Month: February 2025


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — February 9, 2025

On February 9, 1870, US President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law resulting in the US Army Signal Service’s establishment of its “Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce”. This later became known as the National Weather Service. — On February 9th, 1555, my 17th great grandfather, Rowland Taylor (born October 6, 1510) was burned alive at the stake during the Marian Persecutions, for professing that Bible scripture is inerrant. He died singing hymns. His martyrdom is described in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. – JWR — February 9th is the birthday of gun writer Major George Charles …


Prepared For Financial TEOTWAWKI? – Part 4, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Can Our Fiscally Irresponsible Congress be Reined In? While it’s certainly mathematically possible to balance the budget, it’s not humanly possible. An eighth-grade math class in Peru or Portugal, having no preconceived illusions about US spending, and no prejudices about what to cut, could balance the budget. Musk said he could strip $2 trillion from the budget. So could I, but Congress won’t pass most of the DOGE recommendations. It’s also not humanly possible to balance the budget because not only do fiscally irresponsible voters keep sending the wrong people to Congress, …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Sorry, Kid You Must Be This Tall To Deploy Nukes News Link: Volodymyr Zelensky demands nukes to end war with Russia. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.  


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a candlestick? For there is nothing hid, which shall not be manifested; neither was any thing kept secret, but that it should come abroad. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more be given. For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — February 8, 2025

On February 8, 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle aged 44 after being convicted of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I in the Babington Plot. — February 8, 1879: Sandford Fleming first proposed dividing the world into 24 equal time zones and adopting a Universal Standard Time at a meeting of the Royal Canadian Institute. This was adopted in 1884. — And on February 8th, 1963, the Kennedy administration issued an order prohibiting travel to Cuba and banned financial transactions and commerce with Cuba, by U.S. citizens. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for …


Prepared For Financial TEOTWAWKI? – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2.) The current war in Ukraine is a prime example of how the system works for large corporations without providing a single benefit for We the People. After the Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, Russia asked to join NATO. Even though having Russia as a NATO partner would have been the best possible arrangement for the citizens of the US, European Union, and Russia, the US, needing enemies in order to keep justifying obscene defense budgets, dictated “no”. In 2014, the US orchestrated the overthrow of Ukraine’s freely-elected government to install an anti-Russian president, then contrary …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, 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 your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 7, 2025

On February 7, 1839, Henry Clay famously declared in the Senate: “I had rather be right than president”. — On February 7, 1976, the FCC raided and shut down pirate radio station WCPR in Brooklyn New York. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …


Prepared For Financial TEOTWAWKI? – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) Interest on the National Debt There are three categories in the US budget. Mandatory spending is mandated by law to be paid. Discretionary spending can be adjusted for each department, or the funding can be eliminated at any time. Interest payments are in their own category but for all intents and purposes are in the mandatory category. The 2025 budget has the interest payment estimated at $969 billion, just a hair under one trillion. If I can tweak that up to $995 billion based on historical budget misses it will make the math easier as this …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, a look at the precious metals bull market and some conflicting predictions for the equities markets. Precious Metals: The bull market continues! Gold just hit another all-time high, in terms of US Dollars. Spot prices, as of Wednesday morning: Gold: $2,890.90  Up $32.50 Silver: $32.72  Up $0.36 Platinum: $1,000.70  Up $19.20 Palladium: $1,035.00  Up $8.80 …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 6, 2025

On February 6, 1869, Harper’s Weekly published the first drawing of “Uncle Sam”. with chin whiskers. — February 6, 1959: Texas Instruments filed for a patent for their first integrated circuit (IC), invented by Jack Kilby. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used …


Prepared For Financial TEOTWAWKI? – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Sometimes the truth is ugly and nobody wants to hear it. Ignoring the truth is what got us into the current budget deficit mess and the insurmountable national debt we now face as a nation. Hope is a remarkable thing. Hope that our actions will pay off keeps us working toward the goal and it generally pays off. False hope, on the other hand, causes us to work toward solving a problem which is impossible to resolve. Because we fail to recognize it can’t be fixed, we keep working and hoping and can’t understand why our exertions aren’t achieving the …