This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.
—
Google’s Character Assassination Committee (or Algorithm) is apparently still hard at work. For the past few weeks, a search on either “SurvivalBlog” or “James Wesley, Rawles” using the Google search engine results in a link to my Wikipedia biography, but also a 2014 booking mugshot of an Oregon murder suspect. (That is NOT me!) That man was later convicted. This photo-linking “error” can be traced back to an article at the ADL website, and it is downright defamatory. Despite numerous requests, Google has not removed that wrongly-linked photo. Perhaps it will take a lot of e-mails to Google from SurvivalBlog readers, to spur them to action.
o o o
As Ukraine’s war of resistance against their Russian occupiers develops, it will be interesting to see what weapons show up in the hands of guerillas. Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson noted that a WWII-vintage Degtyaryov DP-27 (“Stalin’s record player”) LMG was just seen. This will surely become a “spot the guns pulled out of the attic” exercise, just like we had during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Thusfar, most of what is coming out of Ukranian attics appears to be modern.
o o o
Democrat Spending Bill Contains ‘Serious Expansion of Federal Gun Control’.
o o o
o o o
Speaking of censorship, take a few minutes to read this essay: The Overton Window Is Being Shoved Toward Warmongering Extremism.
o o o
Reader P.B. wrote the following regarding medical use of Manuka honey:
“There have been other references to using honey as wound care/antibacterial product over the life of this blog. One notable entry was on 14 September, 2019 by Jen R.. She cited four PubMed references. While all the references certainly refer to using honey in wound healing and fighting wound infection, the use of honey in its many medical forms was not discussed in detail in any of the articles, as that was not the focus/intention of the research papers. Three of the four references were from wound care focused professional journals and the last was from a specialized surgical journal. My credentials that support my response are as follows:
-
- 9 years as an Army Medic (91Cs or Practical Nurse, short course, then reclassified in1983 to Combat Medic, 91B).
- 33 years as a Registered Nurse, with four of those years on Active Duty and four in the Reserves in the Army Nurse Corps.
- 15 (of the aforementioned 33 years) years treating/managing wound care and case managing wound care patients on a daily basis.
- Trained in wound care (WTA) by the WOCN (Wound, Ostomy, Continence Nurses) Society since 2019.
I have a great deal of experience in wound care and the long term management of wounds. It is an extraordinarily complicated and multifaceted discipline of nursing. Not all nurses have the exposure or experience with wounds. A degree in nursing does not automatically make someone prepared for managing wounds. Sadly, nursing education, as is most, is about basics and most useful training occurs on the job. Most physicians get a one-hour lecture on wound care in their eight plus years of education and training. So, while I am certainly highly trained and very experienced, I am not an “expert”. I am not a WOCN.
I often describe wound care by comparing it to homemade spaghetti sauce. “Nearly everyone has a version of spaghetti sauce that they and their family love and call the best. Some use meat, others veggies…some use tomato paste and others do not, etc.. However, in the end, you still have a tomato-based sauce that is put over pasta.” There are a variety of products that can be used and methods for wound healing. I can comfortably say that along with the principles of wound healing, every single patient has unique circumstances (method of injury, co-morbidities, hygiene, environment of healing, supply availability, nutrition/hydration etc.) that require continual and frequent assessment by a professional. (I get it…I’m as independent as they come, but in areas where I am not experienced or have concerns, medical or otherwise, I look for experts. Do NOT John Wayne wound care.)
I can also say that honey has it’s uses in emergency preparations both for food and medicine. I have enough stored for at least a year myself. I would absolutely not recommend that honey be used in a field/triage situation. The use of honey is best in a rear echelon/non-combat environment. I too, will cite a professional reference on the overall use of honey, that the average layperson might find interesting but, as well all know, knowledge is great, but a little knowledge can be dangerous.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8398244/
And I will strongly advocate for the use of medical grade honey products over nutritional honey. To do otherwise would be unprofessional. Certainly, in an prolonged emergent situation, when finding a medical professional much less a wound professional would be near impossible, the average person should consider using any well-handled honey, as this would be better than nothing. I will also strongly advocate for the use of medical grade honey impregnated products over the liquid version. I would go into the various products, but that is not a topic appropriate in this venue.
I would like nothing better than to launch into the principles of wound healing, as well as emergency triage nursing. After all, I have spent my career doing one or the other. I am passionate about both topics. And I am a darn good teacher, so I have been told. But again, it’s not a topic that even a majority of nurses find very interesting! In your everyday, non-emergent lives, please use medical grade honey and consult a medical professional. Yes, I’m fully aware of the current challenges in accessing healthcare.
Finally, let me reiterate that the unique circumstances surrounding each person and their wound healing journey may, on the face of it, belie my statements above, but the principles as outlined in my cited reference are well documented. There will be many who will give an experience of their own or of a family member, where they used food-grade honey and the wound healed just fine. Awesome. Luck doesn’t equal safe.”
o o o
o o o
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signs Constitutional Carry bill.
o o o
Meanwhile, Indiana and Georgia might both be getting close to joining the list of Constitutional Carry states. Freedom is on the march!
o o o
Reader Greg X. sent us his thoughts on the recent Red Shirt Versus Gray Man article:
I liked the red shirt/gray man article. I live on the east coast. My survival depends on the gray man approach and concept, but what should a gray man really look like? I think there are other ways to execute this beyond those described. I would agree with the author about discussions with acquaintances and avoiding controversial ideas and politics. One should be careful what one reveals. But what about the rest of life and daily activities. OPSEC is the key. I need to blend in, some information must never be revealed, but I don’t need to always hide, and I believe hiding could actually lead me to stick out.
I’ve shared a persona with friends, based on real interest, about wanting to be able to go back to nature, survive on a farm, and grow trees (I’m a woodworker). This means I can discuss gardening, growing fresh vegetables, building top soil, controlling bugs, fertilizer, composting, canning, preserving, raising chickens, raising goats, fencing, forestry, controlling erosion, healthy living, fresh air, hiding in the woods, hunting, etc all as part of my interest in self-sufficiency. I subscribe to Mother Earth News and Grit. I’m not a prepper, I’m now a left-wing hippie that wants to go live on the farm. Do I have other motives and concerns, for sure, but those don’t get shared except with those I really trust, my son and one or two 35-year friends from college. Do I have all the skills above, not yet, am I practicing them all, not yet, and people will know this. Even if I reach a point where the farm is set up self-sufficiently, most people won’t ever hear about it, the place will still be a place I want to build and set up.
Friends at work may know that I have a generator set, but that generator set is to power my well. No generator, no water. The generator is no longer a prepping supply, it’s a power supply for power outages to keep the plumbing and bathrooms going. Friends know I lose power every couple years. When power goes out on my street you can hear the generators going as you drive down the street with at least ½ the houses blaring away. I’m now hiding my generator in plain sight. What people don’t know is that I have solar panels, charge controllers, wire, inverters and at least 100 Ahr of batteries stashed in the house. If I want to talk to someone about solar power it will be in the context of my dark shed located 250 ft. from the house and how I was trying to find a way to get some light into the shed. This could be an interesting discussion among the guys, allow me to get to know others, to explore a technical topic useful for prepping and self-sufficiency, but it doesn’t reveal anything about my supplies or my inclination to prepare for the SHTF. It could allow me to share, to get to know other people, to learn what kind of skills and imagination other people have, and to gauge people I might want to get to know better for when the SHTF.
The existence of some supplies needs to be hidden. How much gas do I have? Just a couple 5 gallon cans as far as friends or even neighbors know. Nobody knows my real gasoline supply. I rotate the cans into cars after dark, frequently after midnight, out of view of the street over a period of 4-6 months. I make sure my neighbor’s windows are dark. I fill the gas cans at night a few at a time in empty gas stations. I put fresh gas cans back in the shed using a dim headlamp after midnight when everyone is in bed. OPSEC.
Do I keep water and food in the house? Yes, but I point my friends to the all the guidelines put out by FEMA, the red cross, and other entities telling us what we should be doing in case of a natural disaster. I live on the coast well within reach of a hurricane, I lost power for 5 days from a wind storm, discussions about basic preparedness just mean I read the news. I’m doing my part to help others I know to become more prepared, but without revealing the extent of my preparations. Each of these discussions is an opportunity to get to know and build up a little trust with a friend from work or a casual friend from a social circle.
I limit discussions about supplies for OPSEC reasons, but I don’t try to avoid discussing anything of substance with other people. My wife has friends. If we are out at a party I might talk to the guys about woodworking or home repair. If the contents of my garage comes up and how my car sits on the driveway the discussion is about all the salvaged pallet wood (I have quite a bit) not how many 2x4s, or OSB sheets that might be taking up space with the pallet wood. The pallet wood has minimal value to most, even after the SHTF, but it helps me to appear to be a real, maybe a little eccentric, person. The discussions about hobbies has led people to offer me stuff they are trying to get rid of, frequently from a relative that died. I’ve been told about auctions where I was able to add to my supplies cheaply. The discussions are useful because they are a covert way to learn about acquaintances and casual friends that one might want to have around if the SHTF. How do we find that group of people we trust that we will need after the SHTF if we never share and try to go total gray man? I want to be perceived as a person with skills, some personality and minimal supplies beyond what my neighbors are storing.
Being on the coast does have some anonymity advantages from too many people being. People just don’t pay the same attention that might be found in a small community; people don’t know neighbors or the community when the county has 250,000 people. It means I could go into Costco, buy 40 pounds of rice, 40 pounds of sugar and no one thinks twice. One trip doesn’t build a good supply, but over a year go once a month and all of the sudden you have 400 pounds of rice. I bought my beans at a restaurant supply store. It took a couple trips over a year but they didn’t look twice at someone carrying out 300 pounds of beans. I bought my wheat at a homebrew store in a town about 100 miles from my house. Brewing can use quite a bit of grain. The gray man key is to understand where one is, what things do people notice, and what kind of behavior sticks out as abnormal.”
o o o
And lastly, St. Funogas offered this commentary:
“People will be possibly be looking back on March of 2022 as the single biggest turning point in the history of the US since 1776 and the beginning of the end of the American empire. We’re in the process of handing it over to China via the sanctions against Russia and it will have more far-reaching effects for the US and the rest of the world than anything people can imagine. Before too long we’re going to see some major blowback from the sanctions. When Putin said, countries who interfere with Russian actions will face “consequences you have never seen,” I thought he was threatening us with nukes but in hindsight, was he possibly talking about interfering with them economically? If so, the results will be exactly as he said, “consequences you have never seen.”
Here’s one of the more important articles I’ve read in the past week concerning the links between Russian exports, China, and Ukraine. At oilprice.com, “The End Of The Global Economy As We Know It.” Skip past the parts you don’t understand and keep reading. There have been more and more articles along these lines in the past few days. Read them, get an idea of what they’re taking about and then hold on to your hats. Don’t be partisan at such an important time of history and miss the larger points of where we’re headed.
We the People will get nothing out of these sanctions other than higher prices and the threat of another Great Depression. Everything is interlinked to a much larger degree than we realize and the Greenies have chased so many industries out of the country that we no longer produce much and especially don’t mine some of the more important rare earth metals. Those industries can’t be brought back overnight and we’ll suffer the consequences. For those who believe that a group of Elites are trying to either cause the Big Reset in order to gain even more control of the world, it will look like this whole thing was engineered, the sanctions, the war, etc. Do billionaires like Soros and Gates care about the world economy? Do they care about death and destruction? Loss of empire is not a partisan issue, history assures us it’s going to happen eventually whether Democrats or Republicans want it to or not. Whatever our opinions are on the subject, it’s better to prepare than get caught with our pants down later.
China, Russia, and India represent 38% of the world population and with Russia kicked out of SWIFT (if you don’t understand SWIFT, please study up for your own sake) Russia will be finding other ways to work around SWIFT and the petrodollar system leading to other nations to follow suit, namely China and probably India. China is even more tired of the US empire than Russia is and they’ve been patiently waiting in the wings. They’ve (Russia, China, and India) already been using workarounds since before Ukraine and the sanctions will only speed up the process. What does that mean for the US? The petrodollar system is the main thing that allows the US to print money at will, the main reason for our 30 trillion dollar debt, and what keeps us in the position of current world domination. To get a better idea of why we’re headed for economic TEOTWAWKI, read “Petrodollar Warfare” by William R. Clark. I read it after the Iraq war when it was written but the information is 10x more important today. With the current sanctions and eventual demise of the petrodollar system, the US will be closer to debt default and all the consequences of that. Read “Blowback” by Chalmers Johnson to fill in more of the details, and “The Dollar Crisis” by Richard Duncan. These authors are not conspiracy theorists hoping for their 15 minutes of fame, rather, well-qualified, well-researched experts in their fields who understand what they’re talking about.
Gold bugs are finally making sense projecting gold and silver to skyrocket as Russia stops exporting gold, leaving less available on world markets. Just the derivatives problems that will cause could be catastrophic. They’re talking about forcing their customers to pay for their oil in gold, including most of Europe who gets a large percentage of their oil from Russia. With such a high demand for gold and less dependence on the dollar, gold and silver should respond accordingly.
We’re headed for some pretty deep feces and it’s important to understand the deeper reasons why, not the trivia that FOX and CNN are talking about and all our normalcy bias that says we’re too big of an empire to fail. There’s an economic TEOTWAWKI headed our way sometime in the not-so-distant future. Be prepared. And one last question for us all to ask: hypothetically if the US were to be facing the loss of empire and world domination, would WE be the ones to use nukes rather than face the consequences of losing our empire? I don’t know, but it’s not totally out of the question and something worth thinking about.”
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR. or AVL. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.