Category: Current Events & Politics

Passing on Family Prepping and Gardening Experience, by J.L.

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Continuous Learning I officially became a prepper during the Y2K experience, but upon reflection I have been prepping most of my life. I have always been fascinated with how things work. Learning became a lifelong occupation. I sometimes wish that I could focus on one discipline and become an expert. But looking back at the age of 61, I suspect that I’ve always had a little ADD (attention deficit disorder). Because of that, over my life, I have been involved in most phases of construction. I’ve been a welder, an instrument technician, a tree worker, an environmental analyst, and a …


Economics & Investing for Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on the world’s best-known cryptocurrency,  Bitcoin. Precious Metals: First, there is this, over at Kitco: Ignore the Hawkish Fed, There’s Still A Case for Gold – Traders o  o  o The Taipei Times reports: India plans gold policy revamp for US$19 bn sector Alternate Currencies (Bitcoin): …


Economics & Investing for Preppers

Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, and derivatives, and obscura. Today’s focus is on the weak Dollar. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the quirky “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor): Precious Metals: First of all, let’s look at this: Deutsche Bank Calculates The “Fair Value Of Gold” And The Answer Is… o  o  o Over at Kitco, we read: Gold Hits Highest In Over Six Weeks As U.S. Jobs Data …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. It is a collection of news bits and pieces. They are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper.  Today’s column was compiled by  JWR.  This column is posted each Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. (This alternates with our Economics & Investing column. That is posted on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.) Today’s focus is on Qatar. Qatar First, Bloomberg reports: Saudi-Led Alliance Cuts Ties With Qatar. JWR’s Comment: This move should have been made five years ago! Oddly, this article hardly even mentions Great Britain. For many years the Brits pulled the …


May in Precious Metals by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review. Here, we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold, and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers. This column is authored by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins. Today, we highlight the effects of terrorism on the price of gold. What Did Gold Do in May? Gold stated the month of May right at $1,268. However, unexpectedly strong economic data blasted prices down by $40 an ounce to a seven-week low in the first week. The first estimate for …


New Frontier Compact, by X. Liberal

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Dear Readers, This is a Compact I wrote for a ficticious people in a ficticious land and at a time of world calamity. It is not based upon any Constitution of political significance of today, unless otherwise noted. I’m anxious to obtain feedback. If you were going to ratify this, what changes would be needed from your perspective? I will also not have time to reply to feedback but will gather all into account. Of course, if the balloon goes up today, this might come in handy real soon. Thanks and God Bless! – X. Liberal PREAMBLE We, the peoples of …


Economics & Investing for Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on economics and investing. We cover market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Today we focus on investment guns. And most of these items reflect the quirky “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor): Precious Metals: First, over at Gold-Eagle: Gold price rises as Asian stocks, dollar slip after oil slump o o o And I found this tantalizing prediction over at Kitco: Gold To Move Closer To $1,300 This Week – TD Securities   Commodities Economics: Moving …


The Rawles Rationale

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The following is my core rationale on the nature of government, liberty, and Godly personal conduct in the 21st Century. You may have seen some of these rationale statements in my books or blog posts. I plan to expand this at a later date: Rights The degree to which you allow your rights to be trampled is inversely proportional to your knowledge of (and respect for) the Constitution. Whenever someone must buy a license or pay a fee to exercise a right then it is something less than a right. It is in fact a mere privilege, subject to the …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This column is posted on Tuesdays. Here, we present news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies in the region of interest to preppers. Today’s highlight is a Hydrographix company that camouflage dips guns. Idaho First, one of my consulting clients asked me to make a mention of Dawson Ridge Beetleworx and Hydrographix, in Moyie Springs, Idaho. They camouflage dipped several rifles for him. He was thrilled with both the quality of their work and their reasonable rates for camo dipping. (About 50% of what their competitors charge.) They have dozens of camouflage …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods – a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Today’s focus is on physical security Security Worried about privacy but not really trusting commercial VPN offerings? Reader P.S. sent in this link on building your own VPN using some commonly available software and a hosting service. Building your own VPN is easy. Just follow the step-by-step directions. It can also give you superior performance. Physical Security Reader D.F. was looking for an inexpensive way to build a garage and ran …


Letter: Venezuela Update

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Hugh, I own a shipping store and just received this today from DHL, a primary international carrier. I found the content interesting as providing some insight as to what a failing government considers to be threats in the hand of its citizens! – R.B. Prohibited Items Into Venezuela Date: May 26, 2017 Due to ongoing unrest in Venezuela, this emergency security directive is to be put in place effective immediately in all facilities: The following is an updated list of items that are prohibited in being shipped to Venezuela (VE) under any service offering. Please note these are in addition …


Economics & Investing for Preppers

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Shale oil production is now in the headlines. Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the quirky “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor): Precious Metals: First, over at Gold-Eagle: Arizona Ends Income Taxation On Gold And Silver Coins. So here is JWR‘s Comment:  Other States that presently tax bullion coins should follow suit. o o o Hubert Moolman just published this commentary: Silver …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This column includes a TTABs update! Our News From The American Redoubt column  is posted on Tuesdays. Here, we present news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies in the region of interest to preppers. The Redoubt region is perhaps the safest and most free place to live in these United States. Idaho I just read that Viggo Mortensen had his home in Bonner County, Idaho burglarized during his absence. There were some odd circumstances. They involved a member of the family that formerly owned the house who, according to published reports, was …


We Must Rightly Discern 21st Century America

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It is now fully apparent that American society is slowly sliding into oblivion. The signs are all around us, in a quiet chorus muttering the same word: “Decay, decay, decay.” We also live in a nation that is increasingly polarized. As evidence of the latter, simply study a map of the polling results from the November 2016 election. “And in the morning, It will be foul weather to day: for the sky is red and lowring. O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?” – Matthew 16:3 …


The First World War: A Turning Point in Global History

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100th Anniversary 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of when the United States became directly involved in the First World War. The Great War. By then the war had already been raging for three years. (The events leading up to the outbreak of war are fascinating. For further reading I suggest historian Barbara Tuchman’s book The Guns of August.) By 1917 the Western Front of the conflict had stalled into protracted trench warfare–war at its most gruesome. This war consisted of massed artillery, machineguns, elaborate trenches, gas attacks, massive barbed wire entanglements, sapping, flamethrowers, and primitive tanks. This war was a veritable …