Many Americans across the country woke up on Thursday morning without cell service — but there’s still no explanation for what caused the outage.
The most affected were AT&T customers with 50,000 outages officially reported at 7 a.m. EST, but some Verizon and T-Mobile customers were affected as well.
Now, Americans are left wondering whether or not it was a solar flare or a massive cyberattack — especially considering just yesterday there was a cyber attack on the cellular systems in Israel.
This was a small taste of what life would be like after such an attack, but a bigger attack could have devastating effects.
“One Second After” author William Forstchen has been warning about this for years.
“If you saw the number of attacks, incoming attacks on our infrastructure, on our military, it’s unrelenting,” Forstchen tells Glenn Beck. “This is just a foretaste of the future,” adding that we should be prepared for a cyber attack.
“Cyber attacks could include our water system, our electrical grid,” Glenn says, asking Forstchen how widespread this could be.
“It could be targeted to a specific or in a general offensive, like what I would call a first strike scenario,” Forstchen says. “For example, take where you are, suppose water all across the board was shut down for 48 hours because that’s all electronically controlled.”
“Would be very bad within 24 to 48 hours,” he adds.
“If you lose electricity, that’s the fundamental building block,” he continues. “Then everything goes. Water, food, medical, all of it.”
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
The governors of several Eastern states have declared states of emergencies over gas shortages as the Colonial Pipeline — which supplies 45% of all fuel to the East Coast — remains shut down after being hit with a cyberattack over the weekend.
But officials say the shortages are due to panic-buying, not an actual lack of gas.
On Tuesday, Gov. Roy Cooper (D) of North Carolina, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) of Georgia, and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) of Virginia all declared states of emergency as long lines at pumps and rising gas prices hit their states amid shortages and runs on fueling stations.
Kemp said in a statement:
"Today, I signed an executive order suspending the gas tax in Georgia to help with higher prices as a result of the Colonial cyberattack. We are working closely with Colonial and expect for them to recover by the end of the week," Kemp said, adding, "Unfortunately, extensive media coverage has caused people to panic, which has resulted in higher gas prices."
Newsweek reported that according to "energy data collection website Gas Buddy said that five states—Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia—collectively saw gasoline demand skyrocket more than 40 percent on Monday alone."
On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced a regional emergency declaration in response to the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline, which the FBI confirmed the next day "was a ransomware attack carried out by criminals belonging to the group known as DarkSide," Fox Business reported.
The Washington Examiner noted that the states impacted by the hack include: Alabama, Arkansas, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said during a media briefing Tuesday that the southeastern states are not experiencing shortages, but rather, are facing a "supply crunch."
"It's not that we have a gasoline shortage," Granholm said, according to KXEL-AM. "It's that we have this supply crunch, and that things will be back to normal soon, and that we're asking people not to hoard."
Granholm added, "We have gasoline. We just have to get it to the right places."
Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm says that the current gasoline situation is a "supply crunch," not a "gasoline shorta… https://t.co/aL9t841RaN
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) 1620757939.0
The Secretary of Energy then conceded that getting the pipeline back up and running would be the "the best way" to solve the problem, as the DOT considers interim solutions such as the possibility of using rail to move gas into the southeast.
Critics were quick to note that President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline shortly after taking office.
After Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, Energy Secretary Granholm says “pipe is the best way” to transport f… https://t.co/E3zFs68qVQ
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) 1620760176.0
The mayor of Colorado City, Texas, resigned on Tuesday, after receiving backlash for a controversial Facebook post where he lambasted citizens complaining about the ongoing power and water outages plaguing the state due to brutal winter storms, telling them to stop being lazy and "sink or swim."
In a post Tuesday morning, Mayor Tim Boyd declared, "Let me hurt some feelings while I have a minute!"
"No one owes you are (sic) your family anything," he said in his public statement, "nor is it the local government's responsibility to support you during trying times likes this! Sink or swim it's your choice! The City and County, along with power providers or any other service owes you NOTHING!"
Boyd went on to say he was "sick and tired of people looking for a damn handout" telling folks, "If you don't have electricity you step up and come up with a game plan to keep your family warm and safe. If you have no water you deal without and think outside of the box to survive and supply water to your family."
He added in the lengthy message, "If you are sitting at home in the cold because you have no power and are sitting there waiting for someone to come rescue you because your lazy is direct result of your raising! Only the strong survive and the weak will parish (sic)."
Boyd delivered his message as millions of Texans have experienced power outages and at least five people have died amid a massive winter storm that has pummeled the state in recent days. Citizens without power have resorted to finding other heat sources on their own or taking shelter in vehicles or warming centers.
The crisis led Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) to deploy the National Guard to assist citizens and to call for an investigation into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the nonprofit that oversees the circulation of electricity across the state. Abbott also called for ERCOT leadership to step down over the failures.
By Tuesday afternoon, Boyd acknowledged to KTXS-TV that he had resigned his post as mayor and offered an apology for his rant.
"I would never want to hurt the elderly or anyone that is in true need of help to be left to fend for themselves," Boyd told the outlet. "I was only making the statement that those folks that are too lazy to get up and fend for themselves but are capable should not be dealt a handout. I apologize for the wording and some of the phrases that were used!"
He added, "Please understand, if I had it to do over again, I would have just kept my words to myself and if I did say them I would have used better wording and been more descriptive."
As of Friday morning, it appears many small businesses may not be able to do digital or card-based transactions going into the weekend.
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One Unique Cardinal | 2/26/21