A collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper. Featured in politics today is a win handed to President Trump on his travel ban. This has been a good week for Trump.
Politics
The supreme court ruled today that President Trump’s travel ban was allowed to go into full effect. Only two justices dissented (Ginsburg and Sotomayor). We’ve pretty much known all along that if the supreme court heard the case they would allow it. It is reassuring to know that there is some rule-of-law still allowed in this country despite the beating it took from the liberal media and lower-level courts. Interestingly enough, the Associated Press and other outlets original misrepresented it as a “Muslim” ban even though Venezuela and North Korea were on the list. Thank you fake news.
Survival Realty
There is a unique east coast listing on Survival Realty that might interest some. One of the 6 homes on Basset Island in Massachusett’s Buzzard Bay is up for sale. It has over 300 feet of shoreline and is on 3.1 acres. Being on an island, it affords rare privacy on the east coast but has full amenities. The listing does include a 21 foot SteigerCraft which you will need to get to the home.
Welfare Expenditures
Reader P.S. noted the call for clarification on the welfare expenditures article we reported on last week. The original article only reported the total dollars spent by each state and several readers requested that information on a per-capita basis. P.S. took it upon himself to create a spreadsheet using the data from that article and Wikipedia’s listing of estimated state populations in 2016. To no ones surprise, the District of Columbia is far and away the highest spender.
Cost of Illegal Immigration
Reader T.Z. sent in this map showing the State by State costs of illegal immigration. The map excludes federal costs but includes things like healthcare, education and refundable tax credits. Again, there are no surprises in the chart. Those states that bear the heaviest cost are the coastal states and those that share a border with Mexico. The American Redoubt fairs well in the reporting, but that is mostly because of the physical remoteness. States that make it easy to file for benefits also fair poorly.
The Middle East
Reader G.P. sent in this article showing the continued unrest on the Arabian Peninsula. The Yemen Houthi rebels, smarting from the loss a powerful ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, claimed to have fired another missile at Saudi Arabia. This time the intended target was was the nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, however, the United Arab Emirates is denying that the incident occurred. It should be noted that the Houthi are suspected of being supported by Iran, though Iran denies it.
o o o
The Saudis claimed last months scud missile fired by the Houthi was intercepted and destroyed. Analysis of the missile debris and trajectory is now leading analysts to doubt the official story. The Burqan-2 missile is designed to separate in flight and the debris found consisted only of the the boost stage of the rocket. An explosion near the Riyadh airport suggests that the warhead made it all the way to the airport, but missed it’s intended target. Further analysis of the patriot interceptor missiles suggest that if they hit anything at all, it was probably the expended booster and the warhead passed overhead. The article also notes that during the gulf war, The Americans and the Israelis claimed a much higher intercept ratio that analysis showed. Some claim that none of the Patriot interceptors were successful.
ELD Mandate
Electronic logging devices have been required on commercial vehicles since 2012. However, many horse breeders, owners, trainers and competitors are unaware of how this law may affect them. Most believe the exemptions provided for transporting livestock will protect them, but those who transport to horse shows fall outside of those exemptions. In addition, if you are making money through sponsors, or winnings (or have the potential to do so) or your vehicle requires a CDL due to the weight class, you are required to install an ELD. These ELDs can be inspected by the state authorities and if you are found to be in violation of the federal standards for breaks and distance, you will face hefty fines. You need to read this article if you think this affects you.
iPhone X
Apple has been applauded for how good the facial recognition is in the new iPhone X and the fact that they keep the data local rather than uploading it to a server. Now it appears that the phone actually shares certain aspects of this data with apps on the phone. The phone builds a wire-frame image of your face. It also has a live readout of 52 unique micro-movements in your eyelids, mouth and other features. The Apps can take this data and store it on their own upstream servers. Expect mischief in the near future revolving around facial recognition and emotional response that the phone can recognize. Thanks to D.B for the link.
