Thursday, August 11, 2011

Liberty Alert, Casting Call

No people will tamely surrender their Liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and Virtue is preserved. On the Contrary, when People are universally ignorant, and debauched in their Manners, they will sink under their own weight without the Aid of foreign Invaders.
Samual Adams
Liberty Alert
Reader Terry from FL, alerted me to a handout produced by the FBI for Surplus stores.  Apparently, our illustrious Federal Bureau of Investigations has determined that patrons of Army/Navy surplus stores are a potential terrorist threat.  They have directed surplus store owners and employees to report suspicious activity such as:

  • Buying items in bulk
  • Purchasing waterproof ammunition and match cases
  • Buying Meals Ready to Eat (MRE's)
  • Purchasing gas masks, night flashlights etc.
The FBI has also encouraged surplus stores to:
  • Require valid ID for all new customers
  • Keep track of purchases
  • Make note of suspicious people/vehicles
They close their "Communities against Terrorism" flyer with:

Preventing terrorism is a community effort. By learning what to look for, you can make a positive contribution in the fight against terrorism. The partnership between the community and law enforcement is essential to the success of anti -terrorism efforts.
Some of the activities, taken individually, could be innocent and must be examined by law enforcement professionals in a larger context to  determine whether there is a basis to investigate. The activities outlined on this handout are by no means all-inclusive but have been compiled from a review of terrorist events over several years.
So in other words, you might not be smart enough to determine evil intent, but "they" are! This is a Liberty Alert if I have ever seen one.  It smacks of the Fusion Centers springing up in communities all over America.  If you would like to read the FBI flyer in it's entirety go to OathKeepers - they are watching out for the Constitution and the people.  Thank you for the link Terry!

Survivalist/Prepper Casting Call
Michelle Reindal, producer from Screaming Flea Productions has asked me to pass along a reality show opportunity for serious survivalists/preppers.  Screaming Flea is currently casting a pilot episode for a 30 minute television show featuring two people/families with extensive TEOTWAWKI preps, preferably with a bunker or other eye-popping preparedness features.  The purpose of the show is to educate people about the prepping movement.  They would like to feature preppers that their audience can relate to and present them in a not-out-of-their mind light.  During the course of the show, the preparations will be evaluated by "experts" in the preparedness field and a determination will be made as to their viability in a real-world TEOTWAWKI situation.

Of course, being the skeptic that I am, I asked a bunch of questions before I presented the opportunity to you.  Concerned about OPSEC, I asked about the ability to retain a modicum of anonymity.  Michelle assured me that the participants could remain anonymous, as could their location, although their "region" would be disclosed.  Their "experts" will be real preppers/survivalist and not just academics.  They are interested in people that are prepping for any real-world event, be it a natural disaster, grid-down situation, financial collapse or any other conceivable scenario.

If you are interested in being in a reality TV show about preppers, please contact Michelle  Reindal at Screaming Flea Productions via email.  Her email address is: mreindal@sfpseattle.com

6 comments:

  1. Even if I qualified as a "serious prepper" with something like a bunker, I would never be a part of any TV show. That is just asking for trouble. Egos will betray OPSEC every time.

    Regarding the FBI and a call for surplus stores to rat out their patrons, I'm not sure this is new. This may be a new letter, but I suspect the rat fink request has been around for awhile. About 2 years ago, I went into my local surplus store to buy something simple like a bit of camo netting to cover my plants so they wouldn't get bug-eaten and also bought a few bags of Mountain House foods. I paid cash. The store owner asked to see my ID. I asked why, since I was paying cash. He told me that some counterfeit bills were circulating through the county and he wanted to make sure I wasn't inadvertently passing some. I knew that was a big fat lie. (There are pens that will immediately determine if a FRN is legal or counterfeit.) So I refused to show him my ID and instead asked for a refund of my money. He relented, apparently a small purchase was more important to the owner of that store than some veiled threats by the authorities.

    It used to be in this country that we were innocent until proven guilty. Now we're all guilty, simply because we shop at a surplus store. How very sad. The FBI should go after the terrorists, not the patriots. We need a new president.

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  2. Don't do it people! Why risk your OPSEC? The media knows very well what Preppers do. The media should spend their, own money, set up their own homestead property, people it and film it if they wish to educate the public. Please....they often misrepresent us anyway, making us look like nut cases instead of the sound, common sensed people we are! By the way the real survival experts, that we trust, won't participate in these shows anyway. So what does that say? Don't do it!

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  3. just paying large amounts of cash gets a persons attention, and it is not always welcome attention either. be careful. even when you lay out $600 plus bucks for a washing machine or dryer or whatever...the world is full of evil minded people who do evil things because you have what they want.

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  4. Would you be a part of a reality show yourself? I agree with the above commenter...... You wouldn't be in control of how you'd be portrayed.

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  5. Tatem;
    Nope! You couldn't pay us enough to be on TV. However, if other people want to be on TV, fine by me. I, personally think it is a huge OPSEC nightmare. I wouldn't encourage anyone to put themselves in that kind of spotlight. Michelle asked me to post the info, and I did that - nothing more. I don't think there is any way the show could protect the identity of the participants, but I am all for letting people make up their own minds.
    Enola

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  6. I wonder if you'd really be what they're looking for? I would guess they'd want someone more in line with the "Hollywood" prepper-some guy who's bought an old missile silo and made a house out of it or some such, parroting the Prison Planet guy, or 2012 End-O-Th'-World stuff.
    I've been to a couple local surplus stores,and have never seen any such letter, or been asked for ID(I always pay cash)-My guess is the store owner wouldn't do it-no doubt it would be bad for business(one of the stores encourages bulk buying). I wonder if this is in specific areas? I'll ask next time I go in

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