Category: Current Events & Politics

Red Dawn Goes Korean: Digitally-Manipulated Political Correctness

They call it the “dream factory”. Hollywood, they say, is where any dream can be made to appear to come true. Apparently that is still the case: The Los Angeles Times just reported that MGM has magically transformed the villains in the soon-to-be-released remake of the legendary John Milius film Red Dawn from Chinese to North Korean. The change in bad guys was accomplished by creating a new opening sequence summarizing the back story, by re-editing two scenes and by using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean. All this cost only about $1 million in additional post-production …


Three Letters Re: The Earthquake in Japan and its Aftermath

Dear James,   I just wanted to alert you to the possible impact of what is actually happening at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant.  The grid has gone down, and it appears that the emergency diesel generators have failed.  There is apparently no off-site or on-site AC power.  This is very similar to the scenario that I outlined in my article posted last September in SurvivalBlog (except for the precipitating event for my article described an EMP event).  We have a potential disaster worse than Chernobyl in the making.   In fact, even the mainstream media is now taking note.  Here is …


Magazine Ban Legislation: Ignorant Statists and Terminology-Challenged Journalists, Unite!

Democrat congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy’s magazine ban bill (previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog) will likely die in committee. It has attracted 90 co-sponsors–hardly a “barn burning issue.” But meanwhile, of greater concern there are several bans being pushed at the state level: The first case in point comes to by way of a Buffalo, New York newspaper headline: Gun-toting senator pushes gun safety bill. “Gun safety”??? That is pure cant. A more accurate title for the article would be: Senator pushes New York law to ban sale, purchase, or possession of 11+ round magazines. It is notable that this law would eliminate …


Letter Re: The Coming Shortage of Nickels

Jim,    Your readers might be interested to know that banks [where I live in California] have started charging a fee for rolled U.S [five cent piece] nickels. I’ve been going to Wells Fargo Bank ever since you wrote about the subject, several years ago, gradually obtaining nickels at cost.  Yesterday, I found that they’ve begun charging 7.5% per $100 box.  Another local bank, beginning in March, has started charging 10% per roll of nickels.  Word is getting out: Gresham’s Law is intact. –  Paul B.


Letter Re: Silver Coins with a Very Low Likelihood of Fakery

Hi James, I’ve been suspicious about the possibility of silver coins being faked ever since reading your links about tungsten “gold” and think I’ve come up with an answer.  As long as you’re not looking for collectibles, just buy second-quality silver coins – modern ones like Liberty one-ounce silver rounds, not numismatics.  You know, the coins that are scratched, dented, and discolored.  They clean up just fine with a little Wright’s silver polish.  Who the heck is going to counterfeit dents, scratches, worn spots and discoloration?  Also, they’re [relatively] inexpensive.  These are the “junk silver” version of (.999) silver coins …


Letter Re: When Alaskan Salmon is Chinese

Hi, Jim: Every few weeks I buy a couple cases (of 24 cans) of canned wild Alaskan salmon canned by Bumble Bee selling for $1.99 per can (a 14.5oz can), and a quality gold tinted tapered can. Recently it has had a 2015 expiration date. In my estimation, wild salmon is an excellent unadulterated protein source with a lengthy expiration date, especially when compared to canned tuna (with traces of mercury) and canned chicken.    Well, yesterday I went in to the same discount supermarket (the kind of no-frills market where you bag yourself and pay extra for the bag) …


Letter Re: Gauging Government Over-Spending

Dear Mr. Rawles, Thank you for your hard work on the blog. I did some thinking and research today concerning the Federal budget and want to share what I found with you. How much does the Federal government spend and how do we put this into context? There are several ways to look at this data. First, one can compare the dollars spent today versus those spent in 1962. Using the data from supportingevidence.com, I found: The government spent $106,821,000,000.00 in 1962 (106 billion dollars) according to http://federal-budget.findthebest.com/detail/64/1962. However, adjusted for inflation this would be about 700 billion dollars. The …


Two Letters Re: Investing in Nickels, in Quantity

Mr. Rawles,   With the low profile purchase of nickels now a desire of many folks, I have had fun in purchasing them in "bricks" [boxes of rolled nickels.]    I go up to the bank teller window and ask if they have a brick or two available for purchase. Many times I receive a positive response. (I have a Military Intelligence background and know how to keep a secret while avoiding a direct answer.)   After the purchase many times the teller inquisitively asks why I need so many nickels. I look at her with a twinkle in my …


America’s Transition to Preemptive Law Enforcement

There is a disturbing trend in American law enforcement and in our courts: They have been enforcing nonexistent laws, misapplying laws, arresting people who are obviously innocent, and arresting people on suspicion that they might be thinking about doing something illegal. This is similar to the policing philosophy in England, where police often preemptively detain people and seize household goods “for the safety of all concerned”. In my estimation, this is just one notch below arresting folks for “thought crimes” (a la Orwell’s novel 1984) or “pre-crime”, (a la Philip K. Dick’s novella that became the movie Minority Report.) Here …


A Key Concern and a Preparedness Strategy, by Patrick E.

I have been an avid SurvivalBlog reader for a couple of years now, and I have been a lifelong prepper, although never like I am now.  Through this blog and other excellent sources, I have gained immeasurable information and comfort, and the feeling that by the grace of God and diligent effort, I am finally obtaining a level of preparedness which ensures a very good chance of providing safety and security for my family and me through whatever the future may bring.  Though I have made many personal preparations, I don’t feel that I have done enough to help others …


A Philosophy to Live For, by Lightfoot

I don’t remember the exact date, but it was close to a year ago that, on a whim, I downloaded and read “Patriots“ on my iPad.  As I read through the fictional account my world was turned over and an amazing trip down the rabbit hole of preparedness began. I scoured the blogs and read every account, both fictional and non,  searching for and accumulating knowledge that would lead me to effective action in order to save my family’s life.  I learned the distinctions of TEOTWAWKI and more, then began to design a way to “bug out” of my current …


Rep. McCarthy’s Magazine Ban–Worse Than First Imagined

Here is some moron more on Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy’s recently-introduced magazine ban legislation. I studied the bill’s wording and I learned: The bill defines large capacity ammunition feeding devices as “a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition” (This is nearly the same as the now defunct 1994 law, but it does not exempt tubular or otherwise non-detachable magazines.) For Post-Enactment Devices: Prohibits the transfer, possession, or import of a large capacity ammunition feeding device manufactured after the …


Letter Re: Lessons from the Tunisian Revolution

Greetings Mr. Rawles, In the ongoing chaos of the Tunisia revolution we are able to watch a real life SHTF scenario being played out. Well worth the time to observe and learn from. Even though the head of the government has fled, it’s body is still alive and flailing creating havoc. The resulting chaos has caused breakdowns in food distribution and security as evidenced by the following quotes in the Washington Times. I thought it interesting that how quickly the neighborhoods have formed their own militias to protect themselves. The following are some quotes from a Washington Times article: “Ordinary …


Pending Magazine Ban Legislation in the U.S.

Just as I anticipated, in the wake of the Tucson shootings, the mainstream media and the congresscritters are on the war path! Mayor Bloomberg has the propaganda machine running overdrive with this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek cover story.  The cover of the Jan. 17, 2011 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek is midnight black with nothing but a Glock 19 pictured and the words “The Killing Machine” in white boldly superimposed over the gun.  The article summary states “America’s Gun – How Glock became the weapon of choice for U.S. cops, gun enthusiasts, and mass killers/psychopaths like alleged Tucson gunman Jared Loughner.” A recent …


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 …