Category: Current Events & Politics

Letter Re: Observations on Atlanta’s January 2011 Ice Storm

Hi JWR: One of the parts of SurvivalBlog that I enjoy the most is when folks contribute their real life experiences after going through some sort of hardship. Reading the examples from others helps me to fine tune my preps. Let me participate by providing my observations from the ice storm, amusingly titled Snowpocalypse 2011, that hit Atlanta recently. The roads were impassible due to the city’s lack of snow removal equipment, and pretty much the entire city was stranded in their houses. What would’ve been a blip of a storm in the north ended up crippling this city, and …


Letter Re: Firsthand Experiences in the Australian Floods

James, I would like to bring you and your readers a synopsis of the floods in Australia and their probable scenarios; firstly I have a first hand view through sandbagging and seeing friends through rising floodwaters, so I have a strong viewpoint. Around where we were in Brisbane east side , the water rose very quickly, the house where our friend  is on a flat concrete slab, the water rose within 2 hours about 3 feet ! The house was saved along with much prayer. It is estimated that seven billion tons of water has been dumped on Queensland ! …


Letter Re: Grateful for SurvivalBlog in Australia

Dear James,   I read much of your blog site and started to get prepared two years ago when the financial crisis first hit.  Now, while staying dry enough, I am surrounded by flooded towns and washed out roads and bridges.  So much of what you have written is of value here right now.  I thought you would appreciate an on-the spot report.  Now my friends are scrambling and I don’t look like such a fool.      We in Jandowae have potable water but our nearest neighbouring town, Dalby was trucking in a million litres a day.  Even locally …


David in Israel Re: Family Protective Measures — New Instability in Lebanon

James: The following is mostly for the benefit of SurvivalBlog readers who live in Israel, but other readers might find it of interest. Here we go again! Hizb’allah has apparently taken down the somewhat western-aligned government in Lebanon. I want to put not only Israeli readers on warning to have some extra supplies on hand but also collect bedding and blankets to be ready to accept people into your home seeking refuge from the north along the Lebanon and Syria borders. This time around it is important even for people living in the merkaz and possibly even south of Jerusalem …


Letter Re: Advice on Privacy in Firearms Purchases

Hi Jim,   If I buy a handgun on AuctionArms.com and have it shipped to a FFL will the authorities know it is registered under my name?   Thank you,   – John G. JWR Replies: The following applies only to SurvivalBlog readers in the United States: Well, considering that by law, final delivery of a gun bought out of state means that you must fill out a Form 4473 that will be kept on file permanently with your dealer. Also, an Instant Background Check will be required. So, yes, you will leave a paper trail. (Although it isn’t “registration”, …


Two Letters Re: More Flooding in Australia

Hi Jim,   Just to let you know, a TEOTWAWKI situation came to our town (Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia) two days ago.  Toowoomba is known as the Garden City, and sits at the top of the Great Dividing Range, at 3,000 feet above sea level.  After weeks of constant rainfall that soaked catchments of a drought stricken region, we received six inches of rain in an hour. This deluge caused a flash flood (that has been since called an “Inland Tsunami”) that raged through the middle of Toowoomba.  The speed of the flood took everyone by surprise and cars and people …


Gun Grabbers Pounce on the Tucson Shootings–America’s Hungerford?

Just as I predicted, the headlines are already full of shrill cries for civilian disarmament. Never mind the fact that these were the actions of just one man who was mentally unstable. They aim to disarm the 99.9% of us law-abiding gun owners in the hopes of disarming the remaining 0.01%–the dangerous lunatics. This is something akin to the Hungerford Massacre, where the actions of one sick individual were used as the pretext to disarm an entire nation. Most of what I’ve read so far is just the expected statist knee-jerk reaction. But there was one well-reasoned response. And, despite …


Letter Re: Archery Equipment for Those Living in Gun-Deprived Locales

Hey James, I just got into SurvivalBlog after reading “Patriots” and “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” in consecutive nights.  I have checked out  a lot of posts on many helpful topics so far.  I wanted to post a question on the blog if possible, or simply ask you.  What is the viability of using crossbows in the survival situations we are all talking about?  I am also interested in compound bows as well.  I live in a country where I cannot legally own firearms, though the mafia here do, but I can legally …


Letter Re: An Alabama Snowstorm

James Wesley: It is beginning to snow in Alabama.  In small towns all around, the grocery stores have been stripped down to the shelves.  People were buying food to cook in fear that they might not make it to the grocery stores when they need to.  Milk is all but gone.    I went to the grocery store Sunday morning to pick-up a few doughnuts for our Sunday school class.  I saw one of my wife’s friends on the junk food aisle.  She is a single mom of two.  She said, “I have $40 to buy groceries to get us …


The Twisted World of Jared Lee Loughner

The tragic news on Saturday of the shooting of a congresswoman and a Federal judge in Arizona was quite troubling. (At last report, six dead and 13 wounded.) Chief Judge John Roll of the U.S. District Court for Arizona was killed and Representative Gabrielle Giffords was badly injured but is expected to recover. Who is the suspect? Jared Lee Loughner, age 22. His YouTube channel makes him appear to be a certifiable flag-burning lunatic, and possibly a mind control subject. His list of favorite books included: “Animal Farm, Brave New World, The Wizard Of OZ, Aesop Fables, The Odyssey, Alice …


Letter Re: The Queensland Floods

Jim, I’m almost 58 years old –  have lived in North Queensland (“Qld”) most of my life.  This is the worst flooding in Qld that I can remember – it is so widespread.  I have a house in Townsville, but have spent most of the last two years at my retreat area, 4.5 hours by car from here, and Townsville does not usually experience a lot of rain.  However, found myself in Townsville before Christmas, and the road then flooded over at Ingham, and was not able to drive to my retreat area to be with my daughter for Christmas …


The Razor’s Edge, by Don V.

“The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.” – W. Somerset Maugham The United States and a majority of the world stand at the proverbial razor’s edge and as most preppers realize, the road to salvation will definitely be difficult.  The coming changes may happen tomorrow or ten years from now but the grand clock is in countdown mode.  Many experts like to focus on specific issues but it is the culmination of these separate issues that will create the ultimate crisis.  Evaluating each issue allows the …


The U.S. Dollar’s Prospects in the New Year

As the editor of SurvivalBlog, I regularly get those “timing” e-mails from readers, asking me for my prediction of when the U.S. Dollar will collapse. I can’t provide you a date, but you don’t need to be a past recipient of the Nobel Prize for Economics to see some crucial facts and draw some logical conclusions. Consider the following: The Federal Reserve recently became the largest holder of U.S. Treasury debt, surpassing China and Japan. The neo-Weimar monetization that is dubbed “Quantitative Easing” is wildly inflationary. The number of dollars in circulation is galloping, and that can only result in …


Letter Re: The Legalities of Preparedness

James,   I have been looking at various posting all across the spectrum of prepping and I haven’t seen anyone mention being legal in their preparations. Here’s what brought this to mind. I recently purchased six rolls of brand new, never used razor wire. I’m not sure how many SurvivalBlog readers have military/police/corrections backgrounds. If you have fooled with the stuff, you know to be careful. If you haven’t, I’d suggest looking for something easier.  I strung a single strand around my backyard on three sides, just below the level of the four foot tall chain link that surrounds my property. …


Letter Re: Iowa Becomes a Shall-Issue CCW State

Mr. Rawles,   One of the drawbacks of Iowa as a possible retreat location has been restrictive gun laws. It will be somewhat better as of January 1, 2011 when the state becomes a  “Shall Issue” instead of a discretionary “May Issue” state for carrying concealed weapons (CCW) permits.   I think that the rural areas of Iowa offer good possibilities for retreats. The farm land is some of the best in the world. Water and rainfall are less of a problem than they are in some of the more western plains states. The people in most of the state …