Societal Collapse

Are we witnessing a surge in the polls that will ultimately decide this election?  At this time in 2016, Hillary Clinton had an enormous lead over Donald Trump, but over the last several weeks of the campaign the polls dramatically tightened.  The more that the American people saw Donald Trump, the more they liked him.  And the more that the American people saw Hillary Clinton, the less they liked her.  It appears that a very similar thing is happening now.  Donald Trump has always been a star, and his massive rallies are an incredibly powerful campaigning tool.  No matter how much money Kamala Harris spends, she can’t recreate the same kind of emotional energy that Trump generates, because Kamala Harris is not a star.  She simply does not have the ability to move people emotionally the way that Trump does, and it was an enormous mistake for the Democrats to choose her as the nominee.

A brand new NBC News national poll shows the momentum that Trump has been able to create in recent weeks.

September’s NBC News national poll had Harris up by five points, but now in the latest poll the two candidates are tied…

In the new poll — which was conducted Oct. 4-8 — Harris gets support from 48% of registered voters in a head-to-head matchup, while Trump gets an identical 48%. Another 4% say they are undecided or wouldn’t vote for either option when forced to choose between those two major-party candidates.

That’s a change from September’s NBC News poll, which found Harris leading Trump by 5 points, 49%-44%, though that result was within the margin of error.

And when third-party candidates are included, that same poll shows that Trump is actually leading…

An expanded ballot including third-party candidates also shows this shift, with 47% of registered voters in the new poll picking Trump, 46% supporting Harris and a combined 7% picking other candidates or saying they’re undecided.

In September, however, Harris held a 6-point lead on this expanded ballot.

The mainstream media kept telling us that this was a “static” race.

But these numbers tell an entirely different story.

During a segment discussing this new poll, Steve Kornacki explained that Donald Trump’s favorability rating is rising and meanwhile the opposite is true for Kamala Harris.

Of course this isn’t the only poll that shows that Trump is building up momentum.

Journalist Mark Halperin says that private polling on both sides shows that the numbers are definitely moving in Trump’s favor right now…

“When I’ve reported over the last several days about private polling” which is favorable to Trump, says @MarkHalperin, “that is not Republican-only private polling. It’s reflected in the Democratic private polling, too. In fact, I think if you’d ask the Harris campaign about their polling, you’d hear a similar story. This is not spin by Republicans about secret or fake polls. This is what is happening in the data. And as we’ve said repeatedly, the public and private data differs. The public data is cheap and has issues in almost every case. It’s just the nature of the beast now for academic and media organizations, not every one, but most.”

This certainly does not mean that Trump has the election wrapped up.

So much could still happen between now and November.

In fact, some very disturbing allegations about Tim Walz are being released as I write this article.

So we shall see what happens.

But right now the big online betting markets seem to think that Trump is going to win…

Former President Donald Trump is currently leading Vice President Kamala Harris by 10 points on the Polymarket prediction platform — a sharp reversal over betting odds in September.

According to the latest Polymarket data, Trump currently has a 55% chance of securing the Oval Office in November compared to Harris’ 45% chance.

The former President also reversed Harris’ lead in 4 of 6 swing states and now leads in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, and Pennsylvania — with Arizona and Georgia representing the GOP candidate’s widest margins of victory.

About a month ago, the Democrats were feeling very confident.

But now panic is clearly starting to set in…

Of course, that has not stopped both parties from doing what they always do. In Democrats’ case, this appears to be the week when their traditional preëlection panic has set in. Strategists are now warning that Harris has “plateaued,” that she “needs to be more aggressive,” and that she has to reinvent herself as a centrist to “seal the deal.” In recent days, I’ve read articles dissecting her challenges with male voters, Black male voters, Arab voters, Latino voters, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin voters. She also, apparently, has a Biden problem, a Bibi problem, and a hurricane problem.

Harris just isn’t very inspiring at all, and many people find her to be extremely annoying.

These flaws torpedoed her run for the presidency in 2020, and they are likely to be fatal this time around too.

If you want to run for president and win, you need to be a star.

It really is that simple.

The reason why Trump draws such large crowds to his rallies is because millions upon millions of Americans absolutely adore him.

That also makes Trump a target, and it appears that a “third assassination attempt” was just thwarted…

A third assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump was thwarted on Saturday after a Las Vegas man was arrested with weapons and fake passes about a half mile from Trump’s campaign rally in Coachella Valley, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Sunday.

Deputies assigned to Trump’s rally said the driver, Vem Miller, rolled up in a black SUV to a checkpoint at the intersection of Avenue 52 and Celebration Drive around 5 p.m. He was found to be in illegal possession of a shotgun, loaded handgun, and a high-capacity magazine, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

Bianco told the Southern California News Group on Sunday that he believes Miller — who he said is a member of a right–leaning anti-government group — planned to kill Trump and that deputies thwarted the plan when Miller presented fake VIP and press passes at a checkpoint.

“They were different enough to cause the deputies alarm,” Bianco said. “We probably stopped another assassination attempt.”

As I have stated before, it really will be a miracle if Trump actually makes it to the election.

And no matter who ultimately emerges victorious, the truth is that we are a bitterly divided nation that is rapidly heading in the wrong direction.

Whether Trump wins or Harris wins, I am expecting tremendous civil unrest following the outcome of this election.

So those that are looking at election day as the finish line are getting it all wrong.

This election will not be the end of anything.  Instead, it will simply be the beginning of an entirely new chapter.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

Do you want to live in a society where you are required to have your face scanned wherever you go?  If not, you may want to speak up now while you still can.  As you will see below, the U.S. government is aggressively expanding the use of facial recognition technology for identification verification purposes.  For now, the use of facial recognition technology will be optional.  But as we have seen before, once a voluntary option is adopted by enough people our leaders have a way of making it mandatory.  Of course it isn’t just our government that is pushing facial recognition technology.  It is popping up throughout our society, and given enough time it would literally be everywhere.

Login.gov is billed as “a single sign-on solution for US government websites”, and now users of Login.gov will be given the option to use facial recognition technology to verify their identities…

An online hub for Americans to access benefits and services across the federal government is giving its users a new option to sign on.

The General Services Administration will begin offering facial recognition technology as an option for users of Login.gov, a one-stop for government-provided public services, to verify their identities.

GSA’s Technology Transformation Services announced Wednesday it will allow Login.gov users to verify their identity online through facial technology that meets standards set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s 800-63-3 Identity Assurance Level 2 (IAL2) guidelines.

We are being told that this will help reduce identity theft and fraud, and I don’t know anyone that likes identity theft and fraud.

But do we really want to live in a dystopian world where our faces are constantly being scanned all the time?

I certainly don’t.

We are being told that this new facial recognition system will rely on “best-in-class facial matching algorithms”…

After months of testing and a delay in 2023, users will now be able to verify their identity using a ‘proven facial matching technology’ approved by the General Services Administration, which will follow the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and will rely on ‘best-in-class facial matching algorithms’

All of this sounds really creepy to me.

And this is certainly a way for the government to start getting all of our faces into a giant database.

Login.gov already has more than 100 million users, and lots of them will inevitably choose the “convenience” and “security” of facial recognition…

Federal agencies use Login.gov for people to verify their identities when logging in to access government benefits and services. The offering has over 100 million users already across over 50 federal and state agencies, and this news could affect how future users have to verify their identity to access information and benefits.

“Proving your identity is a critical step in receiving many government benefits and services, and we want to ensure we are making that as easy and secure as possible for members of the public, while protecting against identity theft and fraud,” said GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan in a statement.

For now, you will still be able to use other identification verification options.

But once most people start using facial recognition, those other options could easily be taken away.

Sadly, it isn’t just the government that we need to be concerned about.

AI programs such as ChatGPT have turned out to be quite adept at identifying faces…

Using “a crafted prompt designed to bypass the safeguard mechanisms of ChatGPT,” the researchers were able to test the program’s biometric capabilities – which they found to be significant.

“Our study reveals that ChatGPT recognizes facial identities and differentiates between two facial images with considerable accuracy,” says their summary. “Additionally, experimental results demonstrate remarkable performance in gender detection and reasonable accuracy for the age estimation tasks.”

Even more alarming is what a couple of Harvard students have been able to accomplish.

They integrated PimEyes facial recognition software into a pair of Meta’s smart glasses, and they were able to instantly pull up the personal information of strangers by scanning their faces…

Meta’s Ray-Ban glasses offer an iconic wearable packed with some smart features that allow users to engage in a hands-free experience. Two Harvard students have integrated smart glasses with a facial recognition system that helps automatically dox strangers and access their information in public.

According to 404media, the facial recognition system called I-XRAY can be used to retrieve information such as phone numbers, addresses, or even social security numbers of strangers. All the user needs to do is look at the person. While software capabilities have been making the rounds, it is the hardware running the software that has been the talk of the town, which is Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses.

Nguyen and Ardayfio created I-XRAY using Meta’s smart glasses along with PimEyes facial recognition software, which is currently the largest search engine. The entire system of fetching information on the individual is automatic, and the smart glasses start digging the data as soon as the face is in the frame.

If we stay on the current trajectory that we are on, it would likely only be a matter of time before this sort of technology is everywhere.

Can you imagine what criminals could do with this?

A predator would not even need to follow you home.  He could just scan your face without you even realizing it, and by scanning your face he could get your address, your phone number, and a whole host of other private details about your life.

A lot of people out there just don’t get it.

In a society without any privacy, the bad guys can always find you.

Of course in a society without any privacy, there would be no hiding from tyranny either.

When facial recognition technology is literally everywhere, there will be nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

Every time your face is scanned, your location will be known.

Needless to say, most people already carry around phones that constantly monitor where they are anyway.

But as the Big Brother surveillance grid that is being constructed all around us becomes even more pervasive, it won’t be too long before there is literally no opting out.

I have been a very vocal advocate for privacy for over a decade, but during that time our privacy rights have been greatly eroded.

Now is the time to take a stand, because once our privacy rights are completely gone it will be nearly impossible to get them back.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The worst-case scenario that many meteorologists were fearing is here.  Hurricane Milton will make landfall on the west coast of Florida very early on Thursday morning, and it will do so as a much larger storm than originally anticipated.  As you will see below, the size of Hurricane Milton’s wind field has more than doubled since Tuesday afternoon.  That means that this storm will do catastrophic damage over a much wider area than the experts originally thought.  At this point, some scientists are warning that the total damage from Hurricane Milton could potentially exceed the total damage that we witnessed during Hurricane Katrina.

This has been such a strange storm.

According to CBS News, Hurricane Milton “is the quickest storm on record to rapidly intensify into a Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico”…

Milton is the quickest storm on record to rapidly intensify into a Category 5 in the Gulf of Mexico, Nolan said. On Sunday, the system was a tropical storm with sustained winds of 60 miles per hour. Just 24 hours later, its wind speeds had leapt to 175 miles per hour, far above the Category 5 threshold of 157 mph.

Of course wind speed is only one part of the equation.

The size of the wind field is also an exceedingly important factor, and as I discussed above, Milton’s wind field has more than doubled since Tuesday afternoon…

Milton is a powerful hurricane, and its wind field is growing, according to the latest data from the National Hurricane Center.

Milton’s tropical storm-force winds now extend 250 miles from its center, especially on its northern side. These same winds extended 105 miles from its center early Tuesday afternoon.

Its wind field could grow further ahead of and after landfall, bringing damaging winds to much of the Florida Peninsula. Tropical storm-force wind gusts have already been observed along parts of the state’s west coast from north of the Tampa Bay area through the Keys.

We have never seen anything quite like this before.

Milton is producing a jaw-dropping symphony of lightning bolts that literally never stops, and it has already spawned numerous tornadoes on the Florida peninsula…

“Historic, catastrophic, life-threatening – all those words summarize the situation,” said Austen Flannery, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Tampa.

Tornadic supercells − dangerous, rotating thunderstorms that can produce tornadoes − were beginning to sweep across the Florida peninsula, the update said. More than 12 million people were under tornado warnings, and the National Weather Service in Miami said on social media it had “up to 4 visually confirmed tornadoes today,” with unofficial reports of others.

A lot of people in south Florida thought that they would not get hit hard by this storm, but a tornado spawned by Milton literally crossed I-75 earlier today…

As Florida’s Gulf Coast braces for the impacts of Hurricane Milton Wednesday, the storm is causing severe weather across the state — even in Miami.

The National Weather Service Miami shared photos of a tornado crossing Interstate 75 Wednesday as cars were still driving on the highway.

“TORNADO crossing I-75 as we speak! Seek shelter NOW!” the agency wrote on social media.

I feel like I have been watching footage from a Hollywood disaster movie.

In Fort Myers, a tornado spawned by Hurricane Milton absolutely ripped a 7-Eleven convenience store to shreds…

Hurricane Milton has already spawned tornadoes in Florida hours before its projected landfall, and the city of Fort Myers was pummeled by one.

Video and photos show damaged houses, fallen trees and a mangled 7-Eleven gas station. A piece of the 7-Eleven’s canopy went airborne and ended up wrapped around the bottom of a tree.

When it finally makes landfall, it is being projected that Milton will be either a Category 3 or a Category 4 storm.

But on AccuWeather’s RealImpact Scale for Hurricanes, it will be considered a Category 5 storm because of the potential devastation that it could cause…

“On Wednesday, as Milton encounters some wind shear and another eyewall replacement cycle, it is forecast to expand in size and lose some wind intensity,” DaSilva added, Milton will make landfall as a formidable Category 3-4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale late Wednesday evening,” DaSilva added.

However, hurricane experts continue to maintain that Milton will strike with the impacts of a 5 on AccuWeather’s RealImpact™ Scale for Hurricanes, which takes into account storm surge, flooding rainfall, population affected and economic impacts above and beyond the Saffir-Simpson scale, which takes into account only maximum sustained winds.

The damage from this storm is going to ultimately affect all of us.

According to CNN, approximately 3 percent of U.S. GDP is directly in the path of this storm…

Hurricane Milton’s projected devastation in Florida could have a ripple effect on the broader US economy — impacting jobs, travel, manufacturing, retail sales, housing and other factors.

About 3% of America’s gross domestic product — the broadest measure of the US economy — is directly in Milton’s path, according to Ryan Sweet, chief US economist for Oxford Economics.

As I discussed yesterday, it is being projected that in a worst-case scenario this storm could potentially cause up to 175 billion dollars in economic damage.

Interestingly, Hurricane Milton is heading directly toward one of Pfizer’s most important facilities.  The following was posted by Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Tuesday…

Like many people, I have watched with a heavy heart as the scale of the damage caused by Hurricane Helene has become fully evident. Now it seems Hurricane Milton is heading toward the Tampa area, where we have a major @Pfizer facility.

As always at Pfizer, we stand with our colleagues, their families, and the communities facing these immense challenges. We are committed to doing everything we can to provide support during this difficult time.

Many of the homes and businesses in the path of this storm will be completely destroyed.

And now we are being told that another major storm is rapidly developing in the Atlantic…

With more than seven weeks left in the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, there’s a good chance that catastrophic Hurricane Milton won’t be the last storm to impact the U.S. this year.

In fact, forecasters are continuing to watch several other systems across the Atlantic basin, including one east of Florida that could become Tropical Storm Nadine later Wednesday.

This has been the most unusual hurricane season that I have ever seen.

We are not supposed to be hit by two “once in a century” storms in less than a month.

And a tropical storm is not supposed to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in less than 24 hours.

We truly live in unprecedented times, and things are only going to get crazier from here.

Please pray for those in the path of Hurricane Milton, because they are definitely going to need it.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

A 15 foot tall wall of water is about to slam directly into a major American city.  More than 3 million people live in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, and hundreds of thousands of them are very tightly concentrated along the coast.  Most of them are attempting to evacuate, but there are apparently large numbers of local residents that are choosing not to do so.  This is very foolish, because their homes are about to be underwater.  Sadly, many of those that are trying to evacuate are stuck in extremely long traffic jams.  Those that run low on gasoline as they sit in those traffic jams are discovering that a lot of gas stations are already totally out of fuel.  In fact, as you will see below, CNN is reporting that 1,300 Florida gas stations have now run out of gasoline, and more gas stations are going dry with each passing hour.  Whether willingly or unwillingly, vast numbers of people are going to end up stuck in this storm, and the death toll is likely to be extremely high.

According to the National Weather Service, it appears that this will be “the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years”…

“If the storm stays on the current track, it will be the worst storm to impact the Tampa area in over 100 years,” the National Weather Service in Tampa warned, adding, “Milton continues to pose a potentially catastrophic threat to parts of the west Florida coast.”

100 years ago, not that many people lived in that part of Florida.

Today, more than 3 million people live in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area.

Early on Tuesday, Milton had been downgraded to a Category 4 storm, but then it strengthened again and sustained winds were back up to 155 mph…

Milton had undergone stunningly rapid intensification Monday, its sustained winds reaching 180 mph. By Tuesday the wind speed dropped dramatically although still a fierce Category 4 storm. It climbed back to 155 Tuesday afternoon, just below Category 5 status. Fluctuations were expected as the storm closes in on Florida, said John Cangialosi, a specialist with the National Hurricane Center.

As I write this article, sustained winds are back up to 165 miles per hour, and that officially makes Milton a Category 5 storm once again.

This is a very, very unusual storm.

According to one meteorologist, Milton actually produced “more than 58,000 lightning events in just 14 hours”…

The amount of lightning in Hurricane Milton is “unlike any event” meteorologist Chris Vagasky has ever seen in the Atlantic Basin.

Hurricane Milton’s eyewall, where the storm’s strongest winds are, exhibited more than 58,000 lightning events in just 14 hours, according to Vagasky, a meteorologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

That’s more than one lightning event every second, which he described as “astounding.”

We have never seen anything quite like this before.

Of course the most dangerous aspect of this storm for those living directly along the coast will be the storm surge.

It is being projected that a 15 foot wall of water will hit Tampa like a sledgehammer, and the mayor of Tampa is warning that those that choose to stay “are going to die”…

The mayor of Tampa, a city that’s in the crosshairs of Hurricane Milton, issued a grave warning to Florida residents who don’t heed calls to evacuate ahead of the monster storm.

“If you choose to stay … you are going to die,” Mayor Jane Castor bluntly said on CNN while talking about the dangers of Milton, a “literally catastrophic” Category 5 hurricane that’s barreling toward the Sunshine State.

A Weather Channel host named Jen Carfagno used CGI to try to show her viewers what a 15 foot storm surge will look like…

Carfagno then let the simulation rise above nine feet – well above her head. The raging torrent had hit the second floor of nearby homes.

She said: ‘There are few places that are safe when the water rises this high.’

Current forecasts suggest Hurricane Milton could actually trigger storm surges of 15 feet, far higher than the frightening nine feet shown by the Weather Channel.

Most of the Tampa Bay area is just barely above sea level.

So there will be very little resistance as a 15 foot tall wall of water starts smashing everything in sight.

Thankfully, large numbers of people have decided to evacuate, but this is also creating traffic jams of epic proportions…

Highways have been jammed over the past 48 hours as over a million people evacuate ahead of Hurricane Milton, and time is running out before it’s too late to escape to safety. “Over a million” people are under evacuation orders, Kevin Guthrie, executive director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management told AccuWeather on Tuesday morning. Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued in parts of more than a dozen Florida counties. “We have more than enough shelters ready,” Guthrie said, adding that people can visit FloridaDisaster.org to find out where shelters are open in their neighborhood.

Those that didn’t fill up their vehicles ahead of time could be in very deep trouble, because 1,300 Florida gas stations are already completely out of fuel…

Gas stations in many areas of Florida are running out of gasoline, as residents prepare for Hurricane Milton.

Demand for gas has surged as some residents in Milton’s path are trying to fuel up before they evacuate. Others who plan to stay put are trying to fill gas tanks so they’ll be able to power their generators should they lose electricity for an extended period.

Gas price tracking service GasBuddy reported that as of 2 pm Tuesday afternoon, 17.4% of gas stations statewide were without fuel, a dramatic spike from just 3% on Monday. With about 7,500 stations in the state, that estimate means there are about 1,300 currently without gasoline.

There will be many that won’t be able to make it out in time due to this gasoline shortage.

Meanwhile, those that do make it out are discovering that many hotels in northern Florida and Georgia are charging ridiculously high rates…

A Marriott hotel was offering a room for two nights this week for $548 per night – or $707 for guests wanting to park their cars.

Comparatively, the same room is available in November for $94 per night.

‘Sad and inhumane,’ one person wrote.

The woman who spotted the huge price difference, Suzannah Collins, said she’d filed a complaint with the Florida Attorney General’s office.

It is morally wrong for hotels to be gouging customers like this during a major life-threatening crisis.

Those that have decided to jack up their rates should be ashamed of themselves.

Unfortunately, there are also large numbers of people in central Florida that have decided not to evacuate at all…

In Riverview, several drivers waiting in a long line for gas Tuesday morning said they have no plans to evacuate.

“I think we’ll just hang, you know – tough it out,” said Martin Oakes, of Apollo Beach. “We got shutters up; the house is all ready. So this is sort of the last piece of the puzzle.”

Ralph Douglas, of Ruskin, said he, too, will stay put, in part because he worries he would run out of gas trying to return after the storm or get blocked by debris.

Some of those that have chosen to stay will find a way to survive.

Others will not.

In the end, this is likely to be one of the most destructive storms in U.S. history.

According to CNBC, it is being projected that approximately 175 billion dollars of damage will be caused in a “worst-case scenario”…

Hurricane Milton’s once-in-a-century potential could cause damage of more than $50 billion, with the potential to leave behind devastation approaching $175 billion or more in a worst-case scenario, according to leading Wall Street analysts.

That would be on top of the carnage already left behind by Hurricane Helene, posing a potential record-breaking path of wreckage.

As I keep reminding my readers, we set an all-time record for “billion dollar disasters” last year.

This year, I think that we will set another new all-time record.

We live at a time when historic disasters just keep happening one after another, and what is ahead is going to be even worse.

This is our “new normal”, and it isn’t going to be pleasant at all.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

After what we have just witnessed, how will anyone be able to trust those that are running the country ever again?  Hurricane Helene’s extremely unusual journey left an immense trail of destruction that was more than 500 miles long, and there are many communities that were completely and utterly wiped out.  Authorities are telling the mainstream media that only a few hundred people died, and so that is what the mainstream media is telling us.  But those that are on the ground in the areas that got hit the hardest are telling us a completely different story.

For example, one woman in Asheville, North Carolina says that thousands of people are missing and that there are still “bodies hanging from trees they haven’t gotten to yet”…

Asheville, North Carolina woman says the media is lying about the de*th toll from Hurricane Helene, says the real number is much higher than 200.

The TT user says cold trailers are overflowing with bodies.

“If you go to certain backroads, you will still find bodies hanging from trees they haven’t gotten to yet,” she posted.

“I don’t think people understand that 500+ people are de*d. Thousands more missing.”

Another local woman is claiming that there are more than 900 bodies at a local hospital in Asheville which still have not been identified…

There are reports that Mission Hospital in Asheville North Carolina was told today, that they will be the morgue for body recovery. As of a few days ago, there were reports of 900+ bodies at the hospital that haven’t been identified.

There are also reports of babies and children washing up in the river, and more reports of bodies in trees.

An insurance agent Hana’s teammates went to drop off supplies in Asheville and set up relief tents yesterday. While setting up they saw four babies, three children as well as adult bodies that were recovered from the mud and trees.

National guard member Breona Bryant has also mentioned that they are seeing dead children. Those doing rescue operations are traumatized and many survivors of the storm are suffering from survivors guilt.

Please keep in mind that Asheville is just one of the cities that was absolutely devastated by this storm.

There are hundreds of others that are dealing with dead bodies as well.

In South Carolina, an elderly couple that was embracing one another during the storm was killed when a large tree suddenly crushed their house…

An elderly couple, killed in South Carolina when a large tree fell on their home during Hurricane Helene, were found embracing each other in their bed, their grandson said. He is among hundreds of residents across six Southeastern U.S. states mourning the loss of their loved ones. The death toll surpassed 230 late Saturday.

The couple, identified as Marcia, 74, and Jerry, 78, from Beech Island, South Carolina, died as the hurricane raged outside, with winds strong enough to snap branches and uproot trees, The Associated Press quoted their grandson, John Savage, as saying.

It is going to take a very long time for emergency workers to recover all of the dead bodies.

As I shared with my core supporters on Friday, a group of FEMA executives were overheard discussing the fact that “a couple zeros” should be added to the current death toll that is being given to the public.

In Tennessee, the town of Erwin is just gone.

I do not know if there were any survivors.

At this hour, there are millions of people living in parts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee that are still waiting for help.

In a part of North Carolina that was hit particularly hard, one woman says that she still has not seen a single person from either the state government or the federal government yet…

As the communities within Yancey and Mitchell counties are rural, assistance has been slow to enter into those areas given the lack of road and bridge access. In fact, Emily tells me the communities there are mainly sheltered in place and she’s not seen anyone from state or federal gov’t.

Emily has been able to set up Starlink at the Newdale fire department in Burnsville to establish communication in coordinating emergency services — but more Starlink systems and supplies for that area will be needed for those communities and soon.

There are vast numbers of people that do not have access to clean water right now, and the governor of North Carolina is admitting that his state has never experienced anything like this…

As recovery missions and repairs continue in North Carolina more than a week after Hurricane Helene carved a path of devastation through the western part of the state, the state’s Republican Sen. Thom Tillis called for more resources to bolster the relief effort and likened the damage to Hurricane Katrina’s mark on Louisiana in 2005.

“This is unlike anything that we’ve seen in this state,” Tillis told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Sunday morning. “We need increased attention. We need to continue to increase the surge of federal resources.”

When it is all said and done, I believe that the total damage caused by Hurricane Helene will greatly exceed the total damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

I am entirely convinced that we just witnessed the greatest natural disaster in modern U.S. history, and according to the Wall Street Journal many homeowners that had their houses destroyed will be extremely disappointed when they try to file insurance claims…

Homeowners are rushing to file insurance claims after Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction across six states. Many of them will likely be left empty-handed.

Property insurers in recent years have hollowed out coverage and sharply increased rates to make up for steep underwriting losses driven by natural disasters. Owners of homes and businesses slammed by Helene could be in for a nasty shock when they check the small print of their policies.

“Insurers have become significantly tougher on hurricane claims,” said Rick Tutwiler, a claims adjuster for property owners based in Tampa, Fla. “We’ve moved to an era dominated by exclusions, diminishing coverages, and even harsher policy terms.”

A number of people have asked me if this disaster will have a dramatic impact on the upcoming election.

Without a doubt, voters in some conservative areas of North Carolina will be faced with difficulties…

Officials in North Carolina warned that voting in some parts of the battleground state might be impacted due to Hurricane Helene’s impacts.

During Helene, critical infrastructure in large swaths of western North Carolina and especially parts of the Appalachian Mountain areas were damaged or totally destroyed.

“There may be polling places impacted by mudslides, there may be polling places inaccessible because of damaged roads, and there may be polling places with trees that have fallen on them,” Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, told NPR on Tuesday.

In November, voting in some of the most rural parts of North Carolina could be way down because of this storm.

But the overwhelming backlash to the extremely poor federal response to this emergency could give a boost to the Republican ticket all over the nation.

So we shall see what happens.

Meanwhile, another major hurricane is poised to hit central Florida.

According to Fox Weather, it is being projected that Hurricane Milton could be “the worst in over 100 years for parts of west-central Florida”…

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene struck Florida’s Big Bend, Milton is threatening to do the same, but given the state’s distinctive coastline, the angle of landfall could allow the new storm system to be the worst in over 100 years for parts of west-central Florida.

The area is certainly storm-weary, having recently experienced impacts from Helene, Debby, Ian and Idalia. However, the FOX Forecast Center warns that the unique angle of approach makes the situation similar to what emergency managers have dreaded but prepared for over decades.

All the way back at the beginning of this year, I warned my readers that this would be a banner year for natural disasters.

It is expected that Hurricane Milton will become a Category 3 storm before it comes ashore in the Tampa Bay region…

Florida’s west coast is preparing for a potentially massive evacuation ahead of a strike from Milton, which rapidly intensified into a hurricane on Sunday.

The Tampa Bay region, still reeling from massive coastal flooding from Helene —its worst hurricane in a century — remained in the crosshairs of Milton, a small but fast-strengthening storm expected to become a major Category 3 hurricane before it bulldozes the Gulf Coast.

What a nightmare.

Much of the state is still trying to recover from Hurricane Helene, and now another “life-threatening” storm is on the way…

Tampa Bay could see tropical storm-force winds as early as Tuesday. There could be a “risk of life-threatening impacts” including storm surge, wind and flash flooding along parts of Florida’s Gulf Coast, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. advisory. Heavy rainfall is expected ahead of the storm on Sunday and Monday, which could be “at or near major hurricane strength” before landfall.

Nightmarish storms are just one element of “the perfect storm” that is now upon us.

Unfortunately, this is just the beginning.

We have been getting pummeled by historic natural disaster after historic natural disaster, but what we have already been through is not even worth comparing to what is ahead.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

If chaos is what they intended, everything is coming together beautifully.  Major wars threaten to throw the entire planet into a state of turmoil, criminals are running wild in our streets, and in a little over a month the outcome of the presidential election is likely to cause an unprecedented explosion of anger.  If all of this wasn’t bad enough, our politicians have been allowing millions of desperate people to come pouring over our wide open borders.  Some of these “new arrivals” belong to international criminal gangs, and members of these gangs are being arrested for violent acts, theft, drug dealing and sex trafficking all over America.  Other “new arrivals” belong to terror groups in the Middle East, and you would think that this would be a major national security concern.  Russians have also been crossing the border illegally, as have very large numbers of military-age Chinese men.  The stage is being set for the greatest period of chaos in U.S. history, and this should deeply alarm all of us.

Since Joe Biden has been in the White House, we have witnessed a spike in migration that is absolutely unprecedented in our history.

Millions of people have been allowed in, and once they get into this country they can go wherever they want.

Most of them have come in through the southern border, but what most people don’t realize is that migration over the northern border is also wildly out of control…

There has been growing attention from northern-state lawmakers in recent years over increased attempted illegal border crossings as migration from Latin America grows due to economic and political conditions.

In 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered almost 190,000 individuals attempting to cross from Canada to the United States. That’s almost seven times more than in 2021.

Unfortunately, the number of people coming in through the northern border has just continued to rise in 2024…

This year, the number of illegal crossings along the northern border is hitting record levels, and northern New York, with its proximity to Montreal and Toronto, is the epicenter of the influx. In August alone, the Border Patrol reported 19,000 migrant encounters along the border with Canada, with nearly half entering through New York.

It is so easy to come across the northern border.

The U.S. border with Canada is 5,525 miles long, and there aren’t many border agents covering it.

Fox News recently interviewed a property owner in northern New York that says that migrants are constantly entering this country through his land…

Chris Oliver’s property in Fort Covington, New York has become an unintended gateway for a stream of illegal immigrants crossing the Canadian border into the United States, leaving him dismayed and wondering if the problem will ever be resolved.

He told “Fox & Friends First” he “absolutely” blames “border czar” Kamala Harris and President Biden for the issue.

“You have no control over it. You don’t know who these people are. Not everybody is a good person,” Oliver said on Wednesday.

He is right.

We need to know who these people are, because not everyone is coming here with good intentions.

In fact, during that same interview Oliver mentioned a recent case where a man was arrested that was planning “an ISIS-style attack in New York City”…

“They had a guy up in Ormstown not too far away from us, get arrested. He was planning an ISIS-style attack in New York City. That was just recently. That same night, I still had people come across my cameras. That should be stopped.”

For those that are crossing the northern border, New York City is the number one destination.

According to NPR, transporting “new arrivals” from India to New York City has actually become a very lucrative business…

A group of immigrants from India pile out of a taxi minivan beside the Clinton County, New York, government building in this small upstate city half an hour from the Canadian border.

They are quickly swarmed by a half a dozen fellow Indian immigrants who’ve waited hours for this business opportunity.

This fleet of jitney taxis offering migrants rides south to New York City is one clear example of the informal economy that’s sprung up following a significant increase in unauthorized crossings across the usually sleepy northern border over the last year and a half.

Needless to say, some people are coming to the United States because they want a better life.

But in many other cases, people are crossing the border for very nefarious reasons.

According to the New York Post, children that are as young as 8 years old “are being drugged and smuggled into the US by traffickers”…

Border Patrol agents are warning that kids as young as 8 are being drugged and smuggled into the US by traffickers posing as their parents or family members — and nobody knows how common the horrifying practice is.

Authorities have rescued children caught up in two different instances of such smuggling in recent weeks — including one instance in which the alleged traffickers had birth certificates for multiple kids to whom they weren’t related, according to the Border Patrol.

Border Patrol sources have told The Post they’ve observed increasing numbers of smugglers posing as family units in order to “recycle” children.

Stopping the exploitation of children should be a good enough reason all by itself to secure our borders.

But our politicians refuse to do it.

Others are crossing our borders because they intend to commit acts of violence.  Recently, a very alarming discovery of weapons was made very close to the southern border…

Republicans are outraged at the Biden-Harris administration for ignoring an escalating security crisis at the southern border after rocket-propelled grenades and explosives were found near Arizona.

A bombshell report indicated that at least 4 rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and 8 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were discovered in Mexico close to the U.S.-Mexico border.

Huge amounts of ammunition were also found in the ‘scout site’ that was around 700 feet from the border wall in Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, according to an internal memo first reported by NewsNation.

At this stage, we don’t know exactly who those weapons belonged to or what they intended to do with them.

But it is being reported that Iran “is trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump”…

Iran has made it “clear” that it is trying to assassinate former President Donald Trump, as well as members of his administration – and the current Biden administration – as payback for the killing of an Iranian general and other hardline policies, U.S. officials and lawmakers said Wednesday.

The comments came after Trump’s dramatic disclosure Tuesday night that he had been briefed earlier in the day by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence about Tehran’s “real and specific threats” against him.

As I shared with my core supporters recently, U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz has admitted that a top official with the Department of Homeland Security has told him that there are at least five assassination teams inside this country right now that are targeting Trump.

It really will be a miracle if Trump makes it to the election.

If Trump ultimately ends up winning, the left will go completely nuts and the millions upon millions of “new arrivals” that the left has brought into our major cities will go completely nuts.

It certainly won’t take much to unleash an unprecedented tsunami of civil unrest, and perhaps that was the plan all along.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

As you will see below, video footage that was just captured on the streets of Philadelphia looks like it could have been pulled out of an extremely violent video game.  If this is what our streets look like now, what are they going to look like once economic conditions become very harsh in this country?  Just a few days ago, I wrote about the tremendous chaos that is erupting in cities all over America.  When I wrote that article, I wasn’t even aware of the drama that had just played out in the city of Philadelphia.  From late on Saturday night through the early hours of Sunday morning, there were multiple clashes with police as authorities attempted to break up a series of illegal street takeovers…

Philadelphia continues its spiral into chaos under Democratic leadership, with violent mobs once again taking to the streets, this time attacking police officers and patrol cars in a brazen display of lawlessness.

According to reports from 6 ABC, hundreds of cars and massive crowds participated in illegal car meetups, causing widespread chaos that lasted from 9:30 p.m. Saturday until 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

At least 11 meetups took place, six of which turned into violent confrontations with police. The mayhem resulted in the hospitalization of one officer, while five police cars were heavily damaged.

These kids are completely and utterly out of control.

One of them even had a flamethrower that he used to create a ring of fire in the middle of one major intersection.

And when the police arrived at these events, these kids were not afraid to attack them at all…

“Everything they do is disruptive, they’re ruining the quality of life. At one point, they had a flamethrower—yes, there’s video with a flamethrower.”

“They’re able to disperse quickly and then reform at other locations. That’s why we have officers dedicated. It’s playing wack-a-mole. We hit them at once, and they move to another,” he added.

“It was the aggressiveness at some of the locations — the incident outside of City Hall was aggressive. They physically went after our officers,” Cram said. “They don’t care about your safety, their own safety. You’ve all seen the videos of their behavior. How much chaos can they cause?”

Isn’t it odd how the word “chaos” just keeps popping up all over the place these days?

As you can see in this video footage, the streets of Philadelphia really do look like they belong in “Grand Theft Auto”…

Of course Philadelphia is far from alone.

At this point, there are millions of Americans that are literally afraid to leave their own homes because violent crime has become so pervasive.

In a “tiny Wisconsin community”, a member of the Tren de Aragua gang was just arrested for “sexually assaulting a mother and abusing her daughter”…

A member of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang was arrested in a tiny Wisconsin community for allegedly sexually assaulting a mother and abusing her daughter after he had been arrested and released earlier this year in Minneapolis.

Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden, whose grandchildren live less than a mile away from the Prairie du Chien home where the mother and daughter were held against their will and repeatedly victimized, told Fox News Digital that it was only a matter of time before tragedy would strike the community amid the White House’s open-border policies and sanctuary city initiatives.

All of this chaos is going to play a major role in how these swing states vote.

People are afraid of what they see in the streets, and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

If things are this bad now, what is our society going to look like once economic conditions get really bad?

Yes, economic conditions are not good at all right now.

This is something that I have documented extensively.

But as bad as things are at this moment, the truth is that this is going to look like rip-roaring prosperity compared to what is coming.

Sadly, there are lots of signs that the economy is starting to move in the wrong direction quite rapidly now.

For example, it is being reported that U.S. consumer confidence just dropped by the largest amount in over three years…

Consumers’ view on the economy tumbled in September, falling by the largest level in more than three years as fears grew about jobs and business conditions, the Conference Board reported Tuesday.

The board’s consumer confidence index slid to 98.7, down from 105.6 in August, the biggest one-month decline since August 2021. The Dow Jones consensus forecast was for a reading of 104. By contrast, the index had a reading of 132.6 in February 2020, a month before the Covid pandemic hit.

Each of the five components the organization samples fared worse on the month, with the biggest fall coming among those aged 35-54 and earning less than $50,000.

And banks continue to permanently shut down more branches at a staggering rate…

US banks have closed more than 50 branches in just two weeks, as the march towards online banking continues to decimate local services.

Wells Fargo, Chase, and Fulton were among the banks who closed locations between August 19 and September 7.

Bank of America and Chase gave notice to close the most locations, notifying the regulator that they will shut a further twelve of their branches each.

Every week, more branches are disappearing, and that should deeply alarm all of us.

Of course the exact same thing could be said about retail stores.

Sadly, the very last full-size Kmart store in the continental United States is about to close forever…

The last full-size Kmart store in the continental United States is set to close in October, leaving only one downsized location remaining, reports say.

The department store chain, which once operated around 2,300 locations in the early 1990s, will shutter the full-size store in Bridgehampton, New York, on Oct. 20, Newsday is reporting, citing an employee there.

That means a smaller Kmart store in Miami will become the last one remaining in the U.S. Kmart, which is now owned by Transformco, also has three stores in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

As economic conditions deteriorate, millions of impoverished people that inhabit our major cities are going to become extremely desperate.

And extremely desperate people do extremely desperate things.

We are already seeing so much chaos all over the nation, but what is ahead is going to be so much worse.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.