Douglas Mackinnon: Nyc Is A Warning -- The Blackout Is Coming

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/douglas-mackinnon-nyc-is-a-warning-the-blackout-is-coming

Just about three weeks ago, I did a piece headlined: “Will You Survive the Coming Blackout?”

On the heels of this weekend’s mini-blackout in New York City, this is not about “See, I told you so!” but is about reminding people that a large and sustained blackout could and would cripple much of society as we know it – and it could and would have a devastating impact upon our very lives, and survival.

Such a blackout is coming. It is only a matter of time...

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/douglas-mackinnon-nyc-is-a-warning-the-blackout-is-coming

 

As he so accurately stated " as soon as the power came back on everything was forgotten." Between the " it was no big deal " group, to the " it will never happen again " group, to the "it will never happen to me " group people will turn a blind eye to the reality that this could be a serious issue.

On a totally different, but somewhat related note we got a phone call at 7:30 Saturday morning with an automated message from the city that we were under a Boil Order. Tap water should not be used for drinking. We had plenty, and would not have been adversely affected, but that is how quickly things can happen. You have to be prepared ahead of time.

 

We also had a automated call last night . We are expecting a power outage for a few hours today . I thought it would already have me in shut down .

 

A few years ago the power went out on the water system in a small city I was living in. In that city if I ran my sprinkler system I got $300 water bills. So when the power went out and the water quit running I was a bit surprised to find out that the city had no backup generator for the water system. With $300 water bills one would think that they could afford a backup generator for the city drinking water system. They went to boil water orders as well after the water came back on for 24 hours.

* NOTE* On boil only orders do not overlook the water that comes out of your fridge. It is dirty too.

 

Having spent the last few years in southern Africa where rolling blackouts lasting anywhere from 2 to 8 hours or longer can some what be considered the norm, I have found now that I am back in north America, the effect of a relatively short cut in electrical power to have a alarming effect on society in a first world country.

I become used to South Africa where an 6 hour power failure results in a few sighs of exasperation and someone going out back to turn on the back up generator. Gas stations, shops of all descriptions, gyms, restaurants, private homes...everyone seemed to have a secondary power source. And life goes on as if commercial electricity didn't just fail to a city of 3 million people.

Where I am now even a short electrical failure has a massive effect on everything and everyone. A negative effect. And my prepper alarm bells are ringing in the back of my mind.

 

Welcome to here, Rebecca!

I am looking forward to reading your posts. Your experiences in southern Africa shed light on the fact that by comparison, most Americans are rather spoiled. Many here are so used to electricity being available 24/7 that a few days without it provokes outcries of hardship and deprivation, lol. (Especially during hurricane season: "We survived a whole week without electricity. Here is how we managed... blah, blah, blah...)


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With the forecast for much of the east coast this weekend to be from 103-109 plus heat index I'd almost bet there will be blackouts, be it Philly, NYC, Boston etc... I'll bet that all those turds in NYC that just went thru that mess the other week, even those ones trapped for hours in and elevator didn't do squat in the last week, they already went back to business as usual. Did they bother to pick up even a cheap $3 flashlight? throw a bottle of water in their bag? buy some food or a case of water for their house? I'd bet no...

If the heat gets to where they say and there are brown or black outs... look out.

It's the people out side of the cities that might have to worry the most as to power down. ConEd and the other utilities will rather shut down 10's of thousands out in the sticks than let the city's go dark.

 

The podcast I listen to the guy always tells people that they should use a Berky daily. As he says, and I think correctly so, how long do you think the water has been bad before they notice it, then put out and alert and then till you hear it. Or if you're on a well, how long until you realize it's making you sick or you test it and find out it's become contaminated. Now I need to take that advise as I've not applied it here at homw but being on a well and with as much farming is around me I should.

 

Here are a couple more folk in the know who are warning about the coming mass-blackouts in Western nations.

2020


"Five meals from anarchy"

2013


The novel by Marc Elsberg:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33369264-blackout

Most folk will never listen; yet maybe some of our visitors will hear the truth and take it to heart. Maybe they will keep their families alive.
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You and other preppers. We know that it is going to happen. We know that the power is going to go bye-byes and we know what will happen when it does so. We preppers are also familiar with human nature an how people can get very "different" when they panic.

There are places still on this Earth to where one can run, homestead, and possibly ride-out the violently psychotic days of the coming breakdown of civilization. Places such as Siberia, remote Canada, there are very remote areas of South America where one can avoid civilization and anti-civilization when civilization flies apart. Most folk, even us prepper folk, will have to calculate into our plans what to do when people lose their way of life, people who have made no preparations for such an event/catastrophe. What do we do when the refugees show up en masse?! What do we do when governments attempt to use their power to redistribute the wealth of those who are independent, i.e. folk like us, to the masses of starving people?!

Surely Lonewolf, no one will show up where you are living. You will be totally safe. You will not have the need of firearms to protect you and your wife. Yet there are many of us preppers who will have to deal with the madness of mankind. I live in a rural area, but I know that I will stand at great risk of violent redistribution of needed items to include food itself. This is why we have on our prepper site areas related to firearms. I and most preppers living anywhere near cities will need weapons well past sharp thingies to defend our families. Refugees, some of them quite ready to do violence, will show up even here -- fuel tanks of abandoned cars will provide fuel to the worst of humankind. Ice picks + partially full tanks of a stranded vehicles = fuel for the interlopers who are riding their stolen motorcycles.

I know full good and well that here in America, things are going to get WAY past strange when the lights go out. I know full good and well that people here had better get ready not only with non-electric-based preparations but also with the firepower to fight off those who would steal our food, our generators, anything / everything we have. We watch chaos and looting happen in the cities even now when "times are good".

So, allow me to speak to you out there who have NOT gotten ready for the loss of your electrical power in your state, your entire region, do make preparations now! Throughout the island of Puerto Rico and countless other islands of the Caribbean civilization broke down when the last hurricanes came through. It wasn't just that people had refrigerated food go bad, it was that gangs stole their generators if they had them. Stores were looted empty. The fury of hurricanes is but one mechanism of depriving people of electrical power. The loss of electricity leads to the loss of humanity due to "modern" society's dependence on it. You must prepare not only for a time when there will be no electricity, you must prepare to deal with people who have lost their humanity.

Making nice will not suffice.
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Excellent! You are safe in rural England. You don't need firearms. Good that guns and ammo are restricted there. I've heard of firearms loading themselves and shooting their owners -- it's in the press and thus cannot be wrong.

The above is NOT true in America.

The obese -- who've survived the Chinacovid (that virus kills the obese, young covid deaths are due to obesity as a matter of fact; it's why the "poor" die, they're usually unusually fat) -- will be gonners, that's a given. America is eaten-up with motorcycles, to include hundreds of thousands of off-road motorcycles. These will be stolen by whoever is the nastiest crew. Stalled cars will have their gas tanks punctured to gather what gas is left. This gas will be fuel for motorcycles.

Any place that has food will be a target. State National Guard units will be of help -- but only to their own state. The Fed is not going to be able to muster the troop -- this for a thousand reasons.

Thing is that in America, the more rural you get, the more densely packed the firearms and stores of ammunition. Decades back, I watched people roll two-wheeled dollies out of gun shows stacked with cases (not boxes, cases) of ammo. Now there has been a second rearming of America. City slickers who do not know how to use their weapons only will exist as targets and armament re-supply agents for the people who will shoot them dead.

Rural America WILL see raiders. The only raiders who will survive are those who have military support. Some of these leeches WILL have military support and may live for a while longer.

Rural Americans will predate on the trapped vehicles for parts and fuel. Rural Americans will have the backing of AWOL military units. All loyalties during hard times are to family and region.

Heartland America will have food. We will have fuel, but it will be in tight supply and mainly allocated to agricultural use. The motorcycles of the killed-off interlopers will come in handy. Where I live there are tens of thousands of motorcycles already here -- I sure do hear them perpetually.

Civilization in the Heartlands will be mightily harmed, but it will not utterly degrade. Among the institutions surviving will be Churches. Many tens of millions of Americans are still believers in God. Many who became marginal members will return to their church and church accumulations -- church memberships will link-up with other churches and their memberships. In sum, church congregations will unite during hell-times. It is the "good times" that caused the divisions. This unity is utterly lost in urban areas and will be another reason for their lack of surviveability. No unity = death.

America is soooooooooooooooooo not England in these regards. Our prepping methodologies and tactics are thus affected. Each region of this planet brings with it its own parameters.
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