Month: January 2016

Economics and Investing:

Items from Mr. Econocobas: Peter Schiff: Clueless in Davos – While I agree with Schiff, I however don’t agree that this is just misguided policies, rather it is intention in my view. Also, not sure many foreign currencies will rise either. Why A Former Fed Official Fears A Global Meltdown Video: Bill Holter- This Is It, The Collapse Is Here – Bill is always interesting, and I am not deep enough into the derivatives world to know there are defaults happening, but it is worth the watch/listen. Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Bank Mortgage Settlements Total $144B: Where Did …


Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

A SurvivalBlog reader wrote in to recommend three novels by Ken Gallender: Jernigan’s War and Porter’s Run (a sequel to Jernigan’s War). Based on a collapse of society with the United States under siege from an invading army and biological warfare, they provide an excellent entertaining adventure. o o o Reader P.M. wrote in: “One of my all time favorite movies is ‘Ride With The Devil,’ a Civil War era film about bushwackers and jayhawkers. It is a side of the war that is seldom discussed, and never from the Southern perspective. The production values are excellent, as is the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Writing from his retirement home, the former press secretary to Democrat Governor Cecil Andrus (and biographer of the four-term governor) penned this diatribe: Serious questions about American Redoubt. This septegenarian Democrat did his best to sling mud, but he had difficulty finding a handful to toss. He sounded downright disappointed that the American Redoubt movement is anti-racist. In a fit of convoluted logic, he even implied that somehow we would be racists if the demographic situation were different. Sorry, sir, but that is not the case. (It is the statist leftists who are famous for situational ethics–not us constitutional libertarians.) …



Notes for Tuesday – January 26, 2016

January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941, Auschwitz was composed of a group of three large and 40 smaller camps used for slave labor, unethical medical experiments, and monstrous killing grounds where prisoners were gassed and cremated. As the Soviets headed for Auschwitz, the German Gestapo began a murder spree and began destroying the facility in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes. When the Soviets arrived, they encountered 648 corpses and more than 7000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of …


Perhaps The Most Overlooked Skill For TEOTWAWKI, by LDW

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I am pretty new to SurvivalBlog, but I daily look forward to reading what’s new and how some folks are preparing for hard times and perhaps the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). I believe in being prepared for disruptions in everyday life, both for the short term and long term. I have lived all my life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where we expect ice storms, snow drifts, and power outages that may last up to a week at a time. Folks here still raise a garden, have chickens and maybe a hog, hunt …


Letter Re: Bug-Out Boats

Team, Regarding Bug-Out Boats, I can answer a couple of questions and add a bit to the discussion. You would be buying the most exotic, expensive, fragile, and defenseless retreat ever. The only benefits you have going for you is utter isolation when out in blue water and the ability to go continent to continent. No sail boat or power boat is going to survive many small arms hits below the water line, even with high-end carbon fiber hulls. They are not designed like submarines or fighting ships, where water-tight bulkheads can stop the flooding. One small hole in the …


News From The American Redoubt:

Wyoming: Proposed bill allows lion trapping o o o Santa Claus sighting leads to Post Falls arrest o o o What is wrong with Spokane… never mind. – T.Z. o o o It is perhaps a little early to announce, but the viewpoints of the Republican candidate for governor up in Montana seem like a good fit for the American Redoubt: Greg Gianforte. – JWR o o o Western Rifle Shooters Association – Malheur Link Dump – B.B. o o o Grant County sheriff urges release of Hammonds – RBS


Economics and Investing:

Feds foresee $30 trillion debt, blame looming tax hikes and Obamacare – G.G. o o o America Will Spend More on Taxes than Food, Clothing, and Housing Combined (Graphic). So much for the land of the free. We are all serfs now. – H.L o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News The Fed Passes the Buck: Blame Oil and China (Mises) This is a highly recommended reading and an outstanding discussion of money supply inflation. Excerpt: “What many people today call inflation or deflation is no longer the great increase or decrease in the supply of money, but …


Odds ‘n Sods:

For those who thought that 3D Printing and the Ghost Gunner milling machine were cool, this is simply amazing: The Pour Freedom-15 AR-15 100 Percent Lower Receiver Mold Kit o o o It’s the X-Files – for real! 20 Dead, 200 Hospitalized After Reports US Lab “Leaks” Deadly Virus In Ukraine – W.C. o o o SurvivalBlog reader B.B. sent in this link to an article by Dean Weingarten profiling misconduct by Connecticut State police. Every person with a smart phone is capable of being a reporter and there is no room for misconduct. Law enforcement’s job is hard enough …



Notes for Monday – January 25, 2016

On January 25th, 1995, the world was minutes from nuclear annihilation. Russia’s early-warning defense radar detected an unexpected missile launch near Norway and calculated that they only had minutes before impact on Moscow. Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the defense minister, and the chief of staff were informed of the missile launch and the nuclear command systems were switched to combat mode and the nuclear suitcases were activated for the first time in the history of the Soviet-made system. Five minutes after launch Russian command determined that the missile’s impact point would be outside Russia’s borders and three minutes after that …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Zero Tolerance 0900 Folder

Anyone who has followed my knife articles for the past 23+ years will know that I’m just not a big fan of little folding knives. However, sometimes smaller is better for certain applications. Under other conditions, bigger knives are called for. I remember when I was 11 or 12 years old the local hardware store in my neighborhood had a shipment of pocket knives coming in. To be sure, back in those days, almost every kid carried some kind of pocket knife. Sadly, that’s not true today. If caught with a knife in school, it’s a one year suspension in …


Recipe of the Week: Two Ingredient Biscuits, by C.P.

Ingredients: 3 cups self-rising white flour 1 1/2+ cup Bulgarian buttermilk (not low fat) Directions: Heat oven to 450 degrees. Mix flour and buttermilk together to form dough. If needed, add extra buttermilk. Do not over mix. Put a little flour on counter; dump dough on counter and knead four times. Turn dough over and pat to about an inch thick. Cut out biscuits with cutter or pinch off in small balls. Place in a cast iron skillet or baking pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray or coated with a light coat of bacon grease or shortening. Bake …


Letter Re: Bug-Out Boats Revisited

HJL, Regarding bug-out boat power generation, I just wanted to add that there is a tow-behind unit that generates power while under sail from the water flow. I’ve always thought a sailboat in warm waters would be a pretty nice escape, especially Cats with their low draw and excellent access, much more living space, and top speeds. However, there are a couple concerns: If it’s a true EOTW scenario, establishing any “community” or tribe from such a mobile homebase would seem to be very difficult and going within sight of land could put you in danger of being easily run …