The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The raid on Deutsche Bank in Germany back in September over the money laundering probe of Danske Bank, which is the biggest lender in Denmark, contributed to the sudden collapse in confidence. The governments are desperate for money and they are hunting it on a global scale. Deutsche Bank served as a correspondent bank to Danske’s Estonia branch. That is where the latest money laundering is alleged to have occurred. The banker there in the Estonia branch of Danske, Aivar Rehe, was found dead by police there in Estonia. He had been previously questioned by prosecutors and was considered to …




Preparedness Notes for Saturday — November 23, 2019

On November 23rd, 1980, a 7.2-magnitude quake struck southern Italy killing more than 3,000 people. The casualty toll was probably so high because the tremor struck during Sunday night mass, as many residents sat in churches that crumbled in the quake. The quake was centered in Eboli, south of Naples. In nearby Balvano, children were preparing to receive their first communion at the 1,000-year-old Conza Della Comapgna church. The church was demolished and killed dozens of people, including 26 children. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 85 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more …




Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Whether ancient Rome or the Soviet Union, collapse begins when productive citizens silently withdraw allegiance and decouple where they can. Further rot is expected and doesn’t disappoint. Freed from account, the regime collapses from its unsupported weight. In this sense, classic collapse is a secondary effect.” – Ol’ Remus, in his Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report blog




Preparedness Notes for Friday — November 22, 2019

Today is remembered as the birthday of the late Eugene M. Stoner. (Born 1922, died April 24, 1997.) He was the designer of the AR-7, AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, the Stoner 63, and several other firearms. (The AR-10 was the basis of the AR-15 which in turn spawned the very widely used M16 and all of its variants including the M4 Carbine.)  It has been estimated that as many as 16 million rifles from the AR-15 family are owned by civilians in the United States, and military production M16 variants worldwide exceeds 8 million rifles. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we …




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. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at secondary market prices of Rawles XL Voyager knives. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: The US Economy: All Roads Lead To Gold o  o  o Horwitz: Gold may have found a bottom Economy & Finance: Reader Mark J. sent a link to this piece by Chris Martenson: The …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“There was an open ‘debate’ about MMT or Modern Monetary Theory. Brilliant young man economist Sam Rines took the difficult position of being pro-MMT for the sake of debate. He thinks it would be a disaster but is truly afraid we will actually pursue such a policy. There was the usual pushback, which I’ve written about more than once, but I have to admit that I was struck by the private conversations after the debate. Many smart, well-informed thinkers were almost resigned to seeing MMT actually attempted in the next decade. Mauldin take away: If we attempt MMT it will …




Preparedness Notes for Thursday — November 21, 2019

On November 21, 1916, Britannic, the sister ship to the Titanic, sinks in the Aegean Sea, killing 30 people. In the wake of the Titanic disaster, the White Star line had made significant modifications to the design of the ship, but on its way to pick up wounded soldiers near the Gulf of Athens, it was rocked by an explosion causing even more damage than that which had sunk the Titanic. Many of the dead were from some of the crew who attempted to launch life boats while the Captain tried to run the ship aground. The life boats were …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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 “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. Today, we look at veterinary antibiotics. All Antibiotics for Livestock Will Soon Require a Vet’s Prescription Reader D.B. sent this bad news for survivalists: All antibiotics for livestock will soon require a vet’s prescription. …







Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — November 20, 2019

National Sovereignty Day (Spanish: Día de la Soberanía Nacional) is a national public holiday in Argentina, celebrated each year on November 20th. It commemorates the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado, when a small Argentine army stood against an Anglo-French navy that broke into the Paraná River, against the will of the Argentine Confederation. Although the battle itself ended with an Argentine defeat, the losses of Britain and France in the whole military campaign were so high that both countries were forced to the bargaining table and signed a treaty with Juan Manuel de Rosas. The day was enacted as a …




Alex Barron Announces Idaho State Senate Run

Alex Barron has just announced that he has filed candidacy for Idaho State Senate in District 3. SurvivalBlog readers will surely recognize Alex Barron’s name. (He is also known as The Bard of The American Redoubt.) State Senate District 3 is in western Kootenai County. This is from his candidacy announcement: With the retirement of Don Cheatham, today, Alex Barron of Post Falls filed his historic candidacy for State Senate District 3 which encompasses Western Kootenai County.  Alex’s initial supporters include Neil Oliver, former Chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Party, Karen Calisterio, former Chairwoman of the Republican Liberty Caucus …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on winter greenhouse gardening and sprouting. (See the Books section.) Books: Reader Steve R. wrote to …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Calling QE not-QE doesn’t make it different than QE, but it does communicate the Fed’s panicky desire to mask its stupendous injection of financial cocaine into the financial system. The Fed’s level of panic is noteworthy, as is the absurd transparency of its laughable attempt to conceal its panic. In the same fashion, the financial media is loudly declaring the current blowoff top in stocks is not a blowoff top. The delicious irony here is these denials are reliable markers of blowoff tops: the louder the denials, the greater the odds that this is in fact the blowoff top that many …




Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — November 19, 2019

In an unprecedented move, Egyptian president Anwar el-Sadat traveled to Jerusalem on November 19th, 1977, to seek a permanent peace settlement with Israel after decades of conflict. Despite heavy criticism from Egypt’s regional allies, Sadat continued, eventually reaching a peace agreement with Israel at the Camp David accords in Maryland. While Sadat and Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace prize for their efforts, the peace accord was not admired by the Arabs, eventually leading to Sadat’s assassination. Despite this, the Egyptian-Israeli peace continues today. — Today, I’m posting a feature article by my lovely wife, Avalanche Lily.