Author Archives: Commander Zero

Article – Why there are no Red Cross shelters in New York City

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

In the immediate aftermath of the storm, the Red Cross held several emergency training sessions for shelter volunteers (I attended a November 2 session), telling classes that they needed to plan for a three-day stint away from home and be able to lift heavy loads.

But that shelter operation never came to pass, and volunteers were told that the Red Cross would not be needing shelter workers. In the meantime, images of New York City’s many devastated neighborhoods filled nightly newscasts; and the housing situation for many New Yorkers grew increasingly dire. The city has estimated that between 20,000 and 40,000 residents could be homeless or forced to live in unheated homes with no running water or power. The conditions are particularly deplorable in the high rises that dot the landscape near the waterfront in Brooklyn and Queens. About 5,200 Staten Islanders have applied for FEMA housing, but according to the New York Post only 24 or so have been placed.

Criticism has rained down on the Red Cross for not providing places for this mass of displaced people to live, but it seems that the aid organization is not permitted to set up shelters in the city due to a snarl of red tape.

 

This doesn’t surprise me. In a political/union heavy environ like NYC it’s a “Brazil”-like experience getting anything done.

Most NYC public schools are old WPA projects from the first third of the twentieth century. They are built like fortresses and usually have very large fenced yards. Excellent staging areas if you don’t mind cancelling classes. Virtually all of them were designated (and stocked) as fallout shelters back in the day. The hurricane hasnt been invented that could knock one down. Fabulous resource, too bad it’s caught up in the usual morass of inefficient local government.

Moral of the story is, even if there are groups predicated on disaster services, and they get to the scene, and local governemnt has plans as well, there’s no guarantee anything is going to get done. You’re far better off preparing on your own.

Which, really, brings me to something I’ve been curious about. Everyone is related to everyone in NYC. Big Catholic, Jewish, Italian, Irish families with relatives spread all over the place….why are these people not staying with relatives? I can understand wanting to stay with your stuff to rpevent looting, but thats a choice. These people in four-story walk-ups complaining about no elevators, no heat, no water, etc…why don’t they head over to their cousins or uncles place and crash in their basement for a week or two?

Link – ‘Doomsday Preppers’: The craziest bunkers we’ve seen so far

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

Sure, you watch “The Walking Dead” and “Revolution” every week… but are you prepared for a real-life end-of-the-world scenario? The folks featured on National Geographic’s “Doomsday Preppers” sure are: They’ve built themselves well-stocked bunkers that can withstand anything from a global pandemic to a zombie apocalypse. And while the “preppers” stockpile supplies like crazed hoarders and put their small children through elaborate survival drills, the show brings on emergency-preparedness experts to judge how long each bunker would actually survive a catastrophe.

I still haven’t watched this show and despite people assuming that I wouldhave a tremendous interest in it, I really don’t.

Guns – The AAI CAWS project

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

Military auto shotguns have been dabbled with for a while, and one of the more interesting projects was the CAWS project. Special shotgun rounds, special shotgun. It never really got off the ground but you can see some DNA was passed down to the Daewoo, USAS, Atchisson and a few others.

I loves me some auto shotgun action as much as the next guy, but I think the basic pumpgun is probably a better choice. On the other hand, I wouldnt turn down a USAS-12 if one came my way. (And, yeah, the fedgoons messed up my fun by making it a Destructive Device.)

Article – New York City extends gas rationing; Bloomberg cites holiday travel crunch

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

Gasoline rationing for drivers in New York City has been extended through Friday.

The odd-even license plate system for gasoline and diesel purchase, instituted on Nov. 9 following the aftereffects of superstorm Sandy, was scheduled to end on Monday.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced Sunday he was extending the emergency order, even as the long lines at the pump have diminished. Bloomberg noted the major travel week ahead due to Thanksgiving.

“The odd-even license plate system has worked well and helped to reduce wait times and lines at the pump,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “With 30 percent of gas stations still closed and a major travel week coming, I am extending the successful odd-even system on gas and diesel fuel purchases to ensure we do not risk going back to the extreme lines we saw prior to the system being implemented.”

Nice. In the name of ‘emergency’, Bloomberg declares gas rationing to be the law of the land. And then, because of a holiday, he continues his edict. Perhaps it would have been to much for him to simply expand his odd-even license plate scheme to use of the public streets.

An excellent example of local government getting high-handed. I wonder if the folks in NYC would be as complacent if they were rationing water, or milk, or food in this manner.

An excellent reason to have your own stockpile of fuel…because even without a disaster you can wind up finding yourself facing these sorts of third-world issues.

2008 Redux

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

I have a would-be customer who wants me to hook him up with a Stag #2 (with the Plus Package) or a Rock River Entry AR. He asked me about this a day or two after the election and it was about all I could do to keep from laughing into the phone. You want to buy an AR a couple days after Carter The Second wins the presidential election? Why not try buying lifejackets once the iceberg hits the hull? Availability will be similar.

Stag Arms is not only not answering their phones but the voicemail option tersely says “we are not taking any messages at this time.” Rock River at least had a human answer the phone who told me the wait on an AR outta there is currently at four months.

I have been to this dance before and know all the steps. Put your left foot in, put your right foot out, reach for your wallet and wave it all about…..

Oh, and before I forget:

I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so. I told you so.

Now I feel better……

 

Didn’t know he was still around

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

I dunno how I missed this:
JOHN MELVIN DAVIS 84034-012 60-White-M 03-29-2012 RELEASED

I knew he got pinched a few years back when one of his wives/girlfriends alerted the feds to his being a felon in possession and having stolen some stuff. (Mostly ammo and other gear.)

What I didnt know was that he was still in jail up to this year. For those of you who don’t remember the name, he was better known as ‘Gunkid’ (among other names) on most survival forums.

Now I’m going to have to really look closely at some of the posts on some of the boards I frequent and see if maybe his armored-wheelbarrow self is resurfacing.

Filed under “Entertainment” because..well…Gunkid! He’s a blast from the past, alright.

Article – Lawmaker asks to be paid in gold

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Originally published at Notes From The Bunker. You can comment here or there.

And in local news……

A Montana state lawmaker is asking that he be paid in gold coins because of his lack of faith in the U.S. dollar amid a rising deficit.

Jerry O’Neil, a Republican just reelected in his northern Montana district, says his constituents told him he was not honoring his duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which O’Neil and Gold Standard supporters say requires the government to print money backed by gold

Well, if nothing else, at least it’s an indication that he may have actually read the Constitution which put’s him a few steps ahead of some other folks.