Year: 2016

Notes for Thursday – July 28, 2016

28 July 1914 – The 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I –the War that irreparably changed geopolitics. Officially, the war lasted until November 11, 1918, but American troops were still running around shooting Russians until well into 1919. o o o What’s the difference between an American Couch Potato and an Islamist fanatic–both sentenced to house arrest, with a location monitoring ankle bracelet? The American stays in his house, gains weight, and gets grease stains on his pajamas whilst sitting around eating delivery pizza and binge watching episodes of American Pickers. But the Islamist fanatic leaves his …


Getting To Your Children and Keeping Them Safe: Help For An Absentee Parent- Part 2, by J.C.

For older children, there are a variety of ways you can help them. The first is exposing them to the outdoors and teaching them the skills and knowledge you have learned. Do not rely on teachers, schools, or other adults to make sure they are prepared. Even if you have limited time with your children, small things can help. Every child should have some type of bug out bag at their main residence. This bag should cover these main categories: water, food, shelter, signaling, communication, and protection. Make sure that all items are age appropriate and they know how to …


A Timely Book Review from TM in Arkansas

Gun Control in the Third Reich: Disarming the Jews and “Enemies of the State”, by Stephen P. Halbrook. ©2013 Stephen P. Halbrook Published by The Independent Institute, Oakland CA ISBN: 978-1-59813-161-1 Hardback; also available in Paperback and via Kindle. 246 pages, 12 chapters, bibliography, and index. “Gun control”, a politically loaded term for citizen control, seems to be an unrelenting topic for discussion and the rhetoric has grown more heated in recent years. Every time somebody goes wacko and sets out to settle differences of opinion or exact revenge with a firearm, there are new calls for “gun control”. The …


Economics and Investing:

Get Down With The Monetary Sickness – Mike Maloney o o o Invest 25% Of Investment Portfolios In Gold Bullion – Marc Faber o o o Paul Craig Roberts – We Are About To Witness The End Of The World As We Know It o o o Kyoki (Insanity) o o o SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.


Odds ‘n Sods:

Police Groups Push Back Against Curbs on Acquiring Military Gear. Following attacks in Dallas and Baton Rouge, law enforcement intensifies efforts to reverse Obama restrictions – T.P. o o o U.S. City Rolls Over For Radical Mosque. Excerpt: “A radical mosque known for breeding terrorists has been granted special privileges by the city of Bloomington, Minnesota, which allows its members to take over a public park and treat it as their own, to the exclusion of other residents, according to complaints filed by a citizens group.” – RBS o o o Chainsaw Vs. Fire Hose Pants – Not that you …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Those open to warnings of the ongoing collapse have, by now, listened, understood and been moved to act. Perhaps further warnings are largely futile. It may even be too late for those who have not yet acted. The skills and resources now going into warning the unreceptive may be better directed elsewhere. Some ‘warnings’ are little more than lead-ins to sales pitches. Preparationalism shouldn’t be a cause, or something akin to a business, committed to growing its base. If that’s the model then we’re captive to a model rather than builders of a resilient means for survival. The preparationalist-survivalist movement …


Notes for Wednesday – July 27, 2016

July 27th is the birthday of Captain Samuel Whittemore (born in 1694, died February 3, 1793). He was an English-born American farmer and soldier. He was eighty years of age when he became the oldest known colonial combatant in the American War of Independence. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 65 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 …


Getting To Your Children and Keeping Them Safe: Help For An Absentee Parent- Part 1, by J.C.

The United States has nearly 1.2 million divorces* of married couples. There are an estimated 25 million children* living in single parent households, and many parents travel long distances for work, spending nights away from home. Setting aside for a moment the reasons for these situations, the fact is that a large portion of children are away from either one or both parents for extended periods of time. If you are a parent who spends time away from your child, how do you plan to save them in a SHTF moment, or more importantly, get to them in a crisis …


Two Letters Re: Review of the Sawyer Filter

HJL, I have seen these filters sold with different components, bells, and whistles and have bought three different types. One package features components that allow you to gravity feed the water from a plastic food grade bucket through the filter and into a storage container. I have this set up ready to go now, if and when it is needed. The narrative on the packaging suggests that if this filter is used on an overseas mission trip it could be left behind for use by the native people. That’s a nice humanitarian touch. There was no mention that these filters …


Economics and Investing:

Bank threatens charges as negative interest rates loom – Note: A login is required to read the full article, but you get the idea just from the title. – G.G. o o o Status Of The Social Security And Medicare Programs (ssa.gov) – U.S. Social Security starts to go negative in 2019 – P.S. o o o Citigroup, HSBC Jettison Customers as Era of Global Empires Ends. Excerpt: “How does a company lose 69 million customers? Just ask Citigroup Inc.” o o o RBS and NatWest consider charging business clients to hold cash. (Note: login required to read article) o …


Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

Survivalblog reader Patriotman suggested several books: The Coming Anarchy: Shattering the Dreams of the Post Cold War Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed The Collapse of Complex Societies o o o Reader DMS suggested these movies: Unconditional (the true story of “papa Joe”) Ring the Bell (my wife is buying a bell) Hoot (protecting Florida’s wildlife) Red Dog (true story)


Odds ‘n Sods:

Worlds Made By Hand – The Burning Platform compares Jim Kinstler’s World made by Hand dystopian series with the current warped egocentric pre-economic collapsed America. o o o In Politically Polarized U.S., State Secession Talk Gains Steam o o o Reader BogG suggested this guide to home canning o o o Got food? Ol’ Remus reminds us why we do what we do. Thanks to reader P.W. for the link. o o o Our advertiser Gun Mag Warehouse had a security breach recently. Unlike most companies that try to hide and cover it up, they were upfront and brought in …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“This is no small thing, to restore a republic after it has fallen into corruption. I have studied history for years and I cannot recall it ever happening. It may be that our task is impossible. Yet, if we do not try then how will we know it can’t be done? And if we do not try, it most certainly won’t be done. The Founders’ Republic, and the larger war for western civilization, will be lost. But I tell you this: We will not go gently into that bloody collectivist good night. Indeed, we will make with our defiance such …


Notes for Tuesday – July 26, 2016

Today, we present another entry for Round 65 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 Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. …


Lessons From the Oklahoma Ice Storm of 2006, by Dr. Prepper

What I have found most useful from many useful articles on SurvivalBlog are the ones that honestly deal with personal experiences of stressful events, for example, those who have gone through hurricanes, floods, other natural storms, or man-made events. While it is useful from a planning perspective to speculate how things might be in an event that changes the world for us, there is nothing like learning from other’s experiences and what they thought went well and not so well. My family and I discovered first hand the value of preparation as well as the cost of the lack of …