Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 the recent rise in the price of silver. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Futures silver and spot silver both jumped to near $20 per Troy ounce early this week. You were warned.

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Mike Maloney: Silver Soars – Where To Next? Mike Maloney

Economy & Finance:

Commercial Mortgage Delinquencies Near Record Levels

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At Zero Hedge: Paper Assets And Promises Often End In Default

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More hospitals face bankruptcy due to coronavirus losses

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At Wolf Street: Subprime Auto-Loan Delinquencies, After April Fiasco, Miraculously Healed by “Forbearance” & Stimulus Money

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — July 23, 2020

1

On July 23rd, 1982, outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow (of Combat! fame) and two children were killed when a helicopter crashed onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 (an $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, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. 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. 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.
  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 89 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.

Leadership: Who Will Really Fight?, by J.D.

101

As of late I have been pondering who amongst us –meaning Americans– will really be willing to pick up their rifles or pistols and defend their neighborhoods, homes, and families when it’s apparent that help, i.e. 911 is not going to be an option. I was recently at a large Christian campout that had a shooting range with a long table and roof. There was a large amount of brass on the ground and we were all having a good time sending lead downrange. Although I was encouraged to see the number of people that were exercising their second amendment rights, I was a bit dismayed at the lack of marksmanship. I brought a pair of “spinners” which are pistol targets that spin as they are hit. Although I do not consider myself an expert marksman, there was only one other person there that could hit the targets with their pistols with any real consistency. As it turns out the other guy was active-duty military who was on leave, I suppose that figures and I am glad to see that the Army is still teaching their soldiers how to shoot. I enjoyed the time, but as I walked off it got me to thinking about how many people in our nation will really be able to, or are truly willing to fight if that is what it comes to, which is looking more and more likely.

In my younger years, I studied martial arts for about five years. I started out in Tae-Kwon-Do, which though useful was more geared toward sport or tournament Karate. I finally landed in Kung-Fu which was mostly geared toward street fighting and I believe far more effective in self-defense. What I learned in Kung-Fu along with the fighting skills was a mental mindset that is every bit as valuable as being able to neutralize an attacker.

Let me give you an example of what I am talking about: During WW2 there was not a Marine in his right mind who did not respect the fighting ability of a Japanese soldier; they were probably the fiercest opponents in uniform at the time. Compare this to what happened to the French when the Germans invaded in 1940. Simply not enough fighting spirit or willingness to defend the homeland. Continue reading“Leadership: Who Will Really Fight?, by J.D.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

60

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 contemporary western Oregon — now completely adrift from its conservative pioneer roots.

How Bad Are the Portland Riots? On-the-Ground Footage

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: How Bad Are the Portland Riots? On-the-Ground Footage Provides an Insight. JWR’s Comments: There has been rioting almost every night for nearly two months in Portland, Oregon. These ongoing riots will surely accelerate two societal trends for the state: Outmigration from the cities, and calls for partition of the state.

RIP, Ol’ Remus

It is now official:  The surviving kin of Ol’ Remus, the Editor of Yer ‘Ol Woodpile Report have posted confirmation that he passed away. (Along with a quote of his wise admonition: “Stay Away From Crowds.”) They are keeping his identity secret. And they’ve said that they plan to post a full archive of his writings. We will greatly miss the man. Reading his posts every Tuesday was one of the highlights of my week.

Coronavirus Mutations Have Varying Severity

Scientists identify six different types of coronavirus with increasing severity levels. The Telegraph article begins:

“Six distinct types of coronavirus have been identified by scientists in a breakthrough that promises to save lives by flagging the highest-risk patients.

Analysis of thousands of cases by artificial intelligence software has revealed different “clusters” of symptoms and ranked them in order of severity.

Headache and loss of smell are common to all six groupings, but the range of symptoms varies widely after that.

Scientists at King’s College London (KCL) found that patients with the sixth type of Covid-19 are nearly 10 times more likely to end up needing breathing support than patients in the first group.

This is significant because often patients only deteriorate to a critical stage several days after showing symptoms. The new ranking system should flag up the highest-risk cases and give doctors the opportunity to intervene earlier.”

JWR’s Comment: With this many mutations–and surely more to come–there is probably no way to develop an effective vaccine.

Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action: No Cops and No Guns

SurvivalBlog reader D.S.V. sent us this report of absurd illogic, over at The Truth About Guns: Bloomberg’s Moms Demand Action: No Cops and No Guns. Here is an excerpt on the group, which is led by Shannon Watts:

“Watts equates any criminal activity with all guns. Since cops carry guns, they must be bad, too. This exposes Watts, Moms Demand and her benefactor antigun billionaire Michael Bloomberg for their removed-from-reality views they are forcing on the rest of America.

Watts knows the charade is over. More than 2.5 million Americans stopped listening to her and her gun control cronies and bought a gun between March and May. Firearm sales are through the roof.

The problem isn’t police. The problem isn’t law-abiding gun owners. The problem is crime. But Watts willingly plays along with mob demands to blame crime on the very people who protect us from crime.”

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

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 22, 2020

10

I heard that fellow novelist Dean Ing (the author of Pulling Through) passed away yesterday. He will be missed!

—

July 22nd is the birthday of actor Willem Dafoe (born 1955). Perhaps his best role was in the movie The Hunter, set in Tasmania.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 (an $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, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. 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. 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.
  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 89 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.

 

Adventures in Central Texas Gardening – Part 2, by Lisa

27

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

—

First let’s go over how I built my raised beds. The materials needed for 1 raised bed are:

  • 4 – 8-foot landscape timbers (try to find the ‘untreated’ type)
  • 3 – 12 in by 1 in by 8 foot yellow pine (untreated)
  • 1 ½ – 1 ¾ inch deck screws
  • 2 – 3-inch deck screws
  • 8 – small “L” brackets (approx. 2 inches)
  • 4 – 7 in. 16-Gauge Galvanized Reinforcing L-Angle – Note: I am not a professional carpenter and I was shopping at my local ‘mom and pop’ hardware store for something to brace my corners on the outside. This is what I found. It wasn’t until a more experienced wood worker informed me the braces were meant to go on the “inside” and not the “outside”, but hey, it works!
  • 1 – 4 foot by 8 foot 4 inches section of 1/5 inch hardware cloth. – Optional
  • Old newspapers or landscaping weed block – Optional
  • Linseed oil or Thompson’s Water Seal – Optional

 

Step 1 – determine where you will place your raised bed. Remember the ideal placement for sun and with the use of raised beds, a close by source for watering. Trust me, you do not want to do the traditional ‘back and forth sprinkler’. With raised beds, it is a waste of water AND you will be mowing/weed eating the areas in between your raised beds just as often as you are tending your garden! I have soaker hoses running through each of my beds that I can turn control the watering as the plants need. Also, the more level the spot, the better positioning you will have for your beds.

Keep in mind the space between your beds. You will need enough space to easily maneuver a wheelbarrow and possibly, a small mower if you intend to leave the walkways grassy.Continue reading“Adventures in Central Texas Gardening – Part 2, by Lisa”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

16

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on the  50th Anniversary Edition of Carla Emery’s The Encyclopedia of Country Living. (See the Books section.)

Books:

In case haven’t yet obtained a copy of the new edition that was released in December 2019: The Encyclopedia of Country Living, 50th Anniversary Edition: The Original Manual for Living off the Land & Doing It Yourself

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The Rise of the G.I. Army, 1940-1941: The Forgotten Story of How America Forged a Powerful Army Before Pearl Harbor

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Ugly’s Electrical References, 2020 Edition

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Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine

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The Owner Builder’s Guide to Stone Masonry

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — July 21, 2020

1

July 21st is the birthday of novelist Ernest Hemingway. He was born in 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois. He committed suicide in July 2, 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho, after being diagnosed with haemochromatosis, and after electroshock treatments failed to lift him from chronic alcoholic depression. He lived a sad life but was a great writer.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  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 (an $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, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. 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. 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.
  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 89 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.

Adventures in Central Texas Gardening – Part 1, by Lisa

54

As a child growing up in North Texas, my family was of the Depression era. We raised beef for the freezer, milked our cow for milk, raised chickens for both meat and eggs, raised a hog occasionally but always had a huge garden. I can’t tell you how many times I spent a summer day picking green beans on what seemed like the endless rows of the ½ acre garden. Of course, as I grew older, being the typical teen, I couldn’t wait to leave the country and move up in the world to the big city, which I did.

Fast forward to the 21st century – now as a more mature woman, I yearn for all the forgotten wisdom that was passed down to me. I’m not sure now if it was lack of attention on my part or if it has just faded away with a lot of other memories from that time, or maybe a little of both. However, in the early 2000s, I began to realize that to really take care of my family, I really needed to start growing my own garden for fresh vegetables and to can, freeze and dehydrate as much as I could for long term storage. This is the story of how I began the journey to attempt to return to my roots and the adventures and lessons learned along the way.

Mental Preparation

I began by researching vegetable gardening. I had moved from North Texas to where I currently reside in Central Texas. I was amazed at the difference in gardening lore and planting between the two areas. Identifying your USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Planting zone based on their Plant Hardiness Map is an important part of planning a garden. I was originally in zone 8A but now am in 8B (really on the border of zone 9). The planting times are much earlier, the range of plants that can be planted are greatly expanded and with care, gardening can be done year-round, as opposed to the traditional spring/fall garden.

While I remembered the basics, I needed to determine watering, lighting, the plants that would produce the most, best times to plant, etc. If possible, reach out to your older family members or become acquainted with older members of your community who garden. They will have a wealth of knowledge and will appreciate your interest in gathering their wisdom! In addition to speaking with experienced people, research on the Internet for vegetable gardening. A tip: Be very careful about video sites. While I used this method before, I have found it is best to stick with reputable sources and not necessarily individuals, especially when they post “ideas that are short cuts”, “no work gardening” or seemingly “too good to be true” methods (which they normally are).Continue reading“Adventures in Central Texas Gardening – Part 1, by Lisa”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

20

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 gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte. (See the Montana section.)

Region-Wide

‘Move Oregon’s Border’ petitioner files federal lawsuit in hopes of moving 17 counties to ‘Greater Idaho’

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Aviation company denies negligence in fatal Wyoming accident

Idaho

The latest from the Good Simple Living vlogging family in North Idaho: The Truth About Us — What We Haven’t Shown You.  JWR’s Comment: I highly recommend subscribing to their channel. Let’s help get them to 150,000 subscribers!

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Idaho county sues state over coronavirus rescue money

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9-year-old girl dies after being struck by falling tree at Hayden Lake

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Crews remove body of final plane crash victim, portion of Cessna from Lake Coeur d’Alene

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — July 20, 2020

2

Today is the 87th birthday of novelist Cormac McCarthy (born, 1933.) He is the author of the survivalist novel The Road, which later became a popular movie with the same title.

On July 20th, 1969, At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, spoke these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

—

I just heard that Grant Imahara (of Mythbusters fame) passed away at age 49. He will be missed.

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