“Swing voters are more appropriately known as the ‘idiot voters’ because they have no set of philosophical principles. By the age of fourteen, you’re either a Conservative or a Liberal if you have an IQ above a toaster.” – Ann Coulter
February 7th, 1867 was the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder (died February 10, 1957). SurvivalBlog highly recommends the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as well as her biography. — Just a couple of the 1,100+ folks who’ve bought 2005-2022 SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks wrote to mention that they thought that they weren’t working. Apparently, on some devices — such as older slow PCs or Mac iPads — it can take several minutes for the “SB” icon to appear, after you plug in the stick. This year’s archive stick has 18.3 GB of data, with more than 92,000 files for your device …
This weekly column features news stories and event announcements 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. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on a large, suspicious balloon spotted drifting over the inland northwest. (See the Region-Wide and Montana sections.) Region-Wide Greater Idaho Bill Introduced in Idaho Legislature: House Joint Memorial 1. o o o Flight data: 3 military aircraft from Spokane went to Montana following …
“But let it not be said that we did nothing. Let not those who love the power of the welfare/warfare state label the dissenters of authoritarianism as unpatriotic or uncaring. Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty.” – Ron Paul
Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th, 1911. I miss Reagan. Those were simpler times, with much less partisan divisiveness. This video of a performance by comedic juggler Michael Davis attended by both Reagan and Tip O’Neil demonstrates the tenor of those times. — We are still gathering resumes for the ranch caretaker position, in northwestern Montana. Please let any of your friends or relatives know about this opening, if they meet the qualifications and be interested in relocating. — A special request from JWR: To finish building some antique rifles, I’m in need of a few complete Chilean …
I recently received a Howell Arms .45 Colt Conversion Cylinder for my Pietta M1858 cap and ball revolver. The conversion cylinder allows me to fire .45 Colt cartridges (also commonly but erroneously known as .45 Long Colt) through the revolver. After some fitting, it works extremely well, and is a lot of fun to shoot. The Backstory I have previously written a review in SurvivalBlog about the Pietta M1858 cap and ball revolver that I acquired from Elk Creek Company. Shooting a cap and ball revolver is a lot of fun, but loading one is somewhat time-consuming and cumbersome. A …
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. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: You may have heard that silver tumbled 5.19% on Friday, to $22.57 USD per Troy ounce. That was attributed to a briefly-strengthening Dollar. But the Dollar’s prospects look dim for 2023, while the prospects for silver look bright. Buy …
“The greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.” – Hannah Arendt, On Violence
Today is the birthday of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916). He was an American-British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hair-curling irons, a mousetrap, and steam pumps. Maxim claimed to invented the lightbulb. Coincidentally born the same day of the same year was John Boyd Dunlop, the Scottish inventor who invented pneumatic rubber tires. — An Update: We are now down to just 120 of the SurvivalBlog 2005-2022 Archive waterproof USB sticks. We are not planning …
The mass media has been all abuzz about the transit of what was reportedly a “Chinese Spy Balloon”, over the continental United States (CONUS). There were plenty of conflicting reports. And the Biden Administration did a pathetic job of showing any resolve in defending our airspace. This media circus began on Wednesday evening (February 1, 2023) with some fuzzy pictures taken by residents of Billings, Montana. This news story was released the following morning: Chinese surveillance balloon left Montana, drifting across middle of U.S., Pentagon confirms. And then we learned: Flight data: 3 military aircraft from Spokane went to Montana …
The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: A Friend Once Asked Me: “Do You Have Plans For The Fall?” I Sat There For A Moment, Trying To Think Of Something Profound To Say. Then I Realized That He Just Meant Autumn.
“This is a true saying, if a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest …
On February 4, 1945, the Yalta Conference opened with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin meeting to plan the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany. Roosevelt was reportedly weak and ill at the conference. There, they conspired to carve up Europe by marking new boundaries on a National Geographic map. This set the stage for the Cold War, and the statist globalism of the early 21st Century. — We are in need of some entries for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running …
“The earth is the Lord‘s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation. This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah. …
On February 3rd, 1959, a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa tragically took the lives of three rising stars in American music: Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley – pictured), J.P. Richardson (aka “The Big Bopper”), and Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela). The day is remembered as “The Day the Music Died.” Holly had chartered the plane, to avoid the discomfort of the chilly band tour bus. As the story of the Winter Dance Party Tour goes: “Following that night’s show at the Surf Ballroom, guitarist Tommy Allsup lost a coin toss with 17-year-old Ritchie Valens for one of the three …
