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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at illegal immigration statistics.

Activated Charcoal for Detox, Food Poisoning & Hangovers

Reader DSV mentioned this, over at Phramacist Ben‘s site: Activated Charcoal for Detox, Food Poisoning & Hangovers

Yale University Claims Up to 29.5 Million Illegal Immigrants

Yale University shocker: 29.5 million illegal immigrants, 3X higher than Census number. The article leads off with this:

“The illegal immigrant population is as high as 29.5 million, far more than the 11 million accepted by experts and the government, according to an explosive new report from three Yale University experts.

“Our results lead us to the conclusion that the widely accepted estimate of 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the United States is too small. Our model estimates indicate that the true number is likely to be larger, with an estimated 95 percent probability interval ranging from 16.2 to 29.5 million undocumented immigrants,” said their report published by PLOS One, an academic journal.”

Retreat Property in Bridger, Montana

There is a new listing for an off-grid property in Bridger, Montana, over at my #1 Son’s SurvivalRealty.com site.

Supreme Court Lets Sandy Hook Families Sue

H.L. sent this from Fox News: Supreme Court lets Sandy Hook families’ lawsuit against gunmaker proceed

Man Controlled Ex-Girlfriend’s Car with His Computer

ABC News (Australia) had this report: Man pleads guilty to stalking and controlling ex-girlfriend’s car with his computer.

Hong Kong Protests Have Escalated

Linked over at the great Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: DW (German Television) Reports on Hong Kong Escalation.

The Looming ‘1984’ Election

Reader Tim J. wrote to suggest this by Victor Davis Hanson: The Looming ‘1984’ Election. The essay begins:

“For a variety of reasons, the 2020 election is going to be a referendum beyond Donald Trump’s record and his Democratic opposition.

The furor that Trump has incurred, and the radical antithesis to his agenda and first term, have redefined the looming election. It is becoming a stark choice between a revolutionary future versus American traditionalism.

The choice in reductionist terms will be one between a growing, statist Panopticon, fueled by social media, a media-progressive nexus, and an electronic posse. Online trolls and government bureaucrats seek to know everything about us, in Big Brother fashion to monitor our very thoughts to ferret out incorrect ideas, and then to regiment and indoctrinate us to ensure elite visions of mandated equality and correct behavior—or else!

In other words, the personality quirks of a Trump or an Elizabeth Warren or a Bernie Sanders will become mostly irrelevant given the existential choice between two quite antithetical ideas of future America. In 2020 we will witness the penultimate manifestation of what radical progressivism has in store for us all—and the furious, often desperate, and unfettered pushback against it.”

Sweden: 100 Explosions This Year

The BBC reports: Sweden’s 100 explosions this year: What’s going on? (A hat tip to Krissy for the link.) A snippet:

“Swedish police are dealing with unprecedented levels of attacks, targeting city centre locations too. The bomb squad was called to deal with 97 explosions in the first nine months of this year.

“I grew up here and you feel like that environment gets violated,” says Joel, 22.

The front door of his apartment block in the central Stockholm neighbourhood of Sodermalm was blown out and windows were shattered along the street.

This category of crime was not even logged prior to 2017. Then, in 2018, there were 162 explosions and in the past two months alone the bomb squad have been called to almost 30.

‘Bangers, improvised explosives and hand grenades” are behind most of the blasts, says Linda H Straaf, head of intelligence at Sweden’s National Operations Department.’ “

You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!




32 Comments

  1. > “The choice in reductionist terms will be one between a growing, statist Panopticon, fueled by social media, a media-progressive nexus, and an electronic posse.”

    … and what? A growing private corporate Panopticon, with Big Brother Inc. monitoring our thoughts to regiment and indoctrinate us to be … what? … subservient workers and consumers? Hanson doesn’t say.

    19 years ago, The Onion warned us that “The Future Will Be A Totalitarian Government Dystopia vs. The Future Will Be A Privatized Corporate Dystopia” (May 17, 2000) @ http://www.theonion.com/1819594281

    Both Hanson and the writers at The Onion present a false dilemma. Indeed, we are speeding toward the worst of both worlds.

    Socialists to the Left of me,
    Oligarchs to the Right.
    Here I am, stuck in the middle.

  2. The illegal alien problem hurts us everyday. They kill over3000 people every year and there other violent crimes are off the charts they cost us 100s of billions every year they are a national security hazard. We need to actively work to find and report them.

    1. Read up on “Operation Wetback” and how then President Eisenhower dealt with “foreign invaders” in the USA! These “invaders”, as that is what THEY are, spit on the American flag that has been held up by the blood of AMERICAN PATRIOTS every day that they are allowed to be in the USA! I blame the politicians that allow this to happen to our USA! Vote the progressives OUT OF OFFICE every chance that you get, otherwise watch the demise of our USA!!!!!!!!

  3. Supreme Court Lets Sandy Hook Families Sue

    Was there ever any doubt?

    We are in the middle of an all out push to confiscate guns in this country. Republican or Democrat makes absolutely no difference. They want total power, total control, the only way is to disarm us.

    Practice your skills, stockpile supplies (buy more guns and ammo), be ready to fight at a moments notice.

    God Bless.

    1. Shouldn’t the phony sandy hookers be sueing the BATFE? They were in charge of this dangerous object to walk itself into a abandoned school and start shooting
      I want to start sueing car manufacturers for car chases and liquor distillers for publuc drunkeness.

  4. I question Oneguy’s numbers. I live twenty miles from the Mexican border. I have lived within sight, (a half mile). Virtually all the crime here is done by red blooded Americans.
    I’m not saying that there is no problem, but let’s do a little fact checking before we quote numbers and statistics.

    1. @ Woodchuck

      Well lets say those numbers are wrong.

      Lets say there are 10 million illegals in country…….I’m sure that is way low.

      So laws broken:

      Entered the country illegally (yes, it is illegal)
      Working without a green card (illegal)
      Using false ID (which most do, also illegal)
      Procuring a drivers license without proper ID (illegal in most states)
      Not paying taxes (I would already be in a deep dark hole for that one) also illegal.

      So that is 5 times 10 million…….buy my limited understanding of basic math that would be in the realm of 50 million laws broken, at the very least.

      Not to mention the financial destruction they are causing, with welfare, food stamps, healthcare, and their illegal offspring going to our schools and using those finances. And oh yeah……for the first two years of their school career they cannot be given less than a grade of C, even if they don’t show up, or do a single thing in the classes…….sounds awesome……FOR THEM!!!!

      This is an invasion of foreign nationals trying to dismantle our financial system and our way of life. The government is guilty of crimes against the citizens and should be brought to justice for their treason.

      Practice your skills, keep stockpiling supplies (buy guns and ammo), be prepared to fight at a moments notice.

      God Bless

      1. Where did you get your numbers? We only have around 17,500 murders per year. 3000 would be about 17% of total committed by maybe 6% (estimate) of population. According to the Libertarian CATO institute illegal immigrants commit fewer crimes than native born people. I’m safer living next to immigrants than natives.
        https://www.cato.org/publications/immigration-reform-bulletin/criminal-immigrants-their-numbers-demographics-countries?gclid=EAIaIQobChMImLnGhe_x5QIV24FaBR2G-whAEAAYASAAEgLWq_D_BwE

        1. Learn to read and read what @ Woodchuck wrote. He stated crimes that every ILLEGAL alien commits no matter . 5 times 10 million or how many ILLEGALS are here = Number of crimes committed plus any other illegal acts

    2. There is no shortage of data that more than supports my statement. Keep in mind that a lot of those deaths are the result of dui. That makes a difference legally but not to the dead person.
      Also it isn’t about comparing crimes by race or legal status because the real point is that every crime committed by an illegal would never have happened if we enforced our immigration laws.

  5. The Swedish authorities are in denial as to the root cause of their gang and economic problems. As such, they are getting what they deserve. Stupid liberal decisions.

  6. Re. The Looming Election

    The gravest condition in America is not that Commies and Fascists dominate the U.S. government. It is that Americans cannot even imagine a 3rd choice, no less act on one. The ability to think like free men and women has been indoctrinated out of them.

    “Give us the child for 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever.” Vladimir Lenin. And Hitler would agree.

  7. K in Tenn, your comment gives me a chuckle and feelings of dread at the same time. My thoughts go to the people in Sweden and other areas where their way of life is changing for the worse.

  8. What, so now we are to absolve ALL personal responsibility and excuse everyone else of using products the way they were intended, and designed, to be used? The SCOTUS allowing this lawsuit to happen against Remington is a clear example of why every stinking government employee needs to be canned pronto, Including the so called “good ones.”
    It is my understanding that any manufacturer can be held liable for products that do not perform as they were designed to perform, are dangerous to personal safety, are found to be at default in their manufacturing process.
    Suing Remington for the manner in which their products are used is exactly like saying any auto mfg. is responsible for any accident you are involved in, any clothing mfg. is responsible if the clothes you buy don’t fit, or your shoes wear out. Good grief, you might as well blame dish mfg. if your dishes get dirty. That seems to be the mentality that presently consumes this country.
    Our descent into this abyss and forthcoming destruction and loss of the American Experiment in self-governance is due largely to our own apathy towards the ideals that started it in the first place, the Ideals that it was founded upon. For self-governance to work it must have 3 important things: Virtue, which requires faith, which requires freedom, which requires virtue. Unless we the people, the self governed, participate in it on every generational level, we are going to lose it.
    This lawsuit against Remington is a classic example of how far we have fallen and how very close we are to loosing it entirely. Moral degeneracy and lack of personal responsibility are the major factors driving us down the evil road we are headed down. I know that I’m preaching to the choir here as I believe most visitors frequenting this site are of similar mindset. A simple encouragement that it’s never to late to re-evaluate how you relate to events happening in or modern society. Yup, spicy time is approaching, let’s not let it get that far…… But in case it does, B ready! And now I’ll shut my pie hole….

    1. NS, Remington is being sued based on how the gun was marketed. Remington is likely to win. The manufacturers are not being sued for nor liable for crimes or the misuse of their products due to Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).
      Firing government employees does not change decisions of the Supreme Court, a court with a conservative majority.

  9. Several years ago Wells Fargo did a study that concluded based on remittances that there was around 30 million illegal aliens in the USA. I think the yale study may have a low figure. I also think nothing will ever stop the growth of illegal immigration until it becomes a problem for the billionaire open border globalists who are enabling the invasion. We live in an occupied country and are being erased and replaced. Immigrants are only a symptom of our problem. The cause of the problem is we no longer control the important issues that are transforming our nation, unelected billionaires and their organizations are in control. That is why there was no enforcement with the 1986 Amnesty, or no mandatory e verify that was promised 20 years ago or no national entry-exit visa tracking program that was mandated by congress in 1996 or why we had the 1965 immigration Act shoved down our throats when over 90% of the population said they were happy with their current immigration system.

    1. R Moffett, I wish more people recognized like you do that the country is run by the billionaires and american/global corporations, not Democrats, not Republicans, not government employees. Follow the profits. Some of those corporations can’t find enough employees when unemployment is high, let alone when unemployement is low. Those immigrants contribute to hundreds of billions of GDP. Those immigrants pay enough into social security that they have extended when it will go bankrupt. On average, immigrants and their kids work harder and contribute more than native born which increases profits and global competitiveness. The US birthrate is so low that the nation would be shrinking without the immigrants. All those immigrants are coming to the US to escape violence, to work, and for a better life just like our forefathers. We are a country of immigrants. Better than 1/2 the country has a positive view of immigrants. Why would corporate america be against immigration when it is so essential to US growth & prosperity and corporate profits?

      1. Don, Immigration is a scam, it is a racket. immigration is a transfer of money from wealth from labor to capital. The only profit from immigration is captured almost entirely by those who hire immigrants and the immigrants themselves. Read the studies of Harvard economic Professor Borhas who has made the study of immigration and labor his lifes work and published in peer-reviewed journals.
        Your idea that the only way to solve low birthrates is to import millions of foreign people who have no connection to our culture, history, language or values and morals is insane. Far better to address the problem of low birthrates to begin with, part of which will be mass immigration.
        To say immigrants and their children work harder than Americans is a very bigoted thing to say. in the 1970s the highest paying factory jobs in the nation were union slaughterhouse jobs manned almost entirely by US citizens. The jobs paid well but were and still are brutal. The companies busted the unions and moved the jobs south and hired non-union, then immigrant, and then illegal immigrants and now the companies bribe Congress special visas to get even cheaper workers.
        We are not a country of immigrants and immigrants did not build the country. We are a nation of citizens and the nation was founded by settlers and colonists who built a nation that people could immigrate to. As late as the 1950s as much as 70% of the population could trace ancestry back to 17th century Americans. The 1965 Immigration Act was traitorous and opened the floodgates to millions of cheaper workers for the corporations. immigration is all about profit, power, and punishment. it is about people who like to wear a big moral crown for caring about “others” while ignoring the poor communities we have here now with hundreds of thousands sleeping in tents on the streets. Even Heaven has a border and an angel at the gate.

        1. I don’t know who works harder or about birthrates. I do know I would hate to do the work Immigrants do, As you alluded to.

          Here is part of an article about the work they do.

          ‘I Have Rights:’ How Undocumented Laborers Are Exploited During Disaster Recovery

          Illustration: Jim Cooke (G/O Media)

          Yessenia Funes
          10/11/19 11:00AM

          Filed to:Climate Justice
          5.6K
          16
          2
          Mario used to work. A lot. Twelve-hour workdays and seven-day workweeks are kind of the expectation when your job is to rebuild after a storm—and you’re undocumented. He hasn’t worked in about a year, though.

          When Hurricane Michael roared through Florida last October, the 47-year-old left his New Orleans home knowing there would be plenty of work, and he had experience working in recovery after Katrina. Mario—an undocumented worker who asked to go by his nickname for fear of retaliation—first found work in Florida clearing out some of the state’s 72 million trees Michael damaged. Eventually, though, his day-to-day involved climbing roofs to cover homes with blue tarps to protect the interior from further damage. While the Army Corps of Engineers installed some 7,800 blue roofs throughout the state, all it took was one to change Mario’s life forever. He suffered injuries on the job that will be with him for the rest of his life.

          Americans Are Already Moving Away From the Rising Water’s Edge

          The U.S. is slowly being gripped by a flooding crisis as seas rise and waterways overflow with ever

          Read more
          It’s a story that’s played out countless times. Undocumented workers undergird disaster recovery efforts in the U.S., and a number of seedy companies employ them and profit off of their work. In addition to working in unsafe conditions, several post-disaster assessments by universities found undocumented recovery workers are subject to wage theft, all while companies hold the prospect of making a call to Immigration and Customs Enforcement if workers complain. And in Donald Trump’s America, the threat of deportation is more real than ever even as the climate crisis and need for disaster recovery deepens.

          That’s left workers like Mario in a precarious position with mounting medical bills, an inability to work, and fear of seeking help. And while it shows that our immigration and disaster recovery systems are currently corrupted, a growing number of groups are looking for solutions that will educate workers on their rights and help bring undocumented people out of the shadows.

          Hurricane Michael made landfall this week a year ago as a Category 5 storm. It hit Florida’s poorest region and Panama City was left devoid of buildings, trees, and, for many who called it home, hope. That’s the power of 160 mph winds and 14 feet of storm surge. Since then, the federal government has dished out nearly $1.9 billion to the 18 affected counties and removed nearly 33 million cubic yards of debris, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

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          Recovery involves construction, and immigrants make up almost a quarter of the construction industry workforce, according to the National Association of Homebuilders. In states such as California and Texas, that number inches upwards of 40 percent—and these estimates don’t even include undocumented immigrants. This is an industry facing a severe labor shortage; some companies will take anyone willing to work these days. And the need increases in areas hit by disasters like Hurricane Michael.

          Cleaning up all that debris after such a catastrophic event is a dangerous task. While the government attributed 16 deaths directly to the hurricane, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration noted in its Hurricane Michael report another 43 peopled died indirectly from the storm. How? Medical issues, traffic accidents, and falls.

          Mario, who came to the U.S. from Honduras 13 years ago, nearly added to that statistic in the aftermath of the storm. When his employer, Louisiana-based FCA Construction, transitioned the work crew from trees to roofs, Mario alleges it demanded they cover 10 houses a day with the blue tarps. Earther has repeatedly contacted FCA Construction via phone and email for comment, but the company has yet to respond.

          On the Friday of Mario’s second week on the job, he was finishing up a roof when heavy rain began to fall. As he walked down the roof to secure the tarp and prevent the wind from ripping it off, a strong gust threw him off balance. With nothing to grab on to, he fell.

          Mario was out for nearly a day in the hospital and awoke to learn his spine, left ankle, right shoulder, and both knees were damaged. Doctors used more than 40 staples to close the massive gash on his head. He even lost some of his eyesight because of brain trauma.

          “None of this has been easy, to have all of one’s plans ruined,” Mario told Earther in Spanish, “but everything happens because God has a plan, and he knows what’s in store for me.”

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          Falls are the leading cause of death in the construction industry, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They can be avoided, though, through proper worker training, head protection, and safety gear such as a harness and anchor. Mario alleges the company only provided him with a helmet, but it went flying off when he fell. Proper training might have advised him to keep it fastened. Independent contractors can legally skip some of the safety training and equipment that companies must offer their full-time staff as full-time employees are treated differently than contractors under U.S. labor laws. Meanwhile, these companies still reap profit from this labor without dealing with any consequences that may result from injuries that occur on the worksite.

          Many undocumented laborers also don’t realize it, federal labor laws protect them. They protect everyone working in the U.S., but seeking such protection may feel too risky for individuals who’ve built their lives in the U.S. yet don’t have papers.

          The companies that employ undocumented workers know this and exploit it to their advantage while likely making their profit off of public funds. When homeowners receive a check from FEMA to fix their homes, they’re free to hire whomever they please. Some families may unknowingly entrust their home repairs to a company that depends on underpaid undocumented laborers. That’s one way federal dollars can make it into the hands of these kinds of companies. FEMA also awards contracts to large companies that may hire subcontractors that then hire more subcontractors. That money can eventually funnel its way into the accounts of some shoddy companies.

          “There is a very high potential for the exploitation of ‘undocumented’ laborers, and this kind of abuse is very well documented in other industries, like agriculture, so the potential—if not the actual instance—[for FEMA dollars to reach these contractors] is very real,” Roberto Barrios, an anthropology professor at Southern Illinois University, told Earther in an email.

          Stan Marek runs a Texas-based construction company that’s handled recovery work. Hurricane Harvey was the last major storm Marek Brothers Construction Company worked on. Marek has seen the exploitation of undocumented labor up close. He told Earther his company doesn’t knowingly employ any undocumented folks, though, because his company is too big to fly under the government’s radar the way these other smaller companies might. Every single one of his employees needs to submit identification and a Social Security number, he said, which should automatically disqualify undocumented folks from working for him. Still, many workers across the U.S. use fake Social Security numbers to work around this obstacle, as government-led research has found.

          Instead, labor brokers or independent contractors hire these individuals as independent subcontractors, Marek explained. There, workers are vulnerable to wage theft because, as he put it, what are they going to do? Undocumented workers don’t usually trust the police or law enforcement to protect them when these institutions are the same ones putting them in cells and sending them back to countries they’ve worked so hard to escape. Marek wishes he could hire undocumented workers and give them the training, protection, and pay they deserve, even authoring a piece in the Houston Chronicle for a path forward. But at the moment, the backward immigration system in the U.S. just won’t let him.

          Carry on

        2. R,
          I was mainly pointing out the motives of the rich that run the country and why. It’s logical that the immigrants and capital capture much of the wealth generated by their labor, but the rest of the country also benefits. I don’t know the exact balance of benefits but our food, housing, and products from other industries would be more expensive and less affordable if we didn’t have the immigrants. I’ve read various stories where farmers have tried to hire natives and they can’t find enough and even those that show up don’t have the strength/stamina and soon quit. The construction industry can’t find workers because former workers moved on to other industries and jobs when laid off during the last housing downcycle and layoffs. It’s not just pay creating the worker shortages. It’s complicated. I’ll check out the professor.
          The decline of Unions has been bad for workers. The economy is a battle between labor and capital to divide the wealth generated by labor. The natural advantage is to capital since they can purchase rules, laws, regulations and judges to interpret such from the legislatures/executive branches than enable capital to keep more of the wealth and share less wealth with labor. Unions are/were a counterforce that forced capital to share more with labor. This is another complicated subject that could fill books.
          If you have a better way to increase birthrates I’d love to hear it. I know of a few but most here wouldn’t like them, capital fights them, and 40% of the country is against them. As to foreigners assimilating, I disagree based on history and plenty of studies. People that come here of their own volition and with some risk come here to escape hardship, to work, and for a better life. Other than the native Indians we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants who came for the same reasons. One of the US’s greatest capabilities is to assimilate the immigrants. Think of Ellis Island, there were the Dutch, the Germans, the Irish, the English, the Chinese, the list goes on. Without that ability we would be no better than your average industrialized country. See link at bottom that shows immigrant (foreign born) share of US population since 1850. It’s gone up and down, but its about the same today as 1870 to 1920. I read that something like 50% of the large tech companies have been started by immigrants, generating jobs for millions. 1st generation adult immigrants have more trouble culturally assimilating, but by 2nd generation the kids are American, they have assimilated, and studies show they contribute more to the economy than natives. I suspect this is reflective of parents pushing for success, hardship growing up, and gratefulness for the opportunities. For assimilation, Look at how hard the immigrants work to pass their cultural history and language down to their American born descendants. They aren’t very successful.
          https://www.migrationpolicy.org/programs/data-hub/charts/immigrant-population-over-time

  10. Actually, this lawsuit is being used to bankrupt Remington. If they win the case, great, but ultimately, the legal costs will likely cause bankruptcy and closure. The company is already in financial trouble with the slowdown in sales since Trump took office. Once Remington is gone, you can be assured there will be a lawsuit against another company selling guns that the liberals don’t want you to have. Eventually, you won’t be able to purchase certain types of firearms because the companies were litigated into bankruptcy or stopped producing them to avoid litigation.

  11. Sodus New York. Illegal immigrant deported 3 times previously. Kills young mother and toddler , hides bodies. Great job keeping this piece of garbage out. Now he will have three hots and a cot for 20 years at our expense. Not to mention the costly trial and search for the victims. Wake up. Thank you and keep up the good work.

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