Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction lot is now at $220. The auction is for a Brunton Solarport 4.4 watt photovoltaic panel (a $140 retail value), a Deluxe Outdoor Survival Tool Kit (a $70 retail value)–both kindly donated by Ready Made Resources–as well as seven other items: A copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value), an autographed copy of my novel “Patriots” (a $23 retail value), an autographed copy of my nonfiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” (a $25 retail value), a SurvivalBlog Key Logistics Tote Bag (a $17.50 retail value), and an autographed set of Michael Z. Williamson’s “Target: Terror” modern military fiction sniper trilogy, from Avon books: The Scope of Justice, Targets of Opportunity, and Confirmed Kill. This auction ends on February 15th. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.



Letter Re: Retreat Group Recruiting and Organization

Mr. Rawles,
One subject that seems vastly under-represented in the bulk of survivalist literature is that of organizing and recruiting.
It’s fairly obvious that in a real WTSHTF scenario, a lone wolf, or small family would be in a precarious position regardless of how well armed and well prepared they may be. A group of three or four would be hard pressed to maintain any real degree of security while going about the [gardening and other self-sufficiency] work required for basic survival.

In my experience, it’s hard enough finding someone that’s even “like minded”, let alone skilled or intelligent. There’s also a tremendous element of trust involved in attempting to organize. Approaching someone to join your survival group is a fairly risky proposition, because you’ve basically advertised the fact that you’re preparing for a worst case scenario to that person, and whomever they decide to tell. There’s a further degree of trust necessary for making mutual purchases, storing equipment at a centralized location. etc. etc. I’m sure you can think of the hundred different concerns that come into play when it comes to increasing your membership.

In your excellent novel “Patriots”, the organization element of the story sort of “fell into place” with a cadre of intelligent, like-minded individuals, possessing complementary skills assembling [partly] by chance meetings. It was also convenient that none of the group members had small children, elderly dependents or chronic health conditions. Another complication which wasn’t addressed was that of group members with other “attachments”. None of the characters in the book came to the retreat with an uninvited guest, like a sibling who had experienced a miraculous change of heart upon realizing that their “survivalist nut” brother was right all along.

This is the single most frustrating element of my preparedness efforts. I know that it’s going to take more than a tiny group of people to survive a prolonged catastrophe, but all of the potential complications involved in finding new members makes it very difficult to do any recruiting. I can acquire skills and assemble materials to the best of my abilities, but in the end, there won’t be any real substitute for a few more rifle-wielding warm bodies.

Any insights, strategies or suggestions you might have for filling the void would be much appreciated. Sincerely, – LW

JWR Replies: The situation I described in my novel actually mirrored my personal circumstances at the time that I wrote the first draft, in early 1990. I had just been married three years, and my wife and I had not yet had any children. Although I consolidated things a bit to avoid having “a cast of thousands”, the majority of the characters in the novel were based on real-life friends, and “The Group” paralleled a group that I had associated with since college.

When recruiting for any retreat group, proceed with prayer.

To supplement your own extended family, try to find folks with the same religious background and representing a good mix of skills. My novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse” describes some of the specific skills that would be ideal for a group retreat–like a doctor, a mechanic, a machinist/welder, a farmer, a combat veteran, and so on. If you are already living at your intended retreat, it is probably best to recruit locally. If not, then you should probably recruit regionally looking for preparedness-minded people that have the same long-term relocation destination, or at least the willingness to be flexible about where they relocate.

As previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, I recommend three web sites (two paid, and one free) for making connections–whether you are looking to join or form a retreat group, or even for someone looking looking for a “prepper” spouse. They are:

Conservative Match (a paid matchmaking service–based on shared conservative political/social views)

Liberty Mates (a paid matchmaking service–based on shared libertarian views)

The Survivalist Groups [“Meet-up”] web page–(a free service courtesy of the folks at SurvivalistBooks.com. If you use this service, then please give SurvivalistBooks.com some business!)

Needless to say, use discretion when using these services. As a prepared individual, you have more to lose than most folks. For your safety and security, it is better to go through a long series of correspondence and to do some background and reference checking before revealing your locale and details, or meeting face to face.



Letter Re: How to Win with Asymmetric Warfare, by Robert R.

Hi JWR.
I read the responses to my article and wanted to write a reply that addresses Pathfinder’s comments, which in a nutshell said my examples with [registered] suppressors [for firearms] and night vision were dangerous and would give the wrong idea about being a “survivalist”.

Pathfinder, I appreciate your worry that some people may have an over active imagination and end up doing some bad things given the ideas for possible tactics to use in an absolute worst case scenario, or that these tactics may scare off people who are just learning about survivalist information and browsing the site. However, as you said yourself, “we do not know how severe, how long, how dangerous, or how chaotic the theoretical “hard times” can or even will be! I feel the need to prepare, but I pray that I never need to use it.”

You are totally correct. that “We do not know how severe, how long, how dangerous, or how chaotic” things will be. For all we know, a terrorist nuke could go off in Los Angeles tomorrow morning, crash the world economy, have complete breakdown of law and order, martial law, and implementation of numerous executive orders (that are already on the books) that would turn the United States into something worse than Nazi Germany within a month. So since I don’t know the future and what it may bring, what harm could it be to allow my imagination to consider the absolute worst possible scenarios and what I would need to do to survive them? Night vision and suppressors have excellent non-combative uses. It is nice to star gaze with night vision, and having suppressors lets me shoot without hearing protection on.

But if things ever really go south, I can use those things and all the clever tricks I can think of, to defeat my enemies and be a shining example of what one free American can do without the aid of a Nanny government. The greatest strength is in you, the individual citizen. With our freedoms we can arm ourselves, train ourselves, and protect ourselves and our neighbors during times of crisis. That is what America is supposed to be about, safeguarding the inherent rights and freedoms of the individual human being to allow for the greatest growth and strength of each individual. I choose to exercise my right to bear arms, of all kinds, and am proficient in their use. And should danger of any kind ever arise to threaten myself, family, friends, community, or country, then that danger will be met by what is the single best answer to all dangers–a prepared American citizen. – Robert R



Odds ‘n Sods:

Have you seen the “Tick Tick Boom” music video promo for the new season of “Jericho? I thought that the snippet of the speech from a representative of the “Allied States of America” was reminiscent of the “Mr. Clarke” character from the “Provisional Government of the United States” in my novel “Patriots”. I am really looking forward to the new season, which will premiere on February 12th. (We don’t own a television here at the ranch, but CBS network shows can be watched online.)

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Reader RBS sent us this: Cashiers vulnerable to flu from banknotes.

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By way of The Prudent News, a FEMA web page on Hazardous Materials (HazMat) Incidents

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Our friend Eric sent this: George Soros predicts worst recession in 50 years



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore, be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean everything or nothing at pleasure." – Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, 1823



Letter Re: Stock Market Turmoil – Time To Make an Exit

Jim –
I’ve been reading SurvivalBlog for a little over a year now and I enjoy the commentary immensely.

As a long-time investor and at the risk of a “pile-on” situation, I’ve got to echo the sentiments of yourself and your pundits recommending exiting the markets now and the foreseeable future. I have sold my entire portfolio in the last week or so into a down market, which I normally would never do, due to a number of significant factors – first and foremost being the fragility of the derivatives market, second being the cryptic, embedded and out-of-control debt market crisis. We all know that markets are cyclical and if you’re a chart watcher you might see the first of several “shoulders” on the bottom of the sell-off in the next week or two. We shouldn’t be fooled. In fact, we will probably see a fairly good rally in the market in the next few weeks, with or without Fed action. But, I’d caution anyone that downward pressure from inflation/debt and given that any anticipated Fed action up to a percentage point or so is probably already programmed into markets, we could well see a lonnnggg bear market, at least up until the November elections or after. The bottom line is that we are like a snake eating our own tail – if new money rushes in to a rally it is eventually consumed by artificial manipulation (inflation), loss of confidence in the dollar (unprecedented in the previous two major “corrections”), and the fall-out/bail-out from predatory lending practices that we’ll all pay for (and that we haven’t seen the end of). It is a wildly gesticulating, downward spiral echoed somewhat in the 1920s overheated/overbought markets, except for the fact that our currency isn’t buoyed by a gold standard any more. Fiat currencies inevitably crash and fail, as proven time and again by history.

My actions (in order of priority) have been to eliminate all debt about a year ago (we sold off a tremendous amount of personal assets to accomplish this, but we endured the pain and got it done), recently sold completely out of the market (except for precious metals funds and a gold IRA–which we may get out of completely in the near future if institutional/government gold has indications of getting sold), and sold our primary residence when the market plateaued last summer. Now we’ll sit on the sidelines and watch, continuing to prepare for tough times in the future. That said, as in any bear market there are buying opportunities. We will buy into a distressed real estate market by the end of the year or early next, and pay cash for the transaction. It’s not so much that we are timing a buy into real estate, but that dollar buying power will continue to erode as inflation increases – both issues combine to create a significant opportunity to buy in the next year or so.

I also think it is the time to invest in “black” rifles, any handguns, and hi-cap magazines for all. The writing is on the wall on all these commodities – strange to call them that, but that’s the world we’re in – unless a miracle happens we’ll have both an Executive and Legislative Branch controlled by Western European-style Socialists come next January. All the other “tangibles” are probably a good bet, my only problem is that they don’t provide current income at a steady rate. We all have to become good at eBay, Craigslist and in-person selling, if we are not already.

My last two cents: I would recommend that anyone invested in precious metals watch the markets very carefully – there seems to be top-out sentiment at around $1,000 USD per ounce, or so. Big government or institution sales into the market could result in a very steep decline indeed. Keep up your good works. – Jeff K. in Singapore.



Letter Re: Anti-Vehicular Barriers for Retreat Security

Dear Jim,
I have for some time been meaning to write about vehicular and other counter-mobility obstacles. The dramatic video that you posted yesterday has prompted me.

Ever since reading “Patriots”, when the looters simply cut the lock on the front gate with a “universal key” (bolt cutters), it has been on my mind. Coming as I do from a combat engineer background, I couldn’t believe how they could have overlooked such as basic aspect of perimeter hardening. They could have very well lost that fight because some clown had the sense to bring a pair of bolt cutters along.

In terms of retreat security, counter-mobility, from both an anti-personnel and anti-vehicular aspect, must be a high priority. In your profiles of retreat people you know, I noticed that only one–the Vietnam veteran–had laid in a heavy stockpile of barbed wire. He obviously has some experience with this.

It must be stated from the onset that barriers of any kind are intended only to delay and channel aggressors, rarely will they stop them outright. Given preparation, planning, time and determination, any barrier can be breached. In a survival situation, however, this adds up to, “How bad do you want in here?” This is where the delay and channel aspects can turn into a painful experience and aggressors are forced to choose between paying dearly for entrance or picking a softer target. And that’s what we’re looking for.

From there, in terms of counter mobility, there are thus two categories…anti-vehicular and anti-personnel. As one may expect, one set is designed for cars and such and the other for humans on foot. We deal here with the vehicles.

In the anti-vehicular category there are two sub-categories; above and below ground. The below ground category consists of obstacles such as ditches, pit falls and craters (or mines if you take it all the way).
These are deliberately created, or in some cases simply improved, terrain features that prevent vehicles from moving across with ease. For example, a deep ditch with steep walls prevents easy transverse because the vehicle falls in nose first and gets stuck, unable to rear up and clear the opposite side. These sorts of obstacles have to be bridged in order to be crossed. It is unlikely in a TEOTWAWKIscenario that the looters will be bringing along bridging sections, so if time and resources permit, such features can be used to deny easy access from road frontage. If you have access to a loader of some kind, they’re not to difficult to dig (given the right ground) and when the grass grows over them they don’t appear as militant as a chain link fence. Existing ditches can be modified to achieve the sheer wall on the side facing your main line of resistance (MLR).

Such obstacles can also be installed on roads at choke points. Here is where the obstacle isn’t a ditch line running for 3?4 of a mile along your road, but a single point on a road or your driveway where the trees get in tight, for example. In the West in particular, cattle guards are outstanding. In normal times the grate stays down, when it’s time to close the road, the grate comes up. Unless they’ve brought a monster truck along, getting across one of these dug out to four feet deep is going to be an axel breaking, hood crunching proposition. (I remember well a midnight encounter with an irrigation ditch in NM that had quite the same effect)

There are several drawbacks to these features, however. First, if they are permanent and outsiders can’t get across, neither can you…unless you have your own bridging apparatus planned and on hand or permanent crossing points, such as your driveway culvert. (The classic draw bridge/cattle guard is such an example)
Second, without accompanying anti-personnel obstacles and being well covered, they make good cover for anyone dismounted, being that they are essentially a trench. But, if far enough away from your main line of resistance, with a good bit of open ground (and maybe some anti-personnel stuff between the ditch and you) they can at least prevent a mounted attack coming in at speed right to your doorstep.

Then there are the above ground types of anti-vehicular obstacle. The concrete barrier is by the far the most common type in use here in the US . As we saw on the video, they posses impressive stopping power. (They are, however, permanent and provide cover)

Another kind is the “Bollard” type. These are simply solid posts of various materials ranging from wood to cast iron (or old cannon barrels in some places) that are dug into the ground or set down into receptacles in the ground and locked. We see these in use to deny sidewalk parking or restrict access to service roads that are in frequent use. Sometimes they are reinforced with heavy rope or chain running between them, especially if they run for any distance. Unlike a concrete barrier, they can easily be passed off as a “decorative” feature. If they happen to be made from something along the lines of railroad ties with 1in cable running between them, they become something a bit more. Even railroad rails or I beams, cut to length and placed so that a vehicle cannot squeeze through them will generally stop anything this side of a tracked armored vehicle. The real beauty of bollards is that they can be emplaced as needed, usually across choke points, and pulled up and stashed when not needed if engineered for it.

A more permanent type was seen in Britain where invasion preparations featured concrete cubes or cylinders set like the classic WWII dragon’s teeth. There were also the classic I-beam “hedgehogs” where beams were welded together in a crossing pattern and then secured in some manner to the ground.

Then there are good old fashioned gates. As we saw in “Patriots”, a gate is only as strong as whatever is locking it closed. As they are also dependent on hinges generally, if the post goes, so does the gate. Only the most robust structures of this type will stop vehicles generally.

There is one other kind, however, that was employed all over southern Britain in preparation for the expected German landings. These were gates of a sort, but instead of having the opening and closing feature, they were simply two very heavy colonnades of stone and concrete on each side of the road with slots left in them for inserting railroad rails or I-beams when the time came.

A good cross section of these pre-invasion obstacles set out in southern Britain can be seen at this web site. Typically British, they were usually unobtrusive, which may also be a boon for retreats wishing to avoid the “Nut case survivalist” label too soon into the game.

In any case, anti-vehicular counter mobility obstacles should be part of any survivalist retreat plan. Be they professional looking “Driveway” bollards or simply trees knocked down across the road [an “abatis”] when the time comes, they prevent looters from roaring up to your doorstep and bailing out guns ablaze. Even a strategically planted line of fast maturing trees will have the desired effect.

Surfing around online a bit will give all sorts of good ideas, as will a copy of the [U.S. Arm]y Engineer Field Data manual, FM 5-34.

In any case, the inventive will come up with any number of ways to block roads when sticking to the two main categories; above and below ground obstacles. But always remember, obstacles are not intended to stop an advancing aggressor in their tracks. They are intended to slow them down or channel them into kill zones of your choosing. Essentially, with anti-vehicular emplacements, the best idea is to turn a mounted, 40 m.p.h. advance in a steel chassis into a dismounted, 8 m.p.h. advance behind a cotton shirt.(Or, at the very least a 10m.p.h. advance as they slow down to try and get past all this crazy junk in the road, at which point their 8 cylinder engine starts becoming a 9, 10, 11, 12 cylinder because of the 30-06 AP that’s ventilating the engine block.)

At that point, your adversary may just decide that attacking you is a bit too pricey and move on.

P.S.: if any of you haven’t read “Patriots” yet, do so. Then read it again…and take technical notes. I recommend tabbing a notebook into relevant categories such as food, firepower, communications, fortification, etc. Jim’s novel is a field manual in it’s own right. – Mosby



Odds ‘n Sods:

Three bits of heavy duty economic Gloom und Doom: Jonas sent this: Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down nearly 500 points, Eric sent this: A 1,000 Point Drop On The Dow? , and Stephen in Iraq sent this: Shares Tumble in Asia and Europe. Our friend Randy commented in a recent e-mail:: “Things are not looking too rosy for Tuesday’s market opening bell in New York.”

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Thanks to E.S. for this: India battles to contain ‘very serious’ bird flu outbreak

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Jeff C. mentioned that www.RARESEEDS.com sells only heirloom (non-hybrid) varieties.

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Florida Guy mentioned that hot on the heels of the successful big-budget post-plague movie “I Am Legend” comes a post-plague movie titled “Doomsday” that at least from the trailer looks like a cross between “Escape From New York” and “The Road Warrior“. It is scheduled for release in March. Here is a description: “In “Doomsday,” a lethal virus spreads throughout a major country and kills hundreds of thousands. To contain the newly identified Reaper [virus], the authorities brutally quarantine the country as it succumbs to fear and chaos. The literal walling-off works for three decades – until Reaper violently resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists, including Eden Sinclair (Mitra), is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.”





Note from JWR:

If you find what you read at SurvivalBlog informative and entertaining, then please become a 10 Cent Challenge subscriber. Subscriptions are entirely voluntary but are an important part of how I earn a living. (And what keeps me from quitting the blog and going back to tech writing in the corporate world.).



Protecting Yourself From Coming Stock Market Declines

Last week, after Citigroup reported a net loss of nearly $10 billion for the quarter, the New York Stock Exchange had its biggest percentage drop for a January in 17 years. Between Monday and Friday, the DJIA dropped more than 670 points. The S&P and NASDAQ posted similar losses. This doesn’t look good. There is an old saying on Wall Street: “As goes January, so goes the rest of the year.” (And this has been borne out statistically.) My friend The Chartist Gnome is recommending that his clients get out of nearly all of their stocks–with just a few exceptions like gold and silver mining shares. I agree with him that in the coming recession the US stock market is likely to decline considerably, and possibly suffer a full-scale crash. FWIW, the Gnome says that expects to see a split sector bond rally in 2008. (With Federal bonds doing well, but municipal bonds plummeting.) Regardless, be ready for lots of instability in the financial and equities markets in 2008. As I often say, shelter hour assets in tangibles.

I often have consulting clients and SurvivalBlog readers mention that they have a good chunk of their savings “locked up” in 401(k) retirement savings plans. Most say that they cannot touch those funds without huge penalties. My advice to them is two-fold: 1.) If possible, convert your 401(k) into a gold IRA. 2.) If that is not possible, then at least direct your IRA portfolio into conservative investments. Currently, something like a Federal Bond Fund would probably be best.

Readers that hold stocks often ask me what “safe” stocks to buy and hold. My answer invariably is that there are NO safe stocks to hold in the long term.. Since we are entering an era where the viability of the dollar itself is threatened, then all investments denominated in US Dollars are at risk. Hyperinflation would wipe out any “gains” in your stock portfolio. Just ask anyone living in Zimbabwe what their “gains” have been in the past four years. When a currency is in freefall, nobody wins except a deeply-indebted government.

Gold IRAs are available through Swiss America Trading Company. I have had a gold coin IRA since 1998. Once established, these accounts are measured in an “ounce” value with a “Beginning Cost Basis” noted for when your dollars were first converted into U.S. Gold Eagles. In my case, the “GEB” (Gold Eagle Bullion) coins they put in storage for me cost $298 per ounce. The coins are physically stored by Goldstar Trust, a bonded vault company in Texas. The annual storage and administration fee recently got bumped up to $90 per year, but in my opinion that is a small price to pay for knowing that when I eventually cash out my IRA it will be in tangible form, rather than an investment vehicle denominated in dollars. I have no way of knowing how much the US Dollar will depreciate in the next 15 years, but it is pretty safe to say that gold will still have the same–or nearly the same–buying power that it does today. I strongly recommend that if you have an IRA or 401(k) account that you conduct a fund “rollover” into a Gold IRA.



Letter Re: An Approaching Tsunami for Hedge Fund and Muni Bond Insurers

Dear Mr. Rawles,
Would you buy stock in Allstate Insurance or Farmer’s Insurance if you knew a tsunami was going to hit the entire East Coast? If you had foreknowledge of such a catastrophe, you certainly wouldn’t put your money into insurance companies, because no insurance company could cover an event that huge. I believe that something analogous is what is now happening in the financial markets. Savvy investors are getting out of financial insurance companies that may be asked to cover huge losses projected to occur this year. These Wall Street companies insure pension funds, CDOs, hedge funds, and other financial instruments, including those that contain the toxic subprime mortgages and other questionable mortgages.

Insurance is the last line of defense against collapse of these giant funds. I wanted to take a look at what has been happening to this particular kind of insurance company lately. Here’s what I found:

ACA Capital Holdings Inc. (ACAH) has lost almost all its value and could be out of business within hours.

Ambac Financial Group Inc. (ABK) has dropped about 80% in value in the past month, and just today has lost its AAA credit rating.

MBIA, Inc. (MBI) dropped about 77% in value in the past month. It’s also in danger of a downgraded credit rating

Assured Guaranty Ltd. (AGO) has dropped about 37% in value in the past month.

RAM Holdings Ltd. (RAMR) has dropped about 80% in value in the past month.

MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG) has dropped about 56% in value in the past month.

Radian Group Inc. (RDN) has dropped about 56% in value in the past month.

Moneygram International, Inc. (MGI) has dropped about 74% in value in the past month.

Please note that these losses are just in the past month. Most of these companies had already lost heavily earlier in 2007. These are all the publicly traded insurance companies that I know of in this specialized market. In other words, the whole sector is quickly deteriorating. This is not being reported by the press in any coherent fashion.
These specialized insurance companies also insure municipal bonds for cities, schools, hospitals etc. If the insurance companies go broke, many funds such as retirement funds will crumble.

Minyanville just came out today with a good article on insuring financial derivatives.

The point of all this is that investors are getting out of this type of insurance because they know that the funds that have been insured are garbage and no insurance company has enough money to pay for a huge catastrophic event, any more than a home insurance company could cover a tsunami affecting the whole east coast. The insurance company would just go broke. That’s what appears to be happening. This is an earthshaking event. The lack of support by investors would seem to indicate that the funds are in far worse shape than anyone is willing to admit publicly.
These insurance companies are the last desperate hope of a failing trillion dollar market. If they can’t prop it up, nobody can. – K.L. in Alaska



Letter Re: A Reader Comments on the Mossberg 590A Riot Shotgun

Jim;
I recently purchased a Mossberg Model 590A [12 gauge] riot shotgun. They are a lot cheaper than the Remington tactical or other brands and I feel more reliable–also the opinion of many in the military
Here are the specification differences from a standard Mossberg Model 500:
– A steel receiver as opposed to aluminum alloy
– Extra thick walled heavy barrel
– Metal trigger guard versus polymer
– Metal safety [button] versus polymer
– Ghost ring sights
– All matte finish
– Has 8+1 versus 7+1 capacity

The shotgun performed as expected–flawless, digest all ammo, good handling/target acquisition,and lots of aftermarket stock options available. The only down side is Mossberg will not port these barrels–must be sent off for that upgrade to someone else,. the price is right, around $440 out the door versus. a lot more for Remington.

I like the tang-mounted safety on these, as its easier to use with out moving your hand around and good for lefties as well. The length of pull is 14.5 inches. Other stocks can be found thru Midway that are 12″-to-13″ for use with body armor [or heavy winter clothing].
In all, the 590A is a great shotgun that doesn’t malfunction. Simple but tough. – Jason



Odds ‘n Sods:

General Motors CEO says that oil has peaked. As I’ve said before, vehicles with a diversity of fuel sources is a good thing. If possible, retreats should have a variety of diesel, gasoline, E85, electric, and LP-powered vehicles, just to be ready for any eventuality. (A hat tip to Jason H. for sending the article link on the GM CEO‘s quote.) OBTW, I’m currently building up savings for a Bad Boy Buggy electric ATV to supplement our aging gas-powered utility ATV.

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Statistics from Memphis, Tennessee, show that concealed carry works: With more people carrying guns, self-defense killings on increase. (A hat tip to Bill N. for sending the link.)

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Thanks to B.R. for sending us this from Information Week: CIA Admits Cyberattacks Blacked Out Cities. As I have warned in some of my articles as far back as 1990 (“High Technology Terrorism”, Defense Electronics, January 1990, p. 74.), SCADA and successor software are huge “back doors” to nefarious acts. SCADA is used not only for power distribution but also in varying degrees for controlling dam floodgates, oil and gas pipelines (and their associated pumping/compressor stations), water distribution, wastewater collection and treatment, some industrial process controls (such as refineries), and some communication systems. This is a huge vulnerability.

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Dave in New York sent us this: Banning or Registering Privately Owned Fallout Meters in New York. This measure is just “to prevent panic”, dontcha know.