Year: 2016

News From The American Redoubt:

Over at the excellent Paratus Familia blog comes a great how-to article for those who live in regions where Camas bulbs grow: Camas Fields of Blue. o o o Montana court strikes down last piece of anti-immigrant law – Sent in by B.B. o o o Tourists kidnap baby bison and put it in their car because it looked cold JWR’s Comment: Note the pristine interior of the Toyota Sequoia. It was undoubtedly a rental. Reader A.S. submitted a further update on the issue. Note that the baby bison was abandoned by its mother after the incident and had to …


Economics and Investing:

Squatters in Las Vegas and all the problems that come with them. – P.S. o o o OFFICIAL SOURCE: Global Silver Supply Deficit Surges On Revised Data o o o Pew Research Study – The American Middle Class Declined in 90% of Metro Areas From 2000-2014 – H.L. o o o Legend Warns Risk Of Total Global Collapse Is Greater Today Than Any Time In History – G.G. o o o Cyberattacks on Swift financial network ‘worthy of freaking out’ about: ex-Treasury official o o o SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I don’t like it, but it’s hard to argue with him: ‘Preppers’ say Obama ‘has divided us on a course for civil war’ [Warning: The site has a totally unrelated video that autostarts.] – Submitted by DSV o o o FBI Hid Surveillance Devices Around Alameda County Courthouse Nothing to see here…move along. – B.B. o o o Reader P.S. sent in the link to an interesting interview with Jesse Hughes of Eagles of Death Metal (the band playing in Paris during the Bataclan islamic attack). o o o Reader T.J. sent in this link showing the “technical failure” that …



Notes for Monday – May 16, 2016

On this day in 1868, the U.S. Senate votes against impeaching President Andrew Johnson and acquits him of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors.” In February 1868, the House of Representatives charged Johnson with 11 articles of impeachment for vague “high crimes and misdemeanors”. (For comparison, in 1998, President Bill Clinton was charged with two articles of impeachment for obstruction of justice during an investigation into his inappropriate sexual behavior in the White House Oval Office. In 1974, Nixon faced three charges for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.) The main issue in Johnson’s trial was his staunch resistance to implementing …


Hawkins Pressure Cooker, by Pat and Mary Cascio

We’ve owned several travel trailers over the years but hardly ever went out camping. We live in the boonies, and I sincerely love where I live. There is no need for me to go any place else to enjoy myself. Basically, we used travel trailers as mobile bug out retreats, if the time ever came, or as a spare “bedroom” for guests. Approximately a year ago, we acquired a newer 21-foot travel trailer that has everything I wanted, except a/c, which would have been nice. (I still might have it installed and spend hot summer nights sleeping in it in …


Obama’s Wide Open Throttle

Eight years ago, Barrack Hussein Obama (BHO) and his cronies were swept into office by a naive electorate that fell for their vague promises of “Hope and Change”. But today many of us have lost hope, and we have all suffered from the change. It was as if a locomotive had a change of engineers, and the drunken replacement accelerated the train with a wide open throttle. Obama’s statist-collectivist policies have been instituted at a breakneck pace. Let’s take a few minutes to ponder Obama’s legacy and just what all of BHO’s “change” has wrought: Massive government debt. With the …


Recipe of the Week: Shortcut Chili Con Carne

Ingredients 1 lb lean ground beef 1 small onion, chopped 1 tsp salt 1 to 2 tsp chili powder 1 bay leaf 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 2 (8-oz) cans tomato sauce 2 (16-oz) cans kidney beans, drained Directions: In a skillet or slow-cooking pot with a browning unit, break up beef with a fork and cook until lightly browned. Pour off the excess fat. In a slow-cooking pot, combine the meat with onion, salt, chili powder, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, and kidney beans. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours. Remove the bay leaf and …


Letter Re: Comms Using Photos – Would This Work?

Hi Hugh and James, I just finished reading The Religion War by Scott Adams. It’s a short, very good book about Christianity vs. Islam in the future as both sides prepare for war. In it, he wrote something that made me curious if it would work. In order to defeat the use of computers scanning emails to find key words or phrases, his characters do something I’ve never thought of. “Cruz’s intelligence forces electronically searched every message that crossed the Internet, but their sniffing programs were looking for text, keywords, key phrases, and encrypted files. (His people) thwarted the filters …


Economics and Investing:

Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Restructuring the National Debt (Mises) Excerpt: “US presidential candidate Donald Trump made more waves yesterday by suggesting he might attempt to reduce the US national debt by renegotiating with creditors.” …and of course there is follow up! From Zero Hedge… Trump on Debt Renegotiation: “You Never Have to Default Because You Print the Money” Warning: Commentary following article may contain bad language and/or inappropriate avatars. Puerto Rican Debt Crisis is Coming to a Head (Barrons) Excerpt: “Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank, which plays a key role in the island’s finances, defaulted on $3.9 billion …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader J.N. sent in some interesting recipes for preppers. Note: These are for informational purposes only. o o o L.G. sent in this link on learning how to shoot a target outside from an inside position – A very useful skill to have: Defending a Bug In position takes practice and skill. o o o It could just be that some manager has a particular fear, but…Why Were Texas Game Wardens Just Issued Nuclear Radiation Detectors? – Sent in by B.B. o o o A new listing at our SurvivalRealty.com spinoff site (owned and operated by my #1 son) just …



Notes for Sunday – May 15, 2016 – Sent in by B.B.

On May 15th, 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all of the then 48 states. Given the country’s current economic condition, are you ready for such controls?


How to Use Amazon for Economical Purchasing- Part 2, by Sarah Latimer

How to Locate/Shop for Items The main principle here is database searching functions. There are literally millions of products available through Amazon, and it would take almost forever to read through their entire list of product offerings, especially since there are duplicates made available by multiple vendors. You want to find exactly what you are looking for as quickly as possible and find the best value, however you define that in your particular situation. Sometimes, it is for a disposable in which case the least expensive item may do the trick. Other times, it is critical that the item endure …


Letter Re: 9mm for Survival

Hugh / Jim, I have to agree with almost all of what Pat Cascio said in his column about the 9mm for survival. Any gun and caliber is a compromise, and the one you have with you when you need it is better than the one sitting home in the safe. I do have a couple of comments. I have had bad experience with the .40 Glock Korean magazines, including one of them in my Glock 35 having the baseplate pop off and the rounds dump out of the bottom of the magazine as I was in the starting box …