Odds ‘n Sods:

From the desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large: 3d printed pistol – For discretion or emergency.

o o o

This is why my family made the decision to move out of the People’s Republic of California back in 2012 and never to return. Imagine a U.S. Marine battalion under attack by Islamic Extremists and all of a sudden the Powers to Be issue a decree to disarm the Marines. Their thinking is either terrorists would lay down their weapons or they’d not find a weapon with them being banned. Oh, well. We feel sorry for Californians and pray for all of you. FYI- My family couldn’t be happier to live in Nevada, where we own any number of rounds in our magazines from our .22 cals through our .50 cals and suppressors on everything. God Bless! – J.H.

JWR’s Comment: Even the grandfathered 11+ round magazines will now be banned in California. It is high time for all SurvivalBlog readers to leave that Mickey Mouse state!

o o o

Are We Ignoring a 4GW Asset? – A 4GW approach to ISIS. Some Muslims leave to join ISIS, find they are horrible, and return. Arrest or ignore? How about recruit? – T.Z.

o o o

In Search For Cures, Scientists Create Embryos That Are Both Animal And Human – This is a crime and a place they are going that we have to pray doesn’t ever happen. ?- DSV

o o o

TSA Watchdog Spills Secret Behind Long Airport Lines – Have you ever notice when a government agency loses funding, they cut the things that hurt you the most rather than the unnecessary things? – J.F.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“No man but feels more of a man in the world if he have a bit of ground that he can call his own. However small it is on the surface, it is four thousand miles deep; and that is a very handsome property.” – Charles Dudley Warner, My Summer in a Garden (1870)

Notes for Thursday – May 19, 2016

Today, we present another entry for Round 64 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value),
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel and a hard case to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  6. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  7. The Ark Institute is donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package (enough for two families of four) plus seed storage materials, a CD-ROM of Geri Guidetti’s book “Build Your Ark! How to Prepare for Self Reliance in Uncertain Times”, and two bottles of Potassium Iodate (a $325 retail value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. KellyKettleUSA.com is donating an AquaBrick water filtration kit with a retail value of $250, and
  10. Two cases of meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  2. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  3. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  4. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  5. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  6. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  8. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)
  9. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A $245 gift certificate from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  3. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  4. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  7. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  8. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).

Round 64 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Understanding the Progressive Agenda- Part 1, by DBS

For years, I have been feeling shocked by the amount of strange happenings, those that I couldn’t explain; they just didn’t make sense. More and more, I would get angry, frustrated, and upset with how these events and their origins occurred. I have a feeling that many like-minded patriotic Americans may feel the same way, especially since 9/11.

Not only has our society change since that day but so has our culture. As a Desert Storm Marine and now a retired fire chief, I have found that our society and culture changed so quickly. It seemed each year the changes had been growing and growing. I had thought that maybe I was getting older and less knowledgeable of the new pop culture, but I also found myself wondering what was wrong with all of these headlines, cable TV programs, legislation, new rules, new taxes, free money, crazy home loans, embellished financial markets, persecution of the Bible, downplay of religion, and more. I could go on, but I think you also feel the same. That is why we are here with the great resources of SurvivalBlog. We are all looking for answers to those strange questions and feelings we have as a community. So many events, over the past 15 years, just don’t make any sense to us.

I have had so many strange feelings that have caused me anguish and have pushed me to make changes in my life and my awareness. However, I had not found out exactly why! I didn’t know why people felt “off”. So, since I am a problem solver and I needed to know why, I began to pursue the origins of my frustrations and started my research.

I now have enough knowledge and answers to feel more comfortable with awareness, and I’ve reached a point where I now feel more comfortable and a bit more at ease. I have a lesson that I teach my family. I tell them that the worst thing you can do is to ignore a problem, and the I give them steps to find a solution:

  1. Identify the origin,
  2. Set a plan, and
  3. Follow through with the plan, until another is needed to adjust for the best outcome.

In my continued studies and search for the origins of my frustration, I recently found multiple websites with great articles that gave me some of the final pieces to the answers. Now this information may be hard to digest for most people/Americans. It will depend on your level of awareness and acceptance of possibilities. At this time in my life, I allocate more time to analyze people, TV, social media, and advertisements, always looking for the origins of their behavior and actions. So I feel that maybe sharing my results may bring more discussion and ideas to the forum with an end result of finding more resolve.

The Progressive Agenda: “Left, Liberals, Obama/Clinton”, Democrats, et cetera

For those who are not aware, some of the origins of Democratic party were slave owners. Please also research LBJ and his comments after laying the foundation of the welfare state. Another interesting comment came from the NBA commentator, Charles Barkley. All of these statements and history will come together at the end of this paper. Since the 1960’s, there has been a movement known as Liberal thinking. I feel this movement started with good intentions, since the 60’s were of such chaos and change. However, underlying those good intentions were a few select leaders that had a common theme. I believe this theme had been hiding and found a vehicle to use their ideology. Since the McCarthy hunt on communists, those ideologists needed another vehicle that was more subvert to change this country into their utopia. The Progressive Agenda has its roots in Communism and Marxism. This may or may not be a shock to you. If this is not a shock, you are aware and should keep reading. This is not a history lesson, and I will not supply a time-line of events. This is more of a foundation for future thought.

Global Warming

Since the late 60’s, have you noticed a change in our culture as a “Western Middle Class” culture? I would first look at the claims for climate change, peak oil, et cetera. Currently, in 2016, the celebrities of Hollywood keep talking and pushing the topic of “global warming” on their agendas, even though our ice caps have stabilized and there is proof that the solar cycle was a good contributor to the warmer climate over the last 24 years. Why?

Family and the Bible

Now look at the attack on the family structure. What are the divorce rates now, compared to the 1950’s? Where are the family units? Where are the traditional roles? Also look at the attack on religion, by those proponents of scientific evolution. How many headlines do you read and people you know who no longer believe in the Bible? Why?

Tools of Marxism

These are the tools used to “break” up the success of the western middle class culture. These are the same tools of Marxism. Why are they being used? Well, since the success of post-war America’s middle class was the greatest in history, no empire has had such a large and wealthy middle class. That is why we had such a great lifestyle. Unfortunately, we may never see it again.

All those McMansions, expensive cars, vacation homes, real estate investing, and wealth in the middle class was too much for the wealthy elite. Having a wealthy middle class truly meant that they all had less! Those wealthy middle class people were using up all the resources for their profits rather than the elite’s. So, the elite had to make some changes.

How could they stop the successful expansion of the middle class before they were able to have a compounding effect on their next generation. A generational wealth transfer was going to be a real problem in the next 40 years. Each generation that could expand their nest eggs into a doubling affect on their wealth would result in the ruling elite being diluted all the more!

Before they could find a way to steal the middle class’s wealth, they had to make sure they would eliminate any financial education to our middle class children. I know in my public schooling, I never received any financial education. I was not taught how to write a check, what is savings, or how to become financially independent.

Instead of learning financial education, I was taught just to go to school, find a good job, get married, both of us have successful careers, invest into your 401k, and retire! Oh, by the way, we were also taught sex education in school and told not to get pregnant and that kids are really expensive! Furthermore, free condoms, birth control, abortions, Welfare state, link cards, WIC, and section 8 are available if you mess up! The meaning is don’t have many kids. If you do have kids, the government will help make sure that they grow up without a financial education, so as not to threaten our wealth and power. I look back on that now, and it starts to make more sense. I am upset that I was duped.

It sounds weird, but the wealthy elite saw the successful middle class as a threat to their power. By slowing the birth rate of the successful, wealthy middle class, the elite could keep more of this country’s resources for themselves. Thus, with more of the resources and now a better financial education, they could again turn to putting more wealth into their pockets for their families’ fortunes. Population control was about hoarding and eliminating the threat to their wealth and power.

But how could the elite get America to accept this elimination of the American dream that they just sold to us after WWII? Well, they used the Rothschild technique of creating chaos to turn a profit. Wars had to be started, the middle class divided, instill the idea of separation of church and state, create racial riots and economic recessions, reform education, destroy of the family unit, buffoon the patriarch member, promote the feminism movement, increase the divorce rate, create circumstance for latch key kids, and promote the popularity of two incomes/no kids (DINKS). All these techniques will lead to fewer children of a successful middle class, thus creating a reduced chance of a compounding generational middle class wealth! Hint: Does this sound like Karl Marx?

Population control was working well, until we had a Washington DC outsider win the Presidency for eight years. However, after that hiatus, the master wealthy elite plan of population control was back on track.

I believe those eight years were a wake up call for the wealthy elite. They knew that they had to control and manipulate all major elections in their favor. It seems that was the last election in which the middle class had a real impact on the results. Since that era, we just vote to keep ourselves distracted and to give us the feeling that we have a say, as the winners were and are not selected by us. The elite were in charge, so I’ll write form their perspective for awhile.

Population Control is Working, or is It?

Population control of the successful middle class was working. Now we (the elite) moved on to setting up more government regulations that could steal back the wealth of the middle class. We decided to also print dollars to steal their wealth with devaluation and give them easy-to-obtain debt. Without a good financial education, the middle class would crater under the ease in obtaining more debt. Now we can charge them fees for being overdrawn and overdue! They won’t and don’t know how to manage wealth. (Remember? We didn’t allow them any financial education.)

Well, that is an easy explanation of what happened since the 1999 Act that deregulated the ruling elite– the Glass-Stegall Act. If you are not familiar with this deregulation of the banks, please study and use a filter. In essence, it was the beginning of the end of our middle class wealth. It started slowly with overdraft fees, then ATM fees, and then moved to force the middle class into bankruptcy.

2009: Oh Wait—Our Home Loan Friends Are Losing Their Wealth!

We (the elite) were concerned that our friends were losing their wealth because we allowed so much middle class debt. All of those middle class people are not paying back all of their loan payments. Now, what? We can’t have our banker friends lose their wealth. How about we just print up some dollars, give it to them, and they can save themselves. “Hey, Alan, can you start the printing press and we promise Ben will shut it off.” Yikes! Yea, right?

Letter Re: Shopping on Amazon

Hugh,

The the Amazon story is great. I have very little time and live in a rural area. By using Amazon I save a lot of time and money. I also can’t say enough for the customer comments.

However, my comment is more advice to anyone who wants to sell on Amazon. I am in the wine business, and it’s very regulated. However, with the recent changes of state-by-state shipping laws, we can now ship direct to 38 states. Along comes Amazon and BOOM my sales with them have skyrocketed. Not to say, they are way easier to deal with then big box stores! We also always strive to give our customers a fair deal and deliver when we say. One thing that keeps us honest are customer reviews.

So, if you want an outlet to sell product online, try Amazon. They’re great! – M.C.

Economics and Investing:

Stan Druckenmiller: The Bull Market Is Exhausted; Make The Move To Gold

o o o

Why new overtime rules will raise payroll costs for employers of all sizes – RBS

o o o

The effects of raised minimum wages now begins to hit: Wendy’s Serves Up Big Kiosk Expansion As Wage Hikes Hit Fast Food – That $15/hr wage doesn’t do you any good when you lose the job to a worker that never goes on strike or complains. – P.S.

o o o

The Humungous Depression

o o o

Once upon a time, there was a middle class: This election year will determine whether the middle class falls into obscurity.

o o o

SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

I don’t recommend staying in an urban location for TEOTWAWKI, but this is certainly a creative solution: How to Get Your Apartment Off the Grid – Sent in by J.W.

o o o

This is Hungary’s Brexit: Referendum on migrant quota crucial to save sovereignty from EU – Is OUR national sovereignty a reality? How long will it be until we are at this point? Will we, by then, even be able to vote on it? – D.S.

o o o

Texas: Muslim convict demands sharia, court agrees – B.B.

o o o

SurvivalBlog reader W.C. sent in the link to this white paper on EMP.

o o o

Another reason to avoid social media: Wave goodbye to anonymity with the FaceFind dating app. So much for OPSEC – S.A.

Guest Article: Getting Right With God, by Mr. T.

Whenever I hear the phrase about “getting right with God”, I have an image of a Clint Eastwood-type cowboy/farmer character with a shotgun and threatening a young fella’ that got his daughter pregnant by saying, “Son, you gonna git yourself right with me and the Lord and marry the girl or I’m gonna send you to heaven right now”.

The boy had an obvious need to “get right”, but what about us as preppers? I often hear the admonition that we need to “get right with God” before the SHTF because it will be too late then. We don’t have a shotgun threatening us, so what’s the fuss? And what is it that we’ve got wrong that we need to get right?

What is wrong is that we are separated from God because of what we did. We were stuck with paying the penalty, except that God made a deal and got us right with him by having Jesus Christ pay the penalty with His life instead of ours. There is no getting right with God any other way; it just isn’t going to happen. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) He was saying He is the only way.

Job of the Old Testament expresses perfectly our need for a way: “…but how should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand… For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.” (Job 9:2,3,32-33) God fixed that problem: “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5)

There are those that think it is ludicrous that man could have a mediation with God, and yet these same people don’t have a problem believing that blues legend Robert Johnson achieved rapid mastery of the guitar by going down to the crossroads and making a deal with the devil– a spirit being who appeared to him in human form. If you believe that one, you have no reason to deny the other. If there is a devil, there is a God. If you can mediate with the devil, you can most certainly mediate with God.

So where are the crossroads for us where we can cash in on this deal that God made so that we might achieve rapid mastery over our own life? Lucky for us the details of this deal is recorded quite thoroughly in the book of Romans. You get to sign on to this covenant with God if you simply “… confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. (Romans 10:9-10)

It’s a whole new ballgame now, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.“ (2 Corinthians 5:17) This is where our new life begins; this is where we do our spiritual preparation. We’ve been storing what we eat, and we eat what we store. However, we cannot live by bread alone; we also store up spiritual bread and live by it. This spiritual bread comes by hearing, and that hearing is of the Word of God. (from Romans 10:17)

So, is that it? Are we “right with God” now? As you would expect, there’s more to it than that. When we are admonished as preppers to “get right with God”, that means to get our lives to line up with the mind of Christ; after all, if Christ died and rose from the grave to redeem us from our sins, why would we continue to live in them? “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”. (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Where do we start? How about asking ourselves: is there is anything in our lives that hinders, entangles us, that keeps us from running with endurance? How about pornography? Drug or excessive alcohol use? Does gambling, cheating, lying, cussing, gossiping help or hurt us? Is overindulgence a positive attribute to cultivate as a prepper? How about that TV video crew from “Cheaters” that’s been following you around, what’s that all about? Are there any deleterious practices of yours that would be helpful in a SHTF scenario? If not, why not cut them loose now? None of us will ever attain perfection, but why not build upon our habits and skills that are beneficial and let go of those that aren’t?

I just can’t find the words to say what I want to say any better than the way it is said here: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

Letter: Venezuela’s Health Care

Dear Editors,

I saw this headline on the front of the “dead tree edition” of the paper this morning. Besides the coverage on your blog, this caught my eye because of a personal connection: A good friend of mine recently lost her mother in Venezuela. She was sent to the nearest hospital because of a problem with her heart and needed an operation to put in a stent. The hospital that she was checked into didn’t have all of the equipment that they needed to perform the operation on her. The nearest hospital with the equipment did not have all the materials in stock (I believe the stent itself). They eventually got everything they needed to perform the operation itself, but in the evening shortly after the operation, she passed away. While any surgery on the heart is non-trivial, I believe that it is a relatively routine operation here in the U.S. when we have all of the supplies and equipment. Thanks for all you do. – J.S.

Economics and Investing:

Our National Debt Will Grow To $31 Trillion by 2023

o o o

Watch Venezuela, Because Food Shortages, Looting And Economic Collapse Are Coming To America Too – Submitted by B.B.

o o o

Burlington College Feels the Bern! Will Close Thanks to Crushing Debt Acquired by Mrs. Bernie Sanders – B.P.

o o o

Graham Summers: The Fed Is Finally Coming Clean About Inflation

o o o

SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

From SurvivalBlog Reader Spotlight:

I would like to offer a recommendation for the movie The Grey, I don’t think I’ve seen it mentioned before. Some caveats include lots of harsh language and some savage attacks by wolves upon men. Beyond that, it really struck a chord with me. It is an incredible story of survival and the will to survive. I am not into poetry in any way, but I specifically went back and memorized the poem from the movie. I think it’s a movie all young men should see. Mrs. Spotlight and daughter Flashlight, did not like it at all and spent most of their time looking away. I do not recommend it for women. I’ve seen some criticism online of the survival tactics, et cetera. It’s not a “how to” movie, and anyone worrying about the technical details is missing the whole point of it. Watch the credits; there’s an important conclusion to the movie in there. “Once more into the fray….”!

o o o

DMS recommended the movie Behind the Mask, a powerful true story, as a family movie.

o o o

JWR recommended Wranglerstar’s Back To Basics, a full 49 minute movie, free on YouTube.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Here is a “must read” piece by Doug Casey in his International Man blog: Making The Chicken Run.

o o o

From the Desk of Michael Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large comes the article: Venezuela Spends Millions on Incredibly Dumb Things While Its Economy Collapses. “Bolivarian socialism apparently means financing things like lousy race-car drivers while the people lack medicine, food, and toilet paper.”

o o o

FBI Tracking 1,000+ Islamic Terror Cases & Growing Across the US – Submitted by B.B.

o o o

We Are Not Fine. We Are Not Prepared: Escaping Fort McMurray – RBS

o o o

Reader H.L. sent in this article: Real Facts About School & Other Mass Shooting Defense Tactics