A Great Wall: On Border Controls, Immigration, and National Survival

I have generally side-stepped the issue of immigration in SurvivalBlog, from the outset. Back in 2006, I explained why. But recent events have pushed this issue to the forefront of the national debate.  At this juncture, I’d like to make my position clear, even at the risk of perturbing some of my readers.  I can now see that immigration is not just a political issue or a policy issue. Rather, it is a matter of national survival. Even before Donald J. Trump (DJT) was seated as U.S. president, there was huge disagreement on his planned immigration and border security policies. …




The Editors’ Preps for the Week

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready! …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. The Puerto Rico update gives us an idea of what most urban areas will be like during the beginning phases of a societal collapse. Institutional Evil A project Veritas video shows former Twitter employees discussing “Shadow Banning” users. This is the policy where the platform allows those who are in control to arbitrarily apply censorship to the platform. Those users who have ideals contrary to the censors get their accounts locked and/or …







Preparedness Notes for Friday – January 12, 2018

On January 12, 1888, the “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” killed 235 people, many of whom were children on their way home from school, across the Northwest Plains region of the United States. The storm came with no warning and some accounts say that the temperature fell nearly 100 degrees in just 24 hours. There were many instances of teachers keeping or rescuing children who would have been caught in the storm while walking home. o o o Any reader in Eastern Washington, northern Idaho, or northwest Montana who is looking for a loyal watchdog, take note: John Adrain (of BedBunker fame) has …




Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 2, by Mr. E

In part one of this article series, we looked at the reason for the three skills– planning, training, and exercising– for bugging out. This process is based on tried and true emergency management principles that are currently being used by both public and private institutions all across the nation. The benefit of this plan, train, exercise process is that it allows you and your group to take an all-hazards approach to preparing for a plethora of disasters and emergencies. Training Everyone On The Plan (continued) Yesterday, we completed the planning portion and just barely began the training portion of the …







Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on robotic gold mining, in the near future. Precious Metals (Robotic Gold Mining): First up, some real food for thought: Assessing the long-term Gold and Silver market (2030-2060). JWR’s Comments: I take his prediction of robotic gold mining as further validation of my view that silver …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“One of the arguments that had been made against gun control was that an armed citizenry was the final bulwark against tyranny. My response had been that untrained, lightly-armed non-soldiers couldn’t prevail against a modern army. I had concluded that the qualitative difference in firepower was such that all of the previous rules of guerilla war no longer applied. Both Vietnam and Afghanistan demonstrated that wasn’t true. Repelling an armed invasion is not something that American citizens are likely to face, but the possibility of a despotic government coming to power is not wholly unthinkable. One of the sequellae of …







Planning, Training, and Exercising for “Bug Out”- Part 1, by Mr. E

Many of us, myself included, have been guilty of fantasizing about what we would do during a scenario where we would want to “bug out”. It is easy to say things like, “My plan is to grab my go bag, my family, and run for the the hills.” For others, it is easy to imagine ourselves traversing chaotic streets with a group of our most trusted friends, loaded to the teeth with weaponry, battling our way to our off the grid location. While no doubt these daydreams can be interesting to entertain, it is important we take a holistic and …




Letter: Relocating to the Redoubt — With Firearms

HJL / JWR As my family plans for relocation to the Redoubt the biggest question I have is how to move our arms and ammo. I am sure that some Survival Blog readers have made this journey from other states with their collections and any suggestions, guidance, information or experiences from them or yourselves would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for the great resource that you provide at Survival Blog! – T in NC JWR’s Comment: Relocating from North Carolina to the Redoubt with guns should be a breeze. Just don’t drive through Illinois! If you have a moving company …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Flu season is upon us and the saline shortage gets worse! Saline Shortage Reader DMC sent in this article on the current saline shortage. This is actually nothing new, but shows the continuation of an existing problem. For the last several years, Saline has been in short supply and rationing has been the norm in the EMS services. With the loss of the Philippine factory that supplied a significant amount of saline, …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“In my studies as an attorney and as a United States Senator, I have constantly been amazed by the indifference or even hostility shown the Second Amendment by courts, legislatures, and commentators. James Madison would be startled to hear that his recognition of a right to keep and bear arms, which passed the House by a voice vote without objection and hardly a debate, has since been construed in but a single, and most ambiguous Supreme Court decision, whereas his proposals for freedom of religion, which he made reluctantly out of fear that they would be rejected or narrowed beyond …