Month: January 2013

Notes from JWR:

I’m pleased to report that our SurvivalRealty.com spin-off (operated by my son) has logged six more property sales in recent weeks and now has 116 listings for properties in the United States. The highest number of listings are predictably in Idaho, Montana, and in sunny, pistol packin’ Arizona. — Today we present another entry for Round 44 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day …


Legally Prepared?, by L.C.

Picture this: On some not-so-remote night, you are awakened by an insistent thumping on your door, or perhaps by the sound of breaking glass. You stagger up and groggily go toward the noise, maybe muttering or worse. Perhaps you have the time and presence of mind to grab your home defense tool of whatever description, and maybe you awaken your spouse and get him or her (and any children) to a more secure part of the house. Now what? What are you prepared to do? Like many of you, I have been self-sufficient and responsible for more decades than I …


Letter Re: Voting With Our Feet

Captain Rawles, In response to your mention of people voting with their feet – I believe this is much more prevalent today than people realize.  According to the best data I can find, there are currently more than a million Americans leaving the United States each year.  And while the vast majority will choose to retain their US citizenship, and their reasons for leaving are varied, the net effect on the American economy will be great.  Here’s why:  The people who are leaving are, almost to a family, high income earners.  Many of those replacing them in the US are …


News From The American Redoubt:

Wyoming legislator seeks to have his state “step aside” from any federal semi-auto and magazine bans. (Wyoming citizens should contact their state representatives and ask them to co-sponsor HB 104.)    o o o In Montana, Dark Money Helped Democrats Hold a Key Senate Seat: Jon Tester and Denny Rehberg in their June debate, when the two were locked in a tight race for a Montana senate seat.    o o o Another one of those “Only in Idaho” news stories: Ski patrol rescues lost sheep    o o o From the same folks in Spokane who make the Bed …


Economics and Investing:

H.L. sent a video from Belarus that was apparently shot just after a currency revaluation. It illustrates what life can be like during a mass inflation: The Most Tolerant Cashier John Rubino: We Created The Conditions For Catastrophic Failure It Begins: Bundesbank To Commence Repatriating Gold From New York Fed California’s “Prevailing Wage” – Floor Vacuuming At $45.93/Hour Items from The Economatrix: If The Fed Stops Printing, The Collapse Would Be So Incredible That People Would Eat Each Other In The Street Box Demand As Economic Gauge Shows US Output Gains Stimulus From Jobless Aid Fades As US Hiring Grows


Odds ‘n Sods:

Here it comes… Biden: White House readies 19 executive actions on guns. Obviously the series of meetings that Biden recently held were nothing but a charade. These Executive Orders must have been written months ago and waiting on the shelf for an opportune moment. If the Executive Branch moves are indeed drastic, I predict that we can expect to see: 1.) some robust assertion of State sovereignty in many western and southern states (akin to the recent legislative news from Wyoming and Texas), 2.) calls for impeachment, and 3.) calls for immediate intervention by the Supreme Court. (The 2000 Presidential …



Notes from JWR:

I just heard from Micah Wood of C.R.O.S.S. Ministries that he is flying to South Sudan on January 29th. During his first week there, he will have a host in Aweil who is with the South Sudanese national government who will be introducing him to key decision makers. Please pray that his vital ministry succeeds. Micah is a former Front Sight firearms instructor. His ministry in South Sudan will be both sharing the gospel and training the citizenry in marksmanship, to defend their villages. It is one thing to just protest Sudan’s ongoing genocide against the South Sudanese, but it …


Update: SurvivalBlog Archive 2005-2012

The expanded SurvivalBlog 2005-2012 archive has been selling at a fast pace, via digital download. The DVD version of the archive should be available in another 6 or 7 days, after we’ve had time to test some prototypes. The DVD will be priced $2 higher than the digital download. Thanks for your patience. This new archive collection has expanded bonus material (a digital copy of my book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation–normally $28 in hard copy–12 Firearms Manuals, and 14 U.S. Military Manuals), an improved user interface (with the same look and feel of the SurvivalBlog web site), and of …


Americans are Voting with Their Feet

It should come as no surprise that at the same time that Statists agitators are vociferously calling for more People Control that freedom lovers are heading for the exit doors in greater numbers, to wit: The American Redoubt movement, Glenn Beck’s announced Independence Park community (in Texas), calls for state secession (which has been going on longer than most people realize), the ongoing but sadly polarized Free State Movement (in which Free State Wyoming has the best chance of success, demographically), the quiet expatriation of thousands, primarily to various Central and South American countries, and the more splashy celebrity exits. …


The III Citadel Controversy

The name “III Citadel” came into the limelight last weekend, when The Drudge Report posted a prominent link to a CNS article by Gregory Gwyn-Williams, Jr.. In a nutshell, a man identifying himself as “Sam III” who is somehow loosely associated with III Arms (a legitimate company, in West Virginia) started a patriot community building project, somewhere east of St. Maries, Idaho. When I first heard about it in November, I made just one short and noncommittal “this sounds interesting” mention in my blog. (A post which I just removed.) Two days ago I was quite troubled to learn that …


Pat’s Product Review: SIG Sauer Adaptive Carbine Platform (ACP)

SIG Sauer is always coming up with new and innovative firearms, they are on the cutting edge, and their products are always in great demand, too. To wit: many times I have to wait weeks and months, to get products to test from SIG – they are back-ordered quite often, and that attests to the popularity of their firearms. However, for this article, I didn’t test a firearm, instead, I tested the ACP – Adaptive Carbine Platform, this is not a firearm, it is an “accessory” if you will, that you can adapt to many full-sized handguns.   Some explanation …


Letter Re: One Approach at a EDC Get Home Bag

Hi James, I have gone through many variants of a BoB or EDC Bag over the years, and feel that I’ve found a really good setup for a “covert” EDC bag that can function as a get home bag (GHB) more so than a BoB.  It doesn’t draw unwanted attention to carrier, but provides what I think is essential to EDC.   As a summary, I am using a 5.11 Covrt Backpack as my bag.  It provides all the needs I want in a “tactical” bag but doesn’t scream “HEY LOOK!! I have a MOLLE bag with a bunch of …


Recipe of the Week:

Mama June’s Amish Brown Sugar Pie I have been making this pie for holidays since I was 14 years old. It’s inexpensive. easy and tasty. It’s from an old Amish recipe, brown sugar pie, and sets up rather like a caramel custard. The bonus here is the pie crust recipe, which is flaky and delicious and eliminates rolling! the Amish cookbook called it a “pat-in-pan” crust. Add a little garlic salt and flax or wheat germ and it’s the perfect crust for quiche! (My preferred way to use up our eggs.) 2 cups flour, white or wheat, more as needed …


Economics and Investing:

Washington state bank closes; first failure of 2013 H.G. flagged this: New data show 1 in 4 children on food stamps in FY 2011 Greeks Raid Forests in Search of Wood to Heat Homes. (Thanks to H.L. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Powerful “Indicators” Suggest A Stock Market Sell-Off And Inflation Could Be Just Around The Corner Beware The Bond Bubble In 2013 US May Default On Its Debt A Half-Month Earlier Than Expected, New Analysis Shows