Year: 2019


Escape and Evasion in Standardized Testing, by Autistic Prepper

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A Little Background The very word “test” is enough to make us cringe. Spelling tests, math tests—every school day brought another test. And then there were the “achievement tests”, which were supposed to find out how much we’d learned that year. The Tests that Really Mattered in Our Lives From high school, many of us went on to college. Here tests were crucial as we labored through the ACT, SAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, et cetera. Our scores helped determine whether we would get into the college and profession we wanted. Okay, So I’m a Rebel I tried hard on all …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news 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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today’s focus is on the pinprick of the real estate bubble. Precious Metals: Tickets Please For The Gold Roller Coaster o o o Arkadiusz Sieroń: A Weakening Global Expansion Amid Growing Risks. Will Gold Price Benefit? o o o JWR was recently a guest on the Kennedy Financial podcast.  …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday – January 24, 2019

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January 24th is the birthday of René Barjavel (born 1911, died November 24, 1985). This prescient French science fiction author wrote several books with survivalist themes, including Ravage, which was titled Ashes, Ashes in its English translation. Today is also the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the excellent View From The Porch blog.


Preparing for a Private Gun Transfer Ban

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There is some bad news from the halls of the U.S. Congress: H.R. 8 has been introduced by Representative Mike Thompson–Democrat of California. Dubbed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, this is horrible piece of legislation that is likely to become law! The word from the District of Criminals is that this Private Gun Transfer Ban bill is on the fast-track through committee, for passage. Ominously, it quickly gained 225 co-sponsors. And President Trump has given mixed messages about whether or not he would sign such a bill. Uh-oh! A Private Transfer Ban, But it Sounds So Reasonable The …


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 “JWR”. Today we have a special piece on Google and YouTube Spying. How Much Do Google and YouTube Spy on You? SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson wrote to describe a first-hand experience with Google and YouTube spying: “My daughter was watching YouTube videos. Her YouTube browsing history also shows on my computer, when I go to YouTube. As you know, YouTube is now owned by Google. Yesterday, I referenced that people …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“We still proclaim the old ideals of liberty but we cannot voice them without anxiety in our hearts. The question is no longer one of establishing democratic institutions but of preserving them. … The arch enemies of society are those who know better but by indirection, misstatement, understatement, and slander, seek to accomplish their concealed purposes or to gain profit of some sort by misleading the public. The antidote for these poisons must be found in the sincere and courageous efforts of those who would preserve their cherished freedom by a wise and responsible use of it. Freedom of expression …


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 23, 2019

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January 23, 1855 was the birthday of John Moses Browning. He was the brilliant designer of dozens of guns, including the M1911 pistol, Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and the venerable M2 .50 Caliber Machinegun. This is also the birthday of my #2 Grandson. His coincidental birthday will ensure that he will inherit a disproportionately large portion of my guns that are Browning designs.


Guest Post: The Modern Prison-Industrial Complex- Part 2

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Editor’s Introductory Note: This article was originally published on Ammo.com, and is reposted with permission. This is the concluding continuation of Part 1, which was posted in SurvivalBlog on Tuesday, January 22, 2019. Prison Guard Unions and Private Prisons Lobbying Elected Officials Anywhere government money is being spent or the state is picking winners and losers, there you will find lobbying. Like the military-industrial complex, private prisons are no exception to this rule. The two largest private prison corporations have put more than $10 million into electing favorable candidates since 1989, and more than $25 million into lobbying. Marco Rubio …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on Snow Camouflage. (See the Books and Gear sections.) Books (Snow Camouflage): Soldier’s Handbook For Individual Operations Survival In Cold Weather Areas, U.S. Defense Department (2009) Paperback o  o  o Field Guide to Tracking Animals in Snow: How to Identify and Decipher Those Mysterious Winter Trails o  o  o The Snowshoe Experience: Gear Up & Discover the Wonders of Winter on Snowshoes   Movies: Ken Burns: The Civil War 25th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray o  o  o Building Your …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news 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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today’s focus is on the importance of buying home vaults. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold Stocks Remain In A Downtrend o o o Bubba Horwitz: Gold and Silver 2019 – What to Expect   Investor & Consumer Psychology: Here is an interesting recent piece over …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – January 22, 2019

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Congratulations to Michael Cargill (the owner of Central Texas Gun Works) for his success in this lawsuit: District Court Fines Austin, TX, $9,000 for Refusing Carry of Handguns at City Hall. Cargill is an upstanding, liberty-minded gentleman. He also runs one of the few gun stores in the country that accepts Bitcoin, in payment. Oh, and he sells Ghostgunner milling machines and 80% receiver blanks. He is quite a guy! — On January 22 , 1944 Allied forces began their successful landing at Anzio, Italy.


Guest Post: The Modern Prison-Industrial Complex- Part 1

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Editor’s Introductory Note: This article on prisons was originally published on Ammo.com. It is reposted with permission. The size of the U.S. prison population is of considerable concern to survivalists.- JWR — There’s no two ways about it: The United States of America and its 50 state governments love putting people in prison. The U.S. has both the highest number of prisoners and the highest per capita incarceration rate in the modern world at 655 adults per 100,000. (It’s worth noting that China’s incarceration statistics are dubious, and they execute far more people than the United States. Indeed, the so-called …