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”. Heirloom seeds are getting more difficult to obtain due to government regulations in the E.U.
Interesting Data on Which States People are Leaving
Reader H.L. sent in this interesting article on a novel way to tell where people don’t want to live. U-Haul is a truck rental company that rents trucks to people moving and you can rent it one-way. If the same number of people are moving into an area as out of an area, it works really well. However, when more people are moving out of an area than into it, U-Haul has to hire drivers to drive the empty trucks back to the origin (or where they are needed). They also have to pay to return the drivers home. This extra cost is added to the price of the truck. That makes it easy to figure out where people are moving just by the rental prices. Hint: New York and San Francisco are unpopular. Democratic/liberal havens are very unpopular destinations.
Scott Adams on Gun Control
With the renewed national focus on “Gun Control” a SurvivalBlog reader sent in Scott Adam’s take on the issue. The article is over a year old, but still relevant and deals with it in typical Dilbert fashion. Note that Scott Adams was for Hillary rather than Trump in the last election, but sums it up rather well with the statement “I write about Trump’s powers of persuasion and it is not safe to live in California if people think you support Trump in any way.”
ABC Has Lost Its Mind on Abortion
Reader J.W. sent in this article on the sad state of American “entertainment”. Apparently ABC’s show “Scandal” has an abortion performed while a choir sings “Silent Night”. At the end of the abortion, the choir breaks out into the chorus “Hallelujah!” from Handel’s Messiah. During the abortion, the father says in a voiceover “Family is a burden… Family doesn’t complete you. It destroys you.” I can’t imagine the judgment that the Lord will enact on a people so calloused to life. It’s past time to pull the plug on the T.V. Throw it out!
Buying Heirloom Seeds in the U.K.
J.W. also sent in this article on how you can only buy heirloom seeds in the U.K. if you are part of a Private Members Club. This is part of the EU’s drive to register every single variety of vegetable seed. To be registered, the seeds must pass what is called DUS “Distinctiveness, Uniformity, and Stability”. Note that it costs nearly ₤3000 to test & register just one single variety of seed. J.W. notes that there is already a similar law to this in Pennsylvania. Without seeds, there is no long term future.
Remington Files for Bankruptcy
We knew it was coming. Remington notified the public that was filing for bankruptcy. The lull in the firearms market forced the company to offload $700 million worth of debt (out of the $950 million it had accrued). This is sad news and shows a considerable lack of management skills at the company. In the years leading up to the Trump election, record after record was broke on firearms sales and Remington, along with many other companies, made money hand over fist. Where did it go? Another American giant in the industry bites the dust.
Sad Gun Discussion on Fox
Reader D.S. watched a gun discussion on Fox news. The discussion had three women speaking about gun control to limit violence and was filled with misinformation, presenting only an emotionally driven and biased view. What hope is there for honest and accurate reporting? Apparently none. He notes:
The woman spoke of AR15 rifles, repeatedly and erroneously calling them ‘assault rifles’. Everyone should know that an actual assault rifle has a selector switch to allow single, burst, or fully automatic fire. The difference is clear and clearly separated by ATF. A federal license is required for any fully automatic firearm. That license is costly and obtaining one requires heavy investigation.
Complicating her error was the clear misunderstanding of the Second Amendment. She explained it as if it was for hunting. The ‘militia clause’ reference clearly suggests that the protection of the amendment should allow weapons equivalent to those of an invading army – muskets then, actual assault rifles now.
Secondly she showed her ignorance of even hunting. She snootily said, ‘You don’t need an AR for deer hunting’. The common AR15, in 5.56 mm ( .223 caliber) is not legal for any big game hunting in my state because it is too weak. The small bullet carries too little energy for sure and safe kills. Couple that with the fact that most available ammunition is FMJ, not designed to mushroom, to expand when it hits the target, and you could fairly call it less lethal ammo.
Marine Infantry PSYOPs
Reader T.P. sent in this interesting article on the future of Marine Infantry units. More snipers, reflecting the shift in modern warfare to guerrilla style tactics and PSYOP capabilities will give the marines better awareness and effectiveness. With the instant communication abilities due to cell phones and other devices, having the information environment operations officer and an information management officer will definitely improve their performance. Preppers and survivalists should take note of this change because these are the same capabilities that you need in your prepping and community groups.
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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
Brave and smart student.
A Junior ROTC student jumped into action when he heard the gunfire – ushering classmates into a classroom where he used Kevlar sheets to help protect them from the mass killer, according to a report.
Colton Haab, 17, ushered up to 70 people into a JROTC classroom at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, as the bullets from an AR-15 flew.
“We took those sheets, and we put them in front of everybody so they weren’t seen, because they were behind a solid object and the Kevlar would slow the bullet down,” Haab told CNN on Thursday.
“I didn’t think it was going to stop it, but it would definitely slow it down to make it from a catastrophic to a lifesaving thing,” the quick-thinking youngster added.
The Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps students use the Kevlar sheets as a backdrop during marksmanship practice. The material is used to make bullet-proof vests.
Luckily, the Kevlar was not needed because the deranged gunman didn’t enter the JROTC room – but Haab said he and a pal had a plan just in case.
“I was a little scared. I was more worried about getting home safe, making sure everybody got home safe,” he told CNN.
“God forbid, if he did come into the classroom. I didn’t want that to happen, but if it did, I would try to stop him with another friend of mine that was with us.”
He added: “We grabbed two pieces of two-by-four, a fire extinguisher and a chair,” Haab said. “We were going to try to stop him with whatever we had,” according to Reuters.
Haab said he saw heroic football coach and security guard Aaron Feis running toward the gunman to help shield the students before he, too, was fatally shot.
“That’s Coach Feis. He wants to make sure everybody is safe before himself,” Haab told CNN.
“He’s definitely in a better place now. I’m glad that he didn’t suffer that much. It’s sad because it’s not going to be the same without him at school anymore.”
The only place to get the truth anymore is in the Bible. Dig in.
“Sad Gun Discussion on Fox”
The right always does this. You ascribe your sense truth seeking, of intelligent investigation of facts to the left. You falsely think that the left has it’s world view in the context of right and wrong and that the left can be convinced to see the light. You fundamentally misunderstand your enemy and the spreading of this fundamental misunderstanding endangers our nation.
The desired end is 70 million dead, concentration camps, and a state monopoly on power. The left are NOT like you. They don’t simply want to have their world view and to be left alone. The controllers and bosses want you dead. You can’t change their mind because it’s not about right and wrong…are you ready…it’s about power and money. Your life is inconsequential. Period.
The left wants you dead. Write in down, read it daily.
The right needs to stop engaging the left in this distracting discussion, about the which they have no intent of even caring what you say or think while new gun law after gun law is being passed right now. The right needs to look lefties right in eye and say; “When they come for the guns I won’t be home. I’ll be at your house burning it to the ground with everybody inside. You don’t get to watch this on TV. The war you start will be brought directly to YOU.”
And then, you need to plan, they are, you can count on it.
Amen Brother which is why again I advocate forming Communities of like minded Liberty people…To bad people are still too comfortable to have the foresight to do this…Sad That…
“The common AR15, in 5.56 mm ( .223 caliber) is not legal for any big game”. “The small bullet carries too little energy for sure and safe kills.”
Not true! This all goes back to the end of WW II when returning GI’s brought their M1 carbines back home. The gun lobby and the state fish and game colluded to prevent these guns from being used by hunters. They literally made up exactly those arguments i.e. that the round wasn’t powerful enough to insure a clean kill. Today this argument is mostly about those who prefer the old .30 caliber or larger bullet and consider the decision by the military to adopt the .223 to have been a mistake. So they continue to flood the internet with their misinformation and bias.
A clean kill in hunting is all about bullet placement not about caliber. a single .223 through the lungs or heart of the largest Elk will absolutely 100% kill him. He wouldn’t be any “deader” having been shot with a .308.
Idaho Bob is correct. My father-in-law (and his father) were guides in Southeast Alaska in the 1930’s. I have his Winchester 270 rifle which he used exclusively to dispatch Brown Bear (when they really were big). Years later I questioned him about using such a “light” caliber for bear. He gave me “that look” and said that the 270 was plenty ‘if you know what you are doing’. And believe me, he was the equal to or better than any outdoorsman that ever lived.
Agreed Bob, if I put a .22 in your brain, you’re going to be just as dead as if I splattered it with a 300 Win-mag.
Re school shootings, people inevitably ask the question, ‘Why is this happening?’ Rather, they should be asking, ‘Why is this happening NOW?’
+1 for Dry Creek’s reply
1) The mass murders keep happening because the ACLU and capital pnnishment opponents have sabotaged the law.
2) With pre-trial motions, defense lawyers postpone the trial until the murder is practically forgotten. In federal courts, it takes 9 our of 12 jurors to convict. In Florida, it takes an unanimous vote by all 12 jurors to find a criminal guilty and another unanimous vote to sentence him to death. Which only starts a 12+ year Kabuki dance as lawyers file appeal after appeal.
3) But NOTICE that the lying news media does not let out so much as a peep of criticism of how this encourages mass murderers. What’s deterrance is there for a mass murderer? A lifetime endowment. A warm jail cell, three meals a day, no need to find a job and free health care.
There are people in California who committed truly horrible crimes in the 1970s that are still sitting around.
4) And this is no accident. The prostitutes of rich men have deliberately sabotaged the law in order to promote their plan to disarm the American People. Encouraging mass murder in order to generate anti-gun propaganda.
5) 18 years ago, 17 US sailors were killed by the terrorist attack on the USS Cole. The military thinks they have the planner — but after 18 YEARS the suspect STILL has not stood trail because of filthy lawyer tricks.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/exasperated-military-judge-halts-uss-cole-bombing-case/2018/02/16/6c91114a-1345-11e8-8ea1-c1d91fcec3fe_story.html?utm_term=.00414fa32442
WHY do we tolerate this?
WHY debate with people who have stabbed us in the back time after time? Why not name them for what they are:
Enemies.
Clarification: In federal court, a death sentence also requires a unanimous vote by the jury. However, there is no retrial for a hung jury — the guilty perp is automatically sentenced to life.
Since 1963 there have been only 3 federal executions.
Note, however, that the Democrats have ensured that whacking Democratic member of Congress gets the needle. A pack of schoolchildren –not so much.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_by_the_United_States_federal_government#Sentencing
In my opinion, Trump should have the suspect in the recent Florida atrocity put on FEDERAL trial for first degree murder and , if found guilty, executed. With the Supreme Court expediting fast reviews of any appeals to ensure sentence is carried out. The families of the victims deserve that.
Otherwise, the ACLU and defense lawyers will pursued endless appeals in Florida –and if those avenues are exhausted, they will then start filling appeals in Federal courts.
I agree completely! It is time to punish these sickos. Lets make it a federal law that any killings on school property automatically (not counting self-defense) are eligible for the death penalty to be applied within 24 months of conviction. Why not make terrorist attacks carry the same penalty? Time to make them pay the ultimate price.
to Idaho Bob
Yes
Although many of us could regularly take a deer with rimfire .22s but because MOST could not, states have set standards for hunting, to include calibers, muzzle velocity, and such. Pistol calibers were long precluded here, but are now allowed, but only those of a certain case length and muzzle energy.
I had a great affinity for the 32.20 round was admiring the .30 carbine, but these too, are not up to state standards. The .222 was legal for big game in my state during my youth, but was not up to the standard set.
You do not need a “license” to own a fully automatic firearm. It is a tax stamp and it costs $200. BATFE requires that you submit two sets of your fingerprints, one to them and one to the FBI, for background checks. The only other requirement is to have your CLEO (Chief Law Enforcement Officer) sign the ATF form that the firearms info is listed on. Many CLEOs will not sign and ATF leaves it to their discretion.
I have owned two transferable full autos (an MP40 submachine gun and an MG34 belt fed machine gun) so I’ve been through the process.
You can get around the fingerprint and CLEO sign off for the NFA by forming a Trust and using that on the paperwork. It’s a good idea to have a lawyer that knows your state laws write up the Trust document.
Marine Infantry PSYOPs: personally I find this stuff fascinating. I am quite curious how much of the “old tech” is being ignored or forgotten for the sake of new tech. In other words focusing on cell phone, tcpip, encryption, and WiFi frequencies/protocols while ignoring something as cold school as onetime pads using CW on 80 meters.
Regarding schools shooters, I commend to you the story of a woman of faith who prevented mayhem: https://www.npr.org/2014/01/31/268417580/how-one-womans-faith-stopped-a-school-shooting
1) Here is an example of why mass murderers feel free to kill dozens of kids:
http://www.pnj.com/story/news/crime/2018/02/15/florida-supreme-court-denies-eric-branchs-appeal-execution-take-place-next-week/341099002/
2) Eric Branch was found guilty of murder in 1994 and sentenced to be executed. Yet he is still alive 25 years later. His latest appeal: that he should not be executed because his 25 years of imprisonment were “cruel and unusual punishment”. Denied by Florida’s Supreme Court last week. He is scheduled to be executed next week but don’t hold your breathe. Having exhausted his STATE appeals, old Eric is now gearing up to carry this Kabuki dance to the FEDERAL courts
3) Do you see ANY of the national news media on the rampage about the school shooting in Florida letting out even a whisper of the other side of the issue — whether mass murderers feel free to kill because the ACLU and other groups have sabotaged the law’s deterrent effect.
Why are the people who let murderers go free not being criticized while innocent gun owners are?
The news monopolies don’t have to tell outright falsehoods to deceive and lie to the voters — they just have to lie by omission in order to promote a hidden agenda.
It seems to me that there should be more accidents. In the early seventies in the Army, my platoon got a guy who was a trouble maker and a jerk. After he bailed on a night patrol by dropping off the trail and hiding and going to sleep while the whole platoon searched for him all night, upon return to barracks he fell down the barracks stairs (several times) after he got out of the hospital he went AWOL, got DFR’d and was gone from our misery. Seems more of this should be happening. Prisoner X was accidently released and has not been seen since.
In my state ( upper mid west ), a 223 / 556 is legal for hunting here. yes, bullet placement is curcial, but also if using a heaver bullet than the 55 gr is better, with a little common sense. And another thing, about the states that people are leaving, that is fine, new blood so to speak. But if these same people move here or to another state, they usually bring their bull crap politics with them. In this state, we now have people from Co coming in and want to get the marijuana issue on the next ballet. Thanks, but no thanks.
We need a Federal Supreme Court of Death Sentence Appeals, Went a person is found guilty AND sentenced to Death the court records are certified, boxed up and sent directly to the FSCODSA, no appeals starting at the local level and winding slowly through multiple levels of local/county/state/federal appeals. (this only makes Lawyers millions while costing us multiple millions). Once the records arrive at the FSCODSA they have six months to Rule on the case BUT can only overturn the verdict on factual grounds.
Oh Dear Lord, you do not want to give the Federal government any more power than it already has. If you keep giving power to the Feds, what is the need for State government at all. Despite what you may think, this is not a Federal problem and should never be.
Putting things in the hands of the Feds might be OK if you have a bunch of staunch conservatives running the show. When the libtards gain power again, and they will gain power again, (I wish I could underline and bold face that last) these self same laws and new extraordinary powers you want to grant these lunatics will be turned against YOU and ME and every other rational human being who oppose them.
This little twerp in Florida was known to have serious mental issues. Had they been reported, as they should have been, he would not have been able to pass the NICS check in order to buy his AR15. Yet the system that is in place failed again. The FBI had been warned about this character, yet they failed to follow up on the warnings. That means failure after failure of the self same government you want to grant even greater power to. How many more failures of the existing system have to happen before the States take back what is, constitutionally, their responsibility to oversee in the first place.
Missouri has it right, they have been trying to take back control of the right to keep and bear arms in their State. It has passed both houses of their legislature, I think twice, but it has been vetoed by their libtard governor. I think they could do a far better job than the Feds will ever do. I believe almost every State could do a better job than the Feds on almost every issue.
Just remember, as stated by the Libertarian science fiction author L. Neil Smith, “ATF should be a sign on a convenience store, not the name of a Federal agency.” I highly concur.
If you want to know more about L. Neil Smith, go the the Libertarian Enterprise web site. After LewRockwell.com that is the Libertarian web site I read the most. Go to ncc-1776.org .
From the header on the web site:
“Gun control is the idea that it’s better to see a woman dead in an alley, strangled with her own pantyhose, than to see her with a gun in her hand.”—T.D. Melrose
1)While I agree with you, we have a system whereby 9 lifetime judges on the US Supreme Court can basically enslave 320+ million Americans by making up utter claptrap.
2) Supreme Court Justices Brennan and Marshall decided to overturn the death penalty laws approved by the elected legislatures of over 37 states simply because their personal opinion was that the death penalty was “cruel and unusual punishment” –even though it had been legally imposed for over 5000 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furman_v._Georgia
3) So the only recourse is to ensure Members of Congress get elected who will either (a) not approve appointment of corrupt judges or (b) will impeach and remove them.
4) The Supreme Court was never clearly defined in the Constitution written by the Founders — much of it was created by John Marshall’s garbage in opposition to Thomas Jefferson.
I think the Court as it currently exists must be destroyed but how to do so with a Constitutional Amendment is a complex question.
Maybe define the Court as consisting of the Court of Appeals in each region — with the Appeals Court being the supreme law in that region.
Maybe force the Judges to run for election every 4 years. As Jefferson noted in the Declaration of Independence, we the People are the sovereign. The Constitution should mean what WE decide –not 9 prostitutes for Rich men.
5) Much of the problem has been the refusal of Congress to even impeach Judges when they exert power in an unconstitutional and tyrannical way. Or cut the salary of the Judges to $1 per year.
The history of the Court shows it exists to enforce the power of the Rich –not to protect the rights of the common citizens.
The mass media ignored the school shooting in Aztec, New Mexico on December 7th 2017. There were no calls for gun control to go with it. In fact I imagine most readers of this blog (unless they live in NM) never heard about it. This is probably because the school was ready, and went into lock down after the first two shots were fired. Only two students died. One who walked into the bathroom where the gunman (a non-student who snuck in while the kids were arriving at the school) was staging for the attack, and one who was in the hall. A janitor heard the shots and followed the gunman in the hall calling out, “Active shooter!” The classes had all been equipped with locks and there was not a single other student injured or killed. I guess that didn’t lend itself to the narrative the left desires.
The Left say that executions do not deter crime, I disagree. Think back to the days of the expanding West. They hung horse thieves, they got a speedy trial and a public execution. Now at the public execution were all kinds of townspeople, including kids, little Johnny sees a guy hung for stealing a horse he thinks to himself “don’t steal a horse”. But then there is always someone else in the crowd who thinks “don’t get caught stealing a horse”.
A speedy trial and then a speedy public punishment so the example can be set while the crime and victim(s) are still in evryone’s mind would lead to reduced crime as people realize they will be held accountable for their actions.
How much of Remingtons debt was passed out in bonus and golden parachute programs while the last presidential administration drove sales with anti gun rhetoric ? Management ran company into the ground and now they will be rewarded while the rank and file are displaced. Previously I commented that no CEO is worth 200 times the average employees wages. Greedy, treasonous, disloyal, and un-American are just a few ways to describe this group of people that are destroying our country while claiming it is the american way. Fat cats that drove Remington into the ground should not get a dime . Capitalism can absolutely be a fair and moral enterprise. Somewhere this got lost. Fairness is often predicated on who can afford the best attorneys , that are often paid with the ill gotten gains in question. Unfortunately I do not have the answer and the people elected to or smart enough to solve these issues, some with good intention, are blackballed or sucked in by greed. Regarding the U-haul story, people need to stop running away to other states and stay and work for change. Leaving the place you grew up because someone else is ruining it is not the solution. When you leave you give the opposition exactly what they want , an empty place to import votes they know will go their way, making their position even stronger. Stop abandoning your family,friends,homes,and state. Stay and fight for what is yours. It is not just your right it is your duty.thank you and keep up the good work.
How did that work out for the Jews that stayed in Germany…It is only good sense to leave when a cause is lost and to regroup somewhere where there is a chance of winning…
I’m not sure if I’m right here, but it seems to me that the more we expect and demand young boys to behave like young girls, the more we remove the “rough housing” vents, the more we see these young men blow up in rage.
Please keep a eye of for the kids show Black Panther that is hitting the theaters near you . In the trailer the song played is ” The Revolution will not be televised” . That is a hate filled screed calling for white genocide and death to cops . Disney is behind this and should be called out on this.
The second amendment has nothing to do with hunting….it was designed so the citizens could overthrow corrupt governments and stop tyranny.