Frederic Bastiat’s The Law – Part 5

…were so wise, so moral, and so perfect, now have no tendencies whatever; or if they have any, they are tendencies that lead downward into degradation. The Socialist Concept of Liberty But ought not the people be given a little liberty? But Mr. Considerant has assured us that liberty leads inevitably to monopoly! We understand that liberty means competition. But according to Mr. Louis Blanc, competition is a system that ruins the businessmen and exterminates the people. It is for this reason that free people are ruined and exterminated in proportion to their degree of freedom. (Possibly Mr. Louis Blanc should observe the results of competition in, for example, Switzerland, Holland, England, and the United States.) Mr. Louis Blanc also tells us that competition leads to monopoly. And by the same reasoning, he thus informs us that low prices lead to high prices; that competition drives production to destructive activity;…




Letter Re: Buy It Wholesale–Free Food Now and Free Food Later

Mr. Rawles Thanks for posting the article “Buy It Wholesale–Free Food Now and Free Food Later”. It has given me much to think about. It also introduced me to Restaurant Depot. I discovered that they had a store an hour drive from me. Their on-line sale flyer showed that they had boneless skinless chicken thighs for just $0.85 per pound in a 40 pound carton. I can report that 40 pounds of chicken make 18 quarts of canned chicken. I canned it mostly in pint jars since there are just two of us. This is far less expensive than commercially canned chicken. Everything the author said about the place is true. They have an amazing selection. I am sure we will make them one of our regular suppliers. Thanks, – R.A….




Cows and Chickens and Goats, Oh My!, by Elli O.

…which we have had experiences: Horses , Cows, Chickens – Layers, Chickens – Meat, Goose, Ducks, Rabbits (meat), Sheep, Goats – Dairy. HORSES We started with horses. Yep, hay burners. (For those of you who have never had these gentle giants on your property, they are called “Hay Burners” because unless you are using them for transportation, plowing, or enjoyment, then they really don’t do much except eat hay and poop.) Although we hadn’t thought about having equine on the farm, my daughter had been praying for a free horse for several years and God heard and answered her prayers. Not only did she get a free horse, but it came with free feed and free tack and a free saddle. Who were we to turn down all that free stuff? For those who have or have had horses, you know that as soon as you get a free horse,…




Garden Bed Weed Management, by Southern Trapper

…Putting the no-till garden together All three techniques are suitable for gardening in an austere environment, and particular application will depend on your available resources and context. For improving existing beds, sheet composting in the offseason or solarization followed by mulching with compost are very effective techniques. If sheet composting, I would still recommend periodic solarization after the organic matter has completely broken down to reduce the weed bed. If converting sod into productive land, I would suggest mowing the grass as short as you can and then using occultation to kill at least the visible grass. Next, use sheet composting for at least the first season to improve and aerate the soil. After a bed has been established, plant cover crops followed by seasonal solarization and mulching with compost. References Masabni, J.G and Franco, J.G. (2017). Soil solarization. Smith, G., Birthisel, S., Gallandt, E. (2017). Comparing solarization and occultation….




The Gunfighter’s Guide: Lessons Learned the Hard Way- Part 3, by The Grumpy Gunfighter

…Millimeter, Common, Inexpensive, and Accurate at Distances The 9 millimeter is common, inexpensive, and can kill at distances farther than you can accurately shoot it. New brands have made this round shoot farther and faster than it originally could, making it great for close quarters engagements. Agencies like the FBI have transitioned back to 9mm from the .40, because they can carry more ammunition and have greater accuracy on follow up shots. Best Gun For a Gunfight Ultimately, the gun that you can shoot the fastest and most accurately is most likely the best gun to have in a gunfight. For example, I would rather have a $500 gun that I have put 10,000 rounds through rather than a $3000 larger caliber gun that I have only put 100 rounds through. This is because I know I am going to be more comfortable and more proficient with a gun that…




Frederic Bastiat’s The Law – Part 6

Dan in MT I wish this was required reading in all High Schools, with discussions afterwards. I doubt many would really understand it, but it would be a start. Technology changes, but the thoughts and actions of Man don’t. PS. on a different note, I watched a movie about the aftermath of an EMP attack, it was pretty good for a Hollywood movie, not too many technical errors. EMP 333 days https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8521500/ somewhere in rocky mountains If we had followed the wisdom of Bastiat, we would have no public education to fall under the control of the very people he rails against. A little late for that. I suggest teaching the principles of this book wherever anyone will listen, including children. Independent thinking is the best we can hope for. Bastiat was a real revolutionary….. Not So Free I mentioned links were available a few days ago to the entire…




Letter: Clarifications on N95 Masks

…anticipating panic buying, and then offer them on their site for twice the price. “Panic now and beat the rush.” (Rawles) Seen it happen. Maybe you’ll need one this time, or perhaps it will be next time. Get the mask first, then do not delay, get the suit , ASAP. This is a Czech M10. The filter is installed on the inside of the mask. It is easier to maneuver with, but if the filters are clogged, the mask has to come off. However, if used for only short period of time and in a clean environment, it will be fine, and the replacement filters are inexpensive. Here is an example: Czech gas mask filters, new $3.99 https://www.joesarmynavyonline.com/New-Czech-M10-M10M-Gas-Mask-Filter-p/145452.htm Czech gas mask, $29.95: https://majorsurplus.com/czech-m10-gas-mask-with-filter.html You Tube review and test using pepper spray: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb6s5-nYOEg Modern respirator is may not be rated for biologicals, but is far better than a N95 mask.: https://www.amazon.com/PD-101-Full-Face-N95-Respirator/dp/B07HMKKLPV/ref=sr_1_18?crid=2RMTURG52TQLK&keywords=n95+respirator+mask&qid=1580282187&sprefix=n95%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-18…




Guest Post: The Tripwire, by D. van Oort & J.F.A. Davidson

…control. No society has ever tried living under the concept of true liberty and I’m sure it will never happen before our species goes extinct. The masses want the illusion of safety, not freedom, and the PTB want to control the masses. One of the things that facilitates that desire is the fact that most people are easily led to believe all the bogus concepts of what freedom really means. Americans (and Canadians) have never been free, just more free than a lot of other people elsewhere. But there’s an enormous difference between “more free” and “freedom.” Don Williams Morris also drew a line on how far hospitality to foreigners should extend: ” The lesson we are taught is that we should be governed as much by our reason, and as little by our feelings as possible. What is the language of Reason on this subject? That we should not…




Composting Your Black Gold – Part 1, by Hobbit Farmer

Composting: Microbes, Black Gold, and Growing the Best Food A search of the SurvivalBlog archives will uncover pages and pages of articles mentioning compost and its value in gardening. However, if there was a startup composting guide I missed it. If you are an experienced composter hopefully you can still learn from this article, but everything here will be geared toward someone just starting out. Be warned I don’t use a sophisticated “fast” method. I work with God’s design, and let the microbes do the work. Well-balanced compost takes time–8-to-12 months with this method. This means you need to start a pile now, in order to have it when you need it to grow food. I’ve been running a variety of composting experiments over the past five years and am very happy with my results. Here is what we are going to cover: Nature’s Fertilizer: What compost is, how compost…




The Internet Gulag: Demonetization, Demonization, and Deletion

…drive these sites out of business by cutting them off from their revenue stream. Meanwhile, Google is deliberately “de-listing” conservative sites from showing up on the first page of results in Google searches. Going far beyond just a deniable search engine “algorithm glitch”, Google has been caught hiring outside contracting firms to manipulate data, deliberately assigning “low to medium” or “poor to low” reliability to numerous news outlets including InfoWars and Natural News. They have done the same to whistleblowing sites like Wikileaks. By pushing down their search engine relevance, Google is marginalizing these sites. Google’s goal is clear: They want to remove these sites from the public eye. Search Engine Shenanigans Google was also caught red-handed during the 2016 presidential election cycle in manipulating the “auto fill” feature of their search engine window in completing search phrases that involved the name Hillary Clinton. This was well documented by Fortune…




Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 5, by T.R.

…3-4 days. This was not a perfect simulation of a crisis, but we did test the elements we intended to test whilst also having our annual vacation. I used a small Goal Zero solar charger for my cell phone to take pictures of Elk, Bear, Bison, and birds of prey. I would fire up the cell phone and text our kids that we were fine every Friday (or Saturday if we were not in cell range); this was a test not a war game so no sense being silly about failure to communicate. I did not download emails or send outbound mail other than those family Friday relays for safety reasons and courtesy. We came home in better shape from the hiking. When we returned home, we reviewed each item that we had not used and put them into a pile. We then compared those items to the “close but…




How To Use a Baofeng UV-5R, by Tunnel Rabbit

…and CW. The side keypad has 4 arrow keys presented as a single rocker. 1000 Alpha memories in 20 banks are supplied. The scan-search rate is 37 steps/second. Bandwidths are: FM-W 150 kHz, FM-N/AM-W 12 kHz, AM/FM-S 9 kHz and AM-N/SSB 3 kHz (-6 dB). Tunnel Rabbit Hi Manimal, Would love to have some links. Sounds like a good build. Standard over the head headsets are far more desirable than the provided Baofeng ear pieces. The security team should have the best headsets that will stay on, and not fall apart. manimal here is everything in my setup: lapel mic: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N5LJ0YR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 coiled audio cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0742CWDN8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Impact shootin muffs: https://www.amazon.com/Howard-Leight-Honeywell-Amplification-Electronic/dp/B001T7QJ9O/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2T98PWI3ARGFB&keywords=impact+ear+protection+for+shooting&qid=1570298472&sprefix=impact+ear%2Caps%2C343&sr=8-4 extended battery pack: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QXT5Z2R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 folding antenna: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QXT5Z2R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 manimal corrent link for folding antenna: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QTZ5W49/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Fitzy in Pa Tunnel Rabbit thanks for the good article! yeah- if you haven’t taken the ham test – go out to hamexam.org (take the free prep…




Abandoning Home, by Francis

…going to suggest an alternate path completely. Shelter in place! I know that in the “survival community” it doesn’t have as good of odds for survival, but in some cases it is the best/only real choice, at least until the first wave of “whatever” has passed. Start looking at ways you can “harden” your present location. Look at the garage as a bunkhouse for the family to come to, rather than a place to keep the trailer. This will also let all the family come to your location as they finally realize that “it’s time” rather than the fights and arguments you will have trying to convince them that it’s actually time to “bug out.” If you haven’t already made the move to your secure location, ( heck, you don’t even have a guaranteed secure location) then it may be to late. Plan to work with what you have right…




Letter: Preparing for SHTF

…The only cost will be the lumber and if you can find a free pallet or salvage lumber you can avoid that. patientmomma Learn to use the system which you have paid into for years. If illegal aliens and refugees can get $65,000 in free aid each year, so can you. Almost every state has free stuff for disabled, poor, or unemployed. Get to your local library and check books out for free; some counties have free delivery service for books to your door. Call your local church and county extension and find out where the free food banks are and when the pickup days/times are. Contact the local Habitat for Humanity and see what programs are available and if you can be put on a list to receive help. Every state has a free or low cost medical assistance program. Visit your local Social Security office and find out…




Constructing and Finding Hiding Places, By Eli in The Southwest

…plumbing, and these make excellent spots also. In the garage, make things look boring. No one goes through a bin of old newspapers. Or looks in the bottom of a bucket of rusty bolts.  Or looks under the salt pellets in a water softener. Or looks under the wooden shelves you built to see the double plywood layer with storage space between.  Or dumps out the 5 gallon bucket of off color paint on clearance at home depot to find the Nalgene bottle in the bottom of it. Most commercial metal shelves have a lip on the bottom front, and you can store things under them. One last thing is your safe. I assume you have one, it is bolted down, and kept locked. Better yet, you have a cheap throw down safe in your closet and the real one in a hidden room.  What about storing stuff under the…