Crazy rednecks in Sandpoint? Say it ain't so, Joe!

In the 1980s and 1990s, 30 miles south of Sandpoint, the areas of Coeur d'Alene and Hayden Lake attracted nationwide publicity when white supremacist Neo-Nazi groups (most notably the Aryan Nations) set up headquarters in the area. Many Sandpoint residents reacted negatively to such groups; some formed the Bonner County Human Rights Task Force in opposition.

Hey, Google - how far is that from Ruby Ridge?

Thanks, Google.

Seriously, though. Peak Freak was 2012. Them numbers been crashing ever since. It's almost as if the Trib was leaving out important keywords just so you'd think they actually had a news story.

THE THING ABOUT PREPPING

is that you're basically assuming the world will collapse on your terms. You're effectively preparing for the fabled "zombie apocalypse" whereby the rest of the human race suddenly becomes a bunch of Non-Player Characters whose actions are transparent, whose motivations are transparent and whose knowledge and resources are inferior to yours by design. I mean, look at the way they get from "I'm a redneck with too many guns" to "I am the Great Humungus, King of the Wasteland":

TEOTWAWKI ("The End Of The World As We Know It")

TSHTF ("The Shit Hits The Fan")

Those are prepper shorthand, they're statistically relevant, and they reflect about as much insight and knowledge of the key events leading to crisis as if they'd written "complications ensue" or "a miracle occurs."

Full disclosure: I've got 3 months worth of dehydrated food under the house. But that's because it was $200 on Woot, because I have a river next to my house, and because the power goes out for a couple days at a time sometimes. And hey - I live where there are earthquakes and volcanos. I can imagine a few different ways I might end up with a grocery store out of food for a few days and my "patriot pantry" makes me feel better about leaving my wife and kid to fend for themselves while I'm in LA.

But the path between my insecurity and muthafuckin' Sandpoint is a long and twisted one.