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, a more in-depth examination of the Texas border tiff. Texas Border Standoff Posturing Continues In Eagle Pass, a tense border standoff between Texas and the federal government is …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 31, 2024

On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom formally left the European Union, more than three years after the country voted for “Brexit.” On January 31, 1606, Guy Fawkes was scheduled for execution for his part in the Gunpowder Plot against Parliament and King James. As he was being marched up the steps to his gallows, he fell and broke his neck and died, depriving his executioners of any satisfaction. In recent years, Guy Fawkes masks have become a symbol of resistance to big government, worldwide. Also on this day in 1872, American author Pearl Zane Grey was born. He was …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This 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. — “You Need An F-16, Not An AR-15” – Biden Once Again Suggests US Government Could Murder Gun-Owners. JWR’s Comments:  So… Coupling that statement with the Supreme Court’s 2022 Bruen decision, I must ask Mr. Biden: To keep us on an equal footing with the active military, when are you going to release …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 30, 2024

On January 30, 1835, Andrew Jackson became the first American president to experience an assassination attempt. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol building and shot at him, but his gun misfired. A furious 67-year-old Jackson confronted his attacker, clubbing Lawrence several times with his walking cane. During the scuffle, Lawrence managed to pull out a second loaded pistol and pulled the trigger, but it also misfired. Jackson’s aides — including Davy Crockett — then wrestled Lawrence away from the president, leaving Jackson unharmed but …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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, a special look at winter sports in the American Redoubt. (Photo courtesy of VirtualMontana.com.) Region-Wide Inland Northwest skiers enjoy the slopes despite El Niño predicted for 2024. o  o  o Inland Northwest Winter Guide 2023/2024. o  o  o The Spokesman-Review Inland Northwest Trapshoot. Idaho Idaho’s …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 29, 2024

On January 29, 1964, the British film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a landmark Cold War farce directed by Stanley Kubrick, was released in theatres. On this day in 1845 Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was published. Today is the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun. Today is also the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.) — Update: We’ve received an unexpectedly large number of orders for the waterproof 2005-2023 Archive …


Update: Letter from a Kansas Consulting Client

Introductory note from JWR: I just received this update letter: “I wanted to write to the readers of SurvivalBlog about the search for a family to live on our family farm. The opportunity is still open. Many areas in the United States are deteriorating, but our conservative area remains safe and prosperous. We are willing to consider letters from readers anywhere in the country as we are not concerned about the distance, but we are about finding a quality family to eventually join our family in living on our farm. There is still time in the preparedness window in which …


Recipe of the Week:  Chicken & Rice with Golden Sauce

The following simple recipe for Chicken & Rice with Golden Sauce is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1925, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 new bonus books included in the new 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. Ingredients 1 fowl 1 cupful milk 1 cupful chicken broth 2 tablespoonfuls butter 2 tablespoonfuls flour Salt 1/4 teaspoonful pepper 1 egg-yolk 1 teaspoooful lemon-juice 1 cupful rice Minced parsley Directions Cook the fowl until very tender aud. cut into neat attractive servings, rather small, using only the white …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week:

Our graphic of the week is an interesting annotated satellite photo montage of city lights. This NASA graphic has circulated on Reddit. It shows that 80% of the US population lives east of the annotated yellow line. This adds credence to my long-standing advice to live west of the Mississippi River. Generally, fewer people will mean fewer problems in the event of a societal collapse. Take a close look and note that the cluster of orange dots over western North Dakota and eastern Montana are not city lights.  Rather, those are natural gas flares in the  Bakken oilfields — a …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 28, 2024

On January 28, 1887, In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick January 28th, 1855 was the birthday of William Seward Burroughs, who invented the adding machine. January 28th is the anniversary of the rescue of General James L. Dozier from his Italian Red Brigades kidnappers. Tangentially, Colonel Jeff Cooper created a shooting drill in honor of those who freed him – The Dozier Drill. And on this day in 1986, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Florida, …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text:  Wake Up, You Sheeple! We Are The Carbon That They Want To Reduce! 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.