Texas Property Tax Protest Season – The Month of Discontent, by Joel Ho

Editor’s Introduction: Property tax bills are skyrocketing nationwide. With inflation, bare land values are up, house construction costs are up, and house prices are up. Even if property tax rates remain the same, the relative tax burden on individual landowners and homeowners is increasing.  Many Americans are trapped in a quandary: They see residential real estate as one of their only viable hedges against relentless inflation. But as their home prices escalate, so do their taxes. Together, the combined stresses of higher interest rates (with consequently higher monthly mortgage payments) and higher property taxes are making home buying unaffordable for …


How The Stock Market Signals a Major Silver Rally, by Hubert Moolman

The most significant Dow peaks in the last 100 years were in 1929, 1966, 1973, and 1999. The 1929 peak was a nominal major peak as well as a major peak as measured in terms of gold (Dow/Gold ratio peak). The 1966 and 1999 peaks were major Dow/Gold (D/G) peaks, whereas the 1973 peak was a major nominal peak. There has always been an interesting relationship between these peaks and silver rallies. After all of these peaks of the Dow there were significant silver rallies that followed. Below, is a long-term chart for sold and the Dow:    


The Least Invasive Real ID, by St. Funogas

With the Real ID requirements finally going into effect as of May 7th, a US passport card is the best option for those interested in maintaining as much privacy as possible. A passport card offers more flexibility and maintains your privacy to a higher degree than a driver’s license. For those who consider their home address at the top of their privacy list, nothing beats a passport card. I’m no expert in this field but I’m basing this article on my own personal experiences and testimonies of friends. The reader is strongly advised to do their own research before applying …


Age-Appropriate Prepping Logistics, by R.D.

Many of the articles in the SurvivalBlog discuss preparation for different survival situations. With that In mind, we all have to face the fact that we are aging and that at some point, we may decide to share or pass along some of the supplies that we have accumulated. It also occurred to me that, as we age, our desire to help others may impact our survival plans. From a personal perspective, I’ve reached the point in my life where I’ve lived longer than any of my male ancestors. And, I’m certainly not as physically capable as I was in …


A Simplified Disaster Network – Part 1, by J.M.

Having an operational computer network running in a post-SHTF world may seem frivolous to some people. But if you have any plans to use computers, tablets, or cell phones as part of your post-disaster operations, it can provide the capability for those devices to communicate, share data and synchronize their activities. It can also provide some support for important things like WiFi security cameras and WiFi sensor monitoring. In a previous article (parts 2, 3, 4, 5) on SurvivalBlog I discussed how to set up a mobile WiFi/Ethernet network running a local cloud server (NextCloud) in a box for use …


How The Woke Postmodern “Faith” Glorifies Evil, by Brandon Smith

It’s not as if it was ever a secret: The very core of the woke movement is fundamentally rooted in evil. The general definition of “evil” being a conscious act of deception and destruction, the deliberate victimization of others for the sake of personal power, pleasure, and gain. When I try to imagine what a religion of evil might look like I consistently come back to the far-left woke movement along with its rabid mantras, agendas, and self-righteous narcissism. The majority of human beings have an inherent sense of good and evil; we often refer to this condition as conscience …


Avoiding the Worst Case Scenario – Part 1, by M.B.

Author’s Introductory Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Although there are references to the legal system in this essay, no part of this essay should not be construed as legal advice. This essay is for informational purposes only. INTRODUCTION On April 11, 1986, near Miami, Florida, eight Federal Bureau of Investigation agents engaged in a four-minute gunfight against two suspected bank and armored car robbers. The shootout took place in front of a home in a residential neighborhood. When it was over, two FBI agents—Special Agent Ben Grogan and Special Agent Jerry Dove—were dead. Five agents were wounded—three seriously. Only …


The Repair Teardown – Part 2, by R.T.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) A factor that makes it difficult for the average homeowner to do their own repair jobs is that some manufacturers design their products to be serviced solely by them and not by you. Something to look for in a product before you buy it would be to find out how easy it is to repair. Product reviews are a way of doing that. A very helpful piece of information when viewing a product’s reviews is to look for a notice on the frequency of returns; this can be a more accurate indicator …


The Repair Teardown – Part 1, by R.T.

My dad lived through the Great Depression on a farm in the western plains of Minnesota. When there was a breakdown of the machinery there was no thought of ordering a replacement from the Sears & Roebuck catalog as they needed it “right now” and not in 4-to-8 months. Their only options were; go to town to the hardware store, or the blacksmith shop, or fix it themselves. I was born and grew up in the city after they sold the farm, but he never abandoned his frugal handyman ways, which I inherited. Although I did not think it was …


Post-SHTF Lighting – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) THIRD OPTION: RECHARGEABLE LED LIGHTS This section will be a very basic look at the broad topic of rechargeable lights. The bulk of the information and all of the many options will be presented in the next article of this series on post-SHTF lighting. In order to use rechargeables for illumination after the SHTF three things are needed: 1. rechargeable lights 2. a charging device 3. a “plug-and-play” solar panel 1. Rechargeable lights Rechargeable lights come in a wide variety of styles with options such as battery capacity, hi, medium, and low …


Post-SHTF Lighting – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) Paraffin Lamps Halfway between a candle and an oil lamp are paraffin lamps. They’re similar to oil lamps and burn the same fuel but they come in a small jar with a wick. They’re essentially a small oil lamp that burns more like a candle. I thought it would be interesting to test one but by the time I finished with the candle portion of my tests, there was no doubt in my mind these paraffin lamps with their small wicks and long burn times (one claimed 115 hours) wouldn’t be much better than candles. There’s …


Post-SHTF Lighting – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Author’s Introductory Disclaimer: I have no association with or receive any benefit from any of the companies whose products are mentioned in this article. They’re used for examples only, I haven’t used some of them, I’m not making recommendations, and the reader is advised to do their own research before making any purchases. This is the first article of a planned series, discussing the various options for lighting our homesteads in a permanent grid-down world. Some of us have been in a multi-day grid-down situation at least once in our lives. For some, it is an inconvenience, for others an …


Europe Goes Full Totalitarian and Puts The Entire Western World at Risk, by Brandon Smith

It’s happening again. Europe is once again going totalitarian and this time there’s a decidedly familiar communist stench. The outcome was predictable for many of us in the alternative media and the situation is only going to get worse in the next few years, but what does this mean for the rest of the world? With the European elites casting off their humanist masks and going outright Orwellian, what kind of chaos can we expect to unfold? First and foremost I want to point out a key piece of irony here – For decades in the US we heard the …


Retreat Security: What We Can Learn from Israel – Part 2, by Don Shift

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) If you have a large property or a self-contained housing tract, layered defense could work well. Imagine an outer barbed wire fence, maybe one of those extra-sturdy five or six strand ones along an Interstate. Next, there would be (ideally) 100 yards or more of open ground with little to no cover that is easily observed from defensive fighting positions. The inner perimeter has a wall or tough, tall chain link and barbed or razor wire fence. Gates are ramming-resistant. If someone gets past that, the inner compound is further subdivided for …


Retreat Security: What We Can Learn from Israel – Part 1, by Don Shift

Introduction It’s every prepper’s fantasy: living in (mostly) a self-sufficient secure compound surrounded by liked-minded individuals living off the land just out of reach of the ravaging hordes. For novelists and daydreamers, living on the frontier in a simpler way is an appealing escape from the often-disheartening humdrum of ordinary life. Rather than worry about politics and taxes, you worry about raiders and if this summer’s crop will come in. But in the pages of fiction or the corners of our imagination, the good guy always prevails. Reality is much more stark. Those who lived on Israeli kibbutzim—collective compound-style communities— …