Year: 2016

Special Note

Saturday’s news flash on the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia came as a shock. Given that the leftist U.S. Senate has a long history of “rubber stamp” confirmations of Supreme Court Justice nominees, this is an evil omen. The news of Scalia’s demise is troubling, even if Hitlery Clinton is not elected. The BHO Administration will undoubtedly nominate another ultra-liberal Statist, resulting in a tectonic shift in the composition of the court. (With a 5-to-4 Statist majority, the District of Columbia v. Heller decision would have gone the other way.) In essence, once Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee …


Notes for Saturday – February 13, 2016

Today, February 13th, is the birthday of both Robert Charles R.C. Sproul, Jr.(born 1939), a well-respected American Calvinist theologian, and General Chuck Yeager (born, 1923), the first man to break the sound barrier. o o o I recently received a sample of the new Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT) OC3 fixed-blade tactical knife, which was designed by SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio, in cooperation with Brian Wagner. The overall length in nearly 11 inches, and it is constructed of SK5 steel that is black powder-coated. It has a practical drop point, yet it comes sharpened on BOTH edges, …


Low-Carb Paleo and Primal for Preppers, by T.Z.

I wouldn’t have much to eat in “What’s for Dinner”, so I’m going to write up my own personal paleo/primal low-carb approach to nutrition, especially as it applies to prepping. The mountain men, hunters, and others rarely had sugar and flour and were healthier. I’m not as active as them, but I’m trying to eat like them. Micro and Macro Nutrients– What Your Body Really Needs The first thing to do is separate nutrients from calories. You need nutrients– vitamins, minerals, protein, and a few other things to keep things running. These, like oil and radiator fluid, are things you …


Letter Re: Making the Last Run

Hugh, One thing I didn’t notice in his post was learning your store layouts. Most stores are pretty much laid out the same way, but they do on occasion move things around. Notice where everything is and make sure you pay attention each time you visit your local grocery store. Bread and milk are not normally placed together, thus you have to go through the whole store to get both. Milk is usually at the back of the store or at least very near the back, so that you have to go all the way through to get a gallon. …


Economics and Investing:

Venezuela’s Collapse Brings ‘Savage Suffering’ – Submitted by P.S. o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Welcome To Obama’s Recovery: Carrier Moving 1400 Jobs To Mexico | Zero Hedge Items from Professor Preponomics: US News How Negative Interest Rates Could Remake the Global Financial System (New York Times) Excerpt: “A decade ago, negative interest rates were a theoretical curiosity that economists would discuss almost as a parlor game. Two years ago, it began showing up as an unconventional step that a few small countries considered. Now, it is the stated policy of some of the most powerful global central banks….” …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Police Discover, Arrest NYC Pistol License Holder Who Stockpiled ‘45,000 Rounds of Ammunition’ – Submitted by G.P. JWR’s Comment: This breathless account made me laugh. The journalist sounded truly horrified at the size of his “arsenal.” Out here in The American Redoubt, that gent would be considered just a typical local with a small gun collection. And some of us might feel pity for him only owning three AR-10 magazines, and hand him a few spare PMAGs, so that he’d have a respectable six or seven available. And anyone who thinks that 45,000 rounds of ammunition is a lot, then …



Notes for Friday – February 12, 2016

The Panic of 2016 is continuing, just as I predicted, with further sharp declines in the equities markets around the world. The push for negative interest rates is continuing. I’m now asked: “Should I buy gold?” My answer: No, buy silver, and if portability is a concern buy some platinum. Presently the ratio between the price of gold and the price of silver is a whopping 78-to-1. That makes the long-term prospects for silver much better than for gold. Meanwhile, the price of platinum is $285 per ounce less than an ounce of gold! So that too is a better …


Making Sense of What You Hear- Part 3, by Hal2000

Shortwave Radio The next most important radio for preppers is a shortwave radio. Shortwave radio is generally defined as the part of the radio spectrum between 3.0 megahertz (Mhz) and 30.0 megahertz (Mhz). This is referred to as High Frequency, or HF spectrum. There are all kinds of transmissions you will hear on shortwave– Ham radio operators, International shortwave broadcasters, military communications, clandestine stations, numbers stations, and a whole lot more. You will also hear many different modes of communications as well. The bulk of what you will hear will be either standard AM broadcasting and SSB or Single Sideband …


Letter Re: Making a Last Run

Hugh, I just wanted to add a tidbit to the article of making a last run when the SHTF by GMJ. Though this was a well written and well thought-out article and most obvious a great tool for the newbie to the art of survival, for me and my family we will not be in need of one last run. Because of all of us being a great student of this business we have benefited greatly from the steps outlined by our fellow survivalists. So for the new comer to this important scene of preparedness, you might want to pay …


Economics and Investing:

Genius: FATCA has brought in just $13.5 billion in revenue on a cost of $1 trillion o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Investors ‘Go Bananas’ for Gold Bars as Global Stock Markets Tumble – Getting more serious by the day. Yellen on Negative Rates: ‘We Wouldn’t Take Those Off the Table’ – You bet your biscuits, negative rates are not off the table. However, they have painted themselves in a corner, without an “event” that provides the cover to say, “Well things were going great until XYZ event, which was totally unforeseen and unpredictable.” Items from Professor Preponomics: US …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Hooray! We’ve surpassed 80 million unique visits! Thanks for your loyal readership of SurvivalBlog. Please continue to spread the word via our Link to Us page, and we are now listed on Top Prepper Sites. Make sure you cast a vote there so that others will know where to get the most reliable and practical information. We appreciate your support! o o o From the desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large: It is very important, if one must use Facebook or other social media, that one NOT put personal information such as phone number, address, or birthday on …



Notes for Thursday – February 11, 2016

February 11th is the birthday of the late Burt Blumert (born February 11, 1929 in New York City, died March 30, 2009). He once owned Camino Coin Company (as did Dr. Ron Paul). JWR was a Camino Coin Company customer, starting back in the late 1980s, and can remember Burt personally helping him dolly out his first purchase of 100-ounce Englehard bars. That was back when they cost just $580 each. Those were the days! o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 63 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this …


Making Sense of What You Hear- Part 2, by Hal2000

It would take thousands of words and dozens of illustrations to explain trunked radio systems. So, we will look at the thirty thousand foot level. What the communications industry did was to take lots of frequencies, lots of transmitters and receivers, and lots of computers to allow lots of users access to communications. They did what the cell phone industry did. For a large metropolitan area, they would build a dozen or so transmitter and receiver sites and connect them together with fiber optics and computers. This system would consist of anywhere from 5 to 35 frequencies, depending on the …