Thousands Of Americans Are Fleeing The Big Cities In Preparation For The Coming American Apocalypse

Authored by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Why are so many people suddenly moving away from major U.S. cities?  Recently, I wrote about the mass exodus that is happening out of the state of California, but the truth is that what is happening there is just part of a national phenomenon.  The populations of some of our largest cities are steadily shrinking, and many experts are completely mystified by the seismic demographic shifts that we are now witnessing.  Of course there are a whole host of reasons why people would want to move away from huge cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Cleveland.  For some families, it simply comes down to wanting a better life for their children.  But as you will see below, there are others that believe that things in this country are about to take an apocalyptic turn, and the big cities will not be a place that you want to be when economic collapse, rioting, looting, civil unrest and crime are all spiraling out of control.

According to data just released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Chicago took the prize for the biggest population loss from 2015 to 2016, and it was followed by Detroit and Baltimore…

The counties containing Chicago, Detroit and the independent city of Baltimore were the biggest population losers in the United States from 2015 to 2016, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

Cook County, Ill., where Chicago is the county seat, had the largest population loss of any county in the country from 2015 and 2016.

Cook County alone had a “domestic migration” loss of more than 66,000 people.  That is a staggering number of people to lose in a single year.

Cleveland and Milwaukee were also very high on the list, and some are pointing out that all of these cities are in relatively colder climates and are all struggling economically.

So you certainly can’t blame people living in these cities for wanting to find somewhere warmer and more economically prosperous to live.

But others that are moving away from large cities are deeply concerned about where things are ultimately headed in this country.  It doesn’t take a genius to see that anger, frustration and hatred are rising all around us, and many believe that conditions are ripe for civil unrest and civil conflict.  In fact, best-selling author Doug Casey believes that we could soon see a “civil war” that is set off by a “financial collapse”…

Best-selling author Doug Casey wrote “Crisis Investing” at the time when the U.S. political landscape was transitioning from the Carter Administration to the Reagan Administration. Now, Casey sees a coming crisis that is equal or worse than the Civil War.  Casey explains, “In the U.S. right now, there seems to be so much antagonism it’s almost like pre-Civil War.  There is actually hatred in the U.S. at this point.  It used to be the Republicans and Democrats could disagree, but they could have a civil conversation about a difference of opinion.  Now, it’s active hatred between these two groups.  This is not going to end well.”

Casey thinks the coming financial collapse will be the trigger. Casey says, “It’s going to come down eventually.  I am worried about that, but we are in a situation where the country seem like it is just before a civil war.  It will be more serious than just a financial collapse, and it is likely to be set off by a financial collapse.”

Without a doubt, our financial system is certainly primed for a financial collapse, and when things get really, really bad in this country how will people respond?

Many have decided that they want to get away from the major population centers before we find out the answer to that question.

For example, not too long ago the Chicago Tribune ran a story about why so many preppers are moving to the Great Northwest.  One of the individuals profiled was an ex-resident of California named Trevor Treller who moved up to north Idaho prior to the recent election…

Trevor Treller, 44, who carries a small Smith & Wesson pistol on his hip, moved to north Idaho last year from Long Beach, California, and recently paid a little less than $400,000 for a defensible three-bedroom house on five wooded acres.

Treller, a sommelier at a local resort, said Obama was a key factor in his decision. He said the president has inflamed racial tensions in America, presided over a dangerous expansion of the national debt, been “hostile” to Second Amendment rights and failed to curtail the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran.

Treller said any one of those factors could lead to crippling chaos, so he and his wife have laid in food, weapons and ammunition and are installing an iron gate across their long gravel driveway.Of course it isn’t just ordinary Americans such as Treller that are deeply concerned about what is coming.

Less than a week ago, CNN ran an article entitled “Billionaire bunkers: How the 1% are preparing for the apocalypse“…

Many of the world’s elite, including hedge fund managers, sports stars and tech executives (Bill Gates is rumored to have bunkers at all his properties) have chosen to design their own secret shelters to house their families and staff.

Gary Lynch, general manager of Texas-based Rising S Company, says 2016 sales for their custom high-end underground bunkers grew 700% compared to 2015, while overall sales have grown 300% since the November US presidential election alone.

So why are Bill Gates and his billionaire friends so interested in buying luxury survival bunkers if everything is going to be just fine?

Can someone explain that one to me?

Everywhere you look, retail stores are closing and economic warning signs are flashing red, but those that sell survival bunkers to the elite are making tremendous amounts of money.

And I certainly wish that I could afford one of these survival bunkers, because they sound quite appealing…

One of those shelters, Vivos xPoint, is near the Black Hills of South Dakota, and consists of 575 military bunkers that served as an Army Munitions Depot until 1967.

Presently being converted into a facility that will accommodate about 5,000 people, the interiors of each bunker are outfitted by the owners at a cost of between $25,000 to $200,000 each. The price depends on whether they want a minimalist space or a home with high-end finishes.

The compound itself will be equipped with all the comforts of a small town, including a community theater, classrooms, hydroponic gardens, a medical clinic, a spa and a gym.

These elitists plan to ride out the coming American apocalypse in style while the world above them is literally going insane.

Meanwhile, most of the general population continues to be completely oblivious to what is about to happen to them, and so the events that are coming will close upon them suddenly like a trap and there will be no escape.

Sheriff Tries to Expose List of 300 Bad Cops, Courts & Union Promptly Block Him

Los Angeles, CA — Domestic violence, bribery, theft, excessive force, brutality — these are just a few of the crimes committed by active duty sheriff’s deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In total, there are 300 deputies with a history of misconduct who Sheriff Jim McDonnell thinks the public should know about. However, thanks to a protectionist court system and a powerful police union, the crimes of these cops may remain secret.

Having taken over one of the most corrupt sheriff’s departments in the country, McDonnell appears to be taking steps to increase transparency and foster public trust. But these steps are being met with heavy resistance along the way.

In 2014, McDonnell inherited a department in chaos.

In April of last year, former Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Undersheriff Paul Tanaka was convicted in connection with a sweeping, federal civil rights investigation of corruption and deputy-on-inmate abuse inside the jail system.

Tanaka, along with former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, and dozens of other deputies were exposed in a horrific abuse scandal that shocked LA County. In fact, Baca’s crimes were proven so grave in a civil suit, that he was found personally liable for $100,000, which he is to pay the victim directly out of his own pocket.

After seeing the breeding ground for corruption that McDonnell took over, it is no surprise his move to increase transparency is being met with such resistance. The years of corruption that fostered under Baca did not happen in a vacuum. It was allowed to grow out of control by a union and system that helped cover it up.

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To promote a more transparent and fair system of justice, McDonnell wanted to turn over the names and crimes of hundreds of problem cops to prosecutors, who can then add them to a database that tracks problem cops. This information can then be disclosed to defendants who may have been unjustly targeted by these cops.

After all, if a cop has been caught stealing from the department, beating an innocent person, or accepting bribes — their honesty on the stand should certainly come under question — especially considering the fact that their tainted testimony could decide whether or not an innocent person gets thrown in a cage.

However, according to the LA Times, the union that represents rank-and-file deputies strongly opposes providing the names to prosecutors and has taken the department to court. The Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS) argues that the disclosure would violate state laws protecting officer personnel files and draw unfair scrutiny on deputies whose mistakes might have happened long ago.

Shortly after the Union noted their opposition, an appeals court sided with them by blocking the sheriff from sending the list of problem cops to the DA.

To be clear here, this list would not be a matter of public record, although it undoubtedly should be. It would only come up when the officer is set to testify against someone they accused of a crime.

As the Times points out, departments in at least a dozen counties, such as San Francisco and Sacramento, regularly send prosecutors the names of problem officers. Some, including agencies in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura have done so for well over a decade.

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This process only helps to further the cause of transparency — but not in LA.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme court ruled, in Brady vs. Maryland, prosecutors must turn over exculpatory, or favorable evidence to the defense to lessen the instance of faulty convictions. However, if this precedent in LA takes hold, the rights of the accused will suffer a dangerous blow.

Jerry Coleman, a special assistant district attorney in San Francisco County who teaches prosecutorial ethics at the University of San Francisco School of Law, told the Times that the ripple effects of such a failure can spread well beyond the courtroom.

“They affect not just our relations with police but our relations with victims, and the integrity of the criminal justice system entirely, and the public’s sense of honesty in the proceedings,” he said.

As for the court’s reasoning for keeping the criminal records of police officers secret — it could “create a negative stigma for the deputy.”

“The disclosure of a deputy’s name in conjunction with this list will create a negative stigma for the deputy,” Superior Court Judge James Chalfant wrote in his decision last month.

If the cop is accused of beating a handcuffed suspect, shouldn’t his ‘stigma’ be ‘negative’, especially given the fact that he was obviously allowed to keep his badge and gun?

“We’re not trying to hide anything that’s gone on in the past. The fact of the matter is, nobody wants to be wrongly accused of anything. That applies to everyone else in the world, so it should apply to deputies too,” ALADS’ president, Det. Ron Hernandez said.

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However, if these officers were wrongly accused, then their records should not have any marks on them.

To highlight the glaring double standard of cops and the people they police, consider what happens after a police-involved shooting. Immediately after a cop shoots someone, their previous criminal record is not only released but it is published by news outlets in an attempt to assassinate the victim’s character and publicly and without due process exonerate the officer.

At least in the case of prosecutors maintaining the list, these matters would be resolved in a courtroom instead of the comment sections of local news affiliates.

Just as police accountability attempts to take a half step forward, the blue wall of protection comes crashing down and sets it two steps back.

Matt Agorist is an honorably discharged veteran of the USMC and former intelligence operator directly tasked by the NSA. This prior experience gives him unique insight into the world of government corruption and the American police state. Agorist has been an independent journalist for over a decade and has been featured on mainstream networks around the world. Follow @MattAgorist on Twitter and now on Steemit