Economics and Investing:

America’s Pension Problem – A story of two ants.

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China Is Hoarding Crude At The Fastest Pace On Record

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Apple reports first revenue decline in 13 years – Sent in by RBS

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Costco likely to raise annual membership fee – They still rate higher than their rivals, but they are obviously feeling the squeeze of this non-recession recession. They did, however, leave the door open to not raising the fees if they need to avoid it due to the competition.

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Dollar Stores Defy Retail Headwinds – In the meantime, Dollar stores are beating Walmart at its own game– importing and selling cheap Chinese junk– but doing it in neighborhood stores rather than mega-stores. But if Walmart is propped up by the government (via welfare), how much more so will these stores feel it?

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

Odds ‘n Sods:

A Photo Gallery of a Super Survival Kit: 18 Deer-Camp Essentials. I’m not sure a snore guard makes my list, but each to his own. – G.G.

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RBS sent in the link to this article on Canada’s Proposed Gun Law. (No centerfire rifles allowed)

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National sheriffs’ group, opposed to federal laws on guns and taxes, calls for defiance. Sent in by W.C.

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From the Desk of Mike Williamson: The Fourth Amendment and the Fruit of the Poisonous Tree

Even if this is outlawed, it’s easy enough to RFQ for publicly gathered data from a company in say, China, who furnishes it, and for enough money, will hack our networks under laws legal there but not here, and then sell the USG your data, likely cheaper than they can do it themselves.

Or, people will just give it to them in the form of all the social media postings they make.

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Several readers sent in the link to this article. It’s good to know there are still some adventurous souls out there. Experience: I am 16 and live alone in the wilderness

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“Thus saith the Lord God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock. As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the Lord.” Ezekiel 36:37-38 (KJV)

Notes for Friday – April 29, 2016

Don’t forget that Safecastle’s Mountain House food sale ends this Saturday, April 30. Both the 30-year #10 cans and the 12-year pouches are seriously discounted, up to 46%. Get in on the sale while you can.

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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.

A Holistic Approach to Packing a 72-Hour Bug Out Bag- Part 1, by C.T.

A 72-hour Bug Out Bag (a.k.a. Get Out Of Dodge bag) is a pack filled with the necessary items to sustain you while you walk from an unsafe location to a safe location. Usually the scenario is that “home” is no longer safe and you need to go to some predetermined “bug out” spot. This could be either a friend’s or relative’s house, a family cabin, or a government shelter. Basically, you are going on a hiking trip with an expected start and end point on a pre-planned route during what will most likely be a time of great personal and local stress. The objects you put in this bag are to help you make this trip. They are not intended to allow for long-term survival or to help you restart civilization when you get to the other side, as thinking for the long term in this situation will distract or potentially cause you to fail in getting from point A to point B.

This article will go over three main topics– 1) Picking a bug out location, 2) Picking a bug out route, and 3) Packing for the journey.

Picking A Bug Out Location

As the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail. The most important part of having a 72-hr Bug Out Bag is having a pre-planned destination. This idea of having a set A to B distance to travel is what separates a 72-hr Bug Out Bag from a Refugee Bug Out Bag. Before you start throwing camping supplies into an old backpack, it is absolutely essential that you know where you are going. The distance and obstacles between you and your destination is what determines how you will pack your bag.

Where should you go? This depends on your unique situation.

A safe haven in a crazy time should:

  • Be populated by people you trust,
  • Have resources available to support you when you get there, and
  • Be within a walking distance that is achievable with your current level of physical fitness.

Some people have family members that they get along with great that live within walking distance. Others have a friend that meets this requirement. Maybe you have a cabin where you plan to ride out a storm. Pick the place that is right for you.

If you do not own the location that you plan on going to, it is essential that you ask the people who live there for permission to come there in a time of emergency. The last thing you want to do is survive a harrowing journey and get turned away at salvation’s door because you weren’t as good friends as you thought you were.

By asking ahead of time, you get the idea on the other person’s radar and allow opportunities to make the second requirement of a safe place happen. If they are fine with you crashing at their place, they will probably be okay with you leaving a container with some food and supplies at their house so you wouldn’t be a burden if you showed up unannounced.

In this case, it’s a good idea to stock a sealable storage chest with food and other supplies that you can store at your bug out location. If there is an emergency and you get killed on the way to your bug out location, at least they are your friends and someone you like will be able to use your stuff.

When I was looking for a bug out location, my in-laws seemed to have the perfect setup. Located near a clean lake, rural, and with a tight knit community. I asked my father-in-law if I could store some food at his place so we wouldn’t be a burden in case we had to crash at his house in an emergency. Initially he said I should just pack up my own stuff and bring it with me if it was necessary. So I built a “to-go” food crate that I stored at my apartment. The next time we saw each other, he asked if I had done my part. When he learned I had, he realized I was serious, and after some research of his own he ended up buying a full year’s supply of dried food to prepare for an emergency and be ready if my wife and I did show up someday.

Finally, it is unrealistic to pick a primary bug out location that is a 30 day walk away. If there is an emergency going on that forces you to take such a trip without a vehicle, the odds of you making it are realistically slim.

If you plan on bugging out with a your super zombie apocalypse jeep and can’t imagine leaving it, you have already failed. Disaster planning is about planning for worst case scenarios. The odds of a disaster happening where you need to leave your house and head out on your own where all roads are still passable is highly unlikely. Having an ideal location a few states away is fine, but don’t neglect to plan for an emergency where you will be forced to travel only as far as you are willing or able to walk.

Picking A Bug Out Route

Once you have selected a destination you would go to if an emergency forced you to leave your house and normal infrastructures, like hotels are not available, you need to look at the route between point A and B.

Google Maps can prove to be invaluable for this task. Here are some questions to ask as you look over route options between points A and B:

  1. Are there any natural obstacles? (rivers, mountains, deserts, valleys, et cetera)
  2. Are there any man-made obstacles? (bridges that may be closed or blocked, containment walls, natural choke points where traffic will stop, et cetera)
  3. Are there any major cities or towns to pass through? (more people, more problems)

Pick a route that will have the least resistance. It makes sense to plan a few different routes, both for foot travel and vehicle travel, if you are able to take your car. Ideally, if you leave from your house early enough you may be able to beat the rush and take your car and have the luxury of being able to bring more supplies than just what you can carry on your back, but make sure you consider which routes will be better for walking or driving.

Once you have at least three routes to your location picked out, print out the step-by-step directions on Google maps with the pictures for each step. You can pack these in your bag.

Try driving or hiking each of the routes, once you pick them; you may be able to notice shortcuts or potential problem areas that you couldn’t see on Google.

Packing For The Journey

Now that you have selected a bug out location and identified the route you want to take, it is time to start thinking about what you need to bring on your trip.

The 72 hour nature of the bag is entirely dependent on how long you think it will take you to walk from point A to point B. If your destination is going to take a week to reach on foot, guess what? Your 72-hr bag just became a 168-hr bag. It’s only a short trip across town? You probably don’t need to carry three days worth of supplies (though better safe than sorry, especially if you don’t have anything pre-positioned at your point B location).

The Bug Out Bag has received almost a mythical status in preparedness communities, but in reality all you are doing is going on a hiking trip. When going on any hiking trip, your destination, length of journey, and obstacles you face obviously dictate what you pack.

When you are packing your bag, you need to think about a few things:

  1. Weight,
  2. Basic needs, and
  3. Needs unique to your route

Weight

Talk to any long distance hiker about their gear and all they will rave about is how they were able to optimize their pack for the lowest weight. The amount of weight your pack contains will dictate how much energy is required to get you to point B. The bag is there to help you make the trip not vice versa, and over packing can be just as deadly as under packing.

Before you even start picking items to bring, you need to understand the limits of what you can carry. Ideally everyone would like to bring their grandmother’s wood stove and a year’s worth of food and ammo, but you can’t do that. Try filling a backpack with different amounts of weights and walking around your living room. Then walk three miles. How heavy does it feel now?

No, you probably won’t do this important step. It’s your funeral, if you don’t.

Basic Needs

Your 72-hr bag needs to have the items necessary for basic human survival. The items here will build upon what you already have available in your Every Day Carry kit.

There is a well known rule about three, which you may have heard: You can’t live three minutes without air, three hours without shelter (in the harshest elements), three days without water, or three weeks without food.

Air. Most likely the air will be clear for your journey, and unless you are really paranoid you probably won’t need to worry about packing a full out Gas Mask or air purification system.

What could come in handy though are some N95 Masks in case there is heavy smoke you need to cross through. These are very low weight and won’t take up much space in your pack. A multi-purpose (but not as effective) alternative would be to include a bandana that could be used for a variety of purposes, including a large particle breath filter, which is better than nothing.

Shelter. The first level of shelter you always need to think about is your clothes. What you should pack here is the same as what you need in a Get Home Bag. Plan on having multiple layers that can be removed if not needed. Clothing items you need include:

Your top layer of clothing is especially seasonally dependent. In the summer, an extra t-shirt or two may suffice. In the winter, you will want to make sure you have access to multiple layers, in case you need to survive a frigid night outside.

When packing clothes, please don’t have military grade camo. Dress like a normal person. If you look like a threat, people will treat you like a threat. If you show up at someone’s door looking like an extra in a Rambo movie, you will be much less likely to get help than a normal person with a camping backpack.

In addition to clothes, make sure you have skin protection, such as sun screen and chap-stick. A bandana can also be used around your neck to keep it protected.

That covers the immediate shelter offered by clothing, but the next step is looking at additional items to bring that can help you if you need to plan on staying the night outside. One way to minimize weight and the size of your kit is to plan on packing a hammock instead of a tent and ground pad. This is, of course, provided that you have lots of trees in your area.

There are some great camping hammocks on the market. Just make sure you get one with a built-in bug net. Instead of spending money on a purpose built rain fly for your hammock, just buy a tarp instead and invest the money you saved elsewhere. Don’t forget hammock straps to attach your hammock to the trees.

If you dislike the idea of sleeping suspended in the air, a more traditional camping setup may work better for you. Most campers will have a ground mat, bedding, and some sort of environmental protection.

A ground mat is a must have, it insulates you from the earth and helps provide some cushion. A sleeping bag or even emergency bivvy should be good enough bedding to keep you isolated from bugs and other critters. But unless you plan on getting a waterproof bag, you need some sort of shelter. A tarp can be used as a makeshift tent or shelter, if you don’t want the weight of a single person tent.

When planning your route, keep an eye out for natural areas that offer shelter. An overhanging rock or abandoned house could provide much better protection than an open field.

Another element of shelter is fire. As we will discuss in the food section, for a short-term bug out you should try to avoid drawing attention to yourself, and fire certainly draws attention. If at all possible avoid starting fires, as the smell and smoke are sure to draw people’s gaze. Nevertheless, you should have the resources available to make a fire if need be. Pack a simple Bic lighter as your primary fire source. A good backup that works, even if it gets wet, is a firesteel. Just make sure you practice with the firesteel beforehand so you know what you need to get a fire going.

Last on the idea of shelter is personal protection. Try to plan your route to avoid unnecessary encounters with people, but prepare for conflict, because wherever people are there are problems. A nice non-lethal defense option is mace. You should already be planning on carrying a survival knife, which could be used for intimidation or protection, and the last place to look to is a firearm. A personal defense firearm is a lot of weight to carry but very useful if needed. A small pistol can be tucked away from sight so you don’t look like a threat from a distance. If you are traveling through what you expect to be a very hostile area, you may be able to carry a rifle, depending on the severity of the situation. Just remember that many states don’t allow open carry of rifles, and just because your world may be collapsing doesn’t mean that you won’t get arrested or shot for looking like a threat. If at all possible avoid open displays of weaponry unless absolutely necessary.

Letter Re: Felons Voting

Here’s a list of states that allow or don’t allow felons to vote. I really don’t know how I feel about this, because I know several people personally that have been to prison who truly turned their lives around and are good people now. I’m also a little unsure about restoring 2nd amendment rights to them, too. Shouldn’t a person be able to defend himself? On the other hand, I don’t want predators running around armed. Like the law will stop that, but still… I guess restoring rights could be on a person-by-person basis, but the time and resources that would take would probably be massive. I’m obviously conflicted over this. If the bad guys would stay bad maybe it would be easier. In a case like what happened in Oregon, if convicted, when they get out would we want people like Bundy to not be able to vote? I think this is a subject that can get into very deep (philosophical) water very fast. – C.J.

Economics and Investing:

Items from Mr. Econocobas:

What Americans Spent The Most Money On In Q1

U.S. Economy Slows, with GDP Growing 0.5% in First Quarter

This Is Where America’s Runaway Inflation Is Hiding

Video: Greg Hunter USA Watchdog – Bill Holter-Without Price Suppression Gold Would be $5,000 to $10,000

Video: Greg Hunter USA Watchdog – Gregory Mannarino-We Are Living In an Environment Where Nothing Is Real

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

United Healthcare Cries Uncle (Citizens Against Government Waste) Excerpt: “More than half of the non-profit Obamacare-created CO-OPs have collapsed, wasting billions of tax dollars. It’s predicted that most will eventually go under, in spite of the dubious accounting gimmicks the Obama administration provided to keep them afloat.”

As Obamacare Collapses, Prepare for Single Payer (Independent Sentinel) Excerpt: “The findings fulfill all expectations of Republicans and suggest that Obamacare is a complete waste of money. No business would have survived such a massive failure.”

Conservatives Can’t Let Obamacare’s Collapse Go to Waste (Conservative Review) Excerpt: “Conservatives need to be ready to explain why and to present solutions, because advocates for fully socialized medicine will be ready to turn the collapsing exchanges to their advantage.”

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article72215012.html#storylink=cpy”

International News

Italy Bank Lifeline Buys Time as Atlas Shows Herculean Task (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “…Italian banking authorities are calling for these lifelines as they race to shore up a financial system burdened by 360 billion euros of doubtful loans, an amount equivalent to almost a quarter of the nation’s gross domestic product.”

Greece’s Debt Crisis Looks Familiar, but Consequences May be Worse (Financial Times) Excerpt: “While Europe’s political class has been consumed with preventing refugees from entering the EU and Britain from exiting, the mother of all EU crises has slowly and quietly been gathering steam again: Greece.

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Get Ready for Huge Obamacare Premium Hikes in 2017 (The Fiscal Times) Hold on to your wallets. Contact your state insurance commissioners in protest. Excerpt: “I’ve been asked, what are the premiums going to look like?” she said. “I don’t know because it also varies by state, market, even within markets. But I think the overall trend is going to be higher than we saw previous years. That’s my big prediction.”

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

Odds ‘n Sods:

Once again, the duplicity of the Federal Government is exposed: U.S. Has Not Told Panama, Costa Rica to Stop Flying Thousands of Illegal Aliens Close to U.S. Border – Sent in by B.B.

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Prison Time for Illegal Alien Who Crossed River to Rob other Illegal Aliens. Him they’ll prosecute – G.L.

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It’s somewhat simplistic but good information to know: Seven Survival Uses for a Tarp – G.G.

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Professional Educator: Showing Up On Time Is A Form Of White Supremacy. “In Hackman’s telling, virtually everything associated with being a good student in modern education is actually just a tool of racist white supremacy.” – It’s passed time to get your kids out of this system. – T.P.

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Camping Survival has just received their first shipment of bulk T.P. -If you want in on it, now is the time.

Notes for Thursday – April 28, 2016

April 28th is the birthday of Aimo Johannes Lahti (born in 1896). This clever Finn designed (or co-designed) an amazing array of weapons, including the L-35 Lahti pistol, Suomi M-31 SMG, the Lahti-Saloranta M/26 LMG, the famous Lahti L-39 20mm anti-tank rifle, and even the 20 ItK 40 (a 20 mm dual anti-aircraft cannon).

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JRH Enterprises is having a sale on their NightFighter2 combo package, which includes a High Performance model 3rd Gen Pinnacle Autogated PVS14 new with 10 Year warranty, a DBAL-I2 Infrared laser, an ACH helmet and NV mount, Light Interference filter and Infrared beacon. The package is on sale for $300 off and includes an upgrade to the DBAL-I2 Infrared laser ($150 value) at no extra charge.

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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.

The Disgruntled Man Epidemic and More Destructive Effects of Feminism, by J

“We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”1 (C.S. Lewis)

Postmodernism willingly allowed for and encouraged the feminist hate we witness spewed nearly everywhere today. There is no censuring the hate, only censuring of objective truth. There is no censuring immorality, only the censuring of natural law.

Building on the topic of my previous submissions (Seven Survival Tips for the Modern Feminist and Seven Survival Tips For the Modern Feminist- Take II), I would like to back track and clarify the dire picture we find ourselves in today (as a culture) thanks to the influences of modern day feminism. In this article, I will outline the seven most destructive effects of feminism today and propose a solution for each, hoping only for one hard-line feminist to read this and ponder the option of courageously walking away from one of the biggest deceptions of our time. I will also offer encouragement to the men out there who are married to feminists.

This topic definitely relates to the survivability of our species, because if we continue down this road of extreme feminism without a serious morality check and the “glass ceiling” is finally shattered for good, we will most likely morph into a cannibalistic Black Widow or Praying-Mantis society, rapidly leaving all reason behind forever.

7 Most Destructive Effects of Feminism

  1. Murder – Abortion
  2. Broken Families – DHS and family court’s gift to mankind
  3. Discouraged and Disgruntled Man Epidemic – Need I say more?
  4. Butchered Anatomy – Breast implants, liposuction, big-pharma miracle pills
  5. Glorified Immorality – Pornography, warped sexuality
  6. Justified Tyranny – Social Justice Warriors
  7. Silenced Populace – Fearful leaders who lack courage, conviction, or morals

Proposed Solutions

  1. Stop Murdering and Hold Those Who Profit From Abortion Accountable

    As mentioned in previous articles on feminism, the most important solution and the most crucial one is to halt the proliferation and business of murdering the unborn. Feminists, especially the hard-core ones, will argue until they are blue in the face that this is only about the rights of women. Hello! What about the rights of the child? Some will go so far as to justify murder, up to the moment of birth, because after all, they say “it” is not a baby until officially separated from the mother. “Murder is okay” they argue, as long as the “fetus” is still in the womb. Once the “fetus” is out of the womb, now that presents a more difficult problem for the feminist. However, no worries, this thing called a baby can still be efficiently “dealt with”. Simply leave the child on the operating table or in a garbage can in a closet to gasp its remaining life force breaths and sometimes even cry out in excruciating pain, dying a slow, sterile, cruel death alone. Voila! Problem solved. I hate sarcasm, but I am learning that some things are better said in a cruel, hard tone rather than a politically correct, respectful tone. Bottom line: the act of systematic murder and, maybe worse, justifying murder is the root of the extreme hatred in our society and should be viewed as pure evil!

  2. Defund DHS and Restore Those Who Have Been Raped By the Court System

    Yes, there are completely worthless parents who intentionally hurt their children, which ends up producing a cycle of self-destruction in the family unit. Yes, these malicious acts need to be brought out into the light and those who hurt others must be held accountable. Yes, there are those who abuse and neglect children. However, that does not mean that we need to assume this about the majority of society. The level of trust between strangers and even neighbors has been decimated in our culture. Everyone is suspicious of everyone. We now live in a country of big people who actually receive a sense of satisfaction when tattle-telling on others. What a sick society this is!

    There exists no sanity in harassing, hunting down, falsely accusing, and crushing the spirit of the innocent in order to maintain a broken-unethical system of profit (which is becoming more apparent in the DHS system). It is common knowledge now that DHS makes a profit on the illegal kidnapping of children from their legal guardians, relocating these traumatized children into often less than safe conditions (foster homes for profit). Basically, there are some who chase the commission not justice and restoration. Statistics show that children placed in foster care are more likely to be abused, raped, or at the very least emotionally damaged (http://liftingtheveil.org/). A child belongs with his parents, and this is good policy. Sometimes the church, family, and friends need to step up, but there is no excuse for the criminal acts going on in this system right now.

    Yes, there is the exception, but the exception should not be the rule. What is most disheartening is the false-accusation case. For example, when a neighbor, grocery store clerk, dentist, or teacher alerts the “authorities” with their “anonymous” tip that someone appears to neglect their child, what happens if the accusation is completely inaccurate? Why is this going on in the first place? For one, society has been offered authoritative parenting advice from the super feminist Janet Napolitano; so, to be good patriotic citizens, people follow her orders. After all, “If you see something, say something!” False accusations, illegal home-visits/raids, and the illegal kidnapping of children can end up utterly destroying a family. No matter what anyone says, a parent never recovers their reputation after a false accusation! Restoration and justice must return to this system.

    There is an agenda here, and it lies with the main objective to break up the family unit. What is most sick about these organizations is that they are actually making a profit off of these children. This is abhorrent!

  3. Repent, Ask For Forgiveness, Change Your Ways, and Move On

    This is concerning the accused feminist and injured party– the disgruntled man. Enough said!

  4. Restore Natural Health

    Although this was mentioned in my previous article, “Stop Taking Pharmaceuticals To Alter Your Mood or Hormones”, it is certainly worth repeating. You are what you eat and ultimately what you medicate yourself with. If you are hooked on SSRIs or other pharmaceuticals to function, consider what life would look like if you decided to get a second opinion from someone who wasn’t in the profit-making business with big pharma. This may end up ultimately saving your life.

  5. Call Evil What It Is

    Stop lying to ourselves and our children. We need to be honest about what is right and wrong before wrong becomes the new right and there is absolutely no acknowledgement that evil exists at all. We should heed the warning about educating our children from C.S. Lewis, in one of his greatest works, The Abolition of Man:

    For every one pupil who needs to be guarded from a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes.2

  6. Restore Natural Law

    Women are beautiful and strong in their own way. Men and women are different, but when a society encourages and applauds a man for taking on the traits of a woman and vice versa, something is deeply wrong in our nature. A man is a man, and he deserves the right to be just that. We are not corporations and should not be treated as such. We are living human beings with souls. We have a Creator. We do not answer to an algorithm and should not, ever! Humans should never be beholden to technology or an ingenious business plan. Humans have unalienable rights that will never be taken away, no matter how much evil is thrown into the system to distort, confuse, and distract those who do not comprehend truth. Eternally, we will never answer to man, because man is fallible and weak. Ultimately, when the system breaks down, man becomes evil. The jurisdiction of God transcends all governments, court systems, or fancy badges. This is about professing an eternal truth that may come at a great cost, even the loss of life. It is, however, the only truth worth standing for. We can “eat and drink and be merry”,3 but in the end we can’t take any of it with us. So, it is more important to look beyond the grave than to trick ourselves into thinking we will never die. No matter how hard you try to stay alive, extend your life, or enhance your fleshly body, you are 100% guaranteed to die. Even if you download your brain into the latest software, thinking your consciousness will live on forever, you still haven’t dealt with the fact that you have a soul. The soul is not completely understood by man, so why gamble with a high-tech company promising everlasting life? Restoring natural law is the only way to restore truth, peace, and goodwill between men. Evil will always exist and people will always die, but natural law and objective truth is an eternal concept, not a chapter in your philosophy 101 book.

  7. Those Who Wield Their Power To Censure and Abuse Will Be Held Accountable

    This is simply a suggestion coming from an average person without a political science degree on how the system might be able to clean house of the hate-filled feminists who refuse to relinquish their power. Lacking a brilliantly gifted mind for strategy and leadership, I am left to speculate and strategize based mainly on the common sense and street smarts I was raised on. So, without any more small talk, this is my “big idea”:

    1. Restore the office of Sherriff to enforce the old law
    2. Send out the warning to those who are guilty of oppression, abuse, and deception:

      Massive notice posted officially on as many information sources as possible (street, newspaper, radio, TV, Internet, government buildings). These are the people in our society who have destroyed families, been promoted, and protected despite breaking the law, participated in murder, deception, and ultimately the manipulation of truth. You know exactly who they are nationally. Moreover, you know who they are in your own community. Those who post the notice can make it as formal as they’d like– legal documents are nice, but if the legal system is a complete joke and the judge you are submitting the notice to will be on the list, perhaps this is not the most efficient approach. This is only the beginning of a process to hold people accountable and bring reason back to our society where a man deals directly with a man, face to face, without the distraction of a corporate system to profit between the two. This is a process to serve the long-overdue–just due directly to those who think they are above the law.

    3. Give the criminals a grace-period:

      “Turn yourselves in to the Sherriff and leave the country permanently within si months or face the law of the land in common law courts where there will be a legitimate jury of your peers.” Providing this option is the merciful thing to do.

    4. Restore leadership via the lowest local election possible county-wide:

      Effective immediately, all government officials are relieved of their position. Start from scratch and fill vacancies in essential community agencies (water and transportation). Of course, this only applies to government employees. An entirely different approach would have to be considered in order to address the hate-filled feminists in private corporations, obviously guilty of cruelty and abuse without accountability.

    5. Enact these changes peacefully, orderly, and mercifully.

      This is the most important one!

Encouragement for Men Married to Feminists

I have mentioned this before as well, and I apologize that I can’t relate to how you must be feeling or how discouraged you may be. To endure such a hardship is no small feat. You need to be commended for maintaining your marriage and for not giving up, despite the difficulty of being married to someone who refuses to acknowledge objective truth. You are not alone! That is a fact. There are thousands, maybe millions, of men right now who are silently (some not so silently) suffering abuse and neglect as a result of feminist hatred. I can only hope and pray that your situation will change soon. Don’t give up, and remember that prayer and perseverance is your most powerful ally in this fight.

“It is the magician’s bargain: give up our soul, get power in return.” 4

Letter: IR Floodlights

HJL,

I recently had my vehicle broken into in the wee hours of the morning. While we had video surveillance running and though it did indeed capture the image of the perp, I was entirely unsatisfied with it. The camera has built-in IR illumination, but it is only good for about 20 feet. The driveway camera is almost 100 feet from where the break-in occurred and the only reason it got a clear picture is because the dome light in the vehicle turned on illuminating the thief. The camera was unable to see his approach. A quick search of Amazon revealed just what I needed. The CMVision IR130 is a 198 IR LED floodlight that only draws 36 watts when turned on, yet it appears on camera as though I turned on a 300 watt flood lamp. (The blacked out areas are for OPSEC and are not present in the actual video feed.)

before

I believe the manufacturer is being optimistic when he states the lamp is good out to 400 feet, but it handles the driveway quite nice. In this photo, I have it aimed a bit too low, but by raising it just a bit, I am able to illuminate all the way to the property line (about 250 ft). To the naked eye, the floodlight only glows dim red as you would expect from the IR illumination. At 36 watts, this is feasible even for those who are completely off-grid. The light does have a photo sensor in it and does turn itself off and on in the twilight hours. The overlap with the camera’s IR filter is good, as the lamp turns on before the camera flips to IR and turns off well after the camera flips back out of IR mode.

after

I highly recommend a separate flood lamp for video surveillance, due to the much higher quality and intensity of light that you get. However, there are a few issues with this setup:

  1. If you use NV gear, you will need to use the pinhole cover when operating around this lamp. While you can’t see it with your own eye, it’s like a 300W lamp to the NV gear. You might also want to install these floods on a remote power switch so you can turn them off if need be.
  2. Make sure you get an IR light that is in the same IR spectrum that your cameras use. There are two main wavelengths used and getting the wrong one will make it seem like the lamp just doesn’t work. Check your camera specs for the wavelength that you need.
  3. Get some spares. The case it comes in is nice, but the firmware is cheap, and it certainly won’t survive an EMP event. It is inexpensive enough that you should be able to have a couple of spares tucked away. – R2

Economics and Investing:

The Real Reason To Invest In Silver… It’s The Fundamentals

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Video: The Shocking Rail Data That Screams Recession Is HERE – Sent in by P.M.e

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Fed Statement Could Offer Clues Toward June Rate Decision (Note: You’ll need to sign in or subscribe to read this one.)

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Yellen Scope for Summer Rate Hike Widens as ECB Signals Hold – Excerpt: “Investors see zero probability the Federal Open Market Committee will hike at its April 26-27 meeting and only about 20 percent chance of a move at its gathering in June, eight days before Britain holds a referendum on whether to remain in the European Union.”

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Apple Inc. (AAPL) Shocks The Financial World – Excerpt: “…revenue for the first quarter had fallen 7.4 billion dollars compared to the same quarter last year. That is an astounding plunge, and it represents the very first year-over-year quarterly sales decline that Apple has experienced since 2003.”

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

Odds ‘n Sods:

From the desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large:

Despite what you’ve heard about the fearsome IS fighters in sweeping victories, this video footage obtained by VICE News shows that they are often in disarray.

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Cartels Help Terrorists in Mexico Get to U.S. to Explore Targets; ISIS Militant Shaykh Mahmood Omar Khabir Among Them – Sent in by B.B.

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Fridges go off as Venezuela power-rationing hits – It was only a matter of time before this started. Are your preps ready for that here? Can you do without your fridge (or freezer)? – L.G.

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Reader T.P. sent in a link to an excerpt of a documentary on drones surviving nuclear blasts. Jump to the 2:55 point and watch the horizontal stabilizer get hit by the atomic bomb’s shockwave. Lockheed built a VERY STRONG airplane. Also, please note, the vintage vacuum tube avionics and drone servo controls all remained working – at point blank range in a live nuclear blast – enough to allow the return of the unmanned F-80s back to attempt landings. EMP damage? Not enough to down these remotely piloted jets. No I-chips, no solid state = minimal EMP damage. Got tubes?

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More than 700,000 boycott Target over transgender bathroom policy – Despite what the vocal minority wants you to believe, the overwhelming majority don’t agree with the policy that allows perverts in the bathroom with your daughter. – DSV

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North Korea’s Nuclear Missile Threat: Very Bad News – Sent in from P.M.