liberal Washington Post admitted homeschooling’s surging popularity “crosses every measurable line of politics, geography and demographics.”
As often happens when faced with such drastic declines in enrollment, the public school systems make fretful attempts to lure parents back into complacency, usually in the form of hiring more teachers to lower teacher-to-student ratios. Ironically, this itself has proven difficult, as teachers are (understandably) leaving the profession in droves (here and here and here), concerned about violence, disrespect and other classroom quarterbacking that interferes with teaching academics.
Additionally, fewer and fewer people are entering the profession to begin with. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there is a massive drop in college students seeking degrees in education to pursue jobs in teaching. This decline has been going on for decades, but has accelerated in the last few chaotic years.
This creates something of a doom loop. The teachers who remain get burdened with even more tasks and responsibilities, which leads to more burnout, which leads to more teachers leaving, etc. Faced with these challenges, it’s no wonder there’s a teacher shortage in America. Who would want the job?
But what academic experts fail to see (or, more likely, refuse to admit) is what parents find most objectionable about public education: The content of the curricula. As long as public schools ignore academics in favor of grooming and indoctrination, parents will continue to withdraw their kids for academic alternatives.
So, faced with such drastic declines in enrollment in failing public schools, officials are falling back on what they often do when faced with homeschooling’s indisputable academic superiority: Ramping up regulations for homeschoolers. Usually this increased regulation begins by conveniently citing the rare case of abuse, then spinning it into the wild extrapolation that any parent who homeschools is doing so to hide the bruises.
Citing a Washington Post smear piece against the booming homeschooling movement, Casey Chalk wrote in The Federalist, “To support the claim of exploiting ‘lax home education laws’ to hide abuse, the Post cites a 2014 study that found that of more than two dozen tortured children treated at medical centers in five states, eight of 17 victims old enough to attend school were homeschooled. You read that right – the most damning evidence The Washington Post can cite to support the claim that homeschooling is facilitating widespread abuse or neglect of minors across the United States is a study with a sample size of 17 children.
(Keep in mind, there were about 3.1 million homeschool students in 2021-2022 in grades K-12 in the United States, or roughly 6% of school-age children, and yet the Post could only drum up 17 examples of abuse from nine years ago.)
Meanwhile, the extreme-left Southern Poverty Law Center has classified parental rights organizations as “hate groups.” And of course, the U.S. Justice Department famously documents and investigates concerned parents attending school board meetings.
Ironically, as one commenter pointed out, “Homeschoolers are held to a much higher standard than are public schools. Case in point: Oregon has suspended standards for graduation from a public school but still requires testing for homeschool students in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 to make sure they are getting a ‘good’ education.”
Meanwhile public education continues to decline in quality. In Illinois, just 32% of high school juniors could read, and 27% do math at grade level – and yet the state opted to kill school choice.
Schools are now being dubbed “knowledge-free zones.”
Educators can play dumb all they want, but of course we all know the real reason behind the hostility toward the homeschooling movement: The manic desire to keep children within their clutches. For this reason, I pray every parent in the nation finds some way to educate their children outside of public schools. Only by starving the beast can their agenda be disrupted.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>“Teaching has turned into behavior management day care,” said one teacher. “It sucks the joy out of you all day, and then the parents are calling to suck out some more joy. A select handful of kids are incredible and fantastic. So many kids won’t turn anything in as in earning a literal 0 for the semester. While all of this is going on you’ll have admin and the network telling you the kids are failing because you didn’t set them up for success, you didn’t invent a new wheel, you didn’t take enough data, you didn’t love them into behaving better.”
Another person observed, “I feel like most teachers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The school administrators fail to protect their teachers from those overbearing parents demanding good grades for their child, regardless of whether or not they earned it. They can’t teach anything anymore for fear of some parent getting mad or taking offense. It’s a mess.”
This isn’t to imply teachers are saints. Consider this hot mess of a headline: “Satan worshipping teacher who suffers from ‘mania and psychosis’ fired after Libs of TikTok exposé.” When you see stories like this, I wonder how anyone has the courage to send their kids to public schools in the first place.
And of course, academics are suffering, and not just because of the disastrous COVID lockdowns. Reading and math are steadily declining when compared to other nations. And yet progressive districts keep implementing more and more disastrous programs, such as the “equitable grading practices” that outlaw (outlaw!) “zeroes” for cheating or failing to turn in assignments.
As a result, many teachers are burned out and leaving the profession. Schools face massive staffing shortages. No one, it seems, wants to be a teacher anymore. Frankly, I can’t blame them.
I confess I have mixed feelings about teachers. I had some tremendous instructors in my youth, as I’m sure you had as well. I have numerous friends and relatives who have dedicated their professional lives to teaching, and have done a phenomenal job at it.
But there are, unfortunately, all too many teachers whose sole and exclusive goal is to indoctrinate their students into the extreme leftist lifestyle. Rather than equipping children with the tools for a productive adulthood, these change agents are turning students into helpless snowflakes and professional victims. In fact, many teachers are hired specifically for that purpose. Some states are even mandating extreme leftist ideological training for teachers.
Teachers are also tasked with the impossible job of walking the line between two deeply divided ideologies: the radical left and the conservative right. Nothing they do will please both these deeply polarized sides. Nothing.
And so teachers are leaving the profession. And it gets worse: Fewer and fewer people are entering the profession to begin with. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, there is a massive drop in college students seeking degrees in education to pursue jobs in teaching. This decline has been going on for decades, but has accelerated in the last few chaotic years.
From sociopolitical commentary to romance writing! Patrice Lewis branches into the world of Amish inspirational fiction. These clean romances are wholesome enough for Grandma to read. Check out Patrice’s available titles.
This creates something of a doom loop. The teachers who remain get burdened with even more tasks and responsibilities, which leads to more burnout, which leads to more teachers leaving, etc.
The trouble, of course, is teachers are no longer required to teach. They’re tasked with indoctrinating, and that’s a whole different ball game. Tyrants throughout history have learned the most effective way to stay in power is to capture children while young, and America is no exception. As a result, public school kids can spew endless drivel about climate change (which contributes to a massive mental health crisis) but can’t add fractions or subtract. In fact, the public education system has now become a laughingstock on the world stage.
Bottom line: The good teachers are working against the tide with a broken system, and the bad teachers are part of the problem. The good teachers are being drummed out or scared away from teaching to begin with, and only the nutcases remain.
So what will public schools do with such a teacher shortage? Well, in the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, there are all kinds of ideas now being put forth, all of which are determined to raise a progressive phoenix from the ashes of education.
One of those ideas – put forth, unsurprisingly, by Bill Gates – is to have AI teachers. While he stopped short of saying these would replace human teachers, he certainly feels it could supplement instruction in the classroom. Three guesses who will be programming these AI instructors.
All of this seems to me like rearranging the deck chairs of the Titanic. Public education has been subject to fads for decades, certainly since I was a child in the 1960s and ’70s. Yet somehow nothing ever improves. Only when competition exists (i.e. private schools, etc.) do academics flourish.
As long as the extreme leftists have an iron grip on public schools, things will continue to spiral downward in American education. More and more good teachers will throw up their hands in frustration and retire, leaving the radical teachers to continue the doom loop.
The future of public education is anyone’s guess.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>All cheery news, right? But it was a short video I saw last week that really hit home. This video compared the costs of homes, rent and income between 1930 and 2023. For reasons that will become clear, this is being called the Great Depression vs. the Silent Depression.
“You’re in a Silent Depression,” says a man calling himself Wall Street Silver. “When you compare the Great Depression to today, this is absolutely going to blow your mind. In 1930 during the Great Depression, the average home in America was $3,900. The average car was $600. The average monthly rent was $18, or $216 a year, and the average salary was $1,300 a year. Fast forward to today. It is $436,000 for the average home, $48,000 for the average car, and the average rent is $2,000 a month, or $24,000 a year, and we have a $56,000 income for the average American right now.
“So if you look back to the Great Depression, the house was only three times the average salary. Now it is eight times the average salary. The car was 46% of the salary. The car today is 85% of the salary. And here’s the craziest part. The rent was 16% of the average salary. It is now 42% of the average salary.”
While I haven’t confirmed these numbers, I have no reason to question their accuracy. It explains so much about why people – especially the younger generations – can’t get ahead.
Article after article reinforces the notion that we’re actually in an economic depression right now; but because the far-left Biden administration is in power, it’s doing everything imaginable to keep from calling it that.
Forbes flat-out pooh-poohs the whole concept of a depression, even while admitting the fiscal reality for millions of people. “American households have incurred more than $1 trillion in credit card debt, tapped into their 401(k) retirement plans and many are unable to purchase a home as mortgage rates have soared past 7%,” writes senior Forbes contributor Jack Kelly. “Even with all of the current challenges, the standard of living remains far ahead of the dire circumstances of the Great Depression.”
I see. Because we have smartphones and fancier cars, it’s impossible for America to be in an economic depression? Kelly lists dire statistic after dire statistic – housing costs, health care costs, inflation, debt (including student loan debt), difficulties in finding (white collar) employment, salary cuts, underemployment – and then concludes “comparing it to the Great Depression is hyperbolic,” in part because the stock market hasn’t crashed, the Misery Index is still low, and “the U.S. has thus far been able to avoid recession.” Oh, and because “the current unemployment rate is 3.8%.” (Shadowstats, however, reports the current unemployment rate at 25%.)
From sociopolitical commentary to romance writing! Patrice Lewis branches into the world of Amish inspirational fiction. These clean romances are wholesome enough for Grandma to read. Check out Patrice’s available titles.
To Kelly’s credit, he does conclude his piece by admitting rising inequality “isn’t fully captured by statistics” and “a large segment of workers, especially Gen-Z, face depressed opportunities compared to prior generations despite headline growth.” [Emphasis added.]
Despite – or perhaps because of – all of Kelly’s fancy weasel words, his argument has failed to convince me the American economy is booming.
If we are in a depression, it behooves us to learn from the last one. I’ve often wondered if people knew in 1928 what would happen in 1929, what could they have done to brace themselves? In light of the current situation, I think that question is just as pertinent today. What is the best way to brace for a looming or current economic depression?
To answer this, I drew advice from a couple of pieces on the subject of “Lessons of the Great Depression” (here and here) and plucked out some pertinent concepts:
- Diversify everything from investments to skills (generalists and jacks-of-all-trades thrived).
- Fewer bad things happened to those who were debt-free.
- Need less and waste less. Get lean.
- Multiple income streams are better than one solitary stream, no matter how large.
- Wean yourself off dependency wherever possible, everything from addictions to government aid.
- Tangible investments are often better than intangible investments. Livestock and gardens reproduce.
- Band together whenever possible (family, neighbors, church) to help each other out. There is strength in numbers.
- Belief in a Higher Power was a massively sustaining force for when people were at their lowest.
- “The situation at hand had the final say.” People were forced to roll with the punches and adapt to their circumstances. No amount of anger, despair, or bargaining could change reality.
- Be generous. Personal circumstances can change in an instant.
- Always look for work. This doesn’t (necessarily) mean you’re working a second 40-hour-per-week job; but it does mean you’re taking advantage of side gigs or odd jobs that come your way. Even unpaid “work” has its merits, as it teaches you skills, develops your reputation and broadens your influence.
- The concept of “retirement” changed completely. People worked as long as they were able.
The Great Depression started with a dramatic bang – the stock market crash – but not every incident of economic turmoil begins like that. Many traumatic events begin with a whisper, which seems to be the case here. Whispers don’t make it any less painful for those affected, but it does make it more deniable by those with a political ax to grind.
Remember this: Politicians are not working in our (or America’s) best interests. If we are in a Silent Depression, we’re on our own to cope with the mess our “elected” officials created. Act accordingly.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. – Ecclesiastes 5:10, NIV
In the past week, there’s been an enormous amount of virtual ink spilled on the banking crisis. I confess I’ve read dozens of articles and columns without a much clearer grasp of what’s happening than before I started. (Ironically, one of the best explanations can be found within the dry humor of “Awaken with JP.” Watch his hilarious “Banking Collapse Explained for Dummies.”)
Why these banks are failing is beyond both the scope of this column and my personal comprehension. Some have speculated it was focusing too much on “woke” investing rather than shareholder returns. On the other hand, it doesn’t look like the bankers have a much better grasp of finance than I do, based on some of the videos emerging. “Is it surprising that Signature Bank failed?” notes this Twitter post. “Their executive team spent millions of dollars to produce music videos & TV shows about themselves. Try not to cringe as you watch this.”
Whatever the reasons behind the crisis, literally billions of dollars have been wiped out. Supposedly even Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Oprah got caught in the carnage. While those on the inside engaged in suspicious activities (selling stock and handing out bonuses), the vast majority of depositors were taken completely by surprise. The whole thing fell in about 48 hours.
And see, that’s what concerns me. How many other financial institutions may face similar disasters? How many other banks are just fine – until they’re not?
As of this writing – and in the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste – we learn Moody’s Investors Service downgraded its outlook for the U.S. banking system, that Biden is effectively nationalizing the deposit base of the entire U.S. financial system, that financial regulators are being asked to censor social media to prevent bank runs and that bank fears are going global. Some say the feds are using the bank meltdowns to kill off regional and local banks and consolidate power. Some claim – with justification – that this is an orchestrated situation designed to push America toward digital currency.
From sociopolitical commentary to romance writing! Patrice Lewis branches into the world of Amish inspirational fiction. These clean romances are wholesome enough for Grandma to read. Check out Patrice’s available titles.
So instead of writing a clever and witty summary of events (something I’ll reserve for more financially literate people), I’m writing this from the perspective of an ordinary housewife watching the problems with America’s financial system.
I’m seeing the cascading effects of high-level banking and government intervention combined with millions of terrified Americans who fear they’re going to lose their life savings and retirements. A banking crisis is frightening enough for economists and those in the know. Imagine how much worse it is for those NOT in the know – the ordinary people who have worked hard their entire lives and managed to maintain a modest financial cushion, who must now attempt to decipher the conflicting reports (“Everything’s fine!” “No, everything’s about to collapse!”), wade through the finger-pointing and blame game, and try to salvage whatever rainy-day cushion they had.
As an example, consider this heart-pounding Twitter thread of someone who had two companies, his personal savings and his mortgage with Silicon Valley Bank as he tries to save his finances.
Needless to say, rumors are flying thick and fast. On one side, our politicians are assuring us the economy is sound, banks are safe, and everything’s glorious. On the other side, the more paranoid types are warning this is the start of another Weimer Republic, and by golly, if you don’t already own a mountain of gold, you’re doomed. In all likelihood, the reality is probably somewhere in the middle.
But one thing is becoming crystal clear: There are big winners and big losers in this game. Spoiler alert, your average Joe Sixpack is not one of the winners.
Ironically, before Silicon Valley Bank was even on the national radar, I had ordered a book called “When Money Dies” by Adam Fergusson. First printed in 1975 and reprinted in 2010, it’s a well-researched history of the hyperinflation that took place 100 years ago in Germany. I only received it a couple days ago and have barely had a chance to crack it open.
But the Prologue was sobering enough. “The German people were the victims,” Fergusson writes. “The battle, as one who survived it explained, left them dazed and inflation-shocked. They did not understand how it had happened to them, and who the foe was who had defeated them.”
The story of the dramatic hyperinflation, continued the Prologue, “is one which the great authorities have sometimes seemed to lose touch with: the effect of inflation on people as individuals. … Disaster itself was devalued: in contemporary documents the word was used year after year to describe situations incalculably more serious than the time before.”
Fergusson concludes his Prologue by writing: “This is, I believe, a moral tale. It goes far to prove the revolutionary axiom that if you wish to destroy a nation you must first corrupt its currency. Thus must sound money be the first bastion of a society’s defense.”
Sound familiar?
Everything is happening so fast. By the time this column is published, who knows what new information may come to light, what other financial institutions may have collapsed, or what nefarious financial schemes may be orchestrated?
No one knows how this banking crisis will end. For us personally, we have our money spread out among three separate credit unions, and have for several years. At this point in the Biden economy, that seems like a wiser move than having all our eggs in one basket.
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>Some time ago, I came across an article entitled “Former Military Bunkers Are Home for Hundreds of Survival-Minded People.”
It seems a development group called Vivos (which develops survival properties in various places around the world) has purchased a huge property containing 575 former military bunkers near the Black Hills of South Dakota. “The 7,000-acre development sits on the former Black Hills Army Base, built in 1942 by the Army Corps of Engineers to store bombs and other munitions during World War II,” says the article. “The Army retired the base in 1967 and sold the property and all 575 bunkers to the city of Edgemont, which, in turn, sold it to local cattle ranchers.”
The massive concrete structures are being turned into bunkers for survivalists.
There’s certainly something to be said for these structures. The location is geographically isolated and seismically stable. The bunkers themselves are spacious (2,200 square feet) and the thick concrete walls are constructed to withstand both internal and external blasts, such as that of a nuclear bomb. Each unit can be custom outfitted in luxury, with the primary disadvantage being the lack of natural light.
According to the website, “Each bunker provides enough floor area, with attic potential, to comfortably accommodate 10 to 24 people and their needed supplies, for a year or more, of autonomous shelterization without needing to emerge outside.”
These bunkers are made to last. “Each bunker includes a massive existing concrete and steel blast door, that seals to stop any water, air or gas permeation; air and exhaust ventilation shafts, and a secondary emergency exit. … This elliptical shape mitigates a surface blast wave, as well as radioactive fallout due to the thickness of the overburden of soil and concrete.”
I got curious about this development and did a little research. I’ve come to the conclusion the whole project is, well, stupid. Well, maybe not stupid so much as misguided.
From sociopolitical commentary to romance writing! Patrice Lewis branches into the world of Amish inspirational fiction. These clean romances are wholesome enough for Grandma to read. Check out Patrice’s available titles.
Why? Because as I see it, literally the only advantages of these bunkers is their ability to withstand the types of explosions and blasts for which they were constructed. But as prepper shelters, they have less appeal – unless, literally, your only concern about the future is nuclear warfare (which, to be fair, is a legitimate concern considering the situation in Europe).
There are, in my opinion, a number of strikes against these bunkers:
- Customers pay a lot, but not for ownership. According to the article, “It costs $45,000 to purchase a 99-year lease for each bunker and about $150,000 to $200,000 to convert it to living quarters.” The website clarifies, “There is a one-time upfront payment of $45,000, plus an ongoing annual ground rent of $1,091 per bunker. Bunkers are provided in their as-is condition, without interior improvements, equipment or furnishings, ready for your outfitting.” That’s a lot of money for an unfinished rental.
- Alternately, customers can pay $15,000 to secure a space in a shared bunker. These are “completely furnished, outfitted, stocked with 1 year of food and supplies, dishware, linens, fuel, water, and bedding, with a deluxe private bunk with keyed access. Perfect for singles, couples and small families to share with others.”
- The facilities are still dependent on outside power sources (fuels for generators, etc.). According to the FAQs, “The entire bunker network is off grid, without power supply from the local utilities. Each bunker needs to install a diesel generator with 55-gallon drum fuel storage tanks for the primary ongoing power requirements.” With the unfolding energy crisis on both the national and international stage, this strikes me as an enormous vulnerability.
- There is no private water source. The FAQs specify, “Vivos distributes water from our 4,200-foot-deep aquifer well up to a 250,000+/- gallon underground cistern located on a hill within the complex. Water is then gravity fed to each bunker. The initial water line hookup to each bunker is just $3,000. Thereafter, you may freely use as much water as you like, for inside shelterization purposes, at no extra charge, provided you are not wasting the water.” However presumably it requires fuel to lift the water from a depth of 4,200 feet. What happens when the fuel runs out?
- Property “per bunker” is limited to 30 feet from the structure. This limits the amount of space to build any structures such as barns or other livestock facilities – much less have grazing room for animals. Some customers have planted gardens on top of their bunkers, which is probably the very best location for a garden; but additional self-sufficiency options (such as room to house and graze cattle) are limited.
- The USDA Hardiness Zone for the area is 4B, same as most of Alaska. This means gardening is challenging. The hardy people who already live in this region have years of experience in dealing with the climate and have a thorough understanding of what plants will grow and what won’t. How long will it take newcomers to the area to acquire that same knowledge? More than one growing season, I suspect.
- Essentially, these bunkers are like self-imposed prison cells. Someone could literally trap you inside by bulldozing a huge load of dirt or rocks in front of the bunker doors. Alternately, you could be forced out by Bad Guys cutting your water and/or power lines.
In short, it strikes me that these bunkers appeal mostly to the “Gee this is cool!” school of thinking, rather than the hard reality of what it takes to survive a bleep-hit-the-fan scenario … unless, of course, the “bleep” is a nuclear holocaust.
And even then, these bunkers have a limited attraction (to me, at least) in the event of a nuclear war. Sure, they’ll do a splendid job of protecting you for as long as you stay within their thick concrete walls. But what then?
Let’s put it this way: If outside conditions are so dire that you must literally hole up for an entire year, then things will be positively apocalyptic when you finally emerge from your concrete cocoon. Let’s say nuclear Armageddon happens and you’ve survived, thanks to your remarkable bunker. A year has passed, and you emerge, blinking in the bleary sunshine, and realize you have no fuel for generators or water pumps. Presumably by then your food will be eaten up as well. What’s your next step? Ordering something from Amazon?
If people who can afford these bunkers simply want the novelty of living inside a concrete shell, then what the heck, go for it. But they must recognize they are, in many ways, just as susceptible to societal disruptions of goods and services (notably fuel to power generators and well pumps) as anyone else.
Or am I the misguided one here? Am I missing something? Are these bunkers the best thing since sliced bread? What are your thoughts?
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>This list is only presented as a public service, so it’s up to you – as a proper woke American – to avoid all the things, terms, people, subjects, foods, books, pets, diseases, locations, beverages, fashions and activities that might offend someone because of your white supremacy and privilege (even if you’re not white). So without further ado, and in no particular order:
1. Crime-surge fears are racist.
2. The Fourth of July is (of course) racist.
4. Sexually transmitted diseases are racist.
5. Arresting someone for torturing cats is racist.
6. Putting an American flag on your vehicle is racist.
7. The Declaration of Independence is racist.
8. Criminalization of marijuana is racist.
If you have over $100,000 in retirement, you can get $10,000 in free silver by opening up a qualifying IRA today.
11. The fossil fuel industry is racist.
14. Space is racist.
ON SALE NOW: Get 184 servings of nutritious, long-term storage vegetables for under $0.62 per serving. Up to 25-year shelf life!
21. The term “Asian giant hornet” is racist.
22. Categorizing ancient human remains as either “male” or “female” is racist.
25. GPAs (grade point averages) are racist.
26. White people who have a good relationship with their family are racist.
27. NOT funding abortion is racist.
28. Chess is racist.
29. “Urgency” is racist (well, technically “a white supremacy value”).
30. Economic recessions are racist.
32. Enjoying outdoor recreational activities is racist.
From sociopolitical commentary to romance writing! Patrice Lewis branches into the world of Amish inspirational fiction. These clean romances are wholesome enough for Grandma to read. Check out Patrice’s available titles.
33. The term “brown out” to describe unstaffed firefighter units is racist.
34. Asking voters to renew registration is racist.
25. The Second Amendment is racist (since it’s meant to preserve white supremacy).
Everyone has a MyPillow promo code and they all offer the same discounts. Support Mike Lindell AND one of the few America First news outlets that does NOT bow to Google ad dollars. Use promo code “JDR” or call 800-862-0382.
31. Capitalization (of letters) is racist.
32. Diversity of thought is racist.
33. White fans who enjoy the NBA (National Basketball Association) are racist.
34. Remote schooling is racist.
35. National Park System names are racist.
36. Alcohol consumption is caused by racism.
37. The Founding Fathers (of course) were “racist, misogynist jerkfaces.”
“Make your immune system stronger. Z-Stack and Z-DTox by Dr. Vladimir Zelenko are both amazing at this. Get your supply today before government decides to outlaw ANOTHER safe and effective supplement.” — JD Rucker
41. Covering the Ukraine war is racist.
42. The term “marijuana” is racist.
43. The Southern Poverty Law Center is racist. (This one I believe.)
44. The Constitution (of course) is racist.
45. Concern for Ukrainian refugees is racist.
46. Tipping in restaurants is racist.
47. Physical fitness is racist.
48. Implying Asians are intelligent is racist.
50. Kamala Harris’ political gaffes are due to racism (and misogyny).
In preparation for coming food shortages, we hand-selected three sponsors for long-term food storage:
* My Patriot Supply: Best value – bang for the buck
* Valley Food Storage: High-quality long-term storage food
* Nutrient Survival: Premium, nutritious food for the long haul
51. College admissions standards are racist.
52. Being “colorblind” is racist.
55. Meat is racist.
56. The field of nuclear science is racist.
57. Determining kidney health is racist.
58. Getting rid of a school board that hid sexual assault is racist.
59. Traffic violations are racist.
61. Unvaccinated people are racist.
66. Outdoor activities (hiking, biking, fishing, running) are racist.
“Food prices are going up while availability is going down. Check out current specials for emergency food storage before the shortages really hit.” — JD Rucker
71. The word “looting” is racist.
74. “Education” is code for white racism.
75. “Parental rights” is also code for racism.
77. Modern baby-carriers (slings, backpacks, etc.) are racist.
78. Golf is racist.
79. The word “spooky” is racist.
80. Asking children to behave and follow directions is racist.
82. A British accent is racist.
83. Belief in creationism is racist.
84. Sculpting plaster is racist.
85. Disliking curry is racist.
86. The Welsh language is racist.
87. Larry Elder is racist (actually, a white supremacist).
“It’s getting crazy out there. You never know when you’ll need to leave in a hurry. I have the world’s best bugout bag ready to grab in case of emergency.” — JD Rucker
95. Visiting Hawaii is racist.
96. Infants are racist – but only white infants.
97. Sugar is racist.
I know this is a weary cliché, but it can hardly be improved: If everything is racist, nothing is racist. That should be abundantly clear by now. If you think punctuation or solar eclipses or the Appalachian Trail are racist, then you’re just being stupid.
But hey, we knew that anyway, didn’t we?
Content created by the WND News Center is available for re-publication without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].
]]>