Firearms Ownership Privacy: The Pre-1899 Solution

America is a wonderful place to live. We enjoy great prosperity and far more freedom than the citizens of most other nations. Our right to keep and bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution. But, as a union of 50 sovereign States, we also live with a patchwork of laws. Something that is perfectly legal in one State can be a misdemeanor or even a felony in another.  I feel fortunate to live in a very gun-friendly state in the Northern Rockies with permitless open carry, permitless concealed carry, and permitless vehicular carry. Here, nobody blinks an eye when they …




The Meme of Crushroom: A Key Retreat Architecture Element (Updated)

JWR’s Introductory Note:  This is an update and expansion of an article that I wrote for SurvivalBlog back in 2009. I’ve corrected the article’s dead links and added some important details. — One bit of retreat architecture that I’ve often recommended to my consulting clients who are designing (or retrofitting) retreats is the inclusion of a protruding entryway foyer, that I call a crushroom. Passing this advice along to you gives me the chance to employ one of my horrible puns: The Meme of Crushroom. A crushroom is a controllable confined space, typically an entry foyer, that can be covered …




Men Of The West: We Are At War, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note: This essay was first posted at Brandon Smith’s Alt-Market.us. It is reposted with permission. — It’s a strange thing. I was writing today about the tests of brutality we endure in the Western world in modern times, trying to explain why things cannot continue the way they have been for much longer, when the news hit the feeds on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I forced myself to watch the video footage, just as I forced myself to watch the recent murder of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska by a black man on a train who then bragged …




A Three-Year Window or a Three-Month Window?

As an observer of contemporary politics, economics, and emerging threats, I have come to the conclusion that the last three years of Donald John Trump’s second term as President may provide a potential window of opportunity. If we were now living under a Harris-Walz Administration, we would surely be out of time to prepare. I have my doubts about Trump’s sincerity when he talks about scaling back the size and power of government. Alarmingly, the gains of the DOGE project were wiped out by the huge deficit spending included in the recent  “Big, Beautiful Bill”.  But I don’t consider DJT …







Bring Back Asylums: Transgender Fatigue In America, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note: This essay was first posted at Brandon Smith’s Alt-Market.us. It is reposted with permission. — Transgenderism is not a civil rights movement; it’s a social engineering experiment. The LGBT movement is not a struggle for equal rights; it’s a covert war for political control. The agenda of the people involved in the spheres of trans-activism are radical zealots hellbent on the destruction of their enemies by any means necessary – And if you believe in logic, objective reality, biological science, and moral imperative, then you are one of their enemies. A prime strategy of the trans movement …




Data Collection in Our Lives, by Anonymous in Ohio

With all of the recent discussion of Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) threats in SurvivalBlog, I want to share a recent experience with what I assume was an A.I.-intervened technology. We were recently moving some of our supplies across state in a small cargo trailer to our cabin. We had unloaded the trailer and were returning home when I saw flashing lights in my mirror. I thinking to myself, I can’t be trailer lights, everything is rewired new, new tires, bearings, doors were locked. The State Trooper came up to the window and tells me that my plates on the trailer registration …




Chiming in on A.I., by SaraSue

This is purely my opinion and may be of no use to you.  My “tone” is sarcastic and rude and confident on purpose.  I am not that kind of person, but there are certain topics, such as Artificial Intelligence, that rub me the wrong way.  Maybe I am, or used to be, smarter than most.  Maybe the opposite is true.  In any case, I seek to put A.I. in its place, in a box, lock it in there, sit on the lid, and laugh. It is always going to be true that human beings are flawed (original sin, if you …




The A.I. Danger Approaching, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

It was amazing to see St. Funogas’ article today (8/22/25) entitled “My Concerns With Artificial Intelligence.” Hopefully my thoughts below will add to his insights! Great minds think alike! 🙂 I deny being a Luddite, but I must confess I’m concerned about the rapidly growing utilization of A.I. in our lives. It’s kind of shocking how many devices are connecting to some A.I. flavor or the other, and I suppose – eventually – just one or two super-A.I.s, directly or indirectly. Smartphones (for all their utility, essentially a government eavesdropping device), home security systems, Alexa, cars, and even computers/laptops are …




My Concerns With Artificial Intelligence – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) AI WRITING While there are many brain developments, AI will be shortchanging our youngest single-digit aged youth on, they’ll also be robbed of learning many of the skills that are learned later in life as well. I’ve always enjoyed writing and creating things with pencil and paper since that poem I wrote about the Pilgrims in second grade that my teacher loved so much. It’s something I’ve continued to develop since then and even after all these years, I’m still learning. I don’t know what a dangling participle is and I can …




My Concerns With Artificial Intelligence – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) TRYING AN AI APP After my wow experience with my daughter showing me how her drawing app works, she showed me the ropes and I started doing some pictures myself. Since I have the artistic ability of a quadriplegic starfish, it was a lot of fun to be able to create some photos, paintings, and cartoon characters. I’ve been working on illustrating the events of my life the year I was nine years old. While it’s done nothing to develop the artistic portion of my brain, it’s physiologically too late for that, it’s been amusing. And …




My Concerns With Artificial Intelligence – Part 1, by St. Funogas

I appreciated JWR’s comments in his August 19th article on artificial intelligence. I’ve also had a lot of thoughts on AI recently, which I’d like to share. JWR’s informative article addressed many of the societal changes and threats we’ll experience just as sure as the grass is green. At this point, my concerns are mostly on a personal level of how things will affect my grandchildren, and to a lesser extent, how they’ll affect my children and siblings. WHAT IS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE? When people ask me to define what artificial intelligence is, I give them my country-bumpkin definition: Human intelligence …




A 2025 Assessment: The Emerging Artificial Intelligence Threat

The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has been alarmingly rapid since 2022. Before then, AI was considered little more than a plaything or a novelty.  But now it is transforming businesses, wiping out entire categories of office jobs, and threatening human liberty. The first practical release of the Claude AI code-writing tool just by itself has completely transformed the global software industry. I’m talking about a Buggy Whips level of industry transformation. As a personal illustration, I should mention that my youngest son is now in his third year at a university here in The American Redoubt, studying for a …




As America Soul Searches, The Rest Of The West Is Falling Apart, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note: This perceptive essay was first posted at Brandon Smith’s Alt-Market.us. It is reposted with permission. — In terms of geopolitics one could argue that allies don’t have to like each other, they just have to provide a mutual benefit that serves the greater purposes of peace. One could also argue that through cultural exchange the good habits of one country could easily influence the bad habits of another, but that kind of influence can also happen in reverse. Though we might think of American culture as the content driver of the planet, the reality is that our …




Jase Medical Antibiotic Kit, by Thomas Christianson

Editor’s Introductory Note:  In January 2025, about a month after Tom sent in this article, Jase became a SurvivalBlog advertiser.  We do our best to keep advertising and editorial as separate spheres. – JWR Author’s Note: I am not a medical professional. The information included in this article is not intended as medical advice. It is just an account of my own personal experiences. Please seek competent medical advice as you formulate your own emergency medical plans. A number of years ago, the area where I was living was swept by a Category 5 blizzard. All of the roads in …