Year: 2015

Observations on the December 2nd California Terror Attack

The tragic events yesterday in California’s Inland Empire deserve attention. I’ll just stick to the facts: The primary shooter, Sayeed Rizwan Farook, age 28, was American-born to parents who were from Karachi, Pakistan, and was described as “a very devout Muslim”. He recently traveled to Saudi Arabia. According to The Daily Mail, “Farook graduated from California State University, San Bernardino with a degree in environmental health in 2009.” The second shooter killed in the shootout was Farook’s wife Tashfeen Malik, a pharmacist, age 27, born in Pakistan but more recently a resident of Saudi Arabia, who had married Farook two …


Notes for Thursday – December 03, 2015

Safecastle is currently having a Lindon Farms sale with discounts of as much as 53% on their freeze-dried food with a 25-year shelf life. There are dozens of great varieties. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 61 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value), A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for …


Attaining Food in Urban Locations (From Land and Sea)- Part 3, by Cracker Makk

TURTLES / CATFISH My grandfather ran trot lines all through the year, when I was just a boy. He loved catfish and fresh water turtles. He claimed that turtle, or “cooter” as it is known by the Seminoles, was the best meat in the everglades. It is soft, tender, and sweet. There are a variety of turtles (box, alligator snapping, and softshell to name a few) in freshwater lakes, ponds, canals, and streams, and they are all great eating. My uncle and I always ran trot lines when we went camping. You can run them in salt or fresh water. …


Letter: Bibles as a Prep Item

HJL, While my family and I are firm believers in having your beans and bullets squared away, we also believe in the stockpiling of Bibles. I envision a day when access to the Word of God will be limited and monitored. Look at any totalitarian regime in the past centuries and you will find this to be true. Our current government already views Bible-believing Christians as the problem. It will be only a matter of time before the squeeze comes. It will be subtle at first, limited supplies, “approved” translations, et cetera. When the balloon goes up, forget about it. …


Economics and Investing:

Items from Mr. Econocobas: Watch for U.S. Recession, Zero Interest Rates in China Next Year, Citi Says What Money Means – This is actually an entire chapter from a new book called Prosper!, by the folks over at Peak Prosperity. Good read! Video Interview: USA Watchdog – Chris Martenson – Everybody Knows This Economy Is Unsustainable Items from Professor Preponomics: How Money Disappears from a Fractional Reserve Money System (Mises Institute) An especially outstanding link for an article from the Mises Institute about how money disappears in a fractional reserve system. U.S. Total Debt Soars to $674B in November (Zero …


Odds ‘n Sods:

JWR’s recent interview on the Oathkeepers podcast is now available at YouTube. The discussion of the Paris terror attacks and the release of the novel Land Of Promise begin at the 37:45 mark. o o o NSA Phone Surveillance (Kind of) Comes to an End. So you think it’s all good now? Maybe not: No, NSA Phone Spying Has Not Ended. Let’s see… the database still exists in the hands of the NSA; the “private” companies still keep the records with little to no oversight; tell me again how this is different and better? o o o As expected, the …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Friends we gather round together Holding tight our faith and guns But in this room I feel something greater than ourselves Now listen everyone Arm yourselves for the hammer’s crashing down Arm yourselves all ye citizens Arm yourselves with the ghost of a risen son And lay your armor on There’s no time left, the day has come.” – Jordan Page, excerpted from the lyrics to his song Arm Yourself


Notes for Wednesday – December 02, 2015

I was quite pleased to see that my newly-released novel, Land of Promise, has moved up to #153 in the Kindle e-book rankings. Thanks, folks, for making the book such a success. I am hopeful that it becomes known as “the novel that became a country.” (If it gets into the right hands, perhaps it can inspire some great men to do great things.) – JWR Today, we present another entry for Round 62 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system …


Attaining Food in Urban Locations (From Land and Sea)- Part 2, by Cracker Makk

EGRETS / HERONS Egrets, curlews, and sandhill cranes are also excellent sources of protein and are so delicious that the Native Americans preferred them to over all other bird species. They are protected by the Department of Fish and Wildlife but are very plentiful and may aid in your survival when things get bad. Remember when desperate times present themselves, food is food. This article isn’t about what is legal to eat; it is about what is edible and how it can be obtained. The best places to find these three types of birds are golf courses, parks, and low …


Round 61 of the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest – Winners Announced!

First Prize goes to TLS for “An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite” which was posted on November 21st. he will receive the following prizes: A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value), A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint …


Letter Re: Hoarding Gold and Silver

HJL, I think Marks point was very Americanized and fits in with American beliefs that people have come to value dollars over gold and silver. If you look to people in other countries, you will see that silver and gold is considered and valued as money. In Africa years ago people were panning for gold and bought bread with the small nuggets that they found. In Asia silver and gold are considered a valuable currency to use as a hedge and to keep your wealth. In Europe with their history, it was considered a good thing to save silver and …


Economics and Investing:

The IMF has given the go-ahead to the Chinese renminbi to be used as one of the worlds Main Currencies. The Euro and the British pound take the brunt of the move while the U.S. dollar remains steady at 42%. However, the move has deeper political ramifications. As the author of the piece states: “As the renminbi becomes more deeply woven into the global economy, it undermines the ability of the West to impose financial sanctions on countries accused of human rights abuses and other violations, like Sudan and North Korea. Such countries can increasingly carry out transactions in renminbi.” …


Odds ‘n Sods:

For the more technical among us, this is an interesting tale of how Tor got hacked and made onymous. – Send in by P.S. o o o Reader G.P. sent in this link to the Washington Free Beacon reporting ‘Unprecedented’ Support For Islamic State Within U.S.. It’s a scary situation when the world chooses to stick its collective head in the sand over the evils of Islam. A simple Google search provides an abundance of information and people apparently can’t be bothered to do that. o o o Another “Read my lips” situation: Obama Pledges Executive Action on Gun Control …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Man, no doubt, owes many other moral duties to his fellow men; such as to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, care for the sick, protect the defenseless, assist the weak, and enlighten the ignorant. But these are simply moral duties, of which each man must be his own judge, in each particular case, as to whether, and how, and how far, he can, or will perform them.” – Lysander Spooner


Notes for Tuesday – December 01, 2015

Book Release Day! – Land of Promise I’m pleased to announce that my latest novel, Land of Promise, is now available for ordering, both as a Kindle e-book and as a trade paperback. (An audio book and a Nook book will follow, in a few months.) This is the first novel in a planned six-book series that I’ve dubbed the Counter-Caliphate Chronicles. The first book is set 30 years in the future, after the advent of an Islamic Caliphate that controls most of the world’s land mass, 60% of the world’s population, and nearly all of the planet’s oil and …