JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on DIY home projects. (See the Instructional Videos section.)

Books:

Wranglerstar’s book published last year deserves a second mention: Modern Homesteading: Rediscovering the American Dream.

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Home Workshop Setup: The Complete Guide (Home Woodworker Series)

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Practical Woodshop Projects: 24 No-Nonsense Projects to Improve Your Shop

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The Home Blacksmith: Tools, Techniques, and 40 Practical Projects for the Blacksmith Hobbyist

 

Movies & Television:

The 12th Man.  An amazing true story of a Norwegian resistance fighter. In Norwegian and German, with English subtitles.  Available on DVD and Blu-Ray, or for free streaming to folks who have Hulu.com.

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Yojimbo & Sanjuro (The Criterion Collection)

 

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

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – November 06, 2018

Today in 1977, the Toccoa Falls Dam in Georgia gave way and 39 people died in the resulting flood. The dam was an earthen dam constructed across a canyon in 1887 and had a 55 acre lake that was 180 feet deep. The dam had recently been inspected and approved, but in the early morning hours it gave way. Water flooded down the canyon at speeds approaching 120 mph. Below, residents of the Christian and Missionary Alliance College had no time to evacuate as the small community was wiped out.

Preparing to Survive Riots, Terrorist Attacks, or a Civil War

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Of all of the “worst case” possibilities that we prepare for, near the top of my “most dreaded” list is a second civil war.  This falls in the category of a “highly unlikely, but profoundly inimical if it were to occur.”  In this essay, I will discuss a full spectrum of threats, including contingency preparations for surviving riots, terrorist attacks, or a civil war.

I believe that the United States has entered a period of great instability, born of political divisiveness. The sharp differences between liberals and conservatives are now profoundly felt.  Virtually every topic and issue has become heavily politicized. This polarization seems to have grown worse with every month since Barrack Hussein Obama (BHO) took office. And the divide has grown even more pronounced under the administration of Donald John Trump (DJT). The mass media simply loathes Trump. They are doing their best to foment or even fabricate a crisis that could be used as an excuse to see DJT impeached.

The Bard of the American Redoubt, Alex Barron, noted that some leftists have dubbed the current era a Cold Civil War. In fact, they did so quite soon after President DJT took office. The question is, will their Cold Civil War ever turn Hot?

Those sentiments are shared by legendary investor Doug Casey. In a recent interview, referring to prospects of a second civil war, he said:  “I think, as I’ve thought for a long time, that we’re heading for a disaster of genuinely historic proportions.”

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on American Redoubt coffee roasters. Many of these companies also do mailorder/Internet sales of their beans and ground coffee. I know that a lot of SurvivalBlog readers order their coffee from Black Rifle Coffee Company in Tennessee. But those of us who live here in the Redoubt can now support local businesses. And I have a suggestion that I’ll throw out there, gratis:  A good marketing angle for someone establishing a new coffee roasting company, or re-naming one, would be to name it “American Redoubt Coffee Company.” By doing so, they would be sure to garner a lot of extra mailorder sales!

 

Idaho (Coffee Roasters)

Evans Brothers, in Sandpoint roasts a variety of coffees. They even do mailorders with free shipping if you order two or more bags.

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Dawson Taylor Coffee Roasters has three locations in Boise.

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DOMA Coffee Roasting Company is quite well-known. They are headquartered in Post Falls. They are a member of the Cooperative Coffees group, which is a prominent coffee bean buying collective.

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A Specialty Coffee Guide to Boise, the Gem State Capital

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NEMO Arms — originally headquartered in Montana, but now in Idaho — recently announced their new Monark 9mm pistol series.  This is a design that will appeal to the metal frame pistol crowd. If you love Browning Hi-Powers or SIG P220/226 series pistols, and want something more modern, then this might be the pistol for you. Most Monark models features high sights (to allow an unobstructed sight picture with a suppressor attached), and a milled slot forward of the rear sight, for attaching a red dot sight. They seem to be aiming for the “tactical” end of the market.  Notably,they will be offering 10, 15, 18, 20, and 32 round magazines. If you can afford a registered suppressor, then you can probably afford a Monark, as your main suppressor host handgun.

 

Montana (Coffee Roasters)

Some last minute election news for our readers in Montana: Tester Takes a Torpedo Below the Water Line. “The Libertarian candidate in Montana’s U.S. Senate race threw his support behind his Republican opponent Wednesday in a surprise move that came in response to an election mailer from an unknown group that appeared aimed at undermining Rosendale’s support among conservatives.”

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A gourmet coffee roaster, in Billings: Rock Creek Coffee

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In Whitefish: Montana Coffee Traders

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In Bozeman: Treeline Coffee.

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In Great Falls: Morning Light Coffee Roasters.

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And for sheer variety of blends, there is Colter Coffee Roasting, in Kalispell.

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

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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 “HJL”. The public Schools continue their morphing into communist indoctrination centers.

Voting

Today is the mid-term voting across the nation. Get out and vote! Reader DSV sent in this statement from The Truth About Guns blog that should send a shiver down your spine:

“The momentum is with us, the NRA is on its heels and we think that it’s an opportunity to keep redrawing the map.” – John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety in Suburban Democrats Like Jason Crow Campaign on Gun Control Policies

Crazy is as Crazy Does

SurvivalBlog reader H.L. sent in this excellent essay on the current political atmosphere. Donald Trump as President, a nation so divided against itself that civil discourse is all but impossible, a Democratic presidential candidate that first accused Trump of refusing to accept defeat, but two years later, still can’t accept her own. These are just some of the crazy things that have happened. The author links our current atmosphere to that of King James I and the gunpowder plot. The people are so fed up with the shenanigans coming out of Washington that they rose up two years ago and spoke loudly. Do they have the fortitude to see what they started through to the end?

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Preparedness Notes for Monday – November 05, 2018

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On this day in 1979, student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini sent shock waves across America when they stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The radical Islamic fundamentalists took 90 hostages. The students were enraged that the deposed Shah had been allowed to enter the U.S. to seek medical attention. Just a few days later, the provincial leader of Iran resigned and the Ayatollah Khomeini took full control of the country. Two weeks later, all non-U.S personnel as well as female and minority Americans began to be released. The remaining 52 hostages were held for 14 months until the election of President Reagan.

Cold Steel Bush Ranger, by Pat Cascio

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In a most fitting tribute to Jim Bowie, Cold Steel recently came out with the Bush Ranger. This is a folder that sure does remind one of the Bowie fixed-blade knife, with its deep clip-point blade.

Cold Steel Always In Demand

Anyone who has been around the cutlery field for any length of time surely knows the name “Cold Steel” and their outstanding line of knives. To be sure, the Cold Steel line-up is always in demand, and quite often they will be out-of-stock on many of their knives. It is difficult for them to keep up with supply and demand. That’s a good thing as well as a bad thing. It’s good that their knives are so popular and bad if you can’t find the knife you want. However, you can sure do a web search, and with any luck you’ll find the exact knife you are looking for.

Many readers have asked me to review more “expensive” knives, instead of lower priced imported knives. Well, I’m here to tell you right up front that the Cold Steel Bush Ranger is also an imported folding knife, and it isn’t on the low end of the scale, when it comes to cost. I’ve repeated this hundreds of times, especially for all you haters of anything imported. You get as good as you want from overseas, and overseas doesn’t always mean China or Taiwan either. To be sure, Cold Steel does not have any of their knives made in a slave labor camp, far from it. They are made in modern factories, with all the modern machinery you’d expect to only find in the USA.

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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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on Palladium (See the Precious Metals section.)

 

Precious Metals (Palladium):

The spot price of palladium is still looking strong. But if you see the global economy start to turn downward, it would probably be a good time to cash in and take your profit on palladium.

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But all is not well for all of the platinum metals group. Platinum itself–which has a price more closely tied to general industrial production and passenger automobile sales– is just now crawling up out of the dumpster. But it is bound to bounce back, so I consider it presently bargain priced.

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And then there is Ruthenium, which I recommended to my consulting clients, back in 2016 and 2107. The spot price of Ruthenium has more than doubled in the past year. I really doubt that it is headed to another 2007-style price spike, but time will tell. Ruthenium has always been very volatile and difficult to predict.

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Lastly, I should mention Rhodium, which I recommended publicly in late February of 2016. It was then spot priced at just $670 per Troy ounce, and at around $850 in coin form. The Spot Rhodium price is now around $2,200, and the scarce Baird Rhodium coins now sell for as much as a $340 per ounce premium over spot!  Just as with palladium, if you see the global economy start to turn downward, it would probably be a good time to take your profit on Rhodium.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If Man retained faith in God, he might also retain faith in Man. He remembered words which for four months he had not heard, read, or uttered, the most beautiful words in the language – faith and hope.” – Pat Frank, in his novel Alas, Babylon

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – November 04, 2018

November 4th is the birthday of Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone. He was born in 1916 in Buffalo, New York.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 79 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  6. 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).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 79 ends on November 30th, 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.

Utilizing Military Tactical Planning- Part 2, by Last NJ Conservative

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Military tactical planning has been used formally for a long time by fighting and maneuver elements. This article is a combined overview of the ground combat units’ frameworks. In part 1, We began using the BAMSIS acronym as a framework and are in the “B”, which stands for “Begin Planning”. Using the METT-TC acronym, we have gone through the M for Mission, the E for Enemy, and the first T for Terrain and Weather. Now, we will continue on with this military tactical planning framework.

Troops and Fire Support- Second “T” in METT-TC

Part D is Troops and fire support, and they are the second “T” of the situation estimation analysis key words acronym “METT-TC”. Will we be operating in the smallest tactical unit of a cell or knot or perhaps up to the largest likely encountered formation of a platoon or company? More often we will probably operate as a fire team or rifle squad, but which one for this mission? What fire support is available to us, if any? Do we have a scout-sniper cell as our bounding overwatch? Do we have any crew served weapons? If so, are they direct or indirect fire types?

Are we a knot of Professionally Instructed Gunmen (PIGs), riflemen, on a reconnaissance patrol or a fire team of Hunters Of Gunmen (HOGs), snipers, laying in ambush? Are we a rifle squad sized element on a combat patrol? Are we a platoon sized element, which can use a squad as our base of fire and the other squads as maneuver elements? Do we have any anti-vehicle or anti-air capability? Are we seeing a direct attack such as a frontal assault or perhaps a flanking maneuver? What appears to be the enemy’s apparent objective through their Point Of Main Effort (POME)?

Continue reading“Utilizing Military Tactical Planning- Part 2, by Last NJ Conservative”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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 “HJL”. Today, another FBI terrorist arrest is profiled. However, this one seems more like an alphabet agency justifying itself again.

NexGen Warfare

Reader G.P. sent in this article on the next generation of warfare – genetically engineered viruses. Apparently, DARPA is already working on a project that will use insects to infect crops with genetically modified viruses that edit the crops DNA to make them more resilient against disease. Another project receiving DARPA funding was the project to use genetically modified mosquitoes to deliver a sterilizing agent to their malaria-carrying counterparts. Of course both of these programs are being carried out under the auspices of helping people, but it’s not hard to see why DARPA is involved. It would be the exact same technology used to deliver weaponized viruses and diseases.

Seed Vaults

Reader H.L. sent in this article outlining a new study that shows that a full 36% of critically endangered plants produce recalitrant seeds which cannot be dried and preserved. The standard method of preserving seeds is to dry them and then freeze them and these type of seeds cannot handle that. Plants that fall in this category include oak trees, mango trees, avocado trees and horse chestnut trees. Once those plants are gone, they are truly gone. Plant diversity across the globe is facing declines and while there are other methods of preserving these plants, they are expensive and do not extend the life indefinitely. It would appear the best way to preserve these plants is to make sure they are growing. This can be challenging as genetically modified plants are deployed for various reasons, often pushing the native and heirloom plants out of the way.

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