Odds ‘n Sods:

Over at View From The Porch, Tamara has some sound reasoning on daily concealed carry: Quote of the Day: Be Real Edition o o o I belatedly noticed that earlier this year,the originator of Robb’s Homemade Life kindly posted a YouTube video describing our CFAPA spin-off web site, where we offer free press credentials for any adult citizen. Thanks, Robb! o o o More Internet censorship: This Trump campaign commercial was blocked by YouTube as “inappropriate content” and has had a warning label added. o o o A new For Sale By Owner (FSBO) listing in Arkansas over at my …



Notes for Wednesday – October 12, 2016

Please continue to pray for and assist those displaced by Hurricane Matthew. Substantial damage has been done all the way up into North Carolina. The topic of today’s writing contest article underscores the importance of situational awareness.  My advice is to study Colonel Jeff Cooper’s levels of awareness codes, then live them. In today’s inimical world, living in Condition Yellow should be your normal modus operandi. –  JWR o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 67 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Books: Ham Radio Study Guide: Manual for Technician Class, General Class, and Amateur Extra Class Get on the Air with HF Digital Movies: Sully The Martian Television: Designated Survivor Jericho Music: Holst: The Planets The Very Best of Enya Podcasts: The Survivalist Podcast: Episode-04- TSP Rewind – You Can’t Lose as a Modern Survivalist The Survival Show: Episode 286 – Debt, Finances and Precious Metals Instructional Videos: Building A Multi-Band HF Dipole Antenna AR-15 – Detailed Step By Step Assembly / Build Instructions (HD Video) Gear: Morovision IR-14 – Phoenix Junior IR Beacon Icom IC-718 Get On The Air HAM …


Economics and Investing:

China must wean itself off debt addiction if it is to avoid financial calamity, warns IMF chief o o o Hubert Moolman: Silver Price Forecast: Higher Silver Prices For Many Years To Come o o o Bank of England investigating dramatic overnight fall in pound o o o Gold bounces back from biggest weekly drop this year o o o SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.


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 …