Month: January 2008

Three Letters Re: How to Win with Asymmetric Warfare, by Robert R.

Dear JWR, I would like to share some links and great references from a survival lecture and slide presentation given by one of the most important (yet non-acclaimed nearly enough) contributors to our US Strategic Warfare Development by John R. Boyd, Col. USA, deceased 1997. See this PDF of a slide presentation I had to chuckle when I read a follow up tactical criticism submitted in an article to SurvivalBlog and to the attempted re-writing and improving potential maneuverings for chapter scenario enhancements in excerpts from your revised “Patriots” novel. I so much enjoy this novel and consider it a …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The US Federal Reserve appears poised to significantly increase its purchases of Treasury securities. These purchases are called an open market operations or “repos”, and are highly inflationary, if done to excess. Since the Accord of 1951, the Federal Reserve banking cartel has been in full control of open market operations. The credit market is presently going through an unprecedented collapse, so be ready for more Fed “liquidity pumping” and hence more inflation!   o o o From Reuters: ‘Second Thoughts about Fluoride,’ Reports Scientific American. Yet another good reason to move to the hinterboonies.    o o o Desert …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts, a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading, a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays down that,if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right." – Marcus Tulius Cicero (106-53 B.C.)


Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 14 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 14 ends on January 31st, so e-mail us your entry soon! Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.


How to Win with Asymmetric Warfare, by Robert R.

As preface, I would like to say that I abhor violence and believe killing should only be done when absolutely necessary, but if things in America ever deteriorate to the point of national collapse, with murderous gangs of looters, or other violent oppressive groups wandering the land, it might be worth going on the offensive instead of sitting tight and hoping for the best. Even in the most well-defended retreat, a dedicated group of aggressors has all the time in the world to devise an attack strategy that could defeat you. They could rain .50 caliber rounds on you from …


Letter Re: Potential for Gold Confiscation in the U.S.?

Hi Jim. I’m pretty sure you know this but I thought i would pass it along anyway. I just went through this trying to explain some of the history of 1933 to a friend. Presidential Executive Order 6102 (From: President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the United States Congress, 5 April, 1933) And yes, you are very correct that most of this is coming from coin dealers trying to sell overpriced stuff. Here is an explanation. Here ia quote from Congressman Dr. Ron Paul on gold confiscation: “If it gets bad enough, they’ll declare a national economic …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader “O.E.” suggested Jim Willie’s recent commentary: Threat of Sovereign Wealth Funds. O.E.’s comment: “This is an interesting article on these new contraptions. The fire sale of America has begun.”    o o o Several readers sent us a link to a piece by economist Jim Sinclair: The Panic Starts. Jim Sinclair is really ringing the alarm bells. In times like these I think that he has good reason to be an alarmist.    o o o Nicole suggested this article by Greenpa as a counterpoint to those who are touting switchgrass as an ethanol source. OBTW, since “Greenpa” has …



Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction lot is now at $120. The auction is for a Brunton Solarport 4.4 watt photovoltaic panel (a $140 retail value), a Deluxe Outdoor Survival Tool Kit (a $70 retail value) –both kindly donated by Ready Made Resources as well as seven other items: A copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value), an autographed copy of my novel “Patriots” (a $23 retail value), an autographed copy of my nonfiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” (a $25 retail value), …


Letter Re: Potential for Gold Confiscation in the U.S.?

Hi Jim, I’d very much like your opinion on this matter. I’ve been investing in gold and silver bullion for a couple years now. One source from which I made one of my purchases stated that he believed that gold and silver are going to be confiscated from citizens by our government when the economy implodes and that the confiscation will take place soon after an announcement is made without warning, that the face value of the gold will be reset to $42.00, which will be the sum that’s reimbursed upon confiscation. He argued that investing in pre-1933 collectable silver …


Letter Re: Getting Yourself–and Your Rifle–Fitted for Body Armor

Dear Jim: Boston T. Party backs up your opinion on the value of Body Armor – to quote: “… An order of magnitude advantage” (“Boston on Surviving Y2K and Other Lovely Disasters“). you posted a good letter from Ryan that mentioned adjusting your buttstock length to account for Body Armor, web gear, etc. The main point to test all your gear – all at the same time – is a real nugget of wisdom. It’s amazing the glitches that pop up that you can never foresee until you test. One thing to note – 2″ is probably a little too …


Letter Re: Constructing an Improvised CB Radio Antenna

Jim, Regarding the recent blog article “Constructing an Improvised CB Radio Antenna”, here is a site that has good construction info and a few graphical images of custom built CB antennas This site by Signal Engineering adds some antenna theory for those inclined to learn more about CB antennas. If you are into experimenting with antennas, I recommend getting an antenna analyzer from MFJ. They are fairly inexpensive (as far as test equipment go) yet will yield very helpful tuning and optimization information. You can purchase one for use in nearly any radio service (ham, CB, VHF/UHF. etc).- Rob at …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader “Rightcoast” mentioned that the new anthology of post-apocalyptic fiction titled Wastelands, from Night Shade Books, is now available for ordering. (I first mentioned this book back before it was available for ordering.) The authors include M. Rickert, Cory Doctorow, and Richard Kadrey.    o o o We live in a very remote, lightly-populated area “somewhere west of the Rockies”, so our daytime radio reception is pitiful. (Although at night, it is fantastic on the AM and shortwave bands.) Since we enjoy listening to Internet radio webcasts and podcasts such as sermons, I recently got a small FM transmitter …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 14 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 14 ends on January 31st, so e-mail us your entry soon! Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.