What To Expect In 2018?

Once again, another year is drawing to an end; 2018 is soon to be gone and we will be living in 2019. To many, the start of any new year is a time of hope, a chance for opportunity, a time for making New Year’s resolutions.

It’s also a time to look back on where we’ve come from, as well as looking forward to try and see what the New Year will bring.

Of course, it’s easier to look back at where we’ve come from, than it is to look forward and see what’s coming. Last I checked, I wasn’t issued a crystal ball.

That doesn’t really matter though, as I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of how to use it. Nevertheless, as preppers, we’re always trying to look forward and figure out what could be coming down the road.

Many of the things that people prepare for never come to pass. I still remember the panic over Y2K, which turned out to be nothing. But the fact is, it could have been something major. The whole idea of preparing for it was that we didn’t know what was going to happen, so we had to be ready.

There are always those who will make fun of those of us who try to prepare for coming disasters. In their minds, every disaster that doesn’t come to pass is just one more proof that we don’t know what we’re doing.

But those of us who really watch what’s going on in the world take a close look at those missed disasters, as well as the ones which do happen, seeking to learn what lessons we can from them.

Statistically speaking, it’s almost a sure probability that we will eventually be hit by a major disaster. The chances of being hit by a regional disaster are even greater, as are those of a personal or family disaster.

So you and I aren’t wasting our time by preparing; we’re the ones who will survive, when others are struggling. That’s why we do it and that’s all the reason we need.

So, the question that faces us now is what is the new year going to bring out way? What sorts of things are we likely to see coming our way over the next twelve months?

War in Washington

Donald Trump has had a good year as president, since his inauguration on January 20^th. Of any president this great nation has had, he has done the most to fulfill his campaign promises. While there is still much to be done, especially in draining the swamp, the President enters his second year in office, standing on a solid foundation of accomplishment.

Trump’s success hasn’t been without a price though. He has been besieged on every side, between Democrat members of congress and progressive-liberal bureaucrats in the swamp, through members of his own political party, to the left-leaning media. The President’s enemies are legion and he is embroiled in a war of survival with them.

I can’t say that the President has won any of his wars yet, but neither has he lost any of them. More and more it is looking like he is going to come out on top, with the progressive-liberal minority being shown for what they are; especially that of being a clear minority here in the USA.

The Democrat Party is largely demoralized, at last as badly as they were when Hillary lost the election. Their entire year has been wasted on trying to find a way of tipping over the apple cart and unseating the President. Yet they have been unsuccessful, even with using every dirty trick they can find.

I expect to see Donald Trump gain more and more political capital, as he continues to come through for the American people. This will further serve to marginalize the Democrats, who don’t have a platform right now, other than that of hating the sitting President.

There is little chance of a Democrat win in the mid-term elections, unless they manage to get their act together and come up with something to stand for, rather than just standing against things that they hate.

But Trump’s biggest enemy is the Republican Party, especially the RINOs within the party. Many of the things he wants to do require Congress passing legislation, but he can’t yet count on their support. Of all the wars he’s fighting, that’s the most important one for him to win.

Increased Social Unrest

The mutual hissy fit that the Democrat Party has been having for the last few years, and especially since Trump won the elections, has manifest itself in a variety of far-left “activist” groups.

We all know of the violence perpetrated by Black Lives Matter and Antifa, during what were supposed to be “peaceful” demonstrations. Yet in many cities, their violence is being ignored and even allowed.

There are now some small white supremacist groups that are rising up against these far-left activist groups. So far, there have only been a few clashes between the two groups, but we can expect that to rise. It seems that there are those in both groups who want that violence and are seeking ways of bringing it to pass.

The recent confrontation in Milwaukee shows a new way that government officials are reacting to this violence. Rather than stepping in and breaking it up, police were ordered to allow it to continue, only stepping in if others were in danger from the violence. This can only serve to encourage more violence of this type, something we can expect to see in the coming months.

There are still those on both sides which are pushing for a racial civil war. While I don’t think a nationwide war will break out, I would not be surprised at all to see local warfare, especially in the big cities.

This might either manifest as a few large battles, or a prolonged crime spree of the type that was going on in Northern Ireland for so many years. In either case, the people who will pay the biggest price won’t be those who are perpetuating the violence, but rather the innocent people who become their victims.

North Korea

The situation with North Korea has been deteriorating rapidly throughout the last year. At the same time, the North Koreans have had a year of technological breakthroughs, bringing them to the brink of becoming a serious nuclear power.

All that power in the hands of Kim Jong-un is extremely dangerous. He, like his father and grandfather before him, has been publicly declaring his intent to attack the United States with those nuclear arms. The big difference between him and his ancestors, is that he now has the capability of following through on those threats.

Every day that North Korea delays their attack puts them in greater danger of a preemptive attack by US military forces. For that reason, I can’t see Pyongyang waiting one day longer than absolutely necessary to attack.

As best as I can read the situation, as soon as they have the wherewithal to attack the United States and be assured of accomplishing their goals, they will.

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The only real question is whether they will opt for a conventional nuclear attack or a nuclear-triggered EMP attack. Of the two, the EMP would actually be the more serious attack, surpassing a conventional nuclear attack in total death and destruction, even though there would be no obvious destruction from the nuclear blast, other than the immediate loss of electrical power and every electrical device that we use suddenly coming to a stop.

I seriously doubt that we will make it through 2018 without this attack happening, unless our government decides on doing a preemptive disarming strike against North Korea. As I have written previously, that would be extremely difficult to accomplish, as North Korea’s nuclear arms are dispersed, mounted on mobile launchers.

More & Bigger Mass Killings

The scourge of mass killings seems to have no end. While former President Obama’s claims that only we here in the United States are subject to such atrocities was totally incorrect, we definitely have our share of them.

Thanks to massive news coverage giving fame and glory to the killers, we can expect to continue seeing these mentally imbalanced people make their spectacular exits from this life.

Sadly, the problem is not being addressed directly. Democrats persist in blaming guns for the killings, totally ignoring the mental problems of the killers themselves.

Republicans aren’t doing much better. While they are recognizing the killers as being the problem and not the guns, they have yet to make a proposal to deal with the underlying mental issues of these murderers.

As long as things continue like this, I think we can expect to see mass killings happening. Each killer is going to be trying to outdo the last, planning their crimes to provide the highest possible death tolls.

As the Las Vegas killing showed us, even being armed for self-defense isn’t a sure protection from these people.

A Rise in Terrorism

Iraq has announced that ISIS has been defeated. That’s both good news and bad. The good part is that they are no longer murdering innocent people over there in the Middle East. The bad news is that there are still lots of ISIS operatives around, as well as terrorists from other radicalized Islamic groups.

My concern here is that ISIS is going to put more and more effort into terrorism, in order to retain their relevancy in the world. Up till now, most of their acts have been overseas, but there is a very real concern that they will put more effort into violent acts here in the US, either by importing terrorists or motivating home-grown terrorists to act.

We’ve already seen both of these happen this year, with ISIS having taken credit for a number of violent acts that have happened within our borders. We’ve also seen efforts on their part to infiltrate “soldiers” into the United States. One group of 10 was captured in McAllen, Texas, which tells us that there are many more who have made it through safely. An ISIS spokesman has claimed that there are more than 100 within our borders right now, which means that there may very well be many more.

With international terrorism already on the upswing, thanks to the Syrian refugee situation and the various radicalized Islamic terrorist groups, any efforts by ISIS will be most unwelcome. Yet there is little we can do to stop these actions, other than to be alert and armed to defend ourselves.

More Liberal Preppers

Ever since President Trump’s inauguration, liberals fear mongers have been claiming a coming apocalypse. In a way, this is somewhat humorous, as we had the same thing happening in the other direction, while Obama was in office.

Some of the same results are coming out of the fear mongering as well, with more and more liberals turning to prepping.

This gives those of us who are conservatives an excellent opportunity to reach out the hand of friendship to these newbie preppers and give them a hand. Who knows, some friendly advice now, as they are beginning to get into prepping, might be the trigger that gets them to stop listening to what the news media and the progressive-liberal politicians say about us and they might discover for themselves that we are decent people.

That could even lead to them adopting some of our views on things.

I realize that’s a bit of a stretch, but the progressive-liberal left has to keep people ignorant, in order to get them to keep buying their agenda. Becoming a prepper belies the idea of staying ignorant.

Once their minds are open to learning how to prepare, they may actually start listening to why we prepare, rather than just accepting the standard issue liberal talking points.

One thing is certain, there’s nothing to be lost and much to be gained, by bringing our liberal cousins into the prepping movement and helping them become self-sufficient.

If nothing else, each one is one less liberal that will be trying to redistribute our stockpiles, when a disaster happens.