Odds ‘n Sods:

The New York Times gets down and dirty a with prepping issues and the requisite OPSEC: How to Survive Societal Collapse in Suburbia. (The article briefly quotes JWR.)    o o o Scientific American: How Safe Are America’s 2.5 Million Miles of Pipelines?    o o o JRH Enterprises is celebrating their 20th Year in business with a big Black Friday sale that starts Wednesday. The sale includes new Third Generation+ Pinnacle Autogated  Mil Spec PVS-14s with real ITT tubes and a 5 year warranty as low as $2595. And PVS-14 Third Gen + Pinnacle Autogated “Upgraded” monoculars are available …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Even after the elite decamp there’ll be plenty of good eatin’ left on the carcass for the stay-behinds. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the somewhat less than elite. For one, their toadies in DC have been building Führerbunkers and stocking them with supplies and ammunition for the day when they’re toadies no more. Some of the toady’s toadies have retreats and plans of their own. They keep it quiet, unsurprisingly. Then it’s all against all, a spectre of flag-waving warlords and tribal strong men, of alliances and secessions, of fiefdoms and redoubts and contested regions. Everybody who wants to be …


Notes from JWR:

Ready Made Resources (our very first advertiser) has announced a Buy One, Give One (BOGO) product offering to benefit Christian Reformed Outreach, South Sudan (C.R.O.S.S.). The BOGO product offering is a 35 gram packet of CELOX wound coagulant. For each one that you buy, an identical one will be sent to distribute free of charge to villagers in South Sudan. I encourage other gear vendors to do likewise. Particularly needed are earth tone or Multicam magazine pouches (AK and HK-G3), canteens with covers, hydration packs, rifle slings, and rifle buttstock pouches. — Today is the birthday of Walter “Joe” Marm, …


Building a Super Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter System, by Pretty in a Blue State

The Sawyer Squeeze filter has become very popular with backpackers. The filter threads onto a variety of soft-sided bottles and hydration packs. By squeezing a bottle or bladder of dirty water you generate the pressure to push the water thru the hollow fiber filter. Here’s one review. The biggest advantage of the Sawyer Squeeze filter is that it does not require a pump. This removes the potential mechanical failure of a pump and the hassle of tubing as you balance on the edge of a stream or lake. Just scoop up water, pour it into a bladder, and filter it …


Letter Re: Secession in These United States

James, In response to the article involving the constitutionality of secession, a few other points to consider to perhaps gain a clearer view of the secession situation.  Understanding the individual states sovereignty in relation to the United states government is crucial.   1.  Abraham Lincoln claimed that the Union preceded the states which gave the Federal government authority over the states.  This view is incorrect as the original 13 colonies adopted the Articles of Confederation in which each state retained its freedom, independence, and sovereignty.  Each state delegated a portion of its sovereignty to the Union, thereby making the Union a creature of the …


News From The American Redoubt:

Washington’s wolf packs are spreading west to the Cascade mountain range. [JWR’s Comment: I predict that it won’t be until wolves start snatching dogs, cats and perhaps kids out of back yards in western Washington that the state legislature takes action.]    o o o Election maps show “shrunken” Redoubt. These maps illustrate how light the population density is here!    o o o A reader told me about another prepper-friendly church in Idaho: Grace Sandpoint Church.    o o o Montana lawmaker asks to be paid in gold. His request was very quickly denied.    o o o A …


Economics and Investing:

Paul Krugman suggests a 91% top income tax rate. (If this happens, the congresscritters will see a million or more Americans go Galt.) R.M. sent a link to article that serves as a word of warning for those who run businesses that have large cash customers: Williamsburg gun business, owner, punished by feds. R.M.’s Comment: “This is a fine shop, with great husband and wife owners.  The shop is in the lower floor of their home in tiny Williamsburg, Iowa.  Great people getting trampled by the government.” The System Will Collapse, It Must Collapse FHA Red Ink May Be $32.8 …


Odds ‘n Sods:

November is the month of the year that new phone books are released in most of the country. Take this opportunity to lawfully collect un-used or lightly used copies of obsolete phone books that would otherwise be recycled or hauled to a landfill. A stack about 6 feet tall would make a good paper reserve for a typical family. The paper in phone books has many uses including kindling or ersatz toilet paper.    o o o 32 dead. They have serious cattle rustlers in Africa, and they are obviously willing to kill, to protect their food source.: Kenyan Police …



Note from JWR:

The fine folks at Pantry Paratus have announced a Buy One, Give One (BOGO) product offering to benefit Christian Reformed Outreach, South Sudan (C.R.O.S.S.). The BOGO product offering is the Stronghold Haywire Klamper. For each one that you buy, an identical one will be sent to distribute free of charge to villagers in South Sudan. I encourage other gear vendors to do likewise. Particularly needed are earth tone or Multicam magazine pouches (AK and HK-G3), canteens with covers, hydration packs, rifle slings, and rifle buttstock pouches.


Pat’s Product Review: DPMS AR-15 Lower Receiver Group

As I’ve mentioned before in my SurvivalBlog articles, I’m am swamped with requests to do firearms articles on particular firearms. While I would love to accommodate all the requests I get, it is impossible. I know a lot of folks believe that gun writers get guns for free to write about, that simply isn’t the case. We have to request a firearm from gun companies, I either have to return it, or buy it when I’m done testing them. As much as I’d love to purchase all the firearms I write about, I can’t do it – my finances don’t allow …


Letter Re: Lakota Warehouse Bank?

James Wesley: Can you provide any insight on the banking services and the Lakota [copper, silver and gold] coins from the Lakota Bank? Thanks, – Bryan E. JWR Replies: They are to be commended for their pluck, but their fees are high. More importantly, their arbitrary Cu/Ag/Au ratios (2/50/5,000) will certainly come back to bite them.  (Fixed ratios are a bad idea! The silver-to-gold ratio is constantly changing. I expect to see a 10-to-1 ratio by the middle of this Century. Anyone that locks themselves into a fixed bimetallic ratio is sowing the seeds of their own downfall. The Liberty …


Recipe of the Week:

Steve in Rhode Island’s Dish With No Name Here’s a recipe I’d like to share that’s both inexpensive and nutritious. It’s been around for years and I’m sure it goes by lots of different names. It was passed down to my Mom from my Grandmother and she fed four of us kids back in the day when prepping and just getting by was a way of life and had no name. I raised my two daughters on it and now that they are grown and it’s just the youngest and myself I still make it.   The great thing about this …


Economics and Investing:

And you thought the upcoming 39.8% Federal tax rate sounded bad… Did you see this cliff coming? Ranchers, farmers brace for ‘death tax’ impact. The exemption drops from $3.5 million $1 million, and the rate jumps to a confiscatory 55%. B.B. sent: Peter Schiff: Dollar Collapse Before Obama’s Out I missed this when it aired last June: CNBC pundits admit we’re all slaves to the central bankers. Items from The Economatrix: Ron Paul On Secession No Surprise!  Jobless Claims Up 78,000 Week After Election; Pennsylvania, Ohio Worst Hit John Galta:  Gold Will Move $500 Per Ounce Per Major City Europe’s …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Don’t miss this: Mother Lode: Big caches of free and legal TEOTWAWKI downloads    o o o Reader Dave G. wrote to mention: “If ‘Superstorm Sandy’ was just a Level 1 hurricane, then how well will FEMA and the state-level disaster agencies cope with a Level 3 or Level 4 in the same region? I’ll never move back to the coast! And I’m avoiding tornado country, too. American Redoubt, here I come…”    o o o Preppr Bawb sent a link that he found to a UN manual on drying meat. It is only a few pages but very detailed. …