Greetings and welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #227. Thanks for being here and sharing your time with us. We appreciate you. Here we are, almost mid- August 2023. A blink or two more and 2024 will be upon us. We will soon have another election upon us soon, maybe. I wanted to write some thoughts on that topic this week, but time will not allow me to do so. Maybe next week. Get your marshmallows ready to fire away.
We are headed out on the road midweek to Huntsville, AL for four days for several events to include speaking at the monthly NARPNet meeting on Saturday at 10 AM CST, Huntsville City Library. My topic will be Preparedness, Prepare Now or Pay Later. This should be fun, and I appreciate the NARPNet host and group for inviting me back to speak again. It's always good going back to Huntsville, AL to be with HFS family. We spent about 15 years living in Huntsville full time pre-Covid 19 era. Beautiful city with lots of southern flavor. We will also be attending the memorial service for our most senior HFS member who passed away in the last week.
Have a great weekend and stay focused. Things are moving fast all over the world and the bad guys want you to watch their left hand while their right hand is doing bad things to you. Keep your eyes on South Africa and the upcoming BRICS meeting, as well as hot spots in the middle East that keep intensifying.
Thanks to everyone who visits and supports the HFS YouTube channel. It is much appreciated.
Let us move along....
Communications: You can now follow HFS social media on the following outlets:
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MeWe: - //mewe.com/p/hopeforsurvival2
Odysee - Hope for Survival (odysee.com)
HFS Thursday Zoom - HFS was on the road this week and unable to conduct a zoom session. We will resume zoom next week.
Check out HFS YouTube. - The newest HFS YouTube videos posted this week. : Yes, three new videos for your viewing.
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Guest and Newcomers
If you are a guest or newcomer to the HFS journey, please check out this link for additional.
information offered through HFS. https://www.hopeforsurvival.com/post/guest-and-newcomers-information-page
Hope for Survival books and HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents -: You can obtain information on the two HFS books at this link: Survival, Preparedness, Disaster Management for individuals or family (hopeforsurvival.com)
Hope for Survival - How Food, Water, Shelter, and Security Could Save Your Life (Book 1)
Hope for Survival - The Mindset (Book 2)
HFS Thumb Drive for Emergency Documents - We just restocked the HFS Thumb drive and have them available now. Follow this link and you will see the add at the top of the page. Blog | Survival (hopeforsurvival.com)
We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.
Ding, Ding, Ding....Attention HFS readers..... Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions, and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and author of this site is not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. I do my best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. I take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Occasionally I use words only Patriots recognize and understand. It's not personal against any non-Patriot. It's just the truth. Sometimes we must pull up our spenders and suck it up. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay. When all else fails… Keep the faith and always have Hope.
Let’s move along and get to some thoughts...
Thoughts for the week -
Hope for Survival has many uplifting moments over our four years of history. But it is always sad when notified of a passing member to the HFS family. This week was such a time. Our most senior family member known to everyone as Ms. Olga, left this world for a better home and no more health issues or pain. We will miss you, Ms. Olga, and I thank you for all the times you ventured out to spend time with the HFS family in Huntsville, AL.
We met long before Hope for Survival was started. You always had wise words of wisdom and a beautiful smile to go with your pleasant personality. When you first told me you still went and fired your handgun and took Yoga classes beyond your 85 birthday, I was impressed and would often remind myself on rough physical days, if Ms. Olga can do it, so can I. You motivated so many of us and lifted our spirits with your presence.
Not too long ago you celebrated your 90th birthday on a HFS Thursday evening zoom session and what a hoot it was to hear you laugh and share some of your life history with the group. No matter what the occasion may be, you always lifted the spirits of everyone around you. Thank you.
In one of my recent trips to Huntsville, AL and dinner with some of the HFS family, I had the honor of sharing a table with you, which was often the case, and we had a great discussion on current events in the world and you shared your thoughts and opinion on the state of our nation. It was a wonderful evening and as always, I was blessed to have you right by my side because I knew if I got out of line you would straighten me out. This particular dinner maybe six weeks ago was the last time we could share a meal because about two weeks later you suffered a setback that was just too much for you. We prayed for you daily dear sister.
You will be greatly missed by many of our HFS family and friends but know you left a positive mark with so many, and we will still tell happy stories about something Ms. Olga shared with us in the past. I'm sure K.W. and R, and myself, will break bread together at Cracker Barrel and wish you could be with us in person. Thank you for the wonderful friendship and memories.
You fought the long hard fight.
Love ya dear Patriot sister and may God continue to bless you in your new home.
Your Patriot Brother, Bravo Echo
Preparedness: Houston, We Have a Problem....still
I think we can all agree that preparedness is about preparing and building some level of self-reliance and dependability for our family and community. The difference in each of us is how long we have been preparing and levels of achievement, sustainability, and experience. A big difference is attitude and mindset. I witnessed this directly during this week's major storm in our town and community. Dependability in self vs dependent on others. These simple attitudes can be major hurdles for a community and the long-term downfall if not recognized and managed properly.
We endured major storms here from the weather pattern that wreaked havoc across much of the south and southeastern states. Our local television did start broadcasting the potential for bad storms and damaging winds as the storm traveled across Knoxville, TN (30 miles west of our community). Working in emergency management and things I've learned over the years is that high heat and humidity before the storm are great feeders to the system as it travels through the area. We had heavy rains, hail, and high winds clocked at estimates between 70 mph and 90 mph. We had tornado warnings also. The high winds did not get labeled as straight-line winds or possible derechos. Some estimates noted 3" of rain fell in less than 30 minutes. The storm moved fast and left behind lots of damage. The positive side was we had no injuries or loss of life around us directly.
The storm hit and passed and now it was time to conduct a quick assessment of our own property and then our community of roughly 30 homes. The assessment would determine if our neighbors survived and registered safe and okay and did any of their homes suffer damage or require immediate assistance. Several HFS members who are also part of our neighborhood security team went about assessing properties and residents. All residents contacted stated all was good, however several locations had large trees down to include the main single road into our neighborhood had a tree down that had to be cleared immediately.
Chainsaws started and the downed trees didn't stand a chance from this point forward. We worked for about four to five hours cutting and removing trees, piece by piece. It was great to see neighbors stepping out to offer support. Even ones without a chainsaw stepped in to help carry limbs and assist however possible. Both ladies and men helped out. This was good.
Anytime an event like this happens, it is a great opportunity to also assess actions and people through the event. Who helped and who didn't. Who put forth physical effort and who stood and watched. Listen for comments made and opportunities to promote preparedness. When possible crosscheck neighbors already assessed previously and validate the previous assessment with perceptions observed during this event. Did anything change in the assessment that should be noted and changed on the overall assessment.
Remember a while back when I spoke about assessments being evergreen and always assessed and adjusted. It is a living document. Think of the assessment as a medical record except it is for your neighborhood. Who appear to be givers and help out and who you assess as takers and dependent on others to do their work for them. It happens but I believe you already know this, right?
Things noted worth mentioning:
- After several of us spent about three hours on a single oak tree that crushed a gate and stone wall and fell across the driveway, the job was done and the resident then asked, "so who is going to sweep up this mess?" This comment fell in line with our previous assessment. Givers and takers.
- When it was mentioned the initial assessment to how long we would be without power, which was four days, one neighbor stated, "we will be out of food in two days." This is a neighbor we have spoken to about planning and preparing by putting some food and water back. The comment fell in line with our previous assessment.
- After completing one large tree cutting one of our HFS Patriots mentioned the chainsaw team was part of our neighborhood security team and he explained a bit about what we are doing in the neighborhood. He explained how the nation is changing and things aren't normal these days. Simply put, we work to help others get prepared. One resident stated, "this group right here will need more help than preparing" and then laughed as he watched others work. He was speaking of himself and two others who watched and didn't help. His comment checked off against the previous assessment as unchanged.
- Once darkness arrived, it was interesting to assess the homes to see who appeared to have any light shining through windows or who was in total darkness. Now I will caveat this by saying folks could have been in their basements. That is unknown. But I would guess from the homes we could see, roughly 70% had zero lights showing through windows and this would come close to verbal discussions with residents to who had flashlights, candles, and solar yard lights they could use inside for lights. This would be a comparable gauge based on the results we found back in 2011 when the wave of tornadoes swept through Huntsville, AL during our time there when several category 5 super cell tornadoes struck the city. Locals, lifelong residents living in tornado alley did not have lights or food. We found much of the same during this recent event.
It was also revealing when Ms. Lucy checked our local town Facebook page and discovered many residents of our small town left home and went and found a hotel for the night. What does this tell you, Patriots? We live in a fairly conservative community where the average income is $24,000. Think about that. How many times have you read here in the PENL I'm not convinced the Patriots will come out past their mailboxes? They lose power and air-conditioning and go check in to a hotel. Now, this is a personal choice, and I am not condemning them or anyone else. These are simple observations to a person and their preparedness status.
This was a great opportunity to check your own equipment, plans, and see how you do and if things work okay or not. While I was out with the gents finishing up the last tree, Ms. Lucy headed home to adjust dinner plans. She texted me about an hour later to tell me dinner was on the grill. We had a great dinner and enjoyed being outside on the deck.
Life didn't miss a beat. When I got back to the house and got the jeep parked and winch rolled up correctly and winch controller put away, I walked in to find the BluEtti and Jackary portable generators out of their boxes and put in place to get the fridge hooked up. Ms. Lucy used her small portable BlueEtti hooked up to some of her kitchen gadgets used to prep dinner on the grill. The small Jackary worked great to power a CPAP machine all night as well. Easy and didn't miss a beat. She had also walked around the yard and pulled in the ten-to-fifteen solar lights from our yard to use inside for lighting. We had numerous other lights to go with the solar yard lights. The Braun USB charged light with the USB battery bank also worked exceptional. This is a Harbar Freight sold light that is affordable and provides exceptional light. We simply used the rocker arm and aimed it towards a wall and let it reflect the light broadly across the room. Bingo. Something I would recommend to you is this. Do not use your fuel powered lights immediately if you have and can use solar. You will eventually run out of fuel and the fueled lights will be inoperable to you. You want to use and reuse solar as much as possible.
Once the sun was down it was very interesting to stand and listen and it was very obvious which direction to go to find residents at home because of the humming of fuel operated generators. One could even listen and tell which of the generators would be portable or the full house generators. These are great to have to power your full home. Yes indeed, but what happens when the fuel is gone? Go check in to a hotel with the rest of the community?
I was looking forward to cooking breakfast on the grill and having some grill cooked coffee, eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy with garden fresh mators. During the Huntsville 2011 tornadoes we cooked breakfast for our understocked neighbors each morning. It was always fun and a good time to talk with and get the status of those living around us. Do you know those around you, and will you be feeding them?
It is always best to make the most of each situation and try to be upbeat about it even when it has "suck" written all over it. Okay, for some it has suck written all over it. But for true preparers, it's like playing adult camp at home with the entire neighborhood. Remember how some kids would call home and leave camp early? Well, some neighbors will do exactly the same. Do you know who they are?
Again, this is not personal or attacks on others. It is simply getting down to the brass tax of who will survive the basic situation without any threats and who will not. Better find out now while you can because you don't want to think you can count on a person and then find out they are bugged out to the local Red Roof Inn.
Good luck.
Preparedness News -
1. From Tom Lovric - The Organic Prepper - What Will You Do When You Run Out of Stored Fuel? - The Organic Prepper - Homerun. This may be the million-dollar question or one of them. Until I got into preparedness years ago, I was all fuel and very non-solar thinking. Through preparedness my mind has shifted. When all is gone, and no resupplies are available we will be left with the sun and trees. Solar and fire. Because of this my mindset is to move in that direction.
2. From Ken J. - Modern Survival Blog - Prepping For Widespread Major Disaster With Little or No Budget (modernsurvivalblog.com) - I was reading an article last week discussing how the debt level amongst American citizens skyrocketed in the past four years. A rubber band impact around the nation. Our nation spends more, raises taxes and cost to survive, and the citizens can't adjust to cost of living increases when the majority of national wages fails to keep pace. Most Americans are not willing to cut cost to survive because most Americans aren't willing to get up cable and satellite television, multiple cell phones and cars, gym memberships, neighbor boy mowing their grass and on and on. Shall we continue.
3. From Tom Lovric - Mind 4 Survival - The Best and Worst Home Defense Firearms - Mind4Survival - Good article but so much of this is personal desire, experience, training, and opinion. If your neighbor is 6' 4" and weighs 250, has 25 years' experience working law enforcement, and you are 5' 5" at 130 lbs, and you work as a nurse, the odds are you may learn tactics and procedures from the neighbor, however the weapon of choice may be different because of body size and experience. This is one area you want to make sure to get it right.
4. From Katherine Patterson - Ask a Prepper - 4 Medicines Every Prepper Should Stockpile - Ask a Prepper - ALERT!!! PAY ATTENTION!!! This is the area we all should be focused. Medical care and how do we do it when everyone turns and looks to us.
5. From Bob Rodgers - Survivopedia - How to make a secret stash for hard times - Survivopedia - I'm speaking with more and more preparers who are actually taking this step to store and protect specific preparedness resources (think the 3-Bs). Are you?
Other News -
1. From the American View - Institute on the Constitution - What Authority Does the U.S. Constitution Give the Federal Government – Institute on the Constitution theamericanview.com) This is just an example of the cascading effect of individuals, communities, states, and congress not diligently performing their responsibilities, duties of office, or their oaths of office. At any level, at what point does being irresponsible move thru the scale of penalties and become treasonous? And what penalties are permitted to be assigned to the justice department for creating law rather than judging the merits of a law against the Constitution (not interpreting the Constitution? Can justices be penalized other than being removed from their position via impeachment? In the attached article it shows how states, via the 10th Amendment, were responsible for immigration until 1876 when the Supreme Court took control of the issue. Also note that there is a difference between immigration and naturalization (which the federal govt does have responsibility for). (Thanks Festus, for this submission and description).
2. From Patriot Nurse - https://youtu.be/pr33IFJTEn4 (Thanks Festus, for this submission.)
3. From Tyler Durden - Zero Hedge - Deepfake Fraud Surges More Than 1000%, Insiders Say It's Just The Beginning | ZeroHedge - Yea, I agree. While many wait for the red army to cross the local hillside, the digital threats mount daily. You can't read or see the threat unless you follow it closely and understand we are at war against an ideology. (Thanks Festus, for this submission)
4. From Tyler Durden - Zero Hedge - Hollywood Starlets Face Extinction As Sexy AI-Influencers Invade Social Media | ZeroHedge - Check this out. Aside from the specific subject matter here, note that these images are not real, but AI generated. Think of any subject matter and imagine what can be done going forward. This is visual but I hope you have been seeing some of the same type of things with audio, where AI generates a call in a loved one's voice, plays on an emergency that need money ....to defraud the person receiving the call. (Thanks Festus, for this submission)
5. From Brandon Smith - Alt Right Market - The Next Generation Is Being Groomed For Destruction – Here's Why They Are Vulnerable - Alt-Market.us - Does this surprise anyone? (Thanks Festus, for this submission)
That's all my Patriot brothers and sisters.
Prayers - Please keep our great nation, our elected leaders, military and first responders in your thoughts and prayers. We pray for good health and wisdom. Please pray for our leadership to find answers and guidance to the problems facing our great nation. May your faith remain strong and answers to the unknown provided. God is good and may our prayers blanket and protect you and your circumstances. I pray for each, and every one of our Patriots.
The HFS family needs lots of prayers right now. We have several sisters and brothers in great need of uplifting.
May we pray for all the blessings and things in life to be thankful about and continued hope for revival around the world. We must continually pray for the unsaved, our family and friends who live each day without the protection for eternal life and salvation.
As Patriots we must stay strong and never give up. Our home, community, and nation need us now more than ever. Stay focused on your local community and things that will impact you around the nation. Don't allow the events around you to create fear in your life. Build your own self-reliance and focus on faith and hope. Remember we are a blessed nation, and we must continue to be great people today and make a better tomorrow. Keep charging.
Blessings,
Bravo Echo Out,
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