Odds ‘n Sods:

I recently had the opportunity to tour Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (commonly called “The U.P.” or “Upper Michigan”) for the first time. It is a large, mostly forested expanse with a fairly light population density. The region measures 16,377 square miles–nearly twice the size of New Jersey. It is known for mosquitoes in the summer months and brutal cold and deep snow in the winter months. The folks there seem friendly and predominantly conservative. The only disappointments were seeing the scarcity of home vegetable gardens (and greenhouses), the scarcity of livestock, and seeing not nearly as much commercial row crop agriculture …


JWR’s Quote of the Day:

“There are two basic ways in which people can interact: by mutual agreement, or by one person using threats or violence to force his will upon another. The first can be labeled ‘consent’– both sides willingly and voluntarily agreeing to what is to be done. The second can be labeled ‘governing’ – one person controlling another. Since these two – consent and governing – are opposites, the concept of ‘consent of the governed’ is a contradiction. If there is mutual consent, it is not ‘government’; if there is governing, there is no consent. Some will claim that a majority; or …




Economics and Investing:

Simon Black’s Sovereign Man e-letter reports: “It’s official. The United States government closed out the 2016 fiscal year that ended a few days ago on Friday September 30th with a debt level of $19,573,444,713,936. ??That’s an increase of $1,422,827,047,452 over last year’s fiscal year close. ??Incredible. By the way, that debt growth amounts to roughly 7.5% of the entire US economy.” JWR’s Comment: Or look at it this way: The $1.4 Trillion in new debt surpasses all of the debt that the Federal government accumulated inclusively from 1787 to 1979—yes, and all in just one year. In all, in his …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Over at the deservedly-popular Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report blog, the Editor “Ol’ Remus” comments wittily: “He who panics first, panics best” –  This of course is regarding the urgency of escaping the death traps of the big cities in the midst of crises. o o o I recently purchased a state-of-the-art FLIR countermeasure field camouflage shelter, produced by SnakebiteTactical.com.I was quite impressed with the quality of construction. These shelters—about the same size and slightly heavier than a poncho liner–are handmade in Montana. They render the user nearly invisible to even the most sensitive FLIRs and cameras with similar technology. Thanks …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“My take on socialism is this: Socialism only seems to work when you don’t fully implement it, when you keep enough capitalism around to pay socialism’s bills, at least for a time. It’s the difference between milking the cow and killing it. Socialism has no theory of wealth creation; it’s just a destructive, envy-driven fantasy about redistributing it after something else (and somebody else) creates it first.” – Lawrence W. Reed


Notes for Monday – October 10, 2016

Today’s lead article by our Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio, is near and dear to my heart.  This is because I and all of the adult members of my immediate family carry either Glock 30 or Glock 30S pistols regularly. I personally recommend the .45 ACP  Glock 30 pistol for all but the most frail shooters. But please heed this advice: Learn how to maintain it,  buy a practical holster for it (I prefer the BladeTech Kydex holsters), buy plenty of spare magazines for it (and half of those should be the larger Glock 21 magazines that hold 13 …


Letter: SurvivalBlog’s 185.8.177.142 Dotted Quad Backup Address

Greetings, Mr. Editor: I just tried to log on to your new “backup” dotted quad address: 185.8.177.142 and my Firefox browser reported: “Your connection is not secure.”  Is it safe for me to ignore this message?  Thanks, Michael S. JWR Replies: Yes, it is perfectly safe to set a permanent security exception for SurvivalBlog’s main site and for our dotted quad direct server address (185.8.177.142)  Please be sure to jot down this dotted quad address and carry it in your wallet or bugout bag, but please continue to use “survivalblog.com” URL for your bookmark that you use to check SurvivalBlog …


Economics and Investing:

Some quite bad news has come from an oft-cited “tax free” offshore haven: Vanuatu to impose their first ever payroll and income taxes—without any public comment. The plan is for a payroll tax, beginning in 2017, and then an income tax, beginning in 2018. Vanuatuan officials claim that the offsetting revenue generated by these new taxes will allow them to do away with the current rent tax and also to “reduce” import duties. They say that they also “hope” to eventually reduce the hated Value Added Tax (VAT), but they are making no promises. In sum, these new taxes make …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Ten Powerful Ways to Act Locally o o o One of my consulting clients recently questioned whether or not power utility companies truly have plans in place for “islanding” their power into smaller grids, in the event that any of America’s three main grids go down. (As mentioned in my second novel, Survivors.) Yes, indeed they do, and here is some evidence. – JWR o o o Concealed Carrier Saves AutoZone Employees o o o Texas Store Employee Uses AK-47 to Stop 4 Armed Robbers


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“It is asserted by most respectable writers upon our government that a well-regulated militia, composed of the yeomanry of the country, have ever been considered as the bulwark of a free people. Tyrants have never placed any confidence on a militia, composed of freemen.” – The Anti-Federalist Papers writer who used the pen name “John Dewitt”


Notes for Sunday – October 09, 2016

As the cleanup begins in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, and as local preppers assess what went right and what went wrong in their planning, we are reminded of a bit a Ground Truth: There is no substitute for being fully prepared early. Because once a disaster strikes a wide region, and once some key items such as generators are desperately needed, they can’t be bought even with an entire handful of gold coins. So it is better to be prepared a year too early than a day too late. – JWR


Letter: A Recommendation for Storing and Using Fels Naptha Laundry Soap Bars

HJL, I have a recommendation for the readers of SurvivalBlog: I use Fels Naptha soap bars for everything in the shower: shaving, washing body, shampoo.  With it, you feel clean afterwards, nothing left on your skin; there is no sense of harshness, it just cleans everything well. Body odor is suppressed for days. Used for shaving, rubbing the bar into the beard frequently, you get a noticeably closer smoother shave than with most anything else you’ve ever used.  And when it used for shampoo it gets your hair truly clean. – M.R. JWR Replies: Although Fels Naptha is marketed just …


Economics and Investing:

A FOREX update: It is noteworthy that following the recent British Pound plummet, the Swiss Franc just jumped to 98.075 to the Dollar.  It was closer to 96 cents, just a few weeks ago. Methinks that a fairly durable Dollar/CH Franc parity trading range can’t be far off! (Parity was touched once briefly on July 27th.) I now have no regrets whatsoever about having hedged into Swiss Francs back when they cost me around 77 cents each. – JWR o o o Many of the pundits who are bashing candidate Donald Trump’s economic plan seem uninformed. This analysis by Peter …