The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The national debt was $5.6 trillion in 2000, the budget was as close to balanced as it had been in decades, the defense budget ($300 billion) was at decades low as there was no major conflicts in the world, and term limits were still a legitimately discussed election issue. If someone was told on January 1, 2000 that in 2021 the national debt was going to hit $30 trillion, with annual deficits of $3 to $4 trillion, a defense budget of $750 billion as war looms on the near-term horizon, and all semblance of governing through legislation to benefit the citizenry had dissipated, they would have laughed, accused you of being a conspiracy nutjob, and said the nation would be a hyperinflationary banana republic with 50% interest rates if any of that came to pass. The truth is always far worse than your darkest visions and fears.” – Jim Quinn, in his The Burning Platform blog



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 3, 2021

On this day, in 1911, actress Ellen Corby was born. She is often remembered for her role as Grandma Walton, in the television series The Waltons. She passed away in 1999.

On June 3rd, 1539, Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto claimed Florida for Spain.

June 3rd can also be considered the “birthday” of the U.S. Army. (It was established by Congress on June 3rd, 1784.)

Two unusual coastal listings were recently added, at SurvivalRealty.com:

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 95 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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

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 Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  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. An Israeli CBRN Gas Mask with Hydration Straw and two Extra 40mm NATO Filter s – Manufactured in 2020 (a $229.99 value), courtesy of McGuire Army-Navy.
  5. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  6. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

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. Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!

Round 95 ends on July 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.



An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 1, by S.B.

I’ve been working on an article for SurvivalBlog on electric cars for quite some time…writing a little bit here and there then prioritizing other activities and halting work. With the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware fiasco and associated fuel shortages on the east coast Report: U.S. Capital Nearly Out of Gas While NC, VA Also Endure Outages (breitbart.com), I thought this an opportune time to buckle down and finish up the article. Regardless of how you interpret U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s recent statement regarding the Colonial Pipeline shutdown where she said “if you drive an electric car, this would not be affecting you…” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Pipeline Crisis: Drive an Electric Car (breitbart.com); she does have a point. In a less than TEOTWAWKI scenario, where electricity is available and gas is not, an electric vehicle would be a nice thing to have. Even in a full TEOTWWAKI scenario, an electric vehicle can have many advantages, as well as drawbacks, as I’ll discuss below.

Consider this a basic tutorial on the electric vehicle “platform” conveyed through the lens of prepping. Just as there are various weapons platforms that all ultimately have the same function of sending fast-moving projectiles downrange, consider an electric car one, among many platforms to transport people and goods down the road. I won’t go into great detail on the ins and outs of electric vehicles and the different makes and models, but identify common characteristics of the “platform” and how they might influence a preparedness minded person considering purchasing an electric vehicle. I’ll be conveying broad generalities. If you have an electric vehicle and think while reading this “My car does not work quite that way.”, or “Things work a little differently out where I live.”, I don’t doubt it. In this article, I’m focusing on the general principles and not the specific details.

Note that I’ll only be discussing “all-electric” vehicles powered solely by an electric motor and battery power. I have no experience owning or driving a “hybrid” that runs off of both electricity and gas (e.g., Toyota Prius), so will leave any discussion of that vehicle platform to others.Continue reading“An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 1, by S.B.”



The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, for openers, we take a look at some Bunkers of the Swiss National Redoubt (Schweizer Reduit.)

The Lovely Swiss Villas That Could Destroy An Army

A video from The Tim Traveller: The Lovely Swiss Villas That Could Destroy An Army

The Camouflaged Military Bunkers of Switzerland

A great collection of photos, over at Amusing Planet: The Camouflaged Military Bunkers of Switzerland.

Swiss Bunker Layout, An Entrance to the Redoubt

Swiss Bunker Layout, An Entrance to the Redoubt.

Photos of Switzerland’s Secret Bunkers

16 eerie pictures of Switzerland’s secret bunkers.

Most of Those Moving to Red States Vote Republican

Here is some confirmation for my observations: DeSantis says majority of people fleeing to Florida are registering as Republicans.
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”



The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Commodities such as gold and silver have a world market that transcends national borders, politics, religions, and race. A person may not like someone else’s religion, but he’ll accept his gold.” – Robert Kiyosaki



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 2, 2021

On June 2, 1774, Parliament renewed the Quartering Act, allowing British military to stay in private homes if necessary, completing the Coercive Acts. The Quartering Act, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Boston Port Act, were known as the Coercive Acts. These Acts were Parliament’s way of asserting their control over the colonists after the Boston Tea Party and were one of the main motivations for the 3rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Please don’t forget to post a comment at the Federal Register’s website about the ATF’s proposed rule change radically redefining the term “frame or receiver” and substantially regulating making homemade guns. The comment period ends in 78 days. Please remind the F Troop Boys that only the U.S. Congress can change core definitions and that homemade gun-making is a purely intrastate affair, and thus outside of Federal jurisdiction for interstate commerce.



Nice Guys Go To The Gulag

Watching recent events has confirmed that America truly is in peril. It is now clear that the Democrats intend to pursue California-style political domination, nationwide. In California, the Democrats hold super-majorities in both the State Assembly and the State Senate. They also hold the governorship, in the person of Gavin Newsom–who is part of a wicked multi-generational four-family intermarried political dynasty that has dominated the state for 60+ years.  So now, California’s Democrats hold The Whole Enchilada. They are getting their full socialist agenda enacted, with no meaningful opposition. They are driving a Democrat steamroller over Sacramento. But clearly, the Democrats want the same for the Federal government.

Seeing this progression led me to a minor epiphany: What the Democrats have already accomplished in California, and what they hope to accomplish nationally was all perfectly legal Although there was some Illegal gerrymandering and plenty of felonious “voting irregularities”, they largely gained their supermajorities within the political process. It was all legal. This was nothing short of a quiet and calculated socialist revolution, all via propaganda, public school indoctrination, demographic shifts via legislated immigration rule changes, and then a slow series of electoral victories. The Republicans just watched it happen, with no substantive pushback.  Even during the Trump years, when the Republicans held the majority in both houses of congress, they simply dithered and dawdled, not daring to  keep their key promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA — commonly called Obamacare.) The leftist “moderate” wing of the Republican party was dominated by Never-Trumpers who didn’t wish to hand Trump any legislative victories. They preferred to squander the advantage of their majority rather than see Trump given any credit for rolling back socialist legislation.

The fictitious insurrection

If the Democrats succeed with their plans, then we will have a problem: Conservatives are largely law-abiding, and non-confrontational. We are The Nice Guys. And Nice Guys generally don’t start riots, and they don’t start revolutions. On January 6, 2021, just a hint of an uprising threw the Democrats in Congress and the leftist mainstream media into a panic.  Nancy Pelosi ordered fencing thrown up all around the U.S. Capitol complex, topped with razor wire. National Guard troops were mobilized for five months to “guard the Capitol” against a fictitious “insurrection.”  As of early June, 2021, the troops have now been withdrawn, but Pelosi’s ugly fence remains.

If the Democrats use their usual bag of tricks to steal the next election, and further solidify their hold on the House and Senate, then we will be in deep, deep trouble.  With a Democrat president  — most likely the Maoist Kamala Harris — and solid majorities in the House and Senate, they will begin to push through their entire socialist agenda. To wit: Higher taxes, more bureaucracy, gun ownership restrictions, censorship, targeted prosecution of conservatives, womb-to-tomb welfare, “stimulus” to infinity, taxpayer-funded higher education, a never-ending succession of COVID strains with lockdowns, unbridled government spending with no meaningful debt limits, defunding police, race-based reparations for pre-1865 slavery, et cetera.

Now, if the Democrats continue to pull this off, election after election, they will reach the threshold of holding supermajorities. Meanwhile, with Democrats controlling the White House for several successive terms, the composition of the Federal courts will become solidly liberal. Their carefully planned endgame is to assert socialist control over all three branches of government. If that happens, then Lord Help Us!

Please also consider that the Republican Party, as it is now being led is not much better than the Democrat Party. In essence, both major parties have socialist goals and have acquiesced to accepting big government and high taxes. The Democrats are just in more of a hurry.  When we look back on the last 50 years, we can see that the two outstanding “conservative” presidents — Reagan and Trump — were, despite their rhetoric, both big spenders and not true libertarians. So, what is needed in the long term is not just a new wave of Republicanism, but also a Sea Change within the Republican party, pushing it toward less government, minimal regulation, and lower taxes.

Not The Time To Play Nice

This is not the time to “play nice.” We’ve tried that for five decades and it has only emboldened the socialists. They’ve grown the state and federal governments to gargantuan proportions. They’ve shackled us with innumerable regulations and dictates. They’ve taxed us to death. They’ve attempted to disarm us. They are driving wedges between the generations and people groups. They’ve legalized homosexual marriage with hardly a peep of opposition, and now they are now pushing forward with their “trans-sexual” agenda, even on pre-pubescent children, again with very little concrete opposition. They’ve instituted systems of regulation and licensure for just about every trade and occupation. In many states, you can’t even be a barber or a hairdresser without a license. In some locales, they’ve made things as simple as building your own home a bureaucratic nightmare, with umpteen codes, inspections, environmental impact studies, and permit fees. And, as we’ve seen in recent months, the leftists will push “White Privilege”, “Critical Race Theory”, and “Climate Change” environmentalism as hard and fast as possible.

The sad truth is that continuing to play nice with the statist-socialists will inevitably put us behind barbed wire, for “re-education.”  The history of the 20th Century saw this pattern repeated, many times in many countries. This is how socialists operate: First, they belittle you. Then they demonize you. Then they criminalize you. Then they segregate you. And finally, they incarcerate you — or in some cases liquidate you. Nice guys go to the Gulag.

The leftist politicians have shoved the throttle wide open for their entire agenda, with the complicity of academia and the mass media. Anyone who opposes them is instantly branded as a racist, or “homophobic”, anti-semitic, or worse. Oh, I suppose that they will stop maliciously labeling their opponents as child molesters, because that is the next item on their agenda of proposed “rights” and “lifestyle choices.”

How We Can Win

In the long term, we can win, and we will win, but we must steel ourselves with genuine resolve. How can we accomplish this?

  • We must quietly team up with like-minded individuals and families.
  • We must learn to ignore the taunts and threats of leftists. Our behavior must be driven by Biblical standards — not by what is “now-accepted” or “popular”.
  • We must press on, despite being demonetized and de-platformed.
  • We must stop “moderating” our positions, for the sake of appearances, attaboys, or decorum.
  • We must coordinate a campaign of massive noncompliance with unconstitutional laws.
  • We must establish home-based businesses, and trade amongst ourselves — preferably with constitutional silver currency — and starve the beast.
  • We must fully withdraw ourselves from their Orewelian social media platforms and instead establish and support alternate media platforms — such as FrankSpeech.
  • We must consolidate geographically to redoubts — to survive and thrive in the dark days to come.
  • We must guard our children against evil influences, through homeschooling.
  • We must arm and armor ourselves and draw the line in the sand of never “papering” (registering), or surrendering our guns, ammunition, full-capacity magazines, night vision gear, body armor, and helmets.
  • We must begin consistently using both encryption and VPN. (Note: I prefer NordVPN — and we’ll earn a small commission if you sign up with them, using our link.)
  • We must support those who have been maliciously persecuted and prosecuted.
  • We must cease any and all “compromise”.
  • We must withdraw from liberally tainted churches.
  • We must choose in advance just how, when, and where we will fight against tyranny. Pick your fights wisely, and consider the consequences. Brief your family members, and make those crucial “You will go stay with Aunt Charlotte” contingency plans and directives.
  • We must modify our home architecture with both ballistic hardening and hidden safe rooms. (What I call “Ten Boom Rooms”.)
  • We must teach our children well: “Never get on the bus.” Never willingly go into Federal custody.

I pray the 91st Psalm for all of my readers. – JWR



May 2021 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices.

What Did Gold Do in May?

Gold started the month with a morning run at $1,800, being brought up short at $1,799.20 an ounce before settling lower. At the same time, silver briefly tagged the $27 mark.

Things trended higher for the remainder of the month. Gold made sustained breaks above the $1,800 mark on the 6th, the $1,850 mark on the 17th, and the $1,875 mark on the 19th. Gold spent the last week of the month making runs at $1,900, falling short each time.

Factors Affecting Gold This Month

INFLATION FEARS
Warren Buffett at this year’s Berkshire Hathaway stockholder meeting said, “We are seeing very substantial inflation” caused by supply shortages, especially lumber for the homebuilders it owns.
————
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen may not be running the Fed anymore, but she can still crash markets with a verbal gaffe. Commenting at The Atlantic’s Future Economy Summit, she said, “It may be that interest rates will have to rise somewhat to make sure that our economy doesn’t overheat.” She was forced to walk back that statement the next morning, to end the market freakout.
————
Several economic reports this month pointed towards building inflation pressures.
Core CPI is the Fed’s preferred inflation guage. It rose 0.9% in April, a 39-year high month-to-month. The year-to-year reading hit a 25-year high, at +3.0%. Overall CPI rose 0.8% month to month, and 4.2% year-to-year.

Producers were hit hard by shortages of everything from lumber to steel to computer chips. Wholesale prices rose 6.17% in May, compared to April 2020.

BITCOIN
Dreams around the world of becoming Bitcoin Billionaires came crashing to Earth this month, dragging the whole altcoin market with it. Bitcoin’s value fell from $60,000 down to $30,000 before recovering slightly. On May 17th alone, the crypto market lost more than half a TRILLION dollars. The trauma led many investors to pivot into gold and gold ETFs.

Adrian Ash, director of research at BullionVault, told MarketWatch afterwards “any debate about Bitcoin challenging gold as a ‘safe haven’ just got a very blunt answer from the markets.” “While the precious metal isn’t immune to volatility, gold has never cut its price in half inside a week,” he added.

Matt Gongloff at Bloomberg says that this month’s massive meltdown in the crypto market proves “Bitcoin is more modern art or a religion than money.”

The Governor of the Bank of England warns Britons, “I’m going to say this very bluntly again. Buy them [crypto currencies] only if you’re prepared to lose all your money.”
————
The extreme volatility of the crypto market had already caught the US government’s attention even before the catastrophic drop in value.

Major crypto exchange BINANCE is under investigation by the US Justice Department and the IRS on charges of money laundering and assisting in tax evasion.

The FED has issued new regulations that cryptocurrency transactions over $10,000 must now be reported on a Form 8200, the same as precious metals. This is intended to curb money laundering using crypto.
————
CHINESE regulators have warned that they are cracking down on illegal crypto use. Financial institutions and payment services are forbidden from accepting crypto as payment AND may not offer products or services tied to crypto. The People’s Bank of China spokesman said that crypto “is not a real currency” and “should not and cannot be used as currency in the market.”

Central Banks

The Federal Reserve stuck to its guns in May, insisting that the increase in inflation this month was due to supply bottlenecks that are expected to ease. It took Fed officials hammering this point home for most of the month before the stock market began believing them.

San Francisco Fed president Mary Daly said a little inflation would do us good. “We should tolerate 2.5% inflation the same as we do 1.5%.”

Richmond Fed president Thomas Barkin says that inflation will come back down next year. He said that he personally will not vote to taper QE until the employment to population ratio is back where it was just before COVID hit the US.

In opposition, Dallas Fed president Robert Kaplan said this month that the Fed would need to start discussing tapering QE sooner than later. He believes that the taper will happen next year.
————

The ECB forecasts that composite EU inflation will only be 2% by the end of the year, and will drop to only 1.2% next year.

————

The BANK OF ENGLAND tapered monthly bond purchases this month. It is the first major bank to do so.

————

Isabel Schnabel, a EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK executive board member, channeled her “inner Yellen” this month. On the subject of German inflation forecasts above 3%, she assured markets that it would just be a temporary increase.Continue reading“May 2021 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”



SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: 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.

First up, reader H.L. sent us this: Forgotten First Shots of the Revolutionary War, ‘The Watchman’ Thwarts General Gage’s Gun Grab.

o  o  o

‘Nothing looks good’ preparing for summer wildfire season.

o  o  o

David in Australia wrote:

“G’day,
In the post it mentions keeping various dowel on hand. A dowel jig/maker can be made pretty cheap at the moment (or purchased). Just a series of different sized holes drilled in a piece of metal (around 10mm 3/8” thick) or better. Keep a nice square shoulder on the hole. First plane/cut timber to rough size then hammer/force through holes till you have the size dowel you need. Pretty simple and works.
Not sure if 3AD has used them or heard of them but it means you don’t have to keep dowel on hand (reducing storage room) and it also means you can make dowels of the same type of timber if required for aesthetic purposes. Using an Alaskan Mill is back breaking work on Australian hardwoods!
Good luck and God speed”

o  o  o

Reader C.B. spotted this; Bacterium causing rabbit fever remains virulent for months in cold water.

o  o  o

Texas Passes Bill to Remove NFA Suppressor Requirements for ‘Made in Texas’ Cans. (Thanks to Tim J. for the link.)

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”





Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 1, 2021

On June 1st, 1942, seven months after the extermination of prisoners began, the Warsaw underground newspaper, The Liberty Brigade, made the first public announcement of the gassing of tens of thousands of Jews at Chelmno, a Nazi-operated death camp in Poland. The story came from a young man, Emanuel Ringelblum, who had escaped the Chelmno death camp after being forced to bury bodies that were thrown out of the gas vans. The West then knew the horrific truth about the slaughter of Jews.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present the first entry for Round 95 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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

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 Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  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. An Israeli CBRN Gas Mask with Hydration Straw and two Extra 40mm NATO Filter s – Manufactured in 2020 (a $229.99 value), courtesy of McGuire Army-Navy.
  5. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  6. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

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. Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!


Writing Contest Winners Announced

We’ve completed the judging for Round 94 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. That round ran from April 1st to May 31st, 2021. The prize winners are:

First Prize:

First Prize is awarded to K.B., MD, for Medical Emergency Sheets., which was posted in four parts from April 14 to 17, 2021. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.) She will receive the following prizes:

  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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

Second Prize is awarded to D.F. for Growing Your Own Food in the Inland Northwest. That was posted in four parts from May 11 to 14, 2021: (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.)

He will receive the following prizes:

  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 Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  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. An Israeli CBRN Gas Mask with Hydration Straw and two Extra 40mm NATO Filter s – Manufactured in 2020 (a $229.99 value), courtesy of McGuire Army-Navy.
  5. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  6. An assortment of products along with a one-hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

Third Prize is awarded to Uncle Reid, for A Moving Story, which was posted on April 24, 2021. He will receive the following prizes:

  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. Siege Stoves is generously donating a SIEGE® STOVE kit, including a Titanium Gen 3 Flat-Pack Stove with titanium Cross-Members and a variety of bonus items including a Large Folding Grill, a pair of Side Toasters, a Compact Fire Poker, and an extra set of stainless steel universal Cross-Members. (In all, a $200 value.)
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!

Honorable Mention Prize Winners:

The Honorable Mention Prize Winners for Round 94 have each been awarded a $100 Purchase credit from Elk Creek Company. The 17 Honorable Mention prize-winning writers are:

Round 95 in now underway ends on July 30th, 2021. 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.



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 Montana’s Constitutional Carry law. (See the Montana section.)

Idaho

Idaho couple charged with murder in deaths of two children.

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While the governor is away, Idaho lieutenant gov. bans mask mandates.

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Last year’s wildfire season was historic for West, but Idaho escaped. How about this year?

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WATCH: A sneak peek at Silverwood’s new attraction “Stunt Pilot”

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The latest from Jeremy & Melissa of the Good Simple Living vlog: Bears Are Back & We’re Running Out Of Time | Building Our Home In The MountainsJWR’s Comment:  Congrats on topping 250,000 subscribers! I highly recommend this vlog to all of my readers. Click on their “Subscribe” button! They live in North Idaho, but it is of interest to anyone who is now building or hopes to ever build their own retreat.

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



Frog & Co. Tough Tesla Lighter 2.0, by The Novice

Recently, the Senior Pastor of my church gave me a gift. It is a Frog & Co. Tough Tesla Lighter 2.0. It is a great blessing to have a Senior Pastor who faithfully teaches the word of God. It is a bonus that he also recognizes that we live in a dangerous world, and tries to help his flock to be prepared.

This lighter was my first experience with a product from Survivalfrog.com. I visited their website, and noticed that they have many interesting items for sale. My first impression was that some of the items seemed to be priced a little on the high side. Other items seemed to be somewhat impractical, better suited for stocking the shelves of armchair theorists than for use in real-life situations. Still other items looked genuinely useful and reasonably priced. These initial impressions may be unfair. I invite Survivalblog readers with more extensive experience with Survivalfrog to weigh in with their observations.

On the Survivalfrog website, the lighter was listed as an “Outdoor Waterproof Dual Arc Plasma Lighter”. There it was priced at $29.97. The exact same lighter was listed by Survivalfrog elsewhere for about half the price. I noticed that this was true of many of their other products as well. I am not sure what rationale lies behind this pricing strategy.Continue reading“Frog & Co. Tough Tesla Lighter 2.0, by The Novice”