Explosion In Beirut

Discussion in 'News, Current Events, and Politics' started by Rebecca, Aug 4, 2020.

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  1. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/lebanon-beirut-explosion-1.5673644

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-53656220

    From what I understand they don't know what exactly triggered the explosion but are blaming it on a warehouse full of ammonium nitrate.

    Aside from the human tragedy unfolding, from a clinical perspective in line with prepping some of the things of note are the videos of stunned, confused people with little direction. And the blast wave and its effects on buildings, people etc over distance.
     
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  2. Alaskajohn

    Alaskajohn Master Survivalist
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    That was SHTF in a big way. The initial storyline certainly seams plausible. Let’s see how this plays out...
     
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  3. Sourdough

    Sourdough "eleutheromaniac"
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    Actually surprised the death count was not in the tens of thousands. Amazing video footage.
     
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  4. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Beirut's blown up...........Well,..KARMA!

    They didn't care when they were killing us. April 18, 1983.

    70ed7ad5003e93a8d2b2a1db981c59cb.jpg

    I left for basic 1 week later.

    Dale

    b502c00b336a3c57070f82b56e4e5885.jpg
     
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  5. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    They're blaming this on 27,000 tons of ammonium nitrate. Wonder how much space that would take up? I don't believe this. Ammonium nitrate is the oxygen source for an explosion. A.nitrate must be mixed with a fuel. "Poor man's dynamite" is a slurry made by mixing a.nitrate with kerosene/diesel-fuel. So 27,000 tons of a.nitrate mixed with 30,000 tons of something else. I call B.S..

    Watching the speed of this, I'd put the velocity of the explosive at over 8300 meters / sec. (not feet/sec). Explosives that can do that are mixtures of high explosives and rocket fuel. In Beirut, humans were rag-dolled two klicks away (a mile) Windows were shattered 10 klicks away. On Cyprus the blast was clearly heard, which is 234 klicks away (145 miles away). The very Earth shook; many thought that this was an earthquake.

    When working with these mega-explosives (even with silly dynamite), the material is stored in multiple bunkers -- NEVER in one area. When I was working in industry, I had one friend working in ordinance manufacturing (I don't have multiple sources save that which I have read). Oh, the things I heard. Hard to believe. But these sorts of compounds do exist.

    Big question is why this level of special purpose explosives was put in a location anywhere near a city; in this case within a huge city. This crap is stored AWAY from populations. One location I know about is a series of bunkers mined within a mountain with railroad tracks connecting the separate bunkers -- all mined into a mountain.

    This to me would be something I'd consider to be crazy-talk were it a story somebody just told me ("Liar, liar, pants on fire!"). However, this has now actually happened. This situation is super-strange, downright brain-dead. There are levels of irresponsibility, but man this is totally over the top. Can't get it to settle in my mind. The general population will NEVER be told the truth on this one.
    .
     
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  6. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    pretty much how I see the cities looking post TEOTWAWKI.
     
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  7. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Olde Geezer....

    Most Americans have no idea what they do outside the city of Radford here in Virginia.

    Also in Willimgton North Carolina...across the river is a huge huge weapons depot wherein they are loaded onto military ships...to their final destination.

    For all that matter..I am not far from the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown, Virginia. Not many today remember what happened there in WW2.

    In WW2...in the harbor in San Francisco...in Naples, Italy in the Harbor in WW2.



    But one look at these places via google maps or earth clears this up..in line with what you are describing....for safe storage and or transportation.

    Fort Pickett....the same thing...



    Texas City 1947 disaster...This one was very very very bad...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_disaster


    But......................


    At the same time ....and related...

    There is a place just outside Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia ...I think it is sometimes called..

    "The Farm"

    Lots of nations have places like this....

    And once in awhile ...these places get......wood!!

    Pardon the crudity....

    Thanks,
    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
    Last edited: Aug 5, 2020
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  8. Max rigger

    Max rigger Master Survivalist
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    Dale, post like yours don't get much more insensitive or abhorrent, truly you should reflect on it and hopefully feel ashamed of posting it.

    We've had a lot more experience of terrorism here in the UK than you guys in the US the vast majority committed by Irish 'freedom fighters', the 'good old boys' much financed by Irish Americans a total of 1441 dead by Irish hands and yet if a tragedy occurred in Ireland would I point out the past actions of a few or would I do what a caring human being does and offer sympathy and prayer? I'd be the bigger man, the better man and feel sympathy for all the poor buggers involved.

    The images of those people walking the streets don't show 'lost people' they show people in absolute mental and clinical shock.

    Lets hope your life stays good to you and KARMA don't come knocking on your door anytime soon mate
     
    1. Dalewick
      Not a snowballs chance in hades. By the way, I've witnessed how some of your SAS and SBS mates treated some poor buggers,...so, there 's always that.
       
      Dalewick, Aug 5, 2020
  9. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Yep, when I heard about the Twin Towers being destroyed in London it sorely grieved me. We read that an Irishman, Tim McVeigh did it. Glad you Limeys took him out and hung him.

    Had to knock-back a sloe gin an' tonic when I heard about the attack on your socialist Utopia.

    You guys need to bring in more peaceful Muslims to keep-down the violence over there in England. Anglo-Saxons just can't control their biologic urges, don't'cha'know.
    .
     
  10. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    This sort of attitude is why the once-great British empire just shriveled up and disappeared. Peace in our times worked so well for you when Hitler started taking over Europe. Aren't you glad that America didn't feel that way? Otherwise, you might be speaking German now.

    If you are looking for conservative Americans on THIS board to shed a tear for those people you are nuts. I'm sure that if you go to a liberal board that has anyone on it right now ( a lot of them are busy marching and burning their cities) you can find some people to sob with you. Generally, survival and prepper people are not the softest hearted folks at any point. Nowadays I would vote to spray a lot of the Middle East with an Arabacide.
     
  11. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    Max, truly what is the point of continuing to criticize members on this forum from on top of your soap box? I have wanted to ask before when you have attacked our US members, or Trump for example. How does it affect you so much that you feel the need to jump on people like Dale?

    You sprout much criticism and espouse a utopian idea of society that you seem to expect all to accept. I am happy for you that you have that utopian experience and ideals if it works for you. Just stop expecting the rest of us to follow like good little sheep just because you say our morals are f###ed up.

    I think TexDanm is spot on with this and wonder why it actually had to be pointed out to you Max when I would have thought a week on here would have made it obvious.
     
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  12. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    There are a lot of MASSIVELY explosive things out there and if you are not aware and trained in how to store and handle these things an accident can level a huge area. Flour and rice dust are incredibly explosive if they get suspended in the air by an idiot with a blower or even excessively sweeping it.
     
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  13. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    After the fall if you allow an enemy to survive you are not going to survive long. If they steal from you you kill them. If they attack you you kill them even if you have to follow and track them down when they try to run.

    We messed up in the first trip into Iraq. You kill them all and let God sort them out and you won't have to come back and do it again and others are a lot less likely to cross you. I never would have thought that Great Britton would follow France down the liberal weak apologist road. You are even allowing the Arabs in your country to ignore your laws an live by their laws and beliefs. I can't understand why they run out of their country because they are oppressed and then nonetheless want to recreate that same life in the country that made the mistake of taking them in.

    Anyone that won't fight for their own freedom will never fight for your freedom. You would have thought that we would have learned that in Vietnam and Korea. As soon as we stop fighting and dying for them they surender.
     
  14. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    first of all the British Empire did not shrivel up and die, it was given away as a precurcer to joining the then Common Market.
    secondly the Battle of Britain was in 1940 the USA didnt join the war until 1941. Germany had already turned its attention to the the Russian front by then and any invasion of Britain had been abandoned.
    immigration into the UK is a political decision not a civil matter.
     
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  15. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    by lonewolf....


    Quite correct here lonewolf...and someone is trying to do the same here in America and take this choice out of the hands of Americans...and over to our elected internationalist Professional Politicians.

    These internationalist elected Professional Politicians think this country should be like the rest of the world....not like America.

    America and what Americans believe is not liked or preferred by the internationalists and they are working night and day to Herd us back into their sheep fold....if they have to rig the coming election.

    Trump is an Anathema to their way of doing business....which is to put so many other nations onto their politics and into our wallets to pay for it.

    Ishmaelites run wild...

    That is what the left has in store for this nation.....to put illegals on the public breast and get Americans to pay for it ...just like in the Enlightened UK.

    You are correct in that it is a political decision ...spot on ...


    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
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  16. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    the floodgates for immigration into UK were opened under the Blair administration during the 1990s.( Blair was PM from 1997-2007).
     
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  17. Max rigger

    Max rigger Master Survivalist
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    I don't attack members based on their nationality, just content of posts Rebecca. I'm not a prepper in a traditional sense and I came here to learn more about the subject but all too often posts are just the same old right wing moans and groans made by half a dozen members about some perceived communist threat to the American dream so I'll make a comment.... freedom of speech and all that so don't take it personally.

    You put some posts up on food prep I thing, great stuff so lets have more of that type of content and park the paranoia in the garage.
     
  18. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    perceived threats and risks are a vital part of planning for survival and prepping, a prepper would know that.
     
  19. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    by lonewolf..

    Amen lonewolf ...Amen..

    You shot that one right into the bullseye...in the X ring...

    Nice shooting.!!!


    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
  20. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Max Rigger...

    Max,

    The Irish problems go back into at least the 1600 and Cromwell conquering the land for Parliament. The Irish have a long history of being a very stiff necked and rebellious people...followed by the Scottish...

    America does not belong in the middle of this quarrel....

    I was astonished to find on television a broadcast of the Orangemen parading past Catholic neighborhoods ...in their top hats , tuxedos, and medallions....gloves..

    I was so ignorant that I did not realize what I was observing until after I had done some genuine research of history..

    What I was looking at was a Masonic Lodge in the Orangemen marching past the Catholic Neighborhood....and their Catholic version of their lodge...Sean Finn....

    What is going on is a conflict behind two different lodges....the Orangemen and Sean Finn.

    Sean Finn has only replaced other groups on the Catholic side which came before..

    Almost no one knows this today...verus the standard issue news and information designed to conceal this ...from us.


    And Parliament is not going to make this clear to people but hide it..from them...

    Especially from television and or movie educated people.



    I have known this for over 35 years now...that this quarrel between the Catholics and Protestant lodges in Ireland is not what is advertised to the public.



    I am also very well aware of the connection to the Netherlands ...and the throne of England through William and Mary ...House of Orange....

    I am often reminded of this when the Queen or her husband or Prince Charles visit America and stop at William and Mary College here in Williamsburg, Virginia....

    House of Orange is the connection going way back on the Protestant side...


    This world is not what it appears to be on the surface....and not what is often advertised to the people/public.


    I am also aware of the Queens connection along with her husband to The Order of the Garter....sometimes represented by a double S.

    Asking myself if this has any bearing on Prince Harry and his wife...separating from the Royals....how deep this goes...
    They want out of this tangled web...and it's history....

    And then there is "The Crown ..Itself.."


    Ishmaelites run wild.....


    My non Ishmaelite .02,
    Watcherchris
     
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    1. Dalewick
      Watcherchris, Thank you for the history lesson!

      Dale
       
      Dalewick, Aug 6, 2020
  21. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Max, Your original post did bring nationality into it and your contempt for Americans (especially Irish Americans) wasn't veiled very well. That's OK. I believe everyone has the right to say what they want. I'm not even offended as an Irish American by the statement, because I'm an American first.

    Maybe my history is lacking though as your comparison of the IRA's terrorist activities in the UK to musilim terrorism against the USA and the world, lacks a correlation. I don't remember the USA invading Lebanon anytime before being attacked. I have no knowledge of the US taking any land from Lebanon, hanging and executing it's citizens without benefit of a trial. Just my observation.

    FYI, I've never donated to the IRA. Even though I have Irish as part of my heritage.

    Also, my Karma is feeling pretty good after reading TexDanm, Old Geezer and Rebecca's responses.

    So, Have a nice day there.

    Dale
     
  22. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Well said...Dale..well said..American First....not internationalist..first...


    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaeltie.
     
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  23. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    by Lonewolf....

    Agree with your assessment Lonewolf....the British Empire was given away...ceded to Internationalism...the Common Market.


    The United States had in it a very influential person in politics by the name of Charles Lindbergh....who started 'The America First " political party before our entrance into WW2. . This is not well known by most Americans and is a covered up piece of history....

    Charles Lindbergh knew that given the chance Franklin Delano Roosevelt would cede to the internationalists and get America into the war...just as did Woodrow Wilson in WW1.

    But make no mistake..there were people in America who were watching the advances territorially by Germany and Japan and in a smaller scale...Italy in Ethiopia...in the 1930s.

    Americans, as a whole, were not in favor of going into another World War and spilling our finest blood around this globe..once again..

    Americans had to be kept ignorant of what was going on..behind the scenes.

    As Lindbergh was to later state..."When Roosevelt decides to go to war ..we will be in a war..."


    Charles Lindbergh's stance of America First ...reminds me of what this current President is trying to do...America First....and in that avenue I am in agreement with our current President..

    We have spilt too much American blood around this globe preserving someone else's investments/profits and many of them not even American.

    And so too has England.....spilt too much of their blood around the globe for someone else's investments/profits and many of them not even Englishmen.


    China is a Deep State internationalist. ....investment/creation......China is Deep State...

    Even those phonies on the fabled Fox News will not tell the people that ........China is Deep State..


    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
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  24. Max rigger

    Max rigger Master Survivalist
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    Partly right, the empire had to go because GB simply could not afford to run it, could not maintain control of countries now rightly wanting their freedom and pressure from the USA to cut down GB imperialism while itself expanding its own 'empire' or sphere of influence and control around the world; the common market had little to do with it.

    You are right in that the USA was late to the party but be under no doubt, without the power of American industry and men/women we would not have won WW2.
     
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  25. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    by Max Rigger....


    Negative Max...you stopped short here....but it is not just you here...for many many Americans are lacking in their grasp of history...it ought not to be this way but it is. Too many out here with mostly a movie and television education.

    American came in late to WW1...and Woodrow Wilson knew to not be too bold before the election ...of 1916...for most Americans would not have supported an European War.

    But dont worry...American was secretly aiding England with war materials before our official entrance into the war.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Lusitania

    And it turned out to be a fiasco...with what happened to Wilsons 14 points. And this too is seldom taught to most people today with again...a television and or movie education.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Points

    Someone out there made an ass out of Wilson and his 14 points and guaranteed the rise of Germany ...whether with Hitler or someone else made no difference..

    And this pattern was repeated again under Franklin Deleno Roosevelt...to get us into WW2.

    Neither Wilson nor Roosevelt were running this show......they were being managed...

    https://www.amazon.com/FDR-my-exploited-father-law/dp/B0006BT4W8


    Dont worry Max...someone out there is planning a third one...


    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
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  26. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Even before Pearl Harbor pushed the US into the war don't kid yourself that Americans were not involved. My Dad's big brother went to Canada and enlisted and was flying in the Canadian Airforce. My Dad was 15 and left home to work in an Airplane factory until he was 16 and could enlist. My Father in law was Merchant Marine and the US was running food to Great Brittian and in the bottom of the cargo, they were also running weapons and ammo. After the war started and we officially entered the war he had two ships blown out from under him. Great Brittian was cut off from the world and had no possible way to manufacture the weapons, ships, and airplanes that it took to fight that war.

    We were slow to get in for a simple reason. A lot of people in the US just flat didn't want to get into another war to bail France out again. My Great Grandfather was one of them. He fought in WW1 and said that as soon as the Germans surrendered they were treated like a pile of dog crap on the kitchen floor. We were good enough to die for the people in Europe but not good enough to associate with them when the dying was done. I totally agree with him on one point. The next time the Germans decide they want France and invade it we need to send them a house warming present and let them have it.

    There are a lot of indications that Rosevelt allowed Pearl Harbor to happen in order to get the American people into the war. They KNEW it was coming. He feared that if we stayed out that once Germany and Japan had finished with their local wars that they would come after us and he much preferred our chances if we got in early. HE WAS RIGHT. Germany and Japan were BOTH close to having the atomic bomb.

    Americans were in that war a long time before the US declared war. Have you ever heard of the flying tigers. When we got in we had over 12 million men in the war and the British put over 3 million in the field. The Germans had pushed the British forces into the English Channel when, as is predictable, the French refused to fight. Had Hitler not been already slipping into insanity and not taken on Russia He would have locked up Europe and then taken England. with Russia as an Ally, there would have been little hope of holding them back. At that time fighting a war in Europe from the East Coast or from Africa just would not have been possible.

    We may not have gotten into the war at first but without the support, we did give even before we came in you would have gotten awful hungry and had no chance had they just sat back and bombed your coastal defenses into dust. The BIGGEST thing that the US offered other than men willing to die for YOUR freedom was the simple fact that once mobilized we could build ships and airplanes faster than the Germans could sink them. Our factories were out of their range and couldn't be bombed like the ones in Brittian and Germany. In the end, this as much as anything else was critical. In a war of attrition, Germany could not win.

    I have never understood the British attitude towards the Americans that came to die for you. Almost a QUARTER MILLION American men died in Europe. We put 12 million people in the field that had no real reason to fight for you. My Mom lost her first husband. My family lost 2 sons and a couple that came home were not ever OK. One got an eye shot out over Frankfort Germany and spent two years in a German POW camp with an open wound. The British had no real choice but to fight. Your men were fighting for their homes and Family. Who were our men fighting and dying for...?
     
  27. wally

    wally Master Survivalist
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    leave no enemy behind - chaka zulu
     
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  28. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Preppers must find an environment wherein individual Liberty is given respect. If an environment leans heavily to redistributionist thought, the person preparing for unimaginably horrible days is put at risk, possibly grave risk. "If you do not share, you are an enemy of the state!"

    Routinely in England and Europe the serfs are taxed out of over 60% of what they earn via income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, plus one must consider value-added taxation. Such is socialism.

    In the USA, Big Brother does not provide universal health care, yet look at the condition of the teeth of Americans vs. Brits. I had to have major surgeries to bring my shoulder joints back into operation, I had the operations at the time I needed the operations and no mention of my age was brought into the discussion. In America, the medical equipment available to physicians, clinics, and hospitals is universally available, i.e. one does not have to travel to get required tests, one does not have to prove that they are worthy of being treated.

    I've had family members run-up bills to hospitals that climbed into the stratosphere, but they were not denied. May not be true, but it sure appears to the observant that under socialist medicine, pro bono work seems almost forbidden. If you get too old, or if your physical condition gets too weak, then "it is your time to go". My wife had cancer. During her treatment, a British nurse working here in America, told her, "In England, we are more accepting of death." How comforting.

    If Big Brother pays the bills, Big Brother gets to say who gets the benefits:
    https://www.americanthinker.com/blo...give_nonemergency_care_to_nonwoke_people.html

    In America, let's say that my plans for getting through some hellish years involves a need to have firearms. OK, so I must come up with the money to make this purchase and let's say that I manage to do so. I go to the gun store with my money and purchase a firearm. Currently to do so, a background check is run to see if I have felony convictions or I have a history of having been committed to a mental institution by an order of the courts. I do NOT however have to ask Big Brother to give me permission. Self defense is recognized by the Constitution as valid, plus there's the matter of the Natural Law of Nature (i.e. common sense / that which is known intrinsically). Not so in England. Not so in Sweden. Yet both of the latter countries are witnessing immigrants killing people using hand grenades and fully automatic weapons. Socialists systems punish their serfs for attempting to defend themselves from the savages being imposed upon them by mass migration and the black market arms supply lines attendant to mass migration. Wow, what a survivalist utopia!

    In America, I can realize my plans to get friends and family through horribly hard times. I can put back food. People here grow their own food ... even in the suburbs. I can even protect myself and mine from violent redistributionists (i.e. criminals) using a firearm. The oligarchy running the political machinery of the socialist cities of Amerika rape the Liberty and human dignity out of their overtaxed/castrated serfs just as is done in England and Europe. Therefore people given to survivalist tendencies put distance between themselves and such pits of insanity and iniquity. They betake themselves to the real America where they can be what they are -- which is to say, as self-sufficient as possible. The better part of America is still safe for us, yet the weak/mentally-ill/dissipated/control-freaks of urban areas wish to impose themselves upon the clean people, the people who grow their food, the people who dig their coal, the people who pump their oil. This is why America has now entered its next civil war.

    Is there a political aspect to all of this? There sure is! However, at the core of it all, a prepper seeks the Liberty necessary to bring about those circumstances and those materials needed to survive. That is the primary goal. Having to wade through political crap brings ZERO joy to the hearts of those who simply wish to get by and create that situation, those sets of circumstances, wherein their families also get through all the negative crap this world seems to perpetually/cyclically dole out.

    Mother Nature has no bleeding-heart. If any creature is unprepared for how "the natural order of things" goes, that creature dies ... period. And if the prepared attempt to save the herds of the unprepared, they too die. Are my observations dark to the eye, dissonant to the ear? It doesn't matter. All I am is a witness to reality. My being is but servitude to the Creator. I am absolutely nothing more. Nor would I be more.
    .
     
  29. lonewolf

    lonewolf Societal Collapse Survivalist. Staff Member
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    My grandfather fought in the trenches in WW1 and my father fought in WW2, America didnt OFFICIALLY join the war until 1941 and then only after Pearl Harbour, by which time the Battle of Britain had been fought and won, the Nazis made the mistake of attacking Russia and that was the start of their downfall, things were never the same for them after the Russian Front, by the way Russia lost more soldiers in that war than the rest of the Allies put together, and thats official.
    it is true some Americans served in the war before 1941 but not as official American soldiers or flyers. I think a lot went to Canada and joined up there.
    many of the convoys which came over were crewed by the merchant fleets and their contribution and service was not recognized until much later well after the conflict had ended.
    now dont get me started on Lend/Lease, we were paying for that for years after, I think the last payment was sometime about 2006, who makes a profit on a loan to a friend? I sometime wonder about the "special relationship" seems to only work in one direction, ask Harry Dunn's mother about that one.
     
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  30. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    I was just reading an article concerning the casualty count in Beirut. The "official count" stands at 150 killed and innumerable injured.

    Such a statement reminds me of the casualty counts coming out of Indonesia in 2004, 2006, and 2018. Days into the aftermath of these geophysical catastrophes saw statements like, "Hundreds feared dead!" A month later, a couple of months later, it was reported that thousands upon thousands had been killed. In the case of the 2004 shake-up, over 200 thousand were killed "according to authorities", the true reality is that in all likelihood well beyond those numbers were lost.

    In Beirut, how exactly is one to count the bodies?! Some bodies are only stains on concrete.

    Ammonium nitrate can explode with great vigor, even without it having been mixed with a fuel. However, that would require that it be detonated.

    My best guess -- one that doesn't require the mechanism of nefarious intervention -- is that a storage of rockets did the deed. The velocities seen in this uber-blast require rocket fuel AND high explosives. Gosh, rockets sure do fit that bill. There are cook-offs and then there are APOCALYPTIC COOK-OFFS. Beirut is a port city supplying the Middle East with both food and armaments -- armaments needed for their never-ending wars against each other. It likely could not be calculated how many arms dealers live and work in Beirut. "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword."

    Wouldn't it be nice were these dealers in death to betake themselves out and well away from the boundaries of cities and live in amongst the storage facilities of their products. Should anything "go wrong", then it would be these merchants of mayhem who would go molecular -- them and their cohort. Oh, how sad! Or not.

    The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
    And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;
    And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
    When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

    Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,
    That host with their banners at sunset were seen:
    Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,
    That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

    For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
    And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;
    And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,
    And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

    And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
    But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;
    And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
    And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

    And there lay the rider distorted and pale,
    With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:
    And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
    The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

    And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
    And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;
    And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
    Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

    "The Destruction of Sennacherib" by Lord George Gordon Byron
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  31. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    Ammonium nitrate can easily decompose when not properly stored to the point that it explodes. If exposed to humidity above 59% it will begin to decompose and if it becomes cross contaminated with things like fuel, bird guano, some salts and others it will begin to decompose. Ammonium nitrate is a strong oxidizer by itself but if contaminated it can self detonate if the decontamination isn't caught. This is why ammonium nitrate should be stored in air tight containers.
    The largest non nuclear explosion (Oppau explosion of 1921,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion) , was an accident of stored ammonium nitrate detonating.
    Ammonium nitrate that has been exposed to high humidity (like at the ocean) also has a tendency to solidify which concentrates the nitrates in the mass, making it more explosive.

    Dale
     
    1. Sourdough
      Thanks. Educational for me.
       
      Sourdough, Aug 7, 2020
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  32. Rebecca

    Rebecca Master Survivalist
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    https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-cities-beirut-1.5678077

    This short article is very much based on Canadian cities but does describe fairly well the different levels of destruction over distance that a similar explosion to the one in Beirut would do.

    I use disasters like this one in Beirut as a way to study how to react to such scenarios. For example if such a thing occurred in Halifax when I was in the city. (not that Halifax hasn't already had exactly that 100 years ago).
     
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  33. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    What with arms merchants living shoulder to shoulder in Beirut and the perpetual flow of God-only-knows what sort of war toys through that port, this "little boo-boo" still seems to me to have "military toys" (specifically, military rockets) written all over it.

    I read that Beirut's economy was having its troubles already. This event will likely be the ruin of what is left of that place. Over two-hundred thousand people are now without homes. How can these people rebuild their lives in Beirut when all of their jobs have been blown away ... quite literally. The port facilities were the life blood of Beirut. Those facilities lie in ruin. Other ports will expand to allow the flow of arms into the region and the arms and drug merchants will migrate their operations to those ports.

    "Back in the day", the Druze and the Christian Falange fought over the hashish concession out of the Beqaa Valley. The heroin trade belonged to Syria's Hafez al-Assad who had his brother run those operations. The U.S. was backing the Christian Falange for a time. Then in one of our coastal bombardments we hit a Falange position, killed a bunch of their fighters, and that sure didn't help our relations over there. This is OLD information and I've not kept up. Syria has since driven-in militarily pushed-in and occupied the lot of Lebanon.

    Anyway, Beirut has always (centuries) been a drugs and guns port city. One wonders who will take what chunks of those trades and what ports they will now use. I've got zero contacts and quite frankly, I don't care about those monsters. I'm only sort'a-kind'a interested and even that is only out of intellectual curiosity, my heart abhors that sh## -- it's all greasy and evil. Daemonds out of Hell never rose-up to take that place. Worse daemons were already there.
    .
     
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  34. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    I always loved when the brass described what would happen if all of these exploded. They said it would have destroyed half the Island of Luzon. Bullets bouncing off of them caused extreme pucker factor.

    Subic_Bay.jpg

    This and more covered the entire dock area. The possibilities for massive destruction are often closer than you know.

    Dale
     
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  35. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Dalewick...

    You have me laughing with your last post..That is a whole...whole lot of HE.

    I remember being out on the range at Ft Picket, Virginia near Blackstone...155MM towed Howitzers. Our gun was dug in ...we'd been firing it. We broke for lunch as rain started coming down...left one person on the field phone in case we got a fire mission. Had shells in the tarp....covered up from rain...,. Powder nearby too.

    Lightening hit the gun......

    The guy on the field phone was hurt....but not too badly...we sent him to the hospital ...he was very disoriented for a few hours....out of it ..on the edge...

    What I later realized...was that the HE shells we had under the tarp did not go off... Some were fused...PD fuses...ready to go...and also the powder bags were there in their containers.

    Was a good thing that the gun was dug in from firing.

    Several of us would often stand on the trails for the first shot to help with the gun digging in.

    Nonetheless ...I came later to realize how lucky we were...lightening plays no favorites....just like man made electricity.


    But...it was also lesson on how stable that stuff ordinarily is....under most conditions.


    Thanks for the trip down memory lane..

    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.


    Post script....

    Spot silver steadily going up in price..meaning the dollar is going down..

    Bought some more today and put it away...
     
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  36. watcherchris

    watcherchris Legendary Survivalist
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    Dalewick.....

    I remember when that happend in Beirut, Lebannon...about all those Marines getting killed...back in the 1980s.

    I was pissesd..big time...

    Pissed that the leadership put them all in one building for shelter and did not disburse them around in smaller groups.

    Seems somebody forgot the lessons learned in Vietnam and other conflicts about bunching up...and it was not that much earlier than when that happened in Beirut...how soon we forget...

    Also ...if I remember the history correctly...it was a week or two before that Beirut incident that someone drove one of those explosive ladened trucks in front of a US Embassy or consulate in another country and detonated it....

    That too should have been a wake up call not to put our people in one building and bunched up..

    Watcherchris
    Not an Ishmaelite.
     
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    1. Dalewick
      We NEVER LEARN! If we did, life here in the states would be far different now.
       
      Dalewick, Aug 8, 2020
  37. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Excellent photo! Kind'a cuts to the chase and all.

    And rockets are HE sitting on top of rocket fuel. Store such military marketable material side by side by side by side inside enormous warehouses without separation and you get an unimaginable apocalypse should anything go sideways.

    Trusting in Allah was obviously not the proper course of action for these greedy evil bastards.

    I hope their people make fertilizer out of them.
    .
     
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    1. Dalewick
      OG, those are all 2000 pound GP bombs. They weren't the sensitive explosives on the dock. That stuff was in wooden crates.
       
      Dalewick, Aug 8, 2020
  38. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    I've now seen old photos of one warehouse in Beirut and it sure was full of enormous bags of ammonium nitrate. The bags were cylindrical and five feet tall. Some were drooping and dirty -- looked old, not good. Part of the bags' labeling was in English.

    It's difficult to believe that this sh## went off with such mind-numbing velocity due to a fire. I just don't believe it. The shock-wave proceeded out at mega-velocity. It went tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere. The presence of the ammonium nitrate absolutely for-sure added mightily to the catastrophe, but I can't conceive of it being the sole cause.
     
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  39. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    LOL! Yea, those big guys weren't the sensitive items on the dock. It all comes in routinely ever so often to be cleaned, refurbished and repacked. Then back out to sea.

    I may have told this somewhere else, but it's a great memory for me. One night while on guard duty we had a monkey bust into a crate of grenades. The troop of them was making a lot of noise when we got there and then we saw a male running for the jungle with a grenade still in the cardboard cannister. We called for the officer of the day (since we knew nobody would believe a monkey stole a grenade) and just before he got there, the monkey climbed a tree at the fenceline. We all three sit there watching this monkey chewing and "monkeying" with the live grenade (frag) in the top of the tree. We couldn't discharge a weapon in the area without an intrusion. So all we could do was watch. After about 20 minutes or so, this monkey actually pulled the last pin while trying to open the grenade. YEP! That 5 second grenade went off in 5 seconds. Monkey went everywhere. We didn't think the paperwork would ever stop. Still gives me a laugh to this day.

    Dale
     
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  40. Old Geezer

    Old Geezer Legendary Survivalist
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    Road up to compound was intentionally made twisted, good.

    To get to the compound, a truck had to drive into/through open exposure to sentry return fire, good.

    The base commander was under direct order to not have his sentries armed, i.e. sanctioned death-rape.

    Were I the commander, I would NOT have followed orders that could get my men killed. I'd stand for courts martial before blatantly violating military procedure, violating common sense. It is a God-given right to defend yourself and your countrymen from aggression. The latter supersedes all laws, all military orders. You cannot order me to machine gun civilians. You cannot order me to leave my men without protection. Military Science 101, secure your perimeter.

    Back in the early 90's when I learned the full details about what really went down prior to the attack / the reason that such attack could even occur, my blood pressure went up to where I could have ruptured an artery in my head. I should go take my blood pressure right now. This is "murder by deep state."

    Same deep-state type of murder witnessed in Benghazi. "Let's not offend the locals" = deaths of our soldiers and ambassadorial staffs. Jarret/Obama administration with the assistance of Hillary-from-Hell, "Return your aircraft to base." The aircraft should have continued their mission which would have become one of retaliation. If we lose an embassy, then we should respond with mind-numbing horror. With the retaliation, we must send this message, "Do something like this again, and we will make sure that you no longer exist as a people."

    Sometimes oderint dum metuant comes into play. Wishing that such were never necessary will never change the darker realities of human nature. When humans behave like animals, they must be treated as animals. Mean dog? Kill it, for you can surely not fix it.
    .
     
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  41. Dalewick

    Dalewick Legendary Survivalist
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    OldGeezer,

    You actually made me laugh. I can only guess you never were in the military (at least not the army or marines). Sometimes the orders you receive for "Rules of Engagement" leave you scratching your head and wondering which side the officers that wrote them are on.
    I have operated under orders of " If engaged with combative forces, fire can only be returned once oral approval has been obtained from command and control. The exception to this is if electronic communication is no longer operational and/or available fire may be returned upon command of patrol leader".... ROFLOL! You would be amazed how many radios got shot to hell.

    I know a couple marines that worked embassy duty. They tell me it's a strange world to work in. I have only had to be in 2 embassies while serving. One for a dignitary function (Dinner) which I hated and ate very little. The other was while working, we had some down time and was billeted at the embassy where we got into a "tiff" down town. We got to the embassy and the embassy received several round impacts from the local authorities. The ambassador was less than pleased with the incident when he put us on a plane and flatly stated "NEVER COME BACK! ANY OF YOU!".

    The embassy marines were not happy about the impacts either.

    Making friends and influencing enemies.

    Dale
     
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