Category: Current Events & Politics

Risk Mitigation in the Mid-2020s

Looking at the manifold threats facing the world in late 2023, as an American citizen I cannot help but feel overwhelmed. In a nutshell, these threats include: The threat of regional or world war, stemming from the Iraq, Ukraine, or Taiwan conflicts. Out-of-control government spending and indebtedness. Corruption at all levels of government. Federal agencies running roughshod over our constitutional rights. Selective and vindictive prosecutions driven by politics. High inflation and an increasingly unaffordable cost of living and healthcare. Urbanization and over-complication of supply chains. Malinvestment and misallocation of government spending. Chronic homelessness and growing encampments. Uncompensated Federal mandates on …


Governments Start Calling For Price Controls – Rationing And CBDCs Come Next, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note:  In place of our usual Monday column on Economics and Investing news items, we are re-posting, with permission, this insightful piece by Brandon Smith.  Both his Alt-Market.us site and his premium newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch are highly recommended. – JWR — Last month in the middle of the surreal “Bidenomics” hype I published an article titled ‘Nothing Is Over: Inflation Is About To Come Back With A Vengeance.’  I outlined the misconceptions surrounding CPI and how it is not an accurate model for the effects of inflation.  I also noted that the index had been manipulated …


Some Very Bad Law: The ATF’s New “Engaged In The Business” Rule

I’ve had several readers write to ask me about the ATF’s new 108-Page proposed “Engaged In The Business” rule. On August 31, 2023, the Biden Regime announced that it is attempting to redefine “engaged in the business” of selling firearms. This rulemaking will strongly amplify and greatly expand on the wording of the Gun Control Act of 1968 and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BCSA) of 2022.  The latter provides that, as applied to a dealer in firearms, the term “engaged in the business” means “a person who devotes time, attention, and labor to dealing in firearms as a regular …


Never Forget: Leftists Showed Their True Authoritarian Colors During Covid, by Brandon Smith

When I think back to the first days of the covid pandemic lockdowns, I suspect the majority of people, even many conservatives and liberty movement types, had a healthy concern about the effects of the virus and the potential for structural upheaval if it turned out to be as deadly as the World Health Organization initially claimed. If covid had an Infection Fatality Rate of 3% or more as global health officials warned, then the damage would be substantial enough to change our world for many years to come. Anyone who was not at least partially concerned about a biological …


“Bidenomics” Is A Fraud Based On Deliberately Misrepresented Stats, by Brandon Smith

Economic issues are some of the most politically abused issues often because the data politicians exploit is easy to present out of context. The vast majority of the public doesn’t spend their time immersed in the intricacies of monetary policy, unemployment stats and the processes of inflation vs deflation. They hear a soundbite on the news or social media once in a while, assume it must be true and then go on with their day. This is how economic crisis events always seem to take the population by surprise – The establishment tells people all is well and no one …


Using Pop Culture to Teach Survival and Civics, by M.J.

This short article does not teach any particular skills, tactics, or procedures. My only objective here is to offer some suggestions for using pop culture to get children or teenagers to start thinking about survival and to learn about civics. While most pop culture ranges from fluff to downright destructive, there are some gems we can pull out of the trash heap. Some of the examples here are irreverent and some have bad language; that’s the point. Books and sober lectures aren’t always the best way to get people’s attention. Note that I am labeling anything with vulgarity or profane …


Globalists Suggest ‘Finance Shock’ and Climate Controls, by Brandon Smith

At the end of June government leaders and think-tank power brokers from around the world met at the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris. Participants include United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva and World Bank President Ajay Banga. The supposed purpose of the summit was to find financial solutions to the goals of tackling poverty while simultaneously curbing “planet-heating emissions.” As with all climate change related events the discussion in Paris inevitably turned to international centralization of power and the formation of a global consortium to fix the …


Some Elements of American Redoubt Culture

It has been said that most regions of the United States have distinct norms and cultures. Though we lack a distinctive accent, Redoubters definitely have our own culture. To sum it up in one sentence, I’d say the culture is marked by: fierce independence and conservatism, but with a kindly streak.  I’ll try to articulate that more fully, in the rest of this essay.


The Long View of a Brewing Conservative Backlash

America has been on the path of self-destruction for four generations. Since the end of the Second World War, feminized socialists have gradually gained sociopolitical control of the United States.  The left-wing radicals of the 1960s and 1970s are now in their senior years and they hold the reins of power in our society.  Those hippies who said:  “Never trust anyone over 30” and who complained about “The Man”, now are The Man. They control academia, the mass media, both major political parties, urban law enforcement, labor unions, most Fortune 1,000 corporate Boards of Directors, and some mainline church hierarchies. …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:   Meme Text: The Rationality Venn Diagram: Kamala Harris Outside of Reason, Logic, and Observable Truth News Links: NBC News poll: Kamala Harris hits record low for VP net favorability. SkyNews Australia:  Kamala Harris’ laugh is the ‘biggest, destructive, negative force’ in American politics ever. Kamala Harris doesn’t even understand why she is unpopular. Harris bashed for bragging that Biden has lowered electricity and heating bills: ‘Alternate reality’. Kamala Harris Just Can’t Stop Laughing (And Scaring People) The most awkward and embarrassing Kamala Harris ‘word salads’ of 2022. — Note From JWR: Do you …


June 2023 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and the factors that affect gold prices. What Did Gold Do in June? Central banks, inflation, and diverging economies around the world magnified the usual summer weakness in gold for June. COMEX gold futures topped out early, hitting $1,995.50 on June 1st. Prices oscillated lower through the rest of the month, bottoming $78 lower at $1,917.90 on the 29th. Spot gold followed much the same trajectory in June, notching a monthly high of …


A Woman’s Role in Church Security, by Hollyberry

My husband was approached by our pastor about 4 or 5 years ago to start up a security team for our church. My husband is ex-military and due to various career experience, he is well suited for this role. I was surprised but glad that our pastor thought of a security team. In today’s world. there is no guarantee of safety anywhere. The security team was loosely assembled and consisted of all men. Discussions were held about areas of coverage and although I am not a security team member, I gave my husband my opinions and suggestions. He really had …


Disconnection: Fifth Generation Warfare Tactics

As I’ve mentioned before in SurvivalBlog, modern warfare has evolved into what is now termed Fifth Generation Warfare (5GW).c Even the leftist wonks at Wikipedia have summarized the evolution of warfare fairly well, in re-stating the generations of warfare concepts developed by military analysts and historians including William S. Lind, Terry Terriff, and Robert Steele: First-generation warfare refers to ancient and post-classical battles fought with massed manpower, using phalanx, line, and column tactics with uniformed soldiers governed by the state. This generation came to an end around the mid-nineteenth century due to rapid improvements in the range, accuracy, and rate-of-fire …


Modern Civil Defense – Part 1, by 3AD Scout

What might a revived civil defense program look like in the United States?  What may trigger the Federal government to implement civil defense actions and what impacts might those actions or inactions have on you, your family or your preparedness group’s plans for survival? Where Civil Defense Ended To understand what the federal government might do in the future for civil defense we need to start by looking at the past.  In the 1950s through the 1970s American Civil Defense (CD) centered around “protecting” the population through fallout shelters.  A massive undertaking surveyed building across the United States to deem them worthy of …


Exiting Babylon – Part 2, by The Watchman

(Continued from Part 1.This concludes the article.) The third path: come out What does it mean to “come out” of Babylon? To exit Babylon means to no longer seek the culture’s favor or approval, to no longer seek its desires, to no longer seek its wisdom or counsel, to no longer seek its good or advancement, and to put no more trust in it. It means to put as much emotional, mental, physical, and above all spiritual distance between your family and the culture. Like Gideon, we must depose the idols in our own houses (Judges 6:25-27). We must abandon …