Category: Current Events & Politics

Embarrassing Truths: An Example of Why You Shouldn’t Trust Wikipedia

As I’ve mentioned before, Wikipedia’s editors have strong leftist and statist biases. This is evidenced by the way that they selectively delete content and gradually push the Point of View (POV) of articles to match their world views. According a SurvivalBlog reader in Switzerland, the following section was deleted from Wikipedia by members of an anti-gun Wikipedia cabal on August 14, 2013. (It had been part of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns article): Members convicted of illegal activity   Some members of MAIG have been convicted of crimes. They include:   Baltimore, Maryland – Mayor Sheila Dixon   Hartford, Connecticut …


3D Printing: Is it in Your Future?, by Kevin L.

There is a lot of talk in the media these days about three dimensional (3D) printers. For our community there is the Liberator, a 3D printed gun. It is an amazing development but certainly not ready for widespread use. 3D printers also make it possible to print your own magazines, holsters, and just about anything else you can think of that is made from plastic. But how good are these printers? Should they be part of your survival arsenal? If so, which one should you get? You can get used 3D Printers for around $550 without trying very hard but …


Letter Re: Pre-1899 Antique Gun Clarifications

Hi James, I was just looking at your FAQ article about antique firearms. Apparently, there has been some controversy over the dates of manufacture of some Winchester firearms. The discovery of so called Polishing Room Records have dates of “manufacture” which apparently disagree with the previously established “Madis” dates of manufacture. I was just wondering what your take is on this subject. Also, I’ve been trying to find out if there is any logical reason for selecting December 31, 1898 as the Antique firearms cutoff date. Did someone just arbitrarily pick this date? I know that there were cartridge ammunition …


Interrogation for Preppers, by Tim G.

(Editor’s Introductory Note: The following article is presented as an intellectual exercise, or gedanken. Be forewarned that there are mentions of torture (mental and physical) herein which are of course not conscionable behavior! But this mention is only for the sake of showing the full range of potential interrogation techniques, and as a warning that in the future — under different circumstances — you might have to be prepared to resist interrogation. “Forewarned is fore-armed.” Again, none of the following is intended to encourage any SurvivalBlog readers to do anything immoral, or illegal, or unethical. It is in your own …


Gold, Silver, and the Status Quo, by G.E. Christenson

Gold and silver will survive as a store of value and wealth. Paper money, the economic status quo, unfunded liabilities, pension plans, exponentially increasing debt, massive budget deficits, “to-big-to-fail” banks, and so much more are at risk of gradual or catastrophic failure. Gold and Silver Precious metals have been recognized as wealth and a store of value for over 3,000 years. They may no longer be used as currency but they retain their value. Example: I can’t go to Wal-Mart and buy food with silver coins but, practically speaking, I can sell or trade a gold or silver coin minted …


Letter Re: Gun Storage While Traveling to Anti-Gun States

Dear Sir,
Thank you for an excellent web site. I read it every day. I have a question regarding traveling with my handgun. Living in Ohio, a reasonably free state these days, I occasionally have to travel by car to one of the totalitarian states. States such as New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Maryland. I of course prefer to carry my handgun and have CCW licenses to carry in all the surrounding free states on the way. However, as my need to enter these other states, would potentially land me in jail if I brought my weapon, I must make my whole trip unarmed. Are there gun storage options?

Other than burying my gun just outside the state line of one of these totalitarian regimes, do you or your readers have any suggestions? I have considered contacting gun retailers near, but outside the borders. Perhaps asking them to store my gun while I am in the hostile territories. But this may have many complications, including entry at many points depending on my destination and scheduling…


Prepping for Our New Reality, by D.&M.

[Editor’s Introductory Note: I sometimes receive quite lengthy articles that are mix of great practical information and extended political narratives. In such cases I sometimes opt to edit out the particularly ranty sections. Where I have done so, you will see: “[Some deleted, for brevity]“. My apologies, but to make an article of this length readable, editorial discretion is a must. Furthermore, I have to recognize that all politics are local. Since SurvivalBlog is a publication with an international readership, I feel obliged to chop out political discourses that would be of little or no interest to my readers in …


Letter Re: Privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

Sir, It occurs to me that the sudden desire to “privatize” Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is simply a way to deploy the wet ink dollars out of the Fed and big banks without overwhelming the money supply. We all know what would happen if those dollars entered the mainstream market place. This just seems to me to be yet another ploy to stall the inevitable, but I haven’t seen anyone else talking about that. Am I missing something? – Big Jon JWR Replies: You are essentially correct. The majority of the U.S. Dollars that have been magically created by …


Safer in the City? Statistics Don’t Lie, But They Can Obfuscate

Several readers sent me a link to a study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania recently published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that had some surprising results: They concluded that big cities are statistically safer than small towns. This study, titled Safety in Numbers: Are Major Cities the Safest Places in the United States? has a number of flaws. First, it treats deaths by intentional violence equally with accidental deaths and deaths related to the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. This is not quite fair, because the former are not nearly so avoidable as the latter. If …


Letter Re: Europe, Japan, or China: Who May Go Off the Economic Cliff First?

Jim, I believe that the world is on the verge of a possible economic meltdown. I think that there is just too much debt (both governmental and private), not enough assets, and with a end result of the financial system breaking down with devastating consequences.   There are some common problems that the countries I will be looking at  all share. The first is high debt levels that cannot be repaid. However, the more important factor is negative demographics in these countries.  I think that national demographics do not receive enough consideration when analyzing a country’s economic potential. This is a mistake. Demographics are …


All-American Tool Manufacturers

Following up on my recently-posted list of field gear makers that have all American-made products, I’ve compiled a comparable list of American tool makers. The Sell-Outs Some companies that have long been thought of as “American” companies now produce most or all of their tools overseas. For example, Craftsman (the Sears house brand) now produces many of their tools in Asia. Others include: Cooper, Disston, Eastwood, Greenlee, Lufkin, Milwaukee, Peerless, Porter Cable, Shurlite, Snap-On, Thorsen, Vise-Grip, Vermont American, Weller, Williams, and Winchester. The many, many others are almost too numerous to list. Some of the “good guy” companies that I …


Letter Re: Buying an AR-15 During the Gun Control Scare of 2013

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to share my experience regarding this situation. When the great scare began in December, I knew that as a prepared individual I did not need to panic buy and so I decided to perform an experiment. The goal: To acquire an AR-15 for the lowest possible cost during a time with the highest possible demand. Total cost for my AR-15: $654 (For perspective, the bulk of the component parts that I purchased was when complete rifles were easily selling for $2,000+) How I did it: When the scare began in earnest, I knew that the odds …


Does America Need to Build New Misprison Prisons?

You may have heard about the BHO administration regime’s expanded “Insider Threat Program,” which amplifies Executive Order 13587, published back in 2011. After a brief flurry of media attention earlier this month, this has been thoroughly soft-pedaled. (“Nothing to see here, move along.”) But these new policies have been laid down and the penalties for noncompliance have been established. Without an act of Congress, these policies are now effective. Rather than re-hash the details, I will quote the first part of a well-written McClatchy News Service article: “In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, …


How Consumer Debt Collection Works, by Spokane Joe

This is an introduction to collections, charge off, repossession, and the current debt cycle that many good people are finding themselves in. It will be a generalization of the rules and laws as they differ from state to state.   Let me start with my credentials. I have been a collector for the last 14 years. I have worked first party and third party files (the difference between the two will be described herein). The accounts I have worked have ranged from five days past due to 10 to 20 years past charge off. I have worked commercial, Small Business …


Letter Re: Pro-Gun or No-Gun America, Which Saves More Lives?

James; I just want to say that I find it amazing how most people, including well-known commentators, go round and round about guns versus crime. This point has been beaten to death, but the gun control crowd wants it to continue. Please folks, realize that the purpose is to disarm the civilian population and has little or nothing to do with public safety. Government safety is what is at stake and as long as the reality can be deflected away from the disarmament purpose, the discussion about public safety is fine! Why does the word stupid come to mind? – …