Are you ready? I think this is gonna be a rough couple years.

[Aerindel]

You can remove some of it..but some stuff stays forever and can be found fairly easy.

The trick is to never have it in the first place.

 

[UrbanHunter]

I heard a rumor that the Feds are being told to cut contractors by 60% as they prepare to "reorganize" and consolidate. They are also reviewing every contract and grant currently awarded with an eye to stop work and pull back the funds. The personnel reduction target was a 40%, the fork only got 3%, the probationary firings got 8%, that means that they are short of their target by 29%. So one in 3 remaining civil servants is still on the chopping block, they just haven't received their Reduction In Force (RIF) ranking yet... but it's in the mail as we speak. As for the Fork offering those employees a big expensive bonus, if you carefully read the severance pay guidelines for RIFs, the FORK cost was about 75% of that, so the next bunch will be more expensive. The Government will save money in the long run, but they will definitely be cutting services in your back yard. It doesn't matter if you work at GM, for a railroad, are on a highway crew, are a new doctor, are a scientist, or you are a farmer this will directly impact you or someone in your family. It may not impact you today, but within 6 months you will see it.

 

[poltiregist]

I heard a rumor that the Feds are being told to cut contractors by 60% as they prepare to "reorganize" and consolidate. They are also reviewing every contract and grant currently awarded with an eye to stop work and pull back the funds. The personnel reduction target was a 40%, the fork only got 3%, the probationary firings got 8%, that means that they are short of their target by 29%. So one in 3 remaining civil servants is still on the chopping block, they just haven't received their Reduction In Force (RIF) ranking yet... but it's in the mail as we speak. As for the Fork offering those employees a big expensive bonus, if you carefully read the severance pay guidelines for RIFs, the FORK cost was about 75% of that, so the next bunch will be more expensive. The Government will save money in the long run, but they will definitely be cutting services in your back yard. It doesn't matter if you work at GM, for a railroad, are on a highway crew, are a new doctor, are a scientist, or you are a farmer this will directly impact you or someone in your family. It may not impact you today, but within 6 months you will see it.

While the government waste cut that we are now seeing , which of course means loss of their present job for some , it is non-the less why we are preppers . If every road in the U.S. went undrivable and every bridge in the U.S. collapsed , my preparations for the worst S.H.T.F. that I could conjure up has me sitting ready . Depending on some government organization to tote me , ain't nowhere in my preparation plan . -- Too bad some folks didn't prepare but that is now their problem . I just hate to see the children suffer for their parents failures .

 

[Amish Heart]

I guess it has some redeeming qualities and tips....just hard to get into a soap opera...i will watch it again and take notes...
I would like to see the book Patriots made into a movie.......

The book, "Patriots" was what got me started in prepping.

 

[Amish Heart]

I heard a rumor that the Feds are being told to cut contractors by 60% as they prepare to "reorganize" and consolidate. They are also reviewing every contract and grant currently awarded with an eye to stop work and pull back the funds. The personnel reduction target was a 40%, the fork only got 3%, the probationary firings got 8%, that means that they are short of their target by 29%. So one in 3 remaining civil servants is still on the chopping block, they just haven't received their Reduction In Force (RIF) ranking yet... but it's in the mail as we speak. As for the Fork offering those employees a big expensive bonus, if you carefully read the severance pay guidelines for RIFs, the FORK cost was about 75% of that, so the next bunch will be more expensive. The Government will save money in the long run, but they will definitely be cutting services in your back yard. It doesn't matter if you work at GM, for a railroad, are on a highway crew, are a new doctor, are a scientist, or you are a farmer this will directly impact you or someone in your family. It may not impact you today, but within 6 months you will see it.

Maybe replacing with AI

 

[montanabill]

The book, "Patriots" was what got me started in prepping.

I have given that book to several people to see if they were interested in pursing a MAG....so far no luck. I first read it in a three ring binder after we had moved to the woods in montana.....simpler times..

 

[montanabill]

I think I read that book Patriots. It was a series of books wasn't it?

By james Wesley Rawles....Patriots was the first one that originally came out as the gray years or something...I read it in the late 90's when we were passing around a photo copy in a three ring notebook.
He went on to write more books on similar lines....
He also publishes a blog with giveaways for reader contributed stories..

 

[Amish Heart]

I have given that book to several people to see if they were interested in pursing a MAG....so far no luck. I first read it in a three ring binder after we had moved to the woods in montana.....simpler times..

I also have the three ring binder Rawles Gets You Ready. I bought that years and years ago. It helped get me started. The book was recommended to my husband when it first came out by a Colonel he worked for on base. The colonel was retiring and going off to live a quiet life, but told him to read it. I can guess the quiet life he was going to live after reading the book.

 

[Aerindel]

Stock market down, consumer confidence down, fed uneasy about inflation....Maybe the first whispers of what is to come.

 

[Sourdough]

There is a profound saying that is hundreds, if not thousands of years old; "You can listen to the whispers, or you can listen to the shouts".

 

[Hardcalibres]

Stock market down, consumer confidence down, fed uneasy about inflation....Maybe the first whispers of what is to come.

and......appeasement invites war.

That is why strategic ambiguity has been so popular, for so long.........but apparently no more.

War is a bold move......so it is a bad idea to embolden nations who can kick your ass.

 

[Aerindel]

and......appeasement invites war.

I am so angry over this aspect of it all I don't really even have words. I never imagined after three generations America would side with Russia.

 

[Dave V]

"They" say the resources we're going to "take" from Ukraine are worth TRILLIONS.
We should set it up, so other than operating costs, almost ALL of those proceeds go directly into paying off the national debt.
Do not stop at go, do not go anywhere near any bureaucrat (including Congress/Trump.)
I don't want them to "decide" how best to spend that money to enrich themselves and their friends directly or indirectly! As much as possible should go into paying off the national debt until the amount of interest for that debt gets below a certain percentage of Federal spending, like maybe 5% ?
FYI, in January 2025, interest payments on the U.S. national debt were 16% of total federal spending, according to the U.S. Treasury. Interest costs are projected to increase significantly in the coming decades. As of February 5, 2025, the U.S. national debt was $36.22 trillion.
BTW, bad ideas: renewing the tax cut (historically, the steepest debt increase ever)
and/or eliminating the IRS (i.e. the US's only real source of income to pay off the debt and pay out Social Security etc.) Just my 2 cents.

Edit. The majority of Ukraine's rare earth mineral reserves are located in regions currently under Russian occupation, including Donetsk and Luhansk...i.e. we'd be giving Putin the $$.
Not a good idea either!

 

[Hardcalibres]

I am so angry over this aspect of it all I don't really even have words. I never imagined after three generations America would side with Russia.

From a historical perspective.....

1. In 1938, Britain and France appeased Germany into thinking they would never fight if an ally was attacked......and that directly led to the invasion of Poland in 1939.
2. From 1939-1941, Germany and Russia appeased each other.......and then they destroyed each other......there is probably a message in that.

The current US leadership seems to be completely ignorant of history and the lessons that can be drawn from the last hundred years.

.....and in the present, China is watching all of this.....their GDP is ten times that of Russia.......and most likely, appeasement will make them bring their plans forward.

In power struggles, a nation like China rarely gets an opportunity like this.

 

[Hardcalibres]

"They" say the resources we're going to "take" from Ukraine are worth TRILLIONS.
We should set it up, so other than operating costs, almost ALL of those proceeds go directly into paying off the national debt.
Do not stop at go, do not go anywhere near any bureaucrat (including Congress/Trump.)
I don't want them to "decide" how best to spend that money to enrich themselves and their friends directly or indirectly! As much as possible should go into paying off the national debt until the amount of interest for that debt gets below a certain percentage of Federal spending, like maybe 5% ?
FYI, in January 2025, interest payments on the U.S. national debt were 16% of total federal spending, according to the U.S. Treasury. Interest costs are projected to increase significantly in the coming decades. As of February 5, 2025, the U.S. national debt was $36.22 trillion.
BTW, bad ideas: renewing the tax cut (historically, the steepest debt increase ever)
and/or eliminating the IRS (i.e. the US's only real source of income to pay off the debt and pay out Social Security etc.) Just my 2 cents.

The rare earths in Ukraine thing is BS.

Do you see Ukraine on that list?


Lithium deposits were mentioned too......

But Ukraine is not even in the 24 nations with the most Lithium either.......

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/lithium-reserves-by-country

 

[Dave V]

The rare earths in Ukraine thing is BS.
Do you see Ukraine on that list?

I should have checked before I fell for it...I usually do, but I figured if it was going to happen, I wanted it to not be blown on stupid stuff. I guess the wealth of Ukraine is its rich farmland?

 

[Hardcalibres]

I should have checked before I fell for it...I usually do, but I figured if it was going to happen, I wanted it to not be blown on stupid stuff. I guess the wealth of Ukraine is its rich farmland?

Correct.

 

[Aerindel]

After how well they have fought the last three years, I'd say the wealth is in the people.

 

[Hardcalibres]

After how well they have fought the last three years, I'd say the wealth is in the people.

Yes - they have been impressive......and with all that is happening, they have not yet collapsed (Like Viet Nam and Afghanistan did, when the same thing happened to them).

That they are being thrown under a bus like this, is shameful.

 

[Hardcalibres]

In years to come, people will realize the folly of what is being done.

The Russian military is exhausted.

It would take very little in the way of additional resources and troops to push the Russians out of the territory they have occupied.

If that was done, Putin would be a goner and the only precedences being set, would be positive ones that assure peace and prosperity into the future.

From a western perspective, defeat is being snatched from the jaws of victory.

This will inevitably accelerate the downfall of the US.

When Trump promised to end the war in a day, he should have told the voters that he intended to do that by surrendering.

 

[Aerindel]

When Trump promised to end the war in a day, he should have told the voters that he intended to do that by surrendering.

He basically did. I just don't think people believed him, or sadly, agreed. Unfortunately, the failed war on terror soured many Americans on the concept of war, to the point where now we will blame the victim of a war, rather than even fight a proxy war to defend them.

 

[Hardcalibres]

He basically did. I just don't think people believed him, or sadly, agreed. Unfortunately, the failed war on terror soured many Americans on the concept of war, to the point where now we will blame the victim of a war, rather than even fight a proxy war to defend them.

I have seen a lot of conservative people say they like what Trump does more so than what he says.......

I wonder what those folks think, now that what he says and does have converged.

I suspect that the big difference between what Trump did in his first term to now, is the team he has around him.

In the past he had at least some staff that would debate his ideas.......but not now.....he is 100% surrounded by Yes Men now.......and so the original versions of his ideas get implemented.

I assess that no one is even telling him about the history of the places he is making decisions about. No one is providing any meaningful analysis.

Those staffers don't get it though. Selling their souls cheap is not worth it. When the time comes, he will throw them under the bus.......just like he has done to virtually everyone else who has ever worked for him.

Marco Rubio should remember what happened to Rex Tillerson.....after only 423 days.

In December 2018, President Trump called Tillerson "dumb as a rock" and "lazy as hell" after Tillerson held a speech where he described Trump as "pretty undisciplined". Trump made similar remarks again in May 2019 after Tillerson reportedly said Trump had been outmaneuvered in a meeting with Vladimir Putin. Trump had previously lauded Tillerson, describing him as "one of the truly great business leaders of the world" and a "world class player and dealmaker".[

 

[Magus]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present two books and the lessons gained therein.
1984 and Animal Farm. both had characters you heard very little of, Goldstein
and Snowball, both were demonized to the point of hatred, and everything
that went wrong was their fault.
It occurs to me, paraphrasing Shakespeare, that all the world IS a stage, and
each of us (the nations) is another's snowball. It's why countries and Iran don't
actually do much, too convenient to have Israel and big bad America to keep
their peons afraid and in line. how easy would it be for the real players just to agree
to not do too much really drastic to keep the fear as thick as farts in a Texas chili
and beer festival? All that control, so little effort.

 

[poltiregist]

Personally , I back Trump . I am all for reducing or " eliminating " U.S. government federal agencies . I don't need a government crutch . I prepared .-- As for as Ukraine and Russia and debating which is worse I find a bit irreverent . I support neither . We have no bone in the fight and should not be trying to be the world police . Put America first .

 

[Aerindel]

We have no bone in the fight and should not be trying to be the world police . Put America first .

Russia has been our adversary since our grandparents time.....not letting them expand IS putting America first.

 

[Hardcalibres]

Isolationism doesn't make sense now.....and it probably has never made sense.

When you retreat to your borders, your enemies advance to your borders.

Either the US dominates the world or someone else does......there must always be a top dog.

If the isolationists ever get their way (intentionally or because of US decline/weakness), then the people of the US will get to find out how much they have benefited in their daily lives from a dominant US.

Those who wish to supplant the US as top dog, will not be benevolent.

They will not allow the US to exist in any form like it has.......like the Romans did to Carthage, they will do their best to erase the US from the earth.

 

[Pearl]

Personally , I back Trump . I am all for reducing or " eliminating " U.S. government federal agencies . I don't need a government crutch . I prepared .-- As for as Ukraine and Russia and debating which is worse I find a bit irreverent . I support neither . We have no bone in the fight and should not be trying to be the world police . Put America first .

Thank you for being a clear voice of reason! I totally agree!

 

[Hardcalibres]

Russia has been our adversary since our grandparents time.....not letting them expand IS putting America first.

Yep - and the same propaganda machine that has been used to convince many Americans that Russia is their friend, has been used to convince Russians that America is their enemy.

The largest nuclear arsenal in the world is owned by Russia and is aimed at the US.

Those Americans who have been convinced that Russia is not their enemy, should think about that.