“National security always matters, obviously, But, the reality is if you have an open door in your software for the good guys, the bad guys get in there, too.”  – Tim Cook, Apple

Saturday (May 8th) the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45% of fuel to the East coast, was infected with ransomware by criminal hackers. Fuel delivery to 17 states was effectively shut down.

On Monday, gas lines had begun to form, and stations were limiting the amount of gallons for purchase while prices started to climb.

By Tuesday (May 11th) half of gas stations supplied through Colonial had run dry.

I heard from an LE contact in Alabama on Wednesday that his city had ceased operation of all non-essential government vehicles. Fire, ambulance, and patrol cars were all that were running; Street & Sanitation, School Buses, etc., were staying parked for the duration. His town was out of gas, and rationing was in place.

Over the weekend, hoarding was reported – by Monday, fist fights were taking place in lines.

Late afternoon on Wednesday, Colonial announced they were resuming operations by 5pm.

Thursday Bloomberg reported that Colonial had PAID the ransom just hours after the initial attack, some almost 5-million dollars in cryptocurrency. By late afternoon the amount was rumored to be closer to 4-million.

Stations continued to run out of fuel throughout the day, the situation becoming increasingly dire rather than improving.

I spoke with a local resident of my town yesterday who said his wife is stranded at a rest stop in Louisiana. Her tank is on empty, as are the pumps where she is. She’s been told fuel will arrive in 48-hours.

The best estimate for deliveries to start catching up will be late Friday, or Saturday.

Comment:

The Dishrag-in-Chief has been his usual useless self all week – no mention of releasing strategic reserves, and today he wouldn’t even confirm or deny the ransom had been paid.

And, let’s take a moment to review that bit of insanity.

The ransom was paid!?

Whatever happened to “we don’t negotiate with terrorists”? I guess it went right out the window when mobs began burning and looting our cities and politicians started giving them their way. But, I digress… This precedent cannot stand. Paying off terrorists will result in more terrorism. The end.

From this day forward we can expect a constant barrage of power outages, fuel shortages, credit/debit card malfunctions, and all other manner of electronically controlled life to be held hostage for payouts.

The idea fuel to 17 states can be brought to a grinding halt by a hacker is outrageous. It’s even more outrageous that anyone would pay them. And it’s even more outrageous there isn’t a backup plan in place.

Of course, 80% of the blame can be laid on government. Specifically, the politicians who have allowed this fragility to occur. The absolute lie that pipelines are dangerous, combined with the bigger lie of “green energy”, has placed us in a jackpot where any enemy with the will can take us down in a matter of days. And not just with hacking – If one valve station can be hit by one terrorist, no fuel.  But, don’t worry, I’m sure none of those are walking across the Southern boarder in those groups of 170 THOUSAND illegals doing so EVERY MONTH.  As Circle-Back Psaki says, “It’s not a crisis, it’s a challenge.”

In 4-months we went from energy independent and a secure border to pure chaos. It’s almost like it’s on purpose.

Should fuel supplies be replenished in the next few days, this event will be forgotten within a week. Therein lies the real problem. We are a nation made up, for the most part, of people who have never known a hungry day in their lives. A week of disruption, even three days of sleeping in their car, will not be enough to break most Americans out of their comfort fog. As soon as Netflix is streaming and pizza is being delivered again, they will lull themselves right back into the “it’s always been this way, and it always will be” fairy-tale.

There will be no public outcry for improving national security, and there will be no effort by the White House to do so. To them, it’s America LAST. All one has to hear to confirm it was Energy Secretary, Jennifer Granholm’s, words on Thursday:

“And, you know, if you drive an electric car, this would not be affecting you, clearly.”

That’s right, 17 states without gas is a perfect opportunity to take a political shot and promote their Green New Deal. Apparently, food and medicine delivered via electric semi, and jet aircraft run on solar.  I guess, none of the “green energy” producers will be incorporating any computer controls into their future systems, either.  And, never mind that there isn’t enough lithium on the planet to make the batteries for their all-electric vehicles by 2050 plan.

Conclusion:

We’re all on our own!

If 2020 didn’t kick you in the pants to have preparations in place, welcome to 2021. Only the “true believers” and irredeemably naive will continue to ignore the present reality, as they NEVER learn.

How about you?

“Many have blamed the gasoline shortages and long lines at filling stations in 1973 on the Arab Oil embargo of that year. However, the shortages and long lines began months before the Arab oil embargo, right after price controls were imposed.” – Thomas Sowell, Basic Economics: A Citizen’s Guide to the Economy