The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?

Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” – John 3:1-21 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 25, 2022

On June 25th, 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand –marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. While complicated, the generally accepted reason for the battle is that the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills in 1875 led to the U.S. government disregarding previous treaty agreements. The gruesome fate of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations.

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Today’s feature article is a guest post selected by JWR, reposted with permission. It was written by Daniel Amerman, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the author of a number of books on finance and economics, including, most recently: The Stealthy Raid On Our Bank Accounts.

Combining Three Distinct Sources Of Inflation, by Daniel Amerman

The rolling average 3-month rate of inflation in the United States has now reached 10.7%. This is an important number as it represents the first time that we have a full three months of inflation data – March, April, and May – that include the economic impact of the Ukraine War and the related sanctions.

What is being lost in the political and economic talking points is that we have three underlying sources of inflation. As we will graphically develop in this analysis, these three sources can be broken apart, and the stepping up of inflation as the second and then third sources merge with the first source becomes boldly obvious. This is a particular issue because the Federal Reserve’s interest rate increases are not addressing any of the three root causes of the inflation.

This analysis is part of a series of related analyses, which support a book that is in the process of being written. Some key chapters from the book and an overview of the series are linked here.

The First Source Of Inflation

History seems to be going through a period of acceleration in the early 2020s, and this makes it easy to lose track of what was the fantastic and unprecedented just a year or two ago.

In the early stages of the COVID pandemic, the government shut down much of the country while flooding the nation with stimulus checks.Continue reading“Combining Three Distinct Sources Of Inflation, by Daniel Amerman”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week I mainly did manure hauling, cleaning out our bullpen. I also took our electric ATV in for a speering box repair and some brake work.

Lily will give you a full run-down on other happenings here at the Rawles Ranch:

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And it came to pass, when David was come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash of Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and Machir the son of Ammiel of Lodebar, and Barzillai the Gileadite of Rogelim,

Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,

And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.” – 2 Samuel 17:27-29 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 24, 2022

June 24th the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. Wikipedia states: “Several of his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

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Some Good News: Supreme Court Strikes Down New York Concealed-Carry Restriction.  This will force at least six liberal states to adopt “shall issue” instead of “may issue” CCW permitting. California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island have “may issue” laws, like New York’s. Those will most likely be changed within a year. Hooray!

Some Bad News: In a late-night session, after very limited debate, the U.S. Senate passed the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” (S. 2938) that I warned you about. This is the 80-page, fast-tracked, RINO “compromise” anti-gun rights legislation package. It passed with a 65 to 33 majority. It will now move to conference with the House of Representatives.

I could see that things were going badly, on Thursday morning. A cloture vote to block any possibility of a fillibuster passed with a rollcall vote of 65 to 34.

They ramrodded this Steaming Sack of Schumer legislation through the Senate before the public was informed and had much chance to speak up, in opposition. The last of the votes were recorded last night at 10:15 PM Eastern Time.

I sincerely hope that voters will remember the votes cast by the RINOs who stabbed us in the back. See the rollcall of that final vote. Please print it out and refer to it, for the next three Senate elections–as their six-year terms in office come up for re-election at two-year intervals. Turn those Democrats and RINOs out of office!

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 101 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.

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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 101 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.

Task-Driven Preparedness Planning, by J.M.

At it’s core, preparedness is a planning activity – we think about what bad things can or may happen and take steps to help ensure our survival if one or more of those events does occur. But what is it that drives that planning? Many of us tend to take a list-driven approach – we identify the types of resources we think we’ll need to survive such as food, water, medical supplies, plans, skills, etc., evaluate relevant factors such as our location, weather, family and finances, then make or find lists of what we think we’ll need to increase our chances of surviving. These resources typically fall into one of several categories:

  • Material – Tools, equipment, supplies, etc.
  • Environmental – Location, housing, etc.
  • Social – Friends, community, etc.
  • Information – Information on how to do something, what to do, etc.
  • Skills – Being able to effectively apply Information (Experience)
  • Plans – Predefined (and usually documented) organized collection of activities, checklists, procedures, etc.
  • Time – The avearge time required for the task

Based on these categories, here are some examples of how preparedness planning is frequently done for most event types:

  • Medical – We know we’ll need medical supplies such as bandages, antibiotics, sutures, etc. (Material), books on first aid (Information), someone in our group (Social) that knows how to perform the procedures (Skills), and preferably someone with a medical background of some kind (Experience).
  • Food – We know we’ll need stored food, seeds and tools (Material), somewhere to grow and raise food (Environment), books on growing, raising and/or harvesting food (Information), people (Social) that have grown food, raised livestock and hunted/fished (Skills & Experience), methods (Information) and supplies (Material) for preserving food, and planting schedules (Plan).
  • Defense – We know we’ll need weapons and ammunition (Material), defensible locations (Environment), familiarity with the use of the weapons (Information, Skills) and defined response procedures (Plans).

These are just some basic examples of what many people tend to consider when doing preparedness planning, and all of these are perfectly valid ways to help you prepare. However, based on my experience over the years of trying out many new activities I’ve found that a simple linear checklist approach tends to fall short when reality hits you over the head. Take hunting for example – I wanted to get into deer hunting about 15 years ago, so I went out and found a ‘hunting checklist’ on a well-respected hunting web site, then purchased or acquired everything I thought I’d need based on that list (e.g. a hunting rifle, some ammo, appropriate hunting clothes, game processing gear, license, etc.). I also watched a few videos online, read a few books, spent some time at the range with my new rifle and talked to some locals about the best hunting spots.Continue reading“Task-Driven Preparedness Planning, by J.M.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at some investing and hedging alternatives for beating inflation. (See the Precious Metals, Inflation Watch, and Tangibles Investing sections.)

Precious Metals:

USN&WR: How to Invest in Silver as an Inflation Hedge.

o  o  o

How to Increase Portfolio Performance With Precious Metals During Inflation.

Economy & Finance:

An aggressive Fed has global ramifications. Here are three ways the world could be hit.

o  o  o

Even the leftists at CNN admit: America is on edge, and that’s bad news for the White House.

o  o  o

US Recession This Year Is Now More Likely Than Not: Nomura.

o  o  o

A new video market analysis segment, at Wolf Street: What’s Behind the Collapse of so Many Stocks since February 2021?

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 23, 2022

On June 23, 1868, American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for a typewriter. Sholes invented the QWERTY keyboard. Along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden, and John Pratt, Sholes has been contended as one of the inventors of the first typewriter in the United States.

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Today’s feature article is not an entry for Round 101 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. It was written by a SurvivalBlog advertiser, and hence it is ineligible for the writing contest judging.

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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 101 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.

Mass Body Disposal, Post-Collapse, by Don Shift

This article discusses disposal of dead bad guys or large numbers of dead strangers, not disposal of “your” dead. You will obviously treat your loved ones and friends differently. The health protocols and technical aspects will also apply to the burial of loved ones.

In my discussions of less-lethal force and crowd control, I advise against “just shoot everybody” as a tactic in all but the direst of circumstances because lots of dead bodies have to be disposed of. In Iraq, oftentimes the wives and mothers of dead insurgents would come out to claim and remove their loved one’s body with help from family if Coalition forces didn’t take custody of the dead for intelligence purposes.

In a grid-down SHTF situation, no one is coming to clean up the bodies after a battle. It will be up to you. The main issues with disposing of decayed bodies are the odor, the fluids, and the ease with which bodies can be dismembered with movement.

Body disposal will be necessary because of the stink, the carnage, and the potential of disease. Another factor is psychological; its not healthy for your defenders or your uninvolved neighbors to be looking at bodies all the time. You will be motivated for comfort and health reasons to move the bodies out of the area.

Innocent people

History has shown us that in any domestic conflict, innocent people—civilians, women, children, the elderly—are often killed. Defenders may be faced with the unpleasant task of having to dispose of large numbers of bodies of those who were not their enemies.

  • Photograph the area of any atrocities including injuries to bodies, any graffiti, evidence, etc. Attempt to identify the bodies by name, when possible. If unable to positively identify, note general physical characteristics, any marks, scars, or tattoos, describe the clothing they were wearing or any personal effects they may have had. Photographs of the face or any identifying features should be taken.
  • Individual body records should include the above identifying information, cause of death, and the location of burial.
  • Allow any surviving friends or relatives to participate and mourn insofar as possible.
  • A ceremony of some sort may ease everyone’s emotional trauma and allow some closure. Note that enemies may exploit a funeral service for further attacks.
  • Bury the bodies whenever possible out of respect for the survivors and to make later recovery post-crisis or for forensic purposes easier.
  • Record and mark (when possible) the place the persons are buried. Picking a space that can be considered sacred ground may ease survivors’ psychological burdens.

Continue reading“Mass Body Disposal, Post-Collapse, by Don Shift”

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, we look at various viral threats on the horizon.

The Emerging Viruses of the 21st Century

First up, over at Medical Express: The emerging viruses of the 21st century.  (Thanks to reader C.B. for the  link.) This article begins:

“The recent explosion of monkeypox cases in countries where the infection had not previously spread, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, has underscored the rising threat of emerging viruses in the 21st century.

An infectious disease is described as emerging when it is new on the global scene, when its infection agent has changed to become more transmissible or more dangerous or when it is rapidly spreading through new regions.”

Can SARS-CoV-2 Genes Integrate with Human DNA?

At Science.org: Further evidence supports controversial claim that SARS-CoV-2 genes can integrate with human DNA.

Draft Senate Gun Bill Package Would Create Millions of Felons

It has been reported that the “Compromise” gun legislation package in the Senate  (the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act” ) now has 14 RINOs on board:

  • Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
  • Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
  • Sen. Shelley Capito (R-WV)
  • Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
  • Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
  • Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
  • Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
  • Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
  • Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
  • Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
  • Sen. Mitt. Romney (R-UT)
  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
  • Sen. Todd Young (R-IN)

Here is a link to the bill text.

The planned redefinition of “engaged the business” would create millions of unwitting felons, if a private party intrastate gun sale turns a profit. Instead of more logically defining “engaged the business” as selling X number of guns per year, or making X Dollars of gross sales, or X Dollars of profit per year, this legislation trades one vague definition for another one that would ensnare many casual sellers.  Here is the key passage:

SEC. 12002. DEFINING ‘‘ENGAGED IN THE BUSINESS’’
Section 921(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
(1) in paragraph (21)(C), by striking ‘‘with the principal objective of livelihood and profit’’ and inserting ‘‘to predominantly earn a profit’’…

This is horrible legislation that will ruin gun shows as we now know them, in 32 States. It will have any private party seller living in fear of a felony conviction if they make a profit selling even just a few guns!

At present, the wording implies that a FFL is only required if selling guns was a major contributor to your “livelihood.” The Democrat schemers couldn’t get their “Universal Background Checks” (a ban on private party sales), so they’ve instead put in these more loose weasel words to make most gun sales have to go through FFL dealers. The net effect will be nearly the same as a ban on private party sales!

Please contact your state’s two U.S. Senators and insist that they vote down this entire legislation package.   If they can’t do that, then ask them to fillibuster the package, or to add “killer amendments.”  Here are two suggested killer amendments:  1.) A 180-day NFA machinegun registry amnesty period. There hasn’t been an Federal amnesty since 1968.  And, 2.) Removing short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns from the NFA. Those should both make the Democrats squirm!

Pentagon Plans for Next Pandemic

This was published back in April: With COVID Mission Over, Pentagon Plans for Next Pandemic.  Here is an excerpt:

“VanHerck said the pandemic also underscored the need to review the nation’s supply chain to ensure that the right equipment and medications were being stockpiled, or to see if they were coming from foreign distributors.

“If we’re relying on getting those from a foreign manufacturer and supplier, then that may be something that is a national security vulnerability that we have to address,” he said.

VanHerck said the U.S. is also working to better analyze trends in order to predict the needs for personnel, equipment and protective gear. Military and other government experts watched the progress of COVID-19 infections moving across the country and used that data to predict where the next outbreak might be so that staff could be prepared to go there.”

Bird Flu Arrives in Southwest

Another from C.B.: Bird flu arrives in Southwest after millions of birds die.

WHO is Investigating Monkeypox DNA in Semen

Alex D. sent this: WHO says it’s investigating monkeypox DNA in semen. JWR’s Comment:  The fact that this disease outbreak is mainly being transmitted by homosexual men is being downplayed by the Mainstream Media They wouldn’t want to tarnish their Pride [of all unspeakable perversions] Month.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 22, 2022

On June 22, 1633, Galileo Galilei was coerced by Pope Gregory XV to recant his belief in heliocentrism–that the Earth orbits the Sun. The Vatican did not concede that it was wrong until October 31, 1992.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 101 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.

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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 101 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.