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 “HJL”. There is a newcomer in the tactical tourniquet market that shows some real promise today.
Awesome Company to Work For
Reader R.S. sent in this article about a Wisconsin family owned business that sounds pretty great to work for. The company produces wiskey, beer and shot glasses with a decorative bullet embedded in them. During a company meeting last month, the company announced that they wanted to give their employees a gift that they could use for personal protection. They decided to give $500 towards the purchase of any firearm that the employee wanted. All 16 of the staff were allowed to pick out any firearm at any local gun shop. If you spent less than $500, you could use the remaining money for any firearm accessories. The staff is a mixture of veterans, experience gun owners and first-time gun buyers. Now that’s a great company!
Tactical Tourniquet
I typically carry a CAT tourniquet in my kit as they have always been one of the best. As an EMT though, I learned that you have to be careful when buying these as the airsoft industry has created cheap look-alikes that will typically break when used. When your bleeding out is not the time to find out that your tourniquet isn’t a real one. Anyways, one of my complaints of the CAT tourniquet is how difficult it can be to put on one-handed. Not being a combat veteran, I’ve never had to use one this way, but I’ve always practiced the skill. It is difficult to teach that to someone who won’t practice regularly though. Now, reader G.P. sent in this article profiling a new tourniquet that promises to be just as effective and much easier to use one-handed. I’m definitely going to get a couple of these to try out.
Fire Prevention
Reader DPS sent in this comment on the California Camp Fire refugees:
Here is what happens when you do not prepare. Paradise California citizens shoring up at the local Walmart. Some may think you can’t possibly outsmart a wildfire. Well, let me tell you, we have a log home in the redoubt and cleared 50 yards in all directions to the dirt. We have four 250 gallon water cisterns buried in the four corners with high pressure spray to hose down the home if needed. We have fire extinguishers, steel roof, and fireproof chemical over the outside of all the logs. we have a small moat of water circumnavigating the perimeter of the dirt and drill regularly as a family. In a wild fire, we stay put with our preps and fight it out. I do not believe the Paradise fire would overcome us in the Redoubt should it had been there in our neck of the woods.
New Jersey Kids Trapped by Snow
Reader DSV sent in this article about a surprise snowstorm that was stronger than expected. The staff at Liberty Middle School had to turn the whole school into a slumber party because their buses couldn’t travel the roads to bring them home and most of the students parents were unable to retrieve them. This brings back hints of the 1888 School Children’s Blizzard in the northwest plains where hundreds of children were trapped in school. Of course, the difference is then, people recognized that survival was the name of the game. Yesterday, I heard on the radio that many parents were considering suing the weather stations because they under-predicted the strength of the storm. We live in such a snow-flake litigious society that it appears the only lesson learned by the majority is that they need someone to blame other than themselves for their unpreparedness.
The Worst Year to be Alive
Ask a medieval historian what was the worst year to be alive in history and you’re likely to get an answer based around 1349 when the black death wiped out half of Europe. But historian Michael McCormick has a different answer. in 536AD a heavy fog plunged Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia into darkness for 18 months. This resulted in the coldest decade in the past 2300 years with snow falling in China in the middle of the summer. Crops failed, people starved and towards the end of it, the bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium in Egypt. All told, one-third to one-half of the Easter Roman Empire was wiped out. And they didn’t even have heavy industry to blame climate change on either. These things happen throughout time and it’s one of the reasons we prep. Thanks to G.P. for the link.
Gun Confiscation
Reader W.W. shows the absolute absurdity that the gun-control crowd is willing to stoop too to make their point. According to this article, Democrate Eric Swalwell has called for the confiscation of semi-automatic weapons in the U.S. and is willing to use nuclear bombs on those who don’t comply. He wasn’t to spend $15 billion of your tax money to ban them, then buy them all back, then criminally prosecute those who resist. When challenged over his plan and notified that he would be basically declaring war on the American population, he responded with a tweet that it would be war, but the government had nukes (implying that they would win that war). How do these people get elected?
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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!
REF: Moron Swalwell’s idiotic plan to confiscate guns. This guy is a real genius. Paying $1,000.00 per. SURE THING BUDDY. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE that owns one of those evil, black, murder machines, should “sell back” their “assault rifle” to Swalwell and his corporate revenue thugs for $1,000.00 each. THEN, take your $1,000.00 and go buy 2 NEW evil, black (or OD, or FDE) “assault rifles” and pocket a bit of change to boot. Will Swalwell actually beat out Obozo the Clown for all-time greatest gun salesman? Time will tell.
Its hubris on this idiots part to think he can “buy back” something he never owned in the first place.
I have seen prairie fires In the Texas panhandle move 60 miles an hour. Having the brush cleared back from your home in the key. When they move that fast there is no time for help. All you can do is get out of the way. I have Personally knowing several people that didn’t and died trying to cut fences or out run a fire. Keep the brush back turn on the sprinklers and get out. Better to rebuild than be buried in the ashes
As for confiscation, Swalwell is the rep for the east SF ‘Bay-arrhea’ and is seriously thinking of throwing his hat in the ring for 2020.
As a 4th Gen. Expat Californio (family still there since the 1860s) I can tell you, people like him and the ignorant uninformed voters that put people like him in office is one of the main reasons I packed up my family and moved out, and as one commentor said in the article, ‘let him (swalwell) be the first person through the door to take the guns away’.
And as one other astute defender once said:
“When they come for my guns, they may find me dead, but I’ll be laying knee deep in a pile of brass”
To be honest this small snowstorm had been predicted. I don’t really know what the big deal was since in NJ this type of storm is not unusual. Maybe slightly early in the year. It had been listed as 3 to 6 inches north and 2 to 4 for central NJ. The storm should not and I don’t recall anytime in the past 60 yrs where a storm so slight caused this issue. There were no plows nor salting until hours after the snow started (about 12 noon AS predicted!). Plows were not called out until well after all the traffic already clogged highways and roads (after 8 pm). Someone I know took 2 hrs at 2 30 pm to drive 7 miles when there was maybe an inch! I honestly do not understand what the issues were. The LEADER of the state was in a meeting of mayors in Atlantic City during the afternoon. He blamed the weatherman. He is not a leader and is using NJ as a stepping stone to higher things. He was the last presidents ambassador to Germany and a rich man (like Corzine the criminal that couldn’t locate billions of dollars in his company and is living free and clear and rich) looking for higher office. Pray for NJ as the last elections showed a terrible result.
I also do not understand how such a small storm for NJ had any effect on normal life, now in Southern Cal perhaps! or have so many Californians deserted for the big government paychecks in the east. This is what you get on a slow news day. 4-9 inches of snow causing all this, People you should think about moving to Death Valley where snow is rare. In the event of a real disaster these will be the first to parish. Blame the weatherman for your incompetence, hence the term “Snowflake”.
Darwin will prove out in the end.
Seriously if you don’t understand the problem of snow and THEN compare it with areas that have a population of a few thousand then you really don’t understand. If you have never driven in a big multi-million population city in a snowstorm then you have no clue how poorly equipped vehicles and poor driving can make impossible for the rest of the drivers to get home. You could have the best 4wd vehicle ever made and have years of experience but if you have half a million other drivers on the same highway with you all trying to get home for dinner you aren’t going to make it.
If you don’t think that America isn’t stupid enough to nuke itself then your not paying attention.
America nuked itself for 12 or 13 years starting in 1945. Any congress critter who makes such an asinine statement needs to go to trial for treason, found guilty, put up against a wall, and shot on national TV. It won’t happen, unfortunately, but it’s a nice fantasy.
As for the stupidity of the American voter, did you notice the results of the 2018 elections? Most voters, no matter which party, are really too stupid to have the power to make the kind of change that effects the entire country. “Stupid is as stupid does”, Forrest Gump, or more correctly, his mother.
Re: Gun Confiscation
Due to the recent election, Nevada has now been turned into the eastern most county of California. Some are calling it Nevada-fornia. They managed to bring about a “blue wave,” voting in a Democrat Governor, a second liberal female Senator, and a gaggle of democrats in lower offices.
Sisolak, the new governor has said he wants to ban “bump stocks, assault weapons, large capacity magazines, and silencers.” He has a democrat super majority in the legislature to help him do it.
His new Attorney General, Aaron Ford recently said he intends to implement the “universal background check” law which was passed in 2016 by 1%, but was never put into practice by the previous Republican governor because it was badly written and unworkable. The FBI repeatably told Nevada that they did not have the funding or means to put such a system into practice. A “universal background check” means requiring any firearm transfer between private individuals to have a background check run before hand. No one can explain how this could possibly be enforced, other than creating a gun registration system first.
The new Attorney General is famous for having multiple arrests for everything from stealing tires to invading his former girlfriend’s home. An election ad showed a video clip of this “lawyer” (with a law degree) standing before the legislature laughing and admitting he did not know the definition of the word “larceny.” Nevada has always had corruption in government, but apparently has now crossed the line into Idiocracy.
Various theories have been put forward to explain why the state has turned blue. There is apparently a flood of people fleeing California’s high taxes and crime rate, yet reflexively voting for anything with a “D” after the name ( I personally know people like this). Nevada is the state with the 4th highest percentage of hispanic population. While many are legal immigrants, many are certainly illegal, and the state has become a “sanctuary state” by default.
My theory is that there is no real call for more gun control. Rather, most democrats are voting their pocket book, meaning increased public subsidies like welfare, social security, free medical care, free college, etc. But more often than not, they end up voting for Leftist activists which then push fringe agendas like transgender “rights,” abortion, open borders and gun control.
It would not surprise me to see an influx of Nevadans into the “redoubt” in the next few years.
Please tell me this isn’t a new event in NJ? Give me a break. Lack of preparedness always produces pitiful results. Blaming others is stupid. Why go to work if inclement weather is forecast unless you are an emergency responder, if life cannot go on without you I would be surprised. If you cannot deal with weather stay home and help keep the roads clear for those that are essential.
In Michigan, no stranger to regular snowfall, the drivers act like they;ve never seen the stuff. This happens every winter. People drive 20 on clear roads and 60 on black ice. Act like that because they have 4wd they can ignore basic common sense. I see as many 4X4’s in the ditch as i do simple family cars. All this from people who have lived there most of their lives.
As for politics, Michiganders voted in a Dimm Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General, and Secretary of State. The state had been running pretty well under Repubic control for quite a few years. Not perfect by any means, but all in all pretty well. Fortunately the Repubs managed to cling to control of the house and senate. However, not for many more elections.
The ignorant voters in this state put in 2 major constitutional changes that will be devastating to future Repub control. First, gerrymandering has been put in control of a non-elected commission. The political philosophy that controls the commission control redistricting in the state, bad news for Repubs. Second, these moron voters put in KarlMarxifornia style motor-voter and election day voter registration. They couldn’t get this crap through the legislature so it went to referendum and straight into the state constitution. It’s time to get out of this state, pronto.
It is simply the lefgtys way of throwing down the gauntlet. Remember Waco.
Having seen the results in Colorado and now Nevada. I wonder why Idaho wants more immigrants? Ad top right of this page!
One dollar an ear ! ONE DOLLAR AN EAR for gun grabbers !
I am wondering if the folks whomare prepped to fight the fire have SCBA’s? Hard to fight fire when you can’t breathe…
OK, I’m ready. I hope he will personally come to confiscate mine. I’m willing to die to protect my god given rights, and my family. I wonder if he would be willing to die in order to take them away. Time will tell. Thank you for an outstanding site.
I was under the impression that CA, or at least LA county where I used to live, required a minimum distance cleared around all structures to prevent or mitigate fires in brush/forest areas. It’s good, common sense even if it is law. Although I guess that doesn’t stand up to Santa Ana driven fire storms.
On Slawell, ” How do these people get elected?”
They perfectly reflect the intelligence and education of their constituents. Perfectly.
” All 16 of the staff were allowed to pick out any firearm at any local gun shop.”
What if they had their rights taken from them?
We, as gun owners, have to stop using the gun banner’s term “buy back.” Saying the government is “buying back” firearms gives credence to the false premise that the government owned them to begin with. It also affirms the liberal idea that government is the source of your rights rather than (presumably) the protector of them.
The election laws need to be changed!
1. No motor-voter registration. To register to vote you must appear in person and have a picture ID: Government issued.
2. Raise the legal age to vote to 21.
3. Show a government issued picture ID to vote.
4. Restrict absentee voting to the military. If your are too lazy to go to the polls you cannot vote.
5. If you are on welfare you cannot vote.
6. You can only donate to someone you can legally vote for.
It always helps to restrict the time in office for any politician. Term Limits!
And since they are in office for only a short time NO RETIREMENT!!!!