Odds ‘n Sods:

Meet the coyote packs roaming downtown CHICAGO: Predators have adapted to city life so well more than 2,000 now call the Windy City home. – RBS

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FAA drone rules would ban farm use and delivery services, report says . – RBS

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The US Is Stockpiling Ebola Survivors’ Plasma to Treat Future Patients. – G.P.

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Wolf travels hundreds of miles from the Northern Rockies to Arizona in the first sighting at the Grand Canyon since 1940

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CT Report Lays Groundwork for Nationwide Psychiatric Surveillance . – D.S.

Notes for Monday – November 24, 2014

JWR’s License Plate Collection

I have started collecting license plates from the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. My goal is to collect pairs of modern (recent issue) plates from all 50 states (or single plates from “one plate states like Florida and New Mexico.) I’m also interested in getting unusual plates, such as trailer plates, “Permanent” plates, and truck plates. And I also collect novelty front license plates that show state flags, branches of military service, and so forth.

For your privacy and mine, please DO NOT send me any e-mail mentioning particular plate numbers. Also, put my address in both the “To” and “From” address blocks on the package. (Since Uncle Sam now scans and archives the exterior of all mailed envelopes.)

If you have any plates that you can spare, just throw them in a flat rate box or a padded envelope, and mail them to:

Jim & Family
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

Many Thanks! – JWR

Guest Post: Self-Directing Your Retirement ~ Sheltering the Fruits of Your Labor, by Will Lehr

As we prepare our lives for the unknown, the various categories needing attention are overwhelming.  Many start with the obvious: water, food, security, defense, and self-reliance.  Once we secure our basic survival needs we almost all come to the same next dilemma: money.  How do we shelter the fruits of our labor from the coming storm?  

Retirement accounts are among the largest asset for the average American.  Many people have five and six figure sums of money in these accounts.  Whether you’re concerned about a currency collapse, government theft, or complete societal breakdown, finding a good home for these assets could be life changing on the other side.  

For the self-reliant individual, a self-directed IRA is the perfect fit.  This strategy allows the individual to take control of the account investments, stretching far beyond the typical basket of mutual funds.  Self-directed accounts are designed for investing in precious metals, real estate, and much more.  With one unique type of account, an LLC IRA, you can take home delivery of gold, silver, or platinum eagle coins purchased entirely by your IRA. The below guide can help you determine your options.

Step 1: Consider you goals and eligibility.  What account type do you have to rollover and/or are you able to start?  

Retirement Account Types:

  • An individual IRA (aka traditional IRA) is a tax-deferred savings account.  This account is funded each year with pre-tax dollars, meaning the contribution is typically deducted from the individual’s taxable income for that year.  The account grows (ideally) with taxes 100% deferred.  Once the individual starts taking optional distributions at age 59.5, or forced at age 70.5, he or she claims the distribution as taxable income for that year.
  • An employer- or organizational-sponsored plan has many names, including 401k, 403b, 457, governmental, thrift savings plan (TSP), defined benefit plan, and more.  These plans essentially function like a traditional IRA from a tax perspective.  The individual pays in pretax dollars, often matched by an employer, and is subject to the same back-end distribution regulations. 
  • A ROTH IRA is setup and funded by an individual; however, some employer/group plans can have ROTH accounts.  A ROTH is unique in that it is funded with after-tax dollars, meaning the individual does not deduct the contribution from that year’s income taxes.  He or she pays income taxes on the dollars earned and then contributes to the ROTH.  The benefit of this account type is that the distributions at retirement age are 100% tax-free. No income tax is claimed from the distribution.
  • A SEP IRA and a Simple IRA are accounts used by the self-employed.  These allow for substantial contributions, up to 18.6% of profit in some cases, giving higher income business owners the ability to reduce their present tax burden.

All of the above mentioned accounts, except 401k type plans, are eligible to be setup or rolled over to a self-directed plan, like the LLC IRA.  Only about 16% of employer-sponsored plans (401ks) allow for in-service withdrawals, whereby you rollover your balance while still employed.  A simple question to your administrator or HR person will clarify your eligibility.

Step 2: What are your desired investments?

Traditional retirement account investment options are limited.  These limits are placed by the administrator that holds the account.  Options typically include a myriad of mutual funds, individual stocks, and bonds.  Granted, you can get a wide range of asset class exposure from currencies to commodities but all within the stock, bond, and futures markets.  What if you want to own tangible, physical assets with your retirement account?

Non-traditional administrators allow for alternative investments inside of retirement accounts.  In fact, they are built for them.  There is an entire industry that brings these investments to market.  Some investment options include real estate, physical precious metals, private equity, energy leases, and loans.

Step 3:  Pick your platform and move your account to an administrator that allows alternative investments.

  • Real estate. If an investment into property is suitable for your goals, the options are numerous:  bug out property, farmland, income-producing property, dwellings, land, you name it.  The caveat here is that neither you nor any other prohibited parties can use, benefit from, or add value to the property. In other words, you cannot stay at the property or else it would be a taxable distribution.  You should also not provide sweat equity.  You can hire someone to paint the house, but you cannot do it yourself.  The purpose here is to own the asset with tax-deferred retirement dollars, and then you can use the property later in life.

    There are a few ways to purchase property with an IRA. An account designed for real estate investment can be setup directly through any number of self-directed administrators and is fairly inexpensive, typically $200 to setup and $150 per year. However, these accounts have their limitations in that each transaction must be approved. An LLC IRA is a preferred method used to purchase real estate, as it offers more freedom and flexibility for the individual.

  • Precious metals. A traditional gold or silver IRA (PM IRA) is one way for an individual to invest in physical precious metals with a retirement account.  These are cost-effective platforms and a good option for those that don’t want to bother with storing the metals themselves.

    You can setup a traditional PM IRA with a company, like Goldstar Trust or Equity Institutional.  Such an account will cost about $225-600+ to establish, and $175-500+ annually to maintain, including bullion storage.  The cost range is based on account size.  Although somewhat cost effective, many see a risk in having a third party hold their precious metals.  

    The solution to this third party storage risk is setting up an LLC IRA to invest in precious metals.  With an approved LLC IRA formation, you can take home delivery of gold, silver, or platinum eagle coins, purchased entirely by your IRA.  This is not a taxable distribution; you are legally storing the exempt bullion coins on behalf of an LLC, which is owned by your IRA or like account.

  • LLC IRA. You can establish an LLC IRA with the proper attorney or company, like Perpetual Assets.  The setup cost, regardless of account size, is usually about $2,000 and $150-300 to maintain annually, depending on the state of LLC filing.  All of said expenses are allowable to be paid with retirement rollover funds.

    The complete creation and funding of the LLC IRA takes about two to four weeks.  The process can be cumbersome, as there are numerous legal drafted documents needed.  A good facilitator will do everything for you, keeping it simple.  You should only have to sign a few rounds of documents and open a bank account for your LLC IRA.

    Your retirement account is transferred from your current administrator to a self-directed IRA administrator.  Once the LLC is created and the administrator approves the investment, your funds are sent to your newly-created LLC bank account. From here you have complete checkbook control of your retirement account.  

    As the manager of your LLC IRA, you can write checks, purchase and sell assets, and store specified bullion at home.  The range of available investments is almost unlimited, except for collectibles and life insurance contracts.  Once established, the IRA account administrator acts as a silent custodian.  They do not police your investments or activities.  Thus, it is important to follow IRS-prohibited parties rules.  For example, you could provide seed money, in exchange for equity, for your neighbor’s new start-up company but not that of your child, spouse, or parent.

Whatever your choice for sheltering the fruits of your labor, be prudent. In these questionable times, responsibility falls upon the individual. Money is the stored capital of our past efforts. Protecting it helps ensure our future survival.

We celebrate these opportunities with passion. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if we can help in any way. – Will Lehr www.perpetualassets.com

Disclaimer:  This article is meant to serve as an informational guide.  I am not a CPA nor professional accountant nor attorney.  Nothing authored shall be interpreted as accounting, investment, nor legal advice from Perpetual Assets nor any of its officers, affiliates, media partners, nor employees.

Scot’s Product Review: Crimson Trace Rail Master Laser Sights

Crimson Trace is a Wilsonville, Oregon based company that sells laser sights and weapons lights. They have two basic strategies to attach them to firearms– dedicated ones that work with a particular model gun and universal ones, which will attach to the rails found on more and more of today’s firearms. The dedicated laser sights for handguns are subdivided into two variants– ones that are attached to the handgun’s grips and larger ones that attach to the front of the trigger guard.

The ones that are part of the grip offer the most compact package and can often be used with a standard holster. Some of these replace the grips on the pistol, while others work with pistols, such as the Glock that have integral grips, by clamping onto the pistol.

I’m writing about the two universal mount lasers Crimson Trace was kind enough to loan me. One, the CMR-201 Rail Master Universal Laser Sight is a red laser, while the second– the CMR-203 Rail Master Universal Green Laser Sight– is, as the name says, a green laser. Both sights can mount on Picatinny or Weaver rails, so they will work on many handguns, rifles, and shotguns. The red one goes for $115, and the green one for $220. Both are made in the United States.

The red one is smaller, perhaps the size of a box of matches, while the green one is larger, about the size of two boxes of matches stacked one on top of the other. They red one weighs less than an ounce, and the green one is less than two ounces. Both have rugged-looking polymer housings.

I was more interested in the universal rail mount lasers so I could try them on an assortment of weapons, which I couldn’t, of course, accomplish with the dedicated ones. They spent most of their time on AR-15’s but also got to visit with a Glock 19.

The dedicated lasers have an easy-to-hit switch that is generally activated by simply gripping the pistol. The rail mounts have ambidextrous paddles that work well, as long as you pay attention when installing it and put it in a good spot. It is more obvious with a pistol, but I had to tweak it some to get it right on the AR’s. When you install them on a handgun, the switch paddles can extend back and around the front of the trigger guard, making them very easy to operate them as part of the draw stroke.

I should probably back up a wee bit here and explain what a laser sight is. The basic idea is that it shines a laser at the target, and the laser can be adjusted so the bullets hit the indicated spot at a certain distance. In short, instead of using pesky sights, one simply puts the laser’s dot where one wants to hit something and then press the trigger. As with all sights, the bullet will hit somewhere else at any other than the zero distance, and it is our job to know that difference and allow for it.

The concept is simple and appealing, but in my view there are caveats. First, these things require batteries. I spent years as a photographer depending on batteries, and I learned to mistrust them deeply. All too often, they fail when most needed. The sights are obviously electronic. So, while electronics these days are very reliable, those years of taking pictures and dealing with computers have also left me apprehensive of electronics.

I have no idea if they can handle an EMP or Carrington Event, and the batteries would be hard to come by in a grid down scenario. I was unable to locate a rechargeable for the 1/3N used in the red laser, but Tenargy does make rechargeable CR2 cells, which are used in the green laser.

We are more familiar with the red lasers, but I think the green ones have a lot of advantages, particularly in daylight. Our eyes can generally see green a lot better than they can see red, and that means the green laser is really pops out better, which is what we need for a sighting system. Some subjects show the dots better than others, but I was surprised at how far I could see the green one, even on foliage. It seems to have better contrast on almost everything I tried it on. More things seemed to absorb the red light. This might be due to my individual eyesight, but I read similar comments by other shooters.

While I don’t see the need to use a laser with a red dot sight, if you do, another advantage of the green is that there won’t be any confusion between the dot in the sight and the dot projected by the laser. I tried the red one on an AR with an Aimpoint and found it very confusing. Since the laser and the red dot sight can’t be mounted in the same spot, they are pointing in different directions. The dots will, therefore, at best, only intersect once. At any other range, you will see two; it certainly confused me. There are some optical sights now that offer a selection between red and green dots, so if you really want to use a red laser with a dot sight, you could look for one of those.

While we can see the green laser better, there is a price in battery life. Crimson Trace gives the red ones four hours and the green ones two hours. Both put out the same amount of energy, so apparently green lasers consume more power. They have an auto shutoff after about five minutes, which should help save batteries at the cost of having it switch off when you would prefer that it stay on. It does start blinking to warn you to cycle the power switch before it switches off, but you have to be watching the dot to notice it. There are situations where you might have the gun in a guard position with your eyes searching your surroundings and you could miss it blink.

When thinking about the pros and cons of these devices, another consideration is the question of range. The green one was pretty easy to see at 15 yards on a bright day, while the red one peters out at about three to five yards, depending on the target. At night, the red could make it to 50 yards pretty well, while the green easily did 100 and more. In all cases, some targets are easier to spot the laser on than others. In any event, at some point, we will want to hit beyond the distance we can see the laser, particularly in daylight. While I will admit to being somewhat astonished by how far I could see the lasers, particularly the green one, I can hit with iron sight or optical sights much farther than I can see either laser.

Crimson Trace, in one of their videos argues that you need both iron sights and their lasers with the laser being the way to go for low light scenarios while the iron sights are best for bright light. They make a good case, though I would still like to see people able to use iron sights in the dark, just in case their battery goes bad at the wrong moment. I was pleased that they recognize that the laser does not solve all problems.

You also have to look for the dot and sometimes you spend energy and time finding it that you wouldn’t have expended if you just lined up the sights and took the shot. As I mentioned, I had much more success acquiring the green one. If, however, I was trying to line up a target that was against a background that didn’t show the dot, it was hard to see where it was and bring it onto the target. This was especially true along the edge of the lake we live on as the dots didn’t reflect back off of the dark water. In these cases, I had to use the sights to get the dot on the target. It is far less of a problem up close, of course, and that really is what these sights are designed for.

There are times that the lasers really help. You might be in an awkward position and simply can’t get a good sight picture. The need to use cover or concealment comes to mind as well as odd positioning. Another thought is that some of us have eyesight issues that make iron sights hard to use.

As Crimson Trace says, darkness is where the lasers show their stuff. You may not be able to see the sights, but you can see the laser dot on the target. This occurred to me when we used them while hog hunting before dawn with scoped rifles. The black reticle was not going to show up very well on the usually dark feral pigs even in good light, and it would have been even tougher in the dark, even with lights. We didn’t get a shot with them, but we played with them enough from the stand to make it clear they were useful. I have to wonder if all the playing with the laser might have scared off the hogs, but I was with a very excited just turned 10-year-old, so we were not effectively stand hunting anyway.

It occurs to me that they could help untrained shooters. Learning the discipline to use sights properly, particularly with handguns, takes time and training. You could hand someone a Glock with a laser and tell them to put the dot in the middle and pull the trigger with a good chance that they would get a hit at close range. It’s not an ideal solution, but it would be better than nothing.

I didn’t get a chance to try them in smoky or foggy circumstances. I have played with laser pointers, however, in fog and noticed that the light beam becomes visible as a pointer back to the laser. This could present a problem in some defensive scenarios. I live on a lake, and the extra moisture in the air also helped reveal the path of the laser at night. You could even see it going out through the riflescope. The green laser was generally more visible under these conditions than the red one, to my eyes, at least.

The lasers showed up vividly in a CCD-style night vision unit I borrowed.

The sights were a wee bit fussy to install on a rail and don’t have a quick release-style mount. They are held on with two screws, and if you secure the weapon in a vise it is a lot easier to get it on. I initially tried juggling. The battery cover for the red one slides open, while the green one is held on with two screws. Thankfully, you don’t have to disturb the sight to change the batteries. As mentioned above, take a bit of care locating them so you can easily operate the switch.

You will have more decisions about how to locate them on a rifle, and this might be a good time to talk about parallax. Parallax is the difference between two lines of sight. It can be a wonderful thing, as it is what allows us to have depth perception, but when shooting, it causes problems. The farther the sight line is from the line of the bore, combined with the fall of the bullet as it moves along its path, the harder it gets to keep things going where we intend them to go. When we adjust our sights, we set them so that the bullet will intersect the line of sight at some convenient distance. If we are shooting at something at a different distance, we may have to adjust our point of aim depending on the size of the target. The big problem when we introduce the laser is that we add a second sight line, so we now have extra stuff to consider before pressing the trigger. The closer we can get the laser to the original sight line, the better off we are. It is extremely helpful if we can get the laser directly above or below the bore, so we are only dealing with a vertical difference and not a horizontal one too. The red laser is centered in its case, but the green one is slightly offset to one side.

Some are going to say that this really isn’t that big an issue; truthfully, at most self-defense distances, they are right. We need, however, to be aware of the problem and the effect it can have, should we be outside those parameters. It could matter a lot on a head shot. We are more likely to encounter the problem with a rifle or shotgun than with a pistol for a couple of reasons. The sight offset on a long gun will likely be greater than on a handgun, exacerbating the problem, and we will probably use a shoulder weapon at greater distances than a hand one.

I have heard a lot of people tout the deterrent effect of the laser, and it gets some play on TV and in movies. The idea is that when the bad guy sees himself get lit up with the laser, he is going to stop what he is doing. That could well happen, if he is looking at himself at the time, but I think most of the time he will be looking at his intended victim or watching for police. I wouldn’t count on the deterrent of the laser but would welcome it if it happens.

On a long gun, like the AR, the best spot in my view is on the top of the handguard, but if you have a fixed front sight, it will probably interfere with the laser. The green one, thanks to the slight offset of the laser, may be able to get around some of the folding detachable front sights, but others will have to be removed. You could move the detachable front sight back a bit and put the laser in front, keeping in mind you need to be able to reach the switch conveniently. There are also short rails that can attach to the fixed sight tower, but then it is putting the laser switch in an awkward position.

The advantage of top mounting the laser is that the offset from the bore is in the same direction as your iron or optical sights. If you put it below the barrel, it is in the opposite direction, which compounds the number of things to think about while shooting. I would prefer mounting it on the side rather than below, but I already have lights mounted on one side with the tape switches for the lights on the other. I wound up putting one on the bottom of the one my son used with a fixed sight. The one I used went on the top rail, and I removed the front sight. If I were going to do this long term, I would work out another solution.

Adjusting the sights is pretty easy, assuming that your weapon is sighted in at the distance you want the laser set to. Find a way to set it up in a stable mount, aimed at a target at the right distance and then use the tiny included wrenches to move the dot so it matches the sights. It was easy to do with scopes, harder with red dot sights and iron sights, but still doable. You need, of course, to confirm it at the range. Crimson Trace has a video to help you along.

The size of the laser dot is about 0.5 inches at 50 feet. Crimson Trace says that if the dot gets irregular in shape, you probably need to clean the lens, and they provide tools to do it with.

Crimson Trace says the sights can handle heavy rain or being splashed, but you should not submerge them. If you do, the batteries should be removed and the unit allowed to air dry. They have a three year warranty on current products. They will send you a free set of new batteries once a year on some models but not the on the Rail Master units reviewed here or any that use the CR2 or CR 123 batteries.

Some instructors are using lasers to monitor student performance. I had hoped to try it but didn’t get a chance. The idea is that you watch the laser spot to see if students are holding steady, jerking the trigger, or poorly managing recoil. One strategy that sounds good to me is to adjust the laser so it is below the student’s sight line, so they can’t see it. This keeps them from being distracted by them or focusing too much on the sights, yet it is still useful to the instructor.

Crimson Trace has an excellent website with a lot of information on the use of laser sights. I particularly like their pages on training.

They have an instructor program, and not only do they give instructors a discount, they also make a donation to the NRA’s training endowment for each item sold to an instructor.

I am very interested in these tools, but I remain convinced that shooters need to know how to use sights and that sights should be the primary instrument in placing shots. I can, however, see situations in which a laser could be very helpful. I can see definite uses for training shooters and possibly helping people who have trouble using sights. Of the two sights, I am much more impressed with the green one, due to its greater range. Crimson Trace also makes these two sights with an integrated white light, which strikes me as a pretty useful combination. They are bulkier and heavier, of course, and have less battery life. I haven’t seen one, but if I were interested in a laser, I would want to take a good look at the light/laser combination before making the purchase. – SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor, Scot Frank Erie

Recipe of the Week: Mole’s Favorite Deeper’n’Ever Turnip’n’Tater’n’Beetroot Pie

This is an easy turnip recipe we love. It’s from The Redwall Cookbook by Brian Jacques, but I tweaked it just a little. (The Redwall series of books is geared toward upper elementary/jr. high students.) The name of it is almost as good as the recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs. potatoes, peeled and chopped (all amounts are approximate; we rarely make this exactly the same twice.)
  • ½ lb. carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 lb. turnips, peeled and chopped
  • 12 Tbsp. butter/margarine, divided
  • 1-2 cups grated cheddar cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste (we only use pepper)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Place the carrots and turnips in a pan and cover with water. Place the potatoes in another pan and cover with water. Heat on high. Boil all vegetables until soft, about 15-20 minutes.
  3. Drain the vegetables separately, return them to pans, and add half of the butter to each pan. Mash the vegetables until they are smooth and then season them with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. In an 8×12 pan, spread alternating layers of the vegetables, starting with the carrot mixture and finishing with a layer of potato. Roughen the top with a fork.
  5. Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake until the cheese is bubbling, about fifteen minutes.

Serve with a green salad.

Hope you like this, Wendy

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlogreaders? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Letter: Boy Shot in Cleveland

Hugh,

I don’t have much experience with how the police works, considering I am only a few years older than the kid in the article. However, as a person who plays airsoft, paintball, and likes guns, I am interested in the article and your opinion.

  1. I recognize the fact that the kid had taken off the orange tip on the gun, and a good rule of thumb is to leave it on (unless you like to mod weapons like me; then you can’t help it.)
  2. Did the police have any right to shoot the kid? Come on! He is 12 and wasn’t acting aggressively toward them. Guns are a fascination of the youth.

What is your perspective. NJA

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Hugh responds: It really is far too early in the investigation cycle to have a definitive opinion on this one. However, my preliminary thoughts are that this will probably be ruled a justifiable shooting. Tensions are running very high across the nation. We are being bombarded by media encouraging the racists issues and emphasizing, perhaps even magnifying, the conflict between the general populace and authorities. It doesn’t help that many police adopt a militarized attitude of “us vs them”. Cops must make split second decisions, and the emphasized tensions (no matter who is causing them) put tremendous pressure on them. While this child may not have had a “real” gun on him, the airsoft guns are VERY realistic, especially when modified to remove the orange tips. It would be nice to tell the police to step back and take a breather to lower the tensions, but the garbage pouring fourth out of Ferguson is enough to keep that from happening.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Ready Made Resources has announced their new, offshoot company– Sunrise Holistic Solutions: An “All Natural Health & Wellness” website, operated by the owner’s wife, Roxanne Griswold, who is also a Naturopathic Doctor & Certified Natural Health Professional. One of the many benefits of buying from them is that you can actually talk to someone who understands nutrition and can help you achieve lasting health from the inside out. It is Roxanne’s desire to help equip people with the nutritional tools to stand “ready”, whatever the crisis. The website offers all-natural products, including nutritional supplements, skin & hair products, pure essential oils, super foods, organic products, sprouts & sprouters, juicers, and more. Also, be sure the check out Ready Made Resources newly expanded website along with their upcoming Black Friday Sale.

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I just noticed that SurvivalBlog is nearing 70 million unique visits. Thanks for making the blog such a great success. Please continue to spread the word about SurvivalBlog, especially to newbie preppers who might not have heard about it. Thanks! – JWR

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Private Military Contractors Hired to Move Guns and Gold Out of Ferguson. – B.B.

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By way of the Western Rifle Shooters Association: Infection Control for Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers in the African Health Care Setting

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Homeschooling family tasered, arrested after being accused of having a ‘messy’ house. – J.H.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

File Under Hypocrisy 101: “I taught Constitutional Law for 10 years. I take the Constitution very seriously. The biggest problems that we’re facing right now have to do with George Bush trying to bring more and more power into the executive branch and not go through Congress at all. And that’s what I intend to reverse when I’m president of the United States of America.” – Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama in March, 2008

Notes for Sunday – November 23, 2014

Today, we present another entry for Round 55 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value),
  2. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be 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,
  3. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hardcase to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR type rifle to have quick change barrel which can be assembled in less then 1 minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  4. Gun Mag Warehouseis providing 30 DMPS AR-15 .223/5.56 30 Round Gray Mil Spec w/ Magpul Follower Magazines (a value of $448.95) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt. An equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions.
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any of their military surplus gear,
  7. A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $300 value),
  8. A $300 gift certificate from Freeze Dry Guy,
  9. A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo,
  10. 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,
  11. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $300 gift certificate.
  12. 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. Acorn Supplies is donating a Deluxe Food Storage Survival Kit with a retail value of $350,
  4. The Ark Instituteis donating a non-GMO, non-hybrid vegetable seed package–enough for two families of four, 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,
  5. $300 worth of ammo from Patriot Firearms and Munitions. (They also offer a 10% discount for all SurvivalBlog readers with coupon code SVB10P),
  6. A $250 gift card from Emergency Essentials,
  7. Twenty Five books, of the winners choice, of any books published by PrepperPress.com (a $270 value),
  8. TexasgiBrass.com is providing a $150 gift certificate,
  9. Organized Prepper is providing a $500 gift certificate, and
  10. RepackBoxis providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. 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,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  6. Ambra Le Roy Medical Products in North Carolina is donating a bundle of their traditional wound care and first aid supplies, with a value of $208, and
  7. APEX Gun Parts is donating a $250 purchase credit, and
  8. SurvivalBased.com is donating a $500 gift certificate to their store.
  9. Montie Gearis donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a Locking Rifle Rack. (a $379 value).

Round 55 ends on November 30th, 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 Value of Human Relationships in a Grid-Down or Survival Event, by J.C.

There is an often-overlooked type of disaster preparation, which everyone can make a regular part of their lives, that has the following characteristics:

It costs nothing, except time. It can reap benefits every week, year in and year out. It comes in really handy in a grid-down or other scarce-resource event, and it helps the prepper out in unexpected ways and pays dividends when you least expect it.

I am talking about human capital– the network of relationships we form in our community with those public servants and elected officials that may, in the future, have interactions with us during a survival situation. There are many kinds of networks that can be exploited this way. They include elected officials, public works department employees, judges, law enforcement personnel, and utility workers. Relationships with these types of people at the town, county, and state levels can prove to be very valuable in a disaster event.

Strategies to form these relationships take many forms. For example, I have made it my practice to get to know the public service workers, both major decision-makers (department heads) and also those at the worker level, in my home town, county, and even at my state level. During my occasional interactions with the various levels of government, I have made a real effort to get to know them. One way to accomplish this is to pay my property taxes in person and strike up small conversations with the clerks in the office. I’m not asking for favors, not complaining about the high rate of taxation, but I’m just making sympathetic chatter, really.

Another strategy is to visit the public works garage or depot for your area and make it clear you have a question on behalf of an elderly neighbor. Maybe it is a clogged storm drain the neighbor is concerned about or leaf bags that you are picking up for the neighbor so that they don’t have to drive over themselves. You win twice this way; you do a good turn for your neighbor AND you form a relationship with the public works guys.

Several times a year, our community conducts open houses– a “National Night Out” or other type of public event. The local police, fire, and ambulance services usually have a booth or table at the event, so I am sure to stop by, ask a question, and make a positive impression.

I attend town council meetings a few times a year and know most of our council members by first name. I also get to know the housing, fire, and health inspectors, not just in my town but in my county, too.

I belong to a business chamber of commerce organization, which employees can join, not just business owners, and I make sure to attend a mixer every few months or so. My goal is to have my name and face become “slightly familiar” to the authorities, in a positive format.

From time to time I volunteer to serve on my community’s civic boards, such as the school system’s education foundation. Who cannot respect a citizen that raises donations for the school children?

Leaving positive impressions with these people has many benefits:

First, in everyday life, events happen where a little courtesy on the part of an official smooths my way and helps make everyday chores easier. Examples include the time the fire inspector wanted me to add an additional smoke detector in the home I was selling, and he took my word that I would install it later that day instead of forcing me to get a re-inspection that costs an additional charge. Also, there was the time I got some advice from a Superior Court judge on how best to approach the prosecutor about a minor traffic violation. Another time the street sweeper made an extra pass down my block because I reported the sweeper’s omission in a positive (not snarky) way.

Another “dividend” that I accrued related to police services not normally given to the general public. When I wanted to apply for a concealed carry permit, I needed to send in a fingerprint card. Our local police do not normally perform that service, preferring to direct the public to “official vendors” that require payment, appointments, and the inconvenience of driving to an office complex on the other side of the county. In my case, I paid a visit to the clerk at our police station, who knew that I had been appointed by the mayor to serve on the town’s all-volunteer Economic Development Commission. She asked a detective to take five minutes of his time to help me, and presto, I was fingerprinted without a fee or appointment!

Second, during a disaster or SHTF event, that’s when the relationships you form may become most valuable. Consider a local or regional weather event that leads to a grid-down condition. Perhaps a hurricane or snowstorm has downed power lines. Perhaps a fire has caused the shutdown of power generating plants or substations feeding the grid. In this event, local commuhttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QTXKC4/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B001QTXKC4&linkCode=as2&tag=survivalcom-20&linkId=UBUV5DYALIUM27M3nications are likely to be severely limited or non-existent. Even if there is a television or radio broadcast from a nearby major city that you are able to hear or see (by way of your battery-powered radio or generator-powered television), there is likely to be no usable local information. Which streets are closed? What areas are affected? Are there governmental or local organizational relief efforts being staged for certain neighborhoods? The national or regional news networks and broadcasters will likely not have that information.

However, a local or county government emergency response is likely to be in place and operational to some degree. In this situation, the local officials will be more apt to have detailed information on the locations of shelters, the status of relief efforts, and so on. You are more likely to hear that information from your contacts in the government offices you have been cultivating, if you are perceived as a sober, mature community supporter. In fact, word of mouth from these officials might make the difference between you being at the food or water distribution point in the right place at the right time, or missing the relief workers and their supplies. Supplies in the earliest days of an event are usually very limited. Those who wait for radio announcements frequently arrive at the distribution points after supplies have been exhausted.

During Hurricane Sandy in 2012, I put these strategies to good use to make sure my friends and family were well-cared for and able to minimize the inconvenience from the 11 days without power in our neighborhood. I learned from a neighbor, who was a member of our town’s elected board of education, that a fire house in our neighborhood had been designated a water distribution point for citizens that had been flooded out, or lost power to operate well pumps. I was able to discover the times, protocols, and quantities of supplies available– information that was not publicized anywhere in the media that was operating. This information was not available through any media– not the national news outlets on TV, not the radio station broadcasting from the large metropolitan city 45 miles to the north, not even the “state” radio station, nor the “local” radio station broadcasting from the county seat a mere six miles from our town. I was able to contact family members and friends that needed the water with the information that made their life easier.

Similarly, when a church nearby set up a collection point for donations to assist the flood victims, the way I learned about it was from a member of a local political organization that was responsible for the elections in our county. Because it was a “private relief effort”, there was no official way the information was publicized initially.

I then used the information about the water distribution to pick up cases of bottled water that I kept in my vehicle. I am a real estate broker, and I needed to check on rental and commercial investment properties that we manage for out-of-state landlords throughout the towns affected by the storm. During the storm, and in the weeks and months following, the local police and Emergency Management personnel blocked off access to neighborhoods affected by flood waters. If I needed access to those neighborhoods for business, I usually drove up to the officers manning the roadblocks, broke the ice by offering them a bottle of water, and explained my reason for requesting passage into the area. Officers tasked with manning roadblocks for an entire shift usually run out of beverages sooner than planned. Sometimes, stores are not open nearby to go to during a break from their post.

In all cases, I was waived through the roadblock. A small courtesy and a “vaguely familiar face” smoothed the way to allow me to get my clients’ needs served during a disaster scenario. Presenting the appearance of a helpful professional frequently pays dividends. One can easily imagine this strategy paying off in a snow emergency or other natural disasters.

I am not trying to give the impression that my strategy will get you off the hook after you commit some egregious violation or cause some problem. Nor should you expect favors from the police or emergency workers that run counter to the law. Frequently, though, during times of uncertainty and stress, such as riots, disasters and such, an officer has discretion that may be of a benefit to you and your needs. In such cases, the cultivation of these relationships may make the difference between your needs being met and your request being declined. The goal of the building of these relationships should be for you to be perceived as a community asset– an “insider” if you will– and not to be perceived as a problem. If you frequent town council meetings to rail publicly against the policeman’s pay, the mayor’s perks, and the salary of the public works staff, then you can forget about any sympathetic benefit from them when the SHTF. By all means, if you feel that way, and want to do something about it, be sure to vote for the candidate that wants to cut needless public programs and slash bloated salaries. Just don’t announce how you voted at the town council meetings!

Economics and Investing:

Russia Grabs Another 18.7 Tonnes Of Gold In October From The Market

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Gold Repatriation Stunner: Dutch Central Bank Secretly Withdrew 122 Tons Of Gold From The New York Fed

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Items from Mr. Econocobas:

Peter Schiff: The Abenomics Death Spiral

If You Are A US Investor Who Is Bullish Japan, Look Away

3 Of The 10 Largest Economies In The World Have Already Fallen Into Recession – Is The U.S. Next?

Behold The Surge In Real October Earnings