We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
With the election "concluding" next week, many "prepping" folks are putting out their wild conspiracies and marketing their paranoia. It'd be funny if they didn't have a following where people make real world decisions based on much of the nonsense out there.
No, we are not heading into a complete SHTF situation. And, as WNC demonstrates, community is what's important. Surviving requires connectedness to community and skills. Now is the time to become connected and learn. On the job training is ALWAYS subpar.
Many now understand the importance of communications after watching what happened in WNC. The Mt. Michell repeater was a lifeline for those asking for help and those just LISTENING to the communications. The flawlessness of that endeavor came from years of practice by net control operators and many of the "eyes/ears" in the community. It was those screeching out over their Baofengs (for likely the first time) that hindered operations. Don't be that guy next time around.
Thus, I push getting a GRMS and/or technicians class amateur radio license when asked about preparing for the next event. Do you know how many times I hear something like, "In SHTF, the bad guys could look up my address in the FCC database" completely missing the point that their intent to buy an arsenal is registered in NICS. They'll use credit cards to buy ammo and purchased their equipment from Amazon.
I really don't understand this paranoia. Everyone is in a database somewhere that is publicly or semi-publicly searchable. To avoid the opportunity to practice and build a skill because of a very low, no extremely low, risk is asinine. Even if you only use GRMS to communicate with family while at the park or caravanning, you will start to understand limitations and capabilities unknown before relying on it for disaster communications.
Moving forward.. focus on community building. If you haven't spoken to someone in awhile then reach out, see how they are doing. And, get licensed and use radios for communications. Remember, Andrew Grove may have been right about business, but wrong about life. In the future, only the connected will survive.
CP
🇺🇸 #Oklahoma high school principal (Kirk Moore) seen charging at and disarming a school shooter.
The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Victor Hawkins, was a former student who said he wanted to shoot up the school “like the Columbine shooters did.” While taking down the shooter, Moore was shot in the leg. He is expected to recover.
When the Principal woke up that day, he never thought he would be tackling a gunman.
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🇨🇳🛢 How much strategic oil does the world actually have in reserve?
Global strategic crude oil inventories stood at ~2.5 BILLION barrels as of December 2025, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
China holds by far the largest stockpile at 1,397 million barrels, more than 3 times the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve of 413 million barrels, which itself sits at only 58% of its full storage capacity of 714 million barrels.
China added an average of 1.1 million barrels per day to its strategic inventories throughout 2025, with preliminary data suggesting it continued building stockpiles in early 2026 ahead of the Iran War.
Japan holds the 3rd-largest reserve at 263 million barrels, followed by OECD European countries at 179 million barrels.
Meanwhile, the US is releasing 172 million barrels from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve to suppress oil prices, part of a broader 400 million barrel coordinated release agreed by 32 IEA member nations in March.
🔗 ...
🛢 JP Morgan Warns Oil Market Out of Balance, Prices Must Rise
🔸The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil flows, has removed 13.7 million barrels per day from global supply in April alone. A JP Morgan research note warns the market has no good way to replace it.
🔸Normally, spare production capacity in Saudi Arabia and the UAE acts as the market’s shock absorber. But that buffer has effectively been removed, eliminating the system’s first line of defense.
🔸With spare capacity unavailable, markets turned to inventories
➤ Global stockpiles are now being drained at ~7.1 mbd in April, an extraordinary pace, according to the note.
🔸Meanwhile, demand is collapsing because supply simply isn’t reaching users — “forced demand destruction.”The hardest hit sectors include:
▪️ Petrochemical plants across Asia are shutting down or slashing output as LPG, ethane, and naphtha flows from the Gulf collapse
▪️ Airline jet fuel ...
🛢⛽️ Global oil inventories are heading toward RECORD LOWS:
Global visible oil inventories have fallen -255 million barrels since the start of the conflict on February 27, to 7,864 million barrels.
Total estimated oil draws, including non-OECD refined products storage, have accelerated to 10.9 million barrels per day in April, the largest monthly draws on record since 2017.
Cumulative estimated draws since the start of the war now stand at 474 million barrels, with Hormuz flows holding at ~10% of normal, or 2.0 million barrels per day.
Meanwhile, even in an optimistic scenario where Strait of Hormuz flows begin recovering by late April, it is unlikely to prevent global visible inventories from reaching all-time lows, according to Goldman Sachs.
As inventories keep falling, physical oil markets are likely to require sharply higher prices for immediate delivery, since buyers cannot wait months for cheaper futures delivery when stocks are running critically low.
Goldman also warns...
