Avoiding Those Jurisdictional Layers

Many of my consulting calls focus on the selection of retreat property locales. I always advise my clients to look first at state, county, and local laws, before they even start to look at individual real estate listings. In this essay,  I will address the issue of jurisdictional layers, when considering retreat locales. In two previous SurvivalBlog articles, I discussed the whole concept of jurisdiction: In 2018: The First Question is Always Jurisdiction. and, in 2024: Fencing In Federal Jurisdiction. But in this essay, I will be going over the application of jurisdiction, and most importantly how it varies, additively, …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:   Meme Text: The Face That A Hogg Makes When He Is Told… That We’ll Be Able To Make Our Own Suppressors and Suppressor Parts, And Sell Used Ones At Gun Shows, Without Any Paperwork Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.  


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel saying, Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — May 24, 2025

On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse tapped out: “What hath God wrought” in the world’s first telegraph message. — And speaking of Samuels, on May 24, 1764, Samuel Adams wrote instructions for a Boston Town Meeting opposing the Sugar Act, laying the groundwork for colonial resistance to taxation without representation. — Today’s feature article is a guest post that is not part of our writing contest judging. We are in need of entries for Round 118 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $950,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 118 ends …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying, Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house. Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 23, 2025

On May 23rd, 1934 the outlaws Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were killed by deputized former Texas Rangers Frank Hamer (pictured above) and Maney Gault, as well as assorted local police, near Gibbsland, Louisiana. The event was dramatized in the 2019 Kevin Costner movie The Highwaymen.  JWR’s Comments:  It is good that Frank Hamer stocked up, when he did. The National Firearms Act (NFA) was signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt in June of 1934.  That law unconstitutionally required registration and $200 transfer taxes on sales of machineguns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and suppressors. — May 23 is the …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the LMBA’s delivery crunch. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) is running into a physical delivery crunch for gold contracts. There are now so many long contract holders demanding delivery that the delivery part of the LBMA’s traditional “next working day” contract settlement promise has been …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 22, 2025

Some Great News! It appears that the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) has been added to the pending Continuing Resolution budget bill, by the House!  The chances of bill passage are now quite high, and Donald Trump has indicated that he will sign the bill, if it reaches his desk. The Senate still has to give approval, but once the law is signed, the implications of the HPA are quite far-reaching.  Here are some things to ponder: Under the HPA, suppressors will be removed from the National Firearms Act (NFA), so there will no longer be any $200 transfer taxes. And, …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at more A.I. fakery. (Pictured above is a still from the 1970 predictive sci-fi movie Colossus: The Forbin Project.) More A.I.-Generated Fakes! You’ve surely already heard …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 21, 2025

  An important and time-sensitive legislative update:  Please contact your congresscritters TODAY and encourage them to pass both the HPA (removing suppressors from the NFA) and the SHORT Act (legalizing short-barreled rifles and shotguns), as part of the pending Federal budget reconcilliation. Thanks! –  JWR — On May 21, 1799, Napoleon and his forces abandoned their siege of Acre, after two months. This was a turning point in the French invasion of Egypt and Syria.  The city of Acre is now known as Akko, Israel. — May 21, 1819: The first bicycles (“swift walkers”) in the US were introduced in …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Reader R.D. sent us this: “I started collecting them and already have over 650”: a user has been powering his home with laptop batteries since 2016. JWR’s Comment: The charging method pictured in the article has “lithium battery charging thermal runaway fire” written all over it.  (Pictured above is a lithium battery fire …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 20, 2025

On May 20, 1736: Royal Approval was given by King George II to construct the original Westminster Bridge across the River Thames, in London. The 1747 painting above (titled “Westminster Bridge, with the Lord Mayor’s Procession on the Thames“) was by the Venetian artist Giovanni Antonio Canal (aka Canaletto.) — May 20, 1774: The British parliament passed the second of the Intolerable Acts: the Massachusetts Government Act. This gave the British-appointed governor wide-ranging powers. — May 20th, 1942  was the birthday of Carlos Hathcock (died February 23, 1999). He was a United States Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant sniper with a …