Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 11, 2022

On May 11, 1949, Israel was admitted into the United Nations.

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Reader Tracy M. mentioned that Spaceweather.com reported this yesterday:

X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: An unusually-magnetized sunspot exploded on May 10th, producing an intense X1.5-class solar flare. Shortwave radio signals were blacked out around the Atlantic Ocean for as much as an hour, and now there’s a chance a CME is heading our way.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 100 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 100 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging

My Newbie Experience Buying a Milk Cow – Part 2, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

A Calf is Born and Begins Milking

It’s been a bit of a rodeo, but I am undeterred. She was gentle as long as you didn’t touch her. LOL. She was sweet and beautiful as long as you didn’t interrupt her grazing on the grassy knoll. She learned to come into the stanchion, which is basically a structure you build to milk your cow in if you don’t have a barn set up to use. It has a “head gate” so that you can hold the cow’s head still, and therefore her body, for milking, health care, etc. The only reason on God’s green earth that she willingly came into the stanchion was because she’s a pig when it comes to a pan of grain. But, you can’t over feed ‘em when they’re pregnant or they will get fat and that will cause a more difficult birth. We walked a fine line until she had her calf. She got a little grain, she got cut up apples, as long as she tolerated me “handling” her. Every day we practiced entering the stanchion, locking the head gate, eating a bit of grain or apples, and “handling” her udders. She barely tolerated it, but we kept at it.

The day she had her calf was the most nerve-wracking experience next to birthing my own children. It was just her and me. I watched her all day and I could tell she was in labor, but there were no little hooves poking out; I didn’t see her water break; no visible signs other than her seemingly having contractions – something I would recognize. Late in the day I couldn’t see her so I went looking and found her laying at the bottom of the grassy knoll on her side. There were 2 hooves poking out, palms down – a good sign that the calf was in the right position. I could see a little tongue on top of the hooves – also a good sign that the calf’s head was in the right position. She seemed distressed and I started to panic.Continue reading“My Newbie Experience Buying a Milk Cow – Part 2, by SaraSue”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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Video from Task & Purpose: US Army OFFICIALLY HAS A NEW PRIMARY WEAPON.  JWR’s Comments:   I concur with most of the description, except for “long barrel life” claim. I suppose the good news is that both the SIG M5 carbine and M50 LMG have quick-change barrels. Methinks the Army will be buying a lot of replacement barrels.

o  o  o

Reader C.B. sent this chilling news: Scottsdale parents who discovered secret dossier compiled to silence their speech announce lawsuit.

o  o  o

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders.

o  o  o

My #1 Son recommended this essay by Adam Van Buskirk: Collapse Won’t Reset Society.

o  o  o

At Reason: The State Took Her Home Because She Missed $900 in Property Taxes.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 10, 2022

May 10th is the birthday of the late Janis Pinups (born 1925, died 15 June 2007). He was one of the last of the Forest Brothers anti-communist resistance fighters. He came out of hiding, after five decades, to obtain a Latvian passport in 1994, after the collapse of eastern European communism. (He was never issued any communist government identity papers and by necessity lived as a nonexistent ghost during the entire Soviet occupation of Latvia.) The history of the Forest Brothers movement certainly deserves more recognition.

May 10, 1972. Top Gun Graduate Randall “Duke” Cunningham and his backseater Wally “Irish” Driscoll shot down three MiGs in a dogfight and became the first Ace of the Vietnam War. He later commanded the Top Gun school when they came to make the first Top Gun movie. His Vice Commander was then John McCain.

May 10th is also the birthday of the late Col. Jeff Cooper (born 1920, died September 25, 2006).

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 100 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 100 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging

 

My Newbie Experience Buying a Milk Cow – Part 1, by SaraSue

Finding the Right Cow

My grandpa grew up on a farm in the South. When I was a little girl I asked him what it was like. He said it was hard work and dirty. I asked him about getting milk from a cow and he laughed saying, “Do you know how many germs are in that milk?” When I was a little older, probably studying the Great Depression in elementary school, I asked him “What did you do during the Great Depression Grandpa?” He said, “Well, we all went back to the farms!” In my child’s mind I had an “A-ha!” moment. Even as a child, studying about the Great Depression and the World Wars had me very worried that it could happen again. Ever since that time I had wanted to live on a farm. Now I do, however small it is.

I had a grandmother on the other side of my family, who also grew up in the South. She lived in a little brick house on a large lot. Her entire backyard was a garden. I loved walking through that garden. I had never seen anything like it, but hopefully the garden I am planting out now will rival her garden. If the insects and the heat don’t kill me, I plan on sitting in that garden early in the morning with a cup of tea. Just to soak it all in. Just to revel in the miracle of a seed growing into a large plant with edible things hanging off of it.

With all these romantic notions in my head since childhood, it’s no wonder I set out to do what I’m doing now. I had to grow up though, and work for a living, and experience all that city life offered before I got to a place where I could choose this lifestyle as my full-time activity. It’s not for the faint of heart. If you need your manicures, hair appointments, foot massages, lattes, vacations, and gourmet dinners out on a regular basis, this isn’t for you. Why not? Because you’re going to break a nail, your hands will crack and the dirt can become embedded unless you wear the right gloves for the job, your hair will be smashed under a hat and you’ll sweat like it’s the fourth of July. Your feet will be crammed into a variety of shoes – the muck boots, the cowboy boots, the garden clogs, the tennis shoes, the house shoes, etc., because you will be tracking all manner of evil wherever you go. You have to change shoes often for biosecurity reasons.

I started classifying shoes by activity type and comfort rather than looks or colors. I don’t want fresh cow manure in my garden, right? And your feet will stink and there will be spiders and bugs and snakes, sometimes in your shoes if you’re not careful. You’ll wish you had a spa tub and a martini after mucking out the barn. What’s for dinner? That’s where it gets exciting if you have time or energy to cook! Farm fresh everything: eggs, steaks, bacon, chicken, fresh produce, fresh-churned ice cream and apple pie y’all. Mmmm.

But wait. Let’s back up and start at the beginning of how I ended up with a dairy cow. First I got chickens, lots of them – “the gateway drug to homesteading”. That required hen house(s) and fencing modifications. Then I got goats and that required more fencing modifications and gates and a shelter. I already had the dogs! In the interest of self-sufficiency, I had this idea, as many of us here do, that I could “close the gate” and not need to go outside the farm, unless dire circumstances required it. Dairy was a distinct need (and later beef from offspring), not to mention large gardens. And the only way to have dairy is to get a bred or lactating cow. But, not just any old cow. I needed a cow with a sweet disposition, who could be led around by a halter and lead rope, who looked poetic on the landscape, who “specialized” in rich, creamy, milk. Ha, ha, ha.Continue reading“My Newbie Experience Buying a Milk Cow – Part 1, by SaraSue”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on Redoubt region astronaut Kayla Barron. (See the Eastern Washington section.)

Idaho

Inmate suspected in string of robberies in Washington, Idaho escapes jail cell.

o  o  o

Grizzly bear makes a meal of Naples landowner’s livestock.

o  o  o

Kamiah Fire-Rescue volunteer suffers minor injuries from early morning rollover.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — May 9, 2022

On May 9th, 1945, Herman Goering– commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia, and Hitler’s designated successor– was taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Goering, who was addicted to painkillers due to a wound, was instrumental in creating concentration camps for political enemies. It was Goering who ordered the purging of German Jews from the economy following the Kristallnacht program in 1938, initiating an “Aryanization” policy that confiscated Jewish property and businesses. Tried and convicted at the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to hanging, but before he could be executed he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide tablet that he had hidden from his guards.

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Today we present a review written by our Field Gear Editor Emeritus, Pat Cascio.

 

Mountain House Foods, by Pat Cascio

I’ve been a “Prepper” most of my life. When I was a small child, and would hear the air raid sirens going off, every Tuesday morning, across the street from where I lived. I worried about a nuclear attack, and no child should have to worry about that sort of thing – even though it was a very real threat. Even today, we are closer than ever to a nuclear war, believe it or not. I used to “steal” some canned goods from my grandmother’s pantry and hide them in my bedroom, so I’d be prepared to eat if things went south. Of course, if Chicago, Illinios had been nuked, we didn’t live that far from the downtown area, and we would have been dead before we knew it. Still, I prepared.

As I grew older, I became a “Survivalist” – and I was hardcore about it. I was preparing to surviving in the boonies – for as long as necessary. I wrote for American Survival Guide, for a number of years. I did so until they got Politically Correct and that pretty much put a wooden stake in the heart of that once great survival magazine. Today, most of the hardcore Survivalists have disappeared. Now we have Preppers – and there’s not a lot of difference between the two terms. Some people make the distinction that Preppers, are preparing ahead of time, for “whatever” may come their way. Yes, I count myself as a Prepper these days. We operate on a very limited income, and we’ve yet to see the “extra” dollar – but we manage to put away stuff for “that” day that is rapidly approaching us all.

For a lot of years, I could look down the road – maybe a year or more in advance – and prep for whatever situations might come along. These days, I can’t see much beyond tomorrow. Call me paranoid, but the way the world is going, and all the daily threats we face, I can’t see far down that road any longer – so we “prepare” for today – and maybe even tomorrow – if possible. My wife is always talking about “when we have an ‘extra’ dollar – we don’t – we never have – we only have whatever money is in our pockets, and we have to make decisions on how best to spend some of that money, for our preps.

Obviously, if you read SurvivalBlog.com – you are a Prepper or Survivalist – if you’re not, then stop whatever it is you are doing, and get started. You don’t need a lot of money to get going. Needless to say, when the flag goes up, we won’t be living like we’re doing today. And we will be eating whatever we have stored up. A good way to start is with bags of rice and beans…and lots of Ramen noodle soup. Yeah, I hear ya, it’s not the best eating, but it beats eating grass and tree bark – like so many do in North Korea, to survive. For a very little money, you can easily put away a year’s worth of food with rice, beans and soup, and add in some spaghetti and sauce, and you will be surviving. Just add in a good supply of every day multiple vitamins. This is important to have this on-hand. No matter how well prepared you think you are, you won’t be getting your daily vitamins and supplements – and generic multivitamins are very inexpensive, you can purchase a year’s supply for one person for under ten bucks.

Mountain House has been around for a very long time. Matter of fact, they have their plant just 25-miles down the road from where we live. I’ve never gotten over there to see their operation – but maybe someday. They have a retail store – and by that, I mean what they sell there is at retail, no discounts. I suspect there are a couple reasons for this. The big and small box stores all carry Mountain House freeze-dried foods, and they usually sell it at or slightly below retail. So it would miff the owners of these stores if the manufacturer sold the products below the price that they sell them for.Continue reading“Mountain House Foods, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Bean-Potato Breakfast Patties

The following quite flexible recipe for a Bean-Potato Breakfast Patties is from SurvivalBlog reader Richard T.  His introductory notes:

“This is a breakfast that was inspired by, but has no recognizable features to, the traditional English breakfast. The objective was not to make an attractive plate, and it isn’t, but to make a breakfast that was high in energy and quick to get to the plate after the initial preparation. It is made in a batch and portioned out in 6-ounce serving patties and frozen. When served it comes out of the freezer and cooked up in a skillet and browned in about 10 minutes. Meat is optional, but meat broth and fat are essential. The drippings from a roasted chicken, ham or turkey are what I use.”

Ingredients
  • Barley, pinto, and small red beans
  • Turkey, ham, or chicken drippings or thick broth
  • Turkey, ham or chicken fat
  • Salt pork, bacon scraps, turkey or chicken skin
  • Red or white potatoes
  • Onions, garlic (to taste)
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Pepper (to taste)
  • Liquid Smoke (Optional, use sparingly)
  • Dried red and hot pepper – to taste (or substitute pepper sauce)
  • Vegetable broth
Directions

I make this in one cast-iron Dutch oven kettle starting with crisping the salt pork, bacon scraps, turkey or chicken skin which leaves a little fat to get the quartered potatoes going. I start the potatoes skin side down on low heat, with the lid on, and take my time. After the potatoes had enough, drop some fat in and brown the cut sides of the potatoes. They should be pretty much done when you put in the diced onions and garlic. The fat is hot enough on the low heat to saute the onions and garlic alongside the browned potatoes. Set them aside in a bowl and add the soaked beans into the hot fat in the kettle. Very, very gradually the vegetable broth is added and is lidded until the beans are edibly soft.

If you add Liquid Smoke, then use it sparingly. Before the beans get done add the barley, drippings/broth, dried peppers and keep adding vegetable broth as it get soaked up until it all ends up into a nice mush but not too much that it turns into a soup. As it cools the barley mostly will soak up any liquid. During this time if I get antsy I will cut the potato quarters up into smaller slices. I could’ve done that before I put them into brown, but they will brown up when I prepare the patties in the skillet. Stir in the roasted potatoes and onions and garlic in the bowl into the warm bean barley mix. This is where I add the salt and pepper if I forgot to do it earlier. But if you’re using drippings or seasoned skin, you might have salt and seasoning enough already. I let it cool overnight and form 6-ounce patties out of the mix the next day and freeze them.

SERVING

“Since they are precooked, all they need is to be warmed up, but due to the fat content they fry up nice and crisp. They can be served as a hash brown alongside some eggs and bacon or by itself. If you mix in some wheat flour you could make a burger out of it. Cook it over a campfire in some tinfoil for an outdoor breakfast. Use your imagination.”

STORAGE

Can be stored, frozen.

 

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Investing in Unusual Metals

Today, in lieu of or normal “E&I” column, we present a special examination of high dollar value industrial metals and some lesser-known precious metals, authored by SurvivalBlog’s Senior Editor James Wesley, Rawles (JWR).

Hopefully, this won’t sound like a high school chemistry lecture.

Industrial Metals

To begin, I must mention that many metals react with contact with the air, water, or salts. Lanthanum, for example very quickly turns blue, in air. A few — like europium, lithium, magnesium, metallic calcium, sodium, and potassium — can react quite violently and require special handling.  None of those are recommended for metals investors!

Some high dollar value industrial metals are non-reactive — meaning that they have “forever” storage lives. All of the “noble” metals are essentially non-reactive. Treasure-hunting divers have pulled 2,500-year-old gold coins from the ocean floor that still look shiny and new.

A few base metals are sufficiently compact (in terms of dollars per pound) to consider stockpiling as an investment.

Note that some industrial metals are commonly available in only powdered form. Some metals and metals salts can be toxic if inhaled, ingested, or even touched.  (Arsenic and mercury are good examples.) And then there is enriched uranium, that is deadly just to look at…

A few metals are sold to investors primarily as display piece oddities. For example, tellurium (pictured at the top of this article) often shows natural crystalline structures as it cools into an ingot, providing a quite dazzling effect.

Investment Metals – By The Pound

For practical investing, we’ll start at the low-end, with lead…

Lead

$0.20 to $0.40 per pound, depending on its form and purity. Can be readily re-sold on the scrap market.

Yes, lead. Yes, it is toxic if ingested and mildly toxic if touched. Yes, it is dense. But it is very useful.  You can sometimes find ingots of bullet casting lead sold inexpensively at estate sales. Its low value per pound makes it just barely suitable for investing.Continue reading“Investing in Unusual Metals”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.” – William Jennings Bryan

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — May 8, 2022

May 8th is the birthday of missionary and U.S. military intelligence officer John Birch. (Born, 1918, died August 25, 1945.) He is considered by many to be the first American casualty of the Cold War.

This is also the birthday of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek.

And today is the 77th anniversary of VE Day, otherwise known as Victory in Europe Day.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 100 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 100 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging

Signs Of The Times – Part 4, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.)

Vasili Arkhipov prevented TEOTWAWKI — During the Cuban Missile Crisis one single man, a Russian submariner named Vasili Arkhipov, prevented the use of nuclear torpedoes against an American warship which likely would have touched off a nuclear war between our two countries, a position our own government willingly put us into by refusing Russia’s request to remove our missiles from their border. Three officers on board that Russian sub were required to authorize the use of nukes and Vasili stood alone in refusing to consent. Most historians refer to this event as the most dangerous moment in human history. If Putin gets his back up against the wall, will there be another Vasili Arkhipov in the room to prevent the next Shot Heard Round the World? How close are we to the next most dangerous moment in human history? Putin has already warned on multiple occasions that if the West interferes there will be “consequences greater than any you’ve faced in history,” and yet we just keep at it, begging for him to sh*t or get off the pot. Too many Americans are stuck in normalcy bias and willing to risk everything we hold dear for a war that will benefit us nothing, acting as if this were just a Sunday afternoon football game on the telly.

Putin was the head of the KGB for many years so he’s not a dumb cluck. His highest interest is in protecting his country against all enemies foreign and domestic at any cost, including protecting his borders from NATO atomic weapons. He knows the history of the Cuban Missile Crisis and just how far the US government is willing to go even at the risk of nuclear war as they did in 1962.Continue reading“Signs Of The Times – Part 4, by St. Funogas”