All, Survival Saturday

Immigration “Ban” Hysteria, Pending Economic Doom, and the Risks of Convenience Food

(Psst: The FTC wants me to remind you that this website contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase from a link you click on, I might receive a small commission. This does not increase the price you'll pay for that item nor does it decrease the awesomeness of the item. ~ Daisy)

By Daisy Luther

Survival Saturday is a round-up of the week’s news and resources for folks who are interested in being prepared.

This Week in the News

This week on Survival Saturday, we’ll talk about why you might want to select your food based on criteria other than convenience, the hysteria surrounding the immigration “ban,” and more evidence of the pending economic doom.

Before we get started, are you a subscriber yet? You’ll get daily updates and content not available on the website. Plus, when you sign up, gain access to a free downloadable self-reliance library. Go here to subscribe.

So, you probably heard about the new immigration laws.

Whether you like them or hate them, you knew this was coming. It was one of the primary tenets of Trump’s campaign.

First, let’s sidestep the hysteria and look at what the immigration “ban” actually says.

It’s important to note that at this time, the executive order is a limitation on immigrants for 120 days so that the policies can be reviewed and changed. According to Kellyanne Conway, it’s not a permanent “ban.”

I was also a bit confused at the criteria used to select the affected countries, since some of the bigger importers of terror, like Saudi Arabia, weren’t included. Then I learned that Trump’s list was derived from the Obama administration’s list of “countries of special concern.” There was a law issued in 2015 requiring that any person who even visited one of these countries to undergo more thorough scrutiny before entering the United States.

Trump is certainly not the first president to issue an immigration ban. The Washington Examiner reports:

President Obama has barred huge groups of potentially dangerous immigrants from entering the United States at least six times, undercutting his claim that barring Muslims from terrorist countries as Donald Trump has proposed is un-American…

White House documents also show that former President Bill Clinton issued six immigrant bans; George W. Bush six immigrant bans; and former President Ronald Reagan four. And in 1980, former President Jimmy Carter banned Iranians after Tehran seized the U.S. embassy.

I don’t think we’re getting the full picture of this policy from either side. The Left is hysterically protesting it while the Right is unquestioningly supporting it. How are you supposed to get real information from either of these reactionary responses? Each side is using emotion instead of fact to form their opinions.

I am arguing neither for or against this policy. I have some mixed feelings and am withholding judgment until more information is available.

The reaction to every single thing Trump does – that he told us in advance he was going to do – seems wildly out of proportion. I’m frankly baffled as to how people can be utterly gobsmacked every time the President does something he said he was going to do.

While it seems like everybody in America hates President Trump, that’s simply not true. Here’s explanation of how the public perception is getting skewed. There are a lot of folks who aren’t as anti-Trump as social media and mainstream news outlets would have you think.

More Reasons Why Convenience Foods are Hazardous to Your Health

If convenience is high on your list when selecting what to eat, you should know that it may take a serious toll on your health.

First of all, when it comes to fast food, it isn’t just the cruddy ingredients that pose a risk. The vessels themselves have also been found to be hazardous. A study determined that a percentage of sandwich wrappers, drink cups, and French fry cartons contain cancer-causing chemicals. Learn more here.

As well, this month heralds the arrival of genetically modified apples to our shelves. The new apples are tampered with so they don’t get brown after they’re sliced. Why is this necessary? Well, according to the founder of the company distributing this frankenfruit, “A whole apple is just too much of a commitment.” (I’ll probably continue to mock that ridiculous statement for the next ten years.) This article tells you the varieties to watch out for in stores and why you really need to avoid these GMO apples.

Daisy’s articles this week…

This Week in Preparedness…

Some of you guys keep calling me doomy, but you really need to pay attention to this.

We are in big trouble economically. We’re looking at a situation that will make 2008 look like little more than the day before payday. Just like it did in Greece and just like it did in Venezuela, the time to prepare for an economic collapse is running out.

Is the US economy headed for a crash that will eclipse 2008?

Initially, when Trump won the election, optimism in the financial markets soared. People who had been feverishly prepping in fear of a Hillary Clinton regime breathed a sigh of relief. Headlines trumpeted every single job he salvaged or brought back to America.

But that may have only been a brief reprieve from our looming financial crisis.

ZeroHedge reports that the Trumpflation optimism is over.

US real yields have collapsed since shortly after The Fed hiked rates, with today’s decline erasing the entire post-election Trumpflation surge in TIPS yields

And it gets worse.

Mac Slavo of SHTFplan feels that if the Dodd-Frank Act is repealed, as Trump intends to do, it could trigger a “toxic cycle that is waiting to crash down upon us with a tsunami of financial misfortune.” Dodd-Frank was put into place after the crash of 2008 to protect consumers from predatory lenders and proprietary trading. Slavo wrote:

…as the system teeters on edge and prepares to endure the backlash of increased rates at the Fed, Trump is also taking off the shackles that have been put in place by the Dodd-Frank Act which instituted certain protections for consumers, including a requirement that pensioners don’t have their nest egg devoured, etc…

The 2008 economic crisis penalized everyone with an entire cycle of wage freezes, job starvation and crushing dependence upon government programs for assistance. Wall Street, and the banker class at large were spared from blame or reparations to a society that was robbed blind…

Though it isn’t immediately obvious that this change in the rules would cause immediate trouble, there is reason for concern. If the limitations – inadequate as they were – are lifted off the banks, specifically with investing in commercial banking and with pensions, things could once again take a turn for the worse.

If the same reckless behavior is repeated, it could not only bring the system to a halt, and crash the stock market, but it could potentially wipe out the holdings of those who need it most – pensioners.

But this isn’t entirely Trump’s fault. As I wrote before, he is inheriting an untenable mess from Obama that may well be unsalvageable. Brandon Smith of Alt-Market has warned for more than a year that the damage is irreversible. It’s pretty evident that we’ll soon be looking at excruciating cuts and austerity.

Quick personal note…

I’m taking a temporary hiatus from writing daily news commentary over at DaisyLuther.com.

I feel a sense of urgency right now that will better be served by focusing my writing and research on helping people to become better prepared and more self-reliant. As I wrote above, I firmly believe that time for preparation is quickly running out.

I’ll be working on the classes I teach over at Preppers University, writing self-reliance articles here, and putting together a new book.

Don’t worry, though, if you really love the snarky commentary. You guys know me. I won’t be able to remain completely silent about the news. 🙂 I just won’t be writing there several times a day.

I’ve revamped the website over there a little bit. Go check out the new homepage, which includes links to a more in-depth bio, a press page, and my other projects.

Love,

Daisy

Anything to add to Survival Saturday?

Do you have any news links you want to share? Now’s the time! Please post your links in the comments below. Please join the discussion!

Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites. 1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, 2) The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived, and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. She is widely republished across alternative media and Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses. You can find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.