Month: February 2018

Rethinking Federal Government Preparedness Resources, by J.P.

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The government can’t always keep you safe, but they can always get you killed. For a long time I’ve held that notion near and dear to my heart only to have it revalidated whenever and wherever calamity strikes our nation. I’m sure there are some bureaucrats that would agree with my opinion. Furthermore, it appears that some people within our government have fought the good fight for the preparedness community when they made available a number of free resources to add to any preparedness library. It just so happens I keep electronic copies of these publications on my smart phone …


Letter: The Real Restrictions of Australia’s Gun Laws on its Citizens

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HJL, Just wanted to give your readers a taste of what our Australian “Gun Control Act” has meant to law abiding Aussie shooters in light of the articles on “Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban”. A firearms license is required for all transactions involving firearms, firearm parts (not accessories) and all ammunition sales (license number and amount of ammunition purchased is recorded). All semi automatic firearms are restricted to an extremely regulated and difficult to obtain Primary Producers License (regardless of caliber). All handgun licenses are for competition shooting only (or Security Industry), handgun magazines are restricted to 10 …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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 water shortage in South Africa continues to get worse. Lost Domesticated Plants Archaeologists have discovered several seed caches throughout the Americas that indicate certain plants had been domesticated that are now just growing wild and considered wild edibles. This is an interesting development and brings up several concepts for food production that you have to wonder about. In today’s world of GMO crops, can they be domesticated again? How hardy are …



Preparedness Notes for Saturday – February 03, 2018

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This is the birthday of writer James Michener (1907–1997), known for his very well-researched epic novels, such as Centennial. This is also the birthday of painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894–1978.) o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 75 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for …


Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 3, by Rector

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I believe a full gun ban in the United States is inevitable. In the first two parts of this article series, I’ve explained why I expect this, through cultural, legal, and demographic trends. Part two discloses the first step for protecting your guns. Let’s move on to the second step in the plan. Protecting Your Guns (continued) Step 2: Prepare the Registered Gun Collection Your Amazon browsing history (now up to 15 years old), your credit card records, your membership in the NRA, your concealed handgun permit, your GPS tracked trips to the gun range, et cetera will provide investigators …


The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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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:

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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”. Homeschooling is under attack in Kalifornia as authorities ignore clear signs of mental sickness and blame the excuse. Grenade Launcher Goodwill is apparently the place to obtain your hardware. Reader T.J. sent in this article showing that someone donated a grenade launcher to Goodwill along with several other items. The only problem is that it was loaded – with a live grenade. The launcher was received from another store. Employees said they …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. Then …


Preparedness Notes for Friday – February 02, 2018

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February 2nd is the birthday of Ayn Rand (born Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum in 1905), died – March 6, 1982) She is of course remembered for her novel Atlas Shrugged, which is considered a Libertarian classic. While I sharply disagree with her views on religion (since she was an atheist), I admire both her skill as a writer and her ability to articulate some core precepts of human liberty. o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 75 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A …


Preparing for the Inevitable American Gun Ban- Part 2, by Rector

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A full gun ban in the United States is inevitable. In part one of this three-part series, I begin to outline the cultural, legal, and demographic reasons I believe this is the case. Let’s continue looking into the changing demographics of the United States and its subsequent affect on the political landscape. The Enemy Has A Vote In my former life as an Infantry officer in the U.S. Army, we were fond of saying that “the enemy has a vote”, meaning that our best laid plans were likely to be undone by enemy action. Rest assured, the statists and gun …


Letter: Learning New Skills Well

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Hugh, It’s already February and I suppose a good 90% of all new years resolutions have come and gone. Personally I’m not a big believer in defining the thing I will start or quit each new year. Instead, every November to December, for the past 4 or 5 years, I start thinking the following: what skills will I focus on learning? To help with the learning process, I group these skills into a few major groups: self-defense, food, medical, and technical/communications. I decide which of those major groups I want to increase my knowledge in, and I focus on it …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 the weakening U.S Dollar. (See the Forex and Commodities sections.) Precious Metals: Jeff Clark, more optimistic than ever: 2018 Gold Price Forecast and Predictions   Forex (Weakening U.S Dollar): The decline in the US Dollar against the Euro (USD/EUR) is continuing apace. This is best …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday – February 01, 2018

February 1st is the anniversary of the secession of Texas from the United States in 1861. A State Convention considering secession opened in Austin on January 28th, 1861 and on February 1st, by a vote of 166-8, adopted an Ordinance of Secession from the United States. It’s important to note that not all Texans favored this act and the state Governor, Sam Houston, while being loyal to the union, refused offers from President Lincoln to keep him in office and was subsequently deposed as governor. We also remember February 1st, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and …