Letter Re: Bug Out Boats

Hugh,

Living in a coastal city on the northeast has had me thinking of bugout boats for some time. A cabin cruiser with supplies and full tank would make for an expedient exit from a burning city.

Having a retreat to arrive at would beat trying to make it on the boat à la “waterworld”. Sadly the logistics are daunting. A year around-maintained boat is not easy in a zone 5 climate, plus a maintained retreat to arrive at and then trying to make it in your “new home”.

As mentioned in numerous survival articles, you will most likely not be welcomed unless you spend some time living in said retreat. It’s not impossible but not easy if you have to maintain a full-time job and keep your family happy. Right now they may put up with your survival plans; however, make them sacrifice some material things to fund the bug out plan and life at home could get ugly.

I don’t see pirates in the equation for sometime after SHTF, but the Somalians have proved it doesn’t take much to be successful. My plan is 12-gauge slugs aimed at the waterline and .223 aimed at the cabin area. Most light craft here are made of fiberglass, and shotgun slugs should make quick work of the hulls. Of course, you would need a hardened position on your vessel to survive a gun battle.

If you were in Miami and had a cat to sail off in, it might suit your purposes. My plan is to head north and make landfall away from the cities. In a warmer climate maybe an island, but again you have to deal with caching supplies and unfriendlies. – UG

Economics and Investing:

Wondering how “Too big to fail” came about? You need to see this graphic: The Instrument of Our Enslavement – JFJ

o o o

The War on Cash: A Country by Country Guide

o o o

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Taxpayers to IRS: Fix the Debt Yourself(Washington Examiner) Taxpayers’ donations to debt reduction are drying up. Maybe they finally realize that their contributions haven’t made so much as a dent in the debt, nor have their contributions changed the behaviors of a spendthrift government. Excerpt: “Taxpayers have been able to donate money to reduce the national debt since 1961, when Congress passed legislation allowing the practice. But in recent years, the idea has become quaint in an era of annual budget deficits in the range of several hundred billion dollars, or even more than $1 trillion under President Obama.”

Warning! Feds Now Foresee $30T in Debt (Washington Times) Excerpt: “The federal government will be flirting with $30 trillion in debt within a decade, the Congressional Budget Office reported Monday, blaming an aging population, new spending and tax cuts approved on Capitol Hill, and the growing burden from Obamacare for erasing the progress Washington had made over the past few years.” …and with this in mind, now seems like an especially appropriate time to recall the US Debt Clock.

Is Infrastructure Spending a Good Investment?(Waste Fraud and Abuse) Excerpt: “It is also a mistake to assume that it’s the role of the federal government to pay for roads and highway expansions.” Although Hillary Clinton clearly has a different view. Yes. Hillary Clinton is calling for the creation of an Infrastructure Bank (Bloomberg).

International News

Brazil’s Easy-Money Problem (Mises) Excerpt: “… we must pay attention to the fact that “the attempts to lower interest rates by credit expansion generate, it is true, a period of booming business,” which in Brazil’s case occurred mostly between 2006 and 2013. “But the prosperity thus created is only an artificial hot-house product and must inexorably lead to the slump and to the depression. People must pay heavily for the easy-money….”

Free Lunch: China Capital Flight Goes Mainstream (Financial Times) Will China proactively move toward a floating exchange rate? Or put in place ever more Draconian capital controls? We’ll see.

Europe’s Banks Still Weighed Down by a Trillion Euros in Bad Debts (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “On average, European banks have twice the level of non-performing loans as their US counterparts…”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

How I Paid Off My Student Loans Early (Market Watch) Excerpt: “After three years of paying only the minimum on my student loans, I realized I wasn’t making any progress. In fact, one loan balance had actually increased because of interest. It was time to get serious.”

3 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Use Your Emergency Fund (Dave Ramsey) Excerpt: ” So what classifies as a true budgeting emergency? It all boils down to these three simple questions…”

o o o

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

Odds ‘n Sods:

Hundreds of DHS badges, guns, cell phones lost or stolen since 2012 Exerpt: “…the phones are likely to have enough protocols in place to prevent them from being used for nefarious purposes, the badges and credentials are an entirely different matter and could allow access to sensitive areas such as cargo.” – A.L.

o o o

Do you sometimes wish you had the same data as the police, when trying to find someone? Maybe you can… An Unprecedented Threat to Privacy Vigilant Solutions, makers of the license plate recognition software, has taken roughly 2.2 billion license plate photos to date and the data is for sale. To install a GPS tracker on your car, they need a warrant, but to see years of data in this location database, they just need to spend some of your tax dollars. – P.S.

o o o

Danish teen fought off her attacker – now she’ll face fine – Using pepper spray, she was able to fend her attacker off, but she is now likely to be charged. – G.G.

o o o

The Empire Has No Clothes – JFJ

o o o

Feds installing facial recognition cameras to identify pedestrians at night and through fog – That name “Vigilant Solutions” keeps popping up again and again when it comes to finding unique ways to track you. – B.B.

o o o

Last August a sudden onslaught of customer orders fully depleted the stock of Mountain House canned food at the factory warehouse. But now–most of the canned varieties are available again to Safecastle with discounts on MH canned food of between 32% and 46%. Get it while you can.

Malheur: The 3,025 FPS Arrest Warrant

News of the recent events in Oregon deeply saddened me. According to Victoria Sharp (who was in the car that was ambushed) Lavoy Finicum was shot when he had his hands in the air. We really won’t know who to believe until video of the event is released. (There were 30+ vehicles there, so the chances are very good that a dashcam recorded what happened.) The Federal agents have apparently now upped the ante, turning what had been a peaceful dialogue into a shooting affray. It saddens me to hear that there was loss of life in the ambush-arrest of several of the Malheur protestors. I must ask: Why did the FBI roadblock them out in the middle of nowhere, where there would be no independent witnesses? (Why not just arrest them in the parking lot, just before the well-publicized public meeting?) Since when is an arrest warrant served at 3,025 feet per second?

The highway ambush was reminiscent of the ambush of tax protestor Gordon Kahl. There, Kahl and his son were ambushed by U.S. Marshals in a roadblock set up on a lonely stretch of road, as they traveled home from a public meeting. (Kahl’s story is told in the documentary film Death & Taxes.) The difference there was that Karl, a WWII veteran, shot back with a rifle and escaped. His son, Yorie Kahl, is still serving a life sentence in a Federal supermax prison, even though he never fired a shot during the ambush or in the subsequent “shoot in” that took his father’s life.)

The January 26th Highway 395 ambush leaves the remaining protestors at the Harney County Resource Center in a predicament. They probably now expect to be shot on sight. Will they hunker down, attempt to exfiltrate, or parlay for surrender? Since the FBI drew first blood, some of the protestors might now feel justified in engaging in combat. The situation could get very ugly, with more loss of life.

The new FBI “checkpoints” (read: siege/blockade) on all of the roads leading into the Harney County Resource Center are a clear attempt to isolate and possibly starve out the remaining protestors.

As I have written before, I think that the tactics chosen by Ammon Bundy and his group were unwise. However, they did have good reason to seek a redress of grievances, but it was foolish to occupy Federal property. (They should have studied the history of the Native American takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969/1970. There, the Native Americans could at least claim that Alcatraz was “abandoned” Federal property.) Something tells me that Ammon Bundy will not be given nationwide television coverage of his trial. If he is afforded even a few minutes to make a truncated John Galt speech, few people outside of the courtroom will ever hear it.

Again, I recommend that the citizenry take up the pen, not the sword, in response to the protest at the Harney County Resource Center (aka Malheur Wildlife Refuge). The Federal government must be held accountable for their unconstitutional land grab in the western states. It is time for a redress of grievances.

All that I can safely predict is that this will probably not end well.

But please pray for a peaceful ending, that justice is served, and that our Constitutional rights are restored. – JWR

Notes for Wednesday – January 27, 2016

January 27th is commemorated at International Holocaust Remembrance Day. On this day, Soviet troops liberated the remaining prisoners from Auschwitz death camp. Sadly, most of its population had been evacuated and sent on a forced death march. Only those too weak to travel had been left behind.

This is also the birthday of the late Helen Chenoweth (born, 1938, died October 2, 2006). She was a controversial Republican congresswoman from Orofino, Idaho.

o o o

We have completed the move to our new server and are now working out the small bugs. You should see several improvements including:

  • Faster, better performance.
  • The SSL implementation now gets an A+ rating instead of an F.
  • We’ve given up on the “Responsive” layout for mobile users. It seems the users want the old layout back, so the old layout is back. Sorry Google; the readership has spoken.

News From Oregon: We are waiting for more information at this time. Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan and seven others have been arrested after an altercation at a traffic stop/road block. One person is dead and one is injured.

Not much is known, but it appears that the men were asked to a meeting by locals and then stopped en route by the Feds. The altercation ensued resulting in the death of one of the militia. We will update as we get more accurate information.

o o o

Updates:

The Daily Mail – Oregon militia spokesman is shot dead as traffic stop escalates into shoot-out with the FBI that ends with leader Ammon Bundy arrested and his brother Ryan wounded

Fox News – 1 killed, 1 injured during arrest of Ammon Bundy, leader of Oregon standoff

Sipsey Street Irregulars – The Feds accommodate Ammon Bundy and give him his John Brown at Harper’s Ferry moment, and we get to make a choice.

Oath Keepers – BREAKING: Ammon Bundy Taken Into FBI Custody

MSN – One dead as FBI arrests Oregon occupation leader and others

Hillary Rodham Clinton: The Queen of Codeword Compromise–America’s #1 Unprosecuted Felon

Recent news reports on the Clinton Servergate scandal have made it clear that Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) does not deserve a term in the White House. Rather, she deserves a term in prison, a long term.

On January 19th, Fox News published an exclusively-obtained, unclassified letter written by I. Charles McCullough III, the Intelligence Community Inspector General for the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI). His letter summarized the findings of a recent comprehensive review by intelligence agencies that identified “several dozen” previously unreported classified e-mails stored on Clinton’s “secret” (yet unsecure) server that until 2013 was managed by Justin Cooper, an aide to former President Bill Clinton. According to published accounts, that server was kept in a home closet, and Cooper held no security clearance, and he had no expertise in computer security or classified document handling procedures. HRC later contracted privately with Platte River Networks, which was a continuing violation of both departmental procedures and Federal law (since their system was outside of official secure channels).

Most importantly, the “several dozen” e-mails quite obviously included intelligence products for Top Secret Special Access Programs (SAPs), also known as compartmented access intelligence and conversationally called “TS Codeword” material in intelligence circles. These intelligence gathering and analysis programs have “sources and methods” that are so sensitive that they carry the blanket proviso that any compromise to this compartmented information would cause “irreparable injury” to the security of the United States. Often erroneously referred to in the mass media as “Above Top Secret”, they are in fact collateral to Top Secret, but SCI access is very strictly guarded, and special codeword or corresponding acronym markings are used at the top and bottom of every page of these documents. In order to have Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), an individual must first have a Top Secret security clearance following a Special Background Investigation (SBI). Note that someone only gets a very expensive SBI if the intent is to give them potential access to one or more SCI programs.

It is apparent that HRC made repeated gross breaches of both national security policy and Federal law. After reading the news reports, I can only ask:

  1. Why, after all these months, has HRC not been interviewed by the FBI about this? (She recently claimed that she still hasn’t been interviewed by the FBI.)
  2. Why hasn’t she been “read off” of SCI and had her security clearance revoked? (If anyone else had done anything even remotely approaching the level of her alleged crimes, then that would have happened immediately after the investigation began (not to mention that the individual would probably have been arrested, advised of their rights, polygraphed, and confined without bail).
  3. Why wasn’t it until August of 2105 that Hillary’s secret e-mail server was finally seized by the FBI? (News of the private server was made public in March of 2015, but word of it had been circulating inside the Beltway much longer.)
  4. Why hasn’t a House or Senate Intelligence subcommittee been assigned to specifically investigate the potential damage that the “several dozen” e-mails containing SCI material could have caused or has caused, if it was somehow surreptitiously accessed? (Again, these were SCI products or summaries thereof that were stored on a non-secure server in a closet in a private home, not in a government facility, and that server was entirely outside of the DCI’s control procedure/channels. Furthermore, it was managed by a private contracted individual who had no security clearance!)
  5. It has been reported that more than 100 Federal agents (mostly from the FBI) have been assigned to this case full time, for many months. With so many people working on this for so long, and with such abundant evidence, why haven’t any formal charges been made?
  6. If what HRC did was “legal”, then why did her aide Bryan Pagliano plead the Fifth Amendment when subpoenaed to testify about what had happened? At the very minimum–even aside from the much more serious issue of SCI codeword material– Federal law prohibits “Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information”, per 18 U.S. Code § 793, paragraphs (e) and (f). That is a felony offense with a penalty of up to 10 years imprisonment. Here are the applicable paragraphs:(e) Whoever having unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, or note relating to the national defense, or information relating to the national defense which information the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation, willfully communicates, delivers, transmits or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it; or (f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer— Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
  7. The feds have a prima facie case against HRC on violating those statutes. So why hasn’t that first simple charge been made? Oh, I think I might have the answer: Such charges are up to the prosecutorial discretion of the U.S. Attorney, both for what charges are filed and when they are filed and the U.S. Attorney for United States Attorney for the District of Columbia is Obama Administration appointee Channing D. Phillips, who is Democratic party faithful. So I’m not holding my breath.
  8. Under the 1950 Federal Records Act (which was codified under 44 U.S. Code § 3106 “Unlawful removal, destruction of records”):

The head of each Federal agency shall notify the Archivist of any actual, impending, or threatened unlawful removal, defacing, alteration, or destruction of records in the custody of the agency of which he is the head that shall come to his attention, and with the assistance of the Archivist shall initiate action through the Attorney General for the recovery of records he knows or has reason to believe have been unlawfully removed from his agency, or from another Federal agency whose records have been transferred to his legal custody. In any case in which the head of the agency does not initiate an action for such recovery or other redress within a reasonable period of time after being notified of any such unlawful action, the Archivist shall request the Attorney General to initiate such an action, and shall notify the Congress when such a request has been made.

So why hasn’t the more recent head of the Department of State made that formal referral to the Attorney General? Failing to do so is a violation of Federal law!

9.) HRC and her staff failed to provide records to fulfill a Congressional Committee subpoena, which violates Federal law. Why have no charge been brough on that?

10.) HRC and her staff failed to provide records to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, which also violates Federal law. Why have no charges been brought on that?

11.) By law, immediately after assuming office as secretary of state, Clinton must have signed a Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) Nondisclosure Agreement that spells out the criminal penalties for “any unauthorized disclosure” of classified information. That legally binding NDA states:

“I have been advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling of SCI by me could cause irreparable injury to the United States or be used to advantage by a foreign nation.”

and,

“I understand that it is my responsibility to consult with appropriate management authorities in the Department … in order to ensure that I know whether information or material within my knowledge or control that I have reason to believe might be SCI.”

That “unauthorized retention, or negligent handling” wording in the NDA seems pretty clear to me! Why wasn’t it clear to HRC? It was certainly clear to Edward Snowden. So why haven’t our nation’s prosecuting attorneys pressed charges against HRC, the same way that they did Edward Snowden?

Conclusion

Here is the bottom line, folks: Back when I was an Army Intelligence Corps officer, I held a TS/SBI clearance and was “read on” to access several codeword compartments of SCI. Those codewords themselves were classified as Secret, and the act of revealing them would be a crime, just by itself. Moving those files from a secure computer inside a SCIF on a memory stick and copying them to a unsecure computer or server grossly violates the basic “air gap” rule that was constantly drilled into us: “NO, NO, NO! Thou shalt not!…”

If I had done the same things that HRC reportedly did by copying actual SCI intelligence products to her private mail server, then right now I would now be in Leavenworth prison, awaiting trial. I would be facing at least one 10 year prison sentence–and probably multiple 10 years sentences, to be served consecutively.

So why isn’t Hillary Rodham Clinton already in prison? – JWR

(Note: Permission is granted for re-posting of this entire article, but only if done so in full, with proper attribution to James Wesley, Rawles and SurvivalBlog, and only if the included links are preserved.)

Letter Re: Bug Out Boats

Good Morning Hugh,

I’ll begin a reply, but I don’t really know where it will ultimately lead.

GS’s comments this morning (1/26/16) ought to be enough to take the wind out of anyone’s sails regarding bug-it boats! Although he makes some valid points, the overall tone is so negative he’ll put folks off the idea. But if you’re not already into boating/sailboating that may be for the best. It is a learned skill set.

Some random thoughts:

  1. You don’t have to cross an ocean to ‘escape. There are many places much closer that would probably suffice. As mentioned previously, I would probably head for coastal British Columbia and the Inside Passage (to Alaska). There is a LOT of really remote territory up there, relatively friendly ‘folk for the most part, fresh water, game/fish aplenty. Resupply would be challenging but doable. Hunkering down in some isolated cove will be cold, but it might even include establishing comfortable base camps ashore.
  2. True, a boat isn’t your best fighting platform. That said, if you’re in a remote area what is the actual probability of having to fight-off the hordes? As mentioned previously, the idea of having two or three boats for mutual support could be a life saver. With a few like-minded companion boats and carefully chosen sites, defensive tactics would be much more effective, plus supplies and spare parts could be coordinated. Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork….
  3. Study the folks who lived in BC/SEAK centuries ago. Choose your bugout locale very carefully. The native/First Nation people remained along the water for a reason; they found that surviving (even thriving) was quite possible. They often had a summer camp AND a winter camp; learn why they did that.
  4. Spend the summer(s) preparing for the winter(s). There is a lot of work necessary to prepare for long winters; plan your strategy. Learn to catch/cure resources for the winter. It’ll keep you busy and be good for the soul. The good news is the summer days are long; you can even have a spectacular garden (if you have the right preps).
  5. Back to choosing a boat…. Find one you’re comfortable with that’s not too big and not too small, just right! Relatively small can be GOOD; it’s easier to maintain, heat, and anchor. Frankly, I wouldn’t want a fifty-footer (even if I could afford it!). They’re too ungainly, and it shout’s: “here’s money and good stuff”. Remember: simpler can be better, and less is often more. My choice would be a pilot house sailboat in the 28-32′ realm, with overly large tankage (mostly for fuel) and a good (non-inflatable) dinghy or kayak.

There are countless other items that could be mentioned, these are just some items off the top of my head. It’s interesting and makes me daydream of times gone by. – C.C.

Economics and Investing:

Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Peter Schiff: Clueless in Davos – While I agree with Schiff, I however don’t agree that this is just misguided policies, rather it is intention in my view. Also, not sure many foreign currencies will rise either.

Why A Former Fed Official Fears A Global Meltdown

Video: Bill Holter- This Is It, The Collapse Is Here – Bill is always interesting, and I am not deep enough into the derivatives world to know there are defaults happening, but it is worth the watch/listen.

Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Bank Mortgage Settlements Total $144B: Where Did It Go? (Contra Corner) Excerpt: “Surely after losing track of TARP funds, you’d have put some sort of mechanism in place somewhere so we could keep a better count than we did last time when we went… 1, 2, 3, 4… 9 trillion, and then it was all lost. We did better than that this time though, didn’t we. Say we did, I need to hear it.”

Too Big to Tax: Settlements are Tax Write-Offs for Banks (Newsweek) Excerpt: “At the Justice Department, senior officials like to congratulate themselves on the headline-making, big bucks settlements they have imposed upon banks and lenders for their part in causing the 2008 mortgage meltdown that sparked the biggest American financial crisis since the Great Depression. But wait a moment. Those settlement figures are not quite what they seem.”

Only the Wealthy are Building Homes and They’re Bigger Than Ever (Market Watch) Excerpt: “It isn’t that all Americans, in general, are clamoring for huge homes. Rather, it’s mainly the wealthy that are building right now, and they’re building big—skewing the overall average. Meanwhile, buyers between the ages of 25 and 34 are basically absent from the new-home market.”

Puerto Rico’s Debt Crisis Just Got Worse (CNN Money) Excerpt: “The island has even less money than everyone thought….”

International News

Smuggling Soars as Venezuela’s Economy Sinks (Reuters) Excerpt: “Driven by a deepening economic crisis, smuggling across Venezuela’s land and maritime borders – as well as illicit domestic trading – has accelerated to unprecedented levels and is transforming society.”

European Regulators Pressure Big Banks to Increase Capital (Wall Street Journal) Excerpt: “European regulators are turning up the pressure on large banks to raise more capital, as authorities globally are trying to fix a financial system still ailing from the crisis six years ago.” Note: The Wall Street Journal requires subscription access for some content.

Deutsche Bank to Cut 2015 Bonuses After Record Losses (Reuters) Excerpt: “…expects to post a record loss for the year on writedowns, litigation charges, restructuring costs and tough trading conditions….”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

Financial Planning and Your Emergency Fund: Understanding the Importance of Cash (Innovative Wealth) Excerpt: “If you want to figure out what your optimal emergency fund amount should be, here are a few steps to take…”

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:

A SurvivalBlog reader wrote in to recommend three novels by Ken Gallender: Jernigan’s War and Porter’s Run (a sequel to Jernigan’s War). Based on a collapse of society with the United States under siege from an invading army and biological warfare, they provide an excellent entertaining adventure.

o o o

Reader P.M. wrote in: “One of my all time favorite movies is ‘Ride With The Devil,’ a Civil War era film about bushwackers and jayhawkers. It is a side of the war that is seldom discussed, and never from the Southern perspective. The production values are excellent, as is the cast. It is an Ang Lee film, was set for national release until it was discovered that one of the main characters was a black man fighting for the South. Down the memory hole it went, and has survived only by word of mouth. Highly recommended!” (Editors note: Rated “R”)

o o o

I have just finished a novel that I believe your readers would enjoy very much. The book is Joshua by John Wilson, and it is about a man and small boy traveling across the U.S. after a major economic meltdown. It has been compared to Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and there is a vague similarity. I have read both and must say I enjoyed Mr. Wilson’s book much more. It certainly has a better ending! I believe that your readers that like survival type fiction will enjoy it too. – J.K.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Writing from his retirement home, the former press secretary to Democrat Governor Cecil Andrus (and biographer of the four-term governor) penned this diatribe: Serious questions about American Redoubt. This septegenarian Democrat did his best to sling mud, but he had difficulty finding a handful to toss. He sounded downright disappointed that the American Redoubt movement is anti-racist. In a fit of convoluted logic, he even implied that somehow we would be racists if the demographic situation were different. Sorry, sir, but that is not the case. (It is the statist leftists who are famous for situational ethics–not us constitutional libertarians.) In summary, all I can say is thanks to Chris Carlson, who has given the American Redoubt movement some publicity. Despite his best efforts, the Redoubt movement has a reputation for being level-headed, anti-racist, and liberty loving that remains untarnished. The extra publicity that his column generates will only serve to help the movement grow. Thanks again, Mr. Carlson. – JWR

o o o

Have you ever stopped and looked around at the political scene, remembered what it used to be like, and wondered “what happened?” Do you find it strange that today’s conservative is oftentimes more progressive/liberal than yesterday’s liberal was? All-Of-A-Sudden. Sent in by A.L.

o o o

Back on January 17th, 2016, an article ran in the Associated Press that stated that Maryland attorney general had issued an opinion that found that the governor had the authority to ration life-saving ventilators if a flu epidemic ever hit Maryland. That seemed kind of “out of the blue”. Yesterday we get word that a “flu” epidemic is sweeping the Ukraine. Up to 80 are dead and the schools are closed. You might want to make sure your preparations are in place for protections against the “flu”. – R.G.

o o o

An excellent article posted on the dangers of calling a constitutional convention: Another Constitutional Convention: An Idea Whose Time Has Not Come – A.A.

o o o

Feds not liable for truck damaged during botched drug sting. Apparently, the Feds can commandeer your truck, without your permission or knowledge, use it for a drug sting operation, and when it gets shot up and damaged they don’t have to pay for it. – T.P.

Notes for Tuesday – January 26, 2016

January 26th, 1945 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. Established in 1941, Auschwitz was composed of a group of three large and 40 smaller camps used for slave labor, unethical medical experiments, and monstrous killing grounds where prisoners were gassed and cremated. As the Soviets headed for Auschwitz, the German Gestapo began a murder spree and began destroying the facility in an attempt to hide the evidence of their crimes. When the Soviets arrived, they encountered 648 corpses and more than 7000 starving camp survivors along with storehouses filled with hundreds of thousands of dresses, suits, and shoes that the Germans did not have time to burn.

o o o

Today, we present another entry for Round 62 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 both an AquaBrick water filtration kit and a Stainless Medium Scout Kelly Kettle Complete Kit with a combined retail value of $304, 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 FloJak EarthStraw Code Red 100-foot well pump system (a $500 value), courtesy of FloJak.com,
  3. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  4. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  9. Safecastle is providing a package of 10 LifeStraws (a $200 value)

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. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Precision Rest (a $249 value), and
  9. 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 62 ends on January 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.

Perhaps The Most Overlooked Skill For TEOTWAWKI, by LDW

1

I am pretty new to SurvivalBlog, but I daily look forward to reading what’s new and how some folks are preparing for hard times and perhaps the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI). I believe in being prepared for disruptions in everyday life, both for the short term and long term. I have lived all my life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where we expect ice storms, snow drifts, and power outages that may last up to a week at a time. Folks here still raise a garden, have chickens and maybe a hog, hunt and fish, and can and preserve; most everyone has wood stoves for heating and also cooking, if need be. To many of us, it’s just our way of life and nothing special. I’m a contractor and have a small generator for the business, but I don’t generally use it at home during power outages in the winter months, unless the power is off several days. One year when our daughters were young, an ice storm took out the power for about a week. After a couple of days, the girls were really “suffering”. We had heat, kerosene lanterns, lots of canned produce from the garden as well as canned venison and fresh water for us to drink and use to flush the toilets; our refrigerated items were outside on the carport in great shape, the kids were out of school, and Mom and I were home from work for a while. I LOVED IT! However, we didn’t have electric lights, television (which they really never cared much about anyway), showers, microwaves, or the gadgets we have come to believe we can’t live without. Twenty miles away, Granny had power and the kids begged to go, so I took them. Life was good again. A few weeks later I was out in the shop when the girls came in and for the first time noticed a piece of equipment that had been there for quite some time, but they apparently hadn’t noticed it before. “Dad what is that?” my oldest asked. “Well, that’s a generator.” The look on her face was priceless; it was a mixture of anger and unbelief. “You had a generator the whole time the power was out and we didn’t use it?” It makes me laugh every time I think about it. So what was different about how Mom and I handled no power and how our girls handled it? It was just one word: contentment. We were content with our situation without power for a few days; they were not. They were not just merely discontent; they were miserable. They were not prepared mentally for a disruption in their daily routine.

Perhaps one of the most overlooked skills that will be needed if TEOTWAWKI happens will be contentment. TEOTWAWKI means the end of the world as we know it. It’s not going to be the same. I have read that folks are buying generators and storing gasoline for a grid down situation, and then they’re buying a backup generator for the backup generator along with more gas and parts so that they can continue on with the standard of living they have come accustomed to no matter how bad things get. Eventually, if the grid is down long enough, the gas will run out, the generators will break down, and you will have to find other ways to survive. I am not against having a generator; as I said, I have one myself, but can we still be content when it stops running, someone steals it, or we just run out of gas? Folks, if TEOTWAWKI happens, things may never be the same. Are we prepared mentally to do without some things, if it gets as bad as it could? If we run out of the finest in freeze-dried food, will we be able to eat what we refer to today as “road kill”? Will we be able to deal with no air conditioning, no central heat, no microwave, no cell phone, no 30-minute shower or any shower at all for that matter, no big screen TV, no fast food, or no refrigeration? The list goes on and on. Most of these things have been around less than 100 years and are not available worldwide to all people today, but most of us feel we can’t live without them.

In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul writes about contentment. Chapter 4 verses 11 and 12 say “…… for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know how both to be abased, and I know how to abound, everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”

Most of us know about abounding and being full but have yet to experience hunger, real hunger, or suffer need. We all may be in for a crash course in the future.

I referred to contentment as a skill because Paul said he had “learned…to be content.” All skills are learned and need to be practiced over and over. We too must learn how to be content so that if our standard of living is brought down because of some disaster on the horizon, we will be able to handle it. The amazing thing with Paul is that he was in a Roman prison when he wrote these words. He didn’t allow his circumstances to make him bitter or take away his joy. The Philippian epistle is referred to as the “joy” epistle by some Bible theologians. If things get as bad as they could, discontentment will be the root cause of a lot of the bad things that will happen– murders, thefts, suicides, et cetera. We already are seeing what discontentment can cause today. It’s in our schools, in our cities, and in our work places. Some folks are not content while having all of the good things in life. What would life during TEOTWAWKI be like for these folks? Contentment is not the only skill that will be needed, but contentment will compliment all of your other skills and make life enjoyable not just bearable. In the book of 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 8, Paul again in his writing says, “And having food and raiment let us therewith be content”. Paul is not advocating that we only acquire the very basics in life and then give up. In Philippians Paul said he knew how to abound or to have way more than he needed, but if one day the basics are all you have be thankful and be content with what you have for that day. Here, in the United States of America, we are some of the most blessed folks on the planet. We have been spoiled rotten, as my grandmother used to say. I know many are suffering even here in America, but even our poor are better off in many ways than most folks in third world countries where a Life Straw and a Luci Light is life changing. For many of those folks TEOTWAWKI will not be a big change. Their world can’t get much worse. So how hard will it be for us to give up some or most of the blessings that we enjoy, should TEOTWAWKI happen? Well, it’s going to be hard; it’s going to be very hard. So, we need to prepare ourselves now, at least mentally, so that when we only have the basics, we will be content. And we need to not just be content but be thankful.

I have not talked about the most important basic need that we have, which is a relationship with our Creator, Savior, and God– Jesus Christ. Honestly, we can never be content without Him. If we don’t have Christ, then the only things that we do have are the things that we are going to lose if and when disaster strikes. Everything in this life is only temporary– our homes, our possessions, and even the physical bodies that we have. Life is short. Even if we live to be 150 years old, this life is still going to come to an end, whether as a result of TEOTWAWKI or a natural disaster, cancer, or peacefully at a ripe old age in our bed. The question is: Where will we spend eternity? God made man with an eternal spirit. His intention is to have us spend eternity with Him. But many, if not most, reject Him. The alternative is an eternity separated from God in a place prepared for Satan and his angels– a placed called hell and the Lake of Fire in the Bible. Don’t neglect the most important “prep” of life. The great thing is that it is free, lasts forever, can’t be stolen or lost, and there is enough available for everyone. It’s not cheap; Jesus gave his life so that we can spend eternity with Him. John 3 verse 16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” If you are not prepared for eternity, read these verses in the book of Romans and prepare to meet your Creator and Savior and spend eternity with Him where there are no tears, no death, no sorrow, no crying, and no pain, (Revelation 21:4).

Romans 3:10-12, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 10:9

Letter Re: Bug-Out Boats

Team,

Regarding Bug-Out Boats, I can answer a couple of questions and add a bit to the discussion. You would be buying the most exotic, expensive, fragile, and defenseless retreat ever. The only benefits you have going for you is utter isolation when out in blue water and the ability to go continent to continent. No sail boat or power boat is going to survive many small arms hits below the water line, even with high-end carbon fiber hulls. They are not designed like submarines or fighting ships, where water-tight bulkheads can stop the flooding. One small hole in the bow and the stern will eventually get that water. You are, in my opinion, way better off with a multi-hull catamaran than a lead keeled monohull in any situation, because the cat will continue to float on the other hull where the monohull keel will drag the boat to the bottom. The cat will probably flip over, but that other hull will float, making a great alternative to the dingy or the life boat. Good news is that most boats carry a number of wooden dowels as standard equipment, and they are used to plug through-hull holes, so just find one that fits the bullet hole and pound it in with some RTV to seal it. The dowels are not a long-term solution in any case, but you’ll still float if your bilge pumps can keep up. More good news is that the effectiveness of any bullet, even and up to a 50 cal, is severely diminished as soon as the bullet enters the water, so you are more likely to see penetration above the water line. Now if someone shoots a belt fed weapon at you, you’re probably going to Davy Jones’ locker no matter what.

I’ll admit that a modern sailing catamaran is one of my bug out dreams, but I just don’t think it’s practical in the long term. You can order new boats or retrofit old boats with water makers (desalinization), radar, carbon fiber masts (low probability of radar reflection), freezers, gas ovens, refrigerators, large battery banks, solar/wind/hydro power generators, autopilot, chart plotters, GPS, and everything else you could think of, but you are still floating in salt water, so all of that great stuff is going to break down, wear out, need overhaul, or fail within five years or so. You need mechanics and parts and support to keep any boat sailing, and in TEOTWAWKI they’ll all be in short supply. You’ll probably get scurvy, if you don’t have a ton of vitamin C aboard. You’ll eventually run out of fishing gear, and you can’t eat just seafood indefinitely. You could stretch your limits with freeze-dried fruit, but there’s limits to that, too. Someone is going to get sick or need medical attention. A storm is going to catch you if you can’t get marine weather reports and wreak havoc on your boat eventually. Keep in mind that the more supplies you pack on board, the slower you are going to sail too. I think that the best practical application of a boat in a TEOTWAWKI situation is to try to make a very long crossing to a continent where the root cause of the bug out isn’t present. Boats like Lagoon 52s, Gunboat 55s, Sunreef 58s, and Catana 582 can all do transatlantic or transpacific crossings with the right crew, but what then? You are now strangers in a strange land who may not be welcome. I think that for the cost of any modern sail boat, let’s say $500,000 for mid-range, you’d be much better off with a retreat in the Redoubt or a house somewhere in New Zealand or other Southern Hemisphere locale. Keep in mind that wherever you decide to go is not likely to be a-okay with you bringing four AR-15s and 5000 rounds of ammo into their port, so toss those overboard before you get there. Don’t even think about trying to hide them on board, because customs will find them and then they’ll seize your boat and toss your entire crew in jail.

You’ll also need a ton of training in order to operate one. The American Sailing Association (ASA) has courses specifically designed to teach sailors how to operate vessels in various arenas. ASA 101 Basic Keel Boat Sailing can be learned in a local lake or reservoir and takes three night classes and five days on the water to complete. ASA 103 Basic Coastal Cruising will probably take you a three-day weekend sleeping aboard the boat and learning from a captain. ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising is where you really start to learn your art and it’s another 3-day weekend. With those three classes you are still not ready to attempt a transatlantic crossing.

If you’d like to take a look at all the options you have out there, then visit yachtworld.com and search for used sailing catamarans. A used, 2009, Lagoon 420 can be had for as little as $253,000, but it will need to be re-fit before you go transatlantic with it. Older boats are even less expensive, but they’ll need new engines, sails, and hull maintenance to be done before bug out worthy. Perhaps the best advice I can give you is to talk to a yacht broker and tell them exactly what you are planning on doing. They’ll coordinate an inspection of the vessel, and that will locate any short-comings of the boat you are looking at. I can recommend the folks at catamarans.com for that. Even older models can be had for $151,200, and I’d sail any one of those from Fort Lauderdale to French Polynesia or New Zealand with the right crew and preps. Keep in mind that you’ll likely have to pass through threat zones, like the Panama Canal or the Southern tip of Africa, to get there. Also, think about what Iran did to our Navy sailors a few weeks back and that was an armed reconnaissance vessel. They’ll see your sail and go right after it.

Good luck and smooth sailing. – G.S.

P.S. Zombies can’t swim, but they can climb anchor chains!