Month: October 2016

Economics and Investing:

Some quite bad news has come from an oft-cited “tax free” offshore haven: Vanuatu to impose their first ever payroll and income taxes—without any public comment. The plan is for a payroll tax, beginning in 2017, and then an income tax, beginning in 2018. Vanuatuan officials claim that the offsetting revenue generated by these new taxes will allow them to do away with the current rent tax and also to “reduce” import duties. They say that they also “hope” to eventually reduce the hated Value Added Tax (VAT), but they are making no promises. In sum, these new taxes make …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Ten Powerful Ways to Act Locally o o o One of my consulting clients recently questioned whether or not power utility companies truly have plans in place for “islanding” their power into smaller grids, in the event that any of America’s three main grids go down. (As mentioned in my second novel, Survivors.) Yes, indeed they do, and here is some evidence. – JWR o o o Concealed Carrier Saves AutoZone Employees o o o Texas Store Employee Uses AK-47 to Stop 4 Armed Robbers


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It is asserted by most respectable writers upon our government that a well-regulated militia, composed of the yeomanry of the country, have ever been considered as the bulwark of a free people. Tyrants have never placed any confidence on a militia, composed of freemen.” – The Anti-Federalist Papers writer who used the pen name “John Dewitt”


Notes for Sunday – October 09, 2016

As the cleanup begins in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, and as local preppers assess what went right and what went wrong in their planning, we are reminded of a bit a Ground Truth: There is no substitute for being fully prepared early. Because once a disaster strikes a wide region, and once some key items such as generators are desperately needed, they can’t be bought even with an entire handful of gold coins. So it is better to be prepared a year too early than a day too late. – JWR


Seed Collecting – Part 3, by Sarah Latimer

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(Continued from Part 1 and Part 2.) Beans Though we try to be thorough in our pole bean picking, there always seem to be a few that hide so well that they become huge before we find them. These are perfect for using as seed. Any bean pods that are fully mature and large can be set aside in a sunny window to finish drying and then cracked open to reveal the beans inside, which are useful for next year’s planting. Just be certain that you allow the bean pods to completely dry before removing the beans, which are the …


Letter: A Recommendation for Storing and Using Fels Naptha Laundry Soap Bars

HJL, I have a recommendation for the readers of SurvivalBlog: I use Fels Naptha soap bars for everything in the shower: shaving, washing body, shampoo.  With it, you feel clean afterwards, nothing left on your skin; there is no sense of harshness, it just cleans everything well. Body odor is suppressed for days. Used for shaving, rubbing the bar into the beard frequently, you get a noticeably closer smoother shave than with most anything else you’ve ever used.  And when it used for shampoo it gets your hair truly clean. – M.R. JWR Replies: Although Fels Naptha is marketed just …


Economics and Investing:

A FOREX update: It is noteworthy that following the recent British Pound plummet, the Swiss Franc just jumped to 98.075 to the Dollar.  It was closer to 96 cents, just a few weeks ago. Methinks that a fairly durable Dollar/CH Franc parity trading range can’t be far off! (Parity was touched once briefly on July 27th.) I now have no regrets whatsoever about having hedged into Swiss Francs back when they cost me around 77 cents each. – JWR o o o Many of the pundits who are bashing candidate Donald Trump’s economic plan seem uninformed. This analysis by Peter …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Despite their claims that “Oh, but it was all just a series of innocent mistakes”, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is reportedly still harassing Tea Party political groups, singling them out for greater scrutiny in judging their tax exempt status, and grilling them with many rounds of questions that have heretofore never been asked of other groups.  The IRS has also recently took the unusual step of publishing some of their questions and the responses from a Texas Tea Party group. This unequal enforcement of tax laws is a political witch hunt by the Obama Administration. o o o …



Notes for Saturday – October 08, 2016

Please continue to pray for the folks in the path of Hurricane Matthew.  There was one positive note in the news about the storm’s landfall: Florida emergency concealed carry law may see first use in Hurricane Matthew o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 66 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 …


My Personal Journey to Embracing the Second Amendment, by K.F.B.

My great appreciation and understanding for the need of the Second Amendment and the necessity for the right to own guns was a slow and incremental journey. No one in my generation of my family owned guns. I was not raised around guns. I grew up in densely populated suburban areas of California, the Midwest, and New England. I never served in the military or in law enforcement. My maternal grandfather was a highly decorated U.S. Marine in WWI with the Fifty-Fifth Company of the Fifth Regiment. He fought at Champaign, Belleau Wood, the Argonne Forest, Verdun, and Chateau Thierry. …


Letter: Circling Back on My Preps

Dear Editor, My preps are in five areas, per the “group think” of SurvivalBlog. I have worked from area to area starting with what is easiest and cheapest up the ladder in each area. As I circle back I am working my way up but also looking back and questioning myself: Where did I store the extra ammo? Exactly what is in that unmarked box on my closet shelf and how might I better package to grab and go should we have to hastily migrate? Electrical items are on the agenda today. It started up with recharging the AAA-size batteries …



Odds ‘n Sods:

Daytona Beach, Florida was particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Matthew, which reached the coast as a Category 3 storm.  o o o ‘Hurricane Matthew panic’ sparks supermarket brawl as two women scrap over last case of water o o o I just noticed that the Blue Letter Bible web site has added some more useful interlineal search features and text-linked commentaries. Check it out! o o o Patrice Lewis: The world’s stupidest survival strategy