image: DailyMail.com
– We’re seeing it in real time. Venezuela is in day #4 of electrical grid down as of this writing. Their situation is bad, to say the least.
From a prepper / preparedness-mindset point of view, I am highly interested in the reports coming out of Venezuela due to their massive power outage.
More specifically to discover the worst impacts to their services and lives, and how they’re dealing with it.
We talk about it from time to time here on the blog and elsewhere: grid down. And the probable consequences as it drags on and relates to the timeline thereof.
I’ve always figured that the impact or ‘pain score’ of a grid-down situation is not linear. The impact curve will steepen with time, then sharply rise at some approximate duration point. There has always been speculation as to what point on the timeline do people start dying in mass. Not a comfortable thought…
Here are some of the pertinent ‘grid-down’ takeaways I’ve read so far from news reports coming from Venezuela:
(sources listed at the end)
Power Outage Venezuela – What Caused it?
First, apparently the power has been ‘mostly’ down. There are reports of sporadic ups and downs. But for the most part, for most people there, the power is out.
80% of their electrical power comes from one place. The “San Geronimo B substation” connects eight out of Venezuela’s 10 largest cities to the “Guri hydropower plant” via one of the longest high-voltage lines in the world.
There has been speculation as to what caused the Venezuela grid to go down. The following are from various mainstream news reports which indicate a number of claims:
1. A brush fire under a power trunk line destabilized the grid and caused Guri’s turbines to shut down.
2. A major failure inside Guri’s turbines.
3. Cyber-attack.
4. EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack.
5. Sabotage.
The government has tried to restart Guri four times since the start of the blackout on Thursday.
The latest attempt led to the explosion of a secondary substation near Guri on Saturday.
“Every time they attempt to restart, they fail and the disruption breaks something else in the system, destabilizing the grid yet further,”
The government has struggled to restart the turbines.
– NYTimes
It takes particular skill to restart and synchronize turbines. Reports say that the experienced operators are long gone. They left due to poor wages and the apparent atmosphere of paranoia due to the government’s secret police.
What Has Happened as a Result of Venezuela Power Outage
As of Sunday, businesses remained shut, hospitals struggled to operate, and public transport barely functioned.
Looters take to Streets
Venezuelans started looting supermarkets in Caracas on Sunday, as power outages reached their fourth day.
Scavenging For Food & Water
Though Venezuela has been in a food crisis for some time, their population has become especially desperate for food now that the power is out.
Food is rotting in shops with no refrigeration.
Water pumps are not functioning. People are gathering jugs and getting water wherever they can. Sanitation will surely become an issue quite shortly.
Cell Phone’s going dead – Towers not Operating
Lines of people charging their phones from those who have a solar panel charger. Apparently there is sketchy coverage only in some parts of the country. Most cell coverage is down.
“Late Saturday, entire families parked their cars along the main highway in Caracas in the hopes of capturing faint cell phone service to check on loved ones and get the latest news.” People want news and information during a crisis.
No Internet
There are varying reports that 80 – 96% of the country is offline. And that impacts business transactions, ATM’s, banking, and just about everything in modern life.
In addition, a report says, “On March 4, NetBlocks reported that the Venezuelan government had blocked YouTube and SoundCloud and partially blocked Twitter.” I believe this mostly has to do with their ongoing political opposition turmoil (everything is government run and controlled).
Hospitals Without Power
People are dying.
Evidently 95 to 100 percent of dialysis units are paralyzed, due to the power outage.
A U.S. Senator just said, “Already facing severe fuel shortages,generator use has further depleted supplies. In the next few hours more generators will stop at hospitals because fuel is running out.”
“Patients on life support,in neonatal ICU have died & more will die in coming hours. Dialysis patients face certain death if they don’t get services soon.”
Fuel Shortages
95% of gas stations were not operating. Only around 100 of the country’s 1,800 service stations were operating due to the blackout, according to gas station industry sources.
Power Outage Venezuela – Mad Max?
“Venezuela is on the verge of a total collapse,” tweeted Bolivia’s former president, Jorge Quiroga. “In a few hours the surreal dystopia of Mad Max will be unleashed.”
Venezuela is amidst social political turmoil.
Problems have been exacerbated by hyperinflation that the International Monetary Fund says will reach 10 million percent this year.
A quick history:
The Venezuelan government under Hugo Chávez established populist social welfare policies that initially boosted the Venezuelan economy and increased social spending…However, such populist policies later became inadequate, causing the nation’s collapse as their excesses are widely blamed for destabilizing the nation’s economy. The destabilized economy led to a crisis in hyperinflation, an economic depression, shortages of basic goods and drastic increases in unemployment, poverty, disease, child mortality, malnutrition and crime.
Nicolás Maduro was elected in 2013 after the death of Chavez. Chavez picked Maduro as his successor and appointed him vice president in 2013. Among election scandal, Maduro won the 2018 election with 67.8% of the vote. In January 2019 the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved a resolution “to not recognize the legitimacy of Nicolas Maduro’s new term as of the 10th of January of 2019.”
Presently Maduro’s political challenger – the opposition leader Juan Guaidó – is contesting the leadership of Nicolás Maduro. Venezuela is in a political social civil war.
Situation Confirms What Preppers Have Been Saying
So far the occurrences and incidences as they relate to power outage there are in line with what we’ve been saying here under hypothetical conditions.
It does not take long for a population to dissolve into desperation without electricity which makes our modern system ‘work’. They are currently in day 4 / 5. It started Thursday afternoon at 5PM. To see pictures of large cities without power, is surreal.
We are witnessing the results of a systemic decay. If power isn’t restored soon, it’s going to get real ugly…
Continue reading: If the Lights Went Out in America
sources:
The Guardian: fear as Venezuela’s crippling blackout enters day four
Reuters: Nerves fray, tempers flare as Venezuela blackout hits fourth day
PJ Media: Internet Collapses in Venezuela with 80% Offline
DailyMail: Looters take to Venezuela’s streets
NY Times: No End in Sight to Venezuela’s Blackout, Experts Warn
No one, including me, knows for sure what has caused Venezuela’s power grid failure. I’m guessing some folks with “eyes only” security clearance do. Venezuela’s fall has been coming for years, I would not be surprised if a few cyber viruses weren’t placed into their system to aid this grid collapse.
Why would this be important to know? Maybe, because it could happen here. Venezuela was already in chaos. The people were rebelling against a corrupt and inept government. What better way to push everything to a head, by outside entities, than a wide spread power outage?
Now, imagine a U.S. bitterly divided left and right, with a president that is hated and considered illegitimate by half the population. A president who is openly mocked and ridiculed by opposing politicians, the media, and celebrities world wide. This same president is supported and defended by the other half of the population, and just as bitterly hated. This president is re-elected in 2020. The left, already proven to be prone to violence, rebels. Widespread violence in major cities erupts.
Would you be surprised if outside forces (or embedded domestic) took the opportunity to disrupt the grid? I have no doubt that the ineptness and corruption of the Chavez, and now Maduro regimes could have deteriorated the infrastructure to the point of collapse. Neither do I doubt the ability of outside entities to sabotage the grid…………in Venezuela…..or here. In either country, the results are, or will be, catastrophic. For the common man, the only thing one can do is prep and be ready to defend their loved ones.
Dennis;
I agree with the possibility of a Trump win in 2020.
Would not put it beyond the radical left one bit. Simply look at the actions they have already done.
Then get Congress-people like Omar, AOC’d and others thgan make Pelosi and Sanders look tame pushing the radical agenda. PLUS how fragile the Grid already is. wouldn’t take much.
The people of the US need to take a good hard look around and figure it out the next time they hit that Voting Button.
NRP,
re: voting button,
I am not so sure that voting really makes much of a difference in this country , except at a local-county level. Voting fraud is alive and well , unfortunately. I feel it has always been there. These are exciting and frightening times to be living in, nothing is beyond our imagination.
Be alert.
Wasn’t it Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain who said. “If voting mattered they wouldn’t let us do it.”
Fraud is alive and well on but it is on both sides of the aisle
+1
NRP,
We have all heard the talk of another civil war. Our country is already living on the edge when it comes to many things. Now we have very radical libs in congress doing their best to try and make us older, stable, conservatives look like meanies who just hate people and want others to work for their “fair share”.
Now add in a dumb, good looking kid from TV who aspired to be an “activist”. He wasn’t getting there fast enough so he invents being attacked by Trump supporters. Now he’s charged with 16 (?) felonies. Wonder how big the riots will be when they send that kid to jail?!
Beach’n
Beach’n;
“us older, stable, conservatives look like meanies who just hate people and want others to work for their “fair share”.”
But But But, I AM an old meanie that hates people and want for others to get off their azzes and FRIGGEN work for what they get handed for free now!!!! As I have worked for what I have. UGHHHH!!!!!!!
Rant over, sorry.
NRP: I TOTALLY AGREE.
blessed are the merciful. Not disagreeing,but, in that day.
Don’t be fouled THEY control both sides. That day is upon you
Jesus. Long time SB follower with many names.
rlr
NRP,
I would like to make a toast to all of us “older, stable, conservative meanies” who want everyone to work as hard as we did to EARN what little we have… “clink”
luv ya, Beach’n
Hmm, I guess I’m included in that old meanie stuff,because I work on the farm for 10 yrs and another 40 plus yrs in the packing house. And with my wife gone now, I guess I really don’t care what happens to me now, except for kids and grandkids. them I worry about
blessed are the merciful. Not disagreeing,but, in that day.
Don’t be fouled THEY control both sides. That day is upon you
Jesus. Long time SB follower with many names.
rlr NRP,I’m an older, conservitive and stable. Jesus is coming NRP
Be Sure.
That might worry NRP. He’s a Buddist. I admit to leaning that way myself. In fact I’ve been told that I have a godlike body, at least the Budda belly part.
Saying that the Venezuelan situation is grim doesn’t even begin to cover it. Hell on earth, more like it.
Ken,
A very timely article for Monday…
I believe it was last year on one of the weekends that a bunch of us discussed the steady decline of the situation in Venezuela . Not one of us predicted a happy ending for the poor souls trapped by the free fall of their society. The power grid failing did not surprise me at all. What surprised me is that it lasted this long. What normally happens is the experienced, skilled workers figure out that they can’t overcome the incompetence and Corruption to keep things together.
They also know they are the people who will take the blame for the consequences of said incompetence and Corruption. Which leads to imprisonment or getting put up against a wall and shot.
So it’s not a surprise that they don’t have the expertise to get it back online. Cascading failures with all the unintended consequences. No fuel,water, sewage ,medical,food distribution.
The silence of the leftist here is beyond a thinking person’s belief but comes as no surprise.
Lessons to be learned from this meltdown folks. Take it to heart. You are seeing it in real time.Confirmation of the correctness of personal preparedness has made my almost3 years of being in SHTF MODE worth all the work and sacrifice…
As a long time tracker of things-that-go-wrong in the economy, I have observed some things about Venezuela over the past 10 or so years:
Venezuela was one of the few South American Countries that are members of OPEC. The spending sprees that took place in that country were based on oil being sold at $100 a barrel. ( the price of gas at the pump within the US was at +$4.00 per gallon.).
When the price of oil drops below $100 per barrel, that country’s economy is in a state of deficit spending. It appears Maduro and his govt have been having parties rather than working on expanding or improving the nations infrastructure or economic base. ( both of which are rather boring to deal with.).
In the past 10 years, as this nation was recovering from the Great Recession, the price of a gallon of gas has rarely peaked above $4.00 per gallon and when it did, it lasted less than a year on average. The nation of Venezuela has been spending their inheritance like a drunken frat boy. ( Champagne tastes on a brewskis budget)
When the price of gas was at $4.00 a gallon, My wife made the transition from home-care RN to an RN working in a nearby facility in order to cut down on gas consumption. She went from driving 200 miles per workday to a 14 mile commute – 5 times per week.
Myself – I am the asian dude that continues driving the same 4 banger Toyota p/u truck to and from work. nothing exciting here. ( like most economists- we are pretty boring people/ no bikini parties here. I am too old and it is too cold outside.)
My information comes from the Wall Street Journal and an occasional copy of The Economist. Agree with the fact that widespread, longterm power outages are generally the start of major social disruption.
( if it is a short term power disruption and the general populace has faith that the power will be restored, the one change these events bring about is: increase in birthrate 9.5 months later. This was public health data from a widespread blackout of New York City.)
Excellent timing Ken!
And the previous comments bring up a common point about the government of Venezuela. And what is currently going with our own.
I have been monitoring this site daily while concerns about what is going on with the world economy,and ours, takes a lot of time and research.
And with the topic of a grid problem here in the US, we would see a faster escalation. Without power ? Everything stops.
I’ve experienced not having power in the past, for many months!
From working in the supermarket industry, I know that when the power goes down. Everything you know as normal stops!
The JIT delivery system needs, communications, trucks, and refrigeration. And some have said the store supplies would last for days. Wrong ,panic would clear stores in hours.
Here in Florida, fuel, grocery stores have adapted to power out situations. By installing back up generation. But that is only a small buffer. Because trucks need to get to the state, and not all states have required generators for major infrastructure.
So that leaves us to the supplies that are currently within the state, best estimate is a few days to a week tops.
So keep that in mind when you consider what you need.
If you don’t have what you need now, you may not be able to acquire it when an event happens.
Always be prepared.
Otarn;
Welcome to the comment side of the BOLG. Great comment.
On the
“And some have said the store supplies would last for days. Wrong ,panic would clear stores in hours.”
I happen to agree 1000%,
I hear all the time “one last trip to the store” NOT!!!!
If what’s going on and people know it there will be pure ciaos and HUGE panic. IMHO, there is NO way I’m stopping for eggs and milk on the way out of town, NO WAY!
One has to wonder how many of the wealthy and government/military folks snuck out this weekend during the ensuing chaos of “lights out”…
Bill Jenkins Horse;
Honestly, probably none of them, they are the ones with the $3million bunkers and all the Gold (food, water, meds, AND electricity). You know the ones I’m talking about.
I have been watching the events in Venezuela for 4-5 years.The country has gone from the top of the economic pile to the bottom of the pile in pretty short order. I think it is an extremely good example of communism at work . I look at the events happening there as our “handwriting on the wall” moment. The masses in our nation really don’t care to be bothered with the doom & gloom going on only a few hundred miles from our shores. That “wouldn’t happen here” attitude will have consequences to pay at some point in time .
Losing electricity for an extended period of time does not seem to be on the radar screen for most folks.If there is no power for only a few days there will be a tremendous and abrupt awakening of couch potatoes across the affected area. I don’t think it will be a very good time to be out and about , in fact I would strongly recommend against it .
So much of the situation in Venezuela , I think is attributed to gun registration a short time ago, which led to confiscation and , well it isn’t ending well as we can see .
I think power outage would be worse here in America. For one thing, Venezuela is close to the equator. We just came off a week of minus 22, minus 24 temps.
But wouldn’t it be wonderful not to have television and not have to hear Comrade Arch-Idiot Cortez for a day or so. I just turned on the 4 pm news and the only sound I hear is AOC’s cute little lisp.
Cute little lisp???? you gotta be kidding
Every time i hear that beech open her mouth i want to smack it
24re nice 4 5
This didn’t happen overnight. BBC News has a Venezuela profile – Timeline that gives a concise summary. For more than a century every time the country got a little ahead, along came a new ruler to plunder it.
In July 2017 there was an ordered departure of American Embassy family members and the Embassy warned against travel to Venezuela due to unrest, crime, and shortages of food and medicine.
In May 2018 the CDC warned against travel there due to a failing medical infrastructure and noted shortages of food, water, electricity, medicine, and medical supplies. In August the warning was repeated and noted outbreaks of infectious diseases coupled with unavailability of adequate health care.
In 2010 when Obama reduced payroll taxes for two years, without a commensurate reduction in benefits or eligibility, I saw this as a plundering of those accounts. Well, it got him re-elected. It also coincided with the beginning of the predicted retirement of the boomers and a kicked off a drastic reduction in the annual net increase in the trust fund balance.
I think the new socialists in our country hear that there are some billionaires and immediately go into plunder mode. If they’re not stopped the capital flight from NY, NJ, IL, and CA will turn into capital flight from the US.
We already face utility and transport infrastructure decline, with failing systems in many places too big to replace. We don’t need any new initiatives that will waste our wealth. Rant over.
Prep On brothers and sisters!
Maybe this is answered, haven’t had time to read article/comments yet, BUT.—————-is that photo you are posting a current news photo?
If so, the shelves do not look all that empty to me, as western media has been reporting…???????????????
Ken
is that photo you are posting a current news photo? —- Western media has been reporting shelves are empty, but it does not look empty??????????????
I had heard about the power outage in Venezuela. I had no idea it was so wide spread. This could be our future.
Hello to everyone!
I am pretty sure, this electrical issue is sabotage! Venezuela was in trouble some time but they had elections and people chose their president. Who I am to change will of the people?! Why any other state needs to be evolved in this? This is asymmetrical war.
Concerning the blackout, I don’t think it is so big deal like CNN said. I lived long time without electricity and it is not so hard as it looks.
If one is prepared and used to not having electric guess it would be easier deal with.
My question is, there is food in this store. Are the grocery stores run by the government? Understand the people are doing without.
Venezuela has been on a must watch for anyone into preparedness for a while. I think people here relate to it more than overseas countries.
Things are serious.
Another few days without electrical and there will be an exponential start of people dying.
Another week and you are starting to talk about thousands starving to death.
4 weeks and mass die off occurs.
Just shows how cheap electrical power governs city populations.
AOC and those other green idiots trying to get western countries electrical supplies wound back using so called renewable systems had better take note.
Venezuela.,…
Coming to (Our Country) a country near you (in which we live.)
There are similar (no matter how slight) similarities.
Yup
Look up “Operation Olympic Games.” Stuxnet is a malicious computer worm, some other cyber “worms of destruction”, Duqu and Flame
Stuxnet is “by far the most complex piece of code ever looked at — in a completely different league from anything ever seen before.” Nobody really knows who wrote the code, but suspicions are US Gov’t with help from Israel
Makes sense to me. US Gov’t wants Maduro out. Attack them with a computer worm that can’t be traced. Cause all the damage you can to the citizens, in-order to get the people to riot and over throw Maduro. This has got CIA and NSA written all over it.
SMG,
My money is on C Y B E R C O M M A N D…js
ACDH’s Special Forces chapter received a request from another SF member, he(doctor)&his wife are at the border of Venezuela & Columbian border giving medical aid to those who have managed to escape.
Columbian medical suppliers that have been assisting them are running low on medical supplies. The have sent out a request to SF members who can donate to send funds to help them purchase more medical supplies. If you are or know of an SF member please contact your chapter to help Doc with this request.
ACDH
I am ignorant, what is ‘SF’?
SF= SPECIAL FORCES…
Bill Jenkins Horse
Thank you for giving the translation.
Glad to do it.
Always an honor to help a younger person understand the term.
Btw,the capital letters were for ease of reading and to show respect for the definition…
DLS
That is ok. Glad that BJH caught the question to give you an answer. Remember there is no ignorant question.
SF= Special Forces was given that title during the Nam war, and President Kennedy authorizing them the privilege to wear the Green Beret. You will find they are under the US Army branch of the military.
Hope that helps you, I forget that there are those younger who are not aware of the specialized sections in each branch of the military service.
So what is the lesson here ?what can we learn from what’s going on ? First off ,government really dose not care about what happens to you only how it effects government ,and tax revenue ,, in the grand scheme of things you and I don’t really matter ,,
That leaves me to think that we are on our own ,to depend on my self and people I have learned to trust ,and that think as I do ,,,community NOT commune ,,,,
Second ,learn to live with LESS ,,less computer ,,less web ,,read a book ,,buy less stuff ,, uncomplicate the way you live ,,stop making life extra work ,,find the joy of feeding your self from food you produce ,,,learn the old ways ,, if that won’t work were you at MOVE!! If the first move isn’t right ,move again ,
Learn to live with little or no grid power ,if the grid went down today DW and I would laff and life would go on for us ,we might not even know it for a while ,no grid , no cell, no web ,that’s sounding better and better ,,OK so your not there ,why not ?,what’s holding you back ? I wonder is if STUFF???? Or is it family that will drag you down in SHTF??,,what’s the message in Atlas shrugged? What happened to Hank Reardon’s family and why ,
,,,,bottom line Grid power is just more STUFF ,and stuff will make you a slave ,,, a slave to stuff? ,,,,,,,,,,
The bible says ,you have not ,because you ask not , or a different twist ,,you have not because you ,do not ,,,
Ok I know it’s a rant , but I hate ,oh I can’t ,or some thing like that ,,,teas cold back to work
Someone said that if a task is hard to do, it’s because you’re not hard enough to do the task. 🙄
If a task is too hard to do…
It’s sad to think of all the people who are going to suffer with this collapse. The hardest part for me in relation to what I see happening here is that people will not learn. Someone told me the biggest problem we have here is that the stuff hasn’t hit the fan here bad enough to affect a large portion of this country. Praying we will learn
MM, something I saw on the internet today “I’ll go pick up our welfare checks, you go to the free clinic for a pregnancy test, if it’s positive fill out the paperwork for WIC and anything else you can get; I’ll swing by the university and see about our federal grant money. Meet you there, then, we can find out what’s happening then, we can go down to the state house and protest against those mean Republicans who want us to go get a JOB.”
Sounds about right doesn’t it?
Very well said!
In these situations as reported, I always think of welfare families using govt. food cards.
If at all possible, even stocking away one box of mac & cheese is better than nothing. One box of instant potatoes/instant milk/canned ham, etc. can add up if one uses discipline for a year. Can you live on mac & cheese and instant potatoes and ham? Not very well, but adding a can or two of vegetables can help.
What is the alternative? Watching your children and loved ones die from starving?
33¢ for a can of vegetables isn’t hard to provide from the weekly grocery list.
I mean why can’t folks justify eating frugally one night a week to put back food??
Many nights I have pasta salad. Cost to me is $1 and that feeds two!!!! 🙂
5 green olives
5 black olives
5 pieces chopped/sliced cucumber
chopped 1/4 tomato
chopped 1/4 onion
4/5 slices green pepper
2 TB italian dressing
Cooked Pasta
Jj
That salad looks good, but low in protein. I make something similar, but add some cubed pepperjack cheese. Delicious. A couple ounces of cheese costs only 50 cents to a dollar and adds protein, calcium, and other nutrients. I love the taste combination of green olives, tomato, and pepperjack cheese.
I love your salad. I have never added black olives since you have a lot of olives left over out of the can and I never know what to do with them but that sounds good. I will have to try it next time. If it’s spring, I add some sliced radishes from my garden. And I usually add a little honey and mustard to my dressing.
Jj;
“What is the alternative? Watching your children and loved ones die from starving?”
I believe you just hit on the heart of this BLOG.
Get people to prepare and be responsible for themselves……
Venezuela is really just across the Gulf of Mexico from Florida…
Both Russia and China have been helping out Maduro, with China even warning against “external interference” after the blackout hit…
(Power was nationalized there in 2007, and the state seized ConocoPhillips assets…
So last week the World Court ruled “Little Venice” now owes Conoco 8 billion$…)
-onward, thru the fog
China has been loaning money and building infrastructure globally one belt one road plan. The collateral natural resources. You can bet China will get Venezuela’s oil out of this. All over Africa they have done this along with other countries in Latin America. Madurai may survive but the nation will be a proxy of Red China
NATO, 1999., Serbia!
In first wave of attack NATO trye to destroy air bases and air defense! In second wave NATO use special weapons made exclusively to destroy electrical grid. It is bomb filled with special material which produced short contacts between wires on power lines. Result was destruction of the grid! We need years after war to repair all damage. Main idea was to make situation where people will be mad with grid collapse and with riots. That will kill the wish for fight of Serbian people and army. It will be easier to win the war. But, that doesn’t happen. Just people suffer very hard.
In situations like this for army you are just a number. They will try to save as many people as possible but does not mean that you will be one of them.
In your country collapse of electrical grid will be horrible event. Your infrastructure is very sophisticated and depends on electricity more than in other countries.
So you must have supplies for your family. Water, food, medicine, fuel and other. Your chances will be better if you are in rural area. Farm with source of water, fertil land and lot of woods will be perfect!
Have not posted for a while, no service lately thanks Verizon.
The power grid down may be a test run for the deep state, let’s see what happens when the power grid is down for X amount of time! There are many in government who really do not care what happens to others as long as they have shelter. The average person would be in deep hurt this winter in NH if the grid was down.
Just stopped to vote and asked if the fire department had a generator. Was told they did and had recently fired it up,no automatic test runs! They will run a shelter in the event of a long term emergency. Person I spoke to knew anything about Venezuela!
I know it’s out of context but Ken have you dropped the Saturday open comment? Haven’t seen it and I didn’t know if it was just me.
Thanks to all for the great ideas and comments, always learn something!
North Woods,
Ken changed the Saturday open comment. It is now a weeklong open forum accessed through an icon on the right hand side panel. He regularly deletes the old comments. I think I liked the old format better but am keeping an open mind.
Like someone else on here, have wondered if the photo depicts the state of their food in stores, maybe some (most) of what western media is feeding us is chit?
There is food, just most of the people can no longer afford it. These stores tend to deal in U.S. dollars and are used by government officials and cronies.
I forwarded this post to an “un-woke” liberal friend of mine… she was ashamed at herself for not knowing about the dire situation down there. MSM hiding the truth, as usual.
Folks, the nightmares all of us have envisioned as possibly being in our future are happening right now, real time, and not far from our shores. My heart bleeds for the Venezuelan people.
If anyone doubts the catastrophe that is socialism, take heed. Confront it’s disciples wherever they spew their evil bile. Do not cower before their attacks. Stand straight and tall against their attempts to take over this country.
Our country is already almost unrecognizable. The over all goodness and morality that once was our hallmark, has been traded for rampant hate, discord, and self-centeredness. It’s got to be stopped now. The pictures coming out of Venezuela should strike fear into our very soul. Countries slide slowly into the deception and deceit of socialism, they always are forced to fight their way out of it’s grip. Always.
If we allow ourselves to fall under socialism’s grip and inevitable totalitarianism and abuses, not only are we shirking our duty, we well deserve our fate.
Not a rant, just fact.
Dennis;
All within 4-5 years time.
Could the people of the US even imagine that happening here as they sit in their fancy homes and drink their fancy drinks and eat their fancy foods?
I never have been a Gloom and Doomer, but Venezuelan is a hard core reality that is in all reality happening around the world in many places.
We are just to blinded by the ‘Glitter’ of fake wealth and fake happiness, all purchased on credit (money and time), that we refuse to see.
Those that welcome Socialism have no idea of their wishes nor the outcome, for they refuse to see history repeated and in the making right now in Venezuelan.
God help us all, for we are to blind to see the Truth.
NRP,
Yep. If it keeps this up, even being the pacifist I am, I may have to buy a gun and learn how to shoot.
Dennis;
Sorry. I’m trying to picture you as a pacifist 😎
Does this mean I have to stop trying to Keep Up with the Kardashians? Kim will be disappointed with me! Kanye might even be mad at me!
Time and again socialism fails yet a new generation believes that only they can make it work. Often the excuse is this country or that was not developed enough to work. What is happening in Venezuela is the latest in recent memory. Rhodisia (yes I still use that name) is now one of the most corrupt in productive countries in Africa. The bolivarian myth infects most of South America to include Mexico. Brazil may save itself. We must remain vigilant to the current efforts to disarm disenfranchise and disorder coming. Think of it a country on the brink that burns aid. DOL RLTW
Jaeger;
All of it can be described in one single word, Government.
Remember the quite “Hi, we’re from the government, we’re here to help”.
Don’t seem so funny anymore does it?
Man-o-Man, I’m starting to sound like Tommyboy now…. HAHAHAHA
Roger that hips and heads
Its just a question of time for Venezuela that is certain. The only question in my mind at this point is to whether Maduro will slip out to Russia to live in obscurity or winds up swinging from a lamppost.
I’m guessing Cuba. That’s where socialist criminals go to fester and rot alongside their mentors.
Saw these articles today.
Source:Weasel Zippers
Desperate-venezuelans-swarm-sewage-drains-in-search-of-water
Source: Today Venezula- (not sure about his source).
Maduro militarizes morgues to hide genocide.
Also ZH had a article today that ALL US embassy staff will be out by the end of this week. Makes you wonder what’s coming next.
A&O
I was looking back on my life the other day and it dawned on me we gave up everything and left it all behind because GOD told me that we needed to go to Colorado so that we would be safe when the time came. I didn’t know when that time was going to be all I new was that the end was going to happen within 5 years. So here it is a year later and now I’m seeing this, when HE said the world as you know it is going to end within 5 years I thought we had 5 years, I guess not. Well all I can say now is that I’m glad I listened to HIM. I have never felt safer or happer off grid living is hard but so much better. If you hear GOD please listen to him it could save your and your family’s lives.