Category: Current Events & Politics

Letter Re: License Plate Readers

HJL, There are lots of comments on defeating plate readers. Before anyone gets too cranked up about defeating them, they should consider that plate readers may be what helps the cops recover their vehicle when it’s stolen. They are a powerful tool and like any other information collection system, I suppose the information can be misused, but I’m not clear exactly how that would happen. Our local police department had a residential burglary with a witness providing a partial plate. Cops ran the partial for similiars and got a picture of the whole plate and the driver and recovered all …


Letter Re: Total Solar Eclipse 2017

Captain Rawles, You are correct in publishing that Greenville, SC will be in the sweet spot for viewing the total solar eclipse. In fact, schools in the state are already making adjustments to their schedules, either delaying the start of school or dismissing early the day of the event. Your insight into possible traffic conditions highlighted for me the fact that I-26 from Asheville, NC to Charleston, SC should be in the direct path of totality. I’m running scenarios through my head about regular commuters to the three urban hubs in South Carolina and the eclipse watchers. Perhaps I’ll take …


Letter Re: License Plate Reader & OPSEC

Hugh, That was a good article and timely. Recently I took pictures of a couple cars to sell on the Internet. I covered the license plates with duct tape for the photos for OPSEC. I pulled the tape off after I was done, and two days later I noticed a very nice dirt film obscuring the letters exactly where the tape was. So just a 3 cent piece of tape placed on different letters or numbers and then removed will collect road film and make your plate unreadable and easy to explain or rub off if you’re pulled over. – …


Two Letters Re: License Plate Readers & OPSEC

James and Hugh, A while back I saw a guy wearing an IR LED hat, to defeat cameras: How To Fool Facial Recognition Cameras and Video …. Plate covers will get you caught; taking out or burning your bulb out will likely get you pulled over and searched if the police decide they are having that bad a day; having no lights out is best. This might help. – F.M. o o o JWR, Another (mostly) legal way to block your plate is to get one of the receiver hitch “baskets”. Some fold up when not in use and block …


Exercising Your Rights vs. Being Nice: When the “State” is at Your Door, by The Recovering Feminist

Disclaimer: I need to be perfectly clear first off. I am not a legal professional; therefore, I have no license to provide legal advice. The information in this article is opinion only and freely available. This is not legal advice. Do your own research and practice due diligence here. Seek out your own legal advice on these issues. This is, however, a matter of Natural Law and no Juris Doctor in the world can trump Natural Law. The Movie Scene In the movie Prince Caspian, do you recall the scene when Lucy is standing face-to-face with her enemy on the …


Letter Re: License Plate Readers & OPSEC

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Sir: Two of SurvivalBlog’s recent posts referenced altering or covering license plates to avoid identification by license plate readers. Coincidentally, the last two episodes of the reality show Hunted involved people being tracked by this technology. Altering your plate is clearly illegal. Apparently plastic covers are also illegal, at least in some jurisdictions. Electronic surveillance devices seem to be virtually everywhere these days. Do you have any advice for those of us who still believe in personal privacy but don’t want to break the law? About all I can think of is a good coat of mud or a trailer-hitch …


Intellectual Survival, by D.W.

“Through space the universe grasps me and swallows me up like a speck; through thought I grasp it.”[1] -Blaise Pascal “It is absurd to hold that a man ought to be ashamed of being unable to defend himself with his limbs, but not of being unable to defend himself with speech and reason, when the use of rational speech is more distinctive of a human being than the use of his limbs.”[2] -Aristotle Imagine for a moment, you have just finished eating dinner with your family. You have been living without power for months. You planned for this, of course. …


Letter Re: Airport BOB

HJL, What a great list. I happily read this, as I travel frequently. I appreciated the list and agree with the items and responses already listed. I would just like to add a couple comments. LED lights are great, but living in Alaska, where at times we have 20 hours of darkness, I would add buying a head lamp. This is a basic $20 head lamp that slips in a pocket and is great for hands-free light. I also would add that I carry a packet of silver coins along with the cash. I have a length of paracord and …


January in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, by Steven Chochran of Gainsesville Coins where 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. What Did Gold Do in January? December 30th saw gold end 8% higher for the year, for the first annual increase since 2012. The trend continued for gold in January, as prices moved upward for nearly the entire month. Starting January (and the year) near $1,152 an ounce, profit-taking and safe haven demand played tug-of-war …


Letter Re: The Economy, Trump and Tax Proposals

HJL: I just attended my insurance agent’s coop annual meeting where a “behavioral economist’ spoke. One of his points is that GDP growth is limited to 1.5% by the available labor, even allowing for the higher percentage that is U-6. He says the gap has narrowed but always present. I look at the change in the tax code to promote repatriation of funds held overseas and a potential repeat of the accelerated cost recovery rules on depreciation that powered the Reagan revitalization along with the convergence of robotic technology and wonder if any jobs would be produced by the wave …


When Every Shred of Privacy is Lost: Take Comfort, by The Recovering Feminist

“Why should we be afraid of one another, since both of us have only God to fear?”[1] (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) There exists a place where man is not allowed to venture. This place is another man’s soul. Humans may experience consensual soul connections but to think that man could determine the end of the soul is another thing altogether. There is a place in every human being that is untouchable. Even if humans are monitored day and night and their actions and words analyzed and predicted, put into a mental prison so-to-speak, and even if somehow technology is able to affect …


Letter Re: IP Addresses in an Internet Blackout

If the powerful few decide to shut down independent news sites, more than likely they will shut down the DNS servers and leave the rest of the Internet up. The DNS servers (Domain Name System) is liken to a telephone book. You look up the name (Domain name) and it gives you the telephone number, in our case, the IP Number (Internet Protocol Number). They can accomplish this by shutting down the entire DNS systems or just selectively remove certain domain addresses from the book, leaving the rest of the book operational. Note that either way, the news sites are …


Letter Re: We, The Women

Mrs Latimer, There are many women in pink hats who are likely to end up spinsters with cats. There’s “farmersonly.com”, but I don’t know that a Redoubt “self-sufficient spouses” dating site would do much worse. You may wish to consider it. There are so many holy, God loving women. I don’t think any were marching in the Women’s March, though many might have been in the pro-life marches. There was a tiny screech-fest in a local town; I’ll wait to see if they want to blow up the white house or unleash a stream of profanities. I think there will …


We, The Women, by Sarah Latimer

My article was all written on a very practical household survival subject and ready to be posted, but between the letters I’ve recently received from encouraging SurvivalBlog readers (including some with very personal details) about family and the crisis in American homes without strong submissive women and Godly male leadership, the inauguration, the Women’s March in Washington, and an editorial I read today relating to the Women’s March, combined with what continuously burns in my heart, I am bursting to write on another subject. It is written with a sense of urgency because it comes from my heart as I …


Letter Re: SIG MCX Recall

Hello Sir, I noticed a credit card charge from SIG. It turns out a conversion kit (AKA a barrel) finally became available for my MCX. I’ve been “in line” for several months now. Just to be safe, in this era of scams and CC fraud, I called in to verify that this was a legitimate charge. It was. While on their website looking for their contact number, however, I noticed that there was a recall: MCX Mandatory Carriage Assembly Replacement Program. I started filling out the form, but then my paranoia got the better of me. I made further inquiry …