Happy Belated Thanksgiving To all Plus A Site And U.S./Canary Island Earthquake/Volcanic Activity Update

For millions of Americans, Thanksgiving this year will not be what it used to be, and for those who have fallen into extreme poverty, we urge you to hold-on as best you can and know that we share your pain. (Our family falls into the poverty category too, and only through living in a multi-generational household are we able to afford luxuries like the Internet and TV, not to mention having a roof over our heads.)  As I watch and take-in what has happened to this nation, I am grateful that Free Speech is still hanging on by a thread, and am especially grateful to Senator Bernie Sanders who has courageously spoken-out, again and again against the corruption in Congress and still honors his oath of office – a rarity these days as our Congress devolves into a “me-first” mentality that favors the rich and corporations while exacting their profits (Sic) from those whom can barely feed their families.

We are especially grateful to those whom are spending their Thanksgiving at various Occupy Wall Street protests throughout the nation and selflessly face the cold, police brutality, and a score of hardships as they exercise their fundamental constitutional rights of Free Speech/Assembly and are standing-up for the 99%.  The GOP is attempting to pit American against American in their attempts to demonize these Freedom Fighters while abandoning any concept of understanding or adhering to our Constitution and Bill of Rights. A huge portion of the nation is awakening and educating themselves through Alternative News sites while the MSM is still, for the most part, parroting the Corporate Message that everything will be alright as long as we remain complacent and oblivious to the truth – and pay for the criminality and greed of the 1% that seek a Fascist form of governance.

We did manage to upgrade The Political Bandit and hope that our new look is pleasing to the eye as well as easy to navigate. You will note that there are no advertisements running and they haven’t for months. We ran through our funds before final completion of the new design, and without advertising revenue we are hard pressed to finish the upgrade – but at least it’s functional, and we’re grateful for that as well.  We do not run constant campaigns to seek donations, however, if you’re in the giving spirit and can afford it, any and all donations are used for site upgrades and maintenance and are greatly appreciated.

Increasing Earthquake Activity within The United States

For those of you who have been monitoring earthquake activity within the United States, it is obvious that said seismic activity is increasing, and in the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the recent 4.0 and above quakes that have occurred during the past three months have been unprecedented for as long as I’ve been monitoring this particular Mega-thrust zone, which is now well over seven years.  It’s interesting that most of the 4.0 and above quakes have been at opposite ends of the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and while this certainly doesn’t mean that a major event is imminent – it does demonstrate that it’s becoming active again, and that should elevate the awareness level and hopefully, for those that live within this major fault zone to plan for the worst while hoping that the area will once again fall into dormancy. All people in Canada and the United States affected by this quake zone should have solid evacuation plans in place at all times as well as the resources to support their families for as much as thirty (30) days or more. A quake of the magnitude generated by the Cascadia Subduction Zone would be so catastrophic that FEMA would be overwhelmed within a day or two and would cause enough damage to kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions (Depending on the time that the quake struck), and logistics would be a nightmare in reestablishing transit routes for emergency food, water, and medical supplies that affects such a wide area and concentrated population base.

The entire San Andreas Fault Zone has also been more active than usual with small earthquakes occurring directly on the fault lines; interpreting these 2.5 to 3+ quakes that are striking directly on the fault lines is extremely difficult. On one hand, they could be helping to relieve the strain on the fault thereby delaying a major event, while in the same breath, they also could be the precursor to a major event that some scientists have speculated could cause the San Andres Fault to experience a major event that allows the fault to rupture along its entire length. A quake of that severity would not only pummel California with a disastrous 8 or 9+ quake that could travel at supersonic speeds and generate a third type of catastrophic “Supershear “wave that differs from the normal P-Waves and S-Waves generated by earthquakes that are not on strike-slip faults and represent our most common form of earthquakes. A quake of this type is far more dangerous than one of the same magnitude that only generates P & S-Waves and is appropriately called a “Supershear Earthquake.”

A supershear earthquake is an earthquake in which the propagation of the rupture along the fault surface occurs at speeds in excess of the seismic shear wave velocity. This causes a form of sonic boom to occur^[1].

Rupture propagation velocity

During seismic events along a fault surface the displacement initiates at the focus and then propagates outwards. Typically the focus lies towards one end of the slip surface and much of the propagation is unidirectional (e.g. the 2008 Sichuan and 2004 Indian Ocean earthquakes). Theoretical studies have in the past suggested that the upper bound for propagation velocity is that of Rayleigh waves, approximately 0.92 of the shear wave velocity^[2]. However, evidence of propagation at velocities between S-wave and P-wave values have been reported for several earthquakes^[3][4] in agreement with theoretical and laboratory studies that support the possibility of rupture propagation in this velocity range.^[5][6]

Occurrence

Mode-I, Mode-II, and Mode-III cracks.

Evidence of rupture propagation at velocities greater than S-wave velocities expected for the surrounding crust have been observed for several large earthquakes associated with strike-slip faults. During strike-slip, the main component of rupture propagation will be horizontal, in the direction of displacement, as a Mode II (in-plane) shear crack. This contrasts with a dip-slip rupture where the main direction of rupture propagation will be perpendicular to the displacement, like a Mode III (anti-plane) shear crack. Theoretical studies have shown that Mode III cracks are limited to the shear wave velocity but that Mode II cracks can propagate between the S and P-wave velocities ^[7] and this may explain why supershear earthquakes have not been observed on dip-slip faults. LINK

When you take the time to examine the history of earthquakes and volcanoes that occur along the boundaries of the Ring of Fire and their subsequent frequency and magnitude, the sheer amount of historical data suggests that our West Coast is living on borrowed time and it’s not if these quakes will happen – but when. One could take place tomorrow or in 20 years, the latter of which I believe is highly unlikely. Making preparations for these quakes could be a matter of life or death, and to ignore the warnings of our scientific community is asking for trouble rather than helping to secure your family’s potential survival if such an event were to occur. When you attempt to make a decision whether or not to prepare for a catastrophic earthquake, please consider the unusual quakes that have struck the East Coast, Colorado and Oklahoma – and the increased amount of seismic activity that is striking in unusual places throughout the nation. Seismic activity is increasing on a global basis; to believe that we are immune or “prepared” for events such as those described above is naive and dangerous. It’s better to be safe rather than sorry…

The Canary Islands

Nature is putting on quite a show at the El Hierro Volcano located on the Island of El Hierro, located approximately 40 miles from the extremely unstable Cumbre Vieja Volcano located on La Palma Island which has been featured by the History Channel as being able to generate a tsunami that could engulf the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States – an event that has been described as a Mega-disaster if La Palma’s Cumbre Vieja Volcano erupts and the flank of the highly unstable Cumbre Vieja Volcano falls into the Atlantic Ocean, and while the sheer beauty and majesty of the underwater volcanic eruptions and seismic activity would seem to warrant global attention, there has been a strange silence in regard these events – and we believe that the lack of MSM news coverage on this phenomena is because no government wants to be responsible for causing panic when there isn’t enough conclusive scientific evidence that a major eruption of the El Hierro Volcano could cause the flank of the Cumbre Vieja Volcano to slide into the Atlantic Ocean, there is also no evidence currently available that such an event could be the catalyst to a Mega-disaster on La Palma that has been predicted, but never witnessed in modern recorded history.

Even though a flank collapse of La Palma Island has never been witnessed in modern times, neither has the eruption of the Yellowstone Super Volcano, however, we do know that it erupts approximately every 600,000 years, with the last major eruption occurring over 640,000 years ago – evidence that an eruption at Yellowstone is also far overdue. In short, we are living in dangerous times and the scientific community has finally acknowledged that earthquake and volcanic activity is increasing on a global basis - and to ignore the dangers we face while global warming is ravaging the planet and causing this increase in seismic and volcanic activity, in this writer’s opinion, is foolhardy at best and could spell doom to those who fail to prepare for what we know is inevitable, even though no one knows for a certainty when or where the next Mega-disaster will occur.

One fact is certain; the United States has been extremely fortunate if not downright lucky that a Mega-disaster has not struck our nation in regard the above noted potential events – but luck can only last for so long, and we believe that preparedness, not panic or anxiety, is the only way to help to ensure that you and your family have a better than average probability of surviving any of the scenarios as described above.

To read about and view the majesty of Mother Nature at work, we urge our readership to visit the Earthquake Report and view the photos and activity that is not being reported by the MSM or any other source other than Alternative News sites at this LINK, and in doing so, we hope your understanding of the events happening in the Canary Islands will begin to raise your personal awareness of the potential for disaster in the United States and sincerely hope that those in the affected areas will act with caution and preparedness.