Month: January 2016

Economics and Investing:

The Shipping News Says the World Economy Is Toast – G.G. o o o IMF and World Bank move to forestall oil-led defaults – G.G. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Fed Included Phrase About International Developments (Business Insider) No right answer. No easy way out. Excerpt: “…it looks like the Fed is once again eyeing what’s happening abroad as it is materially affecting businesses that make up the US economy.” Updated Wasteful Spending Ratings Unveiled for 2016 Presidential Candidates (Citizens Against Government Waste) Excerpt: “With the beginning of the presidential caucuses and primaries just one week …


Podcast Pick of the Week

Samuel Culper over at Forward Observer Magazine has a podcast on the Malhuer aftermath and the Lessons learned. While there are still holdouts at the wildlife refuge, the leadership has been taken down and arrested, one man is dead and many have left the refuge. Culper walks the listeners through the intelligence failures and what could have been done better and how the community can learn from this event. Malhuer aftermath and the Lessons learned


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Rawles XL Voyager limited edition tanto pocketknife has been a strong seller for Cold Steel. I’ve been told that they now have just a few hundred left. So if you want one, then don’t hesitate. This is a limited edition, so once they are gone they are truly gone. (After they are only available on the secondary market, prices are expected to rise, driven by collectors. So you might want to keep the original box for your knife.) Note that all profits from the sales of these knives are going to charity. – JWR o o o From the …



Prayer Requests: America’s Latest Inversions of Justice

Like many other Americans living in rural towns, I attend a church that is small enough that there is time to hear the prayer requests of individual congregants–both at the Wednesday evening Bible study meeting and at the Sunday worship services. This coming Sunday, I plan to voice three prayer requests in succession. This is in reaction to three news stories that have circulated in just the past two weeks. These news reports have deeply troubled me, and have begun to dominate my prayer life. All three of these involve inversions of justice. They are: Indictment of the Planned Parenthood …



Digital Currency: The Key Tool of 21st Century Monolithic Nanny State Tyranny

There has been talk of doing away with paper currency for several decades, but up until now that has mostly been idle conjecture and mostly bluster. Gradually, however, the building blocks of such a system have indeed been developed. These enabling technologies include: Credit cards Debit cards Postal meters Credit and debit card enabled pay phones Credit and debit card enabled vending machines Credit and debit card enabled “pay before you exit” parking garage kiosks Grocery and warehouse store “member” cards Automated bank account and wage garnishment by the IRS Automated child support and alimony payments Transnational debit cards with …


Letter Re: Bug Out Boats

Hugh, Living in a coastal city on the northeast has had me thinking of bugout boats for some time. A cabin cruiser with supplies and full tank would make for an expedient exit from a burning city. Having a retreat to arrive at would beat trying to make it on the boat à la “waterworld”. Sadly the logistics are daunting. A year around-maintained boat is not easy in a zone 5 climate, plus a maintained retreat to arrive at and then trying to make it in your “new home”. As mentioned in numerous survival articles, you will most likely not …


Economics and Investing:

Wondering how “Too big to fail” came about? You need to see this graphic: The Instrument of Our Enslavement – JFJ o o o The War on Cash: A Country by Country Guide o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Taxpayers to IRS: Fix the Debt Yourself(Washington Examiner) Taxpayers’ donations to debt reduction are drying up. Maybe they finally realize that their contributions haven’t made so much as a dent in the debt, nor have their contributions changed the behaviors of a spendthrift government. Excerpt: “Taxpayers have been able to donate money to reduce the national debt since …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Hundreds of DHS badges, guns, cell phones lost or stolen since 2012 Exerpt: “…the phones are likely to have enough protocols in place to prevent them from being used for nefarious purposes, the badges and credentials are an entirely different matter and could allow access to sensitive areas such as cargo.” – A.L. o o o Do you sometimes wish you had the same data as the police, when trying to find someone? Maybe you can… An Unprecedented Threat to Privacy Vigilant Solutions, makers of the license plate recognition software, has taken roughly 2.2 billion license plate photos to date …



Malheur: The 3,025 FPS Arrest Warrant

News of the recent events in Oregon deeply saddened me. According to Victoria Sharp (who was in the car that was ambushed) Lavoy Finicum was shot when he had his hands in the air. We really won’t know who to believe until video of the event is released. (There were 30+ vehicles there, so the chances are very good that a dashcam recorded what happened.) The Federal agents have apparently now upped the ante, turning what had been a peaceful dialogue into a shooting affray. It saddens me to hear that there was loss of life in the ambush-arrest of …


Notes for Wednesday – January 27, 2016

January 27th is commemorated at International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, Soviet troops liberated the remaining prisoners from Auschwitz death camp. Sadly, most of its population had been evacuated and sent on a forced death march. Only those too weak to travel had been left behind. This is also the birthday of the late Helen Chenoweth (born, 1938, died October 2, 2006). She was a controversial Republican congresswoman from Orofino, Idaho. o o o We have completed the move to our new server and are now working out the small bugs. You should see several improvements including: Faster, better …


Hillary Rodham Clinton: The Queen of Codeword Compromise–America’s #1 Unprosecuted Felon

Recent news reports on the Clinton Servergate scandal have made it clear that Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) does not deserve a term in the White House. Rather, she deserves a term in prison, a long term. On January 19th, Fox News published an exclusively-obtained, unclassified letter written by I. Charles McCullough III, the Intelligence Community Inspector General for the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). His letter summarized the findings of a recent comprehensive review by intelligence agencies that identified “several dozen” previously unreported classified e-mails stored on Clinton’s “secret” (yet unsecure) server that until 2013 was managed by Justin Cooper, …


Letter Re: Bug Out Boats

Good Morning Hugh, I’ll begin a reply, but I don’t really know where it will ultimately lead. GS’s comments this morning (1/26/16) ought to be enough to take the wind out of anyone’s sails regarding bug-it boats! Although he makes some valid points, the overall tone is so negative he’ll put folks off the idea. But if you’re not already into boating/sailboating that may be for the best. It is a learned skill set. Some random thoughts: You don’t have to cross an ocean to ‘escape. There are many places much closer that would probably suffice. As mentioned previously, I …