Patriot Express Newsletter Edition #57
Fellow Patriots,
Good morning!
Welcome to the Patriot Express Newsletter (PENL) Edition #57. Thanks for your time and for being here. Ms. Lucy and I certainly appreciate you stopping by to check out news and views for the week. Are you keeping up with all the changes happening around us day to day? The question is, what changes are happening while we sleep?
Since we last visited for PENL Edition #56 I journeyed out to spend a few days with a fellow Patriot family at their residence and experienced a great visit where we discussed plans, preparedness, route surveys, back packs and bug out bags, family, faith, and the world around us. A large portion of the visit was to conduct a threat assessment then apply a risk analysis process to existing and future plans. I am always energized to see so much preparedness work taking place day to day from family to family in our Patriot communities. In addition to my visit with the host family, we also had the pleasure of visiting with another Patriot family who drove to our location to break bread and share preparedness thoughts plans and what is taking place in the world around us. As we concluded our last day of the visit, we met up with another Patriot sister who met us for lunch. One of the great outcomes of these trips and meetings is allowing Patriot sisters and brothers to meet and begin bonding together as they build future shared support.
Through time and opportunities to share time together one of my hopes is we can team build, learn, train, and plan, leading to a triangulation of teams for future mutual support offering communications, medical, farming (animals and food) water, and security, support to one another in their plans. Through all of the above, friendships and family bonding occurs. Personally, I left the location on Saturday feeling I was leaving some of my family behind. I offer a big Patriot social distance hug and a bigger thanks for the hospitality and warmth extended to me during my visits. We must do this again soon.
I want to thank everyone for your email over the past week. I’m sorry I had a couple days delay in responding back to you but I was unable to respond based on circumstances and the fact when I’m on the road and visiting with our Patriot sisters and brothers, I try to avoid electronic communications unless it is Ms. Lucy communicating with me.
HEALTH ALERT: I hope you are still staying alert to the Covid 19 and all the truths and possible untruths flying around us by the hour. I still believe there is no need to panic but folks should stay ALERT to their news and surroundings as well as guidance from the national leadership. You may have noticed the daily numbers are bouncing up and down and have yet to find a settling point. At first glance it appears the numbers in Georgia are going down even with the state opening up for business. On the other hand, next door in Alabama, which has partially opened for business is seeing an increase in cases. I believe the Governor of WV, Big Jim Justice, offered the best thoughts on the current state of affairs when he said something along the lines of “people needs to follow guidance and social distancing as needed. If people are to xxxxx stupid to do that, then what good is a quarantine or no quarantine?” Current numbers are Global: Infected – 4,467,755 Dead – 299,553. National: Infected – 1,434,424 Dead – 85,388.
TRAINING: I continue posting the training entry because now is a great time to include some level of training in your routine while you may be teleworking or off from work. This is a great time to dust off your plans or consider building your plans if you still do not have them created. Hope for Survival has been offering several options to you. YouTube is a great place to visit for additional information on topics of interest. Now is a great time to take advantage of any training available.
We currently have 18 short training type Podcast on the Hope for Survival YouTube Channel covering numerous topics of interest to help in your preparedness planning. You can find Podcast on Canning Chicken, Risk Management, Gun safety, home and personal defense, preparedness training, driving security, interviews with like-minded individuals and other topics. I am hoping to also post a new Podcast on Family Communication Planning soon. My schedule is pretty heavy at the moment so finding a time slot to grab an hour or two to do podcast seems rare more so than not. It’s nice to have all the items available to offer to you. I just ask you to keep in mind every item takes time. Sometimes I’m on schedule and other times I’m delayed so please keep this in mind. Bring a friend or family member and check out the HFS YouTube page. If you like, hit like and consider subscribing so you are notified when I post something new. You can visit the Hope for Survival YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAxzpwOcydroW96rFBd2Vvw?view_as=subscriber
Another step we have taken at Hope for Survival is we started a weekly virtual rally through Zoom where we discuss world events and topics of interest with the Patriots attending the rally. We completed week six on Thursday and I’m sure this event will continue in the weeks ahead. I continue getting very positive feedback from the attendees on this event. Bottom line, folks are sharing different methods of doing preparedness tasks, building friendships and sharing skills with one another. The only prerequisite is you must have a sense of humor while attending and give respect to the others attending
If you have interest in attending a Hope for Survival virtual training event please email me at preparedness101@protonmail.com to get on the distribution list for attendance information. The virtual conference room information will not be posted in open on the website for OPSEC reasons.
Coming very soon: As soon as I can get my calendar squared away, I will be announcing upcoming dates where a person can sign up and take regular training classes, via Zoom virtual classroom. The classes will most likely be $20 per class to attend a 90-minute class and $30 for a three-hour class. The courses will be the exact classes I would have been presenting at Heritage Life Skills last weekend. The courses will be: Family Communication Planning, Risk Analysis Planning, Preparedness 101 and 102, Bugging In and Bugging Out, and Security In Depth planning. I have several other classes I may offer but I’m undecided at this point. One class is on Martial Law and the other is on Bartering. If I go forward with this opportunity the classes will be offered on scheduled Saturday mornings. I may be able to do two classes on a single Saturday if they are 90-minute sessions or a single 3-hour session. I caveat the Preparedness 101 and 102 class information by saying I may do them in sequence since they go together. The Prep 101 is about you, the individual and the Prep 102 class is about the team.
If you have any desire to possibly take any of these classes please drop me an email to give me a heads up so I can determine about how much time I will need to set aside, which classes to offer first based on demand, and address any other questions asked. I can’t teach them if I don’t know you have a desire to attend them. I may try to get Festus to sing during the virtual class intermissions.
We must make this brief public announcement to protect the innocent.
NOTE: Opinions shared in this newsletter are just that, opinions and nothing more. Read at your own risk. The owner and authors of this site are not responsible for hurt feelings or thin-skinned readers. We do our best to show restraint and respect to the best extent possible. We take as many precautions as possible and try to remain as nonpolitical as possible, however, there are times when I just can't help but point certain things out. Just saying. Stay the course, read what you want, and avoid the rest. Avoid fear porn as much as possible and the day will be okay.) When all else fails…I blame it on Festus. He’s a good guy by the way. Remember the famous words of General Joseph Stillwell, ”illegitimis non carborundum!!” (Don’t let the bas-turds grind you down)
Thoughts for the week – (Some may consider this the tin foil hat area. So, you may want to put on your knee-high boots and anti-foil hat to protect yourself from contamination.) Smile! Just kidding with ya.
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One of my favorite things to do is think. I love nature and the natural beauty of the world around us. Last week during my road trip I was blessed to spend a lot of hours journeying through the mountains in the rain checking out routes and alternate routes for part of a families route planning. I was with a Patriot brother as we went up and down, left and right, in the rain. We transited known and unknown routes through paved, gravel, across creeks and through mud between points of destinations. We had great conversations, shared and learned, and both appreciated the beauty of the land and mountains around us. A few points we stopped and could hear the creeks and streams running freely while the rain filled the moving water. For this period in time, the world around us stopped. No visible virus. No visible hate. No apparent hunger or homelessness. Just amazing beauty of God's creation around us. How could we be so blessed to be in this spot at this time in life to see and hear these natural creations around us. I knew before long we would exit back to reality but for the few moments we had to enjoy the peace of our surroundings it was like a priceless painting.
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I often share how running the website, articles and all things associated with Hope for Survival are all hours beyond my day job and family. On average I spend about 40 to 50 hours working HFS stuff. No complaints and I love my time here and the people I have met that I now consider friends and family. Priceless. Lord willing I will focus on the people who wish to be part of this effort and provide support to those requesting my time to share and be friends.
In order to add new items I have to subtract items. And, in order to add and subtract I have to determine where my time is used wisely to achieve objectives I give the effort towards. The Saturday Patriot Express Newsletter is the most popular feature on the website and it is what started this effort in motion aside from my book. The additional articles I contribute are roughly 4 to 5 hours each for research, writing, posting and editing. In watching and keeping stats on my time consumers the past weeks I have determined the Thursday articles I contribute get minimal reads. This includes the adjusted numbers from Thursday until Monday to give weekend readers a chance to read them. The numbers go up minimally. By me not posting articles on Thursday it gives roughly 10 to 12 hours back to my available time bank.
You probably noticed I didn’t post any articles at all this entire week. That happened for multiple reasons. The biggest being my available time has been limited this week. The ten to twelve hours I will gain back will be redistributed to the Thursday HFS Virtual Zoom Rally where the feedback has been outstanding and folks are learning, sharing, asking questions, developing friendships and bonding. I met last weekend with five of the Zoom attendees and all stated how they are learning a great deal from the Thursday event. So, this is a worthwhile investment of time. If something happens in time and I can gain additional hours then I will go back to writing and posting Thursday articles again. I will continue posting guest writer’s articles as they submit them to me to share with readers.
The remaining hours available from the gained hours will go towards teaching virtual classes as requested by those wishing to attend.
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There is no place like home. There is no place like home. There is no place like home. Famous words from Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. I silently spoke the same words this week while visiting one of my family members. At first, I thought I was in a reeducation camp of sorts except there was not a fence around the outside of the home. I learned so many new things. Project Veritas was/is fake news. Our President took the place of Bush Jr. as the dumbest President to ever live. People who follow our current president are equally as dumb and uneducated. Shall I continue? My brain felt like what a pair of sneakers must feel like tumbling around a dryer. Overheated and physically drained. Thank goodness Ms. Lucy had both barrels loaded for bear because she had to take over when I could no longer respond out of fear of causing long term damage to the relationship. Like I have said before, I have grown to a point a few years ago where I simply no longer wish to address these battles or even try to change the minds of some folks. I guess we depart from the point of battle with a simple understanding the other one is just politically ignorant. Did I say that kindly enough?