January 30, 2017

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Liberals Prep for Trump Presidency – even have own Gun Club

Time was, Preppers tended to be right-wingers concerned about the coming social collapse, but since President Trump was elected, it’s left wing liberals who have begun hoarding food and seeking out futureproof shelters.

Prepping or survivalism already has tens of thousands of individual followers or groups actively preparing for emergencies. This movement even warranted a reality series titled “Doomsday Preppers” which aired on National Geographic Channel in 2012.

With a Trump administration now on the horizon, previous non-preppers have begun looking at their earthquake and backpacking gear in a new way – the beginnings of a survival kit. This was the case for San Francisco based Liberal Jim Ray. He told Buzzfeed, “The world in general feels more tumultuous than it did, in a lot of ways. For liberally minded people, the election made that a reality in a way that it wasn’t before.”

Other Liberals are moving beyond simply stocking up their backpacking kit, adding foreign visas and unregistered vehicles to their prepping checklist, according to the Buzzfeed article.

Although left wingers are generally against stocking up on ammunition and guns, The Liberal Gun Club has seen an increase in paying members over the past few months. This group provides a voice for gun-owning liberals, breaking the stereotype of only right wing enthusiasts owning guns and ammunition. Not only this, but gun transactions reached a record high on November 25th shortly after the election result, according to The Trace. Although this could be due to stockists lowering prices to increase their sales.

Liberal Prepper Facebook groups have also begun growing in popularity and number. One group has nearly 1,000 members on the social media site.

On the other hand, some Conservative preppers have relaxed their prepping since the election. But other right wingers are cautioning against this, regardless of political opinion or viewpoint, a new president isn’t going to prevent a natural disaster or grid power outage. Therefore, prepping is still an important and vital part of many peoples’ lives. Only now, preppers can no longer be described as predominantly right wing, President Trump has seen to that.…

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Solar TV: Entertainment Everywhere

Living off-grid but want to keep dumbing down?

Cello Electronics have introduced what they claim is the first LED solar powered TV. With a screen size of 22 inches, the TV is still reasonably compact and so would fit well in an RV, hut or tiny home.

A built-in rechargeable battery and patented “Smart Energy Management System” ensures up to 10 hours of running time from a single charge! A smart antenna receives signals through a DVBT2 tuner giving the viewer HD quality. But if you’re located somewhere really remote where there is little or no TV signal, the built-in satellite tuner can still pick up satellite channels. This allows for TV entertainment, wherever you may be.

This unit can also play a more central role in powering an off-grid home. A 2.0 USB port can not only charge phones, but can also act as a connection or power source for other compatible devices. Not only this by connecting a flash disk to act as storage, the personal video recorder feature can be used. That’s right; this set offers the ability to record a show or series to watch when it’s more convenient for you.

A complete out-of-the-box solution:

The Solar TV package costs $300 and includes the TV, solar panel and antenna. All that needs to be done is to set up the TV with the solar panel (in a suitable location of course) and you’re good to go. A review of an “out of the box” opening can be found here.

UK based Cello Electronics launched the Solar TV at the third Solar Africa Expo in Kenya, last year. A large proportion of the African population do not have access to reliable electricity from the grid. Therefore, a TV that works completely off-grid offers a solution. Knowing that the $300 price tag could be a big barrier for poorer regions in Africa, the company set up a pay-as-you-go scheme. PAYGOTV allows the consumer to pay only for the TV they are watching by purchasing a code entered via the remote control. This also opens up a new market for customers that don’t have their own TV but have access to one in the local community.

Brian Palmer, CEO of Cello, recalled how it all started, saying in a press release, “Could we make a TV that was capable of working off-grid?” Seems the answer is, yes they could!…

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