Day: August 4, 2026

Preparedness Notes — August 4, 2026

This Week in History: On  August 4, 1873, while protecting a railroad survey party in Montana, the US 7th Cavalry, under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer (pictured), clashed for the first time with the Sioux Indian tribe near the Tongue River, killing one man on each side. — August 6, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved. It was described by Voltaire as “in no way holy, nor Roman, nor an empire.” Emperor Francis II renounced his title of Holy Roman Emperor, becoming instead the first Emperor of Austria. — August 4, 1900: An allied expeditionary force, made up of Japanese, …


Fall of the American Republic – Part 2, by Single Farmer

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Some of the erroneous assumptions and operating principles that Western governments of today have been utilizing in their social planning schemes are these six stupid ideas: 1. The stupid idea that people and institutions can become perfect. The perfectibility of institutions and people is contrary to all natural law and historical precedent. People are imperfect by their nature and institutions which are composed of people are imperfect. 2. The stupid idea that economic output is everything which can be expressed as a regularly reported number which can be measured, and the number …


AFH U.S. M1 Bayonet, by Thomas Christianson

The U.S. M1 bayonet is designed to fit the M1 Garand rifle which was the standard issue American infantry rifle during World War II and the Korean conflict. The M1 bayonet has a 10-inch spear-point blade that is 1 inch wide and has a tang that is around 0.25 inches thick. The blade is made of 1080 carbon steel. The grip panels are made out of black Durez or a similar plastic. The bayonet measures 14.25 inches overall. The 10-inch blade is long enough to make the bayonet somewhat awkward for everyday tasks like opening cans, prying open crates, or …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a satellite image of Europe at night. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail image below is click-expandable. — If any SurvivalBlog readers have personally taken or otherwise hold the copyright to a particularly nice landscape photo or other photo of particular interest to preppers that is in a wide horizontal format (to match our blog template) then please send it in as an e-mail attachment, and I will consider posting it as a Graphic of the Week, or as a Top Note photo. I can of course credit you by name — or pen name —  if …


Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers. Economics & Investing Links of Interest NYT: Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble? Bond yields at 19-year high send Warsh credibility warning. At Whatfinger: America’s Quiet Civil War: High-Tax Slave States vs. Free Market Freedom States. To file under “Socialist Stupidity”: Commerce Department quietly announces 7 new equity stakes in private companies. Silicon Valley’s 24-Year-Old AI “Prophet” Just Lost a Fortune – The Hype Finally …


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: China’s robot warrior dogs. Robot Dogs are Training \With Soldiers in China Whatfinger.com reports:  Robot dogs are no longer experimental in China. They’re training with actual soldiers, right now: …


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. — SurvivalBlog reader C.B. forwarded this news link: American Red Cross declares national blood crisis as type O supply drops to dangerous levels. Here is an excerpt: “The Red Cross is now limiting distributions of type O blood to hospitals, as the nation’s largest single provider of blood products now has less than …


SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week 

REDOUBT NEWS LINKS This weekly column features media from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. In Spokane: ‘When the sun rises, we are going to be in shock’: Thousands evacuated in north Spokane as wildfire crosses river into city. Some other coverage: Apocalyptic Inferno in Spokane: Fast-Moving Wildfire Forces Mass Evacuations as Homes Burn and Hospital is Emptied (Videos). Idaho In-N-Out gunman died by gunshot wound after killing 3, wounding 7, Twin Falls police say. An armed citizen made the …


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 …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Your Little Toe Does Have A Purpose It Makes Sure That All Of Your Furniture is Kept In Its Proper Place 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.