Year: 2016

Economics and Investing:

As this “Recovery” trudges on, the numbers are starting to become known. SurvivalBlog reader B.B. sent in this link showing that Americans are giving up on jobs. “As many as 40% of capable Americans without a job have completely given up looking for work” o o o Why U.S. Retail Sales Ended 2015 Poorly – RBS o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News More Pain Seen Ahead for US Banks Exposed to Energy Loans (Yahoo) Excerpt: “”Everybody was hoping for a bounce through most of last year and it hasn’t materialized so I think both the regulators and …


Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

Child of War Son of Angels by Curtis Whitfield Tong was recommended by SurvivalBlog reader M.G. It’s a child’s memoir of horror and reconciliation while imprisoned in World War II-torn Philippines. o o o SurvivalBlog reader P.B. recommended both In the Absence of God and Bridging the Abyss. Both works deal with different people approaching crises from different world view perspectives. Moderns and Post-moderns find themselves without any objective basis for forming moral judgments or hope of justice. o o o Reader E.L. writes in: Taylor Caldwell’s The Devil’s Advocate, a novel first published in 1952 is distopian fiction right …


Odds ‘n Sods:

RBS sent in this link: Drone Catcher Is Every Drone’s Worst Nightmare (video) – My favorite comment: “Inevitable, a counter-drone. Next will be a counter-drone-catcher” o o o Clinton-Appointed Judge Dismisses RICO Case Against Clintons JWR’s Comment: This adds new meaning to the word racketeering. (Any ethical judge would have recused himself.) o o o Inspector General: Clinton emails had intel from most secretive, classified programs – Apparently Hillary had “several dozen” emails classified as special access programs (SAP) on her private server. SAP indicates a level of classification beyond even “top secret”. Anyone placing bets on whether a Democratic …




The Latest Wave of The Sagebrush Rebellion

The recent events at the former Malheur Wildlife Refuge (now called the Harney County Resource Center) are just the latest wave of the well-justified Sagebrush Rebellion that has been going on in western states for 30+ years. Even though they lack any constitutional authority over land that should rightfully belong to the States (per Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17), bureaucrats from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) have been riding roughshod over the west. They have been doing so through their often capricious and dictatorial policies on grazing, timber cutting, mining, weed control, access to water, hunting, recreational shooting, …


What? SurvivalBlog Has a FaceBook Page?

Anyone who has been a follower of SurvivalBlog for any time understands the distaste that the editors have for Facebook and other forms of social media. We make no secret of the fact that we know the primary purpose of these sites is to produce a viable database that can be mined for marketing purposes (and ofttimes other nefarious reasons). We have long stayed away from these OPSEC nightmares and have encouraged our readers to do likewise. However, we have watched these social media sites become giants in the communications industry, and it became obvious to us that we had …


Letter Re: Root Cellaring Potatoes

HJL, One of the best reasons for storing potatoes in a root cellar is to have seed available to plant potatoes the next year. While I buy new seed potatoes every year, I also plant some of my own from the previous year. Potatoes are the one crop that you can not buy packets of seed to store for a long time. I plant a lot more than we can eat, just to store for seed. – North-of-80


News From The American Redoubt:

Saeed Abedini’s church in Boise celebrates his release o o o Homeward bound? Lion that trekked 450 miles to Montana killed by hunter o o o Warning to U.S. Military and Federal LEOs: Do Not Follow Orders to “Waco” Ammon Bundy Occupation, or Risk Civil War – Sent in by T.P. o o o The Oregon Standoff in a Nutshell — From My Perspective — by Todd Macfarlane – RBS o o o Sent in by Reader RBS: Constitutional Carry in Idaho is for politicians not for the people o o o Rejecting ‘Refugee’ Invitations to North Idaho – B.B.


Economics and Investing:

Italian banks are being squeezed at the margins. Some analysts anticipate more turbulence. “Analysts say stimulus measures by the European Central Bank have helped an economic recovery but have the side effect of putting bank margins under pressure.” 2 Italy Bank Stocks Plunge, Brokers Say Prepare for Tough 2016 – T.A. o o o China to spark financial ICE AGE with depression, says Societe Generale bear analyst – B.B. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Is Eating a Cinnamon Roll Irrational? (Mises) Who knows what’s best for you? Excerpt: “…in criticizing information asymmetry in markets, they are …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader T.Z. sent in a link on the GP-5 SSB Shortwave (+AM + FM) receiver. It is a bit complex to use with all the buttons and features, but it receives all the HF Ham bands (CB and shortwave too), has a useful scan/store channel feature, can use NiMH rechargeables or normal AAAs or even a Mini-B USB. It includes all the accessories, including a ferrite and clip-on wire antenna. It’s not very expensive, is small and has lots of extras, like alarm and temperature. It is receive only, but considering the number of Amateur Radio operators this would …



Notes for Monday – January 18, 2016

In 1942, Germany began the deportations from Warsaw to Treblinka of Polish Jews. Within the first seven weeks of Himmler’s order, more than 250,000 Jews were taken to Treblinka by rail and gassed to death, making it the largest single act of destruction of any population group. After a four month pause, the deportations started up again on January 18th, 1943. A German SS unit entered the ghetto and began rounding up its denizens, but they did not go without a fight. Six hundred Jews were killed in the street as they struggled with the Germans. These Jews refused to …


Persevering Through the Panic of 2016

The first two weeks of 2016 have been disastrous for both the commodities markets and the equities markets. Looking at the DJIA and the S&P indexes, more than $3.5 trillion has been lost on paper in just two weeks. Crude oil has dropped to around $29 per barrel. There seems to be no end in sight for the bad economic news. I expect to see further deep market declines, intraday “circuit breaker” market interventions, and perhaps even full-day trading suspensions and bank holidays. I must remind you that I’m writing this on a three-day holiday weekend. (Martin Luther King Jr. …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Ruger’s New American Pro 9mm

I’ve been a huge fan of Ruger firearms since 1979, when I bought my first Ruger centerfire rifle in .300 Winchester Mag. Everyone anticipated the first cernterfire semiauto pistol from Ruger in 1985, when it was first announced. Alas, there were problems, and the Ruger P85 didn’t actually come out until 1987. I lived in Colorado Springs, CO at the time and operated a small gun business with a friend out of his gas station as well as gun shows, but we couldn’t get our hands on a P85. One gun shop in the entire city had received one sample, …