Month: May 2025

Leftist Plantation: It’s Now “Treason” For White Farmers To Leave South Africa?, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note: This guest article (reposted with permission) describes some recent news that might outwardly seem tangential to the focus of SurvivalBlog. But I believe that it is indeed relevant because it highlights the importance of preparedness for international migration. The 20th Century taught us that national politics can change rapidly, and minority groups can be marginalized, exploited, disenfranchised, persecuted, imprisoned, and systematically killed. This happened again and again in places like Armenia, Russia and Ukraine (with the rise of the Bolsheviks and Soviets from the 1920s to 1950s), Greece and Turkey in the 1920s, Nazi Germany, the partition …


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:

“The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house. Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 23, 2025

On May 23rd, 1934 the outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed by deputized former Texas Rangers Frank Hamer (pictured above) and Maney Gault, as well as assorted local police, near Gibbsland, Louisiana. The event was dramatized in the 2019 Kevin Costner movie The Highwaymen.  JWR’s Comments:  It is good that Frank Hamer stocked up, when he did. The National Firearms Act (NFA) was signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt in June of 1934.  That law unconstitutionally required registration and $200 transfer taxes on sales of machineguns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and suppressors. — May 23 is the …


Lehman’s Cordless Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer, by Mike in Alaska

I recently bought a Mason Jar vacuum sealer from the Lehman’s Non-Electric store located in Kidron, Ohio. The following is my informal review. Disclaimer: I paid full retail price for this jar sealer. Lehman’s has not paid me or otherwise compensated me, nor do I represent them. I am simply offering to readers of the blog our experience with this product. We have bought many items from Lehman’s over the years, from cast iron products, food, candies, to Aladdin Lamps. The quality of their products is what we call “generational quality”; that is, you can pass their products down to …


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, we look at the LMBA’s delivery crunch. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is running into a physical delivery crunch for gold contracts. There are now so many long contract holders demanding delivery that the delivery part of the LBMA’s traditional “next working day” contract settlement promise has been …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 22, 2025

Some Great News! It appears that the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) has been added to the pending Continuing Resolution budget bill, by the House!  The chances of bill passage are now quite high, and Donald Trump has indicated that he will sign the bill, if it reaches his desk. The Senate still has to give approval, but once the law is signed, the implications of the HPA are quite far-reaching.  Here are some things to ponder: Under the HPA, suppressors will be removed from the National Firearms Act (NFA), so there will no longer be any $200 transfer taxes. And, …


Expatriating to the Philippines: 12 Years to Reflect, by M.B.

Twelve years ago, I moved to the Philippines to escape U.S. economic pressures—tax hikes, healthcare mandates, and a struggling economy. Now, with over a decade of experience, I’ve gained a perspective on life here. This guide, refined for aspiring expats, covers natural disasters, construction, security, education, a unique location in Subic, and critical considerations for accessing specialized services like medical care. The Climate and Agriculture The Philippines offers a year-round growing season, but gardening is tough. Red clay soil demands effort, and ants and weeds are relentless. The dry season—hot and arid—requires irrigation or hydroponics. Fresh produce prices spike during …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at more A.I. fakery. (Pictured above is a still from the 1970 predictive sci-fi movie Colossus: The Forbin Project.) More A.I.-Generated Fakes! You’ve surely already heard …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 21, 2025

  An important and time-sensitive legislative update:  Please contact your congresscritters TODAY and encourage them to pass both the HPA (removing suppressors from the NFA) and the SHORT Act (legalizing short-barreled rifles and shotguns), as part of the pending Federal budget reconcilliation. Thanks! –  JWR — On May 21, 1799, Napoleon and his forces abandoned their siege of Acre, after two months. This was a turning point in the French invasion of Egypt and Syria.  The city of Acre is now known as Akko, Israel. — May 21, 1819: The first bicycles (“swift walkers”) in the US were introduced in …


Prepping: Things That I Got Right – Part 2, by 3AD Scout

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Our first home had a gas forced air furnace and a wood fire place. I had a natural gas ventless heater installed in our basement. A few days after our daughter was born, we had another major storm and power outage. With a two year old and a new born we decided to bug out to her dad’s house until our power came back on. Before we left, I turned the ventless heater on low and left the basement door cracked open. When our power came back on just shy of 72 …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: 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. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Reader R.D. sent us this: “I started collecting them and already have over 650”: a user has been powering his home with laptop batteries since 2016. JWR’s Comment: The charging method pictured in the article has “lithium battery charging thermal runaway fire” written all over it.  (Pictured above is a lithium battery fire …